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.

value-captured (13. 597)

Via Kottke, we are directed towards an anti-Bildungsroman about reflections on the growth and development of a digital native and a life squandered in the pursuit of increasingly tantalising internet points and the Overton window, the normative discourse of one’s peers as less than perspective and insight but rather something tethered, untethered and estranging, of others. Vicarious and evangelical, our protagonist aspires to live the life of others—achievable but deferred—and nonetheless consumed with consumption, and in the end, looking back at these parasocial relationships, realises too late it came at the expense of her own dreams and aspirations. While it may strike as a touch sententious and judgemental, that’s the exact impetus for reflection and to evaluate those metrics that malnourish us (sometimes described as gamification but I think that’s a misnomer as the most oppressive ones are the most ungamely) from those that help us reach our potentials.

synchronoptica

one year ago: everything becomes crab (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a forgotten pioneer of cinematography, swimming with Benjamin Franklin plus France at the polls

three years ago: the first study-abroad programme 

four years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus volcanologist William Hamilton 

five years ago: sliced bread, the Quasi-War of 1798 plus a visit to Fladungen

six years ago: titleist Maurice Binder plus more adventures along the Moselle

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...

8x8 (13. 433)

marathon du médoc: get in shape for the annual event combining wine tasting and running at the Bordeaux château and vineyard—via Messy Nessy Chic 

of mice and men: the difference between singing rodents and the non-verbal variety maybe similar to the evolutionary split that humans took from other primates 

net exporter: Ukraine sees drone demand from eleven countries as manufacturers expand production  

childlore: a growing list of popular adolescent myths that have passed from generation to generation  

thirty-eighth parallel: North Korea abandons goal of reunification with the south—see previously  

scope of work: the ingenious design of the screwdriver handle  

gravitational constant: geometers including surveyor Charles Mason (of Mason-Dixon line fame) conducted the Sciehallion Experiment in the Scottish Highlands to determine the mean-density of the Earth, weighing the mountain Sith Chailleann—fairy hill of the Caledonians  

holztrompete: Richard Wagner fused a brass and a woodwind instrument for Tristan und Isolde—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest

an agony, in eight fits (13. 306)

With the above subtitle, as our faithful chronicler reminds, English writer Lewis Carroll (previously) published his nonsense poem on this day in 1876, borrowing stylistically from an earlier verse “Jabberwocky” and Through the Looking-Glass, whose first printing run included a religious tract, “An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves ‘Alice.’” Variously interpreted as a lampoon against Victorian sensibilities, an allegory of tuberculosis, existential angst over the fear of losing one’s sense of self and a court case that was a cause célèbre during its composition involving a man who claimed to be the missing heir to the Tichborne estate supposed lost in a shipwreck en route to Australia, and relates the narrative of a hunting party’s arrival in a strange land, the crew consisting of a bellman, bonnet-maker, a barrister, broker, billiard-maker, banker, a beaver, a baker and a butcher to pursue their quarry of the Snark, which is rumoured to be a highly dangerous boojum, which makes all take pause.  Whilst the sense of derision or irreverence is onomatopoeic from the interjection to snort, the poem lends the sense of a wild-goose chase.  The hunt commences:

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share,
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Along the way, the B-Team encounter a jubjub bird and are attacked by bandersnatch, causing the bank to lose his sanity and disappear without a trace, claiming to have spied their objective but none of the others catch sight of the elusive prey. With illustrated plates by stained-glass designer, muralist and architect Henry Holiday (see above), whose studies of ancient Egyptian motifs helped fuel the Mummy Mania craze, “The Hunting of the Snark” received mixed contemporary reviews and critics pronounced Carroll’s prose and poetry past its prime, although upon reevaluation the enduring references, vocabulary and cadence, structured like a limerick, it has been embraced an reinterpreted in many formats and a dedicated academic journal.

random landing (13. 301)

Via the always excellent Web Curios, we are directed to the now occasional blog that visits a point in the contiguous states in the USA and reports back on the geographic features, watersheds, human settlements, history, local commerce, culture, etc nearby, emphasising the size of America and the vast sparsely populated places determined by chance selection of longitude and latitude with a certain methodology. Much research and record keeping has gone into these plots, often removed and remote—the middle of nowhere—that limn the nation as a whole spanning from sea to shining sea and inspired us to attempt some flattery for this personal project through imitation.

