cog in the wheel (12. 435)

Whilst apologists and Trump’s re-shoring spokesmen declares that new US factory jobs will make up for redundancies manufactured elsewhere (despite the fact that even if heavy industry enthusiastically embraces the chaotic invitation, most labour has been automated and manpower replaced by machines), we were quite enthralled by this resonant 1925 parable endorsed by Lenin and Stalin for the potential for counter-messaging with children’s literature and adopting a method of propaganda reputedly employed by the bourgeoisie. Vintik-Shpintik (The Little Screw, Винтик-шпинтик) by Nikolai Agnivtev was agitprop for young readers, the best seller, quickly adapted into an animated short, relating how a factory is kept chugging along only with the cooperation of its smallest members. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.

10x10 (12. 405)

hug, marry, kill: internet roasts muttonhead JD Vance for his audience with Pope Francis—more here  

kegsbreath: US defence secretary poised to be replaced and other news and developments from Superpunch—see more  

trump slump: populist politicians over the globe are distancing themselves from MAGA  

yolo: search data for Anglophone texting abbreviations  

oh aunt jess: Angela Lansbury in fine art—via Miss Cellania  

technics: an obstacle course for LEGO walkers  

zwiebelfisch: a treasury of printers’ terminology, as in the German for a character misprinted with a dif𝚏erent font, and more including wayzgoose 

one if by land, two if by sea: Heather Cox Richardson speaking at the two-hundred fiftieth anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere  

education for death: Walt Disney’s 1943 film on how fascists are made 

a good book can help us weather the storm: Francis’ defence of literature for spiritual and mental enlightenment—see also this papal playlist

jump cut (12. 378)

A rather aesthetically balanced jumble, we enjoyed this music video for the Montreal band Corridor’s new single. Incorporating collage, cut-up techniques and vintage archival footage, it is a statement on the frenetic nature of contemporary life and the constant vying for attention (see also). The effect is really quite disorienting but rollicking at the same time. See the full video and more from the collaborators at Colossal at the link up top.

catbus and content policy (12. 349)

Though circulating for less than a week, the relatively low benchmark which has been picked up by several prominent posters, OpenAI’s latest chat-to-image feature can faithfully filter pictures in the style of Studio Ghibli. While again encroaching on a signature look without credit or attribution is hardly anything new, mainstreaming a disregard for infringement on intellectual property does seem to be an inflection point not to be celebrated—especially as it comes on the cusp of a US court decision, reversing earlier judgments, that AI works of art can be copyrighted as long as a human prompter is involved, a seemingly backchannel approach as derivative works would instantly overwhelm and bury their original corpus. Far from thrilled to see their creative process automated, the studio’s co-founder filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki responded that he was utterly disgusted with these developments that can in virtually instantaneously animate the results, something that illustrators and colourists take weeks and months to achieve. This news comes at the same time an AI voice generator, with thirty-six years of dialogue of Homer or Moe Szylak, could effective replace the actors behind The Simpsons franchise.

sylvanian families (12. 328)

First eleased on the Spring Equinox in 1985 and marketed elsewhere as the most concise translation of the play-figure line, Pleasant Friends of the Forest Epoch System Animal Toy (森のゆかいな仲間たち エポック社 システム・コレクション・アニマルトーイ・シルバニアファミリー after the Roman god of the woods Silvanus), I recall that haunting refrain (the jingle now come home to roost again) from the commercials and never really understood the concept, having missed out on their backstory as presented in a cartoon series by Haim Saban exclusively on American family-friendly/evangelical programming networks a couple years after their debut. Now, however, we’ve occasion to take a peak into the rather elaborate lore and legacy, thanks to Happy Mutant contributor Popkin, who informs that there is a theme park in Osaka (see also) that gives visitors an immersive experience of the franchise, set in Shirubania originally somewhere in North America though later revised as Great Nature patterned off of Richard Scarry’s Busy Town with firmly middle class anthropomorphised hedgehogs, foxes, deer, mice, rabbits, raccoons, etc running successful local businesses or with professional callings with a certain 1960s aesthetic with their nuclear, four-member families that were never inter-species. The characters, despite the decline of the toyline has been sustained throughout with a series of video games (see above), theme-restaurants and making the discontinued family clans mascots for various corporations and events.  Accessories sold separately.

