8x8 (13. 902)

mba: professor calls for the abolition of business schools for wreaking society  

gravesite: death, online legacy and estate executors  

six°: the true centre of Hollywood plus plotting past and future trajectories—see also—via Waxy  

only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun who’s trying to stop another good guy with a gun who’s jumping out of his vehicle to run and stop a bad guy with a gun who’s blasting his way into an elementary school: a vicious cycle by Kathryn Baecht  

rarebit: once the reserve of the aristocracy in Britain, rabbits became accessible to the lower classes following the Plague raised the living-standard of the working poor—see also—via tmn  

the sound of suddard: a growing collection of vintage vinyl recordings appearing nowhere else on the internet 

rented megaphones: the suspension of the Instagram “No Kings” account just prior to massive global rallies speaks to digital demonstration and trust vested in platforms—see also 

the landlord’s game: millions of iterations of Monopoly (previously) reveal the winningest strategies

synchronoptica

one year ago: Cornish custom cushions (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit 

two years ago: pivotal tech year 2004, a method for guaranteeing equal chance and distribution, a West German crime drama plus a rare Mac Tonight clip emerges 

three years ago: Bigfoot footage (1967) 

four years ago: jungle gyms of East Germany,  more spectacular images from the JWST plus Liz Truss resigns

five years ago: St Artemis of Antioch,  Play Misty for Me (1971) plus the dedication of the Sydney Opera House (1973)

six years ago: more links to enjoy, the execution of Klaus Störtebeker plus a remembrance of artist Enzo Mari

seven years ago: synthwave Star Wars,  documenting car crashes plus the end of grazing season

eight years ago: the Saturday Night Massacre,  artist Giacomo Balla plus even more links worth the revisit 

 

7x7 (13. 901)

catch me if you can: Frank Abagnale in his own words 

ultimata thule: the dark history behind that iconic daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe 

use case scenario: representation in AI and the overly-confident cohort of fabricated industry leaders   

fugs for peace: radical, counter-culture figure Ed Sanders  

rough cut: an hour-long workprint of Space Jam from early 1996  

signor formica: ETA Hoffman’s novella about the Italian Baroque artist Salvator Rosa, painter of witches  

super scam me: turning the tables on confidence trickers

the devil in the details (13. 896)

Via { feuilleton }, we learn that at the film’s centenary, a recently rediscovered scrapbook of sketches and on-set photographs help limn the creative process of F W Murnau and his masterwork Faust. Very protective of his directorial methods, the production bible—a prop in the actual film—consigned to the hearth in a moment of despair by the itinerant alchemist, art directors rescued this artefact from the ashes and filled in with storyboards and stills to present to Murnau as a keepsake on the premiere. Leaving it behind when invited to Hollywood in Berlin, the leather bound tome was never retrieved and thought lost during WWII. After much searching, the Faust Bible reappeared and was acquired by Cinémathèque Française, who restored it and made it available to researchers and archivists, offering a unique insight into Murnau’s techniques and collaboration. More from the Guardian at the link above and see the whole silent classic as well. O lente, lente currite noctis equi!

9x9 (13. 891)

lazy sunday: filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s next project is the adaptation of C S Lewis’ first book in the Naria tetralogy—more here  

glazing: a series of skits push back on the indignities of being interviewed by a sycophantic AI agent

the holy rus(e): much like evangelicalism is a hand maiden of right wing America, the Russian Orthodox Church is an instrument of the Kremlin’s hybrid influence 

the spetses players: the 1970s performance group that turned the Greek island into a stage  

ann putnam, jr: the long afterlife of a debunked theory behind the Salem Witch Trials—via Strange Company—see also  

[citation needed]: an engrossing article about Wikipedia’s gastronomical lacunas and attempts to fix them—I often look up what I am eating—via Web Curios  

the hierophant: tarot cards for teachers 

frontier training: how a “hardwired” pause on AI development could work by phasing in inference only chips  

sanatorium pod klepsydrą: ten unhinged international (mostly) horror homages as selected by the Eternal Family—including Funeral Parade of Roses

they thought he was a goner (13. 825)

