May 24
They are not maternal. They are PUNK AS F*CK.
Otoboke Beaver: A quartet from Kyoto with an unusually complex and original stye of punk rock, played with great precision, energy, and attitude. Their songs tend to stop, start, and change tempo unpredictably, but they make it look deceptively easy and natural. [more inside]
I think I’m going to have to go supersize.
Morgan Spurlock, ‘Super Size Me’ documentary director, dies at 53. Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker whose Oscar-nominated “Super Size Me” chronicled a month of watching his body swell and health decline while eating only McDonald’s meals, launching a highflying career that later imploded after he acknowledged past incidents of sexual assault and harassment, died May 23 at a hospital in New York City. He was 53. [more inside]
“The Mist” is a novella
Leroy and Leroy Uber Alles
I’ve met a lot of bears, but not nearly as many bears as men
This leads us straight back to the original conversation about “Man or Bear,” which has nothing to do with bears. (Sorry, bears!) “Would you rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear?” is just another way of asking, “Are you afraid of men?” It’s the same question I’ve been fielding for the entirety of my life as a solo female traveler. It’s the same question that hovers over women all the time as we move through the world. And it’s a question that’s always been difficult for me to answer. from A Woman Who Left Society to Live With Bears Weighs in on “Man or Bear” by Laura Killingbeck [Bikepacking]
Elvis Has Not Left The Building
The Tennessee Attorney General is investigating the mysterious investment company that attempted to have Graceland, the late Elvis Presley's mansion that is one of America's most successful tourist attractions, sold at a foreclosure sale. [more inside]
Research finds doctors & families are turning off life support too soon
After Brain Injuries, Doctors and Families Should Take More Time With Life Support Decisions, Research Finds. (Smithsonian Magazine.) A small study suggests some severe traumatic brain injury patients can later recover a level of independence or return to their pre-injury lives. [more inside]
Small Press Economies & Roundup
"There’s a vague, deliberately unexamined idea that the goodness of art and literature will transcend the complicity of the structures art ‘has to’ use to reach people. And sometimes they can transcend; sometimes they can destabilize culture generatively, even using corporate-owned pathways. But more often, of course, challenging work is not going to make it through those pathways. It’s going to be excluded, and readers are not going to encounter it and be changed by it. This is a political problem." From Small Press Economies: A Dialogue by Hilary Plum and Matvei Yankelevich. [more inside]
You didn't know how much you needed this until you read this.
The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots
A Furious, Forgotten Slave Narrative Resurfaces (NYT gift link)
John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged. [more inside]
It was a *very* scary ham.
A very old ham finally got the funeral it deserved. Ellen Klages, during her intro on a recent episode of "Jeopardy!" mentioned an old, scary ham, and encouraged people to learn more about it. The tale of the "heirloom ham" does not disappoint. [more inside]
A House Falls On The NCAA
Facing the potential of a ruinous $20B decision against them in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit, the NCAA and the major conferences are coming to a settlement that will see college athletes recieve revenue sharing, as well as former athletes being eligible to recieve damages for payments wrongly withheld. [more inside]
Apple Records
100 Best Albums (a list from Apple Music (Wikipedia, 1-100 list that should work with most browsers)) [more inside]
A Notably Eponymous Watercolorist
John Sell Cotman was known for his paintings and drawings, especially watercolor. Wikipedia has the bio and suggested further readings, as well as information about others in his artistically-inclined family. Likely most people who know the name "Cotman" know it in the context of watercolor paints available from Winsor & Newton, which have appeared previously a number of times in discussion on Ask.
