Wednesday, November 30, 2022

RIP Aline Kominsky-Crumb (1948-2022)

Pioneering underground cartoon artist Aline Kominsky- Crumb is survived by her husband Robert and their daughter, Sophie, also an artist. 

ART BY ALINE KOMINSKY-CRUMB, COURTESY OF DENIS KITCHEN/KITCHEN SINK PUBLISHING

She was a founding member of the influential all-female collective that produced the anthology Wimmin’s Comix, a long-running feminist comic.

Via Boing Boing

RIP The Legendary Christine Perfect

Christine Perfect (later known as Christine McVie) put out a solo album that was a favourite of mine back in the day. She was also a Fleetwood Mac songwriter and keyboardist. She died today at age 79.

Bardcore "Blue"

I enjoy a little bardcore now and again. This version of Eiffel 65's 'Blue' hits the right note.


via The Awesomer 

Digital Giza

Inside the Great Pyramid is an interactive tour of the three chambers of Khufu Pyramid, also known as the Great Pyramid, on the Giza Plateau.

Just Josephine Baker twisting the night away on an Italian tv show in 1962



Via Messy Nessy

Photograph of the Day

This drone photograph of Mont Saint-Michel taken from space looks like an impressionist painting.

The low angle of the winter sun creates a perfect shadow of the iconic Mont Saint-Michel abbey on the water. EUROPEAN UNION, COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2 IMAGERY

Via Atlas Obscura

Chemical Somnia



There's a lot going on in a petri dish. Chemical Somnia, a film by Scott Portingale, uses timelapse and high speed photography to transport the viewer into chemical dimensions, exploring phase transition, fluid dynamics, and chemical reactions.

Chemical Somnia from Scott Portingale on Vimeo.




Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Tweet of the Day

 

My Cat Lucy

 Lucy? Or Satan in my cat's body?


A short animation by Kate Vaillant, Ringling College of Art and Design Class of 2022

The OceanMaker - A Sci-Fi Short by Lucas Martell



After the seas have disappeared, a courageous pilot fights against vicious sky pirates for control of the last remaining source of water: the clouds.

James May Says Cheese

 

 

Murder in My Heart for the Judge

My blogger buddy Marco posted a song by Nellie McKay a few days ago and I was reminded that I used to listen to her music a lot. Here's one of my favourites:

 

Monday, November 28, 2022

The Fishwick house



The Fishwick house, one of Sydney Australia’s most famous modernist homes is on the market. Designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin, the house is significant for its location, its liveability and its place in the history of modern architecture. The views are spectacular.


Tweet Of The Day

Big wow!

 

Nut Buster


My mother married later in life and moved to her husband's home in Arkansas. Pecans are native to the state and every Christmas they sent us a big box of unshelled pecans. I could have used an All In One Pecan Nut Buster back then.
 

(Thanks Bruce)

How the Dutch got their cycle paths

I did a cycling tour through The Netherlands and Belgium a few years ago and was impressed by their excellent cycling infrastructure. 
 
 

Ruins Coffee Table



The Ruins Coffee Table, designed by Sebastian Errazuriz, contains broken ancient artefacts  displayed inside of a clear glass coffee table filled with marble dust.  

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Thorgellen

My parents referred to them as "The Minnesota Vikings" because 1. They were from St. Paul, Minnesota and 2. They were both Vikings.

via Memo of the Air 

Music For Sunday Morning

Martha Wainwright comes from a legendary Canadian musical clan. I grew up with their songs and love that the family continues to make music for us.

Sunday Links

 “Hello Everyone” shows a raccoon waving on a Florida beach after being fed shrimp by the photographer, Miroslav Srb.


Take a rainy day walk through a neighborhood in Son Tra District, Da Nang City, Viet Nam. (Don't forget your umbrella)

Gingerbread houses are passé. Charcuterie Chalets are the dernier cri this year.

Tokyo Street Fashion I've always wanted to visit Japan but I don't have the right clothes.


Blueprints of turntables and amps map out the history of music genre by genre. (via Colossal)


If you're looking for something good to read, you'll probably find it here.

