THIS! 6/17/16 : The Super Queer Edition

I'm going to revive THIS! my Friday list of things that were catching my interest for the last week. I will be up front on this - it may not happen every week.


1) Small Town Security

This show is so insane. I cannot even explain it. It aired on AMC after Breaking Bad from 2012-2014. The premise for this unscripted show is really simple: a small town security firm owned and operated by Joan Koplan in Ringgold, Georgia is followed by cameras. The end. It's a basic weird workplace reality show, except...it's really REALLY weird.

Joan is basically Roseanne. Except even less likable, but that somehow makes her more likable? And she has a series of tiny dogs. And battles cancer and other illnesses that dominate the third season.

Joan's head of security is Dennis Starr Croft. He lives in the office. He's a transman, which is revealed early in the first season. This is one of the lease interesting things about the show but the handling of his trans status is treated with compassion and amazing nuance. He goes on dates. He discusses surgery. He deals with bigots.

Joan's husband Irwin is there too. But he basically wonders around in the background and goes off and does the strangest things imaginable. Like manage a roller derby team or become obsessive about mini golf.

The weird sneaks in in the surreal, almost Twin Peaks moments of just...oddness. Irwin roller skating backwards while humming as a disco ball fills the strangely red space with points of light. One episode begins with the security team in a shoot out using machine guns, but it's Joan fleshing out the plot to a new training video. The original McGruff the Crime Dog actor comes to help them reach out to children, but due to copyright they can't use his name or let him speak while in costume...and the final episode involves Dennis' theory that Joan is actually an alien sent to earth to save us...I mean...come on.

Only season 3 is on Netflix, which is a crime against culture, but you should still watch it.



2) Katie O'Neill's Princess Princess

Princess Princess tells the story of Princess Amira and Princess Sadie. It begins as a traditional Disney-ish fairy tale. Girl in tower needs saving, other girl saves her. It quickly dovetails into a tale of two princesses kicking ass, saving the boys, and falling in love. And it is a great representation of two kinds of femininity.

It's beautifully drawn and so awesomely cute that it hurts. It's available for free at the link above or to purchase (which you should do - support queer artists) on Amazon.

Katie's Tumblr is also fun. Give her some love.



3)  Frog & Toad

Arnold Lobel's classic children's series about amphibian best friends began in 1970 with Frog and Toad are Friends. Between 1970 and 1979 4 books would be published, all amazing and wonderful and so so so worth revisiting. They are about love and friendship and just goodness.

Lobel came out as gay in 1974 at the height of Frog & Toad fame. He kept this mostly a secret from the general public, which, as a children's author was probably smart in the 70s. He died in 1987 from an AIDS related heart attack at the age of 54.

The New Yorker just ran this amazing article by Colin Stokes about Lobel and his sadly forgotten biography. But the article puts for a shockingly simple idea - the Frog & Toad stories are about same-sex love. A relationship that is presented as platonic, obviously but take a look at this plot summary from the article:

Take, for instance, the story “Alone,” from “Days with Frog and Toad,” in which Toad goes to Frog’s house to visit him but finds a note on the door that reads, “Dear Toad, I am not at home. I went out. I want to be alone.” Toad begins to experience a little crisis: “Frog has me for a friend. Why does he want to be alone?” Toad discovers that Frog is sitting and thinking on an island far from the shore, and he worries that Frog isn’t happy and doesn’t want to see him anymore. But, when they meet (after Toad falls headfirst into the water and soaks the sandwiches he’s made for lunch), Frog says, “I am happy. I am very happy. This morning when I woke up I felt good because the sun was shining. I felt good because I was a frog. And I felt good because I have you for a friend. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think about how fine everything is.” In the end, the trials of their relationship are worth bearing, because Frog and Toad are most content when they’re together.

And sure, you could say this is a reach, but seriously, go read these stories again. They are about the strong emotional ties between two male characters. And it's kinda revolutionary when you begin to think about it in context to a society that has a hard time letting boys feel anything, let alone love for another male.

THIS! 10/12/12

THIS! on October 12, 2012

Historical Bromance

FACT!
On this day in 1960 Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a desk at a UN General Assembly meeting to protest the Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy in Eastern Europe.