🌈🐕ciao
窓からは柔らかな光が射し込み、Kabosu, the beloved Shiba-Inu behind the globally popular Doge meme, has passed away peacefully at home today at the age of 18. [more inside]
[Soft light streamed through the window]
窓の外では鳥たちが歌う美しい朝に、
[Outside, birds were singing on a beautiful morning]
私に撫でられながら眠るようにそっと逝きました。
[As I petted her, she passed away gently, as if falling asleep]
長い間かぼちゃんを愛して下さったみなさま、本当にありがとうございました。
[To everyone who has loved Kabo-chan for a long time, thank you very much]
かぼちゃんは世界一幸せな犬だったと思います。そして私は世界一幸せな飼い主でした。
[I believe Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world, and I was the happiest owner]
Education for “a whole ecosystem working together”
“Right now in Hollywood, certain actors are having intimacy coordinators baked into their contracts, which I think is awesome,” says Jasmine. “For us in the adult industry, that might look like performers saying, ‘I’m going to bring my friend with me for support’, but, instead of taking two people but paying for one, it would be really great if [there was an industry standard, so every studio] could say, ‘Our budget includes an intimacy coordinator, as well as mental health support before, during, and after’.” from Meet the Trailblazers Changing the Face of Porn [Huck] [NSFW]
“Sawney Freeman, likely America’s first published Black composer”
A once-enslaved man’s music was hidden for centuries is an article by Diane Orson about Sawney Freeman, who published a book of his violin compositions in 1801 in New Haven, Connecticut. That work is lost, but in 1817, Gurdon Trumbull copied down many of Freeman’s tunes, and that manuscript survived. His music was arranged for a quintet by Anthony Padolfe Jr. and is available online. My favorite is the haunting New Death March, but all 15 compositions are lovely. Connecticut Public Television also made a video based on Orson’s article, part of a series on Connecticut’s history of slavery.
May 23
Roger Corman's Fantastic Four Movie up on the Tube
Corman imbued his version of the MCU with the 80s/90s feel it so richly deserved. The classic Silver Age Marvel comics didn't suffer from being low-budget productions, and from what I've seen of this so far (only 15 minutes—it's late) this Corman film didn't either. Too bad the embedded ads are the usual short-term rental and learn-AI things and not pitches for sea monkeys and a travelogue of Palisades Park.
Man finds huge 30,000-year-old mammoth bones in his wine cellar
Man finds huge 30,000-year-old mammoth bones in his wine cellar. The Austrian Academy of Sciences described the remains of at least three Stone Age mammoths in Gobelsburg as "the most significant find ... in more than 100 years."
Hamiltonを日本語で
Please enjoy “My Shot” from Hamilton in Japanese, translated and performed by actor and musical translator Gen Parton-Shin (辛 源). [more inside]
Brendan O'Brien x Rick Beato
Brendan O'Brien Interview: The Unsung Hero Of Rock Music "In his first ever full length interview, producer/engineer/mixer (and multi-instrumentalist) Brendan O'Brien talks about his contributions to many of the most significant records of the past generation." [more inside]
A neonazi version of LotR that's ALSO somehow merged with Paradise Lost
Grima Wormtongue uses DEI to convince God to let devils do a great replacement. Think about the thought process that went into this strip. [...] Grima Wormtongue, assistant to GOD, is called in front of the uh heaven senate (i assume?) to account for the great replacement of heaven, but his parents survived the HOBBIT HOLOCAUST. there is so much going on hereBack in 2022, we discussed a viral tweetstorm from "genderfluid transvestite goblin" @BitterKarella (and an accompanying write-up from Garbage Day) which recapped (with wry commentary) the bizarre history of Tatsuya Ishida's long-running webcomic Sinfest, tracing its evolution from an edgy gag-a-day strip to playful satire with colorful characters to sudden radfem agitprop to virulently transphobic screed -- an unusual insight into the TERF-to-alt-right pipeline. Two years later, she is back (on Bluesky) with an update -- and reader, it gets *so* much worse [CW: unrolled 534-post thread discussing Sinfest's hamfisted pop culture references, 4chan memes, cartoonish transphobia, conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and Esoteric Nazism (!)]. Karella also featured on the Haus of Decline podcast (90min) with recently-out trans host Alex Hood; they lament Sinfest's fall from webcomics stardom and dunk on its baffling symbology, but by the end reach a genuinely heartbreaking realization (with some evidence) that Tats may be an "egg" (or trans woman in denial) who fell in with a toxic crowd before being able to come to terms with some very deep-seated gender dysphoria. [more inside]
Blog/Column: Humans and Technology
He is very healthy and very dead
Well, you know you can't take it with you
What Should You Do with Your Stuff before You Die? (slTheWalrus)
Scientists document remarkable sperm whale phonetic alphabet
Scientists document remarkable sperm whale phonetic alphabet. A new analysis of years of vocalizations by sperm whales in the eastern Caribbean has found that their system of communication is more sophisticated than previously known.
