*gallery proof (13. 843)

An exceedingly irritating example of formulaic Zwiebelfisch, we turned to a foundry specialising in bastardised web-fonts that insert random typefaces into copy at regular intervals. Particularly unnerving is the Sneaky Bastard preset, departing from the main Times New Roman with every seventh letter in Ariel, scaled slightly to match is size but not in weight or serif-style. I experience this sometimes with a block of copy-pasto in a medium where it’s not always easy or intuitive to flatten out the formatting and will retype it manually in full—or paste it into a format-stripping browser bar—to standardise the text, and though infuriating to see the mismatch in my my email signature or out-of-office auto-reply, I will fix it every time rather than redoing the template—but usually not as an isolate, glaring glyph. Most typographical or scribal errors involve omission or substitution and are usually unintentional and now not indelible after publishing, though for the typewritten page, the strikethrough was a way of correcting a mistake, though evidence of it remained. As digital word-processors improved, the method of marking punctum delens was retained as a decorative choice and often used to blunt and highlight one’s true assessment of things. Before WYSIWYG displays, the ASCII backspace caret notation was used to “erase” intentional typos: “Be nice to this space cadet^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hgentleman—he’s visiting from Corporate.”

magic kingdom (13. 842)

Beginning his work with Disney as a tweener—an animator who specialises in the intermediary, in between frames bookended by keyframes and thus responsible for the illusion of movement—helping bring features like Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians to life, Roland “Rolly” Fargo Crump is most celebrated for his chance reassignment to the Imagineering Department after Disney himself noticed some of the strange little mobiles and pinwheels Crump had crafted during his free time, we learn courtesy of Dangerous Minds. At the workshop, Crump was responsible for some of Disneyland’s most iconic attractions and shops including the Haunted Mansion, the Enchanted Tiki Room and It’s a Small World ride with the host of animatronic children. Staying with company until 1996. During his long tenure with the studio, Crump also in the 1960s designed a series of satirical, beatnik psychedelic posters for Los Angeles and West Coast bands and venues. More examples at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to Colmar (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: papabili plus assorted links worth revisiting 

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: ethernet, Business!, assorted links to revisit, more on the Scunthorpe problem plus Putin addresses the nation

five years ago:  a very distasteful sitcom plus revisiting the Colossus of Rügen

six years ago: memorialising the shame of Canada’s residential school policy,  International Translation Day, passive voice and reflexive forms, digital world address maps, deconstructing American exceptionalism plus more botanical epithets

seven years ago: a farewell to Bauhaus, a remedial lesson on separating one’s trash plus the World Clock of Berlin’s Alexanderplatz (1969)

eight years ago: a recipe for mushrooms, BBC Radio 4 (1967), a Chinatown edition of Monopoly plus Leoind and Friends cover Earth, Wind and Fire

 

9x9 (13. 836)

cyberselfish: Paulina Borsook’s 2000 book about the libertarian, uncharitable culture of high tech is back in print after a reevaluation of its foresight 

the full english: breaches of British etiquette no one will ever call you out for transgressing—via Nag on the Lake  

el niño: the coming weather pattern, climatologist predict, will be the most powerful in recorded history  

familect: jargon and running-jokes only understood within one’s extended household—what are some of your examples? 

i want an explanation—why is there a child on the bridge: the series finale of the 80s sitcom Webster had a cross-over with Star Trek: TNG—see also   

artist’s bigature: Grace Baldwin’s larger-than-life junk drawer  

deliquesce: of a solid structure or lattice, to melt or dissolve by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere—like exposed salts or wilting mushrooms  

nor’easter: powerful, unseasonably early storm slams eastern seaboard  

symphonie magnétophonique: a profile of Else Marie Pade, the first Danish composer of electronic and concrete music

the revolution will not be biennalised (13. 831)

