Via Boing Boing—though we’d recommend maybe not experimenting with it on one’s phone as it seems to deploy harmless though slightly irritating adware making it easy to fumble over an errant click—we find this fun little application that utilises unsupervised generative adversarial networks (previously) to transform one’s mugshots into manga renderings that make nice and unexpectedly abstract avatars. In the glossary of anime fandom, a waifu (wife)/husbando is one’s fictional counterpart so was a little unsure of the choice in naming and I’d categorise myself IRL with the trait of ใขใใฒ—that is ahoge or idiot hair, describing unruly hair going in all directions, but it is just something amusing to experiment with. Give it a try and show off your results.
Friday, 1 May 2020
selfie2waifu
florida man
This horrendous flag was once proposed for the official banner of the then territory of Florida hoisted in 1845—recreated according to a contemporary written account—with the appointment of its first governor, William Dunn Moseley, the citizens of Tallahassee flying it at the capitol during his inauguration ceremony. Whilst no one seemed to take objection to the busy and bizarre colour combination (here is the current municipal flag of Tampa), Whigs in the senate roundly rejected the adoption as the motto “Let us Alone” was pointedly a Democratic Party slogan.
i do the rock
Via Art of Darkness, we learn that Tim Curry had a charting hit single in 1979 from his album Fearless, the follow up to his debut recording Read My Lips, which mostly featured covers from his musical influences, including a reggae version of the Beatles’ “I Will.” This song was often double-billed with the music video for another number called “Paradise Garage” and played before screenings of Rocky Horror.
ะฒะธะฝะฝะธ-ะฟัั ะธ ะดะตะฝั ะทะฐะฑะพั
Born this day in 1917, accomplished Soviet animator Fyodor Khitruk (†2012, see previously) had many outstanding and critically-acclaimed titles to his credit but perhaps the trilogy to leave the biggest impression outside his homeland, since the narrative and visual vernacular runs counter to dominant one, is his adaptation of (1969 – 1972) of A. A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Woods characters. Here is the final instalment, Winnie the Pooh and a Day of Bothers, running twice as long as its previous two parts. Khitruk’s overall style was a marked detour from the sentimental realism of Disney, which nearly contemporaneously produced its own version of Pooh and his friends, with the latter being truer to the original stories.
joseph the worker
Venerated as the patron and protector of labourers and the institution of the Church and intercessor for a happy death as he died surrounded by friends and family, Jesus and Mary included, Joseph is celebrated four times during the year: 19 March—the Feast of Saint Joseph (Josefstag, not to be confused with the Feast of the Ascension, which is also celebrated as Fathers’ Day in some countries) for his role as husband and guardian, the third Wednesday after Easter—the Solemnity of Saint Joseph for his role as spouse and patronage of the Catholic Church, this Memorial as role as a Worker (since 1955 as a reflection of and solidarity with the broader movement for social justice and labour reform that had been observed on the first of May since 1890)—a carpenter, and the first Sunday after Christmas for coming to terms with his situation. His extended patronage includes the pontificate of Pope Francis, Sicily, Austria, Belgium, the Americas, the Philippines and Vietnam as well as being the champion of explorers, pilgrims, immigrants, real estate agents and engineers.
penny black
Whereas prior to the introduction of a pre-paid, flat-rate and conveniently adhesive postage stamp, first issued on this day in the United Kingdom in 1840, the Royal Mail was beset with complexities and high rates usually collected upon delivery determined by distance travelled as well as the sheet-count of the correspondence.
In order to remedy this situation and make the postal system more customer-focused and efficient (see also), inventor, social reformer and educator Sir Rowland Hill (*1795 – †1879) commissioned a government inquiry which resulted in not only the Uniform Penny Post but also an inexpensive, mass-produced version of an adhesive envelop for privacy, further facilitating the rapid and reliable exchange of correspondence. Honouring the monarch and promoting its adoption amongst the public, Hall and the committee selected a cameo image of then fifteen-year-old Victoria created by engraver and illustrator Charles Theodosius Heath (*1785 – †1848) and son Frederick, this portrait of the Queen used on stamps for the remainder of her reign.
the kah and the coo
We very much enjoyed the referral to this series of gentle and earnest research papers from Canadian-American behavioural psychologist Wallace Craig (*1876 – †1954) examining the “voice and manners” of our pigeon and dove friends (1909 – 1911, see also), who himself displayed talent and dedication in observing and listening to these avian neighbours—including the Passenger Pigeon, which was already extinct at the time of writing but the birds’ fate was not yet known for sure. Even transcribing their calls and vocalisations in musical notation, Craig goes on further to study the pigeon’s sexual dimorphisms and differences in gait and pace and pecks. Much more to explore at the links above.
all i wanna do is zooma zoom zoom
Concluding a series of inspired, motivational numbers as alternatives for when one is unable to make it to the club, Messy Nessy Chic reprises her earlier re-discovery of the Spanish disco dance troupe with this 1977 performance of their “Cats” routine. We are feeling rather enlightened and better for having missed this sensation before and having encountered Ballet Zoom when the time was ripe and we were ready for it.
