Mindful of the adage that one should never make fun of a person’s pronunciation because they may have only seen it written beforehand and are saying it out loud for the first time, I was yesterday years old when I found out that skibidi (previously, this was a phenomenon that I thought I could be firm in ignoring) is spoken like a substitute for “zippity do da” and not like the historic music venue CBGB as I said it in my head. Incidentally, it has no meaning and is just a funny sounding filler word that originates from a dance song from a Russian rave group called Little Big from a 2018 track becoming a meme for an eponymous challenge to post one’s own dance video variations. Rather dadaesquely, it has become a prefix for nonsense and the surreal. A spinoff cartoon series called Skibidi Toilet by Alexey Gerasimov has been licensed for a range of products, including toys, costumes and cosmetics and film producer Michael Bay is in talks with its creator for a cinematic adaptation.
Saturday, 8 February 2025
gmod (12. 217)
Monday, 27 January 2025
there a hole in me pocket (12. 187)
Classic clog manufacturer and popular item in this household has announced a new two-pair tribute to the Beatles’ animated feature Yellow Submarine. The dog has gotten much better about not gnawing on footwear but still goes after our Crocs and would have to have such a fancy pair of house shoes chewed up, but these look pretty fun and the contour is a perfect fit for the underwater vessel—though like with Crocs’ other brand collaborations, not sure about the accessories, the periscope and propeller and the other bedazzlers however and they’d surely prove too tempting for a little dog.
synchronoptica
one year ago: ancient piggy-banks (with synchronoptica), St Devota, a past prediction from Star Trek: TNG, a hybrid horseless carriage plus more moons of Jupiter
seven years ago: assorted links to revisit
eight years ago: omnipresent and omnipotent AI, parasitism and toxoplasm gondii plus the White House turns off its switchboard
nine years ago: more links to enjoy
ten years ago: the national assemblies of Europe, the fantastic art of Dan McPharlin plus AI and middle-management
Friday, 17 January 2025
canonicity (12. 187)


Tuesday, 14 January 2025
7x7 (12. 177)
alexiomia: from the Greek for no words for appellation, a study of the social anxiety of name-avoidance—via the new Shelton wet/dry
white knight: Bytedance entertaining contingency plans to allow Elon Musk to purchase TikTok’s US operations ahead of the expected judgment against the platform

screamboat willie: Disney begins to deal with its loss of IP—apparently a Popeye horror film is in the works too
tl;dr: AI input and output
open and shut case: the US Department of Justice election interference report suggest Trump would have been convicted if not re-elected
๐: the face of collective grief and the demands of acceptance that are far from passive
synchronoptica
one year ago: AI plagiarism and The Stepford Wives (with synchronoptica), a hands-free rosary plus Queen Margrethe II of Denmark abdicates
seven years ago: the Continental Congress (1784) plus Celtic burial mounds
eight years ago: authoritarians and the press, the former trolley line that ran between the US and Mexico, assorted links worth the revisit, Bart the Genius (1990) plus a secret WWII commando school
nine years ago: the dancing doctor plus genre blindness
ten years ago: more on the refugee situation in Germany plus an animated homage to Davie Bowie’s personae
Sunday, 5 January 2025
8x8 (12. 147)
black swan event: futurist forecast a host of unpredictable geopolitical scenarios for 2025—via the New Shelton wet/dry
it’s schoolhouse rocky—that chip off the block—of your favourite schoolhouse, schoolhouse rock: a rather incredible thrift store find of Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell performing some numbers from the educational cartoon series—see previously

to unalive or not unalive: the resurgence of the term was prompted by a way to get around advertiser blacklists with euphemisms—see more
reboot: the Landauer Limit, thermodynamics and more efficient computing—see also
post-scarcity, post-singularity: it’s still easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism—via Duck Soup
the eagle & child: Oracle’s Larry Ellison has purchased the Oxford pub frequented by Tolkien and C S Lewis—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest
the year that was and wasn’t: The Morning News interviews some of their favourite journalists about the most and least important stories and trends of 2024—see also the dumbest timeline
Wednesday, 1 January 2025
strong to the finnich (12. 134)
For Public Domain Day 2025 (previously), we learn that the original iteration of the character Popeye have entered into fair-use territory, joining Winnie the Pooh, Tintin, Mickey Mouse, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes and many others. Whilst the Sailor-Man 1.0 might have not yet derived his superpowers from eating spinach until 1931—it seems that the copyright for that canonical comic strip was not renewed, so it’s fair-use to incorporate that attribute retroactively and the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain was an explainer on how to navigate trademark law for liberated versions of personalities who still appearing in recent works still under protection, rights only extending to newly added traits and material and not the underlying figure. Incidentally had Popeye been in the creative commons earlier, like his girlfriend (and a whole person in her own right) Olive Oly based on ZaSu Pitts who predates him by several years and whose original love-interest was a lounge-lizard type called Harold Hamgravy, the Super Mario Brothers might have never been.