Although somewhat evocative of the mural of Dresden’s Kulturpalast and Soviet-era Realism, we agree that Germany’s pavilion at the sixty-first Venice international cultural exhibition does ring a bit hollow and is unreflective regarding the country’s present political realities, a safe-space nearly as insular as the installation from the US in its splendid isolation and wanton ignorance of the negative impacts it has visited on the world entire and the arts themselves, with the same mindset that would demolish their own national stage in the Kennedy Centre out of spite. In a follow-up piece, Hyperalleric’s Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza tour the grounds and offer their opinions, critiques and condemnations of such pavilions that miss the mark and fall flat.

synchronoptica

one year ago: haiku headlines (with synchronoptica) plus Skaterdater (1965)

two years ago: new Nazca lines revealed, the study of street art plus assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: harmless AI hallucinations, tarot-inspired motifs from Leonora Carrington, gravity as a governing factor plus the restoration of a Streamline Moderne observatory associated with Albert Einstein 

four year ago: Knight Rider (1982) plus an asteroid deflection test

five years ago: the Free City of Christiana (1971), Biosphere 2 (1991), more McMansion Hell, an AI names supermarkets plus Germany votes

six years ago: more links to enjoy plus the photography of Robert Bechtle

seven years ago: Trump’s “perfect call,” communal housing in the capital of Greenland plus the science vessel formerly known as Boaty McBoatface

eight years ago: World War III narrowly averted (1983), Trump at the UN General Assembly, the Afrofuturist art of Bodys Isek Kingelez, more on the Hyperloop project plus Gilligan’s Island (1964)

 

piece of the puzzle (13. 800)

We quite enjoyed this in depth look at the aesthetics and design elements of Wikipedia, whose user-experience focused on exploration and discovery predates the attention-economy and remains distraction-free, no infinite scroll but plenty of branching off with intention, side-quests, tangents and rabbit holes. There are customisable readers however to render the layout to one’s specifications. We’ve visited the gift shop and know about its sister products and incubators, all with the same accessible branding and we enjoyed learning about the evolution of the logo, the puzzle ball from a selected for a competition for its predecessor site Nupedia and being reminded of mascots past, like the sightly sinister Wikipede. Though essentially finished with undergraduate education by the time the Free Encyclopaedia was becoming widespread, I do recall the professors and researchers nudging paper citations away from Wikipedia as not a reliable source since the information could be contributed or edited by anyone—which did strike me as absurd then as it does now, when people are more prone to just ask AI, built on the backbone of thousands of ardent, amateur Wikipedians and their volunteer scholastics. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI-inspired delusions (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit plus a Pythagorean date

two years ago: a history of White Castle  

three years ago: webrings plus an unambiguous constructed language 

four years ago: the Mexican War of Independence, The Hounds of Love (1985) plus more links to enjoy 

five years ago: the founding of Harvard, a wild orchid plus a Wikipedia digest

six years ago: narrative yoga not just for kids, a comparison of sci-fi worms plus the beginnings of Big Data

seven years ago: fleeing East Germany by balloon (1979),  the Montreal Convention to eliminate CFCs (1987), RIP Ric Osasek plus more Brexit omnishambles

eight years ago: culling social studies curriculum, the untrodden path plus repurposing an Italian protest anthem

 

10x10 (13. 777)

futura is a favourite and we’re always going to root for her, but then for legibility you can’t go wrong with frutiger: the very model of a modern day typographer—see previously  

if every girl had a diary: filmmaker Sadie Benning’s quiet confessions to her confident Pixel Vision camera delivers a powerful message from the shelter and safety of her bedroom  

leisurama: the prefabricated Mid-Century Modern vacation home of Montauk, Long Island  

learning to live with an elephant: a 1968 animated short from Terry Gilliam—see previously  

 

movie maps: worldwide cinematic address—comprehensive but missing our village’s cameo—via Nag on the Lake 

insecta odonata: dragonflies migrate over long-distances, comparable to Monarch butterflies 

