Monday 25 January 2021

6x6

hair flashes: some MidCentury styling tips from the British Pathรฉ archives  

salvator mundi: an inconspicuously missing five-hundred-year old copy of the world’s most expensive painting (previously) found in a wardrobe in Naples  

home edition: a meditative Tiny Desk Concert from pianist Max Richter  

elevator pitch: Michael Dorn’s suggestion for a franchise series from the point-of-view of the Klingon Empire sounds intriguing  

mpaa: a brief history of the PG-13 rating for US box-offices—see also 

 boneshaker: antique footage of cyclists in the days before suspension and shock-absorbers

Thursday 14 January 2021

the ayes have it

First installed in January 1973—another very pivotal month for America with the Oil Crisis, the drawdown from Vietnam, Richard Nixon’s second inauguration and the Roe v. Wade decision in the US Supreme Court—we find, via JWZ, that little has changed and the US House of Representatives’ electronic voting system (relatedly) very much preserves its original Star Trek: TOS aesthetic (see also). Forty-seven stations are spread throughout the chamber—they’re not on the backs of all seats and members can cast they vote at any one of them, using an ID card they carry.

Monday 7 December 2020

8x8

ัะฐั€ะฐ́ั‚ะพะฒ-2:some urban spelunking leads to a Soviet computer graveyard (previously) with some early machines thought lost to the ages 

indented writing: this case of an invisible will recalls some more recent forensic intervention to retrieve the words of a blind novelist 

parallel dimensions: one-hundred twenty-five artists render different computer-generated environments on one basic template of a character walking towards a mountain  

starfleet bold extended: the typography created for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (see previously, premiering on this day in 1979)

 : the real-life Queen’s Gambit in Georgian chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili  

the panoply of digital phrenology: the coming subprime attention crisis and the bursting of the ad-serving bubble  

petroglyphs: more on the amazing expanse of pre-Columbian art discovered in the Amazon 

ฮบฮฟฯ…ฮผฯ€ฯ‰ฮผฮญฮฝฮฟ ฮผฮต ฮบฮฟฯ…ฮผฯ€ฮนฮฌ: exploring an abandoned factory in Patisia Greece

Wednesday 18 November 2020

mudd’s women

Via Boing Boing, we enjoyed this appreciation of the signature costuming and stylish, imaginative apparel of Star Trek TOS and this fashion show of some of the greatest alien accessorising—see also from a very different paracosmThe whole revue is worth checking out but we especially like this scene from “The Gamesters of Triskelion” from the second season—wherein the core crew of the Enterprise are abducted and made to do gladiatorial battles for the entertainment of energy entities, the Providers. At the bidding of the master, drill thralls Tamoon and Shahna are attempting to train Uhura. The outfits from “Amok Time” are pretty fantastic as well.

Monday 26 October 2020

inkubo

Considered lost for decades only for a copy to re-emerge in 1996 in a film archive in Paris, the horror movie by Leslie Stevens with cinematography by Conrad Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, American Beauty), starring William Shatner and Milos Milos (*1941 – †1966, the titular incubus and in life the lover of the estranged wife of Mickey Rooney and died in a murder-suicide pact), had its debut on this day in 1966.

Months before Shatner would begin his work on a television series filled with other constructed languages including Klingon which has also become a fully-formed and informed language in its own right, this cinematic experiment was only the second wherein all dialogue was in Esperanto. Though dubbed versions were prohibited, the creator’s use of the auxiliary language was not to make a single cut for all international markets but rather to convey an atmosphere of other-worldliness—Esperanto speakers disappointed with representation of the language by the actors’ poor pronunciation and the script’s grammatical failings. The setting is a pilgrimage destination, a village called Nomen Tuum (“your name”) with an enchanted well that can heal and enhance one’s looks—attracting a rather vain and corrupt patronage that crowds out those legitimately ill. In turn demons are drawn to pander to those who would treat this miraculous place as a beauty parlour and recruit them for the side of darkness. First shown at the San Francisco Film Festival and screened to a group including those above Esperanto enthusiasts and the scandal of Milos prior to release, the only willing distributor was in France, which premiered the film in November. Watch the whole film here or see a clip below.
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Tuesday 29 September 2020

king of rods

Brilliantly a clever graphic designer and Trek fan took advantage of the correspondence between the classic Thoth tarot deck used for divination—the twenty-two card Major Arcana (Greater Secrets) plus the fifty-six suite Minor Arcana (Lesser Secrets) –and the seventy-eight episodes of the Original Series creating a custom deck with a fortune-revealing homage to some of the franchise’s most memorable, founding characters. What’s in the stars for you? Much more to explore at the links above.

