It’s pretty likely that there is exactly one product from Madagascar in your home right now—no more, no less. That product is vanilla, and Madagascar is at the moment the world’s leading producer of this ubiquitous natural flavor—despite the fact that Madagascar is a very strange country to be the world’s leading producer of vanilla….

The problematic (and mercurial) relationship between Iraq and the United States reached its boiling point when the latter invaded the former in 2003, under the pretense of bringing democracy to the country. During the invasion and under U.S. occupation, Iraq suffered numerous cases of abuse, murder (including the Nissour square massacre by the Blackwater mercenaries)…

The village of Ečka is best known for its Kaštel (Castle), which is now a hotel, and its Art Colony. But just a short walk away from the Kaštel—one of the best preserved and most popular castles in Serbia, famous for the composer Franz Liszt playing piano there as a nine-year-old boy—are the ruins of an old water tower…

Sacha Baron Cohen wouldn’t be a household name without “Borat.” Yes, the British comic previously gave us “Da Ali G Show,” a wacky spin on the talk show genre. Still, it took the runaway success of his 2006 comedy “Borat” to become a superstar. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonAnd he earned…

To this day, fishing and seafood represent a very significant part of Shetland’s economy. The main fish caught from the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean waters surrounding the archipelago include herring, cod, and mackerel. The first of these has been historically very popular in the Netherlands.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonBetween…

Trentino Alto Adige, now an Italian region, was contested between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, with much of the fighting concentrated in Southern Trentino. The area was located around the former border between the two powers. Here, thousands of people lost their lives in combat. Now, the remains of around 20,000…

Liam Neeson gets another mission in The Marksman, the latest from director Robert Lorenz. This time around the aging action hero plays a rancher barely hanging on to his place near the border. Trouble comes his way when a boy and his mother cross onto his property with the cartel hot on their heels, and being…

According to legend, three monks miraculously found an icon of the Virgin Mary hanging from a myrtle branch on the island of Chios. The Nea Moni, or New Monastery, now stands on the site of this discovery, and it contains both centuries-old artwork and an ossuary filled with bones from the area’s greatest tragedy. Read moreA…

I first discovered the Mahoning Drive-In theater in the spring of 2016, just as a young filmmaker, Alexander Monnelli, began shooting a documentary about this most unlikely of businesses: A classic drive-in theater which, despite lagging attendance, was determined to continue presenting movies on 35mm. Two years later, now also an employee of this drive-in,…

Situated on a small hill that leads up to Mt Faber, the abandoned Keppel Hill Reservoir serves as a hidden sanctuary for thrill-seekers and urban explorers. Although its origins are unknown, it dates back more than a century, yet was absent from official maps for decades until it came to the attention of the National…

This month, Gastro Obscura is sharing the recipes and stories behind amazing holiday dishes and drinks in an ongoing series, Home-Cooked Holidays. Winter’s the time for hot toddies and eggnog, or any cocktail that combines fistfuls of spices with warm sweetness. But when it comes to sweetness, spice, and sheer boozy firepower, boilo has them…

★★★★ Directed by: Sada Rajiah, Desire Prevost Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Sada Rajiah, Deane Thomas, Bala Indradev Kanaram, Yudishta Varoona Gokool, Vikram Mugon Starring: Deane Thomas, Joshua Rose, Mahmade Meersaheb Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’,,Film Review by: ,,Jason Knight A wonderful…

This month, Gastro Obscura is sharing the recipes and stories behind amazing holiday dishes in an ongoing series, Home-Cooked Holidays. In the winter of 1984, Timothy Tangherlini worked on a dairy farm on the Danish island of Funen. One day, while brushing cattle in the barn, he spotted a tiny man in a hat sitting…

“It’s just code.” Gravitas has released an official trailer for Hello World, an indie documentary about bias in coding and building more diverse programming teams. A good double feature with Coded Bias, another doc film this year about bias and prejudice being worked right into software and algorithms. The film delves into the history of…

As a curly-haired writer living in a big city, I often find myself comparing my life to Carrie Bradshaw’s in Sex and the City. I know I’m not the only one: somehow her mediocre sex column pays for a massive apartment, a new pair of designer shoes each week, and countless brunches and cocktails with…

And we’ll all go together To view Wild Mountain Thyme Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonAnd fill the room with laughter Will ye go, buddy, go? Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Fantasy is a surprisingly large element of Wild Mountain Thyme, a romance with bookend…

The trail networks crisscrossing El Malpais National Monument are often marked with lava cairns, rocky reminders of the arid New Mexican park’s previously volcanic life. Below the monument’s striking surface are numerous corridors—close to 500 lava tubes, formed when searing channels of liquid rock made trails through the land. Recently, one of those tubes gave…

David Cronenberg‘s films are some of cinema’s finest enigmas. Each entry in his filmography seems to have developed a cult following over the years since their respective releases, not the least of which include 1981’s Scanners, 1983’s Videodrome, and 1991’s Naked Lunch. Another standout in his repertoire is Crash, released in 1996. The film stars James…

Suggest women aren’t funny and you’ll be quickly attacked, if not outright canceled. Podcast giant Adam Carolla found that out the hard way. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonSay that conservatives lack a sense of humor, though, and there’s little to no outrage. After all, the comedian class is overwhelmingly left of…

A dying man trudges across a dying planet in George Clooney’s ambitious sci-fi epic for Netflix, “The Midnight Sky.” Based on the book by Lily Brooks-Dalton, this is a piece that almost feels designed by a screenwriting algorithm informed by some of the top genre films of the last couple decades. The recipe here is a base…

Constructed between 1905 and 1907, this amazing twin swing bridge links the harbor area of Wilhelmshaven, Germany with the popular South Beach. It’s not the only route to the thin strip of land where South Beach is located, but it’s seen as the most direct and picturesque. South Beach is unique in Germany as it is…