1) 55 Cancri e

'55 Cancri e' is a massive 8x heavier than the earth while only twice the size. Its close orbit means a year is only 18 hours. The surface temperature reaches 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit. The surface is covered in graphite and diamonds.

It is also only 40 light years away.


2) Wendy's

They unveiled a new logo. It's terrible.

Comparison via Brand New

The new Wendy icon is fine. I like the update. I like that she is flesh colored instead of ghost-white. I like the hair and the new circle. The script choice is...odd. It's too rounded, too silly. It looses all appeal. Why not use the old logo with the new Wendy? Sad.


3) Mo Yan

Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel in Literature. The Chinese author's pen name means 'Don't Speak'. He is best known for Red Sorghum and the film version. His latest novel Life And Death Are Wearing Me Out was written in 42 days with traditional brush and ink.

Buy one of his books.


4) LEGO

This gigantic Batcave model exists in the world. It weighs 100 pounds and took over 800 hours. Look at the builder's Flickr stream here.

THIS! 10/5/12

THIS! on October 5th, 2012

FACT! In 1582 there was no October 5th in Italy, Poland, Portugal, or Spain due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar.


1) Betaville

Betaville is a project by Brooklyn Experimental Media Center. The project is an open-source city planner program that allows anyone to fill in and experiment with open spaces in large urban areas. Right now there is one for New York.

Battery Park of the FUTURE!

The platform allows people to improve each others designs and to play Sim City for real. The hope is to influence and shape real world urban development. I would love to see some of their designs implemented, even half-assed they would be better than most of what exists now.


2) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti this group is widely considered the first 'avant-garde' art movement. The idea was to return to a pre-Raphael style of sharp detail and bright color. They were widely criticized for being medieval. Charles Dickens declared Millais' Christ in the House of His Parents (1850) blasphemous, making the holy family look like 'alcoholics and slum-dwellers'. Oh Dickens, you very British man you.

Working class = alcoholic slum-dweller

THIS!

THIS!

1) Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

[Room With Eye] 1930 Maurice Tabard

2) Fruit Salad Tree

From their website:

A fruit salad tree, developed by the West Family, who established the Fruit Salad Tree Company in 1990, in New England, New South Wales, Australia, bears up to six different fruits of the same family on the one plant. All fruits retain their own individuality, with staggered ripening times.

There are four types the company offers: stone fruit, citrus, all-apple, all-nashi. You can mix and match and even list your preference in order of the fruit you want dominant on the tree. So far only available in Australia.

3) Stoker

Oldboy is one of my favorite weird movies. Director Chan-wook Park is bringing his particular brand of awesome to the US with Nicole Kidman in tow. Stoker looks creepy. Maybe incestuous? No matter it will be bat-shit great.

THIS! 9/21/12

THIS! on September 21st, 2012

1) Hook & Irons

First off, it's a great logo.

Second: This new company is about fire fighters. It's about the legacy of fire fighting in America and about creating a brand that recognizes it. Think Nike swooshes for the putting out burning buildings crowd.

The store is great.


2) Sanborn

This 144 year-old map company has a terrible current logo, but once upon a time they would redesign it for every map they made. They started out making maps for fire insurance and moved into historic map making and modern cartography.

Here is a run down of 30 of those very awesome, really great, old logos.

THIS! 8/31/12

THIS! on August 31, 2012

1) Varassamy/Servomuto Collaboration

Varassamy is a French designer and Servomuto are a design duo that collaborate with artists to create vintage inspired lampshades. I want all of their work in my home.


2) Soak

Everyware is a group of computer artists in Seoul. They exhibit their interactive designs all over the world. Soak is a soft sculpture that starts as a blank canvas, as viewers touch it, color spreads from the touch points.


3) Dinosaur Train

Let's take two awesome things, dinosaurs and trains, and put them together in a show made by Jim Henson Co? YES, PLEASE.

Below is a full episode. You can go to the website to watch clips and other episodes.

There are TOYS!


4) Ancient Bugs

They found 230 million-year-old bugs inside small droplets of amber in northern Italy. They found three after searching through 70,000 amber drops. They are only 6 millimeters across.