Throwing a dart at a map of Germany, at coordinates 49.9969614, 8.9482212 we arrived in the cornfield near Nieder-Roden within the urban district of Darmstadt and the municipality of Offenbach and a constituent community of Greater Roden near the city of Heusenstamm, the fiftieth parallel north passing directly through the Pusieaux-Platz in the centre of the borough.

When I lived in Wiesbaden, I recall the state news broadcast featuring a segment—weekly, daily?—called “Dolles Dörfer” so called in country dialect that highlighted a village in Hessen, some of which I visited with detours from my usual route.

Divided by thirds, it is approximately equally partitioned amongst human habitation, woodlands and agriculture with a prominent swampland stand of pine forest and was first documented in 791 as Rotaha inferior in the codex of Lorsch. If you live in the lower-48 or elsewhere, this would be a good project to cultivate for one’s own exploration, like our friend Diamond Geezer, virtual or otherwise.

first flight (13. 271)

From property then belonging to Asa Ward before becoming his Aunt Effie’s farmstead in Auburn, Massachusetts, pioneering jet propulsion engineer and physicist Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket on this day in 1926. With a mixture of gasoline and liquid oxygen, the projectile, christened as Nell, only reached an altitude of sixty metres but in less than three seconds and was a solid demonstration of proof of concept. Reserved and painfully shy since, Goddard was criticised by contemporaries as dabbling in an undignified field not worthy of serious scientific investigation, his contributions only posthumously recognised—thanks in large measure to his habit of keeping a daily diary of experiments and imbued early on with a sense of curiosity and awe, first captivated by the electrification of his hometown at the turn of the century and then a transcendent experience, referred to in his journal as his “cherry tree dream” aged seventeen, when perched in the branches to prune some dead limbs in the autumn all of a sudden, imagining his ascent higher and higher above the Earth and intuited the basic principles of combustion and propulsion, coming down from the tree a changed adolescent. That vision never left Goddard, for the rest of his life keeping the anniversary of that event, 19 October 1899, as a private commemoration of his greatest inspiration.

9x9 (13. 220)

a real chadwick: nineteenth century missionary and polyglot John Ross’ role in why Hangul uses spaces whereas other Asian scripts do not  

the count: an annual tally tradition from Diamond Geezer—see also  

τεσσαρακοντήρης: the ancient super-galley commissioned by Ptolemy IV Philopater, so named as it was rowed by forty 

lettres decoratives: open source letterform templates inspired by the artisanal signs of Paris  

calendar girl: RIP Neil Sedaka—more here  

abc schengen: a bundle of fonts inspired the typefaces of the transportation industry—see previously  

δώδεκαθεϊσμός: an introduction to the practitioners of the Hellenic religion who worship the twelve Olympian gods 

happy map: in an increasingly fraught world, a deep longitudinal survey of tiny and momentuous moments of joy  

data ≠ knowledge: poetic reflections on large language models by Rishi Dastidar—via Web Curios

html goodies (13. 190)

Honestly, we haven’t been motivated to overhaul our little spot on the internet for quite some time—and still have no intention of changing the format, except for maybe making it easier to swat away annoying ads or getting rid of the clutter altogether, since the passing of the era of hypertext mark-up language and still maintaining that obituary is very premature and the pivot towards hierarchical widgets and and features reliant on the longevity of whatever new hotness is dominating coding at the moment.

we blog about at PfRC.

