Places of Fancy

Is Move to Heaven a Real Company?

2026-10-11T05:51:00.986+07:00

It's hard to watch "Move to Heaven" without tissues on hand. The tear-jerking 2021 series anthologizes tragic stories related to trauma cleaning, the unenviable job of sanitizing properties left behind by those who passed away unattended.

The K-drama might easily have slipped into ghost-story conventions, yet it chooses not to, letting the dead "communicate" through their belongings rather than through apparitions. It lifts from real-life events, the basis being a book of essays, "Things Left Behind" (떠난 후에 남겨진 것들), by professional trauma cleaner Kim Sae-byul.

Out of respect for the deceased, the author keeps their names and addresses anonymous. Likewise, "Move to Heaven" fictionalizes stories of godoksa or lonely deaths for the screen.

Godoksa is a very a real phenomenon in South Korea, with 3,924 cases recorded just in 2024. These demises often come with underlying social maladies such as abuse, depression, isolation, and aging.

Ever since "Parasite" broke out in a big way, South Korea has confronted these societal ills head-on in movies and television. "Move to Heaven" goes even further than its source material, exposing issues like international Korean adoption and domestic violence, from the perspective of a man living with Asperger's, Han Geu-ru (Tang Joon-sang), and Sang-gu (Lee Je-hoon), his unlikely guardian.

While the author's company, Bio Hazard, operates out of a commercial space, its fictional counterpart, also named Move to Heaven, is headquartered in Geu-ru's family home. In real life, the Move to Heaven office is actually the headquarters of a design firm, QNA Urban Architecture Lab, and 3D print studio COCDESIGN.

Set-jetters, assemble: It's located at 240-47, Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (서울특별시 마포구 연nam동 240-47).

Or you can type its current street-name address registry: 4 Seongmisan-ro 29-gil, Yeonnam-dong, Seoul (서울특별시 마포구 성미산로29길 4).

The business of death is never truly finished, and it's comforting to know that people like Sae-byul are helping the bereaved find closure. With All Souls' Day approaching, it's a fitting moment to reflect on life's fleeting nature or, at the very least, watch "Move to Heaven" instead of the usual Halloween horror fare.

What's Hell Like? 66 Hottest Depictions of the Pit in Art

2026-09-28T05:27:57.630+07:00

A scene from Universal Pictures' 'Drag Me to Hell.'

Perdition is always a god-awful thought when you're in the throes of death. What is hell like? What is hell shaped like? How do fire and brimstone feel like? Is hell hot or cold? Is there an exit?

As human beings, it compels us to wonder where people who wrong us go after they die. It came to a point where individuals in bygone days would write world-changing religious texts about this bad place, just because they thought they had received some "revelations." This level of fascination with the afterlife crosses the minds of painters, poets, novelists, filmmakers and artists to this day.

Often holier-than-thou, sometimes crazy, and always imaginative, their visions of the pit are truly unpleasant as, well, hell. Here are some of the greatest books, art works, games, TV shows and movies that show how heaven can wait:

66. “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”

Lil Nas X caused some serious pandemic pearl-clutching with the release of this 2021 music video, which sees him slide on a stripper pole down to the fiery depths, where he bumps, grinds and twerks against the red guy. The out rapper says that homophobes have told him he’s going to hell, so he gave them hell, literally.

65. Castlevania

Via fandom.com

The anime-inspired Netflix series shows Dracula and his wife Lisa residing in hell.

64. Cow and Chicken

Red's first appearance on the Cartoon Network series shows him emerging from an elevator that goes straight down to hell.

63. The Powerpuff Girls

Yes, the network really had devilish fun in the 1990s. Look at Him, turning Townsville to hell.

62. Family Guy

The offensive Peter Griffin and family have several adventures in hell. It seems like not all dogs go to heaven.

61. South Park

South Park characters have traveled to hell and back, too.

60. The Simpsons

So did Homer Simpson, etc.

59. "Satan's Waitin'"

Sylvester and Tweety star in this cat-and-bird adventure through hell, which is quite reminiscent of a certain classic 1949 Tom and Jerry cartoon.

58. Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z calls hell, an arctic place with a bloody lake, by its Japanese name jigoku. In the Puritan-ized American dub, however, it goes by the acronym HFIL or Home for Infinite Losers.

57. Sleeping Beauty

As if a forest of thorns isn't enough, "all the powers of hell" turn King Stefan's castle into a towering inferno of spectacular green flames. Not so much a disgrace to the forces of evil, are we, Maleficent?

56. Freddy vs. Jason

Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger gives us a glimpse of hell as he seeks out Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees, who has been hibernating in his patch of the infernal regions since Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

55. Tales from the Crypt (1972)

But of course, who has VIP access to the doors of hell other than the underground-loving Cryptkeeper himself?

54. Diablo

What does a video game titled Diablo add to the hell mythology? Get your cheat codes ready, as you're up against Al'Diabolos, no less.

53. Lexx

Hell is the fire planet to Heaven's watery world in this intergalactic German-Canadian TV show.

52. The Devil in Miss Jones

Not to be confused with 1941's The Devil and Miss Jones, this pornographic movie from the 1970s gives a raging nympho the gravest of punishments: an eternity of sexual frustration.

51. Santa Claus

For this unlikely 1959 Christmas movie, directed by Cuban-Mexican legend René Cardona, hell looks like your average cave-like place of eternal punishment, in contrast to the celestial Toyland inhabited by Santa.

50. Deconstructing Harry

~~The morally corrupt~~ Woody Allen takes a self-deprecating trip to an air-conditioned hell in this 1997 film, where he banters with Billy Crystal as a fallen angel.

49. The Devil and Max Devlin

Speaking of Allen, Bill Cosby plays into the hell-as-an-office trope in this 1981 Disney comedy.

48. Angel On My Shoulder

Old Nick Scratch is truly the "master of his sphere," a real toasty place complete with its own thermostat, in the Faustian 1946 movie, originally titled Me and Satan.

47. Little Nicky

Scheming and lying down under. Photo via RapidMoviez

Will I meet Hitler there? Another existential question worthy of an Adam Sandler movie.

46. "I'll Never Heil Again"

On the subject of Adolf, World War II was hell on earth, truly, and the The Three Stooges' 1941 depiction of neverending damnation, which demonizes Nazis, was a TV episode of its time.

45. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Follow the doofuses as they plunge into the abyss long enough to play games with the Grim Reaper, and then deal with a God who conspires with extraterrestrials. The entire movie, like the hell in it, is one hot mess.

44. Doctor Who

The Void is another name for hell in the decades-long British series. How is hell described here, a sci-fi show? It's simply a state of emptiness in the multiverse.

43. Heaven Can Wait

Where Innumerable People Had Told Him So Often to Go has quite a ring to it in this 1943 romcom about a man waiting to be admitted to hell.

42. Reaper

For anyone who's had a hard time at the DMV, the dreaded office being depicted as a portal to hell couldn't be a more welcome poetic license.

41. Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Demons get the young-adult, Twilight treatment in the Shadowhunters universe. For every realm in hell, there's a dashing prince ready to sweep you off your feet (or swallow you from the ground perhaps).

40. Lucifer

Angels, fallen or otherwise, rule Fox and Netflix's joint venture into hell. If you're after a handsome devil, literally, look no further than Tom Ellis' sexy Celestial.

39. Bedazzled

Hell is also the hottest it can be with a scantily clad Liz Hurley (a gender flip of the role originally portrayed by Peter Cook in 1967) ruling it with an iron fist and manicured nails. We're sure Bedazzled 2000's hell scenes, with its caged strippers, take place in the Second Circle of "Inferno."

38. Scrooge

Everybody's favorite Yuletide misanthrope Ebenezer briefly spends winter in hell, a frosty office manned by Lucifer's clerk. Come for his change of heart, stay for the songs; the 1970 movie was Oscar-nominated for its music.

37. God's Demon

Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, also calls Wayne Barlowe’s prose about Hell "strange, terrifying and bizarrely beautiful”

Satan, Abaddon, Azazel...Add Sargatanas, the lead in Wayne Barlowe's 2007 novel "God's Demon", to your demonology studies. This creature of darkness has the balls to wage war against Beelzebub in a vision of hell divided into fiefdoms. No less than Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola have heaped praises on Barlowe's work.

36. DC's Legends of Tomorrow

In season five of The CW series, nightclub impresario Astra Logue lives in a hell that looks like any other sleek, 21st-century city, except that fellow urbanites include the damned souls of Brutus, Black Caesar, Bonnie, Caligula, Charles Manson, Henry VIII, Jack the Ripper, and Vlad the Impaler.

35. Drag Me to Hell

Hell only takes a peek twice in this movie, but you will have sat hard against your seat by the time flames lick at living, breathing human beings onscreen. The movie marked Sam Raimi's return to horror after a long hiatus.

34. City Infernal

Also in audiobook version

Take your literal concepts of Sin City with you. We'll go for Edward Lee's City Infernal, which reimagines hell as a triumph of urban planning called Mephistopolis, released coincidentally just before 9-11.

33. Supernatural

"Downstairs," the long-running series' take on hell, really feels like torture even for demons, who came to this place originally as human souls.