Tuesday 15 September 2020

pon farr

One tune that I keep in my mental play-list, like the Tetris song or the Night on Bald Mountain or any number of Sophisti-Pop melodies, has been the scherzo that is the Star Trek fight motif. Composed in 1967 by Hollywood arranger Gerald Fried in first for the episode “Amok Time” airing on this day in that year in which Captain Kirk indulges the mating rites (the incidental music sampled from, informed by Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 riot-inciting symphony) of his otherwise completely logical first officer, Mister Spock, by defending his insubordination in diverting the ship’s course to Vulcan to spawn as it were and fulfil the obligations of his arranged marriage, both for biological and societal reasons.
Spock’s betrothed T’Pring has fallen in love with another during his absence and invokes her right to a ritual duel, the kali-if-fee, between Spock and a pugilist of her choosing, which to the surprise of all assembled is Kirk, who agrees to enjoin in hand-to-hand combat despite Spock’s warning against it. After accepting his role as champion, Kirk learns that it a duel to the death. In order to level the playing field, Doctor McCoy convinces the referee, the overseer to allow him to inject Kirk with a compound to counteract the thinner atmosphere of Vulcan. It is permitted and the fighting ensues, underscored by Fried’s incidental music called The Ritual/Ancient Battle/Second Kroykah.
Fried also scored numerous other television programmes (the episodes to his credit are quite extensive) including Gilligan’s Island and created the signature leitmotifs for the characters. Kirk is beaten down and McCoy pronounces him dead and the two beam back to the Enterprise immediately. Spock renounces T’Pring, released of his obligations, who then explains her strategy, afraid of losing her beloved in battle to Spock, she chose Kirk as her second in order to ensure she gets her choice regardless of the outcome of the challenge. Spock compliments her flawless logic and issues a warning to T’Pring’s new mate that “having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting,” giving the Vulcan salute and motto of “Live long and proper” for the first time. Expecting to be charged for killing the captain, Spock returns to face justice and is visibly relieved to find Kirk alive and well and merely drugged by McCoy to simulate death in combat.

Wednesday 26 August 2020

pips

Pulling rank and questioning the leadership hierarchy proposed for the US Space Force, actor William Shatner expressed a bit of consternation to the new service branch over the plan to designate a commanding officer as a colonel and not a captain. Space Force has declined to respond so far, pending legislation that as it stands runs counter to a long maritime tradition, not to mention several decades of firmly ensconced franchise canon. Shatner hopes that the matter is at least up for debate and discussion, and some lawmakers are siding with him.


Tuesday 18 August 2020

conlang

From the cabinet of hypertext curiosities of Mx van Hoorn, we are not only introduced to the linguist David J Peterson, whom after JRR Tolkien and lexicographers behind Klingon is probably the most celebrated contemporary figure in constructed languages (see previously) with Dothraki from Game of Thrones, we make his acquaintance in the greatest of fashions—namely, through his handmade landing spot for his various projects. Pictured is a bit of orthography for the invented script of the imagined Njaama culture and the entire enterprise has a lot to explore and is a prompt for reflecting on the organic and inspired development of communication and how that might be resonant and rendered.

ai claudius

Via Kottke—we are directed to the Roman Emperor Project of Daniel Voshart—Star Trek set designer—who has taken a dataset of over eight hundred sculptures and busts to seed a neural-network to create photo-realistic images of the fifty-four caesars of the Principate, the first period of the Roman Empire that began with the reign of Augustus and ended with the Crisis of the Third Century, which nearly led to its collapse buffeted by civil wars, invasions, economic depression, plague and political instability.
These early days of the Empire were no salad days to be sure but this period prior to the crisis is in contrast to the following one referred to as the Dominate or the despotic phase, beginning with the reign of Diocletian and the downfall of the West. The algorithm was guided and informed by written descriptions in the histories to take into account other physical characteristics in efforts not to flatter or romanticise but show diversity as well as the ravages of rule, age and indulgence. Here is our old friend Claudius, who was rather unexpectedly elevated to the role after his nephew Caligula was assassinated by a conspiracy between senators and the Praetorian Guard. Much more to explore at the links above.

