Via Superpunch, we quite enjoyed scrolling through this comic, “Hamburglar Goes to Hell,” by Michael Grover—see previously, which manages to pack in not only quite a lot of McDonaldland lore and obscure references but also Christian cosmogony and eschatology with our hero escaping then and descending back through the Circles of the Inferno with an ultimate message of sacrifice and redemption. The Biblically accurate multi-winged, multi-eyed angel was a nice touch as were the demonic Fry-Guys and premordial Grimace. Robble, robble!
Wednesday 1 November 2023
mcjudgment (11. 088)
Tuesday 5 September 2023
9x9 (10. 984)
built on sand: UN monitoring reveals the alarming scale of marine dredging
but the meteor men beg to differ, judging by the hole in the satellite picture: revisiting a cringey faux academic essay on “All Star” to realise that Steve Harwell (RIP) had more to tell us
j-mouse: a procession of dead-end peripherals—I would get the PC in an ottoman

the secret-sharer: a confessional box from Simone Giertz (previously) where one’s messages are only present for a few seconds before self-destructing
phil a. o’fish: a short-lived McDonaldland mascot and early beef alternatives—via Weird Universe
mixed media: experiential scale-models of Tracey Snelling inspired by the architecture of Berlin—including the Mรคusebunker
premeditatio malorum: fifty short rules for better living from the Stoics
thermohaline circulation: scientist support using the oceans’ inclination for equilibrium to pull in excess atmospheric carbon-dioxide—see previously
synchronoptica
one year ago: Tainted Love (1981) plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: a film from D W Griffith, armorial bearings plus the debut of the Muppet Show (1976)
three years ago: the opening of the Gotthard Tunnel (1980)
four years ago: the greenwashing of the recycling movement plus a legendary kingdom in Bretagne
five years ago: a Freddie Mercury birthday bash, a Queen arrangement in brass, outsider artist James Henry Pullen plus reconciling with the end of coal through art
Monday 4 September 2023
hot labor summer (10. 983)
Amid ongoing strike actions by the Hollywood Writers’ Guild and pushes to unionise workers for increased leverage in bargaining with big manufacturers and retailers and the growing precarity of news outlets, this round-up and review on the US observance of Labor Day (see previously here and here) presents both hopeful and fraught factors for the movement’s reception and success. While a strong jobs market and with historically low unemployment has advantaged many workers in many industries and has momentum, changing paradigms, which companies can cite with varying levels of credulity, like generative content, cloning (the last time actors in 1960 joined the writers, a six-week stoppage awarded creators residuals from re-runs and syndication) as well as shifting to less labour-intensive manufacturing techniques—electric vehicles take few machinists to build and maintain, signalling major changes in productivity and the makeup of the workforce. While many in the US give vocal support to the ideal of unions, only ten percent of workers belong to one and the US Supreme Court has issued recent decisions that erode the right of workers to strike when negotiations, stalled and forced into a stalemate by business executives sold on technological utopias that have failed in many cases to materialise. The empires of off-license lodgings, gastronomy and taxi cabs haven’t translated to savings for consumers and are either petty kingdoms or indentured servitude for providers and streaming is just as expensive, exclusive, walled-off as cable or the studio-system. This changing posture of course has global implications and could further undermine workers’ rights.
Wednesday 12 July 2023
7x7 (10. 877)
stand and deliver: the internecine factions of the US Democratic Party and the legacy of political triangulation
divide-and-conquer: Hollywood studios plan to drag out the Writers’ Strike until they’re destitute ground into submission—via Kottke
rho ophiuchi: for its first year of observations, the JWST team releases an incredible image of the nearest stellar nursery—check out the comments section for an explanation about the telescope’s signature diffraction spikesma’am, this is a wendy’s: chatbots—rather than outsourcing to call-centres—being trialled in fast food drive-thrus and are skilled in the upsell
xai: Elon Musk launches artificial intelligence platform with aims to understand the true nature of the Universe
pay-for-play: Albrecht Dรผrer inserted himself at the centre of a commissioned altarpiece in a dispute over his fee—via Damn Interesting
by the dawn’s early light: plans to build a billion dollar, half-a-kilometre high flagpole in Western Maine—where the Sun’s first light hits the country—has its detractors
Tuesday 11 July 2023
7x7 (10. 874)
fit for a king: a selection of ersatz castles for sale in the US
caliology: corvids using anti-bird spikes for nesting material
100ยบ in the shade: mapping tree shadows
free agent: labour force of the outsourced talk about the effects of the AI revolution—via Waxy
ravensbourne: finding the lost rivers of London—see previously
involuntary memory: the aetiology of earworms
cheese royal: Burger King in Thailand introduces a menu item composed of twenty slices of American cheese
Sunday 9 July 2023
6x6 (10. 869)
kherson herbarium: botanists risked their lives in war-torn Ukraine to save a unique plant collection—see also
public access: cute stuffed animals jam to vintage records at Otto’s Shrunken Head Tiki Bar & Lounge