32. Hellboy

Via eddy currents

Capital sins require a capital city. In the Hellboy comics as in the movie adaptations, perdition has a bustling metropolis called Pandemonium, inspired by John Milton.

31. Charmed

The good witches of the West Coast have their work cut out for them, squaring off against a Rolodex of demons in this Aaron Spelling-produced series. They, and all dark magic, stem from The Source, who reigns supreme in the Underworld, down to a prison-like Tartarus.

30. Spawn

via Kinasin

Al Simmons, a murderous CIA operative, goes to hell and gets a second act in life as Spawn. This is the premise of the eponymous comics, created in 1992 and turned into a movie in 1997.

29. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

The unexpectedly dark turn that the 60-year-old Sabrina comics has taken, in print and on TV, offers repeat visits to perdition. A place of brazen nepotism, hell is ruled by a dynasty of Morningstars: fallen angel Lucifer and his daughter Sabrina, her beau Caliban, and the lovelorn Lilith.

28. As Above So Below

Oh mon Dieu! Paris is burning in the 2014 film by John Erick Dowdle, who had directed the M. Night Shyamalan story Devil just a few years prior.

27. Incarnations of Immortality

'On A Pale Horse' is the first book in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series

Satan a shrewd marketer? You'll be damned. The beast advertises hell as a great place to be in this eight-book fantasy by English-American novelist Piers Anthony.

26. The Good Place

Not gonna spoil the twist in this award-winning series for you, but this saying applies to earth as it does to the Bad Place: "Hell is other people." (Thanks, Jean-Paul Sartre for the helluva quote.)

25. Event Horizon

Apparently, there are two ways to hell: sinning on earth or traveling to the nether realms of space. Pick a struggle.

24. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Demonic principals, witchy teachers, vampire students...high school is literally and figuratively hell in Sunnydale a.k.a. Hellmouth.

23. The Devil's Advocate

Keanu Reeves is really bedeviled by a satanic Al Pacino in the 1997 horror movie. Here, Manhattan embodies Hell HQ, with 94th Street at Fifth Avenue, the Continental Plaza, and Donald Trump's own cribs at Trump Tower, natch, among the film locations. Check out the beautiful shots of 57th Street as an eerie, silent road to hell.

22. Hellhole

In this 2022 Polish horror film, the good guys are defeated long enough for viewers to see the world turned upside down by hell on earth.

21. "Hell Is the Absence of God"

The anthology contains lots of amazing short stories, including the one on which 'Arrival' is based

Ted Chiang does the incongruous: writing awesome religious fantasy as well as breathtaking sci-fi. His 2001 short story, which reappears the following year in his anthology Stories of Your Life and Others (basis of the 2016 film Arrival), makes out hell to be a world just like our own, with some depressing exceptions.

20. The Frighteners

Forget dreams within dreams. Peter Jackson's pre-Lord-of-the-Rings perspective of hell is nightmare fuel inside slithering nightmare fuel.

19. Memnoch the Devil

Tom Cruise as Lestat, virtually a demon on earth

Anne Rice's wild imagination drags the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt through space and time to the land of the damned, all while nurturing sympathy for the Devil who takes the name Memnoch. In this novel, the fifth in The Vampire Chronicles, Rice transcribes the sorrow of Sheol as artfully as she details the jaded splendor of Heaven. She also gives a gripping explanation of where demons come from. Let's just say vampires are lucky bastards for skipping the afterlife and, thereby, eternal damnation.

18. Hellraiser

Hell is in the eyes of the beholder. For enthusiasts of bondage and sadomasochism, Pinhead's sanctuary might as well be heaven.

17. Constantine

Years after Bogus Journey and Devil's Advocate, Keanu Reeves was able to revisit the fiery realms. The 2009 movie adaptation of Vertigo's Hellblazer comics casts Reeves as John Constantine, living proof of what a multiple-entry visa to Hell gets you to: a decaying city perpetually swept by gales, its roads and subways teeming with suffering souls.

16. Good Omens

Think your job is hell? The rat race never ends even in the afterlife. Hell, along with heaven, is the plush London office building Broadgate Tower in Amazon and BBC Two's Good Omens, adapted from the 1990 Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel.

15. Ghost Rider

Before Constantine, before Hellboy, before Spawn, there was Johnny Blaze, the murderer of murderers. The land of damnation has taken on various forms ever since Marvel Comics introduced us to this hellion on wheels in 1972. Sometimes it looks like a magma-filled desert, other times a palatial realm with a fiendish throne as desired as that in GOT.

14. "Night on Bald Mountain"

The iconic segment in the 1940 Disney masterpiece Fantasia hand-illustrates hell as something all at once demonic and volcanic. It stops short of calling Bald Mountain hell, but still you're going to say your Ave Marias after this.

13. "A Nice Place to Visit"

There's a special place in hell for the greedy. No, there is a special hell for the greedy, warns this memorable Twilight Zone episode from 1960.

12. "Dull Gret"

The hellscape on Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1563 painting was evocative of its time. He depicts the folkloric shrew Mad Meg and her army pillaging hell, as if to say powerful women were at home here. One only needs to read the prevailing proverbs of that era, such as "against six (women) the Devil himself has no weapon” or "she could plunder in front of hell and return unscathed,” to know where the painter was coming from. In such a misogynistic time, it was hell on earth for women.

11. "Heavenly Puss"

What kid has not seen these eight minutes of awesome? In this timeless 1949 cartoon, Tom is dead and begs for Jerry's clemency to enter the pearly gates. We catch glimpses of the Devil himself; if you've watched Tom and Jerry long enough, you may have an idea who:

Spike fits the bill

10. What Dreams May Come

WATCH YOUR STEP. Robin Williams on a hellish plain. Via Hell Happens

This Robin Williams vehicle sees the comedian falling, Orpheus-like, to save his wife, whose suicide has lodged her in a personal Gehenna. Dreams demands optical attention, what with allusions to Caspar David Friedrich artworks and all. It even tries to one-up Dante's "Inferno" by conceptualizing its own levels of hell, including unforgettable images of a field of human heads. The visual effects team of Joel Hynek, Nicholas Brooks, Stuart Robertson, and Kevin Scott Mack got well-deserved Oscars for this unforgettable flick.

9. "Hell's Bells"

Milk it for what it's worth.

Long before they showed the world a lava-filled cave of wonders, Disney had already visualized a red-hot void beneath the earth. In the 1929 Silly Symphony short "Hell's Bells," beasts and imps hold court in a cave of terrors: one of the earliest depictions of inferno in the motion picture industry. A behemoth of a cow being milked for hellfire? Judge Claude Frollo must be drinking a venti cup right now.

8. The Canterbury Tales

Check out the original-spelling Middle English edition

Geoffrey Chaucer's at-times homophobic poem "The Canterbury Tales" promises corrupt summoners a front-row seat to hell, so exclusive that they'd be able to describe it better than Dante Alighieri. Check out the 1972 Italian movie by Pier Paolo Pasolini who puts through the silver screen a very anal concept of hell.

7. "Paradise Lost"

Pandæmonium, the capital of Hell, as painted by John Martin for "Paradise Lost"

"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.''

With that, Lucifer made the most of the lot God relegated him to: "one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames / No light."

Yes, for all its surplus of heat, from sea of "liquid fire" to shore of "solid" flames, John Milton's depiction of hell is one rayless place to be. As if the horrific verses aren't enough, creepy illustrations accompany "Paradise Lost." From the scowling angels of William Blake to the searing Pandæmonium of John Martin, Milton's epic poem will leave you morally remorseful.

6. "Mouth of Hell"

In 1440, the duchess Catherine of Cleves commissioned a devotional manuscript, the Book of Hours, filled with prayers as much as proselytizing of the pains of hell. Inside, readers see what awaits them in the entrance to hell, gaping lips that look hotter and hotter as you peer closer inside. Outside, demons merrily cart sinners on wheelbarrows on the equally diabolical-looking castle grounds.

5. "The Last Judgment"

Jan van Eyck's vision of eternal damnation was typical of iconography of its time, yet it still stands out on its own. The right panel of his 15th-century diptych is a frightening vision with scenes of the ascension clashing with the fall to the underworld, all while a valorous Archangel Michael makes sure which side is which.

4. "The Last Judgment"

Dante's friend, the artist Giotto, shares his vividly hellish imagination. If you look counter-clockwise at his 1307 fresco in Padua's Scrovegni chapel, you'll be taken for a quick spin from paradise to perdition, with a giant purple devil waiting at the end of your descent.

3. "Inferno"

HELL HATH NO WRATH. The Fifth Circle of Hell in Dante's "Inferno" as illustrated by Stradanus

Was Dante Alighieri that scot-free in life? Because he has envisaged the worst punishments for sins, small and big, in "Inferno," one of the cantiche in his long-ass poem "The Divine Comedy."

Many faiths have defined hell as distance from God; this poem takes that interpretation to heart. A religious experience in terrifying terms, the "Inferno" portion of the poem has popularized the concept of hell as a series of circles, each one Further, My God, to Thee.

