American singer and songwriter Kacey Musgraves performs onstage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center on September 12, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)

Attendees Rosalia Rohwer and Jennifer Salenger dress up as characters from the game “Just Dance” at E3, the world's largest video game industry convention in Los Angeles, California on June 12, 2018. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks via video call during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, December 17, 2020. This year, Putin attended his annual news conference online due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A small series by illustration Alex Solis remembering those things that used to rule the world.

A bully greenfinch (left) got its comeuppance when a small but fiery dunnock (right) defended itself with its talons in Suffolk, United Kingdom on April 18, 2022. The smaller bird was perched peacefully before the finch burst onto the scene and aggressively squared up to the dunnock. But as the finch tried to peck at the dunnock, the small brown bird expertly used its foot to slam its mouth shut. (Photo by Paul Sawer/Solent News & Photo Agency)

This photo provided by the McKinney Fire Department shows officials at the site of a crash involving a small plane and a vehicle near Aero Country Airport, Saturday, November 11, 2023, in McKinney, Texas. Authorities say a small plane overshot the runway while trying to land at a Texas airport and struck a car that was driving along a nearby road, injuring one person. (Photo by McKinney Fire Department via AP Photo)

Miniature spring-wound 35-mm film camera in a modified cigarette pack. The Tessina’s small size and quiet operation provided more options for concealment than most commercially available models. (Photo by Central Intelligence Agency)

The stone huts and streets of this Italian city look like a scene from a fairytale. The buildings you see before you are called trulli. The rise in popularity of such houses was in 19th century when they were constructed as storehouses and temporary field shelters or as permanent shelters by agricultural laborers and small proprietors. Wouldn’t it be amazing to own such a house? To become engulfed by the fairytale as you sip a cup of coffee, looking out of a small window onto a crowded street.