pause for station identification

Reflagged as BBC1 in 1964, the British Broadcasting Corporation launched its television service, the first regular and “high-definition” (a resolution of two hundred lines at the time) on this day in 1936. It has been continually airing programming (see also) since with the exception of a nearly seven-year hiatus during World War II, the station being taken off air with little warning just under three years later due to concerns that transmissions would act as a homing beacon for enemy aircraft and bring the fighting right to the heart of London. The final programme aired before the suspension was a Disney short (the cartoon Mickey’s Gala Premier) and reshown once transmissions returned one June day in 1946, preceded with one of the original presenters coming on the air: “Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?”

270

Via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake, though not a commercial success and never brought to market due to competing similar board games, the rules of play for Landslide—though written prior to the passage of the Amendment XXIII to the US constitution of 1961 that extended the franchise residents of Washington, DC—are nonetheless a good primer for understanding America’s electoral college (see previously) and perhaps revealing that the system’s time has expired and overstayed its usefulness. Supporters of maintaining the status quo argue that it is fundamental to the ideal of federalism and promotes stability and moderate political partisanship by reserving the states’ role in the presidential election, whereas detractors call for reform and describe the departure from the standard of “one person, one vote”—like malapportionment and gerrymandering—to be antithetical to the American experiment and compels candidates to concentrate attention and resources on a few swing states.

your daily demon: vine

Ruling the tenth to fourteenth degrees of Scorpio—corresponding with today until the sixth of November is the infernal potentate called Vine, according to the Ars Goetia after Johann Weyer’s late sixteenth century hierarchy and expanded, elaborated by Aleister Crowley and illustrated by Jacques Collin de Plancy. Generally depicted as a noble lion on a black steed and holding a viper as a staff, the demon king can be compelled to assume human form and will give counsel on all the secrets of the past, present and future (quite the thorough opposition-researcher) and is invoked to reveal the presence of other spirits or practitioners of the diabolical arts and is attributed with the power of troubling the waters and tearing down walls.

indigenous voices

We have the chance to sample more of the work of illustrator Jeffrey Veregge (previously) with his cover art featured in a Marvel franchise of Native American and aboriginal super heroes featuring the storytelling and graphic design talents of writers and artist who share the same cultural background and heritage. More to explore at the link above and the series preview below.

volta della cappella sistina

Having worked on the monumental commission of Pope Julius II to decorate and adorn the chapel restored by his pontifical predecessor Sixtus IV for the past four years (the hall was originally under a midnight blue roof studded with gold-leaf stars), Michelangelo was able to present his crowning, defining achievement of High Renaissance art (previously) for the first time on this day in 1512 to the public in all its virtuosity and range of figural poses and presentation. The central frescos relate nine allegories from the Book of Genesis and were completed in reverse order, beginning with Noah’s Drunkenness and finishing on All Hallows’ Eve with the Creation of Eve and Adam—barely time for the paint to dry—when the scaffolding was removed and the first guests admitted on the anniversary of his patron’s 1503 election to pontif.

aka the eyes of hell

Via Nag on the Lake and Memo of the Air, we’re pleased to have been acquainted with the 1961 horror-flick shot in Toronto from Julian Roffman. Produced in 3D and distributed by Warner Brothers, this surrealist film has the distinction of being Canada’s first foray into the genre.
The plot follows a doctor of psychiatry who obtains a mysterious tribal mask which gives the wearer increasingly bizarre, dissociative visions. Though critically panned for its gore and splatter, the technique used for the nightmare montages, created by Slavko Vorkapich with audience members given magic, mystic stereoscopic glasses similar to the eponymous cursed, mask) were well received.

8x8

no wait, that was the prince of tides: researchers identify neural cells responsible for episodic, cinematic memories 

there goes the neighbourhood: a five-storey historic building in Shanghai walks to its new location, avoiding demolition, via Slashdot 

utopia planitia: future Martian settlements will not be colonies beholden to terrestrial governments

anti-pop: Danny Elfman—previously of Oingo Boingo, releases his first surprise single in three-and-a-half decades  

stingy jack: the legend behind the Halloween lantern from Nag on the Lake  

brototype: the baked-goods based photography of Jill Burrow 

haute couture: Ken Tanabe’s annual DIY ideas for stylish Halloween costumes  

brain-in-a-vat: laboratory-cultured neural organoids could be conscious, via Miss Cellania’s Links

copaganda

We enjoyed this neologism, this portmanteau from Boing Boing—specifically here calling out the media for their compliant rebroadcasting of perennial moral panics and seasonal hysteria involving poisoned, adulterated Halloween candy (even at a time we’d do better to discourage trick-or-treating in the first place)—and also like how the word speaks to the wider phenomenon of policing in America especially with the militarisation and mission-creep of law enforcement and how cops have become racism valets ready to serve and protect the status quo and justify their own positions of power.