Dante is more imaginative than simply casting wrongdoers to a lake that burns with sulphur. Were you licentious in life? Get whipped by endless squalls. Gluttonous? Be dog food. Greedy? Roll humongous stones uphill. Are you the Devil and all the sins that go with being Him/Her? Find yourself in the last circle and the best oxymoron of the universe: a frozen hell.

"Inferno" has inspired artists through the centuries, including Auguste Rodin who went on to sculpt "The Gates of Hell" after the famous cantica and Sandro Botticelli who created 92 illustrations for the entire poem.

"The Divine Comedy" hasn't aged well, however, with more and more literary scholars coming to terms with its racist, homophobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic passages.

2. The Aeneid

Frederick Ahl is one of the most respected translators of ancient epic poems

The idea of the nether realms predates Christianity, and Dante himself appropriates from ancient Rome for "Inferno." It was heavily inspired by Book 6 of The Aeneid by Virgil, about the wanderer Aeneas' journey to the Underworld and descent to its pits, Tartarus, where he witnesses the torment of wrongdoers.

Tartarus as a concept originated in ancient Greek mythology: a place where the gods hurled down their foes. Later Tartarus would become synonymous with Hades, never mind that Tartarus was said to be deeper than Hades in the abyss. As the Hebrew Bible spread to Greece, Hades became interchangeable with Sheol, the land of the dead in Judeo-Christian tradition. Talk about getting lost in translation.

1. "The Garden of Earthly Delights"

Fun starts in the triptych's third panel.

Of all the known paintings of hell, Hieronymus Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" takes the devil's food cake.

Accentuated by pastoral scenes of Eden and Earth to its left, all hell breaks loose in the third panel of "Garden." It's a visceral tableau of doom and gloom: a burning metropolis and, outside its gates, horrors of the worst degree. A beaked creature swallowing bodies whole and excreting them into a hole of diabolic turd. Musical instruments being poked into places they shouldn't be. Eggshell taverns governed by dancing demons...Keep telling yourself: "It's just a painting."

(P.S. Get a poster instead.)

Where Is the Rich House in 'Parasite' Filmed?

2026-09-13T08:03:31.428+07:00

Cho Yeo-jeong plays rich matriarch Yeon-kyo in CJ Entertainment's 'Parasite' (2019).

The world of "Parasite" is not too far off from real, everyday life in South Korea. The subterranean, subhuman banjiha homes in the movie, contrasted against the hillside mansions of the upper crust, show the wide canyon between the country's haves and have-nots.

Going from the gritty streets of Seoul to its posh neighborhoods is a tough hill to climb, figuratively and literally. Yes, I scaled the steep roads of Seongbuk-gu, one of the city's most luxurious enclaves, in search of Park Dong-ik's house.

In case you're wondering, the Parks' fictional address is at 18, Seonjam-ro 8-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul (서울특별시 성북구 선잠로8길 18).

Walking the path of Kim Ki-woo, I was immediately reminded of my place in life. I sweated bullets as I passed imposing gates that looked like they could easily hide a chaebol or two. Luxury cars sped by, navigating the incline with ease while this stranger faced an uphill battle.

Arriving at my destination, I realized I was not only in an affluent district. This was home to the rich and the powerful.

That memorable shot of Choi Woo-shik, flanked by towering, leafy walls, was just outside the Residence of the Ambassador of Türkiye.

Outside the lofty fences, you couldn't tell director Bong Joon Ho actually created a dedicated set somewhere else to house the fictional Park family.

While the Turkish ambassador's house loomed over the location shooting, the Park family's house was primarily a constructed set in Jeonju, over 100 miles from Seoul. The production team built the first floor, with a view to the garden, on an empty lot while the second-floor interiors and basement were erected on a soundstage at a film studio.

The second-floor exterior was added through computer-generated imagery, using over 400 visual effects shots to give the whole thing a semblance of a multistory house.

Besides the dark upstairs-downstairs dynamic, the set is known for the strategic placement of clean vertical lines, creating visual divisions onscreen between the broke and the bounteous.

Production designer Lee Ha Jun summed it up best when he said the team had to construct a house "so real that the audience could accept the idea the characters were actually living in it."

What's scary is that audiences won't just buy into this idea of a real-life house. At some point in the movie, they might actually want to buy it and live in it.

That's a parasite that burrows into the mind.

Where Is the Real Corner Store from 'Parasite'? (Plus the Peach Scene Address)

2026-09-06T08:10:09.898+07:00

South Korea may have already been a dream destination for K-drama and K-pop fans, but for cinephiles, it ultimately made its mark on the global set-jetting map the moment "Parasite" made history. It’s only the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

One of the film’s most instrumental scenes unfolds early on, when Kim Ki-woo (played by Choi Woo-shik) meets a friend outside a modest store called Woori to plot his tutoring gig.

In reality, the Woori store goes by a much humbler nickname: "Pig Rice" or Doijissal Supermarket, nestled in a quiet corner of Seoul.

To find it, skip Google Maps (South Korea restricts foreign server data storage, so local apps are far more reliable). Instead, fire up Naver Map or KakaoMap and punch in this address:

32 Songijeong-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

(서울특별시 마포구 손기정로 32)

“Supermarket” might mislead some to think this is some big-box store though. In real life, it looks like your typical Korean mom-and-pop shop, one that happens to occupy prime real estate in “Parasite” fans’ hearts.

Once you arrive, don’t just snap a photo. Show some love to the elderly couple who run the place. Grab a drink or a snack, and they might just serve you right outside, at the very table where Ki-woo once sat under that unmistakable umbrella.

Hunting for that infamous peach scene? Walk just behind the supermarket. You’ll find the exact spot at:

3, Songijeong-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

When I visited, I was struck by how the street lamps cast such a warm, cinematic glow. It was bright enough to mimic the daylight that falls so dramatically on Kim Ki-jung (Park So-dam) in the film.

From the alley, the stairs and supermarket corner reveal themselves like part of a living soundstage, more unassuming than a Hollywood studio but no less emotionally charged.

Where Is Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita' Located in Real Life?

2026-08-31T03:02:39.143+07:00

Madonna in a scene from her "La Isla Bonita" music video (1987).

Fictional places are not exclusive to movies or shows. They're in legendary, catchy pop music, too.

Since it's Madonna's birthday month, we thought it would be a great time to track down one of the Queen of Pop's most famous fictional creations, the mythical "La Isla Bonita" from her 1986 song of the same name.

"Last night, I dreamt of San Pedro..." has sound-tracked many a drunken beach party for decades, and listeners worldwide have wondered where this particular San Pedro is.

Because, truth be told, there really are dozens of San Pedros in the Hispanosphere, scattered everywhere from the Americas to Africa to Asia. Mother Spain alone has 75 places or so called San Pedro.

Most of them, however, are not islands. Sure, there are San Pedros on islands in Spain and the Philippines, but the former is on Ibiza in the Mediterranean; tropical the island breeze, it isn’t. Another Spanish island, La Palma, while literally promoted as La Isla Bonita, also sits above the Tropic of Cancer. And despite the Philippines' long history as a Spanish colony, it’s not a majority Spanish-speaking country. The people on its San Pedro island have other ways of saying "te amo."

There's also San Pedro de Macorís on the island nation that is the Dominican Republic, but it's mostly an urban area, its rustic beaches largely for the enjoyment of locals instead of international tourists. In addition to San Pedro Island, the Philippines has a San Pedro on its largest island, Luzon, but it's a bustling, landlocked city.

That narrows the field to San Pedro Town, the principal settlement on Ambergris Caye, Belize’s largest island.

Locals here have wholeheartedly leaned into the town’s association with the chart-topper since the 1980s. Everyone from hotel operators to the local government has embraced the song, all grateful for the effect it has had on tourism.

“Nos fue de maravilla con la canción y todavía siguen llegando turistas que quieren constatar lo que describe ese tema musical,” former tourism minister Manuel Heredia told El Heraldo de Mexico. ("We did wonderfully with the song, and tourists are still arriving who want to see for themselves what that song describes.")

Nature is certainly wild and free in San Pedro, Belize. From beaches to Spanish lullabies, it ticks all the "True Blue" boxes—except for the samba part.

Belizeans mostly celebrate the sambai, which is more of a fertility dance than the freewheeling Carnival music in Brazil.

At any rate, the name-dropping has already passed into local legend in Belize, with some claiming to have witnessed the pop queen holding a cocktail in a palapa.

There's only one problem: Madonna has not really been to the country. The song originated not in South or Central America but in the good ol' United States of America.

"I don't know where San Pedro is," she confessed (on a dancefloor) to Rolling Stone. "At that point, I wasn't a person who went on holidays to beautiful islands. I may have been on the way to the studio and seen an exit ramp for San Pedro."

The pop star did not even venture far for her music video. It was filmed around Bixel and Maryland Streets in Los Angeles.

There are no public records of Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch, Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" co-writers, visiting Belize either. Instead, Patrick waited for Madonna to return to the US from another island, Hong Kong—where subtropical the island breeze blew, lol—to play her the song's instrumental. Madonna loved the way it sounded, put pen to paper, and the rest was herstory.

