Saturday, 11 October 2025

heavy petting (12. 785)

Despite (or because of) its ban by the BBC and refusal to air the chanson on the radio or on Top of the Pops for its overtly sexual content, the song whose title translates to “I love you … me neither”—originally composed by Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot in 1967—the Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin duet rose to number one on the UK and Irish charts on this day in 1969, the first foreign language one to do so. Prolific and iconic songwriter Gainsbourg (previously) was ordered after a particularly bad date by his then-girlfriend Bardot (see also) to write the ultimate love song as penance—which the two later recorded in a studio together. After the session Bardot begged Gainsbourg to never release it—he complied but was upset that his singular attempt at writing a love song would go unheard. Breaking up with Bardot the next year, Gainsbourg’s on-screen tryst with English actress Birkin during the filming of the romantic comedy Slogan turned into a real-life affair—at first for the sake of the project—with Gainsbourg latter seducing her with the private recording made with his ex. For admittedly selfish reasons, motivated by the fact she wanted no one else to record it, Birkin agreed to perform the track. The title «Je t'aime... moi non plus» was inspired by a quotation of Salvador Dalรญ that “Picasso is Spanish, me too. Picasso is a genius, me too. Picasso is a communist, me neither.” Despite Birkin’s lasting imprint (Gainsbourg directed her in an erotic film of the same name in 1976), it was revealed later that Gainsbourg also approached Marianne Faithfull to do the duet and by 1986, Bardot had reconsidered her position and persuaded Gainbourg to release their original recording. An instrumental version was played during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a last day on the Havel

sixteen years ago: an awful trollish post on Obama winning the Nobel Peace prize that we’re ashamed we made and feel very differently now

seventeen years ago: fleeing interconnections to a new Dark Age 

Friday, 10 October 2025

9x9 (12. 784)

readme.txt: an experiment to assess whether AI can parse the drastic downfall of the United States and pen near-term speculative fiction that forecasts the next four years based on the daily news cycle—via Web Curios  

citation needed: famous cognitive truisms that fail replication 

take the a-train: a data-driven tribute to the New York City subway  

peso convertible: despite US government shutdown impasse and soaring inflation, the US is bailing out the Argentinian economy  

out of all the clergy, why did ice target the hot priest: minister scoured with pepper ball ammunition rebukes US administration’s narrative about lawlessness in Chicago  

dead reckoning: quantum sensing of the magnetic field of the Earth’s core could prove to be a more reliable method of aerial navigation in the age of GPS spoofing and jamming, see also—Via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest  

rezagado: Trump suggests ejecting Spain from NATO for their failure to show commitment snail’s pace: a sculptural statement on the frenetic everyday  

coo-coo-ca-choo: birds across all species seem to understand the universal cry of warning of predatory nesters  

babystar: a cautionary influencer tale with echos of The Truman Show

for her tireless work promoting democratic rights or the people of venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy (12. 783)

Despite Trump’s laudable though contrived truce between Israel and Hamas—may the peace hold—with Netayahu leveraged to hedge in favour of a refusal on the part of the Gazan authorities to take part—and risking the ire of the American president when he realises that there are some Venezuelans remaining that he hasn’t blown up, the Nobel Committee in Oslo announced that their prize will be presented to laureate Marรญa Corina Machado, politician and activist ousted during the regime of Nicolรกs Maduro Moros in 2014. Although in hiding and operating an underground effort for government reform and social justice since, Machado attempted to run against Maduro in 2024, and though blocked from running lent support to the candidacy of the opposition, whom would have unseated the incumbent, according to international election observers yet refused to yield power. Nominations closed in March, with over three hundred qualified contenders put forward, individuals and organisations, including Pope Francis, champion of the plight of the Uyghur people Li Ying, Elon Musk, Donald Trump nominated by representatives of the governments of Israel, Pakistan, Cambodia and Argentina, the January Sixth congressional select committee, the Hague and NATO. Coincidentally Machado had some praise for Trump himself earlier in the year in August when the administration announced a fifty-million dollar bounty on Maduro for allowing drug trafficking into the US, carrying out a series of deadly strikes on boats in international waters said to be operated by gang members running narcotics, countering these accusations as a pretext for America-led regime change. Sore loser, Trump says that this proves that the Nobel Committee places “politics above peace,” and despite this qualified miscarriage of justice that Trump who has “the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” according to a White House spokesperson, continues to be a peace-maker.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to Himmelpfort and Fรผrstenberg (with synchronopticรฆ)

twelve years ago: departing for southern France 

thirteen years ago: the grammar of ornament, flowcharts plus a blank slate

fifteen years ago: Double-Ten Day and currency wars 

Thursday, 9 October 2025

we have always been at war with portlandia (12. 782)

Checking in on the war-zone in the Oregon city, we find the antics of peaceful protestors have been quite withering for the narrative that the Trump administration is trying to push with selective and many times false footage claiming to be facing down an Antifa army with a force majeure of images circulating showing that grave threat to be joyful resistance to protect people in their community from being expelled or disappeared and their third amendment rights to not be compelled to suffer or quarter cosplay soldiers shipped into their town unwelcome.

