there’s a light—over at the frankenstein place

The cast of the Broadway revival of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show (the stage musical adaptation of the original Riff-Raff’s concept for the cult classic—more poignant with this year’s loss of the iconic Frank-N-Furter in Tim Curry) got to haunt the studios of National Public Radio and took over the Tiny Desk venue (in journalism parlance, that’s like being assigned to the Middle East desk for one’s beat) for a joyful mini-concert featuring five energetic numbers, including the preamble “Science Fiction / Double-Feature” and of course “Time Warp” with audience participation.

464 us 417 (13. 915)

Filed on this day in 1976 in the US district court for central and southern California in Los Angeles, Universal Studios and the Walt Disney Company sued the Sony Corporation of America to prohibit the sale of it videocassette recording system to the general public. The “Betamax” case eventually heard by the supreme court nearly eight years later, ruled—narrowly—in favour of the electronics manufacturer, deciding that making individual copies of programming for personal use does not constitute copyright infringement when created for the purposes of time shifting, viewing it sometime after the scheduled live broadcast, was fair use. The concept of pausing live television had among its first popular depictions in a 1966 episode of I Dream of Jeannie with Major Nelson requesting his genie pre-empt a football game so he could continue to watch it from that point after finishing with errands. More broadly, the majority of the justices found that similar video recording platforms could not be held liable for contributing to infringement, thus creating the home video market with a legal safe harbour, similar to the principle of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that guarantees immunity for online platforms hosting third-party content hosted by users within in certain bounds, for the developing technology and a boon for film studios with secondary releases. The prevailing format for taping shifted away from Betamax, Sony acquired Columbia Pictures in 1989 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 modified certain interpretation of statue that informed the original case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the fair use standard as a applied to space shifting (peer-to-peer sharing of digital media such as Napster or KaZaa) as the equivalent of the above time shifting.

 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: documenting China’s 1990s building boom (with synchronoptica), the Battle of Agincourt (1415), US moves towards regime change in Venezuela plus Trump administration closes off the US entrance of a Canadian border-straddling library

 

two years ago: cruise packages and Gen Z plus international maritime signal flags 

 

three years ago: assorted links worth the revisit 

 

four years ago: further adventures in Crete 

five years ago: the US Invasion of Granada (1971)

six years ago: a hexadecagonal country retreat, SS Crispin and Crispinian plus pandemic gods and heroes

seven years ago: a lyrical headline (1924), a video game atlas plus the world’s first erotic boutique proprietress 

eight years ago: The Master Key of Futurity, virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens plus programming a more ethical Pac Man

 

♇ (13. 906)

Composed over the course of three years after a discussion about astrology piqued his interest, leading to associates to remark, during the creative process that resulted in his most popular and enduring orchestral suite that the arranger and teacher and teacher was becoming quite the skilled interpreter of horoscopes—to which Gustav Holst replied, relatably, “I only study things that suggest music to me,” The Planets, Opus № 32 premiered to an invited audience in 1918 at a concert hall in Langham Place. Resounding with the public and highly influential over the decades, particularly the first movement, Mars, the Bringer of War ♂, with its militaristic strains echoing in video game soundtracks and film scores, its impression heard in the themes of John Williams and the Imperial March, several adaptations of the suite for full orchestra have been made, including attempts to add the eighth planet, Pluto, discovered twelve years after the piece’s debut. The most well-received and fitting completion of the planetary cycle was Colin Matthews 2000 contribution, Pluto, the Renewer—though unclear what the status of the solar system suite became six years later once Pluto was downgraded.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus an alien landing pad in the Argentine desert

two years ago: more links to enjoy plus the Berlin Crisis of 1961 

three years ago: even more links 

four years ago:  brittle egos bristling at Karen’s Garden plus modern sundials

five years ago: the International Meridian Conference of 1884, The Last Picture Show plus an early alternative currency

six years ago: the father of psychophysics, red food dye, another failed doomsday prophecy plus the Humument series

eight years ago: the US Gun Control Act of 1968, the WWII bombing of Kassel, the spread of disinformation, anticipatory libraries for other worlds plus RIP to the inventor of the Little Library

 

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 

 

khn et klek (13. 895)