Out Of The Shadows, Into The Spotlight [or so they hope]
Hired Gun: The Untold Stories Of Your Favorite Musicians [1h40m] is the "Twenty Feet From Stardom" for the guitarists, bassists, drummers... the hired guns. You've heard them on albums and tours, but probably don't know their faces or names. Well, now they're speaking out.
Trigger Warnings, Content Warnings, and Content Notes
"We present the results of a meta-analysis of all empirical studies on the effects of these warnings. Overall, we found that warnings had no effect on affective responses to negative material or on educational outcomes. However, warnings reliably increased anticipatory affect. Findings on avoidance were mixed, suggesting either that warnings have no effect on engagement with material or that they increased engagement with negative material under specific circumstances." [more inside]
"a peculiarly British disease which we aim to eradicate"
Yesterday was the seventh National Numeracy Day in the UK. You can take the numeracy challenge (email sign-up, throw-away should work). Research in 2019 reported that 56% of adults in the UK have numeracy levels which are those expected of a primary-school child (Entry Level 3 or lower). National Numeracy (Wikipedia article), which organises the day, has reported on the role of confidence and the gender divide in maths. A Parliamentary Research Briefing describes government initiatives to improve numeracy, including the delayed Multiply programme for adults, maths hubs and an advisory committee. The Impact Report for National Numeracy Day 2023 says that "103,280 people took action on the National Numeracy Challenge" last year. [more inside]
No subliminal images, no devil worship and no displays of carnality
No longer the funky new kid on the fashion block
The partnership with Christopher Kane ended up being just the start, as Crocs began to release frequent collabs with major brands and celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Post Malone, McDonald’s, and recently Pringles (yes, the brand you’re thinking of). Arguably most important of all, was when Crocs teamed up with avant-garde fashion house Balenciaga — and so began a collaboration that took the humble Crocs into the world of high-fashion, with a series of rain boots, platform clogs, stilettos, and more. Many of the collabs are easy to laugh at (do you want a pair of 7-Eleven Crocs?), but the amount of money Crocs is making is no joke, as Gen Z has learned to love the brand. from
How Crocs became a clog-selling profit machine [Sherwood] [more inside]
May 22
psa: plants
All is not lost! Fortunately. All over the world, artists, indigenous communities, activists, foragers, designers are devising creative strategies to help us co-evolve in a more sympathetic and mutually beneficial way with the oldest and most important -in terms of biomass- inhabitants of this planet. [wemakemoneynotart]
Sing-On-TheBeat
Why is there an AI Hype?
AI is an idea that began as a subfield of computer science, until it was so distorted that it popped, detaching itself from reality. Now, this orphaned concept has grown to a life of its own, as our discussion of AI eclipses any meaningful definition of it as a real, definable thing.
With personality and freedom, we stick out!
"The four young women wore military helmets and dead-serious expressions. Their fingers, sheathed in tailored white gloves, wiggled on loose wrists. Over a beat of hard-driving taiko drums, they scurried and bounced around the soundstage, scream-singing lyrics that, per the closed caption translation, described a domestic dystopia: 'Dad’s stuck in the grind, the job’s grip is appalling / Mom’s escaping reality, addicted to idols.' It was the explosive U.S. television debut of Atarashii Gakko!, and if you caught it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! late last year, you might have asked yourself: Where did these women come from?" Atarashii Gakko! Are Singularly, Unapologetically Themselves [more inside]
Turtle travels nearly 2000km to nest on Queensland coast for first time
Turtle travels nearly 2000km to nest on Queensland coast for first time. An endangered olive ridley turtle may have travelled close to 2000 kilometres to nest on Queensland's east coast in a find described by renowned researcher Col Limpus as quite a phenomenon.
