prayvaganza and purely scientific post-script

There’s a certain hegemony to the present that privileges the living and those living though it to declare work of fiction—allegory or otherwise—to be especially resounding and addressing them directly, granted, but there’s something particularly prescient to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (previously) which describes the world’s trajectory, which doubtless also spoke to the author and her readership at the time of writing, publication back in 1985, that’s really hard to shake. Such is the mark of good writing, and I’m embarrassed to say that I hadn’t read Atwood’s brisk, engaging story of dystopian transition from democracy to theocracy that cozened up to the fragility of the male ego and fears of displacement of the status quo. Atwood, nor none of the other storytellers with accounts caution, visionary or otherwise, aspires to be a prophet and hopeful with warnings as dark and dire and banally begun the sort of future set forth here could be avoided. Sorry for being Johnny-come-Lately to this novel and highly recommend anyone re-read it in anticipation of the recently published sequel.

you wouldn’t like me when i’m angry

Whilst former Prime Minister David Cameron characterises Johnson’s faith in leaving the EU only qualified and continues on this trajectory to preserve his political career, just ahead of a Monday lunchtime meeting with European Commission president regarding the Irish border for which all and sundry have pretty lower expectations and the British Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality (prompted by accusations by the Scottish court) of proroguing Parliament, the Prime Minister, digging in, compares himself to the Incredible Hulk during an interview with the widely-circulated tabloid The Daily Mail.
“[Bruce] Banner might be bound in manacles, but when provoked he would explode out of them,” he said, channeling the immense though chaotic and destructive strength of the comic book character. “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets.” EU officials counter that the comparison belies a lack of maturity, even by Trumpian standards, more pitiable than intimidating. The UK will reject further Brexit delays. Hulk smash!

rip ric osasek (*1944 - †2019)

cfc

Despite far less consensus and surety regarding the exact culprit among the scientific community compared to the unity that we have for anthropogenic climate change today, the world’s nations unilaterally came together to draft and enforce a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the outcome of a convention held in Montreal which became an international and universal priority on this day in 1987.
Depletion of atmospheric ozone first discovered and researched, with its grave implications limned and communicated during the intervening years, within just a little more than fourteen years public and political will aligned and overcame deniers and those in impacted industries—aerosol and cooling, with a managed phase-out of the most harmful compounds that fostered willing partnerships and commitments for reform. Among the few environmental success stories to hold up as examples of what we can achieve (though we should also be vigilant to avoid losing those gains and there’s unfinished business yet), human change has allowed the ozone layer to repair and replenish itself.

ballonflucht

In the early hours of this morning in 1979, eight members of two families, realising the fruition of a plot hatched over a year and a half beforehand with careful planning and patience so as not to arouse suspicion, one attempt that ended in resounding failure that almost led to their capture and detention and brought heavier surveillance plus three hand-stitched balloon membranes, crossed from Pößneck in East Germany to Naila just over the border in Bavaria in a hand-engineered hot air balloon with navigation improvised. Read (or listen to) the full story about the harrowing heroics of the families Strelzyk and Wetzel and their determination to secure a future in the West at the link above.

offset und verlag

Via Present /&/ Correct, we are acquainted with yet another publishing trade magazine this time in the form of the bimonthly then annual anthology editions of Graphis Press, originally founded in Zürich in 1944 and moving to New York headquarters in 1986. Featuring innovations in typography, formatting, layout, presentation, branding, logos and letterhead, past contributors include Milton Glaser, Saul Bass, Victor Vasarely and Herb Lubalin. Much more to explore at the links above.

yes r’lyeh

Via Shadow Manor’s Art of Darkness blog, we are reintroduced to the illustrations and rhyming couplets of deviant artist DrFaustusAU and his complete body of works that survey the genres of science fiction and horror in the style of Doctor Seuss. We especially liked some of the panels from The Shining and HP Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulu. Check out the links above for more.

calvaire

A unique form of monumental public crucifix that displays scenes from the Passion, the oldest surviving examples date back to the mid thirteenth century and reflect a megalithic tradition anchored in Bretagne and spreading eastwards.
One of the first examples we encountered on a recent trip was this modern, Art Nouveau interpretation of a calvary (from Golgotha, Γολγοθᾶς, Syriac for the “Place of Skulls,” transliterated as Κρανίου Τόπος or in Latin Calvariæ Locus) in the town of Tréguier (the town of Saint Tudwal) erected by local clergy in 1904 in protest over municipal authorities choosing to honour a controversial native son, the anticlerical theological and ethnology scholar Ernest Renan with a statue provocatively in the square of the cathedral during the previous year, reserved formerly for the temporary installation of displays and processions.
Church steeples also had an interesting and individualised architectural vernacular, with flying elements and each village topped with something unique and articulated. An ancient calvary more in context we found in the churchyard of Locronan (Lokorn, the name meaning the hermitage of Rónán, a sixth century Irish missionary), and is the focal point for some of the major pardons, a Breton form of ceremonial pilgrimage—held on saint days and for which an indulgence, excuse to celebrity—like Saint Patrick’s Day in the middle of Lent, is granted.