the bear retreats to his den

Via Spoon & Tamago with reinforcements courtesy of Hyperallergic, we’re treated to the traditional Japanese concept of the microseason, that divides the cross-quarter year into smaller, poetic subdivisions (seventy-two ko) that marches on in segments of four or five days like a natural calendar.
With wonderful smoothing descriptive names like “first peach blossoms,” “rainbows begin to appear after a shower” or “eastern wind melts the ice,” these gentle transitions (this is when the bear starts its long winter’s nap and next week is when the salmon swim upstream) are a much nicer and more accessible yearly planner, at least for those who get to enjoy at minimum the basic four seasons and can find nuance in between. Both links above feature a beautifully crafted application for one’s mobile device that helps one keep up with the sekki and ko and includes explanation of the symbolism drawing from other traditions and where one might journey to see the phenomenon that marks the season—or imagine one’s native equivalent and rhythm.

judge dredd

In this era of fake news—which has always been with us but I suppose it’s easier to peddle anything as truth nowadays, especially as there is always the critical-mass of people who want it to be true to be found and who are willing propagators to people who might otherwise be sceptical or dismissive, the wise eschew unconfirmed rumours, particularly those that spontaneously pop into existence in the tabloid cloud-chamber, but given what 2016 has already managed to deliver (and I think that perhaps that this year is evidence of time travel and the altered time-line is desperately trying to preserve itself that tossing out unlikelihood after unlikelihood) we suppose that actor and erstwhile artist Slyvester Stallone could end up being the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. This independent body is responsible for issuing grants for art projects and education across the country and works closely in partnership with community organisations to promote local theatre and orchestras, and has dodged attempts to defund and dissolve the trust several times, at the hands of Republicans whom found showcase work objectionable. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign that the president-elect does not want to defang the endowment outright and signals that there is some future for it, but given the patronage, one has to wonder what sort of proposals get funded. Any time-travellers looking to make amends for 2016 seeing this notice, please know that we can’t handle much more implausibility.

palimpsest

A series of religious tableaux dating to the Middle Ages in the Guild Chapel of Stratford-upon-Avon was conserved thanks to chamberlain John Shakespeare, father of the village’s most famous son, has recently been fully restored and is now available for public inspection.
In the wake of the iconoclast movement and the turmoil of the Reformation in England, such allegorical murals were ordered destroyed and replaced by, well, blank, unadorned walls in line with Puritanical customs and later painted over as styles changed, but reluctant to wipe out such ancient works of art, Shakespeare the senior directed workers to limewash the walls, preserving the originals under all those layers to be teased out later. Be sure to visit Hyperallergic at the link above to marvel at this unique gallery of images, rich in symbolism and narrative that are sure to contribute to our understanding of the medieval psyche as well as that of the Elizabethans.

civics lessons

On Monday, the electors of the US Electoral College travel to their respective state capitols to cast their votes. Most jurisdictions require the representatives to be faithful to the will of their constituency, however a few states allow electors the option to go faithless and, like in Texas, two electors have chosen to resign their commissions rather than assent to Trump and one individual will be going to Austin to vote for someone other than Trump.
Some suggest that up to twenty electors are seriously considering abstaining or changing their votes, which is something truly unprecedented, and pressure groups on both sides are plying their case. What do you think? The numerical constraints the such a system introduces might be by their nature flawed but is it the responsibility of the College to decide elections? Or to ratify the popular vote? Twenty possible dissenters nearly erodes that surplus of thirty-seven that cost team Clinton the presidency, but in the end is unlikely to change the results—still razor-thin no matter how it’s called. A few score of electors are asking that all, prior to casting their ballots, should be debriefed by the intelligence agencies in order to make an informed choice (arguably one not afforded to the general electorate) about the role that Russian interference played in the outcome. Many more are asking that that the ballot be delayed until the investigation is finished. Another affiliate branch within the College plans to abstain and thus narrow the gap to the point where the decision to turned over to the (Republican-controlled) Senate to anoint the next president.

meme-base or selective pressures

Courtesy of the always engaging Waxy from Andy Baio, we are treated to a year-long retrospective, parsed out on a daily basis, from New York Magazine’s select/all crew in the form of a memetic calendar. This is really brilliant: one can go to any date and see what was transmitted and trending on or around that day and be reminded of some of the accounts of pith and moment captured—despite the life-cycle and how meaning and context flees—that tell of the events of 2016.