Saturday 25 July 2020

there is an old vulcan proverb

With no sense of irony, the US Secretary of State announced during a speech earlier in the week delivered at the Richard Milhous Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, that the “old paradigm of blind engagement with China” had become untenable, and subsequently closed and ordered the expulsion of diplomatic staff in its consulate in Houston—characterising the operation as hub for industrial espionage.
Outside the embassy in Washington, DC the Texas compound was the first for China once relations had been normalised in 1979. In response, Chinese officials ordered the closure of the American consulate in the city of Sichuan capital Chengdu (see previously). These heightened tensions come on top of ongoing trade disputes and deflecting the failure of the US to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections by vociferously blaming China.

Tuesday 16 June 2020

captain picard day is one of the children’s favourite activities—they look forward to it all year

Celebrated annually on this Stardate 47457.1 (based on the Julian epoch, referencing noon on a fixed date in the fifth millennium before the common era and believed safely out of range for recorded history) and first introduced in the season seven, episode twelve broadcast of The Pegasus, involving a salvage attempt of an advanced experimental vessel to prevent the technology from falling into Romulan hands, first airing in January 1994 though set in 2370. Though disdaining the attention generally, the captain along with senior crew participated in the judging and events and the celebration (see also) and its artefacts were carried forward throughout the franchise.

Saturday 16 May 2020

ferenginar

Ahead of the United States Armed Forces Day, falling on the third Saturday in May, Trump used the occasion to unveil the standard for their new branch, the Space Force (previously here and here) with calls to bring him a super-duper rocket, presumably to position the country first for the land grab and claims jumping when it comes to prospecting in space.
This flagging ceremony occurs with approaching ninety thousand deaths in America from COVID-19, many of which can be attributed directly to his negligence and mismanagement with some forty million jobless for a country that can budget for a knock-off Star Fleet that’s an anathema to everything Star Trek stands for but can’t deliver healthcare or job security nor foster the imagination.  We truly are in the dumbest timeline.

Monday 4 May 2020

the magicks of megas-tu

Following the previous episode and originally pitched for TOS, the October 1973 adventure finds the crew of the Enterprise on an alien world in a parallel dimension where magic is common practise instead of science and are placed on trial for humanity’s complicity in the Salem Witch Trials, subpoenaed to appear by a devil-like being called Lucien with near omnipotent powers. The officers of the court are not pleased that Lucien let the humans know about their planet and letting them dabble in spell-casting and are resolved to condemning both him and the crew for their transgressions.
Captain Kirk is able to successfully make his counter-argument, pleaing that mankind has advanced far since the seventeenth century and urges the judge show clemency—crucially, for Lucien too.  Convinced by this act of sympathy, the Enterprise is dismissed and allowed to return to their dimension. In the end, it is revealed that Lucien is synonymous with and the embodiment of the Abrahamic concept of Lucifer, this moment of dรฉnouement being somewhat of a compromise since the creators wanted to feature an encounter with God as they had later wanted to do with the franchise’s first big screen adaptation—a pitch-script that itself never materialised in the form they had wanted.

Sunday 3 May 2020

the infinite vulcan

Via Super Punch, we are reminded of another absolutely gem from the franchise in the form of the titular episode, the first out of any instalment and format to be written by a member of the cast, Walter Koenig, beginning a standing tradition in later series—also notably the only character written out of Star Trek: The Animated Series because the show could not afford to retain him as voice actor to reprise his role of Pavel Chekov.  The crew explore a planet called Phylos for possible colonisation only to find it is already populated by an indigenousness race of sentient, non-sessile plants.

The away-mission, after some dicey encounters, further ascertain that the Phylosians were decimated by the introduction of a blight from Earth, inadvertently brought there by a refugee from the Eugenics War. A giant clone of the original scientist who fled from Earth, convinced that the galaxy is as wholly immersed in destruction as his home world was when his progenitor left it, kidnaps Spock with a plan to together restore peace and order with the help of a giant clone he creates from our Vulcan science officer, at the expense of the life of the original. Giant Spock mind melds with the body of himself in order to save his consciousness and convince the scientist giant that his plans were misguided and that the Federation has been a civilisation force, brining peace and harmony to the galaxy. The two giant clones commit themselves to restoring Phylos and making the ecosystem again viable for the native population and the Enterprise departs. We rather like the idea that there’s a giant Mister Spock somewhere out in the Alpha Quadrant with another giant gardening companion. Koenig unfortunately did not take up producer Gene Roddenberry’s offer to write more episodes.