THIS! 8/24/12

THIS! on August 24, 2012

1) Christopher Lee's Charlemagne

2) Dinosaurs

NASA discovered small dino tracks in their literal backyard. The Christian Science Monitor discusses it here. The feet in question belonged to a nodosaur.

Which was a giant spiked armadillo apparently.

Also, someone buy this blanket for me right this second. It's not my birthday or anything important, but really, I need it.


3) Racism

I really really hate Michael Chabon's new book. Like so much so that I may decide it isn't worth finishing. I really want to write a review but it's like totes not good y'all.

There is a LONG post about this that I am working on in my head about racism, white privilege, and the place of artistic licence in all of it but...it's questionable career-wise considering I have sent a query to his agent to rep my novel...

Yes, I just wrote that and meant it. Oh the pitfalls of the industry! Life is so hard! Le sigh.


4) Kaseem Reed

Dear Democrats, more of this please. Love Michael

THIS! 8/17/12

THIS! on August 17th 2012

1) Memory of the World

This UNESCO project preserves important documents around the world. The idea is to save cultural moments that are on paper so that in a few thousand years our important thoughts don't resemble those we've found in Egypt. The website is thorough and lists every object they have preserved. These include Tesla's papers and photographs of Palestinian refugees.


2) 2,500-Year-Old Siberian Tattoos

3) Never Mind The Buzzcocks

You should be watching this amazing British TV show. Why? Because it is amazing and hilarious and totes worth the hours of YouTube viewing.

THIS! 8/3/12

THIS! on August 3, 2012

1) A Superstitious Fund

This project by Shing Tat Chung attempts to show us the folly of the investment world. With an £4828.88 initial investment from a pool of 144 people around the world a computer is using superstition and an algorithm of luck to make bets on the stock market for one year.

The computer started trading in June, there is a live board tracking progress on display at the Royal College of Art in London.

I found this on Boing Boing so apologies if you already saw it.


2) MonkeyLectric

These LEDs sit on your spokes and animate basic 8-bit images. Super hipstery but also super safe. They also make a version that plays full video.




3) Sapphire & Steel

What did Joanna Lumley do before AbFab? Well, for one she starred in this amazing, moody 1979-1982 scifi series with David McCallum. Below is part one of the final episode. It's about 90 min to watch all 21 parts and is so worth your time.

THIS! 7/27/12

THIS! on July 27, 2012

1) Printing Reflectance Functions

So when you print something it becomes a 2-D object. Photos show a moment frozen in time. The light cannot change. Some people at UC Santa Cruz got together with HP and 3M and asked the question: What if the light could change?

That isn't a hologram. The idea is to allow a printed image to change as the real life image would. So you could see 3-Dimensions without 3-D.


2)

3) The Wall by Jose Angel Araguz

Tiger's Eye Press has published Jose's chapbook The Wall. I highly recommend it.

Fair warning, the site has no online ordering and you have to send a check or money order, but the reading should make up for this oddly anachronistic system.

THIS! 6/29/12

THIS! on June 29, 2012

1) American Motel by Eric Cousineau

This is a Kickstarter started by Eric to finish his great series of motel photographs. Take a look at the link and look at his work. He's offering great rewards and really deserves the chance to finish this project.

While you're at it, check out his website. He does weddings!


2) Tableau Vivant

And while I'm talking Kickstarters. This is probably one of the strangest, most beautiful things I've seen lately.



Sarah Small's project reminds me of turn of the century salon presentations. The tradition of tableau is weird and amazing. Here is a Huffington Post article about the project, which features a fellow CSF alum, Janie Martinez.

THIS! 6/22/12

THIS! on June 22, 2012

1)

2) Scout

Scout is a program from the Sunlight Foundation that notifies you when congress or state governments are discussing issues you care about. You enter key words into their database and sign up an e-mail address.

Sunlight is, in general, a great organization dedicated to government transparency and citizen education.  Worth a look.


3) Nuns on the Bus

From the press release:

Catholic Sisters stand in solidarity with all who live in poverty, and we confront injustice and systems that cause suffering. We cannot stand by silently when the U.S. Congress considers further enriching the wealthiest Americans at the expense of struggling, impoverished families.

