fireworks (10. 983)

Filmed on a sixteen millimetre camera received as a birthday gift from his grandmother and a significant upgrade from his former hand-cranked camera at his home in Beverly Hills whilst his parents were away for a long weekend in 1947, the debut short from Kenneth Anger (previously) was one of the first works in this media to focus on a homosexuality as a subject. Inspired by witnessing a group of US sailors attacking men with Mexican heritage during the Zoot Suit Riots, which is manifest in dreamer of Fireworks—the filmmaker to later add that “this flick is all I have to say about being seventeen, the United States Navy, American Christmas and the Fourth of July”—and is scored with the tone poem Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. American sexologist Alfred Kinsey bought the film’s original print, and although the first cinema owner who screened it was arrested on obscenity charges, the case was overturned on appeal by the Supreme Court of California, ruling that homosexuality—even overtly referenced—was a valid theme for artistic expression.

did my time, took my chances (10. 982)

Released as a single a day after the premier of Rocky III, the American rock band Survivor’s theme track hit number one on this day in 1982 on the UK charts. Written at the request of director and star Sylvester Stallone after Queen him permission for “Another Bites the Dust,” the demo version appears (though without tiger growls) in the film and the irregular time signature is meant to evoke throwing and landing punches. A success worldwide thanks in part due to extensive air-play on MTV, “Eye of the Tiger” won a grammy for vocalist Dave Bickler guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboard artist Jim Peterik. Used without authorisation as walk-on music for a number of Republican presidential campaigns, the band successfully sued to have the candidates—Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee—desist, although most lawsuits launched by artists are toothless as it is the host venue—sports stadiums, auditoriums—that have the licensing agreements with record companies to play music and both artists and hopefuls get to be obdurate about their politics.

synchronoptica

one year ago: dams and reservoirs in Thüringen

two years ago: an AI generates movie posters,  Tales of the Old Web, Space 1999 (1975), A Sein of Blue, the double statue of Goethe and Schiller (1857) plus another MST3K classic

three years ago: Trump’s undermining public confidence in the voting system 

four years ago: megaliths in Bretagne, cultivating mindfulness plus a fast food franchise given consular powers for Americans abroad

five years ago: the comic book art of Jeffrey Veregge, Google incorporated (1998), monopolies and monopsonies, self-driving cars with emotive eyes plus the Curators of Sweden

 

diskžokej (10. 981)

Courtesy of Fancy Notions, we are directed to Czecho-slovakian animator Jiří Barta’s 1981 short Disc Jockey, that documents the day in the life of a DJ with a day-job in a world dominated by circles (as opposed to rectangles) where their beats evoke the mechanisms of the gears of the daily grind—as consolation in kind for music fests missed due to the climate catastrophe. Specialising in stop-motion techniques, Barta created an adaptation of the Pied Piper fable whilst working in the studio of Jiří Trnka and later became a member of the teaching faculty at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen in addition to continuing to produce projects in film and theatre.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to the Saalfeld Fairy Grottos

two years ago: Gumbasia (1955), The Quadripartite Agreement renewed over a divided Berlin (1971), attempts to discredit the Pentagon Papers leak, more mushroom mania plus Ukraine at Thirty

three years ago: pioneering journalist Marguerite Higgins Hall,  a peaceful transition of power in question in the US plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: a diplomatic gaffe in Iceland, la Maison du Gouffre plus the founding of San Marino

five years ago: right wing activity in Germany plus more links to check out

team badger (10. 980)

Launched on this day in 2003 on b3ta.com and looping indefinitely ever since, the flash animation meme by Jonti Picking (also known as Mr Weebl) was a benchmark of the on-line cognoscenti before virality could be otherwise gauged and consists of badgers performing calisthenics (with a snake and a mushroom) to a beat inspired by Whigfield’s Saturday Night with the placeholder lyrics making the final cut. Several different versions were produced over the years, including a zombie and an Advent special—as well as a tenth anniversary appeal to stop badger culling referencing Flash Gordon with the help of Brian May and Brian Blessed and a twentieth anniversary retrospective. More to explore from Miss Cellania at the link above.

let’s call the whole thing off (10. 979)

With possibly the winningest URL of all time, Waxy directs our attention to a collaborative contribution project that has been running for seventeen plus years which has somehow missed our notice until now—vis a vis another recent post.
Artist and enterprise originator Clara Bahlsen solicits for anthropomorphised images of mascots, food eager to be cannibalised or collaborate it the act and other offerings collected and indexed in a huge searchable images that can be sorted by category and kind. Browse (the cursor is a potato) though and share the oddities that you find or add your own.

 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: more spurious quotations,  Madonna’s Music (2000) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: your daily demon: Gaap plus the Second Triumvirate forms (31 BC)

three years ago: more links to enjoy, the global race for a vaccine, the Stuttgarter Metro Map plus Wikipedia as an agent of cultural vandalism

four years ago: improvised campers,  a visit to the Cap d’Erquy, a new presentation of Euclid’s Elements, the abbey of Beauport plus the stop-motion short Matrioska

five years ago: a ban on pesticides that harm pollinators, the fight to save coral reefs, some special weeds plus an AI tries to name shopping malls

8x8 (10. 978)

diyarbakır: archeologists discover a massive subterranean city under the Roman garrison at Zerzevan 

aaro: the Pentagon launches a website to explore declassified information on unidentified anomalous phenomena, via Slashdot—also watch this instead 

space for kitchen aerobics: the latest oversized monstrosity from McMansion Hell—previously

the parable of the pig: philosopher Pyrrho’s hog as a model of tranquillity in a ship on a stormy sea—from Futility Closet happily back after a hiatus  

queso de cabrales: a hunk of artisanal cheese from Asturias fetches a record-setting price—via Strange Company 

a directory of wonderful things: an expert curated selection of weird and delightful corners of the internet  

chatgop: a conservative media outlet may have interviewed an AI generated Donald Trump 

colossus of constantine: plans to restore the monumental statue of the Roman emperor built as a triumph for his victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge

limes regis (10. 977)

We are treated to a field-trip, courtesy of Strange Company, along an ancient footpath called the Ridgeway that clings to chalk cliffs of Berkshire Downs along the Salisbury Plain down to the Thames at the Goring Gap, the narrow river valley between Reading and Oxfordshire, the Ridgeway—described as the oldest trail in Britain and in use for over five-thousand years, the high ground a preferable trade route since travellers could spot potential highwaymen and marauders. Tour highlights include several ruined castles and forts and megalithic monuments.

the perils of penelope (10. 976)

Via ibīdem, we are referred a seemingly endless, seemingly exhaustive (there must be a reason for the particular signage and an attendant tale of tragedy) and international gallery replete with all pictogram figures in all variety of calamities as cautionary tales (see also) about potential dismemberment, electrocution, restricted areas and especially slips, trips and falls.