all the kids in the marketplace say (13. 017)

The third single from the band’s second studio album, A Different Light, released earlier in the year in September climbed to the top of the US charts on this day in 1986, holding the number one slot for four weeks and marked the Bangles’ first hit, and ranked Billboard’s best song of 1987. Songwriter Liam Sternberg (also a producer and performer who worked with Devo, the Waitresses, Kirsty MacColl and many others) was inspired for the title—and his biggest credit to date—whilst on a ferry-crossing of the Channel in rough waters and witnessed fellow passengers stepping carefully with arms outstretched to keep their balance, reminding him of Ancient Egyptian friezes and reliefs, composing the track around that image. The below video also received accolades from MTV.

9x9 (13. 016)

brought to you by the inkjet lobby: the amount of redactions in the US justice department’s release of the Epstein files sparks outrage  

christmas and commerce: a David Sedaris holiday classic—see previously  

global building atlas: an ambitious project mapping all three-billion built structures worldwide  

grabenanlage: rescue archaeology in southwestern German town of Herxheim in 1996 suggests ritual cannibalism on a massive scale with research still ongoing  

your attention is all you have—wasting it is annihilating: Blackbird Spyplane on a life of screen-time—via Kottke

pithos: Roman amphora of sardines found in Switzerland 

orthorectified panorama: the Apollo transforming printer that developed cartographically accurate photographs of the Moon 

a christmas memory: Truman Capote recalls holidays past  

formerly known as the kennedy center: the history of the US national stage for the performing arts—see previously

sessomatto (13. 015)

Whilst unable to give a full-throated endorsement to the Italian erotic anthology film by Dino Risi—that debuted in cinemas on this day in 1973—eight short chapters on various proclivities (no kink shaming) with Laura Antonelli appearing as a different character in each vignette, we can however—via Dangerous Minds—recommend the soundtrack without reservation. It makes for a nice long-play of ambient sound with funk, Italo-pop flair with no one the wiser for the accompanying action and is by composer and conductor Armando Trovajoli who specialised in the music for Commedia all’italian exploitation films.

*    *    *    *    * 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a never-melting snowman (with synchronopticæ) plus Adolf Hitler released from prison (1924)

fourteen years ago: America abandoning its leadership role and turmoil in Europe 

engine, engine forty-nine (13. 014)

Finding some needed solace in the writings of Thomas Pynchon during the rise of MAGAists’ conspiracy theories in the figure of Oepida Maas, Better Living through Beowulf, now has to question like the protagonist of their own sanity whilst weaving together a plot that beggars belief, which seems a bit rudimentary in comparison to Trump’s own arc of narrative. The paranoia of The Crying of Lot 49 has a veneer of truth (see above) and so does the career-trajectory of Trump, framed as agent Krasnov, promulgated as a successful businessman now beholden to organised crime with a litany of knock-on events that lead to our present conundrum, whose nomenclature matches with Genghis Coen, Mike Falloopian, Mucho Maas (the heroine’s DJ husband) and Dr Hilarius with corresponding real-life characters unmatched nearly six decades on with corresponding Dickensian-named figures like heroes Reality Winner and villains Laura Loomer, Elon Musk or Reince Priebus and the White House lawn used as a venue for a wrestling match plus a list of dozens of other things not on ones bingo card for 2025.

ys (13. 014)

Via Strange Company, we learn that a substantial undersea wall discovered by marine archeologists off the coast of the Île de Sein near Finstère in Bretagne—which has its own lore according to classical sources and historians, including Strabo, writing that men were forbidden on the island sacred to the Gallizenae, a caste of Druid priestesses whom could control the wind and foretell the future, but also accused of luring sailors to the their deaths, bashed on the rocky cliffs. Researchers believe that the seven millennia old wall may have been a fish-trap to harvest between tides that became submerged or possibly a protective dyke (though unlikely that humans could have forward-planning) and abandoned with sea-level rise, and pre-dating the ensemble of menhirs of the area, may be behind the legend of the sunken kingdom of Ys.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the year in memes (with synchronopticæ), the first European communications satellite plus US federal government narrowly averts a shutdown 

fourteen years ago: a chilli recipe plus Christmas markets

fifteen years ago: Alien Jesus 

seventeen years ago: a remembrance of my grandmother

 

exit through the gift shop (13. 013)

Via MetaFilter—and wishing we’d known about it sooner, we really enjoyed this assortment of holiday offerings from the Heritage Trust operated system of museums and historical sites, including an array of Christmas jumpers (read ugly sweaters, I suppose, like this one from the transportation authority with their range of mass transit and roundels) and tree ornaments inspired by their properties and collections. We’ll need to bookmark this for next year and really liked the nautical-engineering contribution for Brunel and the chessman bauble.

as a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself (13. 012)

Dubbed the walk of fame, the colonnade of the White House communicating between the executive residence and West Wing and passing the paved-over rose garden, designed by Trump in September, inspired by a similar concept he’d seen whilst staying at a hotel, was finished recently with the gallery open to inspection by visitors and journalists with the addition of bronze plaques, reportedly dictated by the US president, reflecting his personal and political assessments of predecessors. Barack Obama is captioned as one of the most divisive political figures in US history with his “unaffordable” care act, accession to the Paris Climate accords, personal responsibility for the spread of the ISIS caliphate and repeats the conspiracy theories that he was spying on Trump’s campaign through the microwave; though credited with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, George W Bush is criticised for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Clinton’s includes blaming Republicans to the legislative success of his agenda and mentions Hillary’s lost to Trump; and Reagan’s entry, full of praise, cites that he was a fan of “President Donald J Trump” long before his political career began. The most vitriol is directed to Joe Biden, repeating claims of a stolen election and labelling him as the worst president in history, replete with exclamation marks.

sign of the times (13.011)

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has announced its character of the year as 熊 (kuma, bear) for the surge in ursine encounters nationwide. Other trending logograms under consideration were were 米—rice, bei/kome—citing inflation in the price of the staple and general anxiety over stockpiles, exacerbated by tariffs, a homophone. As in past years (see previously below for more), the winner is unveiled before the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writing the character in large calligraphy by the chief priest.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Chinese buzzwords of the year (with synchronopticæ), kanji character of the year plus the first purpose-built communications satellite (1958)

twelve years ago: regrettable legal precedence plus canine translators

thirteen years ago: counter-narratives on internet regulation 

fifteen years ago: seasonal weather 

sixteen years ago: contemplating a Christmas canival