So what do these nuns do? They go on a bus tour from Iowa to D.C. to bring attention to poor families and how the Republican Ryan Budget would further hurt the lives of the poor in the US. There is even a section on their site on how the budget would hurt state-by-state.


4)

That is a bedroom at the  Au Vieux Panier hotel in Marseille, France. The small hotel features 5 rooms that were given over to graphic design teams. The above was done by Tilt, a French graffiti artist.

THIS! 6/15/12

THIS! on June 15, 2012

1) St. Bart's

St. Bartholomew's is an Episcopal church on Park Ave and 51st Street in New York. Last year they redesigned their official logo and introduced a unified design plan that is beautiful.

The logo is based on the letter-work on the outside of the church itself, which was designed by architect Bertram Goodhue. The new work was done by The Original Champions of Design with lettering by Jesse Ragan. There are a lot of details of the brand on the St. Bart's page at their site. This is also the best name for a design firm ever.

St. Bart's also has a pretty great music series featuring choirs from around the world. They also have a modern art outreach program and a theatre that stages non-religious works.


2) Alison Bechdel

If you haven't read Bechdel's great Fun Home or Are You My Mother? you should. The 'mother' from that second title was my high school English teacher. These books are beautiful, sad, glorious studies of growing up and the strangeness of parent/child relationships.

THIS!

THIS! on June 8, 2012

1) Symphony of Science

John D. Boswell has taken bits from science shows and strung them into kinda amazing new age-ish electronic songs. Auto-tuned Bill Nye? Yes.

What started out as an awesome one-off project has grown into 15 songs/videos. A vinyl release from Jack White, a free compilation album, and also to #2.


2) PBS Digital Studios

PBS has launched a new digital experiment. Collaborating with Boswell they have made the above video. From their press release:

When we discovered video mash-up artist John D. Boswell, aka melodysheep, on YouTube, we immediately wanted to work together. Turns out that he is a uge Mister Rogers Neighborhood fan, ans was thrilled at the chance to pay tribute to one of our heroes.

Best of all, this is the first in a series.


3) Capuchin monkeys reject unequal pay

THIS! 6/1/12

THIS! on June 1, 2012

1) Thieving Irons

The second album from this really really good Brooklyn band is available for pre-order on iTunes.

Here is the video for their latest single, Poison.




2) Leafcutter Designs

Get a loved-one a tiny letter or package. I sent one of the tiny cards to my Mom one year for Mother's Day. You can add your own message of about 25 lines. I would keep it to about the length of a tweet.

The packages are things like marbles, buttons, dice or an esc key form a computer.

Adorable and odd. And cheap!


3) Roominate

This toy allows you to design, build, and decorate a dollhouse. The best part is that you also get to wire it for electricity. There are TVs, fans, lights, all sorts of things to add with basic wiring skills.

The designers have launched a Kickstarter. They have two weeks left on the campaign and have already made twice what they were asking. The best part is that it teaches skills that are incredibly useful and often overlooked in our modern education system. Their vision statement is perfect:
.
We aim to bring more women into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Early opportunities to be inspired and encouraged will help girls welcome their potential as tomorrow's technology innovators.

THIS! 5/25/12

THIS! on May 25, 2012

1) Star Wars Weekend

This happened. And will again. Every Friday-Sunday until June 10th.

2) Law Of The Sea

This treaty was signed by the rest of the world in 1982. The US has yet to even get close to signing it. Sen. John Kerry thinks he can bring it back and pass it. There are currently 34 countries that have either not signed or not ratified LOST.

A few other international laws the US has not signed:

The Kyoto Protocol (1997) - The greenhouse gas treaty went into effect in 2005. Aside from the US  Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan also have either not signed or ratified the treaty. Canada renounced in 2011 days after the Durban agreement and the revelation that Canada had actually increased emissions 17% since 1990.