We enjoyed this short film retrospective (plus a preview of coming attractions) of the works of Winnipeg animator Cordell Barker, showcasing his Oscar-nominated 1988 piece that was screened along with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in Canadian theatres. Based on the Tin Pan Alley song of the same name written by Harry S Miller in 1893 about an indestructible cat, Barker’s version is a bit less violent with injury and carnage visited only on Old Mr Johnson, the little yellow cat returning increasingly destructive after each failed and manic attempt to get rid of it. More from the NFB blog, the filmmaker a creative consultant retained by the National Film Board for animation projects.

synchromy № 4 (13. 803)

Piggy-backing from a recent post, we are pleased for having made the acquaintance of pioneering experimental filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute, who created some of the first electronically generated montage for her visual music, whose abstract shorts, many in collaboration with Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren, whom also produced commissions for the National Film Board (NFB) and UNESCO outreach projects, were shown in special venues, like Radio City Music Hall as well as projected in cinemas before the main features. Influenced by contemporaries like Len Lye and Oskar Fischinger together creating a whole new genre that culminated in Fantasia and derivatives, a selection of Bute’s compositions are at the link above from MetaFilter contributor peppercorn, including her 1958 non-musical, non-animated short film The Boy Who Saw Through starring a young Christopher Walken with x-ray vision.  

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: hedgehog highways (with synchronoptica), impossible captchas, an outrageous exchange rate error, a pivotal moment in the life of Frida Kahlo plus the radical left

two years ago: a versatile French pronoun 

three years ago: Outward Bound (1923), West German Star Trek plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: the debut of M*A*S*H* (1972), assorted links to revisit, Emperor Norton I plus a consequential forgery

five years ago: The Persuaders!,  rewilding one’s attention plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: Hildegard von Bingen, tour guides, words with only plural forms, the musical stylings of Ady Zehnpfennig, the illustrations of Rex Whistler plus the microscopic world announced

seven years ago: The Handmaid’s Tale, previously unreleased pictures of David Bowie, spoon-hanging plus more language hapaxes

eight years ago: the space shuttle Enterprise (1976)

 

day one hundred ninety-one (13. 791)

Trump blames Ukraine for high diesel prices and demands that Zelenskyy stop bombing Russian refineries. Putin rules out meeting with Kyiv during the G20 as a Russian drone strikes a passenger train two kilometres from the Polish border, as another train carrying Boris Johnson and other EU officials passes going the opposite direction. Houthis take Yemeni government strongholds of Taiz and Marib. Israel unveils its plans to split the occupied West Bank, sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory and the cohesion needed for a future state. Tehran and Muscat postpone talks with gulf states regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as traffic again slows to a trickle, until a time more conducive of negotiation presents itself. Tel Aviv threatens to revoke filmmakers’ citizenship over Gaza documentary as the American president dismisses calls for an AI pause from tech leaders.

day one hundred ninety (13. 789)

As deadly Russian strikes hit all corners of Ukraine, Zelenskyy offers to meet with Putin at the upcoming G20 conference to be held in Miami. Moscow disinters the remains of a fourteenth century sainted warrior prince Dmitry Donskoi, who expelled Mongol-Tartar forces from western Russian, and distributes the relics to all corners of the country to boost the war effort. Iraq seizes an Iranian drone launching platform used to disable the Saudi East-West pipeline. The US navy attacks an Iranian commercial vessel near Qeshm Island, killing one crew member. Yemeni government forces exchange fire with the Houthi in attempt to wrest back control of the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint in the Red Sea, the rebels having taken the strategically important island of Perim. A parliamentary spokesperson says that the Islamic Republic will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and revise the doctrine for its programme accordingly. Tehran and Muscat reach agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz but there will be no action taken until the US proves that it will comply with the terms of the MOU. Visiting the taoiseach, Trump advocates for a united Ireland.  The IDF continues to shell southern Lebanon. A documentary on Israel’s use if artificial intelligence to target Palestinians in Gaza receives a twenty-five minute long at its debut at the Venice Film Festival. Anthropic restricts Iran’s use of Claude under the aegis of Operation Economic Outcast, saying it used the chatbot to spread propaganda and spy on dissidents.

