A list of intriguing things
One: Want to pretend that you’re terribly busy at work? Check out the Busy Simulator that helps you “feign importance” with repeating sounds from apps like Slack, Outlook etc.
Two: During the Christmas season—while the rest of the world has to settle for fake Santas—the Irish revel in their ‘mummers’. These are people dressed in straw who go house-to-house and put on performances. A pagan tradition that is very charming except we’re not exactly sure about those straw masks. National Geographic has more.
Three: A new 14,000-square-foot bookstore, Shenzhen Zhongshuge, is an architectural marvel. The entire store consists of a massive, twisting, sideways staircase—which runs through the space—and serves both as an art installation and bookcase. It is seriously cool. Architectural Digest has more on the store and awesome photos.
Four: We totally loved this week’s installment of Quartz Obsession which focused on the cheesiest of all art forms: velvet paintings! Yup, they’re paintings painted on velvet. And their subjects are suitably weighty—like the devil smoking on the toilet or Elvis being, well, Elvis.