blood sugar sex magick

Though occultist Aleister Crowley first suggested that the ability to speak backwards might be a useful skill to hone back in 1913, it was not really until the 1980s that the moral panic of subliminal Satanic instruction really took hold—and if some accounts are to be believed, solely at the behest of the future Second Lady of the United States, after witnessing in horror her young daughter innocently repeat some rather explicit song lyrics.
Backmasking as the technique is known and as presented by the Daily Grail, palindromically since one spells the title the same forwards and backwards though not itself some encoded diabolical commandment, seems nowadays perfectly simple to debunk and explain away as an acoustic example of pareidolia (quite a few to be found at the Daily Grail), though I suppose that once something’s heard, it cannot be unheard. The highest profile cases dragged on through the courts as suggestions below the threshold of conscious perception were adjudicated not to be protected as free speech, especially when those orders are masked by a form of expression that ostensibly is protected.

state of the art

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the US Treasury Secretary (but more shocking considering his former career as a fantasy, science fiction film executive producer) dismissed the swiftly approaching threat (or opportunity) of mass technological redundancy, saying there won’t be any robots taking jobs away from people for at least a generation or more.
Apparently this worry is trumped up by the dishonest press ought to be diffused so that the public can focus on the real threat: illegal immigrants. There is some solace in this the regime’s ignorance, however, as it becomes apparent to the rest of the world that America is losing edge and will not carry the revolution and perhaps counter it in destructive ways. And while the luddite ideal might embrace not having to bother with paying its workers or fair labour standards, their lack of vision does not change the fact that professionals are already being displaced subtly in the legal and banking trades and massively in the shipping industry. The natural consequence of such disruption is that money as a store of wealth changes not only by degrees but also in kind—furnishing ultimately leisure and a universal basic income, something I’m sure that the wealthy cadre of Dear Leader won’t like since all their bullying advantage would sublimate instantly, for all instead of lasting chaos and insecurity. Let’s hope the small-minded and tyrannical just stay out of the way of progress.

frame-rate or walk-cycle

Via Everlasting Blört we are treated to more crisply animated loops (read more about the history and development of the graphics interchange format here) by South African digital art and typography studio MUTI, which has quite impressive portfolio. Check out the last of the links to see more of their work and perhaps inquire about a commission.

#free kekistan or know your meme

There is an artist from Saint Petersburg calling herself Pepelangelo who is portraying the meme that’s become rather abused by being appropriated by the Alt-Right as a symbol of hate in oil on canvas.
Perhaps the artist is trying to salvage the character’s good name and innocence by putting him in the context of fine art before Dear Leader adopted it by sharing—during his campaign, which I suppose never ended—a parody of himself as the frog but I think that the associations are at least for the present inextricable. The hashtag in the title refers to the Ancient Egyptian amphibian god Kek and his homeland, followers who are in certain circles conflated with Pepe—but I’m sure that they wouldn’t tolerate such idolatry or much less hang it on their walls. These works are currently sold out but you can still peruse the growing gallery of Olga Vishnevski, should you be so motivated.

gig ‘em aggies

Rather than busily dismantling the agency he was charged with destroying, the US energy secretary is taking umbrage with the fact that the student council has elevated the runner-up to student body president of his dear alma mater, Texas A&M (formerly standing for Agriculture and Mechanics from the school’s past but now official are just letters) University.
The candidate who garnered the most votes was subsequently disqualified because he intimidated voters and failed to disclose all his financial interests and rather than suffering an invalid administration or holding a new election, the student council choose to install the trailing candidate. The Energy Department head (who is also responsible for the US arsenal of nuclear weapons) decided that that was a miscarriage of justice that he would not let stand—never mind the fact that the runner-up is the first openly gay young man to hold the office and the ousted individual was the son of a Republican party fundraiser and vocal supporter of Dear Leader’s campaign for high office—a bid which the former Texas governor failed at himself.

delft on the shelf

I recalled reading about these contact lenses inspired by Delfts blauw pottery courtesy of Nag on the Lake a few weeks ago but we failed to appreciate the larger context—notionally just one entrant in an annual contest that the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam holds that calls for submissions of artworks informed by objects in the museum’s collection.  This year’s Rijksstudio Awards—to be put up to a vote by the public to name the winners—also includes, besides this work of retinal concept art, a Night Watch night shirt and prophylactic wrappers adorned with etchings of Biblical liaisons by Dürer. Check out the links at the top to learn more and to perhaps get inspired to hold a similar homage for the collections in your own local galleries.