Via two of our enduring favourites bloggers, Nag on the Lake and Things Magazine we are treated to a deep-dive into automotive-aficionado and Muppets’ creator Jim Henson’s custom Lotus รclat which was painted in a froggy (though not quite matching) green and featured distinctive amphibian pupils on its pop-up headlights as a vehicle for Henson’s son Brian to recall his father’s career and early struggles. As pointed out above, even more important than the car, it signalled for the child of a workaholic parent, that dad was home. Much more at the links up top.
Wednesday 3 January 2024
Monday 1 January 2024
rest in power (11. 234)
Continuing a long-standing tradition, Chris the Barker (previously) has made another Sgt Pepper’s style collage as a tribute and remembrance to those who have passed in 2023, updated until the last minute and reaching back all the way to the beginning of the year lest we forget any legends lost. It’s a crowded assembly to reflect on and features a key—also in the style of the album’s liner notes. Pee-wee Herman, Dame Edna, Sinรฉad O’Connor, Tina Turner, and Jane Birkin feature prominently but also includes political figures and cross-over moguls like Silvio Berlusconi, Jerry Springer and Gina Lollobrigida as well as Bobi, the oldest dog ever, and the Sycamore Gap tree who get their visual obituaries. Shared on X, we can’t locate a reference to the death of Twitter on the cover however.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a new addition to the family plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: St Telemachus, the umbrella patented, Hearts of Space, rogue waves plus Dinner for One
three years ago: making it through 2020, your daily demon: Ose, a Scooby Doo clone, the Julian calendar plus the launch of VH1 (1985)
four years ago: welcoming 2020, Unix time plus Star Wars on a synthesiser
five years ago: ringing in 2019, banning single-use plastics, generated automobiles plus more on Ultima Thule
six years ago: more welcoming the New Year, the corrugated sculptures of Warren King plus artful thinking
Saturday 23 December 2023
from the depths of wikipedia (11. 207)
Via Super Punch, not only do we learn that Colonel Sanders guest starred on the soap opera General Hospital (on National Fried Chicken Day in 2018, which also exists), there is also a chaotic, esoteric—but serviceable programming language called Malbolge (see also), named after the eighth circle of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy, Malebolge, for fraudsters. The level of the inferno itself is divided into ten concentric trenches, bolgias, to segregate the panderers, mediums, grafters, grifters from the thieves and hypocrites and is guarded by a horde of torturing demons called the Malebranche. Someone is trying to kill Sanders to obtain the secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices and has placed a detonation device in the hospital. Because the Colonel knows Malbolge, he is able to disarm the bomb and stop the destruct sequence. Though not such a deep rabbit-hole, earlier in the week we also learned that aptly none of the original text from a 2003 entry on the philosophical quandary “The Ship of Theseus” remains.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Chinese internet slang, how to draw Christmas plus more data-visualisations from Daniel Huffman
two years ago: Latinisation of Chinese, Tibb’s Eve, coal-mining operations in Essen cease (1986), the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), graphic designs of Uruguay plus the coat of arms of Paul McCartney
three years ago: assorted links worth revisiting
four years ago: hortatory Antiphons
five years ago: St Thorlak, investigating glitter plus the Extinction Rebellion
Thursday 21 December 2023
strange paradise (11. 201)
Via the Abecedarian, we are introduced to the occult-supernatural soap opera that was Canada’s answer to Dark Shadows, capitalising on the unexpectedly phenomenal success of the American day-time gothic drama series. Originally syndicated in the US, it aired in three thirteen-week story arcs from October 1969 to July 1970 and was shot in Ottawa with the acting talents of Colin Fox and Tudi Wiggins. The show narrates the tragic account of a billionaire left inconsolable after the death of his wife on a remote Caribbean island, whom with the help of a local mystic, enters into a cursed contract with the spirit of a mysterious ancestor. The entire run is available below.
