agnus dei

Reminiscent of another recent case of restoring the artist's original vision after an intervening conservator had “fixed” it for them, Saint Bavo’s Cathedral of Ghent has just unveiled the newly returned to its original state altarpiece (Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Het Lam Gods) created by Jan and Hubert van Eyck in the 1420s. This masterpiece, one of the most stolen in art history and considered the first major work executed with oil paint is a polyptych consisting of twelve panels and foldable wings—and in the centre lower register portrays a lamb sent to sent to slaughter—ecce agnus dei qui tollit peccata mundi, “Behold the Lamb of God who bears away the sins of the world.”
The revealed eyes and nose, however, after much research and consternation, are distinctly not ovine but rather uncannily human. The old look was a bit toned down but the van Eyck brothers’ vision wasn’t exactly terribly off-putting or haunted either. Perhaps public reaction is compounded by the reception of the rotoscope adaptation of Cats in theatres over the holidays that made people lose their minds.

6x6

kórsafn: Björk collaborates with an technology company to produce background music that changes with the weather and seasons

de arte gymnastica: Ask the Past prescribes an exercise regimen from a 1560 volume

8½: a centenary celebration of filmmaker Federico Fellini

langmuir waves: a sonic sample of the solar winds

blogoversary: Boing Boing enters its third decade for the second time (see also about its earlier incarnation)

godunov, badenov: the Russian succession crisis and the curious case of the false Dmitris

how to teach your cat to do tricks: uncovering the art studio behind WikiHow‘s signature illustrations, via Super Punch

a guide to wildflowers at speed

We appreciated this field guide that implicitly urges one to stop a smell the roses and examine, frame by frame at the glimpses into Nature that we’re afforded, even when they’re passing us by in a blur. Like other manuals, varieties are classified by the colour of their blooms and time of year they go to flower but are portrayed as a patch on a roadside verge would look zipping past. Like Birds through an Opera-Glass (one of the first in its genre, 1890 by Florence Merriam), what other subject is often seen from a skewed perspective, the Solar System galloping past warp speed ahead?

unearthly delights

From the nonpareil Everlasting Blört and the site’s ever growing Stable Genius archives we are acquainted with another rendition (see previously) of Trump world executed in the style of Old Dutch Master Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych from Cold War Steve. As repulsive as this fevered depiction of Hell is, it is worthwhile dissecting the details nonetheless—like the sheet music branded on the backside of the tortured soul that Junior is gleefully pointing out is actually a coherent and playable melody. Be sure to click through for many more modern and medieval Easter eggs.

space ghost coast-to-coast

Disappointingly—though somewhat heartening at the same time since these cadets are far from deserving anything suggestive of a Star Fleet uniform but perhaps to be seen as siding with the Rebellion during the battle on the forest moon of Endor—there’s been a reported preview of the new design for the US Space Force (previously) proposed battle dress, which is inexplicably patterned like the digital woodland camouflage of the landlubbing, terrestrial services.
We doubt that this is able to cloak anything in outer space and would have the opposite effect of making individuals more conspicuous. Judging by the rank on the exemplar shown, it’s intended for none other the branch’s commander, four-star general John “Jay” Raymond. The Department of Defense responded to the deserved onslaught of ridicule citing cost-savings measures by using surplus fabric and engendering a sense of cohesion by matching the other branches during joint operations. Any one of us would like to captain a starship, just not in this timeline, defending Trump Towers Icaria Planum from attack.

all hail hailstone!

Premiering in theatres a full nine months prior to the debut of Charlie Chapman’s The Great Dictator and at a time when America’s isolationist stance was strongly entrenched, the short film You Nazty Spy!—starring the Three Stooges as Europe’s up and coming fascist leaders, recruited and spurred into coups d’état by arms dealers Misters Ixnay, Onay and Amscray—was first shown on this day in 1940 and was the first Hollywood production to satirise the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler.
This production and similar lampoons helped raise public awareness of the threat of the Nazi regime and light comedy was generally not subject to the same scrutiny that the newly enacted Hays code applied to serious drama restricting overt political content and complying with the courtesy of lèse-majesté. The short opens with a title card disclaiming, “Any resemblance between characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle.”

megxit

Though still the duke and duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer be styled his and her royal highness and remit the public funding that had gone into renovating their chosen residence and forego future tax-payer support in light of their decision to step back from their public duties and spend part of the year in North America.
This month—with quite a few days on balance remaining—has already been quite a year already so there was precious little bandwidth available for these developments on top of everything else. It is difficult to forecast what this semi-abdication means for the couple and for their family—seeming untenable that one could partially recuse oneself and equally fought to be a gainfully employed private person without commercialising one’s name. It is also quite incredulous that this news and the intrusive and racist way it unfolded is taking sufficient oxygen out of the room so that there’s far more acute fatigue over Brexit and the Johnson cabinet’s commitment to withdraw from the European Union at the end of the month.