Via ibīdem, we are introduced to the Québécois experimental math rock—the genre typified for complex and surprising rhythmical structures, changing time signatures, syncopation and counter-punctual arrangements include bands like Yes, Rush, Soundgarden and Polvo) duo Angine de Poitrine by means a tribute executed in LEGO to the group’s stage costumes and performance, oversized papier-mâché masks and pantomime between sets that preserve their anonymity. The name is French for cardiac arrest, joking that the dissonance and urgency of their songs might induce angina, and the elaborate headdress, which also was a gag to lure audiences to attend back-to-back bookings at a local venue in their hometown of Saguenay, is inspired by the pyramid monument built to commemorate the catastrophic flooding of the Ha! Ha! river (named for the landscaping feature)—displacing tens of thousands of residents—in 1996 as a form of art therapy, the faces tiled with three thousand yield signs—céder being homophonous with s’aider, to help each one another. More from Laughing Squid at the link above.

9x9 (13. 883)

distressed assets: Disney to acquire chatbot that allegedly encouraged a fourteen-year old to commit suicide  

id 400: a profile of artist Tomoko Sawada’s self-portraiture 

forrester’s pictorial miscellany: the stilted knitting shepherds of Basque Les Bas Landes, a lovely rabbit-hole to tumble down 

nächster halt: digital train journeys with passing scenery from footage of the route—via Web Curios  

spruce wench: Tom Jones’ “Sexbomb” arranged as a chanson from the 1500s—see also  

please and thank you don’t cost a thing: the language for abusing machines is drawn from the human one  

step into the light: a longitudinal study on belief in the great hereafter—via Nag on the Lake 

space and place: the artwork of Ann Toebbe  

1up: a toxicologist tries to find out how and why amanita muscaria gummies exist—see previously here and here

synchronoptica

one year ago: Moog-artist Mort Garson (with synchronoptica) plus AI over-confidence and latent belief

two years ago: Pulp Fiction, a simplified LED typeface plus a mysterious visit from Mr Babbage 

three years ago: AI can unredact documents 

four years ago: Denmark plans a Synthetic Party led by an AI,  the first rail route in Japan (1872), more radio calling cards plus a song from English Beat

five years ago: Faust (1926) plus the architecture of Hélène Binet

six years ago: special meal requests plus more natic movements in plants

seven years ago: nominees for Word of the Year, Germany’s Mushroom of the Year plus New York City through an AI lens

eight years ago: the world’s first motion picture (1888),  Apollo 7 transmits from the Moon (1968), The Watersons, The Bells of Rhymney plus diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey

 

10x10 (13. 846)

john henry was a steel-driving man: the limits metaphor, transduction and the calcification of man vs machine trope  

baxian: the enduring popularity of the Eight Immortals and other Taoist mythology 

rheinstone cowboy: yodelling and its exports 

vienna model: solutions to the housing crisis across Europe—more here  

fandeliers: McMansion Hell (previously) wonders what’s going on with ceiling fans recently displaying drone-like ambitions 

tears in the rain: debate rages over the ethics of AI agent dungeon 

ticker-tape: a look at Bloomberg trading terminals and antecedent technologies of getting ahead of the markets

figures of tolerable disorder (if not used too often nor too thick): the virtue and vice of the parenthesis—see also here, here and here 

kidnapping of the sun and the moon: Hungarian pop art cartoonist Sándor Reisenbüchler  

from the performative gibberish department: Trump introduces meaningless “morally binding” guardrails for Super Intelligence in the same spirit as Big Tech’s self-regulation

9x9 (13. 836)

cyberselfish: Paulina Borsook’s 2000 book about the libertarian, uncharitable culture of high tech is back in print after a reevaluation of its foresight 

the full english: breaches of British etiquette no one will ever call you out for transgressing—via Nag on the Lake  

el niño: the coming weather pattern, climatologist predict, will be the most powerful in recorded history  

familect: jargon and running-jokes only understood within one’s extended household—what are some of your examples? 

i want an explanation—why is there a child on the bridge: the series finale of the 80s sitcom Webster had a cross-over with Star Trek: TNG—see also   

artist’s bigature: Grace Baldwin’s larger-than-life junk drawer  

deliquesce: of a solid structure or lattice, to melt or dissolve by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere—like exposed salts or wilting mushrooms  

nor’easter: powerful, unseasonably early storm slams eastern seaboard  

symphonie magnétophonique: a profile of Else Marie Pade, the first Danish composer of electronic and concrete music

u2 (13. 828)