synchronoptica

one year ago: truth windows (with synchronoptica), the HTML Review plus pharmaceutical contraindications 

seven years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, Outlook snitching on leakers, typographer Herb Lubalin plus Biden’s threat to beat some sense into Trump

eight years ago: The End of History, an appreciation of the VW bus plus Trump dismantles NASA

nine years ago: Walk of Life improves any movie ending, algae as a plastic alternative plus a terror attack in Belgium

ten years ago: more links to enjoy

the birth of the robot (12. 291)

Having enjoyed some samples of Leonard Charles Huia Lye’s work (better known as Len Lye) in his pioneering animation studies and experimental use of rotoscope techniques, we appreciated being introduced to his kinetic sculptures and work in stop-motion short (presented in living Gasparcolor, developed in Berlin in 1933) about an undaunted motorist (see also) suddenly caught in a sandstorm and stranded in the unforgiving desert, who despite being reduced to sun-bleached bones is resurrected (with a few drops of life-giving petroleum) as cyborg. Watch the entire film at Open Culture at the link above from the Shell Oil historical archive—which includes many other promotional pieces of iconic animation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1978’s The Incredible Hulk (with synchronoptica) plus a cheese-mongers’ survey

seven years ago: a next generation scarecrow  

eight years ago: bringing back the bees plus more on repealing and replacing Obama Care 

nine years ago: illustrator William Thomas Horton, a fantastic projection of the Trump dynasty plus a Roald Dahl inspired font

ten years ago: an Ayn Rand film adaptation plus roving wireless

10x10 (12. 283)

subwoof: opening of Star Trek: The Next Generation but with the theme coming from the ship  

sudoku: unsolvable sliding fourteen-fifteen wooden puzzles 

frame-by-frame: experimenting with 3D printing to achieve a stop-motion animation effect  

anglish: English without the influence of Romance languages  

dead letter office: Denmark’s postal service to end delivery of letters, citing a ninety percent decline in volume  

oddly compelling: underground comics and Kitchen Sink Press 

rebel with a clause: the self-styled den mother of grammarians sets up a table for language advice  

edelweißpiraten: a look at the loosely organised youth group that opposed Nazi Germany—via Strange Company 

🏃‍➡️: revisiting an appreciation of how Flash influenced gaming history—via Boing Boing  

cue ro laren drop: a library of audio sweeps, intros, outros and transitions for podcasters—via Web Curios

gmod (12. 217)

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.

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

canonicity (12. 187)

Via Web Curios, we are referred to this rather incredible resource from Joi Massat that has compiled dozens of series pitches and show bibles for cartoons including Dungeons & Dragons, He Man and She-Ra, Spongebob, Ren & Stimpy and many other classic Nicktoons. Linked documents include character specifications, episode samples, lore and backstories and as a whole presents a pretty good guide on how to go about packaging and promoting one’s own animated ideas with a nice supplement that outlines the presentation and pick-up process, selling the premise and refining their stories.

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 

out-of-office reply: a business card whose information only appears in sunlight  

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 

 💌: 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

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  

paraiso de los gatos: the art of Remedios Varo  

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

dk’tronics (12. 137)

Although the only promotional tie-in video game that I can recall playing was Kool-Aid Man for Intellivision—a strange concept indeed where two waifish children search a haunted house to make a batch of Kool-Aid to summon the exorcist and stop the thirsty ghosts, “Oh yeah!”—we really enjoyed this review of early 8-bit licensed games based on British television programmes. Most of these ventures were slapdash, modular affairs that bore little resemblance to the actual show and game play was probably confusing—though through emulators, one can give all these and more a try without waiting for them to load—like this screen-grab for one based on the sitcom about four very different college students rooming together. The game-makers were not able to secure right to the series’ theme (see also) but composed a nice chip-tune alternate. Much more from Curious British Telly at the link up top.

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.

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  

🍿: an omnibus list of list on movies and television from the past year

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

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

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

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

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.