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For the month of June, “Feel Art Again” will feature an artist (or artists) from a different country for each day the series appears. (That’s at least 13 artists from 13 countries for 13 days.) To do so, we need YOUR help.
Comment on this post, or send an e-mail to feelartagain@gmail.com, naming the artist(s) you recommend and what countries they’re from.
In the past, “Feel Art Again” has featured artists from America, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Thailand. The majority of the artists featured on “Feel Art Again,” though, have been American, English, French, and Russian. We’re looking to bring some diversity to the series and expose readers to art from other parts of the world. (We’re especially lacking on African art.)
Let’s get those submissions rolling in!
And don’t worry, we’re still plugging away at all the past recommendations, too.
“Feel Art Again” appears every Tuesday and Thursday and once on the weekend. You can e-mail us at feelartagain@gmail.com with details of current exhibitions, for sources or further reading, or to suggest artists.
While specific events in history have played a major part in the disappearance of many classical works of art, literature and music (the burning of the Library at Alexandria, for instance), sometimes these things are lost to time, poor preservation or deliberate destruction. And sometimes, they show up in unexpected places or under interesting circumstances, like these six.
Alexandre Dumas, like many authors, was sometimes pressed to write something quickly for money. This seems to be the case with The Royal House of Savoy, a 2500-page story that was serialized in Le Constitutionnel in 1854. It was so good, in fact, that neither the National Library of France nor the Alexandre Dumas Museum had any knowledge of it. Two historians browsing an antique bookstore in Turin, Italy, discovered it in 1998; since then, it has been published again in France, but an English version isn’t in the works.
Attributed to an anonymous 19th-century German artist, Profile of a Young Fiancée sold for a surprising $21,850 at a 1998 Christie’s New York auction. The amount seemed unbelievably high at the time, but over the next ten years, Nicholas Turner (formerly the Curator of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum) and a team of respected experts determined that the chalk-and-watercolor portrait was probably drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in (or around) 1485—making $21,850 a relative pittance. However, the attribution to da Vinci is not exactly universally accepted, and despite evidence from multi-spectral photographic analysis and the work’s inclusion in a 2008 publication titled Leonardo Infinito, many scholars still doubt the portrait was drawn by da Vinci.

80s dancing was the crown jewel of 80s movies, and no one does 80s movies better than the Brat Pack, ergo, this mashup video of Brat Pack dance mania is just pure gold.
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From the Annals of Stuff Maybe We Should Have Mentioned in the Caption … but Didn’t: check out the flying friar from Reuter’s Oddly Enough.
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From Flossy reader Krissy, a long and engaging piece from LA Weekly about “the keepers of the Kingdom,” a.k.a. people who go to Disney every day.
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Yes we’ve all heard of ManBabies.com but here are 11 of the Best Man Baby photos out there. I dare you not to chuckle at least once. Why are these so hilarious?
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Happy toilets. Drop in and do some happy thinking!
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As this comic aptly debates: The Roomba, making life more efficient or just a new kind of play toy?
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Cosmic (or not so much) Questions, Edition One: Atheists versus Believers? Actually, the real question is, who has the better jokes?
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This guys thinks his alarm clock going off is the worst thing to happen to him in the morning until …
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After years in his brother’s shadow, Luigi finally snaps.
In case you weren’t obsessively refreshing mentalfloss.com all week, here’s what you missed:

1. The Strange Early Jobs of 23 Famous People, by Ethan Trex
2. 6 Movies With Far More Depressing Alternative Endings, by Danny Gallagher
3. 5 Alternative Teaching Methods, by Scott Allen
4. One-Man Construction: 7 Lifelong Personal Projects, by Miss Cellania
5. Surfing the Web at 300 Baud, by Chris Higgins

OK, ready for a really random one? There appears to be a trend at weddings where the groom and groomsmen recreate the walking scene from Reservoir Dogs. Who even knew this was a thing? But I absolutely love Reservoir Dogs, so I feel I must present some samples here, along with one of my favorite parody videos.
These guys went retro. Black & white – nice touch. And the slo-mo makes it. (more…)