On this day in 1976, young drummer Larry Mullen, Jr, then fourteen years old, posted a note seeking bandmates on the notice board of the Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin he was attending. Mullen was joined by vocalist fellow pupils Paul David Hewson, better known by the stage name Bono, and brothers David (The Edge) and Dik Evans and Adam Clayton. They initially called themselves “Feedback” and then “The Hype” before settling on the name suggested by punk singer, promoter and graphic artist Steve Averill (a friend of Clayton’s) in 1978, one of six options, liking its visual strength on posters and theoretical record cover art and the choice they disliked least. Within four years, the band had signed with a regional record label were playing large venues, releasing their debut studio album Boy, lead single below.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: a new metric proposed for US government spending (with synchronoptica), on the brink of another American federal shutdown, Everybody Rides the Carousel (1976) plus more US military purges

two years ago: JFK’s Sword of Damocles speech to the UN, aggressive cuteness plus Those Were the Days 

three years ago: two decades plus of Everlasting Blört plus a Mario-Eminem mashup

four years ago: assorted links to revisit, the JWST eyes Neptune, more luxury bunkers plus exploring the inaccessible with elementary particles

five years ago: a Scissor Sisters’ hit, a Wagner classic, sneakers patterned off of vintage VHS packaging plus a visit to Gemünden am Main

six years ago: the first radio-controlled robot (1906), Facebook modelled itself off Big Tobacco plus something expressed in gesture alone

seven years ago: the first newspaper in the Americas, the downfall of Thomas Cook plus the US constitution’s Bill of Rights

eight years ago: Looney Tunes’ propaganda, the Rubik’s Cube plus misheard lyrics of a Star Wars anthem

 

8x8 (13. 824)

claudefishing: AI slop is a new kind of creative poverty  

saint-pierre-et-miquleon: Mark Carney meets with Emmanuel Macron on the small French overseas territorial collective, which once toyed with the idea of joining the United States, just off the coast of Newfoundland  

soundscape: avian vocalisations can boost one’s mood but the positive effects are negated by traffic noise  

an imperfect analogy: what lessons nuclear proliferation treaties have for AI containment  

jefferies tubes: the first physical model of the Enterprise finds a home at the MIT museum  

old dog, new tricks: OK Go’s “White Knuckles” video sixteen yearrs on—see previously  

apostolic journey: the Pope’s upcoming to France includes a stop in Metz to pay tribute to Robert Schuman, one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union  

sunshine superman: understanding intention, agnosticism and the new uncanny valley

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a thwarted assassination attempt led to an involuntary outing (with synchronoptica), carbon-dating plus Donald in Mathmagic Land (1961)

two years ago: the Tanaka Memorial of 1927  

three years ago: a musical montage from DJ Earworm, an exhibition of antique home entertainment, assorted links to revisit plus The Love Boat (1977)

four years ago: more links to enjoy,  Our Lady of Mercy plus even more links

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus punctuation appreciation day

six years ago: Pope Liberius, more links worth revisiting plus the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak

seven years ago: Trump pressures Ukrainian authorities for dirt on his apparent political opponent, more synthetic models, UK courts rule that the suspension of Parliament was an abuse of power plus variations on Misirlou

eight years ago: an atlas of remote islands, theatrics trumps discourse, and more and more links plus twenty-seven songs about the twenty-seven amendments to the US constitution

 

for a fee, i’m happy to be your backdoor man (13. 817)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, AC/DC released their third studio album on this day in 1976, the title track being an advertisement for a hitman who will help clients solve their problems, ranging from lecherous bosses and teachers to unfaithful partners, at low costs with services including concrete shoes, cyanide poisoning, electrocution and explosives—TNT and High Voltage referencing tracks from their previous albums. The name of the song is an homage to the cartoon Beany and Cecil—Angus Young was a young fan of the 1960s show—with the villain character Dishonest John (mostly referred to by his initials) handing out a business card reading, “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Special rates for Sundays and holidays.” Other minor baddies but recurring characters from the series include Go Man Van Gogh (voiced by Scatman Crothers) as a stereotypical beatnik, Jacques the Knife, a jazz singing sawfish with a heavy French accent, and Rin Tin Can, a robot dog, whom all deserve to be the backstory of a hardrock anthem in our opinion. The record was certified Platinum six times over but still ranks third among the Australian band’s work with Highway to Hell and Back in Black selling more copies. In 1981, a household in Libertyville Illinois filed lawsuit against the record label for a quarter of a million dollars, claiming distress caused by crank calls for their phone number inclusion in the song lyrics, 36-24-36 followed by a “hey!” which could be interpreted as eight. What the heck, DJ! You dirty guy!

