embers

Centralia, Pennsylvania has been a subject of fascination for us for a while, depopulated to all but six of its residence due to a coal seam fire that has been smouldering underground since 1962 and there’s little indication that the conflagration will burn itself out soon.
Until receiving this update on one local institution that’s still thriving and creating community despite the want of one, however via Things Magazine, we would have assumed that there was nothing holding the town’s diaspora together. Even after the relocation of members of the congregation to other parts of the state, people kept returning to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for mass and other celebrations, despite the governor claiming imminent domain and the prerogative to evict remaining people. A visit by the major archbishop of the eparchy in 2015 even got the church and ghost town designated as a place of pilgrimage, with officially sanctioned tours scheduled.

6x6

hi-res: an interesting exploration into the world of pixels and dots per inch (DPI)

tiki room: Messy Nessy Chic treats us on a tour of one of San Francisco’s last bastions of kitsch and abandon, the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar

lipograms: further examples of challenging, experimental works of fiction that seek to avoid one or more of the conventions of writing and usage

potemkin village: a global tour of the fronts and façades (previously) of artificial urban environments

°c: ageing but iconic capsule hotel in Tokyo is retrofitted and revitalised

composite-artist: Microsoft neural network draws realistic, imaginary birds based on vocal commands, via Fast Company 

deconstructivism

We rather enjoyed this survey of buildings that signal the resurgence or rather endurance of the Postmodern architectural style by student and expert Adam Nathaniel Furman.
Typified by exaggerated reference to touchstones of place reimaged, the once-maligned icons of the age (think the Sydney Opera House or the Petronas Towers), constructed in the past decade, like this residential complex it Amsterdam that evoke both pyramids and the traditional brick townhouses of the Netherlands are symbolic and routes for trying to reconcile the classic and familiar when placed in a new context, the playful over the arch and austere. Some of the examples have had previous appearances (like here and here and here) illustrate how meaning and messaging has become a rather fraught and unforgiving matter but I suppose that each generation, with intervening input and interloping, goes through these moments when culture and artefact resonate or clash.

nemesis and narcissus

In April, Los Angeles will host a temporary exhibit whose aim is to explore the psychology and history of the pervasive art of the self-portrait. The Museum of the Selfie hopes to give visitors pause to reflect on the nature of the cultural phenomenon whose roots are anything but shallow.

your princess is in another castle

Via Kottke, we’re treated to the distraction that we didn’t really need or deserve in this clever JavaScript Nintendo Entertainment System emulation from programmer Ben Firshman. Classic arcade games include the early iterations of Mario, Zelda, Castlevania plus many more.

shinrin-yoku

We really appreciated this formal introduction to one of our favourite pasttimes from the New Yorker on the Japanese therapeutic practise of forest bathing (森林浴) and learning of all the collateral benefits through the soft-focus portfolio of Tokyo-based photographer Yoshinori Mizutani. Both scientists and physicians recognise its spectrum of benefits in curbing stress and anxiety and boosting overall well-being. Learn more about shinrin-yoku at the link above and get inspired to carve space out in your day to commune with the trees in your local greenspace.

pillow-talk or mack the knife

Until reading the disclosure of a tryst by Trump with a porn star (imagine what it would be like trying to convince ourselves a year ago that we would be confronted with such headlines as these) that Trump is obsessed with sharks and wishes them all to die, we had forgotten that then citizen Trump was steered away from portraying the US president in a bad movie about a plague of the shark variety out of fear that it might reflect badly on his upcoming candidacy to be the actual president.