February 4, 2024 Those how-to YouTubes? Here's a couple, kinda esoteric: Making Anti-gravity tubes from Copper & Silver, and Making purple Gold. Really envious of the workshop/laboratories these guys have. Timely coincidence: Alec's recent Technology Connections explaining Flashbulbs and cubes, and all those flashbulbs popping in the "Watchmen" movie intro, linked to here last week. February 2, 2024 Three random Mental Floss articles: 8 Weird Disasters from History, What in Tarnation Is 'Tarnation'? and A Brief History of Mad Magazine. If you're curious about that breakout Mad story, Forgotten Awesome has scans of all eight pages of Superduperman! Hot Cocoa vs. Hot Chocolate: How Are They Different? Concerning the Westinghouse Time Capsule at the New York World's Fair: Capsule Collection by Dorothy Gambrell of Cat And Girl. More about her in this recent MetaFilter thread. January 31, 2024 This Is Colossal on Etienne Jacob's GIFs. It's his third appearance there; I may have linked to previously but so amazing. More at his web-site: random and colorful. The Times, They Are A-Changing, opening credits sequence for the 2009 Watchmen movie. Must've been baffling to those with no familiarity with the source material. If ever you care to tackle this best of all comic books, recommend you do so with Doug Atkinson's Annotated Watchmen close at hand. WTF? Rick Owens' New Menswear Collection Takes Us Home. The life of a male model... January 29, 2024 An old building in downtown LA which intrigues me: the Richfield Tower (Wikipedia). Torn down before my time; Martin Turnbull has a page of Different views of the Richfield Tower (aka Richfield Oil Building), downtown Los Angeles, 1929 to 1969, mostly black&white, alas. January 24, 2024 Know Your Meme on Ron DeSantis' White Boots, compares him to others but seems it's up to me to mention Russ Manning's Magnus Robot Fighter (whose boots were occasionally black, it's true). Colorado Public Radio report, CIA Chief Pushes For More Spies Abroad; Surveillance Makes That Harder. Quotes Jonna Mendez, former CIA Chief of Disguise, on blending in with Europeans, who think that we are slouchy, a little sloppy... because they stand up straight, they don’t lean on things. They are on two feet and we're always on one foot with that other foot kind of stuck out. Reminding me of Laurie Anderson, about three minutes into The Cultural Ambassador, advice from the US embassy in Madrid on laying low in international airports, like, don't chew gum or wear a baseball cap, etc. January 21, 2024 AP: How watermelon imagery, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, spread around the planet. Atlas Obscura: Ten Dishes Worth Booking a Trip Around. Missing: a trip to the tropics (Singapore will do) for some mangosteen and durian. 75 Years Ago, Volkswagens First Landed in America. And now, in Mexico, this VW-themed AirBnB 'Lets' You Sleep in a Vintage Beetle. A chef tries 56 Grilled Cheese sandwich variations. January 17, 2024 Say, what's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes? The Disappointed Tourist, Ellen Harvey, creates paintings of places long gone. Two I knew: the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, and the Islamic-design-influenced 2 Columbus Circle in NYC. While idly searching on one of the Edsal's proposed names ('Utopian Turtle-Top') I discovered that the illustrator Seymour Chwast was commissioned to bring [Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Marianne] Moore's names to life, imagining what automobiles named "The Intelligent Whale," "The Dearborn Diamante" and "The Utopian Turtletop" might actually look like. January 14, 2024 Pondering the running man of Osaka neon, I wondered about his various iterations, how often he changes. Scrolling down at this Glico exhibition site showe five dioramas of his various stages, looming over the Ebisu bridge in Dotonbori, where I've heard the latest version (#6) is all LEDs (so like the Sphere, it could be showing anything). More about the running man at HappyJappy. The Tatler on the emblems and quirks of Denmark's highest honor, the Order of the Elephant. World's most amazing circular buildings according to Rediff. RIP Joe Matt. January 10, 2024 New Lomaxian trove of bluesy old sounds released by Smithsonian Folkways: Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971; with samples of all the tracks. Uncle Dan reviews the vinyl version. Popular Mechanics announces that an airship is Ready for the First Non-Stop, Fully Electric, Around-the-World Flight. No, not exactly ready, doesn't even exist yet -‌- construction of Solar Airship One is scheduled to begin in 2024 ahead of the 2026 flight. Understanding this new film, "Chevalier" -‌- is "de-centering" classical music's 'whiteness' possible? Compares what an old chum calls 'pure music' to Noh and Kabuki theater. And speaking of new films, caught up on some, flying across the Pacific, on the Seatback Cinema: Past Lives, "Barbie," and "You Hurt My Feelings" although the standout was a National Geographic documentary, Living in the Age of Airplanes, narrated by Harrison