Kuja's Electronic Samizdat

SPEKTRMODULE T-Shirts & Etc

2012-01-20T13:42:00.000-02:00

SPEKTRMODULE T-Shirts & Etc:

At our shop now.

Solidarity

2011-10-26T18:13:00.000-02:00

Solidarity:

Remake / Jesse John Hunniford

2011-10-18T21:11:00.000-02:00

Remake / Jesse John Hunniford:

“American Gothic” beautifully remade by Jesse John Hunniford. See all the Remake submissions, here.

Instructions for submitting your own, here.

Pictogram music posters

2011-09-22T14:00:00.000-03:00

Pictogram music posters:

Some of you probably have seen this already! Do you remember the work of

Viktor Hertz, well apparently he has also developed these very cool pictogram music posters!

playing with your food...

2011-09-20T20:51:00.000-03:00

playing with your food...:

...in this beautiful series of plated food vignettes photographed by Andrea Bricco and styled by Casa de Perrin... — Joy

{photos by Andrea Bricco, via Rue Magazine's preview anniversary issue}

The Art Of Clean Up

2011-09-05T10:37:00.000-03:00

The Art Of Clean Up:

Photographs by Ursus Wehrli. You know the third assistant had to get those letters in order for that alphabet soup. Hit the jump to see what’s going on here!

Via Fubiz

Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ as a children’s book

2011-08-31T11:07:00.000-03:00

Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ as a children’s book:

Illustrations by Andrew Kolb

…

This capsule was curated by Stevyn Colgan

Neapolitan Cephalopods

2011-08-28T23:22:00.000-03:00

Neapolitan Cephalopods:

I Cefalopodi!

"Adolf Naef (1883-1949) was a Swiss zoologist and palaeontologist, famous for his work on cephalopods and systematics.

[He] studied at the University of Zurich, under the guidance of Arnold Lang, a former Professor of Jena University and close friend of Ernst Haeckel*. Naef visited and worked in Anton Dorn’s Zoological Station in Naples, Italy in 1908, studying the squid Loligo vulgaris, the subject of his dissertation.

Naef returned to the Naples Zoological Station in the mid 1920s to study cephalopods, publishing a two-part monograph in the Station’s 'Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel und der Angrenzenden Meers-Abschitte' ('Fauna e Flora del Golfo di Napoli') series, which formed the basis for his two short but significant monographs on systematic theory. In 1922 he became Professor at the University of Zagreb, and in 1927 was Professor of Zoology at the University of Cairo."

'I Cefalopodi' is hosted by the Biodiversity Heritage Library on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution.

The overall series from Naples is dated 1896 (presumably when it began) and this mid-1920s monograph (Vol. 35) on cephalopods features about thirty lithographs, most in black & white. (The digital book consists of only illustration plates)

Perhaps via; I don't quite recall. Click through on the images above to see them the right way up!

Reconsidering The Moon

2011-08-26T11:09:00.000-03:00

Reconsidering The Moon:

Throughout the ages, man has tried to better understand our closest celestial neighbor through myths and science. Our knowledge of the moon has changed over and over again as we learn more and more about the crater-covered satellite. And research is still changing what we believe.

Earlier this month, a report was released, showing that the moon may be 200 million years younger than researchers previously believed, dating at about 4.36 billion years old. This information came from the detailed inspection of a moon rock that was brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 astronauts back in 1972. The discovery only applies if the moon was in fact created when a Mars-sized rock crashed into the still molten Earth and shot debris into orbit around us. Since this is the current theory most scientists believe, it means that either the collision occurred much earlier than they thought, or that the moon was created some other way entirely.

Of course, since the dawn of time, children have looked up at the moon and fantasized about being able to pluck it from the sky if only they had ladder tall enough. That’s why I love this playful series of images by photographer Laurent Lavender showing people interacting with the moon in all kinds of ways. We’ve featured some of her images before and while they may not be the strongest illusions featured here, they are stunning photos that truly capture the childhood feeling of being able to reach out to the moon and turn it in to a new toy!

Check the below gallery for rest of the shots:

Work in Progress

2011-08-22T18:11:00.000-03:00

(title unknown):

“Work In Progress“, 2010 by Gareth Long.

Ingrid Dabringer Puts the "Art" in Cartography

2011-08-18T18:10:00.000-03:00

Ingrid Dabringer Puts the "Art" in Cartography:

Canadian artist Ingrid Dabringer has recently come to our attention for her map paintings, in which she reinterprets the vagaries of plate tectonics as portraits and dancers with a vaguely fauvist flavor.

She recently shared her creative process with the Huffington Post (their Travel section, no less): "I'm constantly pulling focus with my eyes. Sometimes I focus on the color, other times topography, other times black lines or colored lines or the landmass. I also let my eyes go blurry and focus sort of behind or in front of the map. Once I sift out a contour I don't lose it. In the end, I see all of the separate elements all together."

(more...)

Social Media Propaganda Posters by Aaron Wood

2011-08-02T10:33:00.000-03:00

Social Media Propaganda Posters by Aaron Wood: "

Who would you join up with to win the “war”?

Love these social media propaganda posters from Aaron Wood.

You can buy them on Etsy. Found via Google+.

Share This: Twitter | Facebook | Discover more great design by following Design Milk on Twitter and Facebook.

