Dropping its own diversity, equality and inclusion plans announced for the return trip to the Moon back in 2019, NASA administrators are left on a backfoot struggling to comply with the executive orders memory-holing real and perceived affirmative action and the original symbolism that the crew would include the first woman on the lunar surface and “the first person of colour” for the third mission of the Artemis programme, named after Apollo’s twin sister. One of the last official acts of his first term, NASA had ironically developed a graphic novel series celebrating the contributions of women to space exploration, including a fictional understudy to lead the diverse crew for the upcoming journey, slated for November 2027 but likely delayed further due to not having choose the landing crew and further cuts to the space agency’s workforce under DOGE—which has expressed a shift in priorities to go straight to Mars.
Saturday, 22 March 2025
the eagle has landed (12. 329)
Monday, 10 June 2024
7x7 (11. 618)
bernhard modern: pre- and proscriptions in font choice in legal briefs
mind the gap: a huge collection of historic London Underground maps and posters—see previously

in search of…: the Dogon culture and ancient astronomy
homebrewed: following his felony conviction, Trump’s licenses to sell liquor under scrutiny
pay wall: you’ve read your last fee article, such is the nature of mortality
and peace and justice for all: Tweet of the Day re-litigates and exonerates all of Trump’s misdeeds
poster child: the auction expertise of Nicho Lowry
show bible: a reprinting of the DC Comics Style Guide from 1982
Monday, 22 April 2024
elasticity of demand (11. 507)
A bit of disheartening news coming out of the Coming Attractions Department that is part of growing trend—and admittedly we haven’t yet watched the Barbie movie because I’d rather live with the idea of it a little longer—but hearing of the announcement that director Margot Robbie will capitalise of the success of the film by partnering with rival toy company Hasbro, as with Mattel for the previous feature, for a big-budget nostalgia and marketing ploy with a cinematic adaptation of the board game Monopoly. Though the Barbie film freighted with a message may be an outlier, consumer capitalism is dominating the industry and cadet branches in the form of branded collaborations and appeal to test audiences—nothing wholly new or novel with infinite accessories, legacy films and reboots with a series of LEGO movies already a decade old and various examples of cross-paracosm productions, cannibalisation of back catalogues can sometimes result in the satisfying, entertaining and even poignant. All elements of narrative are derivative to a measure as part of their appeal and connection but the familiar and wistful are not the pinnacle of art and storytelling.
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus space-based cocktails
two years ago: Earth Day
three years ago: more links to enjoy
four years ago: the first Earth Day (1970), the shortest river around the world plus ambient noises from the office
five years ago: don’t mess with mother, ugly Belgian houses plus Alien vignettes
Sunday, 7 April 2024
7x7 (11. 474)
my dad is dracula (and a very good dog): the funny webcomic by Jason Poland—via Miss Cellania
good night george: a last nostalgic look the Glasgow hotel featured in Trainspotting, Taggart and with other cameos in television and film—via Nag on the Lake

penny hike: instructions to create a lodestone for mindful, distraction-free wandering, using AI, to return you to where you started—via Web Curios—it has a certain resonance but I’ll give you a magic pebble to keep in your pocket so you don’t get too lost
spyware: the secret weapons of Cold War espionage
carmel-by-the-sea: a historic hotel known as the birthplace of the Apple Macintosh restored
bug bytes: US government created comic books to fight disinformation and increase media literacy fall rather flat of their goals appealing to old tropes—via Hyperallergic
Sunday, 24 March 2024
11x11 (11. 448)
inauspicious beginnings: a rift opens up in a group of official astrologers employed by the Sri Lankan government to pick ideal dates for new years rituals
disco arabesquo: record label Habibi Funk aims to introduce Middle Eastern vintage music to wider audiences
typecraft: a transformative font foundry in India

banjaxed and bockety: two curious Irish terms
der buch der hasengeschichten: Tom Seidmann-Freud’s 1924 collection of hare fables
working for tips: bizarrely robot baristas will accept gratuities, in a service sector landscape already fraught with insecurity and precarity—via tmn
the juice is on the loose: a sequel thirty-six years in the making, reuniting the original cast—via Miss Cellania
international system of typographic picture education: an archive of the pictograms of Gerd Arntz—see previously
pocket full of kryptonite: the preponderance of alternative rock songs about Superman in the 1990s, 2000s
prosopometamorphopsia: a new study on generalised social anxiety disorder tries to see from the perspective of those with a rare condition that causes faces to appear distorted, demonic—via the New Shelton wet/dry
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
8x8 (11. 416)
studio nue: the meticulous and immersive sci-fi illustrations of Naoyuki Kato
landsat lens: virtual rewinding maps created with historic satellite imagery