Sunday, 29 December 2024
6x6 (12. 121)
glimmer vs trigger: political, cultural and business trends to expect for 2025
geospatial: NATO’s Project HEIST to ensure telecommunications architecture from accident and sabotage or caprice—see also—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
achive.today: some methods for getting around paywalled articles
elo rating: grandmaster Magnus Carlsen quits World Internation Chess Federation (see previously) over dress code
teotwawki: y2k preparations and people getting ready to bug out—see previously
๐ฟ: an omnibus list of list on movies and television from the past year
Saturday, 14 December 2024
200 (12. 080)
Though without the nudity and slightly brain-melting morphing of characters of the animator’s best known short in 1982’s Malice in Wonderland, we appreciated being able to attribute the style to director Vince Collins (still actively creating) through this tribute to the United States’ then upcoming bicentenary (see previously)—commission by USIA—with a psychedelic review of its history through iconic symbols of Americana (caution flashing images). Maybe there will be a follow up for 2026.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Hyperalleric’s Year in Memes (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: cartoon characters with alcohol problems, alternate Nativity plus Volta’s battery
eight years ago: more Trump appointees, assorted links to revisit, a sad Christmas tree for Rome plus Wonder Woman dropped as a UN goodwill ambassador
nine year ago: Fermat’s last theorem plus more links to enjoy
eleven years ago: double-meaning in genetic code, an alcohol periodic table plus bad signing
Monday, 2 December 2024
10x10 (12. 049)
strapline: Cory Doctorow’s review of books for 2024
week-by-week: Tom Whitwell’s gleanings from the past year—see previously—via Kottke
bad precedent: the power of the pardon was never meant to condone crime
the birthday paradox: illustrating the veridicality of coincidence—via Quantum of Sollazzo
a boring roundup: a look at geotechnical investigations and advances in harnessing the Earth’s internal energy
whamhalla: why Germans love and hate Last Christmas—see also
the travelling salesman problem: a new Geotripper challenge to find the optimal route to take to a number of cities and return to the point of origin
press-gang: Moscow authorities raid popular night clubs, seemingly detaining hundreds of men to draft for the war effort
take time—it’s brief: one hundred superlative photos of the past twelve month—via Memo of the Air
anthology: Lit Hub’s poetry recommendations for the year
Sunday, 1 December 2024
platonic solid (12. 045)
We are informed that the Utah Teapot has escaped its containment unit once again to appear in Dublin’s Lower Smithfield Square. We like how the checked pixels seem to imply transparency. Created in 1975 and released to the public domain by computer graphics researcher Martin Newell at the state university, it is considered one of the standard reference models (see also) for 3D modelling and computer animation, Newell rendered their Melitta tea set at the suggestion of his wife Sandra. A benchmark and one of the first programming primers assigned as an exercise to coders, the teapot has enjoyed a number other of cultural references and tributes—see more at JWZ at the link up top.
