ferienhaus

Some property-scouting from Things Magazine directs our attention to the estate agents who have recently placed a MidCentury Modern vacation village on the market. This ensemble of chalets with amenities are part of a campground on the Italo-Swiss border outside of the community of Cremenaga with seventeen of the twenty-seven units (plus communal buildings and facilities) designed by renowned Zürich lecturer and architect Justus Dahinden (*1925 - †2020), whose other works include some iconic, Brutalist concrete sacred buildings, a ziggurat-inspired clinic and numerous community centres, multi-purpose halls and holiday resorts. Much more to explore at the links above. 

it’s a party marge. it doesn’t have to make sense.

Though other sources date the song’s release to next month, just for the chance to indulge listening to one of the best rock power ballads ever, we are going with this day in 1980 for the debut of the lead single from Journey’s sixth studio album Departure. Influenced by the music of Irish band Thin Lizzy, the collaboration between singer and librettist Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon did fared modestly but respectably in contemporary charts but enjoys an enduring legacy.

tyromancy

Though dismissed as among the most unreliable means of divination and fortune-telling, the association between cheese and magic, cheese-making and cosmology recognised by such luminaries as Artemidorus Daldianus, a second century medium that wrote the authoritative volume on dream interpretation, the Oneirokrtikon, and Hildegard von Bingen struck us as quite intriguing—via Strange Company—and tempting further investigation. There’s a litany of curses and benedictions to be found at the link to the source above, most of which are fantastically straightforward and to the point, like the featured and instigating incantation “you may fascinate a woman by giving her a piece of cheese,” since the charms of cheese require little in the way of explanation.

every frame of this movie look like someone’s last known photograph

First airing on this day in 1993, “Manos” The Hands of Fate (previously) as lampooned by the crew of the Satellite of Love has been ranked by critics and fans as the number one episode of the franchise and the defining height of the genre of breaking the fourth wall, watching a movie and making fun of it. The show begins with the continuation of the short Hired! and an invention exchange prelude before launching into the 1966 Harold P. Warren horror vehicle with a young family taking a road trip near El Paso, Texas in search of “Valley Lodge.” They ultimately stop and ask for directions at what turns out to be a cult compound and are welcomed by a satyr called Torgo, who tends the ground while the Master is away. Despite objections from both his wife and Torgo, the father (portrayed by writer, director, producer Warren) asks if they might stay the night after a long day of driving. “The Master would not approve.”

your daily demon: andras

This infernal marquis who controls thirty legions of spirits and rules in the demonic calendar from this day to the third of February presents as an angel with the head of an owl, riding a fierce black wolf and wielding a mighty sword. Andras’ office is to sow discord and strife, and for the first time in our summoning we encounter a stark warning that this spirit will not hesitate to kill those who call on him carelessly.

Possibly inspired (in name, at least as our heroine prayed to a rabbit deity) by the Celtic goddess of war called Andrasta—the very one invoked by Boudica to fight Roman occupation, our Andras is countered by the archangel Ananel. 

 

 

digital demesne

Reminiscent of the extant but sadly now unsupported personal website of Lily Tomlin with seemingly unending links to thoroughly lose oneself in, we quite enjoyed interloping a bit in the vast domain of Arkm’s World, both infinite manor house and grounds—courtesy of Marijn’s Link Roll (previously)—of paths and parlours to haunt and endless shoreline and suites to explore (caution—some flashing lights and video-autoplay), including pages and pages of referrals to kindred NeoCity projects. Which door would you choose?

8x8

testi stampati: the riotous typographical illustratrations of Lorenzo Petrantoni  

painterly realism: Nathan Shipley trained a neural network to turn portraiture into convincingly true-to-life photographs 

civilian climate corps: a vision of how putting people to work on conservation projects can help save both the environment and the economy  

narratology: a purportedly exhaustive list of dramatic situations—see also here and here  

stonx: a long thread explaining the GameStop short-squeeze—via Miss Cellania  

paradoxical undressing: National Geographic forwards a new theory to account for the Dyatlov Pass Incident (previously) of 1959  

butler in a box: before digital assistants there was domestic aid in the late 1980s 

will success spoil rock hunter: Art of the Title looks at the opening montage of the 1957 CinemaScope classic

demophöon

Brought to the stage in München in operatic form on this date in 1811 as the première work of Peter Josef von Lindpainter (*1791 – †1856) the figure associated with Demeter was a popular subject of the prior decades. Seeking her abducted daughter Persephone in the guise of an old woman, calling herself Doso, Demeter wanted to repay the hospitality she received from the by making the titular young prince into an immortal and being nursemaid to Demophöon (given the tough name, meaning “killer of men”), the king’s son by Metanira. To realise her plan to turn him into a god, Demeter anointed the infant with ambrosia and nightly placed him into the palace hearth to burn away his mortal spirit. His mother walked in one evening to witness this ritual and reacted like any mother would to the sight of her baby in the fireplace among the burning logs—which annoyed Demeter who had to abort the immortalisation process over the interruption. Though unscathed but still subject to decrepitude and death, Demophöon acquired immortality of a sorts through a hero cult and enduring fame. As a consolation to the family—having failed in her first act of kindness, Demeter taught his older brother Triptolemus (threefold-warrior) the art of agriculture, which he spread across the Greek world. Lindpainter’s most successful opera, Der Vampyr, was also another popular theme and debuted in Stuttgart two decades later.