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| February 16, 2026 |
- Posing with the Yellow Submarine in
Liverpool
Alley in Mazatlán last month. Seems to
me naming things 'Liverpool' in Mexico is problematic; they've had
a
department store down there with that name since the 19th
century. Looking into other such sculptures I see they
have one in Liverpool, England, at the airport. Created in
1984 for exhibition at the International Garden Festival, a
yellow submarine, true - but in no way a sculpture of the
Yellow Submarine, who're they trying to kid with
that
thing?
-
WPA
Poster Search into the Library of Congress database.
|
| February 13, 2026 |
- Mr Neutral vs. Mr Natural
Scroll down in the
Robert
Romagnoli entry of the Lambiek Comiclopedia to see a 1976
Mr Neutral parody he drew, with the claim that it disturbed
R.Crumb such that he decided to discontinue 'Mr Natural' immediately.
He'd been doing this weekly strip for The Village Voice
(these were collected in Mr Natural #3).
That sequence concludes with Flakey Floont, now married to
Ruth Schwartz, having the newly-re-enlightened guru commited.
Crumb
on Mr Natural #3; no mention of Robert
Romagnoli. The Natch did return, in the pages of
Hup
(1987), and then again in Mystic Funnies (1997). But I
remember hearing Crumb say in a more recent interview that
he hadn't been motivated to draw Mr Natural in years, even as he made
an
unexpected cameo in "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" in 2022.
- 14 Atomic
Comics at the ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity.
- My first book about famous inventors and scientists included
chapters on Alexander Fleming, who first created penicillin;
Lee DeForest,
inventor of the audion;* and George Washington Carver.
Apparently the latter not only taught crop rotation and learned to
make ink from peanuts, he was
the
Scientist Who Crocheted. Check his fancy lace-work!
* DeForest sent an open letter to the National
Association of Broadcasters in 1940 in which he demanded: "What
have you done with my child, the radio broadcast? You have debased
this child, dressed him in rags of ragtime, tatters of jive and boogie-woogie."
|
| February 5, 2026 |
- Upper detail from a 1922 Azulejo panel in Lisbon,
depicting an episode from a 1385 Battle between the Portuguese
and Castilian armies. Ceramic
Azulejo tiling
developed on the Iberian peninsula as early as the 13th century
but it was the later half of the 17th when
(originally
Chinese) blue-and-white Delftware arrived and inspired. The
Portuguese tile whole exterior walls of their buildings with
Azulejo.
- One of the earliest offerings in these pages are
my New York Worlds Fair recollections.
Here's 20 minutes of somebody's home movies there, the
Fletcher
Snapp footage. Lots of Chrysler, not enough
Ford and no GM or GE.
|
| January 27, 2026 |
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|
| January 24, 2026 |
Reading about cats
and Islam (because they're quite clean, they're tolerated
inside mosques), came across this painting ("Interior of a
school in Cairo") by the 19th-century Orientalist, John
Frederick Lewis. This is Colossal looks at
City
Cats of Istanbul, a new book of photos. What was that film from
a few years back, following cats around Constantinople? Ah yes,
Kedi
(Turkish for cat).
|
| January 15, 2026 |
- Suggestion from Entropic Thoughts: every
kitchen
should have a slide rule. Perhaps, although in my case
the amounts for the half-recipes I usually concoct are
easily calculated in my head. Nevertheless I am prepared,
my cohort being the last who were taught the slip-stick, use
of which was mandated during exams since only the rich kids
could afford the new pocket calculators, at that time.
- Every
Noise is an algorithmically-generated,
readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space
with samples of all the genres derived from Techno. Search
with ctrl-F.
- Vocho is how they call a VW Beetle, in Mexico;
and the indigenous Huichol tribes there create amazing
art
with beads. The
Vochol
is a VW Beetle that has been
decorated with traditional Huichol beadwork.
Have to go to Mexico City to see it, or watch
this
video.
- America's
problems are solved problems. Adam Bonica's refreshing
optimism in a time of democratic decay.
|
| January 12, 2026 |
- At Weird Universe,
a
cracker, a mustard seed and a $2 bill - Because
1976 was a Bicentennial year, quite a few Time Capsules were buried
throughout the country. Many of them are scheduled to be opened in
2026. This is about one of those, in Richmond, Indiana. I've
heard when they've opened these it's sometimes discovered that
outgassing from certain of the buried objects has ruined the rest.
-
The
Whole Collection of dreamy AI steam-punk visions from
Retrofutura. Slop to some, but I love it.
|
| January 2, 2026 |
|
| December 27, 2025 |
- This early Tintin frame from
The Blue Lotus grabbed
my attention -- that elliptical mirror in his Shanghai hotel room, so elegant!
- Highbrow essay in Aeon:
Undefinable
yet Indispensable -- why is ‘religion’ impossible to define?
- The latest iteration of Woody Allen's Rags in "Sleeper" -- the Casio
Moflin, a plush,
Smart Companion Powered by AI, with emotions like
a living creature! Yours (in silver or gold) for only $430.
- Mental Floss:
'Tis
the season to say "'tis the season" -- but why only now?
|
| December 22, 2025 |
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| December 16, 2025 (updated) |
|
| December 13, 2025 |
- When I was
young, neck-tie wearing men were still hunched over drafting tables,
paid to produce images like this with compass and straight-edge.
No longer, I reckon. Glad I was taught the trade's rudiments in
Junior High shop class.
- Dick Van Dyke made it to 100 today. He recently reacted
to His Life
in Photos. Only indirectly Dick, a team recently resurrected
Disney's lost
Chromascreen sodium vapor process which was used
instead of green- or blue-screen to make "Mary Poppins."
- GQ: Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack
nails something no other Christmas album can.
The way the contemplative passages in
some songs suddenly give way to swinging rhythms is a bit
like how you can find yourself ping-ponging between
extremes of emotion during this period.
(This music is rated #1 in
misc/Christmas
Songs.)
- More Rash IRL: there's a
park
in Baltimore named after Clarence H. Rash, who donated the land.
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| December 10, 2025 |
1932 Popular Science cover
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