 🛂: the world’s current one hundred ninety-nine passports mapped as a data-visualisation—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

last and first men: the 1930 science fiction work from Olaf Stapledon who examined humanity from a height of two billion years  

only major western capital without a monumental arch: groundbreaking to begin for the Arc d’Trump in two weeks—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: Stravinsky’s Serenade in A (with synchronoptica), protests in Nepal plus more revelations on the closeness of Trump and Epstein

two years ago: voting from space, split-screen campaigning plus British holiday camps 

three years ago: assorted links worth the revisit plus traditional Palestinian embroidery 

four years ago: a banger from The Stone Temple Pilots (1994) 

five years ago: statehood for the US capital district, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9), a rewilded oasis in DC plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: the founding of Washington, DC (1791), the dispute over Hans Island, a celebrated lighthouse plus AI-generated super villans

8x8 (13. 740)

and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby: Kermit the Frog joins Dolly Parton for a 1987 appearance on her variety show, performing a duet of “Every Day People”  

young artists after siamesas 1960: US state department orders removal of woke Kehinde Wiley painting (previously) at the Dominican embassy  

pyramid of tirana: a survey of Albania’s built environment spanning sixty years—see previously  

ilulissat icefjord: bracing and heartbreaking timelapse of an iceberg collapsing and rolling over in west-central Greenland—see also 

synodical months: the cultural context of the upcoming August Sturgeon Moon—see previously   

restoration architecture: explore Copenhagen’s urban reform initiatives to conserve its landmarks for sustainable tourism whilst preserving the city’s heritage and character  

free press: Pentagon fires editor-in-chief, dismisses a reporter of independent military newspaper Stars & Stripes following an earlier overhaul to rid the publication of woke distractions 

imagination library: Dolly Parton, giver of books

pepperidge farm remembers (13. 734)

Via ibidem, we are referred to this rather incredible gallery documenting the effort that went into the packaging and presentation of corporate standing for shareholders and stakeholders once upon a time for annual reports when trade and commerce were a bit more staid and predictable for North America and companies involved invested in production and distribution, retaining their own branding and marketing teams. This expansive archive ranging from the 1940s to the present is interactive and fully searchable—though beyond the considerable cover art might prove a tad boring and academic. Take a browse through the archives and let us know what you find.

my word is my bond (13. 730)

We quite enjoyed perusing this curation of full-page advertisements from Champion Papers in Art Direction magazine from the early to the late 1960s as compiled by Alex Jay. The trade journal that documented campaigns in visual communication and showcased design practises under the editorial guidance of Herb Lubalin (previously) and other luminaries of the typographic profession. Both the publication and its main sponsor in the printing concern in its contemporary form at least seem to have both folded around 1980, leaving quite a legacy—with Champion once the largest coated paper (glossy and matte finish) producer in the United States, branching out to paper grocery bags, cardboard boxes, posterboard, stationary and what we would call construction or craft paper. Its mills and other remaining assets were acquired by International Paper in 2000. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: journalism in Star Trek (with synchronoptica), religious indoctrination classed as child-abuse in Japan plus pareidolia 

two years ago: cinematic pathways, a 1954 royal yacht party plus fun with LinkedIn profiles 

three years ago: gymnastics with an AI avatar, a musical clock plus the Wagner Group coup-plotter dead in a plane crash

four years ago: the Elvis Comeback Special (1968) plus the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism and Stalinism

five years ago: your daily demon, a Roman holiday, Ashes to Ashes (1980) plus the ambient it

six years ago: assorted links to revisit, Elder Sign, photographer Harry Gruyaert, the Stockholm Syndrome (1973) plus Why Man Creates (1968)

ho (13. 717)

Though the Navi had guided us along Hovej multiple times, we deferred exploring the town and bay (Ho Bugt) until now. The short toponym for the waterway which gives its name to the village—a thatched reed houseboat for Ho by British artist Simon Starling who specialises in nautical themes engaging with vernacular architecture and local building media was added to the shore in 2023—comes from the Old Danish Hōi meaning trough or tub and a fjord (an inlet) that resembles one. The bay at the northern tip of the Wadden Sea was targeted for a major land reclamation project in 1941 but fortunately the sanctuary was spared from development over concerns that the removal would cause the channels in and out of Esjberg to quickly silt over. The nature reserve home to sea birds features an ellipse to let one walk out over the estuary—particularly at high tide.