Everything you think you know about truffles is a lie. Not just truffle oil, everything.



A clump of dirt, an olive and a bag of Jolly Ranchers sweets are some of the Strangest Last Meals Ever Requested

Buy this Loving Bear Puffy for someone who wants one. By 'someone' I do not mean me. (Via Rusty Blazenhoff)

Landscapes from your favorite paintings that you can actually visit.

But the second you sing uno, dos, tres, catorce? Forget it. You’re the catorce guy.

Is Wine Fake? How come some experts can’t distinguish red and white wines, and others can tell that it’s a 1951 Riesling from the Seine River Valley? If you can detect aged orange peel, why can’t you tell a $3 bottle from a $30 one?


Clothes In Books is a blog about the clothes characters wear in literature with a particular emphasis on crime fiction of all eras, classic literature, 'women's fiction' of the mid 20th C, and children's books.

An Espresso Martini Handbag Now Exists  (Please don't buy me this for Christmas)

Nosewise, Garlik, Havegoodday & More - Dog names from David Scott-Macnab’s academic paper “The Names of All Manner of Hounds: A Unique Inventory in a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript

Skinny House The width of this Toronto home maxes out at seven feet, three inches. (via Miss Cellania)


Pieometry, the wonderful tart art of Lauren Ko


Kavanaghs aka The Gravediggers Bar is built into a cemetery wall in Dublin and generations have mourned here in a liquid way.

Bruce, a frequent contributor to this blog, found this beauty for sale in Toronto: 1925 American LaFrance Type 75 #2636621 


Don't believe everything you read on the internet: The great online toaster hoax 


Saturday, November 26, 2022

Photo of the Day



via Miss Cellania

Paper-Cuts



Artist Hiroki Saito creates stunning cityscapes using kirie, the art of Japanese paper cutting.

A Fowl Army Keeps a Vineyard Running

Two thousand Indian runner ducks keep the Vergenoegd Löw wine estate in South Africa pest free and fertilize the vines. Every day hundreds of ducks parade from their residence to work in the fields.


When their parading days are over, they retire onto the lake’s island where every single one will die of old age.

Read more: Gastro Obscura

The First Christmas Movie

Santa Claus, an 1898 British short silent drama film directed by George Albert Smith, was the first movie about Christmas. At the time it was considered to be a technical marvel.


Read more: Vintage Everyday

The Essential Japanese Cinema



via 3 Quarks Daily

Rare Fish



via TwistedSifter

Friday, November 25, 2022

The Force of July

My FB friends Susan McLennan and Mike Erskine-Kellie made this wonderful video as part of a project they are working on. Give it a like (I did).

 

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen

A weirdly wonderful video with lyrics from a famous essay written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune.

 

The Tricks Behind Major Food Commercials

How food commercials for clients like Hershey's, Pepsi, and Domino's are made. This is why your real-life burger is often a disappointment.

Anyox, Canada's Largest Ghost Town

Granby Consolidated started construction of the town around 1912 and by 1914, with the mine and smelter in full operation the town had grown to a population of around 3,000 residents. Today Anyox sits mostly forgotten.


Via DOOBYBRAIN

Thanksgiving Turduckenen-duckenen

It is best if a mathematician prepares this dish.


Via TYWKIWDBI 

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Displaying the Dead

From the second atlas volume of Charles-Nicolas Houel’s Catalogue des pièces du musée Dupuytren (1877–1880)

When Paris’ infamous museum of anatomical pathology closed its doors in 2016, a controversial collection disappeared from view. Daisy Sainsbury explores the history of the Musée Dupuytren, and asks what an ethical future might look like for the human specimens it held.

A Day at the Beach in Biarritz (1928)



This AI enhanced film starts with clips from a hotel overlooking the beach, then a street fashion show. We then move down to the beach for a walk among the sunbathers and swimmers.


Read more: Open Culture

Jolene recorded with AI


Holly Herndon has released a cover of Dolly Parton’s classic ballad, Jolene, recorded with artificial intelligence.