Bone Marrow Stuffed Mushrooms

2011-07-25T21:33:00.000-03:00

Bone Marrow Stuffed Mushrooms: "

I was visiting with Mr. Anderson and saw some beautiful King trumpet mushrooms sitting on a cutting board. The mushrooms looked like bones and I had an a-ha moment, we could stuff the mushrooms with bone marrow and really make them look like bones. The flavors would be fantastic together and it would be a clever riff on the ubiquitous stuffed mushroom. In this first version we sauteed the mushrooms first. Once they were browned we deglazed them with white wine and let them steam to cook through. When the mushrooms were cooked and cooled, we trimmed them and used a knife to carve out holes in their middles. Then we stuffed each mushroom with a large section of bone marrow. Finally we wrapped them and chilled them in the refrigerator so they would hold their shape. Tomorrow we will trim the marrow and then use the trimmings to cook the mushrooms before finishing them with fresh herbs and bringing them to the table. It's always nice to have something yummy to look forward to.

Years Past:

Mona Lisa in 140 dots

2011-07-22T11:02:00.000-03:00

Mona Lisa in 140 dots: "

Mona Lisa Remix by Graphic Nothing

…

Thank you to John Pollock

You Win 100 Internets if You Get This

2011-07-21T15:23:00.000-03:00

You Win 100 Internets if You Get This: "

Comic by: Unknown

Jon Stewart vs. Vsevolod Mikhailovich GarshinThis weekend I was...

2011-07-20T14:51:00.000-03:00

Jon Stewart vs. Vsevolod Mikhailovich GarshinThis weekend I was...: "

Jon Stewart vs. Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin
This weekend I was at the Met and was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this painting by late 19th century Russian realist Ilya Repin. I immediately heard “The Daily Show” theme-song.

Coyote and the Mummy Cat

2011-02-10T23:59:00.001-02:00

We all know the classic scene from cartoons: the cat reaches a precipice but goes on walking, ignoring the fact that there is no ground under its feet; it starts to fall only when it looks down and notices the abyss. When it loses its authority, the regime is like a cat above the precipice: in order to fall, it only has to be reminded to look down... (Zizek on Mubarak)

Venus as a Boy

2011-02-10T21:06:00.002-02:00

The real aesthetic experience of the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and 1940 was laid in the Amusement Zone, more precisely, inside a pavilion designed by Salvador Dali and simply called Dream of Venus. It is now recognized as one of the earliest full-scale installation pieces, including sound and performance, which make it one of the first (multi)-media artworks. Inside the “wet” part of the pavilion, there was a large number of objects inside a water tank: clusters of telephone earpieces, typewriters, fireplaces, mummified cows, seaweed turned into chains, etc. The “dry” part had, among several objects, a piano with a woman’s body for the keyboard and was populated basically by “mermaids” clad in lobsters loincloths, providing to visitors a sexually charged environment and, in addition, a powerful introduction to the Surrealistic Movement by its most charismatic figure. (photo: Eric Schaal, “Piano Mannequin”, Interior of Salvador Dali’s “Dream of Venus” pavilion, New York World’s Fair, 1939)

Pneumatic Parliament

2011-01-30T10:25:00.003-02:00

In Robert Fisk in Egypt: "Death throes of a dictatorship" post at BoingBoing...

RebNachum (10:01 PM, Jan 29):
Well, this is what I'm saying. I share the same worries/ignorance; the Muslim Brotherhood would not be my preferred regime change either, or ought be for many who advocate the cause of personal freedom and civil rights, but it's too early to tell, I suppose.

Kuja (sometime, Jan 30):
Agree, but one have to recognize that install a democracy over dictatorship pronto is not a trivial task (in fact, it is an American illusion). I'd rather go with Peter Sloterdijk, who imagined that the US Force should parachute a "pneumatic parliament" at a recently conquered barbarian country (or even at a recently overthrown dictatorship; it might work for Tunisia, Egypt, etc.)

Memory Graphisches

2010-12-11T15:40:00.003-02:00

Above, Göttweig Abbey (near Krems an der Donau) looks down Wachau valley. Here, in 1739, Paul Troger has painted the famous fresco in which the Roman Emperor Charles VI is represented as Apollo. The abbey owns a collection of more than 30,000 engravings, the largest Austrian private collection of historical prints. The majority of the stock comes from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Bellow, the Piazza San Marco, exactly as I have seen before my last caressed metempsychosis.

Beloved in a Bootle

2010-10-02T18:25:00.003-03:00

Remember when Jeannie eventually got trapped in her bootle? Because it is exact the feeling I've been experimenting wherever I talk with my girlfriend (who is doing her MA in London) via Skype.

Two Hunches

2010-09-24T19:43:00.003-03:00

Two photos which has taken me up with reminiscences: Anthony Goicolea's (bellow) recollects south Bahia’s skies and Patrick Millard's suggests lucid dreams taking place on obscure river banks...

Our agreements to disagree

2010-09-08T17:05:00.004-03:00

[A says: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”, apocryphal quotation atributed to Voltaire] XNOR [B says: "Where (or of what) one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence" Proposition 7, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein]

TsA ≠ TfB, TsB ≠ TfB
TsA ≠ TsB, TfA ≠ TsB
TfA ≠ TsA, TfA ≠ TfB
Thus
A ≠ B
Q.E.D.