La Reina del Pop is still going strong decades after "La Isla Bonita" hit the airwaves, and her penchant for building worlds in her songwriting has not let up. In "Confessions II," her critically acclaimed 2026 album, she sings in vivid detail about Danceteria, the fabled New York nightclub, welcoming a new generation of listeners to experience a place that feels so distant in time yet still somehow sounds familiar.

This living legend is clearly not taking a "Holiday" from great, imaginative songcraft.

Is Maldonia from 'The Princess and the Frog’ a Real Place?

2026-08-28T05:10:08.032+07:00

A scene from the 2009 Disney animated film 'The Princess and the Frog.'

Is Prince Naveen Arab? Is Prince Naveen Indian?

Perhaps those were the first questions you asked yourself while watching the "The Princess and the Frog," Disney's gorgeous hand-drawn swan song of an animated movie in 2009. (The actual last 2D hurrah, so far, ended up being 2011's "Winnie the Pooh.") The overarching question is this: Is Maldonia, Prince Naveen's kingdom, real?

While there's no mistaking the herstory-making ethnicity of Tiana, especially in the promo leading up to the premiere, many viewers still try to find Maldonia on the map. The country is certainly fictional, giving the animators carte blanche to depict Naveen as a dashing, racially ambiguous man.

South Asians might have good reason to claim Naveen as one of their own though. His is a pretty common name in India, Sanskrit for "new." Also, his mother is spotted wearing what looks like a saree. But deleted scenes have Maldonia’s native tongue as Maldaquesh, which sounds like a cross between Spanish and Italian. And for all we know, the nation is supposed to be where it sounds like: somewhere between Macedonia in Europe and the Maldives in South Asia, a vast expanse of cultures.

In the end, Maldonia is never fully shown on film, and the best clues to its origins come from Naveen's complicated character development arc.

He was meant to be an aristocratic rake, Prince Harry (later renamed Henry), with visuals modeled on a Caucasian Hollywood screen legend, Cary Grant. Animators changed their mind, fearful of perpetuating the white savior trope alongside Tiana, but the other end of the spectrum was equally problematic. Disney could not afford to have a Black character embody Henry's stereotypically lazy, bratty traits, not in Obama’s America.

With just enough mélange of traditions to confound viewers, Maldonia offered an easy way out, along with casting a Brazilian actor, Bruno Campos, in the role. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements instead spent their time perfecting the Louisiana cityscapes and bayous on film.

So, did Disney successfully play it safe? Or did it still manage to offend someone? Not all were pleased for sure, but the box office still found something to rejoice in the first Black Disney princess coming to life, even if she also appeared green onscreen.

Where Is Herrington High School in 'The Faculty'?

2026-08-20T03:54:32.619+07:00

The 1998 Miramax movie 'The Faculty' was filmed in Austin, Lockhart, and San Marcos, Texas

Put "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Thing," and "The Breakfast Club" in an aquarium, and you get "The Faculty," a clever take on the teen slasher flick that was all the rage in the post-"Scream" 1990s.

Unlike movies of its generation, "The Faculty's" baddies are not of this earth. It came from outer space!

Herrington High, the school where it is set, is only one letter away from reality. There's a Herington High in Kansas; the film was shot nearby in Texas (Lockhart High School and Austin's Texas School for the Deaf provided the exterior and interior shots, respectively). There's even an international school named Herrington in Cambodia.

While those schools might definitely have an alien or two, i.e., expats and exchange students (duh), there's a good chance they have not been invaded by extraterrestrials like their movie counterpart.

Then again, we're living in what believers call the Age of Disclosure, and if UFO incidents were to be believed, ETs have already been to school.

Among the most convincing ones happened in Zimbabwe. On September 16, 1994, children witnessed a silvery craft land during recess at Ariel School in Ruwa. Was this a case of mass hallucination or an elaborate hoax? We'll never know, but 60 children surely couldn't be making up stuff and stand by that story as adults decades later, right?

There's a case to be made for children being the most credible witnesses to strange occurrences. Research and forensic data often show that children rarely fabricate traumatic incidents or abuse.

And that leads us to an even older incident on the other side of the globe. On April 6, 1966, students and teachers at Westall State School and Westall High School in Melbourne reported seeing a flying saucer above schoolgrounds. Anywhere from 200 to 300 people saw the object, making it Australia's biggest UFO sighting.

On a smaller scale, but no less believable, is the incident that happened at Broad Haven Primary School in Wales in 1977. Fourteen pupils saw a cigar-shaped object with a dome around the playground, and they were able to sketch, separately, what they saw with surprising accuracy.

Obviously, these close encounters were not of the parasitic kind like "The Faculty." A few of them were more benign than disturbing, the Ariel School students even receiving telepathic messages from the visitors about shepherding this planet.

Which brings us to ask: Is there a watery planet with "Faculty-like" aliens out there?

Where Is 'The School for Good and Evil' in Real Life?

2026-08-04T05:42:28.242+07:00

Netflix's 'The School for Good and Evil' was filmed on location in Northern Ireland, notably St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast (below via The National Churches Trust)

Soman Chainani, author of "The School for Good and Evil," did not really have Hogwarts in mind when writing the 2013 novel. Instead, his love of Disney and female baddies propelled him to put the fictional school to paper.

The seeds of "The School for Good and Evil" were planted at a real institution, Harvard. As a freshman at the university, Chainani took a seminar with folklorist Maria Tatar, under whom he discovered the darker origins of classic fairy tales. The experience led him to concentrate in English and American Literature and eventually inspired the world of his bestselling fantasy series.

"I literally created my own major around fairy tales, with a focus on female villains," he told Cracking the Cover. "I wanted to understand: What makes a female villain so compelling? 'The School for Good and Evil' seeks to answer that question."

The novel was eventually adapted for Netflix, with director Paul Feig at the helm. Think the magical school in the 2022 movie was a castle? Think again. It's actually St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, whose interiors the filmmakers recast as parts of the schools for Good and Evil.

They also transformed the Northern Irish countryside into fictional landscapes, with the Big Dog Forest in County Fermanagh and Woodburn Forest in County Antrim doing heavy lifting as the Endless Woods.

The movie was also filmed on location at the 19th-century estate Mount Stewart in County Down, its water features playing a big role in Agatha's transformation. Another County Down site, Clandeboye Estate near Bangor, was also utilized.

While Feig practically used St. Anne's as a soundstage of sorts for weeks, other production work took place in Belfast Harbour Studios.

Originally meant for adults, "The School for Good and Evil" was rewritten with young readers in mind. As it happens, they're the audience most in need of its lessons. With the novel, Chainani hopes to teach them to get away from labels: that the world is more complex than the us-versus-them morality play they grew up seeing on media. For that alone, you should see this movie in a crown.

Is Madripoor Based on a Real Place?

2026-07-30T05:07:02.665+07:00

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier visit Madripoor (above via Disney+), a place based on Singapore (below)

Marvel has never been shy about inventing places for its characters. The X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe alone is home to a sprawling collection of fictional locales, such as the mutant nations of Genosha and Krakoa.

One of the more grounded ones is the fictional principality of Madripoor. While Singapore also exists in Marvel's main Earth-616 continuity, Madripoor is widely regarded as a Southeast Asian metropolis inspired by the city-state.

Madripoor finally made its live-action debut in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" in 2021. The Disney+ series portrays it as a neon-drenched cyberpunk metropolis, a visual composite of not only Singapore but also Hong Kong and other Asian megacities. Bucky Barnes describes Madripoor as “an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago" and "a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s.”

In the comics, the riffs on Singapore are clearer, from the Merlion-like emblem on its flag to its proximity to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

But that's where the similarities end.

Unlike orderly, tightly regulated Singapore, Madripoor is infamous as a haven for smugglers, mercenaries, and organized crime. Its lawless reputation contrasts Singapore's image as one of the world's safest cities, known for its strict enforcement of laws, including long-standing restrictions on the sale and import of chewing gum.

Chris Claremont and Steve Leialoha introduced Madripoor to readers in New Mutants #32 in 1985. By this decade, however, Singapore had progressed into a "tiger economy," far removed from its days as a colonial trading port.

Today, Singapore remains one of Southeast Asia's premier maritime gateways; it even serves as the homeport for Disney Cruise Line's Disney Adventure. The real ones can only hope Wolverine and the gang are aboard.

Where Is Fantastica in 'The Neverending Story'?

2026-07-15T04:23:19.234+07:00

From Neue Constantin Film and Warner Bros. Pictures' 'The Neverending Story' (1984)

Turn around. Look at what you see...

Forgive us for singing the oh-so-80s soundtrack to "The NeverEnding Story," the fantasy movie that takes place in the—sadly—fictional land of Fantastica. From flying luckdragons to enigmatic Sphinxes, this realm is truly as fantastical as it sounds.

When Michael Ende penned the book on which the film was based, he leaned on the teachings of occult thinker Rudolf Steiner for inspiration. Steiner is a recurrent figure here at Places of Fancy. Anthroposophy, the movement he founded, has its fingerprints on filmmakers as diverse as Ari Aster, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jordan Belson, and Alexander Kluge. With "The NeverEnding Story," Ende visualized Steiner’s idea of moral imagination being able to forge the path to free will.

