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as seen on tv

From the creative franchise that offers the daily web comics Toothpaste for Dinner, Married to the Sea, and Natalie Dee, there is a new Sharing Machine blog, The Worst Things for Sale, that is an intelligent and funny commentary on culture through reviews of the craptabulous and derivative ways to part people from the money and good senses.  You should check out them all. 

swatches

I suppose I am not organized or disciplined enough to be a proper curator—or stick with an intelligible theme—and such things do matter among miscellany and easy-of-access considering what goes forgotten and neglected, but I was looking for a specific kind of pattern and all these diverse textile designs did strike me as having some sort of association, in a Jungian common-fate sort of way. The first is a very mod pattern from 1960, British I think. The second is from an artist working in the 1920s named Maria Likarz and suggests a hail of unread emails. The third is a 1950s Eames Era inspired print that looks like something viral, a transmission. The fish pattern is by Wiener Werkstätte compatriot Hans Carl Perleberg and I think is brilliant for the hues and direction. The blackboard abstraction is by Orphian movement founder Sonia Delaunay. And the narrow stack of arches are also from the workshops of Vienna and prefigure one of the standards of Art Dèco architecture, whose successor style—like all these other periods—hold a timeless that maybe groups them together.
















 

kαταναλωτισμός or conspicuous consumption

While it is premature and insulting to suggest that Greece, failing to form a definitive coalition government after its legislative elections that were themselves held in the framework of a caretaker government ingratiated as a condition of the first bailout package, will flagrantly choose to not uphold its obligations—attracting no clear majority though like-mindedness abounds—it does beg the question at what cost default. Greece is already in hock for the better part of a generation just keeping current on payments to service its rescue packages, with acutely less to show for it in the end: the dictates of creditors and angel-investors are superseding public services and the cultivation of a jobs market. Prophets of doom are probably not exaggerating when the say that Greece will suffer an extended period of massive poverty if they are forced to default (there is not much choice left in the matter) and quit the euro, but such consequences are temporary, surely less than the terms of the loan, and the Greeks could begin clawing their way back right away. Such a precedent, though, would be dread to see, dread to hear for other countries on the economic ledge and the minders of the EU—a cue for Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Portugal, Belgium and Italy, another nation imposed with a caretaker government, to consider doing the same.

I venture that the biggest fear behind the potential for contagion and strict monitoring of Greek conduct lies in not the potential for poverty but rather that it is a renegade category of poverty. Consumption continues at a pace, regardless of financial standing, so long as there is credit and interminable refinancing. Trade partners can still sell their exports and settle payments with a common currency in understood and agreeable terms, but once those conditions disappear and a country is unable to afford imports, established trade routes break down and there’s a turning inward and countries become more self-sufficient, relying on native products and developing local manufacturing (even if not as immediately efficient and technically advanced), perhaps even getting accustomed to getting by with less. Stronger economies would not be sustained without broader markets for the export of their expertise, and their sterling credit.

eine torte? nein danke!

revival

Though sometimes reviled as pedestrian (especially after alternatives became readily available), Microsoft's Internet Explorer was truly a pioneering opus.  For the launch of its latest incarnation, MS has developed a brilliant series of marketing-infographics, embracing this love-hate relationship, to inaugurate its come-back.

pepperland

The creative haberdashers at Civilicious (sadly no longer in business it seems) have released this tee-shirt, Sea of Hope, featuring the Obamas rendered in the artistic style of Yellow Submarine (DE/EN). They also offer a whole line of political-themed apparel with some clever and subtle references.

thesaurus or go ahead, NARC yourselves out

Joel Johnson of Animal New York reports on America's security jabberwocky and its recently disclosed and clarified policy of trawling social media networks (via subcontracted proxy) for possible emergent activity and warnings. Certain, recursive key words invite further scrutiny, as illustrated exhaustively in this word cloud generated by Wordle, but such augury is after wider social trends and sentiment and does not target the individual, unless he or she has been identified as a person-of-interest. I wonder how that works, with the author's anonymity burdened with being uninteresting in the first place.

tag or bridges and islands

Taking a walk through town, I happened on this stretch of wall by the school campus that was decorated along its length with stencil graffiti. These were the usual icons and statements that one sees propagated everywhere, but what caught my eye first was the attempt to correct a reverse application (islands are the solid, outline areas of a stencil, and the straits that form letters and other details are termed bridges), which I guess is really impossible in the rush of spraying.