pilot whale

Conceptualised and referenced in passing but never appearing in the series due to budget constraints—the same sort of limitations that inspired the transporter room in order to forgo filming landing and launch scenes, we are reminded how the Enterprise of Star Trek: The Next Generation had a deck dedicated to Cetacean Ops that hosted a collaboration between humanoid and marine mammal crew to help with the ship’s guidance and navigation research.  I guess that drawing too much attention to this place would mean that one had to show it.
According to canonical technical manuals, it was staffed by a dozen bottle-nosed dolphins under the supervision of two orcas, and like having Vulcan minders on Star Fleet vessels, the custom comes from Star Trek IV when whales were able to intervene to save the Earth. Much more to be found, including some in-show mentions,  at the discussion thread linked above.

Sunday 15 March 2020

satire x

First airing on this day in 1968, the penultimate episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series “Bread and Circuses” takes its title from an eponymous satirical poem written by Juvenal that addresses how constituencies are easy led astray from weightier issues if their base needs are satisfied takes place on an alternate Earth (Magna Roma, 892-IV) where the Roman Empire never fell and in a twentieth century setting.

The landing party visit the planet after finding wreckage of a survey vessel without a trace of its crew and compliment, eventually realising that the former captain, now elevated to Princeps Civitatis (emperor and first citizen), went native and sacrificed his company to the gladiatorial games from a conviction that the civilization be shielded from cultural contamination (the Prime Directive), having not yet arrived at the technological threshold of interstellar travel, and tries to convince Kirk and Spock and the rest of the away team to do the same and abandon their Star Fleet careers. Resistant, Kirk and Spock are thrown into the melee and disappointing the audience by dispatching their opponent swiftly and non-bloodily with a Vulcan nerve pinch and then scheduled for execution—to be televised. Deus ex machina, Scotty causes a power disruption and beams them aboard just in time, the blackout preserving the Romans from potential future shock.

Tuesday 25 February 2020

i’m awfully fond of you

Voice by Jim Henson as an ode to the Muppet character Ernie’s bathtub toy, Rubber Duckie’s first performance aired on this day in 1970 on an episode of Sesame Street. An unexpected hit, it inspired homages, cover-versions and was even nominated for a Grammy.
The latex toy itself—which the number greatly popularised—was conceived by Georgian-American sculptor Peter Ganine (*1900 – †1974) whom otherwise worked with ceramics and produced rather avant-garde chess pieces, including those used on set in Star Trek’s tri-dimensional version of the game—there’s a franchise cross-over. Musical contributors Jeff Moss and Joe Raposo also collaborated to produce the Sesame Street and the Electric Company theme songs as well as [It’s not Easy] “Being Green” and “C is for Cookie.”

Monday 24 February 2020

circus maximus

Two podcasters of note, John Hodgman and Elliot Kalan, are hosting an absolutely delightful mini-series revisiting the 1976 prestige television adaptation of the Robert Graves work of historical fiction I, Claudius.
Though harshly panned by critics on its first airing, it enjoyed cult-status and a dedicated viewership both in the UK and in America where it was syndicated by the Public Broadcasting System in 1978 and features an extraordinary cast of actors including Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Siรขn Phillips (the Bene Gesserit reverend mother of Dune and voice actor for all the Disney princesses for their UK releases) as Livia, John Hurt, Sir Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davies, Brian Blessed, Patsy Byrne (Nursie in Blackadder) and Patricia Quinn, the Lady Stephens (Magenta from The Rocky Horror Picture Show)—just to name a few. Watch along as they recap each chapter with special guests, beginning with the pilot A Touch of Murder/Family Affairs—an extended episode counted as one.

Friday 31 January 2020

attention to detail

Via the ever keen-eyed Super Punch, we gain a renewed appreciation for the costume department with this very subtle tailoring addition to Captain Picard’s (see also) civilian suit.  The stripe of red thread sewn into the jacket signals his membership as a recipient of the French Legion of Honour (Lรฉgion d’Honneur).

The order of merit that recognises those who have made significant contributions to the state was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and the institution was continued by successive governments—and would surely still exist under the Federation. The special thread is in lieu of the medals and sash that the knights, officers and commanders are bestowed for less formal occasions and is stitched in by an exclusive tailor near the Palais Royal in Paris. The honour is not limited to French citizens but Sir Patrick Stewart is not a holder of this particular order.