Airing the Saturday following the observance of 420 during the height of America’s War on Drugs and not too many years removed from Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign and other relentless public service announcements—via learn via our faithful chronicler—that the McDonald’s charity arm financed the production of a crossover simulcast featuring the Muppet Babies, Alf, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Looney Tunes and DuckTales, the Smurfs, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks and others was broadcast on this day in 1990—probably giving rise to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Space Jam, despite unpopular reception. In the style of A Christmas Carol (this sort of nostalgia is a toxic impulse and this is what it gives you) the popular cartoon characters stage an intervention for an adolescent marijuana-user to forewarn him of the consequences of his actions if he does not amend his wayward ways (compare to this 1974 rather psychedelic remediation targeted to an earlier generation that grew up with a lot of this content and franchises). The special was also screened in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.
Sunday 21 April 2024
Thursday 4 April 2024
9x9 (11. 467)
and palmeres for to seken straunge strondes: the Gentle Author makes a pilgrimage along London’s ancient Black Path
the 2531 sato-san problem: given demographic trends, legal requirements and custom, all Japanese residents could eventually share the same surnamesymphony № 42: animator Rรฉka Busci presents forty-seven ironic vignettes
double doors open, why aren’t i reacting in this shot: a literal video version of Total Eclipse of the Heart—I walk out on a terrace where I think I’m alone, but Arthur Fonzarelli’s got an army of clones
into the butterverse: the variations of the Unicode emoji—via Pasa Bon!
chalcolithic tattooing: a study of รtzi the ice mummy’s body markings on living volunteers—via Super Punch
apiculture: experiments involving social problem-solving suggest that bees have the capacity to pass on learnt experience
not a bug but a feature: a collection of absurd software and end-user errors solved—via Waxy
the society of wood engravers: the art and illustration of carver Harry Brockway—via Things Magazine
synchronoptica
one year ago: New York v Trump plus Finland’s accession to NATO
two years ago: Japanese police boxes plus the Ukrainian roots of world-wide wheat
three years ago: your daily demon: Samigina, Winston Smith makes a diary entry plus the Hildesheimer Dom
four years ago: the flag of Hong Kong (1990), assorted links to revisit plus St Tigernach
five years ago: the founding of NATO (1949), saving the pollinators, the Buttigieg bid for US president plus historic mass transit systems
Wednesday 27 March 2024
9x9 (11. 453)
you are old, father william, the young man said: Better Living Through Beowulf has been applying Lewis Carroll characters to the trials and tribulations of Biden and Trump
gรผneล enerjili santrali: power plant in Turkeyi’s Konya region is straight out of science fiction
rotoscopio: artist Antoni Sendra celebrates his daring daughter’s favourite things with more than two thousand hand painted frames of animation ahead of her sixth birthdaytoto, i don’t think we’re in kansas anymore: the Ruby Slippers theft saga continues
read/write drive: Infinite Macs and making computing history accessible, including an emulation of the original World Wide Web browser—via Waxy
licensed broker: the rise and fall of the professional appellation electragist
fleischer studios: the history and evolution of animation from the phenakistiscope to Pixar
low-vacuum pipeline magnetic levitation technology: a hyperloop test track in the Netherlands
come to jesus moment: Trump attempts to capitalise on Biden’s split with Israeli leadership
Saturday 23 March 2024
8x8 (11. 444)
going in style: fantastic custom sarcophagi from Ghanaian coffin-maker Paa Joe
tiamat: the misremembered series finale of the Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon—see previously
spoofing: FlightRadar maps GPS jamming—see alsocincyflags: neighbourhood banners for all of Cincinnati’s fifty-two communities—via Pasa Bon!