Read more here

(via TMN)

Reserve your trip on Spaceship Neptune


It has a space lounge equipped with panoramic windows, a bar, reclining chairs, a menu with expensive snacks, Wi-Fi, customizable decorative lighting, a telescope, interactive screens, floor lamps, as well as plants for use in cocktails.


Tuesday, November 22, 2022

The Best Chef in the World


The French Laundry, run by legendary chef Thomas Keller, has often been recognized as the best restaurant in the world, but few know the story of its original founder, Sally Schmitt.

The Best Chef in the World | A Breakwater Original from Breakwater Studios Ltd. on Vimeo.

A walk around Manhattan in the 1950s.

 

Sweet and Sour (2007)



This fantastic animation is about a dog who is in love with Chinatown, until he begins to believe he is on the menu. (repost from 2010)

Winter at the Phukthar Monastery

Phukthar (aka Phugtal) Buddhist Monastery in Northern India can be reached only by foot. Supplies are brought on horses, donkeys, and mules in the warmer months, and in the frozen winters, they are transported through the frozen Zanskar River.

Monday, November 21, 2022

Becoming a Werewolf

 

Sun After The Snow Storm

Looking at the Niagara on the Lake Courthouse across my garden.

Photo: Marilyn Bellamy

David Bowie & Peter Frampton Search for Beer in Madrid (1987)

Fourteen minutes of David Bowie and Peter Frampton walking around Madrid with an MTV crew looking for an outdoor taverna on a chilly day. Fans followed and David cheerfully signed autographs.


Via everlasting blort 

The Recycling Man

Is this our dystopian future? I hope not, it's pretty grim. 

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Sunday Links

"The Cairo Sketches" AI generated patterns exploring Islamic Cairo architectural Facades through 3d fractals (image above). Thanks Bruce!

A quote for every minute of the day: This literature clock is wonderful.

American grocery store coffees ranked (many of these are also available in Canadian stores) My palate is undiscriminating; I once did a coffee tasting and after the first two I could not taste the subtleties.

I'm Wearing Tunics Now (They go well with my pajama pants)

Love letters written by Bob Dylan to his high school sweetheart sold
for US$670K.

In The Mirror of Maya Deren: A full documentary about the most important and innovative avant-garde filmmaker in the history of American cinema.

Just a German musician and his band of monkeys  Sorry, link not working.

This middle school boy will probably grow into Mr. Nag who delights in baring his limbs to the elements all year round.  Link

Let's buy the village of Salto de Castro in Spain. For €260,000 we can have 44 homes, a bar, a school, barracks and a church inside Spain’s Arribes del Duero Natural Park. Who's in?

If Twitter implodes this is what I will miss

I'd be stupid to stop now Dave Watson, has been collecting copies of UK No 1 hits since the late 1980s; today, he owns all 1,404 UK No 1 singles, reaching back to the birth of the charts in 1952. (via Perfect for Roquefort Cheese)

African painted dogs at the Oregon Zoo notice a visitor's service animal

World's Shortest Love Story?

Real Life Dramas, a series by Mary Frey, appears to be documentary but the photographs are entirely preconceived and set-up. The texts, which are photographically generated, appropriate the language of popular dime store fiction. (via TMN)

Inside the Royal Canadian Navy’s First U-Boat Kill of WW2 (via Strange Company)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro can't go out because he can't wear pants

It's a tough job and no one should have to do it: How working on prison executions harms people and changes their views 

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky Oscillating Reaction (Thanks Bruce)

Creatures on clotheslines, laundry faces and more: Helga Stentzel's Household Surrealism

Reimagining Emily Dickinson - lovely: I felt a funeral in my brain

The story of the 'Revenge Dress' (£39,098)

Leaving Twitter because Musk sucks? Why You Should Archive and Lock Down Your Data (NYT Link)

The CP Holiday Train is on the move through Canada and the US starting November 22. It may be coming to a city near you.

How to move a country Fiji's radical plan to relocate dozens of villages.

Music For Sunday Morning

Seriously, nothing beats a bit of Annie Lennox in the morning.


via Duck Soup

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Hofjes

 


I was intrigued by this tweet and and spent more time than I should have this morning reading about these residences for seniors. Hofje is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses for the elderly around it. They have existed since the Middle Ages in the Netherlands and many are still in use.  