The Underside of America

2010-08-11T15:48:00.006-03:00

More than a plain cultural critic, the American writer Mark Dery might well be labeled a sub-cultural critic, such is the range of subterranean topics he dives into: fringe religions, trash movies, eudaemonists (and demonists)... Uncanny subjects drawing on the "unconscious" of America, the psychic object officially inaugurated in 1909 by Sigmund Freud, after his visit to the freak amusement parks of Coney Island.

“Das Unheimliche”

2010-06-12T11:28:00.005-03:00

Jim Woodring (center) and Rob Beschizza (via Mark Dery)

Fear of Self

2010-04-02T17:53:00.002-03:00

Is it better to live as a monster or to die as a good man? (Teddy Daniels/Andrew Laeddis in Shutter Island, 2010). "And what if the therapist thus misreads blessed ignorance as unbearable suffering?" (Descartes and the Post-Traumatic Subject, by Slavoj Zizek)

Gobbledygook or Googledygook?

2010-03-23T23:20:00.003-03:00

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The Thing

2010-03-09T20:55:00.002-03:00

On the banner above, the Big Other of the Internet...

"Multiple" Choice

2010-01-19T22:01:00.005-02:00

Please, pick one of the two objet petit a: Berenice or Cheshire Cat?

Dressed to feel

2009-11-03T23:12:00.017-02:00

Scramble suit or bio-adapter, that's the question. Concerning the former, one will notice in the the picture above the character putting on a curious piece of "wearable computing", a kind of suit that give a perfectly anonymous appearance to undercover police detectives working for a highly dystopian DEA idealized by Philip K. Dick in the novel A Scanner Darkly (1977). Quoting the author, the suit is:

an invention of the Bell laboratories, conjured up by accident by an employee named S. A. Powers... Basically, his design consisted of a multifaceted quartz lens hooked up to a million and a half physiognomic fraction-representations of various people: men and women, children, with every variant encoded and then projected outward in all directions equally onto a superthin shroudlike membrane large enough to fit around an average human. As the computer looped through its banks, it projected every conceivable eye color, hair color, shape and type of nose, formation of teeth, configuration of facial bone structure - the entire shroudlike membrane took on whatever physical characteristics were projected at any nanosecond, then switched to the next...

Certainly a superficial device, nothing more than a walking screen. By the other hand, Oswald Wiener, an author yet to be valued (and, as a result, translated to English!!), imagined a completely different wearable in the novel Die verbesserung von mitteleuropa, roman (1969/1985). At the end of the book, included in an appendix, the author introduces the bio-adapter:

it knows from its sensors when a human being is inside preparing for a journey. Immediately after activating the start lever (which thereby becomes non-functional, it is just as quickly dismantled and added to the material reserves) the adapter begins to work. It closes by itself and makes air available for breathing. The air-conditioning unit provides ideal "external" conditions. Steered by a number of sensors which are located along the contours of the human body, the adapter fits closely to the latter on all sides, without however coming into contact with it, except in those places which are necessarily affected by gravity. By means of these sensors the adapter perceives each movement of the human body, anticipating it at a particular spot by buckling ahead.

But more importantly:

the bio-adapter can be compared to a selectively bred uterus ("joy suit") which, as a result of continual adaptation, is able to meet the most varied requirements of highly organised living creatures. It can be interpreted both as the hypertrophy of the modules of organs, a process which at first extends into the area of "physically external," and as the nervous structural complex of its owner, and from this point of view it is a converter of the pleasure impulses which human beings project onto their environment (servo-narcissus).

The complete English excerpt is here. One certainly would agree that Wiener's device is in fact an observable equipped with an algedonics counter. I've doodle what would be its working schemata:

Homo Otarius

2009-09-17T15:45:00.003-03:00

Franco Mattes, from 0100101110101101.org, has just placed a billboard in the center of Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts. The work is called "Bagless Canister Cyclonic Vacuum" and it's the answer to this question: What if you strip down all world's ads of all those Passenger's Seat with 4-way Power Adjustment Odyssey Honda Cars and 9.99c Handmade Glycerin Soap Soaps and Free Delivery Books and Free Nights & No-Fee Flights and Last-minute Deals Big Savings Travel Right Now Flights and Counter-High Office Refrigerators and Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon Nehalem Processors Computers and Titanium Technology Fused Graphite Tennis Racquet Super Sale and Mega Pixel Canon CMOS Sensor Digital High Camera and Leakage Tested Microwaves and 30-Pack Sidenafil Citrate (100mg) Vadenafil (20mg) and Tadafil (20mg) and Dyson Stowaway Dc20 Bagless Canister Cyclonic Vacuum Cleaner and Super High Resolution Dynamic Contract Ratio Auto Motion Plus SRS TruSurrount Component Composite S Video PC Inputs TV Set and Megatronix Megalarm Viking & Megapage Automobile & Motorcycle Security & Remote Starter Systems Fantastic Bargains and Sales and and and?

Big-T

2009-08-18T10:11:00.005-03:00

I ever thought that I was walking on the edge... But after reading Absinthe & flamethrowers, by William Gurstelle, now I know that I belong to the golden third of the population who thrills in taking calculated risks, be them physical or intellectual (a penchant for scuba diving and practicing long shots as a way of learning). Happiness is a warm gun?

The Man in the Moon

2009-06-05T22:11:00.006-03:00

Maybe this is a question of pareidolia, but I see the boy from The Last Guardian (the PS3 debut of "Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus" videogames' creator) in Klee's Pierrot Lunaire (1925). Maybe it is because I'm completely mondestrunken lately. "Pierrot Lunaire'! It calls for prudence!" (Musil, again; and again; ever).

