greed (12. 368)

The unapologetically bold and unyielding typeface by Neil Summerour for foundry Positype—perfect for this twentytwentyfive moment—is based on the typography of US banknotes, originally planned as a series of fonts illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. Released on inauguration day, that singular vice seemed an all encompassing symbol for capturing the enshitifying gilded age we’ve been thrust into. Among the challenges the designer faced (aside from possible arrest from this administration for defacing legal tender) was crafting a lower case equivalent since dollar bills are all-caps, ANNUIT COEPTIS—God favours our undertaking!—no need to shout, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, and crafting a complete set of numerals outside of 0, 1, 2 and 5. The typeface has the complete set of Latin glyphs and diacritics for every language, including Vietnamese and others often left out of bespoke fonts not as a testament of universality but rather to be inclusive. More from Print Magazine at the link up top.

first contact (12. 367)

Observed on this day to celebrate both the flight of the Phoenix (repurposed from a nuclear warhead at a US Air Force missile complex outside of Bozeman, Montana) that broke the light-speed barrier and attracted the attention of a passing Vulcan survey ship, the T’Plana-Hath, with its warp-signature—and immediately following the test-launch humanity’s first encounter with an alien race. The 2063 event was introduced as a holiday in 2021 during the COVID pandemic a virtual pick-me-up during lockdown and social-distancing but was established in franchise canon outside of the feature film with the crew of the Next Generation thwarting sabotage by the Borg and preserving the timeline—Geordi and Riker need to go further back in the past to fix our timeline—and Voyager marking the occasion from the Delta Quadrant with Naomi Wildman and Neelix hosting a gathering (see also) for the three hundred fifteenth anniversary with a party and rock-and-roll music (pilot Zefram Cochrane’s favourites) from Tom Paris’ antique jukebox. Science officer Tuvok delivered the salutation, reluctantly not seeing the point, of “Live long and prosper,” to the applause of the guests. A decade after First Contact, during the dedication of Earth’s first Warp 5 complex, Cochrane—who was initially motivated to create the warp drive for ‘women and money’—addressed the crowd: “Don’t try tp be a great man, just be a man, and let history make its own judgments,” it never being clear it the later retcon whether the test-flight was successful due to the intervention of the Enterprise and the Borg attempt to prevent it, and “This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before.” Ooby dooby.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Carrie at fifty-plus (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: another hit from Melanie, Lustron steel homes plus the Pillars of Creation

eight years ago: optical character recognition, amending the US constitution plus the news is fake but the leaks are real

nine years ago: the Panama Papers, Star Trek inspired cosmetics, manhole apartments, a gallery of Mid-Century Modern homes plus David Bowie as Abraham Lincoln

ten years ago: Easter greetings

will a fosse neck do it? (12. 366)

Via fellow internet peripatetic, Messy Nessy Chic, we really enjoyed this celebration of the choreography of Bob Fosse (previously) taken from the 1969 cinematic adaptation of his Sweet Charity—based off of Fellini’s Le notti di Cabiria featuring the narrative of a sex-worker in Rome and lightly sanitised as the story of a call-girl, dancer-for-hire in Times Square’s Fandango Ballroom, its sleaziness illustrated by “Hey, Big Spender,” portrayed by Shirley MacLaine. Invited home by a celebrity guest on the mends from an apparent breakup, the protagonist finds herself in his apartment for dinner, “If They Could See Me Now,” whilst pursuing an ill-fated romance with a claustrophobic elevator-operator.

8x8 (12. 365)

museum of now: This American Life invites us to sit with and reflect on the artefacts of day and hour 

rift valley: a Trump appointed special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tiffany’s father-in-law, seeking to make a deal on mineral resources in hopes of securing peace with Rwandan rebels 

fay wray: a swarm of drones recreate the iconic scene of King Kong scaling the Empire State building  

toast malone: a short clip of the singer performing Circles, animated on one hundred thirty-three slices of bread  

altair 8800: a retrospective of Microsoft at fifty 

the bronx is up and the battery’s down: new NYC subway map is an homage to an early digrammatic version  

blanket non-fraternisation policy: US bans government personnel stationed in China from forming relationships with locals 

national endowment for the humanities: US museums, libraries and archives see their grants terminated—see previously

agency for defence against hallucinatory disruptions (12. 364)

Via Web Curios, we are directed towards this AI generated music video from artist called Igorr from the Meat-Dept collective that displays a directorial continuity through storyboarding that we didn’t think was possible with current models—the inability for character permanence or the ability to tweak the outcomes, edited or otherwise. There’s no real narrative quality to the short piece but the underscoring of the percussion track and the unexpected series of strangeness holds one’s attention despite its unsettling visuals and übercanniness. Neurodivergence is virtuosity, particularly in this setting.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus The Good Life/Good Neighbours (1975) 

seven years ago: Capella Sansevero, askance satellite views, more on seamstress Agnes Richter plus antique Friendship Books

eight years ago: an open air gallery in Amsterdam, tensions over North Korea, Gibraltar and Brexit plus a march against alternate facts

nine years ago: an MST3K reboot plus mesh churches

ten years ago: more links to enjoy plus Norway mothballs a secret arctic seaport

cacoëpy (12. 363)

Via the always wonderful source for a vocabulary boost, Futility Closet, we learn a new useful term with derivatives of something I think I can quite relate to in the above for something poorly pronounced. From the Greek κακός plus ἔπος (bad word), I tend to think I am inclined to laziness on getting enunciation and delivery right, which is no excuse especially when it comes to what someone calls themselves, though even the dictionary example of autodidacts sometimes end up being cacoëpists recalls the important adage not to hypercorrect.

the wisdom of the crowds (12. 362)

A bit of social media sleuthing and reverse engineering suggests that the Trump administration contrived its nonsensical tariff formula by asking AI and set those custom rates per the confident suggestion of a chatbot, which are not reciprocal to import duties at all but rather their trade surplus divided by total exports. Economist and frequent financial contributor to The New Yorker and other publications James Surowiecki obtained similar solutions when prompting various AI models with the question “how to fix trade imbalance.” We suspected that infusing artificial intelligence into everything and the attendant slop produced eventually would drive us collectively over a cliff but wasn’t suspecting such a mark, like a kid rushing to get an overdue homework assignment completed, would be its agent, native and wilful ignorance, shortcuts and retribution conspiring to further fray the global supply chain whose brittleness was on display not too long ago during the pandemic and unleash havoc on world markets and international relations.

eighty-nine second til midnight (12. 361)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed to this scrolly-telling essay (in the style of the artists from the sadly former Nib, from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (previously) blog entitled “Mars Attacks” about how Elon Musk’s and his colonial aspirations for the Red Planet, as a part of a general aversion towards rules, could transform into a flagrant violation of the Outer Space Treaty, which far from a relic of the Cold War has served to preserve humankind here on Earth by preventing weaponisation of the higher ground and includes liability rules for damage caused by spacecraft, the safe return of fallen astronauts, an international rocket registry and the prohibition of projecting national sovereignty or claiming domain. Surely it is the intent of Muskovite Martians to proclaim their independence from terrestrial entanglements, however that first Virginia Dare might be reliant on Earth-based resources and wealth, and even if the flag nation does nothing to stop this assertion, other signatories will, launching a new geopolitical conflict over extraterrestrial claims.