mergers and acquisitions: Trump expected to see a windfall from the sale of social media network
coal holes: cast iron plate covers for the chutes of London—see also
infantile amnesia: early childhood memories may not be lost and yield insights to brain development—via the New Shelton wet/dry
regeneration: a look at the jurisdiction practising human composting
synchronoptica
one year ago: sampler silhouettes, punctuation in headlines plus scrimshaw from oceanic plastic trash
two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting
three years ago: AI-generated pick-up lines, a variation of the Medusa myth, the controlled-deorbit of the Mir (2001), lockdown on year on, vintage GIF buttons, pole tossing plus REM’s Out of Time (1991)
four years ago: dissolution of the African Economic Union (1985)
five years ago: the musical stylings of Carsie Blanton, a town’s strong connection to the number eleven, Nick of Time (1989), the tarot of Pamela Colman Smith, Robert Mueller concludes his investigation plus the UK votes
Tuesday 12 March 2024
8x8 (11. 416)
studio nue: the meticulous and immersive sci-fi illustrations of Naoyuki Kato
landsat lens: virtual rewinding maps created with historic satellite imagery
drawing for nothing: a growing e-book of storyboards and character studies from unfinished, shelved animation projects—via Waxyhag horror: Poseidon’s Underworld explores the genre with 1971’s Blood and Lace
แนs (t → ♾️) = 0: researchers find algorithms that only quantum computers can solve—via Damn Interesting—see previously
all these worlds are yours, except europa: NASA reveals the plaque its probe will carry to Jupiter’s icy moon later this year
rednaxela: unusual toponyms, including the named terrace in Hong Kong believed to be Alexander transcribed right-to-left, as was the practise in the past
fantomah: outsider comic book artist Fletcher Hanks
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, domino theory (1947) plus more words with no English equivalent
two years ago: more links to enjoy, World Day Against Cyber Censorship plus Mamma Mia (1975)
three years ago: the cosmography of William Fairfield Warren (1915), artist Caterina van Hemessen, St Maximilian of Tebessa, occultist Austin Osman Spare, listening to maps, more isogloss maps plus a celebration of veteran memes
four years ago: St Serafina plus COVID travel bans take effect
five years ago: resurrection plants
Thursday 7 March 2024
9x9 (11. 406)
harmonisation: Albanian government using AI to try to speed accession to European Union by rewriting local legislation to fit the block’s regulatory framework—via Marginal Revolution
the once and future sex: enduring medieval views on female anatomy
gรฉodรฉsie: more on the Paris Meridian and how Greenwich ultimately won outwalk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm: Christopher Walken, portraying Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, unaware of his epic choreography in “Weapon of Choice” references Dune
mcmxxiv: a curation of photos from Alan Taylor—via Kottke
here there be tygers: animated adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s science fiction by Sergei Bondarchuk
the world is a cat—i can’t unsee that now: a geopolitical map drawing challenge
the school of venus; or the ladies delight: self-pleasure in the seventh century
circling the wagons: Sweden accedes to NATO as its thirty-second member state after a wait of two years—while holdout Hungary visits Trump
Sunday 18 February 2024
saut de chat (11. 360)
Via Fancy Notions, we are introduced to the career and filmography of pioneering Soviet Armenia animator Lev Atamanov (ิผีฅึีธีถ ิฑีฟีกีดีกีถีตีกีถ) and director through his 1969 collaboration with composer Alfred Schnittke, Ballerina on the Boat, with choreography help by members of the Bolshoi. Teaching the sailors to be more graceful, the passenger saves the ship during a storm with her moves. After founding studios in Yerevan, Atamanov later joined Soyuzmultfilm, adapting many classic fairy tales and creating narratives of subtle satire with gentle humour and positive characters.
Saturday 17 February 2024
♐︎ (11. 357)
Via Boing Boing, we are directed towards a project by Matt Webb that resulted in this handy app that always points to the galactic centre of the Milky Way, the rotational point coincident with the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* surrounded by about ten million older red giant stars in close proximity. When I got my first model of iPhone, I got made fun of for first playing with the compass before anything else, and I’m not ashamed to say, especially for someone with a poor sense of direction, I still find it engaging even with no particular place to go. With little avowed programming skills and no experience in making apps, the details of realising this undertaking in collaboration with AI are really interesting and illustrative of the cooperative effort—it’s not just summoned into existence but was enabled and was a great leveller, but even more internet was the preamble about Webb cultivating a superpower to orientate himself to intuitively know where this dense, far away region was an imagine the waltz of the cosmos relative to this pivot-point and relative to himself—reminiscent of some insular and aboriginal languages using geographical features, landmarks or cardinal directions rather than the egocentric right and left. Webb’s navigational instinct has since sadly waned but can be supplemented by this little creation, grounding to know even when it’s below one’s feet.
Friday 9 February 2024
argumentum ad baculum (11. 337)
Via ibฤซdem, we appreciated these logic lessons (an educational project going for a decade now) that presents concepts of dialogue, rhetoric and debate as well as biases and fallacies, like the below Ad Hominem attack between Lieutenants Sulu Arex Na Eth, with Mister Spock moderating for the rest of the cast of Star Trek: The Animated Series as interlocutors (redubbed—see above—and using footage from the cartoons). The dozens of episodes include short tutorials on petitio principii (circular reasoning), the Straw Man Fallacy, Confirmation Bias and the Sunk Cost Fallacy, the Halo Effect and the benefit of hindsight, various appeals, Tu Quoque (whataboutism) and many more. See how Vulcan logic can put more in your philosophical quiver against sophistry and misinformation.
