Wednesday 2 May 2018

well you know my name is simon

Via Kottke, we quite enjoyed being introduced Ralph Ammer through his easily digestible and assayable sketching exercises, parsed as gifs rather than video, a format that does not leave much to the imagination and probably not the best mode of instruction. The looping repetition seems to be a really effective way to impart the process and elements of drawing, regardless of one’s aspirations of the moment.

luftbrรผcke

Preparations are already underway to commemorate the role of Wiesbaden US Army Airfield during the Blockade of Berlin (previously here and here) for the seventieth anniversary of the operation’s successful completion, which resulted after a year of non-stop flights in the Soviets relenting and permitting the UK, France and the US access to their sectors of the city. In one of the traffic round-abouts, they’ve erected a steeple topped with a weather vane that depicts the Luftbrรผcke (it turns out that the piece was salvaged from a roof of a barracks building that housed the pilots and crew, installed as an earlier commemoration) and as the ceremony approaches, we’ll have a better idea of the schedule of events to mark this occasion.

0.1% pure elation

Having enjoyed his gentle and perseverant comics for quite some time, we were pleased to learn that illustrator and humourist Grant Snider had recently released a collection of his panels as a book called The Shape of Ideas with an abundance of valuable insights on the creative process. There is of course an idiosyncratic aspect to routine and ritual and the only superpower that Nature bestowed on humans was grit, stamina and the ability to stick with what works, and we appreciated the invitation into how Snider begins his day and not being overwhelmed by a day-job and can relate to the struggle and accomplishment of keeping things in perspective. Be sure to check out the whole review from Hyperallergic at the link above and to follow Snider on all the things.

Tuesday 1 May 2018

hรคxan

Based on the filmmaker’s study of the Malleus Maleficarum (previously), Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 silent “Witchcraft Through the Ages” is sometimes accorded with the recognition as the art form’s first documentary work—though there some elements of classic horror are established as well, the film is one of the first not based solely on fiction and included meticulous research over a long period of production, and goes about dispelling superstition, misunderstanding and misogyny which can result in witch hunts. Censored in many places during its initial release in Scandinavia, Hรคxan saw something of a revival in 1968 when an abbreviated version premiered set to an eclectic jazz soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty and intertitles read by William S Burroughs.

6x6

falindromes: phrases that look like they might be palindromic but are not

shrinky-dinks: advances in printing could make self-assembling, heat-activated furniture a reality   

performance art: Tim Youd retypes classic novels in the locations were they are set word for word on an antique mechanical typewriter

la miniatura: the tragedy and therapy behind the Mayan Revival homes of Frank Lloyd Wright, via Nag on the Lake

ludomania: bookies are using artificial intelligence to exploit gamblers in novel ways, via Slashdot

plumcot: the caretaker of the historic gardens of famed horticulturist Luther Burbank is working to unravel his poorly documented, unscientific method 

bone of contention or true facts stated

We had wanted to avoid wading into this subject because as with everything else one ought to pause to ask how one’s opinion, pontification, punting or contribution enriches the world a little and were rather baffled in contemplating this wildfire and how the political roasting (via Miss Cellania) at an event that (albeit it does have a rather conflicted identity and is bolstered up by genteel fictions) invited guests come to expecting to be lampooned was having its moment—ephemerally, of course, and to be superseded by the next tantrum—but I suppose that there’s something in that bafflement that indicates that we need to work through this—not at pace—and try to come to terms with how media and entertainment has turned reportage and personality into their own parody.
How could anyone in this political landscape expect any mercy or reverence for the complicit sell-outs of the Trump regime? Worse and more pointed criticism is readily available from any number of outlets at any time. Indeed—rather than airing the comedic stylings of Michelle Wolf—Trump had already excoriated journalism at some fundraising event timed to coincide with the broadcast of the White House press corps dinner to illustrate the culture schism that he thrives on, and though less funny (downright depressing, actually), putting that on stage would have been an equally appropriate act and would elicit titters and cringes alike. Rushed onto these bandwagons allows us to defang the finer points of messaging, including walking out on an act whose closing statements were the most powerful and provocative parts of the monologue: uncomfortably casting her attack back at the Third Estate, “You pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him,” Wolf said. “I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric. But he has helped you… You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him.” And Flint still doesn’t have clean water.

jubilee

Naked Capitalism features an engrossing and thought-provoking interview with economist and professor Michael Hudson on what ancient civilisations can teach us about how we frame debt, poverty and opportunity. As the tradition of burying a ruler with their material wealth was tool of social justice as much as the belief such grave goods were useful for the afterlife, debt-forgiveness was a common institution in Western Antiquity—although money or labour in abeyance was generally to the ruler himself or a cadre of wealthy aristocrats who could absorb sunk costs readily and could dispense a bit of kindness by writing debt off.

Peer-to-peer exchanges were enforced but the ruling class was interested (it’s conjectured) with keeping their labour and defensive forces free of crippling obligations or indentured to some intermediary. With the rise of the merchant class and the decentralisation of economies, there were more and more in the game that could not afford not to be paid and Rome became the first major civilisation not to continue in the tradition. In hoc to creditors over the Republic’s rapid expansion and broad network of trade, a century of civil war (the crisis of the Republic that resulted in Imperium) followed from this decision, punctuated over the decades by the systematic assassination of advocates for a return to practise of debt-forgiveness, Christianity being one of the chief proponents until the Empire realised it could not suppress the message directly, co-opted the Church’s organisation and hierarchy.