Monday 11 December 2023
a harry alan towers production (11. 179)
Premiering on this day on Comedy Central in 1993, the 1988 sequel, The Outlaw of Gor, is given the MST3K treatment (previously) and showcases the return of the hero Tarl Cabot to the far-off science-fiction, fantasy realm to suppress the designs of the ambitious and wicked queen and her priest-sorcerer in a role reprised by Jack Palance in a series of ridiculous headgear. Loosely based on the series by writer John Norman, the professor and his colleague are transported back to the realm by the Elders using the Home Stone, this episode was screened at several college campuses before its air-date and featured the last invention exchange with Deep-13, ostensibly to recognise the new host’s technical short-comings.
Tuesday 5 December 2023
cloudland (11. 166)
Via Kottke guest-blogger Edith Zimmerman, we are treated a random cool old song with a performance of Pere Ubu 1989 song “Breathe” on Sunday Night, a Michelob Presents Music Hour sadly only running for two season and hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn showcasing jazz and eclectic artists, from their seventh studio album—the title record named after (see also) a resort village in northwestern Georgia that became a getaway destination for vacationing Florida residents to escape some of the summer heat. More recommendations worth checking out at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a Vogue issue featuring Darth Vader plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: Flash Gordon (1980) plus the art of Matt Semke
three years ago: Krampus Night, World Soil Day, a boatswain pipe plus more Yuletide customs
four years ago: Pantone’s colour for the coming year plus icy atmospheric phenomena
five years ago: the Bermuda Triangle plus some local Christmas Markets
Friday 1 December 2023
⌘ (11. 155)
Via Things Magazine, we are only introduced to the enthralling blog of Gingerbearman but also can put a name to the early computer artwork and illustrations of Barbara Nessim as featured in Byte magazine and elsewhere. Not just pixelated renditions, these graphics, produced thanks to a residency with Time-Life in 1984 that gave her access to state-of-the-art technologies, were vector drawings formatted and encoded to display on televisions and terminals. See more of Nessim’s extension portfolio and learn about her contributions at the link up top.
6502 (11. 153)
With news that it’s available as an emulator for almost any platform, we are reacquainted with the version of the Beginners’ All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code as the native programming language for the micro personal computer released in 1981 as part of a UK computer literacy initiative (see also) by the national broadcaster in 1981. Chiefly written by Sophie Mary Wilson, a transgender pioneer in design and informatics fields, the optimised dialect ran faster that than Microsoft versions and an inline feature for assembly language. BBC2 series launched the following year, The Computer Programme (see also), was an accompanying primer on its use and capabilities and stirs memories of experimenting with lines of code and tweaking until getting the desired outcome but wonder what the utility is with such a skill nowadays when debugging is automated.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a day without art, fifty-two lessons from fifty-two weeks plus TRON reimagined with the help of AI
two years ago: World AIDS Day, office parties plus assorted links to revisit
three years ago: Wรถrter des Jahres, Japan’s buzzword of the year plus St Elsewhere
four years ago: a duet from Leon Redbone and Dr John, the Moravian star, Germany’s Word of the Year plus Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut ad spot
Thursday 30 November 2023
sportscasters’ curse (11. 152)
Via Super Punch, this was truly the most ominous ending for a weather presentation I’ve witnessed—maybe our presenter summoned something but do hope they’ve checked on our friend Liam Dutton (who also is the reader for the venerable favourite Shipping Forecast) to make sure he’s OK and it was not some terrifying prelude to a horror movie.
That is the eeriest ending to a weather forecast I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/DkVlEOOjY9
— Andy (@alreadytaken74) November 29, 2023
catagories: ๐ค, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ, ๐บ
Friday 24 November 2023
oh no—my own dog, gone commercial (11. 137)
Via Waxy, we are directed to another soundtrack from Louie Zong (see previously) for a fictional albeit believable 1970s style Peanuts holiday special complete with Vince Guaraldi inspired jazz that captures the ethos not only for the shoppers but those working on Black Friday. Other musical segments include Cyber Monday Blues, Buyer’s Remorse, A New Week and Snoopy vs Capitalism. One could imagine the anti-consumerism messages of the limned out television special plus the harried cashiers and store workers just out the frame speaking with muffled trombone voices.
