be sure to wear flowers in your hair

This summer, as the always interesting Collectors’ Weekly informs, will be fiftieth anniversary of the Summer of Love, orchestrated by an ad-hoc council of advocates and artistic entrepreneurs, in San Francisco. In order to appreciate how much that event transformed the city, they reach back a decade more to view the various districts and neighbourhoods through the insiders’ travel guide by columnist Herb Caen, who pierced through the general mid-century squareness to find the emergent and incubating haunts of counter-culture.

жж

LiveJournal (LJ) or in Russian Живой Журнал (Zhe Zhe) as it’s known is a blogging platform with some social media add-ons like creating forums and inviting friends (the English word is employed rather than the term droog, друг) that was created in 1999 and quietly acquired by a Moscow-based international on-line media conglomerate nearly a decade ago.
Having completed the process of relocating its servers to Russia just this month, the service is announcing that its content policies (a reminder that these hosts are private companies and not public institutions) must be aligned with the law of the land, including the protection of minors by supressing discussions or acknowledgement of sexual deviancy—that is, gay propaganda. Many who had been using the platform form for decades were caught off guard and (those with the luxury) are migrating their blogs elsewhere.

tears of a clown

Via Boing Boing, we learn that Russia has just banned the propagation of the image that depicts Vladimir Putin-like person “with eyes and lips made up” accompanied with an implicit slur suggesting “the supposed non-standard sexual orientation of the president of the Russian Federation,” qualifying it as “extremist material.” As there are many gay clown memes out there—having incubated since September of 2013 when Russia outlawed homosexual propaganda, this very specific prohibition is causing domestic news outlets to scramble to try to guess which image exactly that the ban applies to. Under no circumstances share these images.

gig ‘em aggies

Rather than busily dismantling the agency he was charged with destroying, the US energy secretary is taking umbrage with the fact that the student council has elevated the runner-up to student body president of his dear alma mater, Texas A&M (formerly standing for Agriculture and Mechanics from the school’s past but now official are just letters) University.
The candidate who garnered the most votes was subsequently disqualified because he intimidated voters and failed to disclose all his financial interests and rather than suffering an invalid administration or holding a new election, the student council choose to install the trailing candidate. The Energy Department head (who is also responsible for the US arsenal of nuclear weapons) decided that that was a miscarriage of justice that he would not let stand—never mind the fact that the runner-up is the first openly gay young man to hold the office and the ousted individual was the son of a Republican party fundraiser and vocal supporter of Dear Leader’s campaign for high office—a bid which the former Texas governor failed at himself.

7x7

apex and apogee: the spacecraft graveyard at Point Nemo

thar she blows: conservation efforts to restore the longest painting in America, a scrolling panorama of whaling on the high seas around the world, via Nag on the Lake

pepijn en merjn: a Dutch suburb that’s styled itself after characters of Middle Earth

swaddling: cocooning technique from Japan purporting to alleviate pain and stiffness   

äitiyspakkaus: Finnish style cardboard bassinets are being issued to new parents in New Jersey, via Super Punch

curiouser and curiouser: anamorphic, mirrored pieces sculpted to commemorate the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

homersexual: how John Waters’ cameo on The Simpsons (twenty years ago) kicked off an inclusive revolution on television, via Kottke

6x6

montezuma’s revenge: salmonella bacteria could be weaponised as a therapy to attack cancer

ralf und florian: unaired pilot for a Kraftwerk sitcom

creative commons: the Metropolitan Museum of Art released its online catalogue into the public domain

vinegar valentines: vintage cards for trolling those unworthy of your affections

cultural appropriation: unhinged preacher wants to reclaim the rainbow as a reminder that the final judgment will be by fire

gallery 1988: 80s pop culture icons presented as postage stamps

7x7

cryptolocker: knowing it would face the loss of all its records otherwise, a community college ponied up a hefty ransom to hackers