Ford, music by James Horner, see it if you can. January 7, 2024 In the Smithsonian, How John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" Changed American Music. Don't miss the second part concerning the St.John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco. If You're Dealing With *That* Cough Right Now, Here's What It Might Be, according to Buzzfeed. I've had *It* for a month now, but it's fading, finally. Guaifenesin is my treatment; my Covid tests still come back negative. First Roald Dahl, now Ian Fleming -‌- James Bond Novels to Be Reprinted With Racist Language Removed, according to Rolling Stone. I just re-read the second one (Live And Let Die) where this is all about the Spanish word for black, not the N-word. January 3, 2024 Maurice Sendak's Emotional Last Interview with NPR's Terry Gross, from 2011, animated by Christoph Niemann. Searching for an old This American Life, it was Wacky -‌- not quirky or kooky. Far Out magazine answers the burning question of the day: Who was Mr. Jimmy? Note to Far Out, in 1964 a soda fountain wouldn't have had Cherry Coke (which wasn't bottled until 1985), but they could've been out of the necessary cherry syrup with which a cherry Coke would've been fashioned, at the time. December 31, 2023 Watching this odd film located deep inside the Internet Archive, Hello Down There from 1969, concerning a typical American family living beneath the sea, for 30 days. Obviously inspired by Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf  2 -‌- watch his team doing it for real in the World Without Sun documentary from 1964. Note that unlike Tony Randall's standalone Green Onion the actual Starfish House required a support ship, on-station topside, for the duration. A bit late on this one, but Shibuya Unveils Graphics Discouraging Halloween Parties, exploiting the almost-X in that shibu kanji. The Sphere at the Paris Review. What is special.fish? A directory of sorts... December 27, 2023 Holiday Shopping covers of the Saturday Evening Post. Northern Michigan's beloved Christmas Tree boat is back with 3,000 twinkling lights. Twitter thread: the world's most astonishing church (and chapel) ceilings. December 25, 2023 - Merry Christmas! Hi-rez photo of a 1925 office holiday party Shorpy posts every year. At Rest of World, What is this thing? Guess Temu's weirdest gadgets. Shortyverse has posted a bunch of AI videos called 1920 Universe, imagining clips from SF movies and old TV shows, how they might look if produced earlier. The Blade Runner was especially dreamy. December 22, 2023 In What's With TikTok's LED Light Obsession? we learn that LED strip lights, ambient light projectors, and multicolored bulbs themselves are often referred to simply as TikTok lights. Godwin himself surfaces in the Washington Post, giving comparisons of TFG with Hitler his blessing. gift link Two map sites: RyderCalmDown's trains.fyi tracks real-time passenger trains in North America; and Alex Tingle projects how coastlines will appear (and disappear) as all the land ice melts, at flood.firetree.net. Penzey's Spices About Republicans page. December 20, 2023 At Eater, The Bitter Taste of 'Not Too Sweet'. Sumptuary Laws in Medieval Florence, where they had actual Fashion Police. Tales of Times Forgotten: The Decline of Cursive -‌- not that big a deal. In the Washington Monthly: Conservatives Have Lost the Culture War. CNN: Why scientists want you to have a tardigrade emoji -‌- biodiversity in the Emojipedia. A couple from The Pilot: Terminal Racket, the Scourge of Airport Noise and concerning the upcoming Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines merger. Some articles and columns from the Paris Review: How the Booksellers of Paris Are Preparing for Next Summer's Olympics ("I sell principally old books, published at a time when sports did not exist"); concerning Ben Hecht, the Hollywood Darling Who Tanked His Career to Combat Anti-Semitism; the Bloody Family History of the Guillotine; and the Short, Daring Life of Lilya Litvyak. I've been unable to locate the complete Zap #11 story about her: Lily Litvak, the Roe of Stalingrad; but most of the panels are available, and if you want more don't miss this decent animation somebody posted to YouTube. December 18, 2023 Back from the travels, so good to be out from behind the Great Chinese Firewall. Links resuming soon but as I couldn't access a lot of the usual I scraped up all the Lee Sandlin I could find there, and one last special recommendation would be his Road To Nowhere.
Previously *   *   *
Last cinema visits:	"The Boy and the Heron" "Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms" "Oppenheimer"
Current reading:	Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins and The Beats: A Graphic History, mostly by Harvey Pekar, edited by Paul Buhle
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Rash.log Archives: most recent or the complete index of archive pages, going back to early 2000.	Please visit the muthership: Wunderland.com (and its affiliate LooneyLabs, purveyor of unique games)
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