Afterwards, returning to the campsite, we took a longer walk on the beach and explored the narrow footpaths through the lush littoral, getting a better look at the landmark called the Ringebjerge Båke (a historical beacon or seamark erected in 1884 that was until 1978 illuminated at night as a guide for passing ships) on the southern part of Vejers strand, with more gentle reminders that this area is a military training ground. The red ball raises to the top of the pole when there is an active exercise, warning civilians to stay away. A know-it-all neighbour at the camp grounds had told us that a major one was to take place early this week—I wondered how she might know—but has not materialised yet.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: signifiers of etiquette (with synchronoptica), Trump’s Nobel ambitions plus Müritzer cheese

 

two years ago: design one’s own Amsterdam, AI or Die, license to serve plus assorted links to revisit

three years ago: more links to enjoy plus the final Ring cycle (1876)

four years ago: ABBA’s last album plus even more links

five years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, the world’s first animated film (1908), significant digits plus cartographic gaps

six years ago: a tragedy at Uluru (1980),  Operation Warp Speed plus the dotted and dotless i

la mise en garde (13. 680)

Whilst not given the deserved retrospective treatment as her near namesake and contemporary Leonora Carrington, in her own time Argentine-Italian surrealist (though rejecting the label the label and broader movement personally), designer, illustrator, dresser and author, especially celebrated for her empowering and erotic portrayals of women (herself included), Leonor Fini, had her share of attention from documentarians wanting to know more about her life, influences and works. We appreciated this entree to Fini via the discovery of some of these films, rarely screened or available online, with subtitles, including the feature length profile by Belgian director and screenwriter Chris Vermorcken and the short produced for Swiss broadcaster Radiodiffusion-télévison-française by journalist Yvan Butler, decades after her credentials were established with showings in her native Trieste, Milan, patronised and exhibited by Peggy Guggenheim as well as costuming several theatrical and screen productions. From 1953 onward, Fini held an open polyamorous relationship with Count Stanislao Lepri, Italian consul general to Monaco, and Polish writer Konstanty Jeleński, remaining inseparable for the rest of their lives along with her retinue of no fewer than twenty-three Persian cats. Like Carrington’s, Fini’s art often focused on liminal beings, witches, werewolves and sphinxes.  More from { feuilleton } at the link above. 

present /&/ correct (13. 676)

Having been a long-time fan and standard go-to resource for vintage stationary, brochures and advertising ephemera, we quite enjoyed this interview with Bloomsbury shop and blog co-founder Neal Whittington on the occasion of their entrance into the world of publishing and share some stories about their finds over the years—sometimes ambitions become deadstock but never surplus to needs. The history of the venture and the curated collections is inspired. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link above. Do explore their sundries.

7x7 (13. 675)

giant’s causeway: Curiosity rover discovers valley of honeycomb polygonal rock formations—see also  

ars notoria: a magical medieval text that promised a pathway to instant, universal mastery of the liberal arts 

singing seat: artist Dan Ortiz Leizman transforms Monobloc chairs into stringed instruments 

translator of original ‘minions’ epic poem slams sexless, bloodless film adaptation: most fun movie discourse since Barbenheimer—see more, see also here and here—via Kottke   

it’s giving: a glossary of Gen Z lexical constructs  

mittingsaia: a mysterious illustrated Swiss manuscript from the 1940s in the style of a European travel brochures with undecipherable captions that resemble AI hallucinations  

van allen belt: despite its small size, no bigger than North America, Mercury’s weak magnetic field can trap solar winds

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump administration obliterates Clean Air Act plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: obligatory voting in Australia (1924), the Likert scale plus more on millenialism

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: a banger from Annie Lennox, even more links, more antique abecedaria plus graphic designers Elinor and Joe Selame

five years ago: time crystals, photographer Lora Webb Nichols, Olympic mottoes, assorted links worth the revisit, a world music radio station plus a David Bowie inspired costume

six years ago: more links to enjoy, a Chinese mission to Mars plus an interim emoji release

