Brutal, but absolutely on point mixed media work by Thomas Doyle (nice aggregation by Colossal). This kind of tech takeover has been done over the years, but in the medium of faux-antiquated sculptures, it hits differently.
(image via Colossal)
A genuinely hopeful take from Greg Storey on the malaise we all are (likely) feeling.
The late-70s malaise birthed MTV, punk, hip-hop, Silicon Valley, and the personal computer revolution. The Depression birthed New Deal reforms, the jazz golden age, and the technological leaps of wartime innovation. The 1890s gloom birthed the Progressive Era, Art Nouveau, and entirely new ways of thinking about society and power.
Hyland Lake Park Reserve.
A rewatch of Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973) re-establishes — in my mind — its boundless inventiveness and vision. It also operates as an historic spiritual precursor to the Scavengers Reign series, which was unjustly cancelled by both HBO Max and Netflix.
Brian Eno:
I remember an early review of one of my ambient records saying something like “No song, no beat, no melody, no movement”—and they weren’t being complimentary. But I think they were accurate, because this is a music of texture and sonic sensuality more than it is any of those things they were alluding to. I’m sure when the first abstract paintings appeared, people said, “No figure, no structure,” etc.… The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way.
This is awesome - a local pop-up focused on renting DVDs/Blu-rays the old fashioned way. Streaming fatigue and generational malaise with current media consumption options was always going to prompt an inevitable comeback of physical media. I already brought my old DVD collection to the new house!
Phenomenal retrospective on the building of Alien Isolation by the newly reformed Game Informer magazine (subscriber-only article, but so far worth it to support solid gaming journalism). I love that the devs made a rule: “nothing can go into Isolation that couldn’t be made on [Ridley] Scott’s set.”
Cool discovered (or re-discovered?) use of the 8BitDo’s Micro controller. John Voorees extrapolates on the find and expanding its use. Apparently the trick is to use 8BitDo’s app, and it has endless potential across system- and app-level key automation. This was already an awesome controller…
Stock Pot has a ridiculously wonderful project to recreate physical media with NFCs akin to an old VHS player. I don’t have the ambition to follow these instructions, but as someone who recently has turned to picking up new Blu-rays of films to return to the watching ritual, this has appeal.
Just discovered this post-war architectural collective of “buildings inspired by pyramids and mastabas that rise above the sandy, green expanse of a former farm” just outside the French Mediterranean coastline.
Allegedly architect Jean Balladur’s work (officially titled La Grande Motte) was disparaged as architectural pollution, but this looks anything but. It’s got that dreamy mid century flavor of futurism, and stark contrast with the surrounding green landscapes is catnip for aesthetics.
Palmer’s knew how to describe a proper bar:
A church for down and outers and those who romanticize them, a rare place where high and low rub elbows—bums and poets, thieves and slumming celebrities.
We’ll see if this news turns around, but if it doesn’t, we lose a real one in September. (A 20% decline in sales, but full attendance for live music doesn’t exactly seem like enough to tank a 119-year old bar.)
Nice Steve Carell interview from a while back (when the US version of The Office wrapped), with commentary on Chicago vs everyone, careers, tv/film production, marriage, and facial comedy:
If I start deconstructing my face or what I’m doing, I think I’m in jeopardy of becoming way too self-aware. I never want to go to the mirror and start practicing expressions. You don’t practice them in real life—you just respond to things. To practice how you would look if someone ran over your foot is silly.
NYT piece on the breadth of Hmong food (gift link) we have here in Minnesota, particularly highlighting the two big restaurants, Vinai and Diane’s Place. The author also sprinkles in historical context of the Hmong in arriving here.
Purple rice and galabaos are where it’s at.
CW&T have been on a roll lately with a few up cycled products, and their latest — the HELIX_BALL_DROP_TESTER_V17 — is dialed into their time theme, using imperfect materials from the Time Since Launch device. The inconsistencies in the time it takes the ball to descend from iteration to iteration is also interesting; perhaps, the point being, it is your own custom measurement of time for an activity, like breath work, meditation, a pause from work, a moment to gather yourself.
An updated Skyline wallpaper collection from Basic Apple Guy was released today, and looking nice. Was sporting one from last month and I’ve been enjoying the colors, will upgrade to this!
Snapped through some fresh pull-tabs in a farewell tour of sorts to my area of St. Paul (Halftime Rec and Gabe’s, farewell for a while — I’ll be back).
Also: a fairly substantial update to the pull-tabs library.
Crazy this side operation out of Coudal Partners has been going on for 20 years, but Field Notes branded notebooks are still as joyful as they’ve been when Aaron Draplin first ideated the concept. Quality stuff.
Funny enough, during my recent move I unearthed a treasure trove of these things.
The new nearby Mexican spot is high on vibes (you know, one of those places with every chair and booth painted with a scene), and so-so on execution, but it’ll do. Al pastor tacos pair well enough with their habanero salsa.
“Anything that lasts 10 years, 20 years, it has to be new. And most of those are not received well at the start.”
This interview is funny because yes, Death Stranding 1 received mixed reviews upon release, but has since been held in very high regard as a completely new experience (albeit spiritual success to Metal Gear).
It’s okay for its sequel to be anticipated and even praised ahead of time — continued success is a good thing for a videogame studio, but I get what Kojima is after: he wants his art to be off-kilter to provide something fresh, which is hard to do. We can only hope Death Stranding 2 can be both experimentally wild (what a true fanbase is hoping for anyway), while simultaneously yielding blockbuster revenues.
Whenever I reload on Uber gift cards at either 20% or 25% off at Costco, it feels like a system hack. I don’t know how they arranged that deal, but it’s unfathomable free money (if you use Uber/Eats a lot).
Big move coming up. Am I one of the few who consider themselves moving enthusiasts? Yes. Organizing, packing, labeling, checklisting, and placing objects in optimal paths for trafficking this shit out of a house is high on my dopamine hits.
Love to see iA Writer get nominated for an Apple Design award after 15 years of existence. A testament to its integrity over time: longevity in usage, foresight on interface design, and reliability. Highly recommend if you haven’t already — buy once, use for… another 15 years.
Hell yeah, I have no notes on this cheeky piece by James Norton explaining why the eternal supper club Mancini’s is untouchable:
This is a place with no airs. It’s not trying to impress you[…] Mancini’s is a paleolithic Midwestern supper club that makes no apologies for being what it is. It also serves a hell of a good cannoli for dessert.
As a zipper enthusiast (😅), how can I not admire the comical designer brilliance of this Japanese-built boat echoing the shape of a zipper that, in turn, simulates the “unzipping” on the surface of the water via its wake?
Hydration two ways at Nico’s Tacos in St Anthony Park after a pitstop biking up and around Como Ave from Saint Paul. The bike lane all the way from the park is a joy to use.
