häxan

Based on the filmmaker’s study of the Malleus Maleficarum (previously), Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 silent “Witchcraft Through the Ages” is sometimes accorded with the recognition as the art form’s first documentary work—though there some elements of classic horror are established as well, the film is one of the first not based solely on fiction and included meticulous research over a long period of production, and goes about dispelling superstition, misunderstanding and misogyny which can result in witch hunts. Censored in many places during its initial release in Scandinavia, Häxan saw something of a revival in 1968 when an abbreviated version premiered set to an eclectic jazz soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty and intertitles read by William S Burroughs.

6x6

falindromes: phrases that look like they might be palindromic but are not

shrinky-dinks: advances in printing could make self-assembling, heat-activated furniture a reality   

performance art: Tim Youd retypes classic novels in the locations were they are set word for word on an antique mechanical typewriter

la miniatura: the tragedy and therapy behind the Mayan Revival homes of Frank Lloyd Wright, via Nag on the Lake

ludomania: bookies are using artificial intelligence to exploit gamblers in novel ways, via Slashdot

plumcot: the caretaker of the historic gardens of famed horticulturist Luther Burbank is working to unravel his poorly documented, unscientific method 

bone of contention or true facts stated

We had wanted to avoid wading into this subject because as with everything else one ought to pause to ask how one’s opinion, pontification, punting or contribution enriches the world a little and were rather baffled in contemplating this wildfire and how the political roasting (via Miss Cellania) at an event that (albeit it does have a rather conflicted identity and is bolstered up by genteel fictions) invited guests come to expecting to be lampooned was having its moment—ephemerally, of course, and to be superseded by the next tantrum—but I suppose that there’s something in that bafflement that indicates that we need to work through this—not at pace—and try to come to terms with how media and entertainment has turned reportage and personality into their own parody.
How could anyone in this political landscape expect any mercy or reverence for the complicit sell-outs of the Trump regime? Worse and more pointed criticism is readily available from any number of outlets at any time. Indeed—rather than airing the comedic stylings of Michelle Wolf—Trump had already excoriated journalism at some fundraising event timed to coincide with the broadcast of the White House press corps dinner to illustrate the culture schism that he thrives on, and though less funny (downright depressing, actually), putting that on stage would have been an equally appropriate act and would elicit titters and cringes alike. Rushed onto these bandwagons allows us to defang the finer points of messaging, including walking out on an act whose closing statements were the most powerful and provocative parts of the monologue: uncomfortably casting her attack back at the Third Estate, “You pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him,” Wolf said. “I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric. But he has helped you… You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him.” And Flint still doesn’t have clean water.

jubilee

Naked Capitalism features an engrossing and thought-provoking interview with economist and professor Michael Hudson on what ancient civilisations can teach us about how we frame debt, poverty and opportunity. As the tradition of burying a ruler with their material wealth was tool of social justice as much as the belief such grave goods were useful for the afterlife, debt-forgiveness was a common institution in Western Antiquity—although money or labour in abeyance was generally to the ruler himself or a cadre of wealthy aristocrats who could absorb sunk costs readily and could dispense a bit of kindness by writing debt off.

Peer-to-peer exchanges were enforced but the ruling class was interested (it’s conjectured) with keeping their labour and defensive forces free of crippling obligations or indentured to some intermediary. With the rise of the merchant class and the decentralisation of economies, there were more and more in the game that could not afford not to be paid and Rome became the first major civilisation not to continue in the tradition. In hoc to creditors over the Republic’s rapid expansion and broad network of trade, a century of civil war (the crisis of the Republic that resulted in Imperium) followed from this decision, punctuated over the decades by the systematic assassination of advocates for a return to practise of debt-forgiveness, Christianity being one of the chief proponents until the Empire realised it could not suppress the message directly, co-opted the Church’s organisation and hierarchy.

freixenet

This overview of medieval European microstates (micronations can be equally idiosyncratic but with severely limited recognition) that came into being either through omission, neglect or force, with nearly half still in existence, struck us a fascinating material and urged us to learn more. One favourite that we had not heard of was the outpost Fraxinet, a stronghold founded and held by Muslim pirates (a press-gang) sailing from Andalusia (al-Andalus) in the vicinity of Saint-Tropez in the late ninth century.
The settlement expanded and was as much a centre of trade and commerce as a place of piracy, if not more, and peace was negotiated among other Frankish ruling families in the area. The uneasy peace held for an astonishing eighty years with the Andalusis bringing all sorts of innovations to the indigenous people, including medical skills, tar, ceramics and the tambourine, but Fraxinet finally ended with the Battle of Tourtour when a group of nobles from Provence dispatched with the raiders, worried that they would seize control of an important Alpine pass nearby, conveniently spurred to action at the ransoming of an influential abbot.

bois de la brigade de marine

Though perhaps it might have something to do with valid fears of spreading aggressive, toxic caterpillars that are plaguing oak trees in the UK presently and I would hope that the matter would have been addressed publicly and handled with due decorum (but that’s probably too generous for these thugs), the sapling that Macron brought as a gift during his state visit and planted together on the lawn of the White House has gone missing.
Part of the lore of the US Marine Corps and its role in World War I, the oak sprouted at Belleau Wood, memorialiszed the site of a battle between the US Second and Third divisions along side French and British forces against Imperial Germany. Initially sustaining heavy casualties, Marine scouts surmised that the Germans were regrouping for a second thrust that would certainly take the field, if they failed to launch a counter-attack. Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly led the assault on 6 June 1918 with the battle cry, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” The protracted fight saw many fatalities but the Marines and allies eventually took the site (reflagged as the above), which became the namesake for decorations and naval vessels.

baby steps

One immediate outcome of the historic summit between the leadership of North and South Korea was to re-align Pyongyang’s and Seoul’s time-zones.
This disparity of half-an-hour having itself arose only three years ago under the direction of Kim Jong-un to mark the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the peninsula from occupying Japan as a reassertion of independence from colonial rule. The synchronisation will occur this Saturday (5 May) but there’s no word if the North will keep its Juche calendar, which numbers its years on the birth of founder Kim Il-Sung in 1912, though its not unusual to record time in eras and reigns as a supplement to civil time in many cultures, and many societies tend to use even our modern time-keeping conventions (abolishing day-light savings time, having a single, broad time zone irrespective of the sun) to present a united, national front.

serpentine

Croatian abstract artist and founding member of the avant garde collective known as the Gorgona Group of 1960s Yugoslavia, Julije Knifer (*1924 - †2004) had a signature topic of exploration throughout his work: the meander, a geometric motif based on the repetition and regularly turning of a continuous line—which as a decorative border is sometimes called a Greek fret or a Greek key. With the country not enforcing the official narrative of Socialist Realism and the romancing of life and conditions under Communism, Knifer was free to create and mediate on hundreds of variations of the abstract concept, a quiet refutation against utopian plans that rarely pan out and just tend to lead one along.