7x7 (13. 666)

serenity prayer: the EU can rein in Google and other tech behemoths despite Trump’s threats 

the fun palace: Cedric Price’s modular playground and social laboratory that was never realised  

hot 100: Paste magazine lists the greatest songs of the 1970s—via MetaFilter 

dear stranger: a disturbing experiment in voyeurism that turned into something beautiful  

ǝsᴉʅƎ ɹn̤ᖵ: Beethoven’s bagatelle inverted—originally as a prank—but hauntingly evocative—see also  

hedonic treadmill: welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure  

we used to be able to buy things in this country: the plexiglass retail landscape of America—via Kottke

emsh (13. 662)

Via { feuilleton }, we are pleased to have had made the acquaintance of visual artist and experimental filmmaker, Ed Emschwiller, a WWII veteran who used his GI bill educational stipend to study at École des Beaux Arts (there meeting his wife and co-creative, scif-fi novelist Carol Fries) and the Art Students League of New York in the late 1940s. Using his veterans’ benefits again, the couple bought a house in Levittown, pursuing their art from a home studio—described as the only beatniks in the, segregated, planned community of Long Island. Often using Carol as a model for his commercial work, Emschwiller (usually signing his painting with the titular abbreviation) created covers for pulp publications including Galaxy, Infinity and Astounding Stories magazines, as well as paperback covers for Philip K Dick and Samuel R Delaney, whom considered his wife a peer. Despite a lucrative career and garnering several Hugo Awards (see previously here and here), in the early 1960s—in part inspired by Andy Warhol and the New American Cinema movement—Emschwiller turned to Factory-style filmmaking in suburbia with multimedia performance vignettes, as well as cinematography for documentaries on diverse subjects from Bob Dylan, voter-registration drives in Mississippi to the New York art scene for diverse commissions from the US Information Agency, NASA and Expo ’67. In the late 1970s, Emschwiller became interested in computer animation, eventually becoming professor and provost of the CalArts of the institutions television workshop and laboratory. More examples of Ed Emschwiller’s work spanning all the stages of his career and incomplete filmography are curated by Dennis Cooper at the link above.

meanwhile back at the manse (13. 657)

When presented the opportunity to relocate from Denver to New Mexico, artist Johnny DeFeo was captured by a vision for the Land of Enchantment that came to him in a dream of a zoomorphic ensemble of buildings. Unable to act on this monumental impulse immediately after it came to him, DeFeo deferred his inspired idea but the vision lingered, until serendipity or svengali appeared in the form of a contest, call-for-submissions sponsored by an infamous unlicensed lodgings company—displacing local residents, hollowing out the souls of cities, contributing to overtourism and to the housing crisis—that would fund projects for the quirkiest rental properties. DeFeo was reluctant at first to even put in his entry, fearing it would compromise his yet unformed plans. Coyote Casita, otherwise known as The Trickster, was selected as a winner, eventually resulting in a one-of-a-kind guest accommodation executed in concrete and adobe, an abode that does not go unoccupied when there is a vacancy and benefited local artists whom helped design it. More from Wallpaper and the artist’s website at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump returns to his Scottish golf course (with synchronoptica) plus more inflorescence flowers 

two years ago: the Paris Games opening ceremonies 

three years ago: a banger from Peter Gabriel,  a fine art ranking plus RIP Shuhada' Sadacat

four years ago: around the Isle of Skye plus more of the Inner Hebrides

five years ago: office space, the Feast of Saint Anne, linoleum flooring patterns plus words that exist only in plural form

six years ago: Esperanto Day, segregation ends in the US military (1948) plus assorted links to enjoy