call me gavin: revolutionary presidential grandson who bridged the gap between Walt Whitman and the Summer of Love, commune-founder and muse Chester A Arthur III was quite an astounding individual

by any memes necessary: chat-bot and desktop assistant that communicates exclusively through GIFs

tilting at windmills: decommissioned, obsolete turbine blades repurposed as architectural elements

hyper-realism: painted portraits that surpass photography

back in the habit: a Dutch fashion designer collaborated with the Dominican order to update their traditional garb

weepuls: the story behind those promotional balls of fuzz with googly eyes from the 1970s and 80s

hand jive or out of the park

Little did we know that not only is the origin of the high five as a congratulatory greeting well documented, it is also a fairly recent one and was conceived (on 2 October, 1977 to be precise—although there are antecedent anecdotes and competing stories) by a largely forgotten professional athlete called Glenn Burke, who just happens was and remains the only major league baseball player in the US to come out as a homosexual during his career. Visit Æon magazine at the link above to watch a documentary on the Burke, his struggle with prejudice and his salute.

7x7

a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be: a look at the brilliant decorative chimneys of Hampton Court

elvis, elvis let me be: a meeting of the minds (and spirits) with Presley and Ann-Margaret, via the fantastic Nag on the Lake

abecedarium: the alphabet for spoiled children, via Kottke’s quick links

point of origin: artists’ palettes transformed into canvases

stowaways: an investigation into how even orderly, ornamental nature can propagate invasive species, raising an interesting counterpoint to extinctions that humans have caused through the speciation and advantage it has imparted for some so called weeds and pests

portable hole: the laws of cartoon physics

atomteller: a line of commemorative porcelain plates of German nuclear reactors either already taken off-line or scheduled to be mothballed soon

shear madness

Poseidon’s Underworld presents a curated gallery of stylist to the stars, Jose Eber—vintage 1982, posing with some of the celebrities who’ve had their hair-dos done by the French hair-dresser. It’s really sort of a guilty-pleasure to pore over these glamour shots with accompanying, campy short interviews—confessions derived from an assessment that’s meant to identify one’s colour and thus one’s personality. Clients include Goldie Hawn, Penny Marshall, Farrah Fawcett, Jamie Lee, Cathy Lee, Barbara Walters and Pia Zadora.

5x5

bars and bathhouses: in 1983, a gay version of the Monopoly board game was produced

weinkönigin: Trier crowns a Syrian refugee as its Wine Queen

simcity: a new game invites players to redesign NYC’s subway system and test the outcomes of different scenarios

tiki room: the intrepid explorers of Atlas Obscura examine how romancing fake Polynesian culture taught Americans how to relax and be more social

lossless: the Olympics committee has forbidden the creation or sharing animated GIFs of any of its events, via Boing Boing

armorial achievement or ladies companion

The College of Heralds, as Boing Boing astutely informs, has established protocols for the management of shields and devices for the union of same-sex couples, which would pass muster during a royal heraldic visitation. “A man who contracts a same-sex marriage may impale the arms of his husband with his own on a shield or banner but should bear his own crest rather than the crest of both parties…” No matter what one thinks about the landed-gentry and old-money or the relevance of such institutions, it was nice to learn that even such a conservative and exclusive custom can become receptive to change.

pastiche or ultraviolence

The subversively engaging Dangerous Minds has a nice appreciation for the 1969 Japanese counter-culture work of director Toshio Matsumoto called Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列). The film, itself based on Sophocles’ Œdipus Rex, focuses on the misadventures of a cadre of transvestites in contemporary Tokyo, and was a major stylistic influence on Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange—thematically, no equivalence in delinquency—along with the short story Flowers for Algernon, which sort of makes the idea of inspiration material and footnoting all the more dissonant and it takes an artist to understand the echoes of homage.