hag horror: Poseidon’s Underworld explores the genre with 1971’s Blood and Lace
แนs (t → ♾️) = 0: researchers find algorithms that only quantum computers can solve—via Damn Interesting—see previously
all these worlds are yours, except europa: NASA reveals the plaque its probe will carry to Jupiter’s icy moon later this year
rednaxela: unusual toponyms, including the named terrace in Hong Kong believed to be Alexander transcribed right-to-left, as was the practise in the past
fantomah: outsider comic book artist Fletcher Hanks
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, domino theory (1947) plus more words with no English equivalent
two years ago: more links to enjoy, World Day Against Cyber Censorship plus Mamma Mia (1975)
three years ago: the cosmography of William Fairfield Warren (1915), artist Caterina van Hemessen, St Maximilian of Tebessa, occultist Austin Osman Spare, listening to maps, more isogloss maps plus a celebration of veteran memes
four years ago: St Serafina plus COVID travel bans take effect
five years ago: resurrection plants
Sunday, 27 November 2022
8x8 (10. 339)
truly toastmaster: an elaborate and enduring hoax that shows one should not believe everything on the internet—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
cabinet of curiosities: the intro, outro and interstitials of the horror anthology hosted by Guillermo del Toro, which has distinct echoes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents

plasmonic photocatalysis: researchers engineer a nanomaterial that could allow for power plants to efficiently isolate hydrogen from ammonia using only light
el peatonito: a champion of the pedestrian and other Super Citizens
it’s not delivery, it’s digiorno: an interesting short documentary on the history of frozen pizza—via Hyperallergic’s Required Reading
teal and prebunking: the shortlisted candidates for Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year
goncharov: thousands of fan-fic contributors have retcon’d a 1973 Martin Scorsese film starring Robert De Niro that never existed—via Slashdot
Tuesday, 11 October 2022
barbarella psychedella (10. 211)
Directed by Roger Valim and based on the comic series (fumetti) of Jean-Claude Forest with filming beginning just after the release of producer Dino De Laurentiis’ adaptation of Diabolik, which features many of the same acting talents, opened in New York on this day in 1968, followed by debuts in France and Italy later in the month. After several casting revisions over first choices Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, our titular protagonist portrayed by Jane Fonda is dispatched by the Earth’s president to intercept mad scientist Durand Durand who has created a weapon of mass destruction. Although a highly-sexualised character, Barbarella comes from a society that has moved beyond physical contact.
Monday, 27 June 2022
opticon scillometer
The first series of the science fiction genre to air on US television networks and running for nearly six years thanks to commercial sponsors and merchandising, Captain Video and His Video Rangers debuted on DuMont Television on this day in 1949. Receiving orders from the Commissioner of Public Safety, the rangers—operating from a terrestrial mountain-top base and defended peace and order on Earth as well as distant human colonies around other stars.
The move off-world was prompted by learning that ABC was producing a series based on Buck Rogers, little did the television executives know that that show would be short-lived. Despite its popularity, originally airing Monday through Saturday, it was beset with budget and continuity problems for its entire run, often filling time on this rather fraught shooting schedule, the Video Ranger Communications Officer would show clips of cowboy movies from the Ancient West as training material, “undercover agents,” with little other explanation for padding the episodes. The entire network folded shortly after the series finished, Dumont regarded as the forgotten channel, most of its catalogue lost though the rare recording has been preserved.
Sunday, 17 April 2022
8x8
trebizond: explore this detailed map of Eurasia in the year 1444—via the always interesting Nag on the Lake
gotham nocture: a Batman gothic opera in pre-production

passion project: former store worker curating every last Gap in-store playlist
out of black ponds, water lilies: an Easter Sunday poem from Better Living through Beowulf
crisis on infinite earths: Marvel’s inspired splintered dimensions and alternate timelines
neoliberal pieties: the organised religion of social media is vulnerable to same corruptions and is no substitute for a public good
latent diffusion: an AI generates maps (plus other artifice) from a text-prompt, via Maps Mania
Friday, 14 January 2022
like dear old alfred always said: eat a dinner, mattress wayne
Courtesy of Super Punch, we discover what a neural network will generate after being primed with a thousand pages of captions and quote bubbles from old Batman comics. More at the link above, including panels illustrating the text. Joker is a clown but insane. Two-Face is a man but attorney.
Sunday, 12 December 2021
card catalogue
catagories: ๐ฌ, ๐ญ, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ, ๐ฆธ, libraries and museums
Sunday, 5 December 2021
hawkmen diiive!
With a spectacular soundtrack by Queen and with a cast that includes Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin, a Robin Hood like character who rules the woodland region called Arboria and subjects our titular hero to the “wood beast” ritual that’s a lot like the pain box in Dune, Brian Blessed as the above Prince Vultan of Sky City, Topol as Dr. Hans Zarkov, Mariangela Melato as General Kala, Max von Sydow as (problematically) the ruler of planet Mongo, Ming the Mercliless, the cinematic adaptation of the King Features Syndicate comic-strip, Flash Gordon (previously), premiered on this day in 1980 in US markets (a week later in the UK).
The Earth beset with natural disasters, Gordon—a star quarterback for the football team the New York Jets is sidelined during a short airplane journey where he and travel agent Dale Arden encounter a scientist (Zarkov) who believes that the climatic catastrophes are being caused by a malevolent and extraterrestrial source and lures Arden and Gordon to help him on a mission to determine the source, ultimately confirming Emperor Ming’s involvement. The trio are soon captured and Ming orders Arden prepared for his harem, Zarkov’s useful knowledge extracted and reprogrammed and Gordon executed.
Saturday, 23 October 2021
7x7
floh u. trรถdel: couple’s costume ideas—via the ever excellence Everlasting Blรถrt
boutonniere: Harriet Parry’s flower arrangements reproduce iconic fine art and classic tarot card designs—via ibฤซdem