Read more about hofjes here and  here

His Grandparents' Living Room

Ging Chong’s living room - Jeffery Chong

Jeffery Chong has meticulously recreated the East Vancouver house, which four generations of the family called home. The house will soon be sold and probably torn down.
Chong staged the living room as it would’ve been in 1964 — from the furniture down to the decor on the mantelpiece — with the TV switched on to the CBC evening broadcast where his grandfather briefly showed up on the screen at 6:45 p.m.

A giant recreation of the Chongs’ living room is on display on the wall of the CBC Vancouver building at 700 Hamilton St. until late summer 2023.


It's a good story. Read more: The Tyee 

Friday, November 18, 2022

Wooden Doll Choir


This wooden doll choir from teenage engineering appeals to me. Each doll has their own characteristic vocal range and can sing a solo or join together in an immersive a cappella concert.


Last Roses Of The Season

 I brought these roses in because I thought they looked cold.

Image: Marilyn Bellamy

The Running of the Goats

Listen to the sound of cuteness as Sunflower Farm Creamery in Maine celebrates the end of the 2021 kidding season with an epic run featuring 33 bucklings and 27 doelings, 22 mamas, and 6 retired goats. Bonus: triplets.


via  The Kid Should See This

Tongue-Twister History

In this episode of The List Show, host Erin McCarthy covers the surprising origins of famous tongue-twisters.

AI Generated Music Video for 'Echoes' by Pink Floyd

This trippy video by Euclid of Hueman Instrument recreates the psychedelic vibe of 1971.

Japanese Art Of The Day

 

''‘Lady of the Evening Faces’ (Yūgao): Yazama’s Wife Orie, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1845-1846

Thursday, November 17, 2022

What Akiko saw at the centre of the Hiroshima blast



Akiko Takakura is one of the last survivors of the atomic bomb explosion of Hiroshima. During Obon, she receives the spirits of her parents and is haunted by memories.
 

via Aeon Videos

Our Universe Narrated By Morgan Freeman (Official Trailer)

This history of our universe contains absolutely stunning imagery.

The Werewolf of Quebec

In 1776 a loup-garou stalked stalked the countryside around the city of Quebec.


via Miss Cellania

Floor796


Floor796 is a large, constantly expanding animation project drawn in the browser by 0x00. It depicts life on the 796th floor of a gigantic space station in incredible detail. The video below shows the process of drawing the swimming pool.


Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Stolen Monsters Around The World


These vintage Japanese Pachimon postcards are budget bromide trading cards made by the Japanese companies Yokopro and Yamapro featuring unauthorized alterations  collaged with other photographic elements. (the term Pachimon translates to stolen monsters)






A Chair That Travels At 20 km/h?

Volkswagen has designed an office chair that comes with car-like amenities: motors that make it drivable, a horn, an infotainment system, reversing cameras, sensors, LED lighting, storage space and much more.

RIP Aura, The Lynx That Helped Save Her Species From Extinction

Aura with one of her cubs. Photograph: Antonio Rivas Salvador/Centro de cría del lince ibérico El Acebuche/OAPN-MITECO






When Aura was born in Andalucía’s Doñana national park in 2002, there were a mere 94 Iberian lynxes on the peninsula. Over the course of her two decades of life, she gave birth to 14 kittens and, through them, created an impressive dynasty. She died at the ripe old age of 20.


Read more about Aura: The Guardian

Lost Treasures of the Silk Road



New archaeological findings seem to support the theory that there had been contact between the East and West much earlier than originally assumed. (Full documentary)


Old School Japanese Geometry



Via Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

Cylinder Glass

A piece of cylinder glass ready for cutting ca. 1918

For years, the only glass available was hand-blown glass. It was expensive and large sheets were not available. A local glass worker would blow the glass on a rod and spin it into discs which when cooled could be cut into small pieces.
That is why homes built in the 1600 and 1700s have so many small panes of glass in their windows. Price and availability of glass dictated window designs and lite patterns.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Nail Polish Paintings

Caroline Zurmely - nail polish on panel

Caroline Zurmely landed on an unlikely material to bring her 90’s-inspired paintings to life.