Another muse was his father Edgar, whose surrealist paintings gave rise to the Minoudjin, the city of ghosts, and the Spook City. Michael had vivid memories of his father's canvases, depicting dreamlike landscapes of floating monoliths, beasts, and the like.

“I am standing on top of the image world of my father, so to speak," Michael once said. "I have tried to continue his artistic method within my own field, meaning the way he found his images."

Context was also everything in the formation of Fantastica. Ende grew up in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a Bavarian town nestled among alpine peaks and dense forests, terrain that would echo through the Howling Forest and the Silver Mountains.

Later, living in Italy with his wife at Villa Liocorno in Genzano di Roma, he gazed upon the rounded hills of the Roman countryside. From that view emerged Morla, the colossal turtle mountain slumbering in the Swamps of Sadness.

For his big-budget movie adaptation, German director Wolfgang Petersen stayed close to Ende's childhood stomping ground. Massive sets were constructed at the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich for Ende's fantasyland, renamed Fantasia in the movie, including the Swamps of Sadness and the Ivory Tower.

But those iconic shots of Atreyu galloping across endless plains on Artax? They were filmed in Spain's Tabernas Desert. The same goes for the memorable scene where he washes ashore; that took place at the volcanic cove of Playa de Mónsul in Almería.

Fantastica, it seems, was always meant to be a borderless patchwork of worlds. Hidden in the lines, written on the pages, is the answer to its never ending story.

Where Is the Khia Asylum IRL, and Who's in It?

2026-07-13T05:34:35.699+07:00

Stan culture likes to live in a land of make-believe sometimes, whether it's the supposed hegemony of their faves over the music world or the shady drama that they want so badly to be true between rival stars.

Out of this chart-obsessed subculture comes the so-called Khia Asylum...and it's not a pretty place to be.

The Khia Asylum refers to an imaginary penitentiary or institution for "flops," music artists whose careers have stalled. The term comes from the eponymous American rapper who gained notoriety for her explicitly worded single "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)" in the early 2000s and has since disappeared from the limelight.

The one-hit-wonder nature of her career inspired stans to coin this fictional jail-slash-rehab as early as 2024. That year, the Khia Asylum gained currency not so much for its current inmates as the prominence of those who successfully "got out."

Since then, the likes of Charli xcx, Sabrina Carpenter, and Zara Larsson have either enjoyed a career renaissance or broken through to universal mainstream success for the first time. All three had been releasing music for over a decade, often to little fanfare in more recent years. When they finally became household names, blazing brightly across the cultural firmament alongside Kamala Harris and Taylor Swift, music aficionados were quick to liken their newfound fame to a parole or discharge from the Khia Asylum.

The term Khia Asylum is almost always reserved for Western female musicians of a certain age range, especially those who have emerged in the 2010s. Critics, including the very chanteuses accused of being admitted into the asylum, have pushed back, saying the term is rooted in misogyny. The most chronically online of these Khias have even chosen to lash out in terms of "receipts," the language that simultaneously binds and divides these fandoms.

There are institutions that approximate a real-life Khia asylum. One such address would be the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, which at various points has housed the likes of Lindsay Lohan, herself a triple-threat entertainer in the Aughts, plus musical legends like Johnny Cash and Ozzy Osbourne and actors Elizabeth Taylor and Kelsey Grammer.

The Betty Ford Center was founded by Former First Lady Elizabeth Anne Ford

Another potential Khia Asylum in the real world would be The Meadows in Wickenburg, Arizona, whose "Gentle Path" regimen has attracted the likes of singer-actress Selena Gomez, as well as celebs like Michael Phelps, Colin Farrell, Tiger Woods, Kate Moss, and Kevin Spacey.

The mountain retreat known as Cirque Lodge in Utah was also at one point home to Cara Delevingne, who has moonlit as a musician on some occasions, as well as Demi Moore, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Kirsten Dunst.

When you root your worth as an artist in charts or awards, you quickly find out that desperately dissociating yourself from the Khia Asylum can be a losing game. If there were any lesson to be had from escapees, letting the art speak for itself, with a little bit of reinvention, is the key to freedom.

Where in Seoul Is the Pizza Place from 'Parasite'?

2025-11-30T05:44:00.002+07:00

Ever watch "Parasite" and find your eyes lingering not just on the Oscar-winning drama but on the humble pizza boxes that set the plot in motion?

Those now-famous boxes have a real-world origin story, and they lead back to a little pizzeria in South Korea called Sky Pizza. This unassuming shop, also known as "Pizza Generation" or "Pizza Age" (피자시대) on film, is where the Kim family plots to oust the rich family's housekeeper. In 2018, director Bong Joon Ho came and turned this spot into a slice of cinematic history, a taste of movie magic if you will.

On your next visit to Seoul, skip your usual mainstream fast food joints and try to support a small business. It's a little off the beaten path but well worth it. Using Google Maps or Naver Map, you will easily find Sky Pizza at 86, Noryangjin-ro 6-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul (서울특별시 동작구 노량진로6길 86).

You can't miss the pizzeria as you approach. The windows are covered in decals flaunting a "Parasite Photo Zone," a clear invite to all cinephiles.

If that's not enough for your socials, you have to come in and see the pizza boxes for yourself.

The memorabilia doesn't stop there. Keep your eyes peeled for a signed photo of director Bong Joon Ho with the owner, Eom Hang-il, which takes pride of place inside.

On my visit, it was hanging for all to see, right on the refrigerator. Ms. Eom wasn't around on my visit, but a man happily took my order.

The shop is intimate with limited seating, so get ready to share a table with a complete stranger and bond over pizza and a shared love for film.

Don’t forget to sign the guestbook! It was gleefully shown to me and filled with glowing comments in different languages, from fans all over the world.

There really is no question about it, nor do we need an accounting firm to verify the results. The Oscar for Best Pizza Box in a Motion Picture goes to…Sky Pizza!

Is Schitt’s Creek a Real Place?

2025-09-23T02:32:00.008+07:00

From CBC Television's 'Schitt's Creek'

Once upon a time, a Hollywood actress made good bank and decided to buy an entire town in America. She eventually sold it for a staggering loss years later.

If that sounds made-up, suspend your disbelief a little longer. That was actually actress Kim Basinger who, in a "Barbara Stanwyck in the Big Valley" moment, splurged $20 million on acquiring Braselton, Georgia, with the intent of turning it into her own version of Dollywood.

The financial mishap would inspire fellow actors Eugene Levy and his son Dan to create the hit series "Schitt's Creek" decades later. The sitcom centers on the downfall of the affluent, fictional Rose family, forced to retreat to the titular rundown town, their only remaining asset.

"Schitt's Creek's" real-life inspiration seems to have done well for itself since Basinger and her partners unloaded it for a measly $4.3 million in 1995. Now home to over 17,000 people, Braselton posted the biggest population growth of any Georgian town in 2024.

The historic John O. Braselton House in Braselton, GA. Photo via Spyder Monkey

While Georgia is a film industry hub, the Levys, along with Catherine O'Hara and Annie Murphy, chose to shoot the series in their native Canada, particularly in Ontario. Rosebud Motel (not to be confused with the real-life motel of the same name in Tootgarook, Australia) was actually the Hockley Motel at Hockley Road in Mono, Ontario.

Although the series has ended and the Hockley Motel itself has closed, fans were delighted in August 2025 to see the distinctive Rosebud Motel signage return to the façade of the building.

If you want to see where they filmed Rose Apothecary, drive just one hour east to Goodwood Mercantile, also known as Romni Goodwood, at 299 Durham Regional Hwy 47 in the hamlet of Goodwood (part of the township of Uxbridge).

Romni Goodwood was Rose's apothecary IRL. Via JasonParis

Also in the neighborhood is the residence portraying Cafe Tropical, located at the corner of Front Street and Highway 47. The building meant to be Bob's Garage should be across the road.

You'll find the all-important town hall beside the railway farther in town. No trespassing though: The 1875 brick building was Goodwood's actual town hall in yesteryears, but it's now a private home. (A front yard sign does say it is the "Home of the Paule's.")

Everything that goes down must come back up, and much like the fictional Roses, Basinger's finances eventually recovered. She went on to be nominated for an Oscar a few years after her disastrous investment.

Basinger, learning she helped inspire “Schitt’s Creek,” quipped that she ought to be collecting royalty checks. Something Moira would certainly approve.

Where Is 'Brokeback Mountain'?

2025-08-31T22:58:00.011+07:00

"Brokeback Mountain" remains one of the most egregiously snubbed films at the Oscars, ever. The loss of the Ang Lee film in the Best Picture category still stings to this day, especially to LGBTQI+ audiences pining for a little crumb of representation in the 2000s.

The titular mountain is pure fiction; homophobia in rural 1990s Wyoming was not. “Brokeback Mountain” author Annie Proulx, who used to live at Bird Cloud ranch in the ironically named Equality State, overheard someone here go on a bigoted rant about a pair of "homos" who had dined the night before in a bar. On another occasion, also in a Wyoming bar, she spotted a middle-aged man, with an expression of longing on his face, watching younger men play pool.