Via Madam Jujujive’s Everlasting Blört, comes a moving gallery of grief and solidarity of vigils and memorials voicing support for the victims and families of Orlando.

twinkie-defence

I’d venture to say that there could be nothing that so succinctly encapsulates the downfall of society into an overly-sheltered and gratified mockery of itself than the news that the fabled Playboy mansion has been sold to a cupcake magnate. There’s small consolation in the stipulation that the ninety-year old Hugh Hefner gets to reside there until his death, but the new owner has expressed interest in acquiring the whole empire. Who can say what the franchise, not that it’s necessarily worth preserving—but given this infantilising, sweet-toothed legacy, might be a vehicle for in the near future?

epitaph

Ahead of its planned field-trips on its founding day (we all ought to arrange our own outings as well to showcase the places for which we could be expert tour-guides), Atlas Obscura features a bitter-sweet, maudlin memorial to the struggles and triumphs of the gay community with a locus in the Congressional Cemetery securing of its own special corner.
Dishonourably discharged from the US armed forces for being a homosexual (against the advice of the court-appointed psychologist), Vietnam veteran Leonard Matlovich, sadly in anticipation of his imminent demise from AIDS related complications, devoted himself to making a statement for the ages. Within view of the resting place of self-loathing J Edgar Hoover, whose witch-hunts perpetuated discriminatory practises, and his suspected lover, Matlovich purchased a pair of plots and designed his nameless headstone, to be etched for the silent and anonymous sufferers whom had to hide their love away. Since his funeral, Matlovich has been joined by many others in repose and symbolically in victory as well, with several military same-sex weddings, legal and wholly vetted, held before Matlovich’s grave.

volare

Atlas Obscura has an interesting feature on the antiquated though not wholly forgotten and not wholly exclusive homosexual canting dialect called polari—from the Italian to chatter.
Camp as camp is, that’s one of the core vocabulary derived from polari (so too fruity), along flair for the theatric with ajax for near by, naff for drab and plain, troll, and zhoosh to smarten-up, it was once used as code for when the practise was considered illegal among polite company and was part of the steerage for men in the merchant-marines and waiters on cruise-lines. The parlance fell out of favour once it started to be parodied on a popular BBC production in the 1970s and became main-stream, as it were, but polari has seen a revival—with some endearing terms lasting all this time, with latter-day glam rock and specifically the final album from David Bowie.

i’m lovin’ it

Although the global fast food franchise has stirred controversy beforehand with a very similar advertisement back in 2010 for French markets (ahead of the country’s landmark decision to recognise same-sex marriages), the café division of this restauranteur, as Super Punch informs, is facing a boycott at the urging of some religious authorities in Taiwan over its latest iteration of this theme.
Despite seeming to be an unlikely medium for coming out to one’s father, a teen pens in the dialogue balloon of his coffee cup the admission that he likes guys—to which, his father angrily departs. After a beat the father returns, conciliatory, writing on the cup, “I accept that you like guys.” What do you think? Click through for more details and to watch the commercial. The company deserves praise for this, I think, and will weather protests, but should international businesses such as this be expected to remain neutral on cultural norms or do they have obligations to take a stance?

mmxv: annus horribilis

These end-of-year annuals have become somewhat of a tradition here (here, here, here, and here too) at PfRC but never before in these annuls of time has one period been so stand-out negative and gloomy.  We tried to accentuate the positive but that was yeoman’s task, so this year-in-review is coming out a few days early in hopes that the holidays will be a time of lasting good cheer to cleanse the palette and that some last minute joys might befall us all.  There were a few bright points which mostly involved accomplishments in space exploration, but on balance, we are happy to be saying good riddance to bad rubbish.

january: Unpegging the Swiss franc from the euro unleashes more turmoil on financial markets and oversees the gradient of reserve currencies levelled out. With the situation in Ukraine still very tense, the Eurasian Economic Union comes into being. In Nigeria, Boko Haram’s brutality goes unrestrained. Elements of the Cosplay Caliphate in Paris assassinate cartoonists and satirists.