microface: a quick quiz to identify whether the subject is a font or a Marvel character (see previously)—via Kottke’s Quick Links
์ค์ง์ด ๊ฒ์: Squid Games Funko-Pop characters—see also
pyrrhic victory: the rules of play for a variant called Atomic Chess allows a pawn crossing the breadth of the game board promotion to a scale that would instantaneously annihilate all pieces—of both sides
rollercoaster tycoon: Saudi Arabia transforms a decommissioned drilling platform into an extreme amusement park
hell no: a sensible horror film
Thursday, 12 August 2021
bodice-ripping
Wednesday, 11 August 2021
8x8
united states of wildfire: as the climate emergency escalates, more North American residents are moving into the path of destruction unwittingly
fitting in: Ze Frank (previously) reveals that even the coolest, calmest and most collected of us are all trying, coping
d’oyly carte: an islet in the Thames with a derelict mansion built for an opera impresario will be restored to its former glory—via Things Magazinecaped crusaders: Batman’s sidekick Robin finally comes out
constrained systems: a tool-kit of alternative image editing effects—via Waxy
matchi bล:a mesmerising stop-motion study of a magic match stick from Tomohiro Okazaki—via ibฤซdem
bubblegum pop: the Osmonds 1968 song “Groove with what You Got”
ฮฑฯฮฟฮบฮฌฮปฯ ฯฮท: Greek capital, archipelago beset by flames
Sunday, 8 August 2021
mst3k s10e13
Airing first on this day in 1999, lampooning the 1968 cinematic adaptation of the long-running Italian comic Diabolik, this episode marked the series finale marked the end of a decade-long experiment subjecting the crew of the Satellite of Love to bad movies. The super villain of the film wreaks havoc along with his girlfriend Eva and sidekick Ginko across Europe for his own amusement and financial gain but also fights wrong-doing with wrong-doing, sadistically punishing criminal activity not aligned with his own. Generally panned outside of Italy as the creators assume familiarity with the characters, the direction of Mario Bava with score by Ennio Morricone later was recognised for its cinematography and became regarded as a cult classic, re-evaluated after the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment, a year prior scenes featuring in the Beastie Boys music video for Body Movin’.
Wednesday, 28 July 2021
turner d. century
A minor super-villain (see also here and here) that first appeared as Spider Woman’s nemesis in a December 1980 issue of the comic, the alter-ego of Clifford F. Michaels’ formative backstory has the character adopted by a wealthy business tycoon for whom his biological father was chauffeur and valet, the benefactor responsible for rebuilding much of San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake but was displeased with the moral turpitude and vice that emerged from the rubble.
The magnate attempted to launch a campaign to restore manners and mores to what they had been at the fin de siรจcle but failed and so sheltered himself and surrogate son from the degeneracy and idealise the past with the dress and affectations of a gentleman in 1900. Raging against progress and change with toxic nostalgia, Century tried depopulating the city in various ways in order to start fresh with society (possibly with wax figures as substitutes for actual residents) including a hypersonic weapon, flame-throwing umbrella and magic time horn that kills people under sixty-five (like high-pitched nuisance feedback that only young people can hear). Century’s plans were thwarted and the character killed off finally in 1986, along with a slew of other second tier criminals that needed to be culled from the Marvel paracosm, by vigilante assassin Scourge of the Underworld.Monday, 10 May 2021
the incredible hulk
First appearing in the first issue of the comic published on this day in 1962, the super hero’s co-creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby lists their influences for the character including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for their dissociative alter-egos, Frankenstein’s monster and the Golem of Jewish mythology. An accidental exposure to gamma radiation received whilst trying to save a colleague from an experimental munitions blast causes his transformation, often uncontrolled and triggered by emotional distress with these unplanned destructive rampages disrupting civilian life. Initially cancelled after just six instalments in March 1963, Dr Bruce Banner / the Hulk made an immediate cameo appearance in an issue of the Fantastic Four and went on to become a founding member of the Avengers team.
catagories: ๐, ๐ฆธ, myth and monsters