daisy bell or oneironaut

A bit ironically—as I think this Stanley Kubrick classic taught us rather to start worrying and fear the machine, artist Bhautik Joshi, as the always brilliant Colossal shares, transformed the entirety of 2001: A Space Odyssey into a neural dream sequence, a routine that enhances visual input by trying to recognise patterns and begins—logarithmically, to tease them out of every detail, sort of the artificial intelligence (one assumes) version of human pareidolia. Some adjustment to the protocols allowed Joshi to reinterpret the visual style of the movie after his favourite artist Pablo Picasso, which makes for some wildly hallucinogenic scenes. Be sure to check out Colossal to watch the full feature and learn more about the artist’s oneironautic (pertaining to dream-travellers) adaptions of other visionary sci-fi films.

5x5

уотергейт: working independently, hackers Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear breached the database of the Democratic National Committee

feather-brained: scientists are discovering why birds are so preternaturally clever and that Nature has more than one approach to crafting cognition

kardashev scale: astrophysicist posits that there have been advanced extra-terrestrials but there may be a Great Filter behind the Fermi Paradox

two weeks: concept art for the David Cronenberg directed Total Recall that could have been

capilla sixtina: the glorious frescoed ceiling by Michelangelo reproduced to scale in México

equal time or frontierland

Vice Magazine gives us an important reminder that debate regarding the UK’s withdrawal from European Union membership is not only championed or disparaged by the alternatively shrill and even-keeled political figureheads that try to mold public opinion and secure votes, to the exclusion of the opposing antagonism—but there are also underlying ideological battles that strangely are not the bailiwicks of our familiar ideologues.
Left of centre proponents’ arguments to leave the EU include that the union is akin to empire and client states are unable to fulfill the social-contract to its citizen subjects, owing to the fact that so many laws and regulations are crafted at the supranational level and thus estranging governments from their responsibility for good governance. Local authorities could rightly throw up their hands in frustration over the deficit of influence they and their constituents have on big issues, like trade policy, that have global effects. Alternately, with trade also as the driving vehicle, those liberals in the bremain camp argue that an insular Britain detached from the EU would strip-mine labour protections and cost many their livelihoods, which the common-market fosters. Next week, Vice will air the views of the right-wing on the referendum and perhaps the squabbles for and against won’t be the televised predictable pedantry either.

brussels calling

Chief diplomat to the European Union’s delegation to Turkey, Hansjörg Haber, has abruptly resigned, reportedly (angeblich), over Ankara’s conduct regarding a deal to create an immigration buffer-zone in exchange for visa-free access to the EU bloc of nations for Turkey and refusal to live up to its end of the bargain.
This rather cantankerous behaviour is to be expected from a nation that realises it has the EU over a barrel with the refugee situation, even if Europe does not itself fully appreciate the situation. This further fracture comes at a time when tensions are already running high over a lack of candor about the present and the past that has seen German journalists being denied entry and German officials of Turkish ancestry being given police protection, worried that there could be retaliation for their votes to label the massacre perpetrated by the Ottomans as genocide—and campaigners in the UK are vocal with a political hot-potato that EU ascension for Turkey is either imminent or otherwise will not happen within our natural lifetimes but that Turkey should nonetheless strung along with a glimmer of hope to maintain good terms. I’ve wanted to say to the Leave camp, “You know, Brussels can hear you?  They hear all those awful things you are saying about them.” Perhaps the Remains need to have the same thing pointed out to them about Turkey.

birthday suit or trooping the colours

Though I’d say that the Queen’s choice of posh-frock for her birthday procession was a slight wardrobe malfunction, but the Photoshop battle royale that it inspired was in good spirits. Her highly visible dress (not quite day-glow) did really look like a chroma-key green-screen—and the fun ensues.

Via Madam Jujujive’s Everlasting Blört, comes a moving gallery of grief and solidarity of vigils and memorials voicing support for the victims and families of Orlando.

and now for something completely different

For many years, Atlas Obscura has been our expert tour guide for many weird and wonderful places and always a good resource to consult when vacation planning to discover what oddities might be hidden near one’s desitnation. We continue to find the web-site’s edifying, educational trips to be quite serendipitous as well—like the recent sourcing of the iconic mashing foot, animated by Terry Gilliam, that segued from the opening-credits of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, to a detail in the mannerist masterpiece of Agnolo “Il Bronzino” di Cosimo called Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time—wherein Cupid seems about to carelessly crush a hapless dove with his hammer-toed foot. One can view the entire allegory that inspired the surrealist troupe in the National Gallery in London.

rotoscope or dance, dance revolution

Here’s a delightful and spirited celebration of the amazing, evolving possibilities of motion-capture technology from Method Studios. Follow the link to watch the show-reel and experience the full performance at Colossal. Such special-effects are already at our disposal and we can have a dance-off as well and try our hands at composing this sort of choreography.