synchronoptica
one year ago: BBC BASIC (with synchronoptica), fifty-two things from Tom Whitwell, early computer art from Barbara Nessim plus assorted links worth revisiting
seven years ago: Trump and May plus more links to enjoy
eight years ago: a DIY cheese Advents calendar, a shuttle mission to retrieve space junk, a superlative bridge in China, translating vs interpreting, a phosphate monopoly plus Network (1976)
nine years ago: Secessionist Vienna, even more links plus Vienna at night
ten years ago: Nordic happiness
Saturday, 23 November 2024
8x8 (12. 025)
the mccallisters: Maculay Culkin digitally inserted in other Christmas movies by the Brothers Bell—via Waxy
to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news: what a second Trump term means for journalism—see previously
predatory pricing: Elizabeth Warren calls out industry over .com domains
firehose: Bluesky posts as they happen
this hour has twenty-two minutes: US national coding lessons have the look of extended commercial advertising
walk right in—it’s a round back, just a half a mile from the railroad track: the title figure of the seasonal Arlo Guthrie song, Alice Brock, has passed away, aged 83
life with grandpa: an unsettling example of perverse puppetry from the cult The Family International
holidays are coming: Coca-Colas’s AI commercial spot improved—via Web Curios
Sunday, 17 November 2024
letters of note (12. 008)
Capitalising on a trend in the publishing industry of epistolary collections—Stoo Hample’s 1966 “Children’s Letters to God” being the originator with a sequel and many homages—and hoping to rehabilitate the president’s public image, the United States Information Agency (see previously) produced this rather imaginative, endearing little segment (hopefully with in-house animation) drawing from young people’s letters to the commander-in-chief—via Fancy Notions—narrated by Dick Van Dyke in 1972—in the midst of the Watergate scandal and less than a year and a half before Nixon’s impeachment trial and ultimate resignation.
Saturday, 16 November 2024
bleuje (12. 005)
Our thanks to Web Curios (a lot more to explore there) for giving us the proper provenance and credit for a cache of mesmerising animated GIFs that we had saved our our sandbox with a direct link to the artist’s gallery and other projects including coding, simulations, previous collaborations and more visualisations. By Etienne Jacob, these moving, looping studies in maths and geometry are certain to soothe and inspire.
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
funkopope (11. 940)
Though scheduled to debut at a comics con to be held in Lucca this week, the selected mascot for the Vatican’s upcoming jubilee Luce, a guiding light for the theme of 2025: Pilgrims of Hope will have her real premiere alongside another iconic anime figure in Sanrio’s Hello Kitty in a collaboration to bring awareness on the diversity of algae during the Osaka Expo, albeit in a separate pavilion under the auspices of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelisation (Praedicate evangelium, a department of the Roman Curia, under the leadership of pro-prefect Salvatore ”Rino” Fisichella), hosting a space for “Luce and Friends”—Fe, Xin and Sky with her dog Santino. Dressed in hiking gear with mud-stained galoshes, there’s a shimmer of shell in her eyes, recalling the scallop symbol of the Camino de Santiago and organisers hope the group will resonate with the youth. The jubilee year begins on Christmas Eve with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s and runs through Epiphany 2026.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Don Giovanni (with synchronoptica), a thesis paper on ASCII art plus The Devil’s Ball
seven years ago: more clever compositions from Christopher Niemann plus the US Stock Market Crash of 1929
eight years ago: Tabby’s Star, Geocities archived, Swiss Rail accepting bitcoin, new neighbours, more map projections plus an x-rated haunting
nine years ago: Odysseus and Circe, phenakistoscope animations plus IKEA plush toys
ten years ago: Roman Wiesbaden, paintings of big-eyed children plus a German gag political party
Sunday, 27 October 2024
ghosta nova (11. 935)
The latest musical animation from Louie Zong (see previously) brings back our departed duo for a harmonising session under the Brazilian moonlight with a distinct Rio bossa nova flair—including the nice detail of a looming ghostly statue in the background towards the end. Find all the iterations of this seasonal serenade at the artist’s Youtube channel and website. ¡Laiรกlaiรก!