Then I noticed that one was not advised to keep warm by burning the rich, rather by burning them out. I guess that this wall has been a canvas for all sorts of messages, and I think experimenting with stenciling has produced, maybe accidentally, a more nuanced declaration.

docking bay 94 or suitable for framing

Via Boing Boing and Neat-o-Rama, the galleries at Tor.com have curated an outstanding collection of modern art reinterpreted with science-fiction movie themes.

These two works from John Mattos, first reimagining Pablo Picasso's the Three Musicians with the Figrin D'an Band and other elements from the Cantina at Mos Eisley and then Marcel Duchamp's iconic abstract painting with C-3PO descending a staircase, are among the best.

retracta and rokovania

I wonder sometimes whether journalism is investigative, self-promoting or merely stumbled upon. I suspect that it is usually the later, rather than the first, and sometimes more notice is made of the breach, the pass rather than keeping to the ceremony of record-keeping and minutes-taking. The nearly universal ascension to the ACTA (EN/DE) treaty happened without notice nor a blip on the RADAR of main-stream journalism and only the rage and defiance of a few brave and informed souls in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Now, a bit wiser but still without the leave of the news, protests are being staged in London and other capitals against some of the provisions of the treaty, including in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

The Slovenian signatory, the ambassador to Japan, has released a public apology (in English), first to her children and then to her fellow-citizens for having committed their futures to such a far-reaching atrocity in one of the most articulate, heart-felt and honest statements from a politician that I have had the pleasure of reading in some time. All statecrafters ought to take note. It is the public's duty to snoop around what makes the headlines and is writ large and one cannot rely on go-to journalism to reveal every back-room deal that is coming out of Davos, the EU Parliament or the US Congress, which have all been scuttled in the media as something dull and irrelevant by design, but some of the terms of ACTA would make such snooping harder, and hopefully these rallies can draw the needed attention to what national leaders are consigning their people to.

blackout warden

Although the White House and the US congressional contingency sponsoring SOPA has flinched, abandoning language that provides for a government firewall that blocks out whole swathes of the internet, nodding to some expert testimony and perhaps in hope of appeasing protestors who demonstrated how DNS blacklisting could invite more security problems and damage the architecture of the internet, the remaining provisions of SOPA are still devious and misguided and give Hollywood too many choke-points (any link), to stifle creativity and reporting. On Wednesday (18. January), many diverse websites are going dark in protest to this bill’s impending passage, to illustrate how broke down the internet could become if America enacts this law. People world-wide ought to join in, because the internet knows no borders, and no one suffered the privations or propaganda that tried to quell past and more recent uprisings. America fortunately does not control the internet, though maybe pressure is mounting for the US to act as if it does, and ought to receive a strong signal that such meddling in media and in politics and in the economy is unwelcome, especially through such cowardly, backdoor channels.

typebox

Some clever people at Art-Equals-Work have developed an application that is able to identify any font, including size and weight, used on any webpage. That is a pretty handy tool to have at one's disposal for enhancing the look of one's own website, after being inspired by a neat and clean and legible presentation. This is a step towards the tool-box, the quiver that I've been wishing for, an optical character reader that can also match text for fonts, approximating the typeface captured in an image. The tool Fount goes into ones bookmarks bar, latent, for use on any page, like another clever app for the Apple platform, Tap-Translate, which can be a big help in quickly deciphering the lay of foreign websites.

tiki lounge or the long now

From the outstanding science desk of Boing Boing, the editor refers the curious and eschatological alike to this definitive series of questions and answers from archeologist John Hoopes for Psychology Today on the 2012 Phenomenon. As the editor concedes, if this detailed treatment on the history, scholarship and day-keeping of the ancient Mesoamerican peoples, the Zeitgeist, event-marketing, the architecture of modern computers, pseudoscience and appeal to fill a spiritual vacuum cannot debunk, disenchant or otherwise unstick one's fear over the end of the world, then probably nothing short of Christmas Day 2012 will.

I also like how Hoopes does not totally dismiss and dash the predictions of the Maya (a designation that is an over-simplification in itself, like the kitsch of Tiki culture) and the cult that’s formed around it, grasping the enormity of such cycles within cycles and articulating the mathematics for it as well as a keener sense for the procession of the heavens is certainly impressive, and from a sociological stand point could signal positive change, however, it is an insult to the Mayan peoples and to ourselves to burden artifact with prophesies of own making.

holly, jolly and echo base

A clever Buzzfeed contributor (via the stupendous Neatorama) offered this wonderful holiday mash-up of the Empire Strikes Back and Rankin/Bass' cavalcade of Christmas specials. Abominable-Wampum surely won't be mean to the Misfit Jedi (Hermey the Elf wanted to be a dentist instead of a toy-maker) and his red-nosed Tauntaun steed.

