Spin the 17th-Century Death Roulette Wheel & Find Out What Would Have Killed You in 1665

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A com­mon his­tor­i­cal mis­con­cep­tion holds that, up until a few cen­turies ago, every­one died when they were about 40. In fact, even in antiq­ui­ty, one could well make it to what would be con­sid­ered an advanced age today — assum­ing one sur­vived the great mor­tal per­il of child­hood, and then all the dan­gers…

Andy Warhol’s One Minute of Professional Wrestling Fame (1985)

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Andy Warhol did for art what the World Wrestling Fed­er­a­tion (WWF) did for wrestling. He made it a spec­ta­cle. He made it some­thing the “every­man” could enjoy. He infused it with celebri­ty. And, some would say, he cheap­ened it too.

Look­ing back, it makes per­fect sense that Warhol fre­quent­ed wrestling shows at Madi­son Square Gar­den dur­ing the 1970s and 80s. And here we have him appear­ing on cam­era at The War to Set­tle the Score, a WWF event that aired on MTV in 1985. Hulk Hogan bat­tled “Row­dy” Rod­dy Piper in the main event. But, the sideshow includ­ed (let’s get in the Hot Tub Time Machine) the likes of Cyn­di Lau­per, Mr. T, and Andy too.

If you’re famil­iar with the 1980s pro­fes­sion­al wrestling script, you know that Mean Gene Oker­lund con­duct­ed back­stage and ring­side inter­views with the wrestlers, giv­ing them the chance to pound their chests and gas off. When Oker­lund turned to Warhol and asked for his hot take on the Hogan/Piper match, Warhol could­n’t muster very much. “I’m speech­less.” “I just don’t know what to say.” And, before […]

Built to Last: How Ancient Roman Bridges Can Still Withstand the Weight of Modern Cars & Trucks

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A for­eign trav­el­er road-trip­ping across Europe might well feel a wave of trep­i­da­tion before dri­ving a ful­ly loaded mod­ern auto­mo­bile over a more than 2,000-year-old bridge. But it might also be bal­anced out by the under­stand­ing that such a struc­ture has, by def­i­n­i­tion, stood the test of time — and, for those with a grasp…

The Wisdom of Alan Watts in 4 Mind-Expanding Animations

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Per­haps no sin­gle per­son did more to pop­u­lar­ize Zen Bud­dhism in the West than Alan Watts. In a sense, Watts pre­pared U.S. cul­ture for more tra­di­tion­al­ly Zen teach­ers like Soto priest Suzu­ki Roshi, whose lin­eage con­tin­ues today, but Watts did not con­sid­er him­self a Zen Bud­dhist. Or at least that’s what he tells…

How Man Ray Reinvented Himself & Created One of the Most Iconic Works of Surrealist Photography

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It would sur­prise none of us to encounter a young artist look­ing to cast off his past and make his mark on the cul­ture in a place like Williams­burg. But in the case of Man Ray, Williams­burg was his past. One must remem­ber that the Brook­lyn of today bears lit­tle resem­blance to the Brook­lyn…