they know, daniel

Via the always excellent Miss Cellania, we discover that former Trump associate Roger Stone’s recently retained attorney, Robert C Buschel Esq., wrote a political thriller back in August of 2016.
A member of the twitterati has helpfully “live-tweeted” it complete with memetic footnotes and annotations that enhance the special prescience of the work. One does not necessarily need the insight or confirmation of how these people think—the unreadable “By Silent Majority” is predictably problematic even by pre-Trump standards, but it is nonetheless beneficial to know what one is dealing with, replete with self-recrimination.

briar rose

On this day in 1959, Walt Disney’s adaptation of the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” (previously) went into theatrical release.
Despite the grandeur of the storytelling, wonderful villainy and Academy Award-nominated score, critical reception was mixed and tepid at best, accused of being too much like Snow White. This reaction prompted the studio to abandon the folklore genre altogether, not to again revisit princesses and magic (the reserve of anthropomorphic rodents and canines, arguably with the exception of the other commercial failure of 1985’s The Black Cauldron, loosely based on a Welsh myth that nearly bankrupted the company) for three decades until the 1989 release of The Little Mermaid.

goldberg variations

We thoroughly enjoyed this find from TYWKIWDBI that showcases quite a masterwork of engineering and synchronicity that perfectly exemplifies a Rube Goldberg machine (previously)—that is, a deliberately over-complicated apparatus for accomplishing a simple task, in this case serving dessert. The featured video has no soundtrack but that one you might be mentally accompanying it with is from the group “Powerhouse,” a sextet formed by Raymond Scott in 1937 that joined the Warner Brothers catalogue in 1943.

the silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload

On this day in 1979 a sixteen-year old Brenda Spencer opened fire at a neighbouring elementary school as pupils were arriving for the day in Santa Barbara, California, killing the principal and a janitor and injuring nine others, tragically marking one of the first in a painfully legacy of senseless gun violence and school shootings, well-covered in the media but resulting in no change in attitudes.  The rifle and ammunition an unbidden Christmas gift from her father, interrogators asked Spencer why she had committed such an atrocity, to which she responded, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” Musician and activist Sir Robert Frederick Zenon (Bob) Geldof and his band The Boomtown Rats were touring in the area about a month after the incident occurred with legal proceedings on-going and was inspired to pen the song after the unreality of the call of the reporters and Spenser’s response. Far from wanting to glorify the act through infamy, Geldof hoped his song would help prevent acts like this in the future.

omoshirogara

Via the always excellent Everlasting Blört, we are directed to the archives of Dangerous Minds and given a lesson in the propaganda kimonos produced in Japan from the turn of the century through the war years. Unlike more visible banners of provocation and hate, the above, 面白柄, denote a private novelty on display in the home only or perhaps as the interior inner lining of apparel—in any case, for a restricted audience and not for public display. This particular garb, celebrating industrial progress and the war-effort and ultra-nationalism alike, has garnered considerable scholarship of late and more excellent specimens are to be found curated at the links above.

wonder galaxy

Messy Nessy Chic directs our attention to the annual Madrid design expo Casa Décor with the fantastic future “childhood revival” aesthetic of interior designer Patricia Bustos de la Torre. Not only is the style informed by the hues of Millennial pink and turquoise to question why we tend to lose our sense of awe for what the future has in store but also reflects an inflection of Ettore Sottsass’ Memphis Group. The suite of Bustos’ instalation (among scores of entrants) includes a kitchen and a dressing room.  More to explore at the links above.

smelting

To the justified and reasoned protests of lawmakers from both political parties, Trump directed the Department of the Treasury to quietly lift sanctions on three Russian firms, originally imposed punish the country for its 2014 annexation of the Crimea and meddling in the US 2016 presidential election and the proxy war in Syria,
citing concern for the global aluminium industry that China has come to monopolies due to broader trade wars as well as the bar to entry for Russia. The business magnate behind the firms is a close ally of Vladimir Putin as well as known business associate of former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Members of congress strongly objected to relaxing these prohibitions, especially in light of the ongoing investigations into the administration’s ties to the oligarchy. As with Trump, the chief executive officer of the companies has divested himself of business interests, making the companies ostensibly independent of his influence, and the personal sanctions levied against him, including frozen US assets and travel restrictions, remain in place.