aloha ʻoe

Though it’s just adding insult to injury after annexing then colonising Hawaiʻi to impose the feeble-mindedness of official state junk to be nominated and subject to legislation, we are quite enjoying this latest instalment on the topic (see previously) from Lowering the Bar. We can definitely relate to the felling of dread and trepidation about getting a diacritical wrong, especially with the ‘okina seems so critical to the islands’ name (or not) and is typographically substituted—the other being the macron the kahakō. Check out the usual categories like trees, mottoes, song, fruit, etc. plus the rather all-encompassing and koan-like part of the statues outlining the official state spirit and let us know what you think.

tempio dei dioscuri

On this day—the ides of July, fulling a tribute pledged for a decisive military victory for the young Republic in rebuffing the forces of the exiled king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his allied forces in the native Latin tribes during the Battle of Lake Regillius made by then dictator Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis (his surname a consequence of the conquest), one of the consul’s sons was appointed magistrate (duumvirs) to dedicate the temple to Castor and Pollux, the twin half-brothers—Castor’s dad the mortal, Tyndareus, king of Sparta but Pollux was the son of Zeus who had seduced their mother Leda in the form of a swan (some accounts have him or both born from an egg and is a classic example of what’s called heteropaternal superfecundation, albeit in divine form like the Capitoline Wolf that reared Romulus and Remus) in central Rome in 484 BC.
Reportedly the brothers appeared on horseback in the midst of battle and fought ably for the Republic. They reappeared after the fighting was over to herald victory, watering their horses at a fountain in the forum called the Spring of Juturna (Lacus Juturnæ)—well before the news could be borne by mortal feet, and the temple was built on that spot. Only the distinctive three columns remain though the cult was spread through the empire and other sites are extant. The Dioscuri were transformed into the constellation Gemini so the twins would not be separated in death and were the siblings of twin sisters, Helen of Troy (possibly also ab ovo since the paternity of Helen was also the mighty Zeus) and Clytemnestra.

rock ‘n’ roller coaster

The other day I caught a new Line Rider animation (previously) set to the Queen classic that I had somehow managed to miss before, but this virtual thrill ride (use your indoor voice only please) that some clever person designed with Roller Coaster Tycoon makes for a pretty cool rendition as well and makes me wonder about the potential (with some reserved trepidation albeit) for more cross-over formats for bands and franchises. The image to the side is the musically synchronised loops and dips mapped out.

the inauguration of the pleasure dome

Via Weird Universe we are acquainted with the portfolio and curriculum vitæ thus far of underground filmmaker and author Kenneth Anger (*1923) whose anthology of short works explore Thelema and its adherents through his eponymous 1954 (remastered in 1966 for 1978 for wider audiences as Anger’s original concept included projecting the action on three screens simultaneously) through the cinematic filters of surrealism, the occult and homoeroticism.
Playing the goddess of magic Hecate himself, the short also stars Anaïs Nin as Astarte (Ishtar) and fellow director and pioneer of New Queer Cinema Curtis Harrington (*1926 – †2007, whose credits include numerous television series—Baretta, Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels and also Orson Welles’ unfinished The Other Side of the Wind) was in the role of Cesare, the somnambulist from The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari and was inspired by the ritual fancy-dress parties that founder Aleister Crowley would host that invited guests to come as their madness and a recitation of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s atmospheric poem. More to explore at the links above.

8-track flashback

Via the always excellent Everlasting Blört, we are treated to a survey of the history and technical development of high-fidelity audio equipment throughout the 1970s in this vintage Pitchfork article—not only for play-back and one’s listening pleasure and archiving but also for recording and creating compositions. Format rarities with underappreciated innovations include the synthesiser function of the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer (big in Japan), proto-iPods aside from the Walkman and the rise of commercial digital recording, with artists like Stevie Wonder pioneering the new media with his musical accompaniment through “The Secret Life of Plants.”

7x7

flotus: chainsaw sculpture of Melania Trump erected in her hometown torched on US Independence Day

[screaming internally]: assorted news items including thrill ride guidance from Japan

holy wisdom: Turkey reconsecrates Hagia Sophia as a mosque after eight decades as a museum

dining alfresco: the variety of New York’s newly founded streateries

mallrats: a tour of shopping galleries past

strike a pose: professional model An Tiantian shows off her photogenic gestures

swamping the drain: Trump wines and dines wealthy campaign donors while America slides into failed statehood

バベルフィッシュ

From Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (always worth checking out and much more to explore), we are introduced to an innovative incubator called Donut Robotics that proposes to have our facial coverings pull double-duty with the addition of an internet-connected microphone and voice-box that will allow the wearer to translate their speech from Japanese into several other languages—or to make calls or simply turn up the volume to overcome any muffled words. In order for us to truly benefit from instantaneous exchanges and real-time interpretation—to really achieve universal translation, such programmes and neural networks need to be brought out into the wild and widely deployed—such as this start-up is suggesting and ultimately the sophistication and articulation of our personal protective gear might pull us all closer together as this crisis abates.

posse commutatus

In a further signalling of the end of the judicial branch as an independent, meaningful entity for the American polity, Donald Trump announced that he would commute the sentence of his long-time political operative and cartoon villain Roger Stone (previously)—who was convicted for obstruction of justice during a congressional inquiry into foreign meddling in the US electoral process—with Trump’s aside, a stage-whisper confirming that he ordered a cyberattack during the 2018 mid-terms against Russia’s Internet Research Agency, something which was probably not meant for public disclosure but nothing matters and Trump probably felt sharing this offensive maneuver justified freeing his dirty bag friends while undermining the justice system further.
These pro forma courts and show-trials are the underpinnings of a dictatorship and is not just establishing one set of rules for allies and another standard for opponents, but is moreover making law and enforcement arbitrary and subject to petty whims and flattery, not what legal standards are meant to be at all in a functioning and robust society.  While this pardoning does not vacate Stone’s conviction or vindicate his behaviour, it does mean that he will spend no time in prison—ostensibly a dangerous place for one of an advanced age with COVID-19 ravishing the inmate population, though it’s perfectly safe for children to return to schools for the academic year in the fall with no plans in place to make the institutions safe for students. The commissioner really needs to flash the Bat Signal right now.