fรถhnkrankheit: alpine downdrafts attributed to outbreaks of madness—via Strange Company
msg sphere: a colossal orb covers an events venue in Las Vegas
weedwork: a tour of the first cannabis coworking space in New York City
synchronoptica
one year ago: Tron (1982), the first animated adaptation of The Hobbit, Chroegraphy for Copy Machine (1991), the Charles Bridge of Prague (1357) plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: past life regression for pets, the presidency of Millard Fillmore plus transiting through Denmark
three years ago: more adventures along the Moselle plus independence for the Republic of Palau (1981)
four years ago: electromagnetic pulse experiments (1961) plus the minimal republics of Rubรฉn Martรญn de Lucas
five years ago: spider ballooning, salterns from above, the Brexit Bulldog resigns plus artist Joshua Reynolds
Sunday 4 June 2023
9x9 (10. 786)
folkocracy: the latest from Rufus Wainwright
old hollywood: one property management company dedicated to preserving Los Angeles’ vintage homes and apartments

cultivating a creative community: Tina Roth Eisenberg on “How I Built This”
ologies: a comprehensive chart of the medical disciplines and how they fit together—also a good podcast
purchasing power parity: mapping the cheapest Big Macs
morbid passion for one of the opposite sex: the recent invention of heterosexuality
controspazio: a photographic tribute to the recently departed post-modernist architect Paolo Portoghesi
what a wicked thing to do—to let me dream of you: Tenacious D kicks off their next tour with a cover of the 1989 Chris Isaak hit
catagories: ⚕️, ๐, ๐ฝ️, ๐️, ๐ถ, ๐ณ️๐, networking and blogging
Thursday 4 May 2023
7x7 (10. 718)
eyecandy: a collection of dynamic, animated type—via Pasa Bon!

expo 67: impressions of the central exhibition of Canada’s centennial celebrations—see previously
may the fourth be with you: a retro, fan-made Star Wars film festival—see more under the tagged posts
not lovin’ it: McDonald’s franchises in the United States fined for violations of child labour laws—see also
playfair: data presentations by the eighteenth century creator of the the line, bar and pie charts
fontself: the midpoint of the annual Thirty Six Days of Type celebration
Wednesday 5 April 2023
8x8 (10. 655)
lorem ipsum: the Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in the Mac operating system
duchenne smile: AI bias towards American standards skews cultural norms—see also

desancimonious: the problem with the governor of Florida eventually solves itself
carhop: a classic post from Kottke on McDonald’s early years
grift: US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (previously) has been a flagrant recipient of rather lavish kickbacks and gratuities for decades—via Boing Boing
talk of the town: Japan’s singular buttered toast critic
illnumerate: George Box’ maxim and the problem with economic modelling
Wednesday 22 February 2023
8x8 (10. 564)
your heart fits me like a glove: Madonna dream diary
clickword: a Scrabble-like single-player game—via Miss Cellania
sideshow bob roberts: Simpsons show-runner Josh Weinstein shares a treasury of easter eggs and little known provenancesarby’s+: more restaurant franchises are turning to subscription plans
the dรผsseldorf patient: a fifth individual is cured of HIV after stem-cell therapy
jpeg: an image only newsletter with click-through surprises—via Waxy
aurora borealis—at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localised entirely within your kitchen: an infinite Steamed Hams generated by AI—see previously, see also
air-brush: popular photographer admits his portraits are synthesised by an neural network
images from the collective unconscious: Olga Frรถbe-Kapteyn’s archive of dream archetypes
Tuesday 31 January 2023
the golden arches theory (10. 512)
On the anniversary of the opening of the first McDonald’s establishment in Pushkin Square in 1990—an earlier earnest effort was undertaken by the Canadian master franchise for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, famously boycotted by America, realising the host city offered no fast food options, arranged to open two pop-up restaurants by the main stadium but the plan was vetoed at the last minute by Moscow’s mayor, it’s a good occasion to visit the above adage of globalisation from Thomas Friedman that no belligerents both host McDonald’s. This conflict prevention measure is flawed, however, with the US invasion of Panama, the bombing of Serbia, Lebanon, the annexation of Crimea which shut down Russian outlets temporarily and the divesture of the company following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nearly forty-thousand guests were served that day, queuing in the cold for hours.
Saturday 15 October 2022
ร la carte (10. 228)
The need having fortunately not arisen and never noticing these instructions before from my online bank, I was rather intrigued that the three-stacked dots
icon was referred to as the kebab and wondered about the identity of other menu widgets. Apparently there are a whole suite of representations, and the differences are primarily stylistic to distinguish between navigational options, the line variety opening up a whole new screen, more or overflow, whereas the dot subset opens an in-line (closed) scaled for mobile devices. Not certain how often they were employed in the wild, but the Chocolate Box is also known as the Bento Menu and the Strawberry as the Dรถner, a kind of kebab.
Sunday 9 October 2022
7x7 (10. 206)
soundscape: calls for submissions for Wikipedia’s sonic logo
parametric design: letting AI run wild to reimagine the future of architecture