CEDAW (1979) - This law went into effect in 1981. It is a sweeping anti-discrimination and series of protections for women from abuse. Seven UN member states have not ratified, signed, or acceded the treaty, they are Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tonga, and the United States. Palau and the US signed the treaty but have not ratified or acceded it. The law has come under fire for being ineffectual, specifically in regards to so-called 'honor killings' and the promotion of 'western' values.

CRC (1989) - The law went into effect in 1990. A basic outlining of the rights of children and forming protections for them under the law. Somalia, South Sudan and the United States are the only countries in the world to have not signed or ratified the law. The US did sign it, but has yet to ratify. President Obama has called this 'embarrassing'.


3) Horseshoe Crabs

Neither related to horses nor crabs but over 450 million years old. Discuss.

THIS! 5/18/12

THIS! on May 18, 2012

1) James Buchanan

While I don't love this Salon article. It does raise some good points. It also seems to have lifted all of those points directly from our 15th President's Wikipedia page.

Debating the sexuality of historical figures is a fascinating genre of non-fiction. Remember when Hitler was outed in 2001?

Do I think living with a man for 15 years and lamenting his being away and talking about 'wooing' other men and finding an old maid to engage in a sexless marriage all points to Buchanan being gay. Yes. Do I think it matters. No.

But it is interesting.

2) ixxi

These little plastic bits connect square cards into larger images. You can use solid colored paper or take an image and they will chop it up for you.

It's expensive but beautiful.

3) David Leddick

Sal was/is my favorite Mad Men character. It will forever make me sad that I do not get a dose of Bryan Batt's fabulousness each episode. And I pray to the goddess that they bring him back each season.

This article about being gay in the world of 1960s advertising made me smile for that alone.

THIS! 5/11/12

THIS on May 11, 2012

1)

That, my friends, is a map of the USA rendered in hand-made iron skillets. Pans that you can buy as a whole map or individually at FeLion Studios. The pans are to scale and lock together. You can buy wall mounts for them!

'Fe' is the symbol for Iron on the periodic table. Also...Iron Lion Zion! The cheapest pan is Rhode Island (naturally) at $150! It's only 2 inches! The largest be Texas at $2,500!!! and 22x23 inches.


2) Movies

It's a great popcorn movie year y'all. The Avengers is just part one of a year-long awesomefest at cinemas. And by awesome, I mean eye-candy. Here are the ones I'm looking forward to.

Dark Shadows (Dear Tim Burton, do not fuck this up)

Prometheus (Dear Ridley Scott, do not fuck this up)

Django Unchained (Dear Jaime Foxx, do not fuck this up)

The Hobbit (yes)

THIS! 5/5/12

I've decided to start a weekly post of non book things that I found interesting. They will be things to read, watch, do, make. Basically it's going to be a curated list of weekly awesome. After this first test run I will post THIS! on Friday afternoons.

THIS! on May 5, 2012

1) R&D-I-Y

A crowd-sourced project that started out as a group wanting to make window farming for city dwellers simple and inexpensive. They have a huge community of people who are working to improve the system.

So far they have developed free (FREE!) directions on how to build your own window hydroponics system. Which is both daunting and a great idea. They also sell pre-made products if you don't have the time or abilities to build your own. The basic system is $120.

I love the idea of making use of the large NY windows to grow veggies or fruits. They have links and suggestions for nutrients to make your garden year-round. You can watch R&D-I-Y founder Britta Riley give a short but detailed TED talk below:

2) Eisenhower Memorial

Frank Gehry has unveiled plans for the full memorial in DC. I like the modern take on the memorial. I am concerned that it is a little twee, what with the 'boyhood' Ike looking on the elder accomplishments and the translucent banners depicting his home.

It is not ugly though. And it is green space. So a win?

3) Sean Astin

Yes, that Sean Astin.

This week Sean started a political podcast on Toad Hop Network called Vox Populi. It's rough around the edges but he has loads of energy and seems like a genuinely great guy. The tag line is "The Voice of the Occasionally Interested People" which describes me and a lot of people.

Here is a link to this week's show. He interviews Congressman Steve Israel (NY 2nd District) and Fox News commentator Frank Luntz.

The podcast is also available on iTunes but you can only watch the video on the Vox Populi website. And who doesn't want to watch Sean Astin be cute?