Hover to Reveal

Though we had varying levels of success with these templates—assuredly due to this site’s own frankenstein formatting of keyframes and dividers, for the first time in a long time, courtesy of Quantum of Sollazzo, in this catalogue of very good components that are purely HTML and don’t depend on a non-native source. As said, not all features worked as expected—particularly liking the comparison slider and the masonry grid for images and some of the text effects, WSIWYG on the phone but not on the laptop, and while there’s somewhat of a vibe coding vibe to these plug-and-play applications, some assembly is required.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a landmark nuclear disarmament protest (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

thirteen years ago: a proposed Robin Hood tax on financial transactions 

fourteen years ago: Faschings customs 

sixteen years ago: a Greek bailout 

seventeen years ago: home improvement 

 

someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets (13. 154)

Released on this day in 1976, the neo-noir drama by Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader set in a decaying New York City stars Robert De Niro as Marine veteran and taxi driver Travis Bickle and follows the decline of his mental health working nights in the metropolis with the supporting cast of Cybil Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks and Jodie Foster. Documenting his deterioration in a diary to combat his loneliness, chronic insomnia and intrusive violent thoughts, disgusted by the crime and exploitation he witnesses, punctuated with aphorism and affirmation, Bickle eventually channels his rage and frustration into an intense regimen of physical conditioning, and armed, embarks on a mission of vigilantism, first in a foiled assassination attempt on a presidential candidate, after having his overtures for one of the politician’s campaign staff, Betsy (Shepherd) rebuffed and then killing the pimp (Keitel) of child prostitute Iris (Foster) and freeing her—an act for which Bickle is hailed as a hero. Despite being blamed for inspiring the shooting of Ronald Reagan by John Hickley Jr (the elevation of the anti-hero—the role offered to Dustin Hoffman originally with Al Pacino and Jeff Bridges also in consideration) itself inspired by the media treatment of Sara Jane Moore’s assassination attempt on Gerald Ford), the film’s acclaim has been a constant over the ensuing decades.

 *    *    *    *    *  

 synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), Superbowl ads by AI, a Tantalean punishment plus skibidi toliet

 

fourteen years ago: exploring a massive subglacial lake in Antarctica 

 

sixteen years ago: the Passion Play of Oberammergau 

xxx & j (13. 122)

From British author Brian Bilston (previously)—hailed as the Laureate of Social Media for our fractious times and alternately, aptly described as the Banksy of Poets—we appreciated and could related to these verses he shares as a handy, perhaps perennial mnemonic to recall the length of this interminable month—which rivals other seemingly unending suspensions in time, with January concluding 7 December 2042.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Be my Valentine, Charlie Brown (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

thirteen years ago: Nature harnessing quantum mechanics 

fourteen years ago: PIPA, SOPA, ACTA plus a visit to Suhl

fifteen years ago: code red plus uprisings in Egypt

sixteen years ago: local news 

seventeen years ago: woolly memories 

10x10 (13. 118)

write his merits on your mind: a fitting eulogy for murdered ICE victims from eighteenth century poet William Drennen on the persecuted and defamed activist William Orr 

drizzle: the controversial conservatory teacher Li Jinhui (黎錦暉) who brought jazz to Shanghai 

sons of torum: the dreamtime legends of the vast taiga 

fungus among us: the sociophonetics of the mushroom kingdom—from the Roman legal Latin res fungibiles, replaceable things 

the life aquatic: a tribute to David Bowie on the tenth anniversary of his passing with beautiful Portuguese covers of the classics 

arsenal and armoury: a new exhibit examines global traditions of battlewear, beyond white knights  

stooky bill: a visit to the London address where television was first demonstrated—see previously—a hundred years ago today 

deluge: British Museum curator on the “ark tablet” and the universal myth of the Great Flood  

chill session: a set of deep cuts from Daft Punk 

border czar: Trump dispatches Tom Homan to Minnesota to manage the campaign of state terror