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
frostbite falls (11. 907)

Tuesday, 15 October 2024
nightgaunts (11. 906)
Via Fancy Notions, we are directed towards a quirky, creepy featurette that definitely has the look and feel of a silent work from the 1920s, an homage to the great puppet animator Wลadysลaw Starewicz and by extension, inspiration Tim Burton, but was only made in 1998. From studio Screen Novelties’ Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero in this stop-motion animation—with fitting accompaniment—a weird little old man is captured by flying demons (the titular creatures based on an HP Lovecraft story) and taken to the goblins’ lair. Watching the cartoon was reminiscent of perennially viewing of Disney’s Halloween Treat and the inclusion of the 1929 Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance but much better crafted and with a spookier soundtrack best left on repeat.
Sunday, 18 August 2024
the question (11. 777)
Handling our Sunday matinee programming, Fancy Notion has selected an existential short from the animation studio of Halas & Batchelor (see previously) that ponders the meaning of life through our hopeful and introspective protagonist who finds confusion and frustration when consulting dogmatists in the fields of religion, politics, the humanities about life’s big questions but finally finds a solution with another fellow peripatetic. The venerable collaboration lasting from 1945 to 1986 was responsible for the instructional colour stop-motion feature Handling Ships for the Admiralty as a training aid for new navigators, a number of World War II productions intended to raise morale and encourage thrift, like Dustbin Parade to promote recycling and Filling the Gap about planting a victory garden as well as anti-fascist propaganda films. During the 1960s and 1970s, the duo created cartoon series for American television networks including Saturday morning staples like Popeye the Sailor, The Jackson 5ive, The Osmonds as well as the music video for Autobahn by Kraftwerk.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a prayer app (with synchronoptica) plus a pioneering mushroomer
seven years ago: a look into the far distance future, removing racist statues plus feeding an army
eight years ago: a century of Russian history in photographs, assorted links to revisit plus the making of Cabaret
nine years ago: more links to enjoy
ten years ago: subterranean warehouses, the body-politic of Rome plus German intelligence agencies eavesdropping
Saturday, 17 August 2024
s01:ep01 flutes & horses (11. 774)
Via ibฤซdem, we are treated to the pilot for AI or Die—with wholly generated video segments narrated likely by a team of human comedy writers, a sort of imprompt sketch show I guess. And while there’s some off-putting moments of AI body horror to be endured, there’s some funny moments—particularly with Watermelon Wednesdays and Tommy G, master flautist whose instrument sounds more like a saxophone. Filled with non-sequiturs and what’s approaching “yes and”-ing, it’s a bit reminiscent of classic Adult Swim or Liquid Television.
Tuesday, 30 July 2024
7x7 (11. 732)
autotopia 2000: a consumerist satire from animation team Halas and Batchelor, best-known for their adaptation of Animal Farm
broligarchs: the Trump-Vance tax proposal that is courting the support of Silicon Valley billionaires
supermarket sweep: a monograph on graphic designer Ted Eron, who was responsible for the aesthetics of the food aisle
kamal holding vinyls: Ms Harris will display your favourite album covers—via kraftfuttermischwerk
run: an appreciation of the consequential and formative programming language BASIC—see previously—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
i’m a little teapot, short and stout: the analogy from Betrand Russell that shifts the philosophical burden of proof to the party making unfalsiable claims
goalball: a team of animators illustrate explainers for Paralympic events
synchronoptica
one year ago: Christian comics (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Molson Ice Rocks for Canada
seven years ago: Ottoman bird palaces plus superstitious etiquette
eight years ago: the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary and other mythical beasts plus custom automatons
nine years ago: Esperanto enthusiasts plus a helpful cheese chart
ten years ago: William Barker’s Schwa