prove to me that you’re divine, change my water into wine—that’s all you need do, then i’ll know it’s all true

Formerly only previewed as a cast recording in limited release over a year prior, the rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber Jesus Christ Superstar was for the first time staged and performed before a live audience in the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway—the famous venue for My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Man of La Mancha which would eventually be consecrated in 1989 as the interdenominational Times Square Church—on this day in 1971. The anachronistic version of the Holy Week narrative, loosely following the books of the gospel and giving an accounting of Jesus and his disciples leading up to his arrest and crucifixion was the longest-running West End musical before being displaced by Cats in 1989. Below is “Superstar,” the penultimate number, with Judas, Soul Sisters and Angels from the 1973 adaptation, filmed on location.

movimento unionista italiano

Formed in the aftermath of World War II on Columbus Day 1944 by a sociologist called Corrado Gini—who developed the Gini coefficient as a metric for income inequality, an academic and activist called Santi Paladino best remembered for his theory that Michelangelo was the real author of the works of Shakespeare and a statistician named Ugo Damiani, the goal of their political party was to persuade the United States of America to annex Italy. More over the founding members believed that it was incumbent on the US to take in all free and democratic nations and become a world government, enshrining the values of liberty and ensuring perpetual peace and employment. During the general elections held two years later, the Italian Unionist Movement only garnered one seat out of over five-hundred and fifty representatives in the Chamber of Deputies, Italy’s lower house of parliament. The party opted to dissolve itself ahead of the next national vote in 1948.

horticultural dingbat

In announcing the winner of contest held in honour of Punctuation Day, adopted and embraced as an international observance, Shady Characters gives us a brief but thorough education in the dual-use glyph, used both as a form of punctuation and as a typographical ornament known as the printers’ flower, Aldus leaf (after Renaissance publisher Aldus Manutius of the the Aldine Press), the hedera symbol or most commonly as the fleuron—❦. Similar to the pilcrow (¶, Middle English pylcrafte and ultimately from the Greek paragraphos), it was used in ancient manuscripts to divide paragraphs in a block of text and fill the space of indentation. In modern bookbinding and pagination, it is used similarly to the asterism to denote line- and page-breaks as well as borders. Couched in the title conventions, they are referred to as “floral hearts.”

respubliko de la insulo de la rozoj

Sadly short-lived and not tolerated by Italian authorities, regarding it as a ploy for tax avoidance (and perhaps to provide cover to marauding Soviet submarines), after the declaration of Rose Island (so named in Esperanto, its official language) on 1 May 1968, subsequent occupation at the end of June and eventual demolition the following February, engineer Giorgio Rosa, namesake and self-appointed president, we glean from Messy Messy Chic, designed and built the host platform in the Adriatic, off the coast of Rimini and in international waters.

The structure supported by nine pylons (see also) was not only the seat of government, issuing stamps and possibly a currency, the Mill—₥, now an abstraction for economic discussion, once also used in Cyprus, Mandatory Palestine, Hong Kong and Malta but also a bar and nightclub as well as a souvenir shop. A lightly fictionalised version of the story of the founding of the micronation was released in December of 2020 with the blessing of Rosa, whom aged ninety-two, passed away in 2017 during production.

upstairs, downstairs

Tracking the gradual decline of the British aristocracy through the lens of a wealthy family living at a posh address in Belgravia, a countess who entered into a morganatic marriage with the son of a county parson, and their domestics, over a span of twenty-seven years, from the turn of the century through the Great War, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression in the 1930s during the regencies of Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII, the ITV series debuted on this day in 1971, running for five seasons. The introductory credits of each episode featured a cartoon from Punch magazine over the opening theme The Edwardians—performed as a the mildly bawdy, music hall piece “What Are We Going to Do with Uncle Arthur?” with an instrumental version also used as a wedding march (see also) for a marriage ceremony in the show.

7x7

pov: more superlative drone photography 

true facts: Ze Frank (previously) assays the mosquito 

awesome mix, vol 1 & 2: the video game adaption of Guardians of the Galaxy has a stellar soundtrack  

baby, you are so money and you don’t even known it: a quarter of a century on, in defence of Swingers, the Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau vehicle that has more heart than one might have remembered  

social justice kittens: a 2022 calendar from Liartown, USA (previously)—via Web Curios  

the montauk project: spelunking in the mothballed secretive military base, Camp Hero, that inspired Stranger Things 

hop on, hop off: in honour of the Year of the European Rail, photographer Albert Dros documents his ten-day train journey across the continent

burgruine osterburg

Taking advantage of the sunny Autumn weather, we took a drive through the countryside and made the short hike up to the clearing on a summit facing the Kreuzburg to explore the ruins of the hilltop fortress called Osterburg near Bischofheim, a tenth century fortification that was the stuff of legend until its accidental rediscovery in 1897 by a forester, its strategic importance having waned into oblivion as the valley below gained in strength and control of the region’s trade. The aerial shots are courtesy of H’s drone and we enjoyed the impressive vistas all around. 

 One could easily imagine what the grounds might have been like intact and manned. The outpost mysterious and isolated among the peaks, the place was imbued in the last centuries with a few elements of folklore including a lost treasure whose finding would prove redemptive for some souls tethered to castle and keep.

queen of wands

Brilliantly, artist Juanjo Cristiani (a.k.a. enjoy.mycake) transformed contestants, guests and hosts from RuPaul’s Drag Race into a divine and divining tarot deck, which on close inspection reveal a wealth of detail and character development in each card, patterned off of the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith template. Here’s Lil’ Poundcake / Alaska as The Hermit, signalling the need for introspection and slow, deliberative steps going forward since the lantern does not afford much of a preview of terrain ahead, but it was too tough to pick just one representative card. Much more at It’s Nice That at the link up top and the artist’s website and boutique.