10x10 (13. 777)

futura is a favourite and we’re always going to root for her, but then for legibility you can’t go wrong with frutiger: the very model of a modern day typographer—see previously  

if every girl had a diary: filmmaker Sadie Benning’s quiet confessions to her confident Pixel Vision camera delivers a powerful message from the shelter and safety of her bedroom  

leisurama: the prefabricated Mid-Century Modern vacation home of Montauk, Long Island  

learning to live with an elephant: a 1968 animated short from Terry Gilliam—see previously  

 

movie maps: worldwide cinematic address—comprehensive but missing our village’s cameo—via Nag on the Lake 

insecta odonata: dragonflies migrate over long-distances, comparable to Monarch butterflies 

 🛂: the world’s current one hundred ninety-nine passports mapped as a data-visualisation—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

last and first men: the 1930 science fiction work from Olaf Stapledon who examined humanity from a height of two billion years  

only major western capital without a monumental arch: groundbreaking to begin for the Arc d’Trump in two weeks—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: Stravinsky’s Serenade in A (with synchronoptica), protests in Nepal plus more revelations on the closeness of Trump and Epstein

two years ago: voting from space, split-screen campaigning plus British holiday camps 

three years ago: assorted links worth the revisit plus traditional Palestinian embroidery 

four years ago: a banger from The Stone Temple Pilots (1994) 

five years ago: statehood for the US capital district, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9), a rewilded oasis in DC plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: the founding of Washington, DC (1791), the dispute over Hans Island, a celebrated lighthouse plus AI-generated super villans

9x9 (13. 725)

⛒: the mostly true story of hobo code—see previously here and here  

bury the axis: an independent 1943 anti-fascist stop-motion film   

blackball: a variation on the grandfather paradox with billiards  

cow comes: roundly ridiculed Niu Lai (牛来) becomes a box-office hit  

home taping is killing music: the banality of streaming and the lost joy of music piracy—via Things Magazine—see previously  

diesel dazzle: GM archives reveal costume designs from the Golden Age of industrial musicals—see previously  

casserole culture: Melissa Joseph’s woollen impressions of Midwestern niceties 

lampchop after dark: ventriloquist Shari Lewis‘ raunchier days on the comedy circuit  

hailing frequency: a 1951 prototype beeper in the form of a wearable garter buzzer

synchronoptica

one year ago: a banger from Midnight Oil (with synchronoptica) plus the Dumbarton Oaks conference (1944)

two years ago: assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: Cars by Gary Numan

four years ago: the rules of chess, more links to enjoy plus a banger from Oasis

five years ago: rude toponyms plus The Baltics are Waking Up (1991) 

six years ago: limited patronage, Comrade Gulliver, antique ballots, Italy’s Hundred Horse Chestnut plus vintage Japanese boxed meal wrappers

7x7 (13. 675)

giant’s causeway: Curiosity rover discovers valley of honeycomb polygonal rock formations—see also  

ars notoria: a magical medieval text that promised a pathway to instant, universal mastery of the liberal arts 

singing seat: artist Dan Ortiz Leizman transforms Monobloc chairs into stringed instruments 

translator of original ‘minions’ epic poem slams sexless, bloodless film adaptation: most fun movie discourse since Barbenheimer—see more, see also here and here—via Kottke   

it’s giving: a glossary of Gen Z lexical constructs  

mittingsaia: a mysterious illustrated Swiss manuscript from the 1940s in the style of a European travel brochures with undecipherable captions that resemble AI hallucinations  

van allen belt: despite its small size, no bigger than North America, Mercury’s weak magnetic field can trap solar winds