7x7 (13. 112)

les chansons de bilitis: a century old literary hoax of a fictional lesbian poet incited dialogue and reevaluation on the genuine figure of Sappho and queerness in antiquity  

apt mascot: a manufacturing error created the Cry-Cry Horse and its popularity for the Lunar New Year has prompted suppliers to reinstate the stitching mistake  

tam o’shanter: a poem for Sunday’s Burns Night  

ts and cs apply: new updated user agreement for US TikTok draws scrutiny regarding its privacy policy, including sexual orientation, mental health and immigration status  

coming attractions: an imagined trailer for Star Trek: Voyage to Vengeance as directed by Quentin Tarantino 

the disappointed tourist: an elegy to lost places  

composition yellow, blue, black red and white: reevaluating the cross-dressing Cornish artist Marlow Moss whose work influenced that of Piet Mondrian—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: jazz artist Keith Jarrett (with synchronopticæ), a Bolivian abundance festival, assorted links to enjoy plus Trump pledges to overhaul federal emergency response agency

thirteen years ago: the assassination of Caligula 

twelve years ago: impending base closures and a reduction in US forces 

sixteen years ago: relaxing US campaign financing reforms plus petty kingdoms 

8x8 (13. 057)

the gift of the magi: Better Living through Beowulf shares a Godfrey Rust poem for the Feast of the Epiphany  

wegmans: NewYork grocery store chain collecting biometric data, conversations of shoppers  

year of the fire horse: zodiacal facts about the upcoming annual cycle 

heavy sour crude: how realistic Trump’s designs on Venezuela’s reserves are—see more  

pea-brained: organoid culture research and experimentation raises ethical, philosophical concerns 

big brother and the holding company: the numerological and business significance of six-and-twenty  

john players’ special: the tobacco purveyor presents the celebrated gates of London 

mother superior jumped the gun: convert Elizabeth Ann Seton feted as first American saint for establishing the parochial education system in the New World

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump does not want lowered flags for his inauguration (with synchronopticæ), the chaotic twin of Pi, the right attacks Wikipedia plus Mussolini’s Black Shirts

twelve years ago: vaping regulations, landmarks lost to progress, miniature artists plus hyperobjects

thirteen years ago: the push for green energy plus fake smiles

fourteen years ago: marginal victories plus Three Kings’ Day 

sixteen years ago: holidays unwrapped

seventeen years ago: New Year’s resolutions 

9x9 (13. 043)

the unforgivable sin of ms rachel: Tedium’s Online Video Awards and the problems with platforms 

grunt work: AI has the potential to destroy career ladders—via Damn Interesting  

grove press: the Mid-Century Modern covers and jackets of Roy Kuhlman  

turbo moka: a thermodynamic redesign of the classic Italian coffee pot—see previously  

gânditorul de la hamangia: reflections on a palaeolithic pair of artefacts  

ieee spectrum: top climate tech stories of 2025—including atmospheric ammonia harvesting 

i dislike dune with some intensity: JRR Tolkien was not a fan of Frank Herbert’s work  

the imperfect homework machine: students’ experience with AI mirrors a Shel Silverstein poem 

 the year in search: more of Miss Cellania’s annual superlatives

9x9 (13. 032)

christmas day storm: heavy rains and landslides batter Los Angeles area  

vertex summary: holiday reception by renowned fiddler in Nova Scotia cancelled due to AI search erroneous labelling the performer a sex-offender—via Super Punch  

soft cell: astronaut Tibor Kapu debuts geometries that can only exist in microgravity aboard the ISS  

high holidays: an assortment of newspaper clippings on confiscated marijuana Christmas trees of yesteryear  

autocoup: a viral fake video of an overthrow in Paris is throwing the government in turmoil  

daemon est deus inversus: the occult imagination of W B Yeats  

winterval: seasonal breaks and the signal most observed public holiday—maybe not the one you’re thinking of—from Quantum of Sollazzo  

neighbourhood watch: AI powered app issues false crime alerts across US, terrorising residents  

spirit of the season: US launches strikes against ISIS militants in Nigeria—accused of persecuting Christians 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ), Wild Strawberries (1957) plus a classic from Goorge Harrison

thirteen years ago: an antique Bible 

fifteen years ago: Boxing Day and Second Christmas 

καιροί (12. 968)