Monday 20 November 2023
▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ (11. 128)
Our faithful chronicler informs that on this day in 1983, ABC aired The Day After—portraying a skirmish at the East and West German border that quickly escalates in a full-scale nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States told through the lens of several farming communities seemingly far-removed from the front but near American missile silos. Starring Jason Robards, John Lithgow, Steve Guttenberg and JoBeth Williams, the made for TV-movie garnered an incredible audience-share of over sixty percent of households (no commercial interruptions) and showed the struggle and aftermath of nuclear fall-out for the survivors—see also—and was rather incredibly re-broadcast by Soviet state television (dubbed but true to the original dialogue) just four years later during the negotiations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty between Reagan and Gorbachev. The film ends with a disclaimer right before the closing credits that the work is fictional and the actual outcome of a nuclear war would be far worse.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Cabaret (1966), assorted links to revisit plus Incense and Peppermint (1967)
two years ago: Dasius of Durostorum plus more adventures in Poland
three years ago: more links to enjoy, Italy’s fateful day plus St Felicity
four years ago: emoji storms plus the Occupation of Alcatraz and Unthanksgiving
five years ago: a variation on Nyan Cat plus another lesson in Slang School
Tuesday 14 November 2023
9x9 (11. 120)
temporal excursions: advice for the modern time-travellers thinking about visiting medieval Europe
once and future: ex-PM David Cameron returns as Sunak’s foreign minister after a cabinet shake-up following the Home Secretary’s incendiary remarks
ototw: there are over six-thousand ‘on top of the world’ mountains—a peak so high no others in the range can be seen from its summit—we’ve only been to Brocken, I think out of them allan aaron spelling production: an appreciation of Arthur Hailey’s Hotel (1983 - 1988) and its parade of guest stars
the house of tomorrow: Tex Avery’s vision of the smart home seems more user-friendly
return-to-office: automatic responses from those on a hybrid work-schedule
carbon-casting: a LEGO-like approach to CO₂ offset and removal at target costs
brideshead revisited: a new film on the eccentricities of the landed gentry—via Messy Nessy Chic
florantine codex: a sixteenth century ethnography on Mesoamerica and the Aztec culture has been digitalised and made accessible to the public
one year ago: The New Musical Express (1952), more Scopitone fun, more on English adjectival order plus assorted links to enjoy
two years ago: the Oort cloud, the Landshut Wedding (1475), more McMansion Hell plus a tale of guided chess
three years ago: the centenary of the BBC, the 2008 G20, paleomixology plus another MST3K classic
four years ago: assorted links to revisit
five years ago: Yale admits women (1968), Nellie Bly’s trip around the world, more on land-use plus social media platforms reimagined on outdated technology
Sunday 12 November 2023
connections (11. 114)
With an interdisciplinary and humorous approach to the history of science and innovation, the educational television series that first aired on BBC with presenter and writer James Burke in 1978 and distributed in the US by PBS (see also) the following year, will be rebooted as a streaming documentary series after several years of syndication and tribute episodes with the same host exploring, as the original show’s subtitle suggests, an “Alternate View of Change,” tracing the interconnectedness of inventions and events that inform modernity and the course of seemingly unrelated accidents are revealed as the drivers of history. In addition to possible corollaries to his chain-of-events, the series also poses the question of when literacy falters in the face of techno-shock and when the accelerated rate of change becomes overwhelming. While waiting for the next instalment, one can explore the original ten episodes below.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the famous photograph of the Loch Ness monster (1934), the Gemini XII mission (1966), the birth of hypertext and the web browser (1989) plus the premier of Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