february: Faced with its own deck of sanctions, Russia drafts and submits to the United Nations for passage Resolution 2199 that provided for asset-freezing and curtailing financial resources for the Cosplay Caliphate, strongly condemning as well the group’s destruction of ancient archaeological sites in Syria. The Egyptian armed forces retaliate for the beheading of Copts in Libya by the Caliphate—with more atrocities broadcasted. Sadly, Leonard Nimoy passes away.

march: A space probe visits the Dwarf Planet Ceres. An unholy alliance forms between terror groups as al Qaeda tries to distance itself from these extremists. A suicidal pilot deliberately crashes an airplane full of passengers in the French Alps.

april: A massive earthquake causes destruction across south-east Asia.  Writer Günter Grass and performer Percy Sledge passed.

may: Ireland, by popular-vote, legalises same-sex marriage. Truer to the original, audiences began getting hints of the continuation of the Stars Wars saga to be screened later in the year.  We had to bid farewell to musician B. B. King.

june: Fédération Internationale de Football Association chief resigns pending an on-going criminal probe into corruption allegations championed by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. A real estate magnate and beauty pageant judge announced his candidacy for president of the US.  The Caliphate perpetrates several horrific attacks during Ramadan. Actor Christopher Lee died.

july: Greece becomes the first country to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund and political revolt is unable to extricate them from this web of debt. New Horizons visits the dwarf planet Pluto. Cuba and the USA normalise diplomatic relations after half a century of hostilities. Video game godfather Satoru Iwata passed away.

august: The march of refugees from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe via the Balkans in unending.  We had to say goodbye to philosopher Oliver Sacks.

september: Liquid water is confirmed on Mars. A major German automaker was found to have doctored the cleanliness of their fleet of vehicles. The proxy war continues in Syria, with Russia launching air-strikes and powers are at odds with which party to back. Personality Jackie Collins died.

october: The Caliphate sabotages a jetliner of holiday-goers in the Sinai Peninsula. Maureen O’Hara departed.

november: Turkey destroys Russian fighter jets for violating a tip of its airspace, possibly setting off World War III. The Caliphate again attacks Paris with horrific and terrifying efficiency. Weeks later, the UN holds its climate change conference in the same venue. Former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt passes away.

december: Tragically, yet another mass shooting takes place in California, inspired by religious fanaticism. A wayward Japanese space probe that over-shot its mark five years ago gets a second chance to rendezvous with Venus. Stone Temple Pilot Scott Weiland passed away.  Recognising what the world needs now, Pope Francis threw open the Mercy Gate at the Vatican.

birthright or pride and prejudice

The always challenging Æon magazine, far from raining on anyone’s parade, does introduce a seed of doubt in a sense and circumspection that needs addressing in regards to society’s increasing acceptance of lifestyles that do not fit the standard hetero-normative model and reforms in regulatory frame-works either granted or bidden.

Though contextually there is no direct correspondence and biographies and history is told by people recognising early on that they don’t quite fit with what society expects of them and much hardship can ensue in trying to either conform or be made an outcast, but it’s nonetheless an interesting and contentious to wonder what it means that the community embraces being born with one predilection or other—whereas, for other civil rights movements, to be defined by one’s genes would be an egregious insult and very much counter to their goals. Happily, just as attitudes have shifted from revulsion to tolerance to acceptance for gay rights, so too it has become repugnant to hold attitudes that another’s chances are somehow limited or prejudiced due to their genetic pedigree or gender. Is the nuance something completely different—or is it the same as saying that one’s deficient of mathematical acumen can be attributed to one being born a woman is the equivalent as a born and bred gay individual’s lack of heterosexuality? Such declarations can be unintentionally discriminatory. The politics of identity are still hot items, depending on one’s side and advantage in the matter—whether it is something self-reported or imposed from an outside source.  What do you think?  Is the question of determinism an old vestige of racist-thinking or something becoming obsolete and optional and a cause for celebration for that alone?