you got to know how to pony, like bony moronie (13. 805)

As our faith chronicler reminds, on this day in 1966, Wilson Pickett’s cover version of the “Land of a Thousand Dances” topped the US Billboard Charts on this day in 1966. Originally recorded by R&B performer Chris Kenner in 1962, mentioning sixteen moves including the Mashed Potato, the Jerk, the Tango plus the Slop and the Bop, it featured the gospel introduction: “Children go where I send you,” with the call and response, “Where will you send me?” “I’m gonna send you to that land—the land of a thousand dances.” For the sake of airplay on the radio, the invocation was left off and the title (along with the invocation) was never mentioned in any version afterwards—though later hooks like the na-na-na chorus (later borrowed for the 1994 “Here Comes the Hotstepper”) were added. Though knowing the song beforehand, I think that the John Candy, Dan Akroid vehicle The Great Outdoors, Dirty Dancing with camping holidays in Upstate New York conflated with a certain brand of margarine made me think the song was referring to a specific geographical location. Pickett’s cover only mentions six dances.

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)

 

i keep running and i don’t touch ground (13. 783)

Back in 2020, Matthew Wilder’s 1983 synth-pop breakout hit saw a resurgence when it became the subject of a brief viral trend on TikTok, which involved texting the lyrics line-by-line to friends until they recognise the song or disengage, then filming oneself dancing in front of the message chain, the inherent ridiculous of it—fresh at the time, often pranks or cheating lovers meeting their comeuppance—delighting the artist for the moment of rediscovery, though covered several times in the interim with a number of interpolations of the melody, and prompting Wilder to release a lyric video in the form of the exchange. Signed to Arista Records, Wilder was struggling to find his voice and a style of music that fit him, he self-financed the recording of “Break My Stride” as a rebuke to recording industry executives, whom Wilder felt were blocking his creativity with the song reflecting how he felt about his career at the time. The label, seeing little potential in Wilder, ended his contract, freeing him to shop around his repertoire and made a connection with iconic record promoter, responsible for shaping the careers of the likes of Elton John, Teena Marie, Murray Head, Lionel Richie, Neil Diamond, Paula Abdul, Wham!, Kim Carnes and many others, and reputed soldato of the Gambino crime family, accused of widespread racketeering and payola (the illegal practise of concealing pay-for-play deals with radio stations and now extended to streaming services but much harder to enforce) of Joe Isgro, who helped propel the single to the top of the charts by creating the illusion that it was a sleeper hit. 🏃🏽‍♀️💨

9x9 (13. 759)

it-narratives: the imagined inner lives of inanimate objects  

inwats: the history and use-case of the 1-800 number  

du big bang à mardi matin: Claude Cloutier’s overview of the evolution of life on Earth in his signature animation style reminiscent of aquatint printing  

shadowology: more art installations from Vincent Bal—see previously  

the decade you’ve been waiting for: Paste magazine’s contention top hundred songs of the 80s—via MetaFilter, see previously  

after the fire: Los Angeles residents moving entire homes to burnt out, vacant lots as a cheaper alternative to rebuilding 

it’s fantastic! it’s futuristic! it’s fatalistic! it’s science fiction: a 1973 BBC Omnibus documentary by Harley Cokeliss  

escape claudes: two chatbots placed in a recursive loop—see previously 

hack’s law: the hidden maths of rivers that calm the waters—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to Geraberg (with synchronoptica), woodblock printer Sekino Jun’ichirō plus the branding of the US Civil Defence Corps

two years ago: a pivotal moment in the Star Trek timeline, aspiring travel-writers, assorted links worth revisiting, a trip to Schwickershausen plus the largest aerospace exhibition 

three years ago: ten-thousand digits, danger signs, the Goring Gap plus more links to enjoy

four years ago: a banger from Tina Turner plus legibility and semi-vowels

five years ago: an attempt was made with AI for a mash-up, the Carrington Event (1859), the Cod Wars (1958) even more links plus reskilling as a swan

six years ago: a Banksy-sponsored rescue boat, Church rejects modernism plus saints named Hyacinth 

we got cool and hot (13. 755)