Photograph Of The Day

This large-scale photograph by Canadian artist Jeff Wall shows us the moment four people have been caught by a sudden gust of wind. It looks like November to me.

Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993

It is based on a woodcut from the portfolio, The Thirty-six Views of Fuji, by the Japanese painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (below).

Katsushika Hokusai, Ejiri in Suruga Province (Sunshū Ejiri), c. 1830–32

From Sheep to Sea



The iconic sweater known as ‘the gansey’ has been worn by Cornish sailors on seaward journeys since the 18th century.


via Aeon Videos

Sand Powered Automaton

This acrobatic automaton by Alexander Korzer Robinson was inspired by a 19th century toy. The figure moves through a mechanism inside that is driven by falling sand contained in the box. (It's available for purchase)



Via Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

Playing the world's largest flute

She starts small…

via Memo Of The Air

Empty House

 "The story of my parent's divorce, told from the perspectives of the house, furniture and objects that we used to own." - Sean Christensen



(A repost from 2010)

Monday, November 14, 2022

The Immediate Present

Filmed at his Maine studio, artist Alex Katz reflects on his relationship to light and the sensations that his painting evokes.

Scientists identify neurons that help paralyzed patients walk again

A new study by scientists at the .NeuroRestore research center has identified the type of neuron that is activated and remodeled by spinal cord stimulation, allowing patients to stand up, walk and rebuild their muscles – thus improving their quality of life.


Read more

Scopitones

In the 1960s, long before we could stream music videos on our cell phones, there were Scopitones, great big audio-visual jukeboxes found primarily in bars where you could watch B-list pop stars gyrating to their latest hits. I don't remember ever seeing one of these contraptions but April Winchell used to post cheesy scopitones on her site during the early days of blogging and I took a liking to them. Recently my  buddy-in-blogging, Perfect for Roquefort Cheese, posted an excellent one and it sent me on a search for Scopitones of yore. Many of those I posted way back when have been taken down over the years but I found a few.

 


 

Tiny Greenhouse



Hannah Levesque is a "builder of models of emotions". She creates exquisite custom-made paper architectural models.
Via everlasting blort

Gustav Klimt - Gold in Motion



Here are highlights from the new multi-sensory exhibition called “Gustav Klimt - Gold in Motion" at Hall des Lumières in New York City.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Sunday Links

Weird: "A ghost town Disneyland, minus the fun"

Portland writer Hob Broun required spinal surgery to remove a tumor that resulted in his paralysis. Subsequently, he wrote two books by blowing air through a tube that activated the specially outfitted keyboard of a computer.  Read Municipal Noir, a very dark, very good, very short story.

See The Neon Museum of Philadelphia before it closes at the end of this year. (Thanks Bruce!)

The new US Congress will run from the Silent Generation all the way to Gen Z

If I invite you for dinner in the near future I'll likely cook this Chicken Karahi Recipe. It looks easy, is made in one dish and makes enough to serve to guests. 


This is worth reading: They sat on the sofa. Michael took a deep breath and began, “I think I'm the evil, damned son of the devil." Swamp Boy Medical Mystery

Tunnel Below Niagara Falls I live 15 minutes from the Falls and this new attraction but haven't been yet. Next time folks visit from out of town I'll take them there.


I'm looking forward to reading so many of these: The New Yorker Best Books of 2022 

Like social justice and kittens? You might like this calendar. (via web curios)

NORMAN: All we wanted was an edit button. Norman Bates Checks Out of Twitter
(via PfRC)


Mount Fuji Eraser (via everlasting blort)

The Mansion On O Street: Is it a museum? Is it a hotel? Is it a non-profit organization? It depends on who you are.

Groceteria.com is a site about the history of American and Canadian urban chain supermarkets, from the 1920s through the present, with an emphasis on buildings and locations. It makes me nostalgic. (Via Things Magazine)

This Mushroom Shaped Pendant Lamp is grown from real fungi.

My Radiation Baby I love scopitones.

No fish died in the making of this piece of performance art. Les Aquamen