9x9 (13. 655)

all the queens houses: the eclectic architectural vernacular that makes up the New York City’s most diverse borough  

everything counts in large amounts: the moral imperative to understand big numbers, however unimaginable—via Kottke   

incendie de forêt: over a quarter million residents in France and Spain are evacuated from encroaching wildfires  

question de forme: the geometric animation of René Jodoin—see also, see previously

concurso de belleza: Trump cites his beauty pageant credentials to claim to be the competent authority when Venezuela is ready for elections  

plotlines: charting the journey of the protagonist in select classic novels with period maps—via Language Hat 

devil dog: Poseidon’s Underworld (previously) reviews the 1978 made-for-television star-studded spectacular about a satanic litter  

interstitial: Western science seems to recognise the meridians and subtle body of acupuncture and Ayurvedic traditions with a popular article on human anatomy’s third circulatory system  

cornell, 1965: filmmaker Lawrence Jordan’s 1978 profile of peer and colleague Joseph Cornell of Utopia Parkway, Flushing Queens

abdominal quadrants (13. 654)

We enjoyed studying this small collection of antique nineteenth century ukiyo-e prints that illustrate the inner-anatomical functions, to promote good health and moderation as well as a civics lesson with bodily fitness as an allegory of not necessarily of industry (see also) but of an ordered society. The pictured woodblock is by artist Utagama Kuisada (歌川 国貞), among the most prolific designers and commercial successive artists of the medium who in his own time was far better known than contemporaries Hokusai and Hiroshige, and is titled the “Mirror of the Physiology of Food and Drink.” Much more from Open Culture at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Battle Beyond the Stars (with synchronoptica), cheese advocacy, Trump seeks to fire the Federal Reserve chair for cause plus a completist’s drinking adventure

two years ago: the arch of Constantine plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: Ullapool and environs plus a historic NATO outpost

five years ago: the first colour advert on monochrome TVs (1967), Einstein on the Beach, St Thomas à Kempis plus an epic mosaic along the Thames

six years ago: cognitive fitness, Wikipedia 1.0, the US Space Force, St Cucuphas, Sino-US tensions plus enduring character tropes

birds v beethoven (13. 650)

Via MetaFilter, we learn that the European Central Bank has issued a jury selected shortlist of new euro notes by ten designers for the public to vote on. Each suite of the paper denominations feature either historical human or avian elements. Some proposals are vertical euros.

Birds (plus rivers) and institutional buildings versus Beethoven is a runoff between: 

 €5 the Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria) with the European Parliament on the reverse or Greek opera singer with a scene illustrative of the cultural elements on the back
€10 the Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) with the European Commission v the German composer
€20 the Bee-Eater (Meropidae bonaparte) with the ECB (see previously here and here) v Polish-French scientist Marie Curie-Skłodowska
€50 the White Stork Ciconia ciconia with the Court of Justice of the European Union v author Miguel Cervantes 

€100 the Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) with the European Council v Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci
€200 the Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)with the European Court of Auditors v Austrian pacifistic Bertha von Suttner

What’s your favourite? I am team bird but I did like the bridges on the current series.

synchronoptica

one year ago: outsider artist Martin Ramírez (with synchronoptica), an orbital handshake plus superlative hour-glasses

two years ago: St Christopher, how location data compromises security and intelligence, every map of China is inaccurate plus SCOTUS orders Nixon to release the tapes (1974)

three years ago: farewell Twitter plus AI-enhanced spying

four years ago: Stirling Castle plus Smoo Cave 

five years ago: assorted links to revisit, highbrow porn, a party in a box plus a freight yard symphony

six years ago: politician Bela Abzug, Christina the Astonishing plus El Topo (1970)

alidade (13. 636)

Via a 1956 summer-gig for flat broke beat writer Jack Kerouac as a hermit on Desolation Peak in the Washington Cascades as a fire lookout, undertaking the vigil akin to that of a lonely lighthouse-keeper and watching for signs of smoke, we are introduced to the panoramic, circular cartographic creations of Archie Norcross, centred around the thousands of observation towers erected after a devastating series of forest fires between 1903 and 1908 for the state of Maine. Resident rangers would be watching for telltale plumes and triangulating its location with a simple sighting device (the title turning board) and alert authorities. Of the some eight thousand lookout posts constructed, most have fallen into disrepair, made redundant after newt echnologies and forest management techniques were introduced,  with a few maintained as shelters for hikers. Kerouac’s own summer home was demolished in 1972 due to the structure being a lightening rod during frequent thunderstorms on the mountain top. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.