(13. 555)

synchronoptica

one year ago: a stroll along the beach (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: a visit to a historic hermitage  

three years ago: Belarusian intervention halts march to Moscow, the struggle to keep journalism solvent, The Firebird (1910) plus the primary confessions of the Lutheran faith (1530)

four years ago: assorted links worth the revisit 

five years ago: jimoto Starbucks,  McDonaldland plus word jazz

six years ago: demonyms,  Rhode Island renamed, Blade Runner (1982), butterfly spotting plus a repatriated painting

jónsmessa (13. 553)

The celebration coinciding with the Feast of John the Baptist, this second night of Mid-Summer, according to Icelandic tradition when the midnight sun returns, barely dipping below the horizon and never setting, is one of the four miraculous eves when magic happens, the others occurring during Yuletide with Christmas, New Years and Twelfth Night. Wishing stones may be found as well as healing herbs and grasses mature and are at the height of their potency. The evening due heavy, rolling around in it naked guarantees a year’s inoculation from all ailments. Cows gain the capactiy for human speech, though their utterances can drive the hearer mad so it is best not to listen. Lore also states that sitting at a crossroads with all paths leading to a church invites elves, who will attempt to seduce one with food and gifts.

cómo hace el pequeño cocodrilo (13. 552)

Having made the acquaintance of singular artist and writer Leonora Carrington (see previously here and here) through her surreal paintings informed by Celtic and Mesoamerican folklore and her own lived experience, we were excited to discover a special exhibition that curates Carrington’s works in other media—chiefly through large scale bronze figures sculpted using the lost-wax casting technique, her mythic and primordial figures walking off the canvas but also jewellery and vases and platters.
Though many of these characters are untitled and pass unnamed, whose story was only known to their creator, one is pressed to give a narrative and lore to these apparitions and wonder what they portend.  Much more from Colossal at the link above including the departed artist's personal website, lovingly maintained by her estate, and more details on showings and public art, like the title fabulist, monumental sculpture gifted to Ciudad de México depicting the Lewis Carroll (previously) poem, Alice reciting the parody as she attempts to memorise the Isaac Watts’ moralistic litany “Against Idleness and Mischief”—how doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour...

pause for station identification (13. 551)

Via Swiss Miss, we are invited to tune in to a range of virtual televisions that host programming by decade from the 1950s though the aughts with thousands of channels on the dial. There is a guide to consult and one can select from a list of genres, soap operas, cartoons, drama, trailers, commercials, music, sitcoms, news, talk shows, game shows, etc—though those modern day luxuries does not factor into the nostalgia and we think it’s much more rewarding to sit with the random shuffle as one surfs to see what’s on already in progress. The ads alone make this worthwhile. It’s of course saturated with mostly North American broadcasts but I think there’s some UK shows as well—the individuals behind this project seem to have crafted it with care and new media is being added on a regular basis. Let us know what forgotten gems you find.

8x8 (13. 550)

add to dictionary: a remembrance of the departed Tony Krueger, the software engineer that introduced red squiggles to word-processing to indicate a potential error  

seen by the machine: AI scores one’s relative importance by billions of datapoints called “the weights”—please consider the environmental impact before googling oneself—via MetaFilter 

drain the swamp: a meme roundup on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool  

cancon: musical acts propelled to stardom over minimum requirements for domestic content on Canadian airwaves—via Miss Cellania and Nag on the Lake  

reading the room: a moment of silence observed before interviews with filmmakers to take in the room tone as a supercut from Criterion  

a la carte: US history told in early restaurant menus—see previously  

able mabel: a robotic maid from 1966  

usa a-ok: more than amplifying random statistical noise, an interesting look at Americans’ misspellings mapped

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Carnac Stones (with synchronoptica) plus a trip to Belz

two years ago: exploring Maccagno  

three years ago: artist and freedom fighter Willem Arondéus, a revolt and march toward Moscow plus the last Emperor

four years ago: Germany legalises abortion plus a work cruise on the Rhein

five years ago: artist Robert Rotar, the goddess of luck, the bells of Bad Hersfeld, assorted links to revisit plus Cubist cars

six years ago: an orchestra for houseplants,  the Battle of Bamber Bridge (1943), tourists not welcome plus the Pontiac Ghost Car

day one-hundred fourteen (13. 549)

US senate narrowly votes to halt conflict in Iran without congressional authorisation, though Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution. The US president announces that IAEA nuclear inspectors will go to Iran at “an appropriate time”—Tehran countering the claims on commitments made earlier by Trump and Vance, whilst secretary of state Rubio maintains that Hormuz must remain toll-free as UN takes action to evacuate sailors stranded in the Strait. Russia puts the annexed territory of Crimea under lockdown as a swarm of drones approaches. Belarus strives to remain neutral after Kiev issues an ultimatum and warms of consequences.

404 (13. 548)

Having had the tragic but increasing common experience of clicking on a dead link, most recently the personal webpage of evolutionary biologist and science historian Stephen Jay Gould to find it appropriated by gambling company, the sort that is guaranteed to give one’s computer a venereal disease—we were brought up on the belief (of stranger-danger and) that the internet is forever when it turns out it’s very ephemeral and there are old, moribund sites I don’t dare click to avoid the inevitable heartbreak—and I’d much prefer it to be broken or have succumbed to the usual dilapidation of linkrot, we appreciated the referral courtesy of Tedium to this Wisconsin death trip, deathwatch vigil, a project that ironically looks abandoned as well, called RIPSO, a digital graveyard with obituaries. Wings of the catacombs that date back to the 1980s mostly entomb discontinued services, platforms and messengers, apps rather than outlets and websites (maybe impossible to catalogue), but gives a sense of what’s died the death (with indignities or otherwise—with or without resuscitation notices) and stresses the importance of the work that archivists do.

orkopedic (13. 547)

Courtesy of Miss Cellania, we are directed towards this short quiz from Alamo Drafthouse, which for a certain demographic that grew up with the line of Mattel toys and animated franchise, a half-hour “cartoon commercial” that spawned many to adopt the same marketing strategy and whom now as adults shop at the Swedish home furnishings giant, may either prove a breeze to ace or become frustrating with how similar the names become. Eternia or Ikea combines one of our favourite topics, the store’s nomenclature—see previously here, here, here, here and here, with the sword-and-planet paracosm of He-Man (don’t forget She-Ra) and the Masters of the Universe, characters we never identified with but were certainly aware of and have since gained an encyclopaedic appreciation for.  How many can you guess?  The incidental is music “Tijuana Taxi” by Herb Alpert.