"The story was not 'inspired,' but the result of years of subliminal observation and thought, eventually brought to the point of writing," she said.

Proulx published "Brokeback Mountain" as a short story first on The New Yorker in 1997, and it galloped to the screen in 2005.

Lee hoped to be faithful to the source material and came close to filming at the Wind River Valley in Wyoming. He fell short of funds, complaining: “This is not a low-budget film. This is a no-budget film.” (Most estimates put "Brokeback Mountain's" budget at $14 million.)

And so the Albertan side of the Canadian Rockies eventually passed for "Brokeback Mountain." The production team combined shots of Moose Mountain, The Fortress, The Three Sisters of Canmore, and the Windtower summit near Mount Lougheed to create the fictional peak.

The campsite scenes were filmed on the Kananaskis Range of the Rockies, especially the picturesque Upper Kananaskis Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Other campground scenes were shot at Canyon Creek and Elbow Falls.

Moose Mountain was important to production as it was the only place where Alberta let the team's American sheep loose. Authorities feared the sheep might be carrying livestock-threatening bacteria with them.

A herd of LGBTQ content has since trotted on the trail blazed by "Brokeback Mountain," a few of them even coming close to that all-important Best Picture title. It took just 20 years, but they're here, they're queer: We just can't quit it.

Where Is Duckburg Located in Real Life?

2025-07-09T04:48:00.003+07:00

From 'DuckTales,' now streaming on Disney+

Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg, the bustling metropolis where anthropomorphic drakes chase fortunes, dreams, and the occasional flying saucer. This capitalist fantasyland is home to the insanely wealthy Scrooge McDuck and his famous nephew Donald Duck.

Duckburg first appeared in comic books in 1944 as a creation of Disney illustrator Carl Barks. He gave the city a rich, if occasionally inconsistent, backstory, even placing it in the fictional state of Calisota, a portmanteau of "California" and "Minnesota."

Barks would later inspire comic book artist Don Rosa to build on the Donald Duck universe. Rosa expanded Duckburg's fictional history through "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck," in which he gave a more precise geography and timeline for the city. He located Duckburg along the fictional Audubon Bay on the Pacific Coast of the US. Just across the bay lies St. Canard, the island city endeared to fans as the home of the caped vigilante Darkwing Duck.

Although some fans theorize that Duckburg lies on the East Coast, pointing to its fictional founding as a 16th-century British settlement, Rosa had other ideas. He hinted that the real-life equivalent of Duckburg could be the city of Eureka in northern California.

"I won't describe precisely where I placed Duckburg—and by extension, its state of Calisota—on America's west coast," he commented on one of his Scrooge McDuck comics. "But if you get out a good map and compare the coastline, you'll see that I stuck the old gold-prospector's adopted hometown directly across the bay from a very—appropriately—named actual city."

If we're allowed a bit of quackery, we'd like to think that's in Indiana, home to the largest duck farms in the US. But Barks and Rosa's imaginative world-building is something else, and with Duckburg, they have given a whole new meaning to a "canard."

Is Khansaar a Real Place in India?

2025-07-08T01:52:00.002+07:00

No, that's not the Vatican. It's the make-believe city of Khansaar on Hombale Films' 'Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire'

Imagine a hidden realm, cut off from the rest of the world, allowed to develop at its own pace, on its own terms.

You'd be forgiven for a minute to think it's Wakanda, but we're talking about Khansaar, the fictional city-state at the heart of the blockbuster Bollywood epic "Salaar."

But unlike Wakanda’s futuristic utopia, Khansaar is steeped in dystopia. This city-state is locked in a power struggle between its dominant tribes, the Ghaniyaar, Mannarsi, and Shouryaanga. Bound by the ancient laws of the Nibbhandaha, Khansaar’s sacred text, these tribes are forced to rotate leadership every 40 years in a tense, fragile balance that threatens to ignite chaos and conflict at each turn.

If Khansaar looks more European onscreen than Indian, that's because "Salaar" was filmed on location in cities such as Matera, Naples, and Rome in Italy, as well as Budapest in Hungary. The film also broke ground in Indian cinema by being the first known production to use DCT or Dark Centric Theme, a visual technique popular in Hollywood that gives the movie its neo-noir look.

The film was also shot on home turf, including Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City, where the towering wall of Khansaar, among other ambitious sets, were constructed, as well as the town of Godavarikhani in Telangana. Interestingly, India doesn't have any state or city called Khansaar (neighboring Iran has a county by that name). For director Prashanth Neel, Khansaar was a realm he had to invent. As he put it, he aimed to create "one of the most violent worlds known to humans, but something that is strongly driven by emotions."

The overseas trips, coupled with the pioneering use of technology, paid off. Released in 2023, "Salaar" made bank to become one of the highest-grossing Indian movies of all time.

Where Is 'Midsommar' Set in Real Life?

2025-06-21T00:00:00.009+07:00

'Midsommar' (above via A24) might be Swedish but it was filmed in Budakeszi, Hungary (below via Verőczi Zoltán)

Folk horror has experienced a kind of renaissance of late. While we caught green shoots of it in 2006's "The Wicker Man" (itself a remake of the 1973 classic), the genre's resurgence really kicked into high gear through A24, the indie studio behind contemporary classics like "The Witch" (2015), "Hereditary" (2018), and "Midsommar" (2019).

By definition, folk horror pits protagonists not against a solitary monster but an entire community, with customs and beliefs at odds with the world. At the same time, it's a genre that thrives on cultural unease and fear of the collective, which could easily devolve into stereotyping and prejudice. So, maybe it was for the best to have "Midsommar" fictionalize its setting.

Although the "Midsommar" village shall remain fictional, Hårga, Sweden is a real place, and the titular Swedish festival does happen, sans the human sacrifice. In fact, director Ari Aster was invited to write the film at the invitation of a Swedish production company, which had read his breakout screenplay for "Hereditary." To prepare, Aster flew to Sweden's Hälsingland, home to the UNESCO-listed Hälsingegårdar farmhouses known for their radiant wall paintings and iconography.

Though the setting is Swedish, the movie was shot on location at the Farkashegy airfield in Budakeszi, Hungary. The decision was partly logistical: Sweden had strict labor laws that adhered to eight-hour workdays for movie productions.

Aster wove a tapestry of spiritual references into the script, from anthroposophy, a movement founded by occult thinker Rudolf Steiner, to good old Norse paganism. He also included practices in the distant past involving the ättestupa, precipices from which elderly people purposely fall to their deaths. The memorable May Queen sequence derives from "Hårgalåten," a song about how the devil, disguised as a fiddler, came to Hårga, forcing the villagers to dance until they die.

At its core, "Midsommar" isn't just about defenestrating, dancing communes but also about something more relatable: heartbreak. Aster was going through a breakup when he was creating "Midsommar" and found folk horror to be the best cathartic outlet.

Before you find yourself crying into a floral crown like Dani, let's take a moment to honor the longest day of the year. Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

Where Was 'The Eighth Sense' Filmed?

2025-06-20T03:22:00.004+07:00

Happy Pride, fancy travelers all across the SOGIE spectrum!

In this post, let's refract some light on Korean boys’ love (BL) dramas. Even though they haven't achieved the same dominance as their Thai or Taiwanese counterparts, they’re surely gaining ground and legions of fans, all thanks to thoughtful storytelling, high production values, heart-fluttering chemistry, and, of course, adorable leads.

One of the best ones to have come out (no pun intended) is "The Eighth Sense," the 2023 K-BL series that made audiences everywhere swoon with its slow-burn romance and moody visuals. The show follows Ji-hyun (Oh Jun Taek), the boy from the countryside who moves to Seoul and finds himself falling for the city boy with the heart of a soldier.

Although the beach is a central motif in the series—the boys share a love for surfing—some of "The Eighth Sense's" most intimate, emotionally charged scenes were filmed by the mighty waterway flowing through Seoul: the Han River.

One of the show's most romantic moments occurs near the Banpodaegyo (Banpo Bridge), where Ji-hyun opens up and confesses his feelings to Jae-won (Lim Ji Sub). The bridge, famous for its Moonlight Rainbow Fountain (the world’s longest bridge fountain, we might add) adds an eye-catching ambiance to an already spectacular scene.

The whole setting is part of Banpo Hangang Park, a popular spot among tourists and locals alike. Fans of the show will also recognize it as the place where Ji-hyun quietly sketches and ponders on his growing connection with Jae-won.

Jae-won and Ji-hyun bridge the gap, so to speak, by the Han River

How to get there:

To reach Banpo Hangang Park, take Seoul Subway Line 3, 7, or 9 to Express Bus Terminal Station. Use Exit 8-1 or 8-2 and walk for several minutes towards the river. The park should be well-signposted. When you reach Banpo Bridge, look out for a boat anchored to the riverbank with a bollard nearby; that could be the spot where Ji-hyun and Jae-won turn casual hangouts into PDA central.

Banpo Hangang Park features many attractions, so if you're not chasing BL drama realness, the area still makes for a great day out or evening stroll.

"The Eighth Sense" might take its sweet time to build, but its emotional depth and beauty linger long after the credits. The riverside filming locations are integral to its appeal. They're less backdrops than emotional currents, flowing through you like waves before you realize it.