Saturday 3 February 2024
transcendental aesthetic (11. 318)
A direct ancestor of the Laserium light show (collaborating with Henry Jacobs for his display at the Morrison Planetarium), we quite enjoyed this short 1961 abstract, experimental animation on 16mm film from Jordan Belson, a prolific artist, often with a nonobjective (his career was kicked off by a sustaining grant from the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which later became known as the Guggenheim) but spiritual bent, who created an extensive portfolio of works over the course of six decades. Evoking a mediative, introspective experience like many of his works, in 2011, the US Library of Congress inscribed “Allures” in the National Film Registry.
catagories: ๐ฌ, ๐ถ, ๐ญ, ๐ณ️, libraries and museums
Monday 22 January 2024
bildruta fรถr bildruta (11. 287)
We appreciated the introduction to the portfolio of Swedish artist Iris Wildros through these mediative, contemplative frame-by-frame looming animations, which provide just as much enhancement and focus for the creator as for the observer. Multidisciplinary, Wildros has a preferred medium to reflect on change and return over time, dissecting what’s otherwise overwhelming into a more manageable component that still hangs, appends itself to a system as a whole rather than an isolating Much more on Wildros’ works exploring nature and cycles in a gallery of GIFs at the links above.
Friday 19 January 2024
soyuzmultfilm (11. 279)
Though hesitant and selective about linking to anything on the site formerly known as Twitter—it’s lamentable that such a mainstay has that many still depend on and there’s precious little alternative has eroded so much—this recommendation from Web Curios that exclusively shares short clips of Eastern European vintage animation from the 60s through the 80s (see also) is a delightful and serendipitous exception. Most cartoons include information about the director, animator and studio and the ones from Zagreb Films are certainly worth following up for more.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Anglican Church on same-sex marriage plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: put these Wikipedia entries in chronological order plus more links to enjoy
three years ago: a contentious logo, a TikTok sensation invited to the US presidential inauguration, the internet was a mistake, Brass in Pocket (1980) plus the Clinton Inauguration (1993)
four years ago: artist Sophie Taeuber Arp, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Three Stooges take on Nazi Germany plus more on the US Space Force
five years ago: a creative outlet comes to SoHo, women’s suffrage in Germany and Austria plus a giga-pixel picture
Friday 5 January 2024
book revue (11. 244)
As our faithful chronicler informs, on this day in 1946, the Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett was released in theatres as a preview reel before the main feature on this day in 1946. Set in a book store where the characters come to life after midnight, it features a zoot-suited Daffy Duck (voiced of course by Mel Blanc) in one of his zaniest performances.
Sunday 31 December 2023
9x9 (11. 230)
unwound: a cartoon that speaks to the time-dilation of the Winterval—and the year in general
politics or otherwise: year’s end Can’t Let Goes from NPR’s podcast contributors
fast-forward: a century of New Year’s men’s party fashionsaitana lopez: the virtual, machine-generated influencers stealing jobs from humans
cap d’agde: the restoration of the Art Nouveau Chateau Laurens—a palace also known for its connections with Catharism
like a fridge in reverse: a visualisation of the science of heat-pumps—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
fondue chinoise: a variation on the Swiss holiday tradition inspired by the Asian hot pot
favourite global tech stories from publications not named rest of the world: like Bloomberg’s Jealousy List, staff compiles articles they wish they’d written—via Waxy
cartoon cryptozoology: explore a chaotic archive of the earliest animations
Tuesday 19 December 2023
9x9 (11. 196)
mister jingeling: a dozen, beloved department store Christmas characters—see also—via Miss Cellania
bubblenomics: pondering the consequences of when AI goes the way of crypto and NFTs
indefinite causal order: quantum batteries are powered by paradox—via Damn Interestinga winter’s tale: selected readings of Christmas ghost stories—via Things Magazine
the waitresses: the cynical anti-holiday hit Christmas Wrapping that became a festive classic
infinite jukebox: a clever AI application that extends songs forever
high ground: study of the competition for space dominance between the US and China suggests America occupy Lagrange points to counter malign ambitions
52 snippets: facts gleaned from economics and finance from the past twelve months
snoopy come home: Gen Z rediscovers and identifies with the Peanuts’ character
Saturday 16 December 2023
8x8 (11. 190)
kreuz am bichl: a uniquely divided church in Carinthia
oh little town of bethlehem: this year’s creche and other required reading—see more
location scouting: historical movies and filming sites mapped
modern day umarell: Defector contributor unravels a construction mystery with the help amateur experts—see previously
18¢ piece: making change, the Greedy Algorithm and the Shallit system of optimal coins
penguin drama: two aquaria in Japan meticulously update a flow chart to document the changing relationships of their residents