two years ago: a pioneering trapeze artist, Monsters, Inc, substitute mall Santas, harnessing the powers of silk plus a foggy walk in the woods
three years ago: a concert for a reunited Berlin (1989) plus imagining the Trump Presidential Library
four years ago: an ideal time to go to Mars, Possibly in Michigan (1983), casting to Hell plus a psychedelic ad for movie refreshments
five years ago: a 1929 Ralph Steiner short on water, women’s suffrage in Austria (1918) plus RIP Douglas Rain
Saturday 11 November 2023
clip show (11. 111)
The 1976 musical documentary by Susan Wilson that juxtaposed Beatles covers with newsreel combat footage and propaganda vignettes that was roundly rejected by critics and audiences was released on this day in 1976 and pulled from cinemas after less than two weeks of screenings. Shrewdly realising that money was to be made from the soundtrack with new renditions by popular artists, the accompanying film score debuted three weeks earlier and generated far more revenue than the movie, remanded mostly to obscurity outside of a few airings that attracted a cult-like fascination with several charting singles like Rod Stewart’s “Get Back,” Elton John’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” the Bee Gees’ “Carry That Weight,” Helen Reddy doing a version of “Fool on the Hill,” Tina Turner on “Come Together” and introducing Peter Gabriel with “Strawberry Fields Forever.” It was rumoured that Monty Python cartoonist Terry Gilliam was approached to contributed animated interstitials but that was apparently untrue. As singular as this enterprise seems, All This and World War II was inspired by a documentary by Philippe Mora from the previous year called Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? made up of newsreel footage and interspersed with clips from contemporary films and songs as a scrapbook of the Depression Era through the Attack on Pearl Harbour, with musical selections from Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, Busby Berkley and the Andrews Sisters. More from Open Culture at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, MacArthur Park, the Feast of St Menas plus Kurt Vonnegut Jr at 100
two years ago: more links to enjoy, 3 quarks daily, superannuated image formats, Bliss symbols, an autumnal walk plus more out of the way wanderings
three years ago: the Trizone anthem, more links worth the revisit plus an observatory receives a new name
four years ago: the Feast of St Martin plus early generative text
five years ago: the Armistice of 1918, more assorted links plus a Bosch-bot
Sunday 5 November 2023
i look at this slush and i try to remember at one time i made good movies (11. 099)
Including a short before the feature presentation on good hygiene practices and organising one’s shoe-shine paraphernalia and host segments on showers and sabotaging the Satellite of Love, the 1960 Ed Wood (see previously) crime drama The Sinister Urge was subjected to the MST3K treatment on this day in 1994. Law enforcement attempts to stop a ring of pornographers (the “smut picture racket”) connected to a larger crime syndicate including the distribution of snuff films. After raiding an affiliate studio, the investigating officers are petitioned by a local businessman demanding to know why his tax dollars are being wasted in the prosecution of harmless deviancy, prompting the police to prove the more serious conspiracy. Patronising a nearby pizzeria, one of the investigators witnesses an altercation between two lower-level peddlers and gain entry into the overarching network and distribution channels. Interstitial scenes show how arousal can quickly transform into murderous rage. This was the last mainstream walk-on role for Wood, who despite his ostensibly critical take (though perhaps as invective on American puritanical attitudes) the porn industry, only directed, produced and acted in exploitation and adult films, though like in the above treatment only rose to the level of matronly lingerie modelling.