Again and again and again

2009-05-31T02:23:00.003-03:00

See this movie as if you were reading a book; read a book as if you were seeing this film; "live life like a character in a book" (Musil). See again Vigo's L’Atalante might be a timeless experience.

The pen is mightier than the sword

2009-04-12T19:05:00.006-03:00

Above, side effects of Mightier, by Ratloop, a sci-fi game about terraforming. Certainly, a true indie game, tailored for... Ludic savants? Hands-on young adults? Hardcore brainies? Dumbed down genius? Ex-future genius? Well. It is for anyone who don't care about GPU intensive graphics...

New Myths

2009-02-01T00:00:00.005-02:00

Jusifrasa and its nemesis General Tarn... From Galactrix. A structural symbol for the time being.

Sex Machine

2009-01-08T15:05:00.005-02:00

In ancient times, tail-fins convertibles were true replicas of “women design”; today, snowmobiles have been granted to that mandate, but now with more spiciness. A thin line has been tethered between Natalie Wood’s doggie style and ~~Matus Prochaczka's~~ Dominic Schindler Creations' infamous vehicle.

UPDATE (02/1): And what to say about the new sex symbol, Rei Ayanami, from Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The Tragedy of White Injustice

2008-12-21T11:08:00.002-02:00

At least in Twitter Venn, Holyfield is way ahead. The giant Russian stood still in the center of the ring, jaw dropped in face of extremely agile rope-a-dopes. Even though, he maintained the title. On Holyfield trunks was stamped Psalm 107:20, which reads: He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (King James). Oh, Great Bearer of Primo Carnera, have faith, you will enter Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to you!

Awkward Bovine

2008-12-17T21:40:00.001-02:00

The results of my first day playing Minotaur China Shop... Need to max more.

Strange Love

2008-12-09T21:42:00.006-02:00

I knew this would happen sooner or later. But I’ve never been told that Allende (Cybersyn Project) or Habermas (International World Order) were dictatorial control freaks...

So the hippies think they're in with time

2008-12-07T17:04:00.006-02:00

I’ve found by chance this amazing video showing British beatniks being despised by some Cornwall shore city council. It is amazing because, although the Gregorian calendar punctuates the year of 1960, most of the male rebels have long hairs, predicting years before a hippy trend.

Gunpowder

2008-12-07T00:11:00.002-02:00

I’ve been noticing young ladies (say, less than 20) loaded with facial make-up, most specific, colour correction powders. Why?? I have a theory: they are terrible sad. And I’m using as evidence a recent declaration called out by the goddess of the goddess, Jane Birkin (62 years old to be completed next 14th December): “Smiling has the same effect as a face lift. A vague smile into the future. And only minimal make up. At 15 or 16 young girls look lovely with lots of makeup and lipstick. But I keep it to a strict minimum."

To My Über Girlish Friend

2008-12-04T22:26:00.002-02:00

Nor is there any thing unnatural or extravagant in the supposition, that my dear, dear Jenny may be my friend! Friend! My friend. Surely, Madam, a friendship between the two sexes may subsist, and be supported without -- Fy! Mr. Shandy. Without any thing, Madam, but that tender and delicious sentiment which ever mix friendship, where there is a difference of sex. Let me entreat you to study the pure and sentimental parts of the best French romances; it will really, Madam, astonish you to see with what a variety of chaste expressions this delicious sentiment which I have the honor to speak of, is dress'd out.

[From Life And Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne]

Lost Arrondissement

2008-11-24T20:45:00.003-02:00

My friend Paul Pangaro and his wife, CJ, were walking in Paris near the Pantheon, when they came across this peculiar street. Certainly, not part of Haussmann's renovation of the city. [photo by Pangaro]

Difference and Repetition

2008-11-20T16:25:00.004-02:00

Can you find similar icons between Il Nuovo et Piacevole Giuoco del Biribisse (1640-1690) and the golden compass?

Hot Wheels

2008-11-12T21:03:00.002-02:00

The Twin Vibes and their maroon phaedra (being the "ae" a ligature) [YF81. 1937 CORD PHAETON CONVERTIBLE. rich maroon color with removeable textured tan top, matching upholstery. superior detailing throughout. detailed interior, opening doors. Hood opens to reveal powerhouse engine! issued in 1999 and long discontinued. a true classic! includes the schematics, owners manual and certificate. MINT with original molded Styrofoam box. 99.50]

It Had to Be You

2008-11-06T15:54:00.003-02:00

The wedding of Slavoj Žižek, a dialectical-materialist philosopher, with an Argentinian top model. The bold is mine.

Soul Sister

2008-11-01T21:13:00.005-02:00

This is Natacha Atlas (born March 20, 1964), according to Wikipedia, she is a "Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and North African music with Western electronic music". Great singer. I've found her via KCRW. And you know what? She was born on the same day as me! Squarely lovely, isn't?

Uluru

2008-10-31T23:04:00.000-02:00

Future Nights

2008-08-28T14:44:00.003-03:00

Joyce Carol Oates has put out her last book, Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway. I guess she wish she were Dickinson, inasmuch her impersonation in the picture above. One of the short stories is "EDickinsonRepliLuxe," a tale of a suburban couple that purchases a Dickinson android. Maybe this incursion into sci-fi has as precedent the collection of ten stories by Lovecraft compiled by her. The title of the new book refers to the following inspired Dickinson's verses:

Wild Nights – Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile – the winds –
To a heart in port –
Done with the compass –
Done with the chart!