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump administration obliterates Clean Air Act plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: obligatory voting in Australia (1924), the Likert scale plus more on millenialism

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: a banger from Annie Lennox, even more links, more antique abecedaria plus graphic designers Elinor and Joe Selame

five years ago: time crystals, photographer Lora Webb Nichols, Olympic mottoes, assorted links worth the revisit, a world music radio station plus a David Bowie inspired costume

six years ago: more links to enjoy, a Chinese mission to Mars plus an interim emoji release

i feel clean—my whole body is a’quiver with cleanness (13. 663)

Going into general release on this day in 1955 after its premiere in the producer Paul Gregory’s hometown of Des Moines Iowa as a fundraiser for the local YMCA, as our faithful chronicler reminds, the genre-setting Southern Gothic thriller directed by Charles Laughton, his first and last cinematic work preferring the stage to the screen, was received unfavourably by critics and audience as being too avant-garde and abstract, but upon reevaluation has been named among the best films ever made, ranked second only to Citizen Kane. Adapted from the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb and drawing from the true-crime story of Harry F Powers, Dutch-born Harm Drenth who immigrated to West Virginia—a serial-killer who lured his victims through “lonely hearts” classifieds, Harry Powell, portrayed by Robert Mitchum, is arrested during the Great Depression, apprehended for driving a car registered as stolen, and serves his sentence with inmates of a botched bank robbery however with the pilfered ten-thousand dollars still missing. The heist’s architect hanged for the killing of murder of two police during its execution, once released, his cellmate—posing as an itinerant preacher, travels to the robbers’ hometown, charismatically wedding the executed’s widow (Willa, played by Shelly Winters—previously) and ingratiating himself on his step-children to learn the location of the cache. Wanting to restore the attentiveness and atmosphere of silent movies, the director studied the blocking and lighting of films from that era and employed techniques, like not shooting with traditional takes but rather leaving the cameras rolling and sound equipment on until the reels ran out with editors and engineers on the set, how directing was done before talkies, and used nitrate prints—though the studio had urged Laughton to make a colour film.

emsh (13. 662)

Via { feuilleton }, we are pleased to have had made the acquaintance of visual artist and experimental filmmaker, Ed Emschwiller, a WWII veteran who used his GI bill educational stipend to study at École des Beaux Arts (there meeting his wife and co-creative, scif-fi novelist Carol Fries) and the Art Students League of New York in the late 1940s. Using his veterans’ benefits again, the couple bought a house in Levittown, pursuing their art from a home studio—described as the only beatniks in the, segregated, planned community of Long Island. Often using Carol as a model for his commercial work, Emschwiller (usually signing his painting with the titular abbreviation) created covers for pulp publications including Galaxy, Infinity and Astounding Stories magazines, as well as paperback covers for Philip K Dick and Samuel R Delaney, whom considered his wife a peer. Despite a lucrative career and garnering several Hugo Awards (see previously here and here), in the early 1960s—in part inspired by Andy Warhol and the New American Cinema movement—Emschwiller turned to Factory-style filmmaking in suburbia with multimedia performance vignettes, as well as cinematography for documentaries on diverse subjects from Bob Dylan, voter-registration drives in Mississippi to the New York art scene for diverse commissions from the US Information Agency, NASA and Expo ’67. In the late 1970s, Emschwiller became interested in computer animation, eventually becoming professor and provost of the CalArts of the institutions television workshop and laboratory. More examples of Ed Emschwiller’s work spanning all the stages of his career and incomplete filmography are curated by Dennis Cooper at the link above.

line of succession (13. 638)