solidarity: Marge Simpson cutting her iconic hair graffitied on the Iranian Consulate in Milano
shinkansen: a classic 99% Invisible explores how three very different bird species informed the bullet train’s redesign
kill the wabbit: try to name these escapingly familiar works of classical music—see also
obituaries: the swiftness of Wikipedia’s deaditors is astounding
Thursday 6 October 2022
show bible (10. 200)
Courtesy of Super Punch, we turn our attention to this 1975 McDonaldland Specification Manual sourcing many of the fast food franchise’s mascots (see also), many like The Professor, French-Fry Thatch and Uncle O’Grimacey long ago retired. A living document apparently, pages near the end have characters from later years including the short-tenured CosMc, circa 1988.
catagories: ๐
Saturday 18 June 2022
branding identity
Having previously showcased lettering artist Rafael Serra, PRINT magazine was quick to recognise his 1980s-informed logo inspiring another new management’s corporate image. Be sure to check out Serra’s whole nostalgic, bold portfolio recasting iconic labels at the link above or at the graphic designer’s website, particularly the iterations of fast food franchises in corresponding styles.
Friday 10 June 2022
ัะพั ัะฐะผัะน
After suspending operations due to the invasion of Ukraine and announcing its withdrawal after thirty-two years, the Russian fast food chain that now controls those franchises formerly operated as McDonald’s will reopen some restaurants over the weekend with this logo, which represents two fries and a hamburger bun—or the Bangladeshi flag and still suspiciously like the Golden Arches—on a green field to symbolise “the quality of products and service” guests are accustomed to. The new identity of the chain has not yet been revealed but there are eight contenders, including the above, which translates to “the same one.” The grand opening coincides with Russian Day, commemorating the 1990 adoption of the declaration of state sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with the intention to establish a democratic state within a liberalised USSR.
Friday 3 June 2022
doni๐ฉ donnts
Saturday 19 March 2022
6x6
unit patches: an assortment of mission badges from the US Space Force—see also here and here
redacted: Sunshine Week and the least forthcoming US government agencies
ambassador, the thane of cawdor / dialect so def, it’ll rip up the floor: notes on rap and language

uncle vanya’s: after mass exodus of Western companies, Russia seems poised to appropriate and nationalise franchises
Monday 31 January 2022
6x6
christian pirates cable access show: a cavalcade of 1980s cult lunacy
the conroy virtus: a novel proposal to transport the Space Shuttle that never got off the ground

h salt esq: the fish and chip fast food franchise empire that never quite materialised
look book: a revival of the conversation pit—see previously
il fait beau dans l’mรฉtro: a 1977 jingle for the Montrรฉal subway
chock-a-block: an omnibus round-up of 159 British children’s television programmes you may have forgotten about—see previously
Tuesday 25 January 2022
rax—you can eat here
Having previously run the gamut of fast-food mascots from Mac Tonight, the Hamburglar, Sexy Colonel Sanders to the Quiznos’ Spongmonkey, we appreciated learning this truly inexplicable spokesman in Mister Delicious, a conflicted mid-life crisis of a mascot that came off less than palatable and was the ruin of an American franchise that couldn’t quite on its identity. Check out the original commercials and a promotional documentary produced to alleviate franchisees’ fears.