Rowing in Eden –
Ah, the sea!
Might I moor – Tonight –
In thee!

Getting Older

2008-08-18T22:27:00.005-03:00

Is Ernest Borgnine the new Old Parr? Simply put: is Viagra the new phosphorous and balls of mercury?

My Heroes

2008-07-19T14:57:00.007-03:00

Today, the climbing to artistry celebrity is an “anything goes” process. Poor devils, fuckheads and losers of all types would cut one of their fingers to get a spotlight, to be publicized somehow, to appear in the social columns, to attain a dubious and frivolous title (as “curator”). It is the sickness of the modern era, a pathological aspect of human behavior. That’s exactly why characters as Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr and B. Traven should be praised and admired. The former, immortalized by Toni Curtis in the film The Great Impostor (1961), was a man who had a penchant to be specialist without being specialized in anything, becoming a marine, a monk, a surgeon onboard a Canadian Warship, and a prison warden. The last was a mysterious writer who never revealed his true identity, and was supposed to be Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, an American millionaire, a Black American ex-slave, Frans Blom, a leper, Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos, the President’s sister (Esperanza), August Ribelje, Jacob Torice, Mexican President Elias Calles, a chief editor of a German Publisher, Cap'n Bilbo, Arthur Breisky, a group of writers in Honduras and a group of leftist Hollywood scriptwriters. Authentic anarchists types that are scarce in the wasteland we call academy and art world.

Latin Tiki Trick

2008-05-23T00:06:00.003-03:00

Dr. Sam Tee, a lost variety of cocktail container typical of Tiki culture, appears in the last Señor Coconut video clip, a cover of “Da Da Da” (right). In the menu of the Hawaiian Village, Tampa, Florida (left), one can read its naive description: Those oriental doctors know something. This drink is prescribed for the timid, the daring, the young in heart. A tropical adventure with delectable rums (Tiki Modern, Sven A. Kirsten, Taschen).

A Scanner Darkly

2008-05-19T22:28:00.001-03:00

Nazi stamp found on the cover of Danicorum monumentorum (via the excellent BibliOdyssey), by Ole Worm (1643). Light and darkness interlaced. Calls for that famous phrase in Corinthians 13, now reworked by Joyce: In reply to a question as to his first sensations in the great divide beyond he stated that previously he had seen as in a glass darkly but that those who had passed over had summit possibilities of atmic development opened up to them.

For Your Eyes Only

2008-04-14T19:31:00.004-03:00

A good soul has scanned several issues of Serai, a stunning premium magazine about Japanese art and culture (fine gastronomy very nicely included!). You don’t know how to read in that language? Well, if blind children learn the verb 'see', then you can learn the expression "eat with the eyes".

The Buckwheat and the Sword

2008-03-29T14:47:00.004-03:00

For years I’ve been looking for the right name of those traditional Japanese symbols that clans had commissioned for heraldic purposes. Serendipity has worked today in the pages of March edition of Monocle magazine: the famous brewery Kirin is now mass-marketing their shochu brand Tarucho, packaged in rectangular coated paper boxes covered by illustrations of key ingredients in the form of kamon. I don’t remember where I’ve seen those symbols… I guess in some samurai movie?

Seyrig-“A” For Ever!

2008-03-23T16:41:00.001-03:00

Will Delphine Seyrig ever become old? I don’t think so. Photogenic rejuvenation through cinema, would say Musil… And, yes, Last Year at Marienbad was based upon The Invention of Morel and “A” is Faustine (rather than Louise Brooks!). Seyrig-“A” is a virtual being roaming eternally the platonic meadows of my mind.

Connecting Calligraphies

2008-03-01T20:44:00.009-03:00

Nary has a case of connectionism gone unnoticed by me, with no exceptions. I’ve learned recently the word Umwelt and it inspired me to do a drawing using Documenta font Schild. Today, running my eyes over a big archive of photos of D12, I’ve bumped into a piece done by Mira Schendel, a Brazilian artist known for employing eccentric typography in her work. Coincidence? Or another case of authorless ideas?
UPDATE (3/02): More images of "Umwelt und Mondo" here and here.

Another Plug

2008-02-15T19:11:00.001-02:00

Last night I woke up with the city sounds, but they were not at all poetic: it sounded as if Brobdingnagian king was mixing home made tractors inside a gigantic shaker. If today the butt plugs are so popular to the point of have been quoted in TV series (Californication), I’d like to begin a campaign to hype another plug: the earplug.

The Datamatrix

2008-01-30T20:51:00.000-02:00

Presenting Kuja's Electronic Samizdat QR Code. Done with Kaywa Datamatrix Generator. Why? Nothing special... Maybe apply it in some drawing background.

Doodling Through Out the Obscurantism

2008-01-24T13:27:00.000-02:00

This truly yours humble drawer is now part of Gawker Gallery and has a Gawker page! And Gawker artists have a group on Facebook. Thank you Gawker curator!

Beast and the Beauty

2008-01-18T22:49:00.000-02:00

Jenny Holzer on the bad feeling (or “spider-sense”). She is so right. Sometimes the evil is a whiff of cool air. The sky is blue and the people are smiling, but “something” is in the air. How to combat such evil? Why not with beauty? Beauty reified. Like Liv Ulman (here acting in Bergman's “Skammen”). Her beauty is so outlandish that remains irresistible even for the evil.