With "The Eighth Sense," you won’t be saying “I see dead people.” You’ll be saying, “I see surfers catching feelings.”

Will the Real Springfield in 'The Simpsons' Please Stand Up?

2025-06-18T21:38:00.004+07:00

Could Springfield, OR (below via Bruce Fingerhood) be The Simpsons' Springfield? D'oh!

Not since "The Flintstones" has there been a TV family as colorful as "The Simpsons." Since it premiered in 1989, the eponymous series has usurped its prehistoric predecessor as the longest-running animated show in American TV history. It also holds the title of longest-running sitcom or scripted primetime television series, animated or otherwise.

Staying power not only means relevance. It also goes to show the relatability of the jaundiced, dysfunctional family who look and act like they could be from Everytown, USA.

In fact, its fictional setting, Springfield, has at some point been the name of real towns, cities, and communities in so many states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Even the US Virgin Islands have a settlement called Springfield.

But where is Springfield in "The Simpsons"? What state is it in exactly? The answer is ultimately subjective, but there's one state with a strong claim to having the real Springfield, and it's home to show creator Matt Groening.

The Portland-born animator said he named the Simpsons' hometown after Springfield, Oregon. Growing up, he believed the Springfield in the sitcom "Father Knows Best" is the same one in his home state.

"I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the US," he explained to Smithsonian Magazine in 2012. "In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.' And they do."

Exec producer Mike Scully even hailed from one: West Springfield, Massachusetts. But to generate buzz for 2007's "The Simpsons Movie," 20th Century Fox held a contest to pick which Springfield, USA will host its global premiere.

Springfield, Vermont won that battle, but its namesake in Oregon won the war. As consolation, Groening sent a plaque to the latter that said: "Yo to Springfield, Oregon–the real Springfield."

Instant bragging rights that should have settled the debate once and for all, right? Well, viewers sat inside the cinema to watch Ned Flanders say that the state where Springfield is borders Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, and Ohio, which doesn't make sense geographically. Director David Silverman named this fictional state "North Takoma."

So, yes, Springfield, America is still a stateless state of mind, and as long as it's still on air, "The Simpsons" has an opportunity to put the subject to rest. But viewers are content living in oblivion so far, seeing themselves reflected two-dimensionally in what the show self-deprecatingly calls "America's Worst City."

Sail Away to These 4 Fictional Locations in Enya's 'Orinoco Flow'

2025-06-18T01:00:00.008+07:00

The music video to Enya's 'Orinoco Flow' was painted over to resemble the cover of the 'Watermark' album

From Bali to Cali, "Orinoco Flow" name-checks paradisiacal places on earth—the travel bucket list to top all travel bucket lists. With an ethereal sound unlike anything else on pop radio at the time, Enya's hit song sailed to the top of the charts in 1988.

“Orinoco Flow” is less a tribute to the South American river and more a reference to the London facility where the "Watermark" cut was recorded: Orinoco Studios, now named Miloco Studios.

Not all places mentioned in the song exist, and the Irish singer even used archaic names for those that do. For example, she calls the Hebrides by their ancient Latin name, "Ebudæ," which became the title of a later song of hers. A few of the "Orinoco Flow" locations were "made up, very romantic places," she confirmed in an interview with MuchMusic in 1988.

Enya knows a thing or two about romantic locations, for she lives in one. But for now, let's meander through the fanciful places of "Orinoco Flow."

Avalon

Glastonbury Tor, England. Photo via Neil Howard

Born in Gweedore, Ireland, Enya grew up in a place steeped in mythology and folklore. Arthurian legends tell of an island of plenty called Avalon. "The shade of Avalon" likely alludes to the lush, tree-covered landscape of the mythical island, the Celts (the title of another Enya song) even referring to Avalon as the "Isle of Apples." Today, many people believe Avalon to be somewhere in Glastonbury, England, but this is most likely lore perpetuated by monks who lived in the area.

The Isles of Ebony

Isle of Oxney, England via N Chadwick

The Isles of Ebony refer to someone very near and dear to the song's lyricist, Roma Ryan. "That’s her daughter, Ebony," Enya confirmed in the MuchMusic interview.

If you visit the Isle of Oxney in Kent, England, you’ll find a small hamlet called Ebony. "Isle" is a misnomer though—the area is no longer that. It was surrounded by water centuries ago, when the neighboring marshlands were still tidal.

The Island of the Moon

Lake Titicaca from Isla de la Luna, Bolivia via Christopher Walker

Not only did Roma conjure Isles of Ebony but she also made up the Island of the Moon. Coincidentally, there is an Isla de la Luna (literally "Island of the Moon") in Bolivia.

The Sea of Clouds

Where Mare Nubium is located on the Moon. Photo via Silvercat

Nevertheless, the Moon has a place called Mare Nubium, Latin for "Sea of Clouds." Lunar mares are actually dry, basaltic plains on our satellite; they just looked like water to early astronomers. Otherwise, seas of clouds are phenomena that naturally occur on Earth, given the right altitude and weather conditions.

As Ryan herself put it in a 1992 interview, "Orinoco Flow" has to do with "a journey of the imagination." She most probably didn't pull out an encyclopedia to write the lyrics to the song.

"With ‘Orinoco’ it was a case of me coming out to the studio to listen, to the pizzicato, and while I was listening to it, I was looking out the window and I could see my two children skipping, and that’s actually what sparked off the idea for ‘Orinoco.'"

Now, will Enya ever go on tour and sing "Orinoco Flow" live to us adoring fans? "Only Time" will tell.

Where Is the Haunted House in 'The Others'?

2025-06-17T02:32:00.002+07:00

Here's a twist you might not have seen coming: 'The Others' (above via Miramax) was not filmed in the Channel Islands but in Cantabria, Spain (below via Daniel Muñoz)

So y'all wanted a twist, eh? Come on, "The Others," let's get sickening!

Pardon the "Drag Race" reference. We couldn’t resist while talking about this 2001 film, which—alongside "The Sixth Sense"—delivers one of the most unforgettable twist endings in horror cinema.

But "The Others" didn't just emerge from a vacuum, Laganja-style. It stands on the shoulders of giants, namely Henry James’ gothic novella "The Turn of the Screw" and its haunting 1961 film adaptation "The Innocents," which are some of writer-director-composer Alejandro Amenábar's favorite works. (Yes, he also scored the film.)

"What I tried to do was a film with some kind of classical essence and trying to bring back all these horror values from horror pictures from the past," he said in a film featurette.

Amenábar was inspired to write the film after a childhood séance in Chile that left a lasting impression on him. His family fled to Spain just days before Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup, and those juvenile fears somehow crept their way into his work.

“My childhood was beset by fears—fear of the dark, fear of half-open doors, fear of closets, and, generally speaking, fear of anything that could conceal someone or 'something,'" Amenábar tells The Criterion Collection.

Although set on the Channel Island of Jersey, "The Others" was primarily filmed in Spain, specifically the Palacio de los Hornillos in the town of Las Fraguas in Arenas de Iguña. Designed by architect Ralph Selden Wornum, the building was impressive on cam and off—a haunting specimen of Victorian neoclassical architecture miles away from Britain. The production also found its haunted houses in Penshurst Place in Kent, England, whose Lime Walk became the misty, moody backdrop for Grace’s reunion with Charles, and Oheka Castle in New York.

Decades later, "The Others" still holds up as a body of work, not merely as an homage to the gothic tales before it but as a singular work in itself. It deserves every bit of its moment in the sun...even if it's the kind of light the characters would rather avoid, okurr.

Where Is Helperbot Yards in 'Maybe Happy Ending'?

2025-06-15T00:31:00.002+07:00

Helen J Shen and Darren Criss originate the roles of Claire and Oliver in 'Maybe Happy Ending' on Broadway

Congratulations to "Maybe Happy Ending" on winning the Tony awards!

Broadway doesn't always get the spotlight it deserves here at Places of Fancy, but we're making amends. Because the question running through every theater kid's mind right now isn't just "Can robots fall in love?" but "Where the heck is Helperbot Yards?"

The made-up place where robot rejects go to retire is set on the outskirts of Seoul, but the musical's beginnings sprang to mind in a Brooklyn café. Co-creator Hue Park was studying at New York University when he heard Damon Albarn's then-new track "Everyday Robots":

We are everyday robots on our phones
In the process of getting home
Looking like standing stones
Out there on our own...

The Blur frontman's words struck a chord in Park, a K-pop lyricist, who shared the idea with his NYU schoolmate and composer Will Aronson. In 2014 when the song was released, GenAI wasn't as big a novelty as Instagram or Vine, which makes "Maybe Happy Ending's" long journey to the stage so poetic. Long before its Great White Way debut in 2024, "Maybe Happy Ending" premiered at the Daemyung Cultural Factory in Seoul's Daehak-ro district, the so-called "Broadway of Korea," and toured Japan and China where it built a cult following.

'Maybe Happy Ending' debuted in Daehangno (Daehak-ro), the Broadway of Seoul

In the leap from Seoul to NYC, the musical has become eerily prophetic. South Korea is now at the forefront of AI, leading the world in robot density with over 1,000 industrial robots for every 10,000 workers, according to the Internal Federation of Robotics.

