straw-poll

As NPR reports, though rather burying the lede, impeached and ousted Trump will be performing the strange and storied ritual of pardoning a turkey (see previously) for Thanksgiving—sponsored by the anti-tofurky lobby—presenting a poll to the public asking whom out of Corn and Cob ought to be granted clemency. Though not one to eat his words, even over this bizarre and addle-brained tradition, there was a similar ballot in 2018—in the wake of the mid-term elections with the contest between Peas and Carrots—in which Trump attacked Carrots the turkey for refusing to concede despite having clearly lost. Fifty-six days, twenty-two hours.

play mstie for me

As our faithful chronicler reminds, on this day—Thanksgiving in the US, in 1988 (see previously) Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered on a Minneapolis local channel, the premise making the programme akin to a pirate radio station broadcasting from orbit, with their lampooning of Invaders from the Deep (filmed in Supermarionation) then followed by episode two, Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars.

words of an unprecedented year

Whereas in times past, the Oxford English Dictionary nominated one representative term to sum up the Zeitgeist, lexicographers due to the dread fullness of 2020 could not settle one word and instead have underscored dozens encompassing the pandemic, changed social norms, civil unrest, disinformation and systemic racism. Read the whole report and get some insight into the research and vetting process at the link up top.

twtwtw

Hosted by celebrated presenter David Frost, the news satire programme was first aired on the BBC on this day in 1962, “That Was The Week That Was” was ground-breaking television for its lampooning of political figures and attacking the monarchy, class and the Empire, and significantly signalling the willingness on the part of the corporation to not consider itself bound by rules of impartiality in addressing apartheid in South Africa and the American south. Only broadcast on Saturday evenings through December of the following year, the show has an outsized legacy, directly informing a Dutch version and a US version hosted by Gene Hackman, This Hour Has Seven Days and This Hour Has Twenty-Two Minutes in Canada, and A Week Of It in New Zealand

datamoshing

Thanks to Waxy for introducing us to the term that covers a broad range of creating glitchy effects with pixel sorting, data corruption, channel shifting and other methods through these surreal shorts. If you’re a quick study here’s one tutorial, counterbalanced with another lesson for achieving effects of a more practical nature and with full file integrity.

8x8

tanssinopettaja: a few dance lessons from the reigning king of disco, Åke Blomqvist

haunted bohemian shrine aunt: a truly cursed real estate listing from McMansion Hell (previously)—via Pluralistic  

ascertainment: Trump directs General Services Administration to credential President Elect Joe Biden’s transition team 

philately: United Nations honoured with a beautiful, retro series of postage stamps for its seventy-fifth anniversary 

mons rümker: China launches a unscrewed mission to the Moon to retrieve mineral samples from a young crater—all to be accomplished in the span of one lunar day (a terrestrial fortnight)  

after school special: times when television grappled with social issues in affecting ways—via the morning news  

monumenta antiquitatis: a scribe’s quill and quiver 

linus & lucy: tag your Charlie Brown dance—via Swiss Miss

françoise harddisk

Via Kicks Condor, we are directed towards the Organizing Committee and their experimental musical collaboration inspired by Chilean president’s Salvadore Allende’s Project Cybersyn designed to empower the people through direct democracy, soliciting universal and instantaneous feedback with “algedonic meters,” having employed socialist cybernetic folk music as an educational and promotional campaign to introduce the public to this vast and ambitious initiative. Its implementation was tragically pre-empted by the fascist coup of Augusto Pinochet in 1973—but at least one song in the new genre was recorded: “Letania para una computadora y para un niño que va a nacer” (Litany for a Computer and a Child Yet to Be Born) by Angel Parra as well as the construction of an operations centre that has the look and feel of a Star Trek bridge. The cyborg pop album produced is co-written by a host of machine learning models, synthesising instrumentals and lyrics, and consists of thirteen tracks with a human at the helm for creative control. Much more to explore with the liner notes and all the songs at the link above.

thespians

First historically documented in a competition to find the best tragedy (τραγῳδία, literally goat song, suggesting that that was the top prize)—that is stagecraft with an actor portraying a character rather than themselves singly and distinct from the chorus, on this day in 534 BC performer and playwright, according to Aristotle, Thespis is credited in Western traditions with the invention of acting, performing short dithyrambs—that is, stories about gods and heroes with choric refrains, διθύραμβος or hymns to Dionysus and a way to frame enthusiastic speech—playing all the roles himself and differentiating each part by donning a different mask (persona). 

Building on his successful showing at the contest, Thespis then went on, according to Horace, to invent theatrical touring, transporting his masks and costumes in a horse-drawn carriage, Thespis’ wagon (Άρμα Θέσπιδος, Carro di Tespi) being a popular theme for the visual arts.