Unspeakable!

2008-01-12T16:03:00.000-02:00

There is a new letterpress print from Brian Taylor, from the excellent Candykiller project. Perfect for your home office or child’s nursery (Drawn! blog). Unspeakable! Unspeakable! (Mia Farrow, in Rosemary's Baby).

Dharma Kings

2008-01-12T15:03:00.000-02:00

Gordon Ramsay and Gregory House... Who you’d like to have as a boss? Despite the fact of both being almost sadistic, I guess their employees are blessed for having a type of Zen master who break bamboos sticks in their heads when there are daydreaming and no responses for crucial situations. For better or for worse, this is the only way to grow professionally.

Roots

2008-01-09T22:29:00.000-02:00

Mississippi John Hurt: the starting point of all this New Weird America stuff. Not quite blues, not quite country, and not quite gospel, is a clearly description of his work, as stated by Tyler, from naturalismo blog (there is an amazing video there also). Actually, I confess the three musical genres quoted are not my cup of tea; but this sort of folk is all I love.

K.I.S.S.

2008-01-09T19:45:00.000-02:00

Cyclooxygenase inhibition lowers prostaglandin E2 release from articular cartilage and reduces apoptosis but not proteoglycan degradation following an impact load in vitro. How I wish it were THAT simple!

Sex and the Politics

2008-01-07T21:29:00.000-02:00

It is irresistible not to associate Monsieur Le President, I Have No Reason to Refuse You and Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Different times and different drives, I must admit. Therefore, all the elements are there: shockingly conservatives, fluids on the sheets and an urge to publicize a supernatural metrosexuality.

Plinian, by Meredith Bragg

2007-12-15T10:28:00.000-02:00

When the stones rained down
And smoke rose above the clouds
Dodging debris
My uncle put his fleet to sea
And as he waived and turned away
Set his sails across the bay
Who could ever guess
My dear Tacitus
The gods were so enraged

And the lightning arced
And dust turned the daylight dark
And the helmsmen cried
Wondered if they'd survive
But through the thickening smoke
They found the harbor choked
Still he urged them on
While he stayed calm
And the ash fell like snow

And the mountain growled
Tearing the buildings down
And for two dark days
Fires lit the Naples Bay
And when it came for them to leave
There was no escape by sea
And his body fell as the vapor swelled
They say he died as if asleep

A lonely ridge
A couple focus in
Their lenses train
On smoke, and fire, and flame
And in unison they rise
As the plume reached greater heights
While around the bend a grey cloud descends
That will be their demise

And with blindingly speed
They are both killed instantly
And the island roars
Boiling the ocean floor
Though their bodies disappear
Mingle with the earth and air
They will echo on through the work they've done
Projected through the years

((This a pop song! Americana! New Weird America! Naturalismo! Call it whatever! The fact is: american pop folk becomes PHD! Their Myspace page))

Virgin Tactics

2007-12-04T21:39:00.000-02:00

Not only Virgin is using Flickr photos released under the CC-BY-2.0 licence for commercial aims. I've just received a letter from Emma Williams, managing editor of Schmap Guides, informing the inclusion of one of my photos (actually, the photo was shot by Teca, a friend of mine) in the newly released fourth edition of Schmap Berlin Guide. I'm not complaining. Just observing.

Shackleton Reenactment

2007-11-24T18:16:00.000-02:00

~~Ouch, my dad was cruising aboard that ship last year...~~ Nah. The ship was the Skorpios.

Licence to Kill

2007-11-19T21:09:00.000-02:00

A Youthful Form of Plasticity

2007-11-18T11:08:00.000-02:00

Somehow the wires got crossed
Communication's lost
Can't even get you on the telephone
Just got to shout about it
I'm losing you
I'm losing you
("I'm Losing You", John Lennon)
Not anymore, John. Not anymore...

High-low Brow

2007-11-15T10:40:00.000-02:00

Batman Versus Fyodor Dostoevsky... Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov must be twisting in his grave.

Social Distortion Extended

2007-11-14T21:53:00.000-02:00

There is a sardonic expression here in Brazil that makes negative presumptions about a book or a film: I did not read (or watch) and I did not like it. This is exactly my position concerning the new local cultural frenzy, Tropa de Elite, a flick that literally have entailed new "national heroes" embodied by Blackwateresque militias (although they are not private). It only have been increasing the Schismogenesis, inspiring fascist pigs and worsting desperado actions, as police officers spraying pepper gas in the eyes of people complaining about some robbers (Hey, I'm captain Nascimento! Go bother another one!). Sheeesh!

Life Imitates Art

2007-11-08T21:42:00.000-02:00

Oh! Doesn't it recall those peevishness Al Jaffee usually did for MAD magazine?

Sensory World

2007-11-02T00:06:00.000-02:00

"The Ney is a poison". Jelālu-'d-Dīn Muhammed Er-Rūmī.

New Toy

2007-10-31T09:49:00.000-02:00

Finally, I've found a new toy to dive into. Mr. Pynchon has made a favor to write a book as good as the previous ones, a book with a scent of The Hardy Boys, The Rover Boys and Punch, or the London Charivari. Yet, the book has a blog.
UPDATE (11/2): Way better than the (honorable, but not constantly updated) blog, is Thomas Pynchon Wiki: Against the Day.