Y, Whoopi? Y???
Whoopi Goldberg in Conversation with Adriana Trigiani: Bits and Pieces [1h, 92nd Street Y] Recorded May 6, 2024. Whoopi sits and chats about stories from her life. A refreshing mode to find her in.
Ten Blue Links
On May 15th Google released a new "Web" filter that removes "AI Overview" and other clutter, leaving only traditional web results. Here is how you can set "Google Web" as your default search engine.
If you want to give people easy access to an AI-free Google search, send them to [udm14.com]. [more inside]
Where did Justine Go?
Drawn to a Hare Krishna ashram for its yoga, meditation and vegan meals, she’s still figuring out what went wrong. Ms. Payton didn’t think of herself as part of a larger story about the popularity of alternative spiritual practices in the splintering religious landscape of 21st-century America. She hadn’t yet parsed the borderlines separating willing self-abnegation, mental illness and abuse. She craved transcendence, and like an increasing number of Americans, she didn’t find it in Christianity or another historic monotheistic religion. [more inside]
Marching Toward an Uninsurable Future
"In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states, more than a third of the country. The result is that insurance companies are raising premiums by as much as 50 percent or more, cutting back on coverage or leaving entire states altogether." As Insurers Around the U.S. Bleed Cash From Climate Shocks, Homeowners Lose (NYT; archive) [more inside]
"half-remembered and half-created, neither real nor ideal"
Andrew was convinced the writer had been trans. By this point his friends were tired of hearing about it, but he had no one else to tell besides the internet, and he was too smart for that. That would be asking for it. B. Pladek's new short fantasy story "The Spindle of Necessity" (published in the May 20th, 2024 issue of Strange Horizons) is a captivating, closely-observed story of longing, literary connection, insecurity, queer community, and how we make use of the past. I think this will resonate with a lot of readers who wrestle with questions about representation and what used to be called #OwnVoices in fiction, and mixed feelings about art we love. [more inside]
Still trying really hard? Trying really hard again?
Downing Street statement at 5pm
An Interview with Painter Daniele Serra
"I think my first impact with horror images could be traced back to my childhood. I was used to leaf through my father’s art books, I saw that Giotto as well as many other painters, flemish and Reinassance painters, often painted Hell, demons, obscure atmospheres, where death and popular beliefs shroud their magnificent paintings." [more inside]
Tom Lehrer Is Teaching Math and Doesn’t Want to Talk to You
A new musical regarding the life and works of Tom Lehrer (still alive - previously, an extremely comprehensive post by filthy light thief) debuts in London next week. It is sold out, but the playwright Francis Beckett writes about the effect Lehrer has had on his life and his unsuccessful attempts to contact him while doing research - ultimately indirectly providing the musical's title.
Renee Henderson creates stunning designs inspired by Aboriginal art
Renee is only 24, but her fashion designs are about to hit the runway for the third time. Blending traditional Indigenous techniques with cutting-edge production methods, Wiradjuri designer Renee Henderson creates stunning designs inspired by Aboriginal art and culture.
Hard Lacquer
What makes urushi so different from any other tree resin or in fact plastic? While it would be overly ambitious to try and offer a full insight into the role of lacquer in the spiritual lives of the Japanese people, this article can point out some elements which may lead to a better understanding of the cultural context in which appreciation for this curious resin developed. Despite the fact that urushi arguably has many drawbacks in both use and production, this ancient tradition has—seemingly against all odds—managed to survive into modern times. Still, the use of lacquer is showing a continued decline in Japan, and its manufacture and use have nearly died out in countries like Korea and Thailand. By offering some understanding about its importance as a bearer of cultural heritage, it is my hope that urushi lacquer will receive more recognition as a unique art form that is deserving of more appreciation and support. from Following the Lacquer God [Garland Magazine]
May 21
Exactly how stupid was what OpenAI did to Scarlett Johansson?
The School is doomed but the kids are alright
Fine Distinctions
Probe all the nuances, niceties, and subtle shades of meaning your little heart desires. from A Hairsplitter’s Odyssey by Eli Burnstein [more inside]