Based on the novel of the same name by Irving Wallace with screenplay by Rod Serling (previously), the Paramount release starring James Earl Jones, Burgess Meredith and Barbara Rush, the political drama debuted in US theatres on this day in 1972. The first in an aspirational cinematic trope of casting distinguished Black actors as the American president, taking place thirty-six years before the real world occurrence, Jones portraying Douglass Dilman, interviewed just prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama expressed disappointment in the project that he wished what was originally slated as a made-for-tv movie had been given more thought and budget to fully realise its significance, as president pro tempore of the US senate is elevated to high office, as also the first unelected individual, nor in capacity of the vice-presidency, through a series of unforeseen events. This secondary plot point foreshadowing the elevation of Gerald Ford in lease than two years after the film’s premiere. In attendance at a summit in Frankfurt in West Germany, the president and house speaker are killed in a building collapse. Suffering from a terminal illness that was heretofore undisclosed to the public, the vice president—played by Lew Ayres, Dr Kildare and the protagonist German Solider of All Quiet on the Western Front, refuses the job, with the secretary of state, played by William Windom (district attorney Horace Gilmer in To Kill a Mockingbird and with reoccurring roles on Murder, She Wrote and Commodore Matt Decker on Star Trek, voicing Uncle Chuck in Sonic the Hedgehog), dispelling the popular but false belief that his cabinet position makes him the designated survivor. These seeming allies do not set up Dilman for success and conspire to make his shortcomings and scandals overtures to the party and electorate to strengthen their campaigns. The promotional taglines were “It took an accident to make this man President of the United States. What they do to him now won’t be an accident, “The First Black President of the United States. First They Swore Him In. Then They Swore to Get Him,” and “Fate thrust him into the biggest job in the world...President of the United States. Now he wonders if he's big enough to do it.”

tell me about a complex man (13. 615)

Instead of the usual fare of the podcast and talk-show publicity circuit, we really appreciated The Daily from The New York Times—introduced with appropriately Homeric epithets—had an enthusiastic panel discussion just ahead of the release of Christopher Nolan’s cinematic adaptation of The Odyssey with scholar and translator Emily Wilson (whose work I’ve been meaning to read for some time now and whose take on the first line of the epic poem, “Sing, o Muse” above inspired the director, with a penchant for complicated and flawed protagonists, to assay the project) and author and classicist Madeline Miller, who wrote Song of Achilles and Circe. It was a fascinating panel discussion about the characters, language, tradition and themes of wandering, homecoming and hospitality of the timeless and endlessly interpreted tale. Through the lens of detractions by purists and pedants and provocateurs, attacks that the authors are well-accustomed (Wilson’s website has three contact forms: Interviews/Speaking Requests, General Inquiries and Misogynistic Trolling) and currently applied to Nolan’s work with casing choices (these same people got very upset about a Black Little Mermaid) they arrive a genuinely insightful look at the narrative, academic honesty and conclude that whatever choices that a version makes (in a long-lineage of adaptations and critiques), omissions, Hollywood-endings that one cannot hurt Homer, that the story is invulnerable.

9x9 (13. 609)

washington state: the incorporated polity was originally to be named Colombia after its chief river but people feared it would be confused with the national capital district, so gave it the name of the city that comprises DC 

hemi-finals: strange alignment of the last eight World Cup national teams  

mr pibb is aspirational—he’s currently in med school: sodas with a doctorate  

zero-sum game: circular deals and a shameless Ponzi scheme sends everyone to the moon  

false equivalence: political tribalism and the whataboutism of the Right for the Left 

a show about nothing: a scrolly-telling of the history of the sitcom Seinfeld—see previously here and here—via Web Curios  

wake up neo: a signet ring with OLED display shows the cascading green code from The Matrix  

après moi, le déluge: a forecasting tool for sea-level rise to drown the world  

separated by a common language: what North Americans call a cookie, the British call a biscuit—and what Americans call a biscuit has no exact counterpart in UK cuisine. Discuss.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Terracotta Army (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: double-click jargon, more on the zombification of the legacy web plus Biden vows to stay in the US presidential race   