DIY Chopter

2007-10-27T00:26:00.000-02:00

The Nigerian home-made helicopter was extensively boingboinged and slashdoted, but very few know about Mr. Tran Quoc Hai, a 44 year old mechanic of Tay Nienh province, in Vietnam, who in 2004 has created a similar beast to help evacuate people in emergency situations and farming usages. This story turned into a 15 min documentary (and a 3 channel video projection installation) named The Farmers and the Helicopters, directed by Dinh Q. Lê who, in his youth, witnessed the AH-1 Cobras burn entire peasant villages.

Factoring the 300

2007-04-09T09:31:00.000-03:00

History repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce. But sometimes, the tragedy is recursive, as so the farce. Take for instance the history of Treinta y Tres, a kind of Uruguayan Thermopylae remake. Its past is backed on the history of the thirty and three privates who, commanded by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, insurrected against the ruling coalition that was in charge of Provincia Oriental (today Uruguay). Not that there was a farce in the historical narrative, be it counted by the ones who triumph or not, but the controversy is about the number of men who really were there in the Latin fight.

Princess of Benin

2007-03-27T23:47:00.000-03:00

Xeni Jardin, cyber-starlet, is in West Africa. Some readers have made some appropriate traveling suggestions.

The Munster from Minnesota

2007-03-25T19:53:00.000-03:00

This service really creeps me the hell out! I don't know exactly what drove me to write THAT name and THAT last name...

Young Landis

2007-03-15T23:09:00.000-03:00

Dr Arnie Baker, a friend of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, has the proof that the French anti-doping lab may have "mislabelled" the champion urine sample. I've seen this flicker! What was the name? Abby Normal. You gave me a brain that's abnormal!?

Lovely Lovely Lovely Singers

2007-02-24T11:15:00.000-02:00

Hanne Hukkelberg

Henriette Sennenvaldt

Stina Nordenstam

Sarah Assbring

Natasha Khan

Joanna Newsom

Anja Garbarek

Ane Brun

The Six Burgesses of Calais

2007-02-14T14:51:00.000-02:00

The blog BibliOdyssey, one which awakes in me a sense of wonder, has compiled The Comic History of England. One of the engravings particularly calls a certain passage:

The Siege of Calais, or rather the blockade (for it was shut up both by land and sea), was the most memorable, as it withstood the efforts of Edward the Third a whole year, and was not terminated at last but by famine and extreme misery; the gallantry of Eustace de St. Pierre*, who first offered himself a victim for his fellow-citizens, has ranked his name with heroes.

* Eustace de St. Pierre (1287 - 1371), leader of the six burghers of Calais who, bareheaded and barefoot, with hopes around their necks, presented themselves to Edward III of England as hostages for the safety of Calais; they were pardoned at the instance of Queen Philippa.

From The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne

Hyper High-Tech

2007-01-09T19:50:00.000-02:00

Walter Isaacson is optimistic about the "print" technology, in Edge's World's Question Center. And he is not veering towards a metaphor. Future electric energy outages will be more usual as no wasting water programs. So, books and moleskines should be the new trend in advanced technology. Everybody should stop the machines, sit onto a comfortable chair and, at a reach distance of natural light source, read post-post modern literature, as The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (past-post-post, I admit) or the best sci-fi book ever written: Codex Seraphinianus.

Digression

2007-01-08T17:58:00.000-02:00

What kind of motivation forces someone to spend hours looking for a supposedly Utrillo’s reproduction which has been shown in a scene of The Last Man on Earth (1964)? I was grasped by the remembrance feeling when I saw it at the first time behind Vicent Price… But the closest the free association of ideas could get was an Eglise de Pont-Saint-Martin: There is the spike, but not the two stories alley.

Nightmare City

2007-01-03T15:19:00.000-02:00

Paul Theroux: In India a few months ago, as I was leaving my hotel in Chennai, I noticed a hotel employee shadowing me. He warned me that the sidewalks were so packed with people I would be swallowed up and stifled. He was right. And I was unable to cross the main street in Bangalore, a leafy city of under a million people in 1973 and now a hectically improvised sprawl of seven million. Mumbai’s population of nearly 20 million rivals that of São Paulo, Brazil, and Lagos, Nigeria — nightmare cities. (in The New York Times)

Brazilian Roots

2006-12-31T11:15:00.000-02:00

This is the Spanish flu virus in 3D. Spanish? It was a Brazil fan?

Revelation

2006-11-19T23:32:00.000-02:00

Daler Mehndi could be Dr Wickramasinghe's proof of concept...

From Kottke to SoAP

2006-08-23T12:23:00.000-03:00

Anti-Semite and Control Freak

2006-05-15T14:56:00.000-03:00

You are a new Latin American leftist? Then you better to recheck some of your myths. Begin with Salvador Allende, who was accused of being anti-Semite, mainly due to the fact of not taking in a famous Nazi. Thanks to Matt Webb, I’ve discovered that Allende was also a control freak, to the point of call Stratford Beer to develop the spurious Project Cybersyn.

This post is part of my new project: BLOG EVENTUALLY, DIE RESPECTABLY.

VW Bug is a Blobject!

2006-01-12T21:26:00.000-02:00

Don Stewart, a visual artist, received a cease and desist letter from a law firm claiming to represent Volkswagen of America. You know why? He has made the following art over a VW Bug.

The VW Bug is an icon of America culture - it is an object. More precisely, it is a blobject. Here is a case of Copyright claim gone too far. Tooooooo far!