Unbidden and out of nowhere, I got “Soul Food to Go”—from The Manhattan Transfer—stuck in my head and in an attempt to exorcise it—or pass it on to someone else—I looked it up, having forgotten the claymation music video—studio of Will Vinton, who created the California Raisins and later working with computer animation, the M&Ms characters. From their 1987 tenth studio album as the follow up to their double releases in 1985 of Bop Doo-Wopp and Vocalese (named for the style of scat-like jazz singing where words are added to a soloist’s instrumental performance) which garnered the most Grammy nominations, twelve, second only to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Brasil, marking the group’s foray into Latin music. The musical setting is from Brazilian artist Djavan’s song “Sina.” Officially retiring with a Christmas concert in 2023, there have been several incarnations of The Manhattan Transfer (named after the John Dos Passos’ seminal novel about the transition of New York’s working class from the Gilded to the Jazz Age) since its founding with each formation focusing on different genres from swing, pop, rhythm and blues, a cappella and American songbook standards. Just for you, the pleasures of the soul—come on, come in and check it out.

avant et retour (13. 750)

Flautist and composer of the Stadtorchester of Essen, Paul Wetzer, arranged this musical palindrome (see previously), one of two witty duets for his Opus № 32 as a table canon, a retrograde and inverse counterpoint meant to be placed between two players, reading the same lines in opposite directions. Bach’s 1747 Das Musikalische Opfer includes instructions for such a setting in his movement the Prussian Fugue, a ricercare (not a palindrome, from the Italian to seek and find) that expands to six voices, and is thought to be the first table canon, Wetzer’s 1900 piece part of a well-established tradition.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: Wilholt’s Law (with synchronoptica) plus Skynet becomes self-aware (1997)

two years ago:  assorted links worth revisiting plus correspondence from the complaints department 

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: another MST3K classic plus even more links to revisit

five years ago: a rare earth element, the founding of Nuuk (1728), more on botanical anatomy plus Smells like Teen Spirit (1991)

six years ago: mystic Manly Palmer Hall, Wuppertal’s flying train, electrical engineer Otis Frank Boykin, communion cheese plus Netflix founded (1997)

8x8 (13. 740)

and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby: Kermit the Frog joins Dolly Parton for a 1987 appearance on her variety show, performing a duet of “Every Day People”  

young artists after siamesas 1960: US state department orders removal of woke Kehinde Wiley painting (previously) at the Dominican embassy  

pyramid of tirana: a survey of Albania’s built environment spanning sixty years—see previously  

ilulissat icefjord: bracing and heartbreaking timelapse of an iceberg collapsing and rolling over in west-central Greenland—see also 

synodical months: the cultural context of the upcoming August Sturgeon Moon—see previously   

restoration architecture: explore Copenhagen’s urban reform initiatives to conserve its landmarks for sustainable tourism whilst preserving the city’s heritage and character  

free press: Pentagon fires editor-in-chief, dismisses a reporter of independent military newspaper Stars & Stripes following an earlier overhaul to rid the publication of woke distractions 

imagination library: Dolly Parton, giver of books

8x8 (13. 736)

a comparison using like or as: a treasury of simile and metaphor from Ross MacDonald’s private detective Lew Archer 

mario v pareto: a scrolly-telling illustration of efficiency and optimisation—via Quantum of Sollazzo   

siamese wins: Thailand avoided colonisation through diplomacy and cultural synthesis  

world famous gopher hole museum: a visit to an usual tourist attraction in a tiny Albertan hamlet  

biblioclasm: Amazon’s AI book-pulping division has a cartoonish evil logo 

count coudenhove-kalergi: the Austro-Japanese politician and diplomat who championed the movement of European integration and was the inspiration for the character of Victor Laszlo in Casablanca—plus nominated Ode to Joy as the theme for the united continent 

balloon banjo: a 3D printed heuristic tool for experimenting with acoustics  

ounce dice trice: a garland ring of unusual words that ends up where it starts out

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus a cache of vintage picture postcards

two years ago: a quick weekend get-away plus the Formosa Straits crisis of 1958 

three years ago: the US Republican primary debates plus more links to enjoy 

four years ago: even more links plus Ukraine re-establishes itself as an independent state (1991)  

five years ago: assorted links worth the revisit, ant architecture plus Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

six years ago: cocktails for remote learning, superlative garden photographs plus re-sampling Soviet pop

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