free mickeys: Disney’s flagship character (see previously) to enter the public domain following a US Supreme court ruling that copyrights cannot be extended with trademarks
synchronoptica
one year ago: Kurt Cobain’s Unplugged session (1993), assorted links to revisit plus OpenAI authors Hallmark holiday specials
two years ago: a triple album from George Harrison plus the mental acumen of rarefied genius
three years ago: awards recognising the best of Quarantine Culture, the great apes, St Adelaide plus a classic spy story from John le Carrรฉ
four years ago: the seasonal designs of Jen Nollaig
five years ago: redundant acronym syndrome, Queen Medb plus the Moon on flags (and flags on the Moon)
Wednesday 13 December 2023
7x7 (11. 186)
origin story: how Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer began as a department store promotional giveaway
owl001: BBC hacked live on the air in 1983—see also—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
marie mathรฉmatique: the adventures of the younger sister of Barbarella, scored by Serge Gainsbourg—see more
ggwp: the E3 gaming conference has been shuttered permanently
the great toy robbery: an animated classic from the National Film Board of Canada
ikea monkey: the happy life of Darwin the macaque after its moment of fame—previously
Tuesday 12 December 2023
10x10 (11. 184)
arrows of time: a timeline tracing the evolution of human understanding through various magisteria—via the new shelton wet/dry
horary quandrant: oldest dated English time-keeping instrument goes under the hammer—see previouslyguten morgen: the newly launched Nightjet service between Berlin and Paris marks a return of sleeper trains—see previously
the beef and dairy network: industry delegates and lobbyists triple at COP28
theory of mind: researchers reveal a deep chasm in how perception varies from individual to individual
animation v physics: Alan Becker’s follow on video to Animation v Maths—via Waxy
oed: the joys of exploring the authoritative dictionary—see previously
rewind: carbon removal technology is also a time-machine—though presently only able to move the needle a little—via Good Internet
the year in search: Google presents its annual review
the great scrollback: the Verge’s features the best archived tweets
Saturday 9 December 2023
screen gems (11. 073)
Via Web Curios (lots more to explore there), we are directed to a curated list from the British Film Institute of recommendations from cinephiles and historians of 101 under appreciated masterworks of the medium. Though not entirely unseen with short pieces from John and Faith Hubley and Winsor McCay, there are a lot of neglected international classics—arranged in chronological order from the late nineteenth century to a few years ago—and is certainly a syllabus to assay for the coming year to round out one’s media diet. The pictured reel is a snippet from Gerdy, the Wicked Witch (zloฤesta vjeลกtica) from 1976 by Yugoslavian director Ljubomir ล imunić, a handcrafted Super 8 montage sampling of TV broadcasts with accompanying score by Vangelis’ progrock band Aphrodite’s Child.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Year in Search, Germany’s Word of the Year plus more AI film stills
two years ago: US Surgeon General Dr Joycelyn Elders
three years ago: Terms of Endearment (1983), Trump’s stacked Supreme Court rejects efforts to reverse election outcomes plus the eradication of smallpox (1979)
four years ago: the reunification of Little Berlin plus more modernist gingerbread architecture
five years ago: the Mother of All Demos (1968), a bunker for safekeeping of German historic documents plus on this day in seasonal developments
Sunday 26 November 2023
brothers grimmaverse (11. 141)
Apparently there’s a not so subtle effort on the part of Disney to retroactively canonise their range of intellectual property to make every character a part of the same cinematic, fairy tale paracosm. In the new musical fantasy film Wish (made to celebrate the company’s centenary), the protagonist Princess Asha and her rival King Magnifico (with plenty of other references to Snow White) have a final encounter (spoiler alert, I guess) to stop the corrupt sorcerer ruler in this wish-granting based economy concluding as an origin story with the former becoming the Fairy Godmother to Cinderella and the latter trapped in a mirror dimension for eternity and the servant, council of the wicked and cold-hearted stepmother of Schneewittchen. We wonder what other connections might be forced (to get in on the Pixar Theory where events do seem to occur in a shared univere) down the road and mucking about with the timeline. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Aldi’s aisle of shame, Casablanca (1942), the first Christmas film (1898) plus a century (+ 1) of Charles Schultz
two years ago: an undeciphered message hiding in plain sight, assorted links to revisit, a flag-pole maker plus When Harry Met Santa
three years ago: another MST3K classic, more links to enjoy, a sketch a day plus an Austrian village with an explicit name
four years ago: calling a contested presidential election (2000), Anarchy in the UK (1976), criticism directed towards the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the aesthetics of vapourwave plus IKEA designs homeware for Martians
five years ago: merit-based immigration, a map of Britain’s fictional places, the Scandinavian “snowflake” pattern, clever Christmas decorations plus more links worth the revisit