When I first saw this health club bus shelter ad with a scale built into the seat, my first reaction was, “That’s brutal.” But my second thought was it would definitely get my attention. Recently, I’ve seen quite a few examples of unique outdoor advertising. Here are a few of them…

Tryvann Winter Park is fifteen minutes from the center of Oslo, Norway. And while Oslo is completely clear, it could be snowing like crazy at Tryvann. These unique bus shelter ads actually created a mini blizzard whenever it was snowing on the slopes. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This summer, we’ll be inviting a handful of special guests to contribute a week’s worth of quizzes in the 5pm time slot. Our first such guest is baseball expert/food critic/bookworm Keith Law of ESPN. Make him feel welcome!
You can’t escape President Obama’s image these days – it’s as if he lives on the newsstand’s magazine rack and simply jumps from TIME to Newsweek to People, never taking a week off. Oddly enough, our President isn’t the only employee of the executive branch; you may be surprised to learn that he has help, including fifteen cabinet members who head administrative departments. Asking you to name the Secretaries would probably be a bit much, but can you name the fifteen departments they run?
Take the Quiz: The President’s Cabinet

Thanks to everyone who suggested topics of discussion. Our photoshoot was a smashing success. I’ll save some of the questions I don’t use today for another afternoon when my personal errands can’t be rescheduled.
1. What, in retrospect, is the most dangerous thing that nearly happened to you? For example, Debbie Harry nearly accepted a lift home in Ted Bundy’s car. Shiver. [From Jen, The Alien Spouse.]
2. What is one weird/strange food that you always wished you’d have the guts to try? (maggot cheese, Menudo, Rocky Mountain oysters). [From Lore.]
3. Have you ever written a fan letter? To whom? Did you get a response? [From Marion.]
4. What is the most interesting interaction you have ever had with a homeless person? [From Witty Nickname.]
5. Online dating is fairly common and pretty well accepted as a norm – hence, match.com, chemistry.com, eharmony, etc. What horror stories or success have you experienced? [From Nikki.]
Jen, Lore, Marion, Witty Nickname & Nikki: If you email me your addresses (jason@mentalfloss.com), we’ll get your back issues in the mail on Monday. If you’re a subscriber, let me know when you started getting the mag so we don’t send you something you’ve already seen. Thanks again!

I’ve recently decided that I need to see a game at every baseball stadium in the MLB. So far I’ve been to Yankee Stadium (the old one), the Metrodome, Wrigley, Citizens Bank Park, Miller Park and as of last week, Dodger Stadium. Wrigley’s my favorite and I don’t think any park is probably going to top it, but Dodgertown definitely has a gorgeous backdrop. Read on for 10 other facts about Dodger Stadium, and let me know in the comments what your favorite ballpark is. Who knows which one I might hit up next! As of right now it’s U.S. Cellular Field (the White Sox) in August, but I tend to pick up and go on random long weekends, so your comment could influence me.

1. Since the demolition of Yankee and Shea Stadiums, Dodger Stadium is now the third oldest ballpark, ranking well behind Wrigley (1916) and Fenway (1912).
2. Dodger Stadium sits in Chavez Ravine, but it didn’t get there without a fight. Although the residents of Chavez Ravine were compensated for the values of their land and their homes, some of them were not willing to leave. Things got so bad that the sheriff’s department had to go in with a bulldozer and armed guards. The last hold out finally sold for $10,500 (it was the ‘50s) and construction on Dodger Stadium began. The actual ravine was filled in with dirt to create level ground for the stadium and parking lots.
3. Dodger Stadium and the area surrounding it (Dodgertown) will soon be getting its own zip code – the L.A. City Council unanimously voted to give it one last year.
4. Dodger Stadium is the only stadium in the whole National League with a symmetrical outfield. And it’s one of just four in the MLB. The measurements: left field and right field are 330 feet, medium left-center and medium right-center are 360 feet, true left-center and true right-center are 375 feet, and center field is 400 feet. The 400 feet isn’t marked, though – you’ll just see “395” signs on either side of the dead center mark. (more…)