tokyo pop

Outfitter to several iconic and unforgettable acts, furnishing the stagewear for the likes of Elton John and Lady Gaga, the recently departed fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto (*1944, see previously) is probably best known for the lavish outfits that informed David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona and their ongoing wardrobe collaboration which included this flared-leg jumpsuit. Yamamoto’s signature extravagant style was later classified as basara (バサラ) a way to describe something glam and larger-than-life.

commemorative toonies

Via friend of the blog par excellence Nag on the Lake, we learn that the Royal Canadian Mint will honour the centenary of the birth of Haida Gwaii (see also here and here) artist Bill Reid (*1920 – †1988)—whose artwork had previously graced the 2004 series of the $20 banknote with a special two dollar coin featuring two versions grizzly bear (Xhuwaji) motif, one in traditional colours and the other uncoloured specie.
The name of the coin itself—first going into circulation in 1996—is a reference to the 1987 introduction of the one-dollar coin, the loonie, featuring the bird found through Canada on the reverse—although during the roll-out of the $2 coin, one parliamentarian hoped that the nickname Nanuq (Inuit for polar bear) might become popular as a way of acknowledge the culture of First Nations. The launch of the coin was to coincide with Reid’s January birthday but was delayed due to the pandemic outbreak.

bathymetric globe

The always interesting Map Room directs our attention to a centenary celebration of the pioneering cartographer and oceanographer Marie Tharp (*1920 – †2006) whose contributions mapped the Atlantic floor (see also), revealing detailed topography and landscape features no one suspected. Her discovery of rift valleys on the bed of the ocean caused a rather seismic shift in the accepted understanding of geography and earth sciences and convinced colleagues to acknowledge the relatively new theories of continental drift and plate tectonics. Much more to explore at the source and with Columbia University at the links above.

micromachines

Via the always interesting Pasa Bon! we are introduced to the French automaker Robert Hannoyer and his line of cycle-cars Reyonnah—the ananym, a special kind of anagram, of the entrepreneur’s surname, like Oprah’s Harpo Productions, MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention Systems) as the antagonist of SPAM and gnip gnop for ping-pong, which had a chassis and carriage similar to other bubble cars. A signature feature of this model was its folding front wheels that enabled it to park in very tight spaces. Much more to explore at the links above.

demon-seed

Rather more exhausted than intrigued and knowing full well that the credentials of Trump’s latest favoured Leibartz(in) lie not only in the realm of possibilities but nay in that of inevitabilities, I still wanted to see if I could gather more background on this individual who trafficks in incubi and has truck with alien DNA and believe that Washington, DC is formulating a vaccine turn people agnostic.
Delightfully the first alternate news source I was presented with was this report from BBC’s Pidgin language service (Why you fit trust BBC News—I like this inclusivity in journalism and forget these other perspectives avail themselves to us sometimes), which informs that the good doctor has further invited on herself the ire of social media who have deplatformed her seminars in the name of preventing the spread of medical disinformation. Facebook is promised divine retribution unless Dr Immanuel’s profile is restored. That vaccine however sounds very promising and hope that we can establish herd immunity.

wedding of the century

Witnessed by thirty-five hundred guests, throngs of over two million Londoners lining the streets to watch the procession and a television audience of upwards of three-quarters of a billion people, the royal matrimonial ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer with all its ornate trappings and circumstance was held on this day at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1981. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996 after fifteen years of wedlock.

universal everything

Having had a promising encounter with the global graphic design collective previously (also here), we very much enjoyed the referral from Things Magazine to their workshop and gallery—including the latest animations in their portfolio and more experiments with motion-capture and augmented realities.

a short conchological glossary

Though not presented as a tongue-twister nor with any other context or accompaniment that might appeal to anyone outside the academic community of cockles and mussels or shell-collectors, this odd exercise in splendid enunciation—via Weird Universe—has a soothing, dulcet quality that is only to be found I think in a subject this niche. Click through to download the recording as an MP3.
It makes me think about the admonishment of not being critical of others for mispronouncing a word as they might have only ever encountered that word in print beforehand—I know my head pronunciation of things can be sometimes a mismatch, and we probably ought to bring back the pronouncing album. The opening disclaimer that there no official—only customarily correct way of saying these Latin names does not dissuade us from listening to more from R. Tucker Abbott, PhD (*1919 – †1995), preeminent malacologist, who made up the names of many of the species himself.