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

[image or embed]

— The Daily Show (@thedailyshow.com) October 9, 2025 at 10:23 PM

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synchronoptica

one year ago: punting along the Wolblitz (with synchronopticรฆ

thirteen years ago: bulletin boards plus a visit to Kelheim

seventeen years ago: reflections on Iceland’s insolvency 

Wednesday, 8 October 2025

vรคrvilind (12. 781)

Courtesy of Weird Universe, we enjoyed this introduction to Soviet-era artist and director Rein Raamat through his 1974 work Firebird, with obvious inspiration from Yellow Submarine. Whereas the Beatles were faced with the challenge of thawing the frozen Pepperland and restoring its vitality, the drab denizens of Raamat’s animation are brought to life by the arrival of the titular character brings colour and growth—much to the indignation of a black cat who seems to have embraced the status quo.

10x10 (12. 780)

third amendment rights: ICE officers and associates beg to use the restroom  

dance this mess around: Cardhouse’s 2025 mixtape session—see previously 

anti-deficiency act: an omnibus of reports on the US federal government shutdown, including the threat to withhold back-pay from disloyal workers  

any dream of avarice: a historical comparison of the world’s wealthiest individuals—see also  

angry little clouds: Bob Ross paintings (see previously here and here) to be auctioned off to US support public broadcasters after federal funding cut  

the weight of a city: revisiting the idea of gradually x-raying a spot off-limits with ghostly cosmic particles through imagined and inspired celestial espionage  

permanent polycrisis: Curios Brain’s trends for 2026 of sustained chaos counterbalanced with the end of coincidence 

a good mix of the apocalypse and looney tunes: Thomas Pynchon (previously) has been warning us about American fascism his whole literary career 

r u experienced: a glorious re-upload of Devo’s 1984 cover of the Jimi Hendrix song  

in the land of the dollar bill: Trump threatens to arrest the mayor of Chicago for failing to protect immigration agents and invoke the Insurrection Act as he goes full authoritarian

synchronoptica

one year ago: boating on the Rรถblinsee (with synchronopticรฆ)

twelve years ago: fiat currency plus extending the sacrament to divorced Catholics

thirteen years ago: making crespelle 

Tuesday, 7 October 2025

flinders street station, elizabeth street exit (12. 779)

Located outside of the busiest train stop in Melbourne and having been in operation continuously since 1961 gaining the celebrated status of a local landmark, owner Alan Adler maintained the iconic photo booth for the entirety of its existence up through his retirement in 2023 with a team of technicians now carrying on his legacy to keep the machine in good working order. A green-grocery by trade and self-taught in the antique and rarefied mechanics, Alder branched out purchasing more photo booths (see also) in different areas of the city—his business undercut by the entrance of larger super market chains but the coin-op enterprise remained a profitable one. Over six decades of repair, testing and calibration of his fleet of booth, Adler collected countless images, holding the title of the most photographed individual even in the age of the selfie and of course millions of visual keepsakes for residents and visitors. More from Flashbak at the link above.

dilemma of the video age (12. 778)

Via MetaFilter, we are directed to this odd cinematic time-capsule from a 1991 Entertainment Week listing of a hundred superlative obscure titles. It’s a pretty solid catalog that stands the test of time, although many have become better known as a cult classics in the intervening decades, like The 5000 Fingers of Dr T, Zardoz, Withnail and I and Xanadu, there are yet critical acclaimed sleeper hits to be rediscovered. The language and tone of the summaries seems more dated than one would have expected and the titular scenario is described as the following: “You walk into the local rental store, see that all sixty copies of Ghost are rented out and scan the aisles with dread,” which is both a reflection of our currently curated embarrassment of choices and an indictment on the siloing of content across channels and streaming services and media with many movies otherwise unavailable and the concept of owning a film library a legacy out of reach for most—the coda of the article inviting cinestes to invest in membership in a mail-order club, predating Netflix. Which of these films do you remember?

synchronoptica

one year ago: Suddenly (with sybchronopticรฆ) plus more boating adventures

thirteen years ago: life lessons from mythology

fourteen years ago: cruciform variations plus corking fun

sixteen years ago: travels in the States