hippocrates

Though I am not one to easily repair to medication or the doctor's office when sick, especially wary of highly synthesized and prepared potions that claim to have a surgical aim but whose chemistry in reality is not so precise and whose rolling shock-and-awe goes after the body's responsiveness rather than the cause, masking the pain.  Sometimes, however, recovery needs some help and haste, and the German attitude towards sickness, rather than my general aversion to drugs, does default to home-remedies and conventional wisdom as a first and usually effective result.  The last thing I want to do when sick is stew in a hot bath or drink some sippy tea or a steamy hot beer, though like one forgets pain and sometimes expects to feel even better than before one can proclaim oneself better or cured, I tend to be doubtful and do not remember how effective simple steps were before.  Though I do not know the governing guidelines behind this practice, if doctors and apothecaries alike are schooled in detecting hypochrondria or Münchausen syndrome and discerning it from the real thing, I understand that when one does need to seek out store-bought medication (and all things, even as innocuous as asprin and antacid are distributed not in filling stations and supermarkets but rather through one's friendly neighbourhood pharmacy, and dispensed with a dose of expert advice) a significant amount of medication given out (with and without a prescription) are placebos.  There was an additional bit of psychology with my last visit to the apothecary when I got my generic yet potent medication: the woman behind the counter agreed with my assessment that the drugs should help and said I ought to take three pills a day but also warned it was potentially serious and if I was not better after the weekend, I should see a doctor.  I am sure that astute bluff scared me into remission.

inked or plastisol billboards

Unfortunately, with the golden autumn days dwindling in Germany, it is no longer t-shirt weather, but I know that elsewhere, in areas less prone to seasonal superlatives, there is still ample chance to don one’s favourite funny, subtle and artistic wearable statements. Some of my favourite creative factories are Last Exit to Nowhere with corporate logos that only exist in cinema classics and Threadless, whose collection of artists produce consistently fun designs that are voted into print by customers.

Those and many other produce designs that are instantly recognizable, though with each, one would probably be the only kid on the block sporting it.

artistic license or don’t mess with the jesus

I took an afternoon walk to the neighbouring village and explored the old churchyard to find a creepy and unsettling sculpture just in time for Halloween. This large bronze figure dominated the entrance to the cemetery and featured a detailed skeletal figure that was inverted, like it had fallen from the cross and was hanging, upside down. Click on the images to see the features, which are a little washed out from the darker exposure in miniature.

The tablet to the side reads "Death has no more power." A lot of variations on a theme are out there, displaying craftsmanship and commissions for public art in good faith but there is something a bit disconcerting in such a departure from the traditional, whose symbolism is inscrutable and yet no parody and only piety and memento mori is intended. The image and the wonder haunted me the whole way home.

link round-up: sonnenblume and phases of the moon

Here's a smattering of some of the more interesting items I stumbled upon or was clued on to over the past week:

Although the sunflower was probably domesticated in the New World before maize, it took a Lenten loophole of the prohibition of cooking oil in the Russian Orthodox church to really make the plant commercially recognized. The invention of cholesterol too played a big role in giving farmers a valuable alternative crop for off-seasons, when practicing crop-rotation. The circuitous history of the flower is fascinating.  It is a sight to see driving through the countryside and seeing vast fields of big sunflowers angling their blooms away from the roving sun throughout the day. It made me think about another inspired discovery of a young inventor, who designed a more efficient photovoltaic array after hiking through the wintry woods and noticed how the trees might try to maximize their sun-exposure.

After the Feast of the Assumption (Maria Himmelfahrt) last week, earlier this week was the celebration of the coronation of the Queen of Heaven, which Wikipedia explained brilliantly, and though true to form in scholarship, sweetly, I thought. I am really enamoured with that website and its dedicated band of contributors, and not just for all the new things that one can learn every day, but also how individual entries are galloping towards completion and perfection, and how challenging certain topics and aspects can be to define, like the meticulous and continuous revisions that go into the gloss of Lolita.
And here was a very cool and inventive gallery of photographs of people posing with the Moon. I want to do this next time we're camping.

visitenkarte

A talented graphic-artist had a vision for a very minimalistic, classy business card (discovered and re-imagined at Boing Boing), which highlights one’s essential modes of contact and communication, like parsing parts of speech or a particularly long German word, with one’s email address.

This is a very basic and clever way to convey a lot. Mine is sort of a fantasy card, since I don’t have my own domain-name—yet, though I am happy with my little niche in the web and those exclusive addresses are probably just like vanity plates, nor am I particularly social or electronically gregarious, I suppose. How would you design a simple and effective calling-card?