In fact, robots have been tackling the surge in waste in the country since the pandemic. A Korean startup, AETECH, has deployed robots to sort waste and recycle materials: timely innovations that won it notices from the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization. (Humans can have their Tonys.)

The idea that the digital ghosts we live with every day—our phones, our robots—can evolve into sentient beings capable of romance probably isn't so farfetched in Seoul. Korea's long history with shamanism, a belief system known for assigning spiritual traits to non-living objects, might explain the nation's early adoption of robotics.

Aronson, who calls himself a cynic in real life, was drawn to Park's vision because robots could be more "open, direct and heartfelt" characters than humans. Characters like Claire and Oliver, discarded helperbots who bond over cassettes and jazz records, are less machines than mammalian substitutes, rediscovering sincerity in a world that looks increasingly unreal.

That strange, sweet place between resignation and hope? Maybe that's Happy Ending.

Where Is West Beverly High School in 'Beverly Hills, 90210'?

2025-06-13T01:34:00.005+07:00

The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' gang graduate from West Bev High (above via Paramount+), which is a high school in Torrance, SoCal IRL (below via LCfam)

Surely a show called "Beverly Hills, 90210" would be filmed in the famous zip code itself, right?

Hollywood's gonna Hollywood and throw you a curveball. The classic 90s teen series was filmed all over Southern California, miles away from the streets of the titular Los Angeles suburb.

Take the show's central playground, West Beverly Hills High School, for example. The school where Brenda, Brandon, Dylan, Kelly, and the gang navigated teenage angst doesn’t exist. In real life, it’s Torrance High School, the same campus that stood as the literal school from hell on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

The show didn't even come from a Los Angeles state of mind. Creator Darren Star originally wanted to bring his high school experiences in Maryland to national television, pitching the show as "Potomac 20854." But Fox had other ideas, and so "Beverly Hills, 90210" was born, changing the playbook for teen drama from here on out.

Darren Star studied at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, MD before he went to UCLA. Photo via G. Edward Johnson

Star told the press that he saw himself most in Brandon Walsh (played by Jason Priestley), the do-gooder Minneapolis transplant who, along with twin sister Brenda (Shannen Doherty), landed in LA when their dad got a job upgrade. From the first day at West Bev to the infamous Spring Dance scandal, the siblings had audiences worldwide dreaming of life in the so-called "Garden Spot of the World." And this was years before Kyle and Kim Richards turned limo fights and dinner parties into tariff-free Beverly Hills exports.

The Real Teens of Beverly Hills might not have been as real, but they certainly felt like it. Thank the TV gods that "Beverly Hills, 90210" was a hit: Star was allowed to create other shows such as "Sex and the City," "Melrose Place," and "Emily in Paris."

Whether in America or France, his stories show that no matter the zip code, the drama always follows.

(RIP, Shannen. You’ll always be our Brenda.)

So where is Central Perk from 'FRIENDS' in real life?

2025-06-13T00:27:00.001+07:00

So no one told you real life was gonna be this way—without Central Perk in existence.

But Places of Fancy will be there for you. The fictional coffee shop below the equally fictional apartment complex where F.R.I.E.N.D.S Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross would congregate is at the corner of Bedford and Grove streets in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

That building, 90 Bedford Street, posed for exterior shots in the legendary sitcom.

The famous FRIENDS apartment building as it appears on the show (left via Bustle) and at the corner of Grove and Bedford Streets in Greenwich Village, New York City (right via Google Maps)

While the show explicitly states that the Central Perk building is at 495 Grove Street in Brooklyn, the building seen in exterior shots looks nothing like it—because it isn’t.

The very spot where Central Perk would have been at Bedford Street has been home to The Little Owl restaurant since 2006.

If you looked at the right window, you'd see mugs for sale with a print of the building facade. Photo via Google Maps

Get ready to be disappointed though. Owner and former Universal Studios corporate chef Joey Campanero has only made token efforts to capitalize on the spot’s fame, i.e. there’s no orange sofa to be found, in a bid to focus on the eatery's identity, Travel+Leisure reported.

As you might expect, a Los Angeles studio stood for the interior scenes. You can visit preserved recreations of the sets on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

The Central Perk set as seen on the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in California. Photo via William Warby

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the FRIENDS premiere, Warner Bros. opened a pop-up café made to resemble Central Perk. The make-believe coffee house at 199 Lafayette Street in Manhattan served cups of Central Perk roast during its run from September to October 2014.

Pop-up replica of the Central Perk cafe at 199 Lafayette Street, New York City that ran from September 17 to October 18, 2014. Photo via John Wisniewski

There was a time when you could grab a steaming cup of Joey Tribianni halfway across the world from New York City. At 1 Magazine Road Central Mall, Central Perk Singapore wasn't just any elaborate, laboriously created FRIENDS-themed café outside the US: It was The One with the Official Warner Bros. License. The coffee shop offered blends named after the characters and photo spots for the fans, from the requisite orange couch to Chandler and Joey's foosball table. You could practically hear Phoebe strumming “Smelly Cat” in the background.

Emphasis on the was: Central Perk Singapore closed its doors in March 2023.

But don't start singing "I'll Be There for You" yet. This episode has a happy ending.

Call it The One That Came Home to Roast. With the blessing of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment, Central Perk Coffeehouse opened in October 2023 at 205 Newbury Street in Boston. Much like its Singaporean predecessor, it serves up a menu filled to the brim with fan-service references: blends like Gunther!, How You Doin’?, Moo Point, Oh.My.GAWD!, Pivot Blend, and We Were on a Coffee Break, mostly made from sustainably sourced Arabica beans.

And no, Ross did not moonlight as a barista for your caffeine fix. Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, a New Yorker through and through, has put his stamp on the artisanal drinks.

But why Boston? It's not like FRIENDS was set in Beantown.

In the words of Central Perk Coffee Co. president Joe Gurdock, Newbury Street and the Back Bay neighborhood are "treasured gems" in the city, offering the ideal first location for this coffee concept. Just like New York City, the historic Boston area is lined with brownstones, now home to boutiques, art galleries, and, of course, coffee shops.

It seems Boston has become a total "FRIENDS" love-in of late. To mark the series' 30th anniversary, "The FRIENDS Experience: The One in Boston" opened in May 2024, just a stroll from Central Perk Coffeehouse at 343 Newbury St. Inside the exhibit, fans can gawk at Monica's kitchen table, Chandler and Joey's recliners, and even costumes—just don’t get a turkey stuck on your head.

So if it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, grab your lobster, book a flight to Massachusetts, and Central Perk Coffeehouse will be there for you.

Where Would 'The Land Before Time' Be?

2025-06-12T03:30:00.004+07:00

Rich paleontological sites, such as the Djadochta Formation in Mongolia (below via Rob Oo), would have been the 'Great Valley' in 'The Land Before Time' (above via Universal Pictures)

Giants ruled the earth long before recorded history. We got a glimpse of their cute hatchlings in "The Land Before Time," but there's just a dinosaur-sized bone of contention in the beloved 1988 film.

Figuring out where its characters would have thrived begs the question: Is "The Land Before Time" (pre)historically accurate?

To borrow a line from the movie's OST, no, they did not really hold on together. The Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus, represented by Littlefoot and Spike in the Don Bluth classic, would have lived during the Late Jurassic Period, roughly 161.5 to 145 million years ago. They would have flat-out missed the rest of the cast.

The likes of Cera (Triceratops), Ducky (Saurolophus), Petrie (Pteranodon), Chomper (Tyrannosaurus), and Ruby (Oviraptor) would have ~~eaten each other~~ frolicked together millions and millions of years later, particularly the Campanian to Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous Period, which lasted from approximately 83.6 to 66 million years ago. The entire period began as early as 100.5 million years ago.

So, where could the Great Valley in "The Land Before Time" be?

Pipestone Creek in Alberta, Canada is one of the richest sources of Late Cretaceous fossils, giving the prehistoric mass grave the name "River of Death." Late Cretaceous remains have also been unearthed across Montana, specifically Bug Creek Ant Hills and the Hell Creek Formation, which spills into North and South Dakota.

Venturing farther, the Mongolian Gobi Desert is considered the world’s richest reservoir of dinosaur fossils. This paleontological treasure trove holds diverse remains across multiple eras, with a high concentration from the Late Cretaceous Period. From the Djadokhta Formation alone, paleontologists have unearthed everything from eggs to iconic species like the Velociraptor.

If you're looking for an era-appropriate home for Littlefoot, southern France would have been your ticket to a real Jurassic Park. The Angeac-Charente bonebed is the biggest excavation site of its kind in Europe, with numerous prehistoric finds including a two-meter thigh bone of a sauropod. (Was that you, Grandpa Longneck?)

Stretching from New Mexico and Idaho to Alberta, the Morrison Formation would have been another possible Great Valley location during the Late Jurassic Period. It's a bona fide "Konzentrat-Lagerstätten," yielding many articulated and semi-articulated skeletons as well as trackways.

What if the asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not hit Earth? Would dinosaurs have evolved into humanoid creatures? That’s a question for another movie.