Toad Prince

2006-01-12T21:21:00.000-02:00

Hey Mom! I'm inside a DECsystem-10, thanks to the PDP Planet, a Paul Allen project. The OS? It is a Tops-20 (Toad-1). It is very cool be personally inside of one of the machines described in the book "Hackers", by Steven Levy.

Unbelievable!

2005-12-17T18:51:00.000-02:00

Real Fiction II

2005-09-22T15:36:00.000-03:00

Life imitates art, as the evidences abound one more time. At least it is what one might deduct over the group of consultants established by FEMA "to complement traditional intelligence-based threat projections by taking an 'out of the box' approach that is achieved by drawing on the talents of a broad range of individuals, such as best-selling authors, academics, the military, and pop musicians." Well, the fictional character Turner belonged to a group exactly likewise...

Real Fiction

2005-09-09T13:20:00.000-03:00

In a dense singularity times, scientists should pay more attention to sci-fi writers, as they seemingly are the only ones capable of previewing to where technology are going to. Take a look at this obscure line, written by an obscure sci-fi writer from the 60's: Heading towards the mountains Drover switched the car radio to YBM*Sonic, which, in the interests of safe driving, transmits a 24-hour programme of shifting electronic patterns ("A Landscape of Shallows", Christopher Finch, Best SF Stories from New Worlds 5, edited by Michael Moorcock, Phanter Books, 1969). This dream comes true almost 40 years after, for Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that it has improved its pre-crash safety system by adding a driver-monitoring function that recognizes the orientation of the driver's face and warns of a collision. The system will be mounted on the new model of Lexus slated for launch in spring 2006. The principle is the same... Instead of a radio station that transmits anti-hypnotic beats in brain waves frequencies, a face recognition system.

Outer Space Pyrites

2005-08-15T21:17:00.000-03:00

A catchy briefing of "Piritas siderais", found in "Brazilian Science Fiction: Cultural Myths and Nationhood in the Land of the Future", by M Elizabeth Ginway, thanks to Google Print: In Piritas siderais (1994), the title of which refers to the gold-colored nuggets commonly known as "fool's gold", black American Berzelius Baldwin makes a pact with the devil to be immortal, with his soul to be places in the body of a Brazilian black who happens to be the twin brother of Zé Seixas, the protagonist of the story. However, when that twin dies in utero before the reincarnation can take place, the attempt fails. In order to keep his end of the bargain, the devil improvises a genetic chip which renders Baldwin's body immortal, but only if it is nurtured with a constant supply of gold, an abundant supply of which Baldwin has located on an as-yet-uncharted planet, ruled by an Afro-Brazilian deity. Baldwin believes that he can secretly obtain the gold from the planet by channeling. Maria, the priestess, claims that her chicken, Leda, has the power to provide part of this service by imitating the goose that laid the golden eggs. Zé and his friend Terêncio, who also happens to be an excellent medium, volunteer to go along with the plot. When the Afro-Brazilian god Oko magically appears, Terêncio, in an act of recalling Zeus's seduction of Leda the swan, channels Oko's powers so that the chicken is able to lay golden eggs. Of course, like the god's name, Oko (oco or hollow in Portuguese), the victory is hollow because Terêncio, after his orgiastic night with the chicken Leda, is famished and cannot resist roasting her in order to satisfy his hunger, thus completing this satiric fairy tale and justifying the title, "Outer Space Pyrites".

Sunday's Balsam

2005-08-14T23:14:00.000-03:00

Last Studio 360 show was about conspiracies. Kurt Andersen had interviewed the journalist Jon Ronson, who uncovered Daved Icke's horrid tactics of calling Jews as lizards. His books, along with Henry Ford's The International Jew should be thrown into a pyre. NPR's Studio 360 is the best radio show ever; it is not obnoxious and it is not obvious, as a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang miniature. By the way, next week Kurt Andersen talks with Terry Gilliam about why darkness, fear, and the fantastic are good for kids.

Everything Has Its First Time

2005-07-24T23:09:00.000-03:00

Well... Resistance is futile. My first podcast is up and running. Thanks to ~~Ourmedia~~ and FeedBurner. Go and listen Renato Carosone, Donald Duck, Monty Python... For now, it is in Portuguese. Adam Curry and Sirius: watch out!
UPDATE (08-07): I was obliged to withdraw my acknowledgement to Ourmedia, because they simply fade away my two podcasts shows. I recognize that nobody is perfect in this event - as my podcasts are not podsafe at all - but I was expecting a minimal decorum of them. Ourmedia is a free service and, for that reason, attracts a lot of freeloaders. As one of them, I can't complain, but I can send to them ketchup packets with tiny holes, as suggests my friend David Blumenstein, who kindly had offered a hosting space for me. Thank you, David!

Good Bye Rock Combat Years

2005-06-21T23:39:00.000-03:00

Maybe the years of charity rock concerts are over. Maybe Bob Geldof and the Live Aid concert were just a dream within a dream. But it is impossible be apathetic to "Unplayed Piano", Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan's last song composed in homage to Aung San Suu Kyi, a political prisoner in Burma. It is a honest outcry wrought in pure stanza, as: Unplayed pianos / Are often by a window / In a room where nobody else goes / She sits alone with her silent song / Somebody bring her home. Those are the kind of words that makes me feel relived of having transcended the rock combat years.