three years ago: a secret weather modification programme for Vietnam, a ska special plus more links to enjoy

four years ago: the Hollywood Bowl, Avogadro’s Number plus US vs USSR in chess championship (1972)

five years ago: a stone ship in Sweden 

six years ago: the Ehrenburg of Ehrenbach 

9x9 (13. 605)

spitalfields life: street photographer Kurt Hutton  

djt: rentier-in-chief could potential benefit financially from the rebranding of Palm Beach International airport, just kilometres away from Mar-a-Lago 

turn around bright eyes: RIP Bonnie Tyler—see previously here, here and here 

l’odissea: the 1911 cinematic adaptation of the timeless classic  

freedom fuel: White House announces network of gas stations with prices capped (previously) at $3.47 per gallon, status quo ante bellum 

the night the earth shook, strangers started to draw: in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Syria and Türkiye in February of 2023, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team helped save lives—via Maps Mania 

twenty minutes into the future: a look at when the cola-wars where dominated by dystopian science-fiction—see previously

tax shelter: very much solicited financial advice on Trump Accounts for Kidz 

pixel skylines: urban grounds from vintage video games

lightning round (13. 565)

Without even being disclosed as satire with its ultimate tired-not-wired entry being “Having a ‘funny’ back page,” this early example of ragebait from Wit’s End September 1995 issue is an interesting time capsule of opinion (facetious, cringe—crass in hindsight or otherwise) of what was trending nearly twenty-one years ago. There’s a lot going on with this listicle of what’s deemed overrated, some of which still have resonance, like gender ambiguity, anything called a Summerfest, all-you-can-eat shrimp, being the host city of the Olympics, town-meeting with elected officials, morphing, zines. Others just seem bizarre for their inclusion like Pliny the Elder and conversion to Islam whilst incarcerated, 1968—and others, disparaging the likes of the alums of the Harvard Lampoon or Absolutely Fabulous, which made me rather upset. Check out the Reddit post above and let us know what stuck out for you—and maybe do a wellness check on that year.

🧐 (13. 564)

Courtesy of Kraftfuttermishwerk, we discover the world of how-to instructional reels that well predate but prevision influencers and looksmaxxing in the cache of Movietone News shorts, colourised and remastered carefully to preserve their charm and possibly unintentional humour through the lens of this 1930 tutorial by Count Etienne Louis Philippe Ścibor-Rylski of colonial Singapore, perhaps prompted by reports that the fashion trend had finally arrived in the States, on how to properly wear a monocle, the etiquette surrounding it—for those uncouth Yankees—and how to use it as an effective prop. Monocle drop was the original mic-drop. Click through for more vintage reels curated by Did You See? (including scenes of street life from the same period) and let us know what you find.

9x9 (13. 563)

pennsylvania dutch: an ethnographic profile of the Deitsch speaking Amish—see also  

it’s 1100 pm—do you know where your ai agent is: Janelle Shane (previously) on agentic artificial intelligence, vibe-coding and the need for guardrails  

hunshandake sandy land: battling creeping desertification with an army of chickens 

ethnic cleansing: US supreme court rules that the country can refuse asylum-seekers at the border and can begin the deportation of Syrian and Haitian refugees under temporary protected status        

⚙️⚙️⚙️🦑⚙️⚙️⚙️: manoeuvre your marine mollusc through an environment resembling dungeon levels from Zelda with Bubble Bobble type puzzles—via MetaFilter  

rainbow plaques: an alternative to Blue historical markers appear across London, honouring LGTBQ+  personages

final descent: the iconic airliner, the Boeing 747, is being phased out 

jerry’s world: a map of an imaginary land limned over decades using a deck of cards for procedural generation—see also  

despicable me: the influence of Minionese on the slang of Gen Alpha—see previously