CultureDesk

When Mats Steen died at the age of 25 from a degenerative muscular disease, his parents were surprised to hear from people from all over Europe who were mourning his loss. Robert and Trudy Steen knew that their son was an avid gamer, but they didn’t know that for nearly a decade Mats had had another virtual life in the game World of Warcraft. The story of Mats, and his avatar, is now being told in a documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. The BBC has more: https://flip.it/KLP6Ip
#Culture #Gaming #VideoGames #TV #Documentaries #WorldOfWarcraft #TheRemarkableLifeOfIbelin

#PCGaming

Photographer Greta Rybus loves hot springs — the way they help her rest, be warmed and feel cared for. In this photo essay for The Dial, she visited springs around the world, from Greenland to Tokyo, and spoke to the people who bathe in and care for the waters.

https://flip.it/.oVhOf

#Photography #Photos #PhotoEssay #Lifestyle #Culture #Swimming #Wellness

An ewer shaped like a rooster is just one of many items visitors will find at The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, an exhibition that opens Sept. 22 in Detroit. Many of the objects on display are imbued with cultural meaning that might not be apparent at first glance. But the ewer, for example, was made hundreds of years ago and probably used for something that might come as a surprise. Atlas Obscura has more: https://flip.it/FGME6V
#Culture #History #Food #MiddleEast #Iran #Detroit #Islam

A few years ago, pictures of Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 115-acre private property in Pomfret, Vermont, went viral. "Leaf-peeping" influencers inundated the town, desperate to take pictures of the farm's winding road, which is lined by stately maple trees that turn vibrant shades of orange and red in the fall. "It's a beautiful spot. It's too bad it's been ruined for everybody," said Deborah Goodwin, the exhibits coordinator at a local arts center, who says influencers would climb gates, set up changing booths for costume swaps, get their cars stuck, and leave waste by the road. Now, the 900-person town is fighting back. The BBC explains how.

https://flip.it/Rk-_SN

#Travel #Tourism #Fall #Autumn #Photography #SocialMedia

Dungeons & Dragons turns 50 this year. The tabletop role playing game has gone through a lot in that time, from its initial rise, fall, and recent resurgence. NPR’s Glen Weldon talks about the moment that prompted his lifelong fascination with D&D, starting as a closeted teen in the early 1980s. “’I want to be an Illusionist,’ I said, firmly, which caused my fellow players to roll their eyes and mutter the first of what would turn out to be a sustained pattern of homophobic slurs in my general direction. I didn’t, and still don’t, care. I was fierce, and I was fabulous.” https://flip.it/wCAJ6G
#Culture #Games #Dungeons&Dragons #DnD #Pride #Queer

#PCGaming