synchronoptica
one year ago: a nineteenth century puppet theatre (with synchronopticæ), New York’s Chelsea Hotel, branding wild horses plus Haile Selassie deposed (1974)
thirteen years ago: corporate welfare, Swiss banking secrecy toppled plus a consortium of European museums goes online
fourteen years ago: reflections on 9/11 plus fiscal discipline and fiduciary disciples
fifteen years ago: Arianne Huffington on America’s decline
seventeen years ago: more reflections on 11 September
We enjoyed this introduction to prolific Romantic painter Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Иван Айвазовский) from Crimea of Armenian extraction, considered a master of the maritime scene and appointed official artist of the Imperial Navy and cemented in the popular culture of Russia in the mid-nineteenth century, and beyond (he is the namesake of an asteroid discovered in 1977, 3787 Aivazovskij 
RG₇) by the saying worthy of his brush by playwright Anton Chekhov, though this set of souvenir keepsakes presented to guests at his seventieth birthday soiree. Each was a unique miniature seascape inset framed by a studio photograph of the artist at work—continuing the gifting for years the original party. Some contemporaries criticised this flair for self-promotion as indicative of Aivazosky’s sheer volume and pace of output—over six-thousand paintings over a career spanning six decades—and cheapening through machine-like habits his monumental works, namely his 1850 The Ninth Wave (Девятый вал) from an old sailing adage that the biggest swell comes in succession of sea wreck survivors clinging to debris and hoping to be rescued—but these creative favours seem more than a demonstration of automation and rather prefigure collage and mixed-media as well as trading-cards and tokens.
Having been previously exposed to a select body of work from the underground filmmaker whose short pieces experiment of themes of the surreal, the occult and homoeroticism, we appreciated this rare glimpse of Kenneth Anger at work through this 1970 documentary from Reinold E Theil for the German network Westdeutsche Rundfunk, featuring segments of his Magick Lantern series and the filming of cut scenes for Lucifer Rising on location at the Avebury Stones. 
Although seemingly a recalcitrant and reluctant interviewee, Anger was grateful to WDR and the British Film Institute for grants that made the project possible. Much more from { feuilleton }—including an index of previous posts on the topic—at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: search engine optimisation (with synchronopticæ), transcribing presidential debates plus tales of Chemical Romance
twelve years ago: a visit to the Sonnenburg
fourteen years ago: design for houseplants
Speaking as chair of the Russian Security Council earlier this week, former president Dmitry Medvedev threatened the sovereignty of Finland using provocative language that directly parallels that false arguments circulated before the 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine. Medvedev said that the former autonomous principality of the Russian Empire, full independence achieved following World War I had aligned itself with Nazi Germany (as a continuation of the Winter War that saw the eventual repelling and 
retreat of invading Soviet forces) with alleged ambitions to expand its borders to St Petersburg and the Kola peninsula, with a lingering russophobic hysteria that persists in its current government, determined to eliminate ethnic Slav culture, joining NATO not out of defence but as a way to bolster offensive capabilities and declare war on Russia. Patently false, this narrative of antagonising the western alliance and the EU is now new or unique and part of a continuum of rousing domestic aggression (renewing demands for reparations dating back to World War II, claiming Finnish posture nullifies settled treaties) through disinformation and sets the stage for justifying further incursions. Historical myths make for a convenient target for redirection, especially immediately after surprisingly steadfast response to threats to core members (something that was missing in the international handling of the above conflict that revealed coordination problems all around and how external borders were treated as buffer terrority)—and the rather askance request for more indirect sanctions against Russia by the US to the European Union to tariff remaining trade partners with a one hundred percent tariff.
The always engrossing data newsletter from Quantum of Sollazzo directed us to a challenge that AI (specifically ChatGPT—not sure if other large language models have overcome this limitation) cannot surmount: to generate an image of a clock face showing a time other than 10:10, the default display for timepieces as seen in catalogues. Here’s one of my own confirmatory requests, asking it nicely several times for a another hour and minute and even the current of the clock—which yielded bizarrely a digital watch reading 10:12 and the incorrect date of Tuesday, 24 April, which would have been in 2018 or the future year of 2029. Like with not being able to do hands very well, maybe this ignorance and inability to compute will be corrected in later generations but is kind of fascinating to see it get stuck on certain requests. See if you can come up with the magic prompt.
Courtesy of Weird Universe, we are referred to one of twenty-six patents filed by physical trainer, professional boxer, circus performer and self-defence educator Joseph Hubertus Pilates—best known for his eponymous mind-body exercise method (see also), primarily developed during his internment by British authorities in Lancaster Castle (later on the Isle of Man) during World War I by dent of his German 
citizenship in England earning a living doing the latter jobs and training police in his ways at Scotland Yard—in the form of this rather intriguing v-shaped, cradle-like bed, which purports to support good spinal alignment during sleep. I don’t know whether such a configuration would alleviate cramping legs and constant tossing and turning and switching sides—which may have more to do with sharing sleeping quarters with a dog and another human—but seems plausible and maybe worth a try. While a pilates regimen as an activity is of course better than being sedentary and improves balance and muscle definition, studies show it does not live up to loftier claims of treating any illness or medical condition, however. Immigrating to New York City in 1925, Pilates set up a studio and taught classes with his wife Clara née Zeuner into the 1960s and invented the bed and several other exercise and wellness apparatuses during this period, and while the copyright for these devices holds, pilates itself is not professionally regulated and accredited, ruled a generic term and something anyone can claim—at least in the US—to be a master of. More at the link above.
idf: Israel airstrikes target Hamas officials in Doha—with no forewarning to Trump—as it orders the evacuation of Gaza City
ripped from the headlines: a Centipede style arcade game played by doomscrolling New York Times articles—via Waxy
hurdy gurdy: covers performed on an electro-acoustic modified sewing machine—see previously
2025 pn7: the quasi satellites of the Earth—see previously
succession: the appointee to the Murdoch media empire
przestrzeń powietrzna: in a test of NATO solidarity, Poland downs Russian drones violating their airspace
the evening truth: a resonate 1932 novel about yellow journalism employing a secret weapon called the composograph to fabricate sensational stories
never again: LA’s Holocaust Museum retracts an denunciation on Israel’s attacks on Palestine—plus the genealogy of the phrase
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ)
fourteen years ago: wildfires worldwide
fifteen years ago: modular furnishings plus America’s competitive edge slipping
As a humiliating way for Tiffany, Erik and Don Junior to find out that their father sends out birthday cards, coinciding with a speech delivered at the Museum of the Bible in which Trump rather heinously downplayed domestic violence, saying “crime would be down a hundred percent if law enforcement did 
not count “things that take place in a home” (without even quoting verses that might back up his argument, only wanting to brag about his invasion of problem cities) and House speaker retracting his claim that Trump was a deep-cover FBI informant, the bipartisan congressional oversight committee released several documents from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein after issuing to the executor a legal summons, including in all lewd detail, the birthday book inscribed by Trump and others. Bank records were also obtained. Republicans accuse Democrats of putting politics above the welfare of survivors, refusing to acknowledge any were victimised by Trump, even as a photograph of Epstein presenting an oversized novelty cheque to Trump implying that the future US president sold him a young girl for $22, 500.
