Links for May

Written on

May 2, 2026

Here are some things that were interesting to me in April – for your enjoyment in May!

Where is the Raccoon Hole?
A wholesome adventure from a very fun writer.

“They don’t look like me” – Niccolò Rastrelli’s photography series showing cosplayers around the world, with their families.

Peter Hilton’s comparison of KitKat and Kwikk Lunsj:

Ideas for Norwegian snack foods:

BÜmwater
Layt Bløømher
Sneyk Twiddler
Mørning Qwik-E

Illustrator James Bama

Doc Savage – the inspiration behind Indiana Jones

Source – “The yank pilot who lived with indochina’s amazon women”

“The shorts are for speed. The gun is for gravitas.”

For the sake of historical accuracy, I went to check what Vietnamese women-soldiers looked like during the fight against the French in “Indochina”:

They’re usually depicted with heavyweight rifles and babies. And they’re definitely not wearing those impractical “battle bikinis” in the Yank illustration.

Looking at the artwork above reminded me of this beautiful staged propaganda photo of a “field hospital”, from the later war against the USA:

More pulp magazine covers

That illustration of a bathing Yank came from a magazine called “For Men Only” and it has some wild covers that you can browse here. Here are some faves:

“I assure you that what I am about to do… I do with great reluctance”
<*sweats profusely>*

I’m having too much fun with these awful men’s magazines from the 50s:

“Saigon Sally, your radio days are over!”
source

Hah! “Saigon Sally” is probably a stand-in for “Hanoi Hannah” – a real Vietnamese broadcaster who’d try and demoralize American soldiers with her English-language broadcasts. She’d play music, read listener-submitted mail, list the names of freshly captured US soldiers and announce the locations of American units.

The “Related Articles” list for Hanoi Hannah is wild. Including Eastern Jewel, a transgender spy for Manchukuo (sorry to burst your kawaii bubble!) who was descended from Japanese royalty.

“Will ya just stop asking what I’m thinking about?! I’m not thinking about anything!!!”
source

What was the rhyme from Basic Training? “Two in the head / make the shark dead”
source

https://archityp.es – great storefront typography from the streets of France.

So, there’s this 4-volume book with photographs of China from 1873 (!). The couple above are getting married, and the photographer just goes savage on Chinese marriages:

Dreary and uninteresting from beginning to end is a Chinese marriage ceremony and in too many cases it must lead to a lifetime of disappointment and tears. In China, as in other parts of the world ladies prefer if they can, to get a glimpse of their intended partners. This may be done if circumstances are favourable but frequently they never see their lord and master, until the day when they are united to him for ever. One can readily fancy that, at such times, the first sight of an ill-favoured face will create a sad feeling of disgust and disappointment.