Thursday 2 November 2023
6x6 (11. 091)
in front of the children: a Betamax find from 1983 on the BBC’s six decades of television for younger audiences
ofrenda: a shrine on All Souls Day to the recently departed Paul Rubens, (clap! clap! clap!) deep in the heart of Texasterraces: an obscure 1977 made-for-television movie about tenants of a high-rise featuring Miss Julie Newmar, Jane Dulo and some gay neighbours
forest friends: a profile of ecologist Simona Kossack’s three-decade residence in a secluded primeval wood
now and then: The Beatles release their final song
goldar: the late 60’s Japanese tokusatsu series, Ambassador Magma—the original Transformers, that achieved cult status in foreign markets as The Space Giants
Monday 30 October 2023
6x6 (11. 085)
popular superstition: how belief in ghost became a class-marker and high-society aspired to more refined practises with spiritualism and horoscopes
late night horror: the obscure 1970 UK anthology nearly consigned to oblivionjack skellington: a massive pumpkin mosaic sets a new world record
sql: the infamous database “Halloween Problem” that reveals weaknesses in common information architecture
very very scary: a 1990s rebroadcast of Nick at Nite vintage television seasonal specials—complete with commercials
jimi halloween: the tradition of costumes so mundane they need to be explained continues—see previously
synchronoptica
one year ago: drawing with Ed Emberley plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: another MST3K classic—The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, more links to enjoy plus artist William-Adolphe Bourguereau
three years ago: the first residents board the International Space Station (2000), more on murderous dioramas, a wizarding curriculum from 1925 plus star charts for the yet to be born
four years ago: East German counter-programming, Brexit postponed plus the lost dative case
five years ago: stochastic terrorism, folksonomy, corporate fairy tales, birthright citizenship plus “Egyptian” Rocky Horror
Wednesday 11 October 2023
9x9 (11. 052)
bennu: scientist reveal recovered sample of primordial dust from an asteroid (see previously) may help us better understand the formation of the Solar System
mansions, pensions: revisiting the dwellings of Leonora Carrington (previously) and how they informed her art
upscale: Adobe to introduce an AI-powered extension to improve the quality, loopiness of legacy, low-resolution GIFspimeyes: the reverse image search technology that can retrace one’s digital detritus
decide which elvis is king: the consequential public debate over a commemorative US postage stamp
the golden horseshoe: UK’s Natural History Museum unveils the winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition—via Nag on the Lake
beasts: Nigel Kneale’s 1976 horror anthology has a book companion to the series
tower to cockpit: listen live to airport radio transmissions around the world—via the new shelton wet/dry
panspermia: a thought-provoking conjecture about alien life emerging with the Big Bang
Monday 9 October 2023
7x7 (11. 047)
haus zum walfisch: explore horror film shooting locations of 1970s and 1980s classics, including Suspiria filmed in a townhouse in Freiburg im Breisgau
concrete feats: a tour of Italy’s Brutalist architecture
rapid electric vehicle retrofits: an Australian student wins James Dyson Award for an inexpensive conversion kit to make gas-powered vehicles hybridearthshapes: fantastic geography from pilot Joseph N Portney
larva convivialis: the miniature dancing skeletons of Roman banquets—via Strange Company
jungian individuation: the Swiss psychoanalyst on the predictive power of Tarot cards
tune-on: veteran television producer and director on the revival of his Laugh-In spin-off five decades afterwards
31 days: a month long celebration of the Spooky Season from Laura E Hall—via Waxy
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, World Postal Day plus to slander one’s good reputation
two years ago: more links to enjoy, happy birthday John Lennon, Karl-Marx-Stadt, drag queen tarot plus a visit to the Osterburg
three years ago: The Watcher in the Woods, more Phantom plus more links worth revisiting
four years ago: major military exercise in Germany planned by US forces plus other European trade colonies in China
five years ago: Trump’s legacy of failed businesses, more on the fight to save an ancient woodland plus moving Tokyo’s historic fish market
Sunday 1 October 2023
claire rayner’s casebook (11. 033)
Accomplished nurse and prolific author, the broadcaster is probably best known for her public advocacy and outreach in the form of her advise column, frank and often controversial in dealing with taboo subjects in a non-judgmental fashion that encouraged dialogue. Graciously sharing a rare Betamax find after sifting through hours of old video tape, Curious British Telly introduces Rayner through an episode originally airing during the first week of October of 1983 on the subject of homosexuality, featuring her own son—which although dated and a product of its time, is still insightful and relevant. More Ben Ricketts at the link above.
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐ณ️๐, ๐บ, 1983