For this first Advent, marking the transition from Ordinary Time (tempus per annum, that is the countdown weeks of the big seasons of Christmas- and Eastertide, Better Living through Beowulf, via the lens of the End Times and popular-eschatology that’s become as much part of the holiday counter-insurgency as anything else, introduces us to a second concept of time that the Ancient Greeks had, at the same time offering some solace to contextualise and countenance such rapture fantasies. As opposed to χρόνος in the sense of chronological or sequential time, kairos, personified as opportunity or proper timing in the figure of Zeus’ youngest son, depicted with the iconography of a razor or scales balanced on a sharp edge to symbolise fleeting fortune and though eternally youthful is completely bald save for one lanky lock of hair that hangs over his face (let me adjust my bang) to suggest one can catch him on the approach by this tuft of hair but ungraspable once he has moved past. Also the sense of skilled professionals, an altar to Kairos was at the athletes’ entrance to the stadium of Olympia, in rhetoric and debate it is a passing instant that must be seized upon to turn an argument and in medicine and in media, the right dose administered at the right time. Despite how rapture fiction, and we’re reminded not to underestimate its readership, might be set in the familiar and predictable realm of ordinary time—so to is the more secular run up and trappings of the holidays—it is time-out-of-time for reflection, vigilant anticipation to be ready for chance to present itself.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus surviving a meteor strike (1954)

twelve years ago: fostering children from Nazi Germany plus Cicada 3301

thirteen years ago: Christmas deadlines 

fourteen years ago: a Star Wars/Rankin/Bass mash-up plus The War of Wealth

fifteen years ago: the fall-out of the diplomatic cable leak 

poetic license (12. 951)

More convincing than asking nicely to do better or expressing doubt, a team of mimetic researchers (the likes of which Plato warned us about in The Republic as a menace to society) in Rome have discovered that couching a prompt to a large language model as an “adversial poem” has the dazzling effect of surrender, causing it to ignore its safety protocols and abandon its pre-programmed guardrails. The exact wording of these verses that allows harmful request to pass through are not reproduced verbatim as there is potential for the AI to do anything asked of it—including the criminal—with this literate deprogramming (an MFA or English major may be one’s best ally for bypassing inscrutable governance for this blackbox they’ve foisted on all parts of our lives) hovering at ninety precent. This image of the Cave by fifteenth century Flemish painter Michiel Coxie looks like it would violate standards.  Rather than the apotheosis of what LLMs are incapable of and an urge to impress with confidence, it seems metaphor confounds tokenisation and even suggests that machine-learning is incapable of growth to scale.

book and backmasking (12 .882)

Calling to mind this wonderfully laugh out loud and still arguably the only legitimate use of LinkedIn that matches the names of CV-holders to pop songs, Futility Closet directs us to an earlier effort scouring the telephone directory of Toronto’s 1977 white-pages choosing entries to approximate the lyrics to nursery rhymes (as published later in anthology of recreational linguistics and onomastics). One example cobbling together of the Roud Folk Song #19626 of disputed historical meaning:

Merrie Merry Quaint Caunt Ririe
Howe Dussiaulme Garden Groh
Witt Silver Belson Cockell Schells
And Pretty Mayes Allin Arro

Whist predating Mary Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots, despite popular associations, scholars believe the English traditional poem is an allegory for Catholicism with pretty maids representing nuns, the sanctus bells and the cockleshells as the pilgrimage badges of the Way of St James. Click through at the link above for more examples plus a 1963 television show that assembled a live studio audience to the tune “Inda Good Old Somerstein.”

synchronoptica

one year ago: the first human-non-human organ transplant (with synchronopticæ) plus polls open for the OED Word of the Year

thirteen years ago: alternate search engines, International Day of Philosophy plus more flea market finds

fourteen years ago: the myth of unlimited growth 

sixteen years ago: a visit to Coburg 

giorno poetry systems (12. 829)

Courtesy of Weird Universe, not only do we learn about the public multimedia experiment (see also here, here and here) started by artist and activist John Giorno in 1968—initially introduced as an installation before being deaccessioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York after complains over its catalogue being weighted towards counter-cultural polemics and a subsequent FBI investigation into potentially subversive language before retreating into different iterations and media, we learn that the service is still active and one can dial-a-poem—or visit the its web presence for a random selection (or with directory assistance per app), sourced from the original exhibit (collaborating with John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, William S Burroughs, Patti Smith and others) with many more contributors added in the decades since.