Favorites from forbiddencabinet
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Hello! There's a Borg on the bridge!
Star Trek: Borg - Remastered is a 1996 FMV Star Trek game featuring John de Lancie remastered into HD & made playable in browser. yt trailer. A review of the original game.
Rock of Ages
A Strange Plastic Rock Has Ominously Invaded 5 Continents
That probably shouldn't have happened.
Protecting a town with a living shoreline of saltmarsh and oyster beds
A living shoreline of saltmarsh and oyster beds is working to protect this town naturally. In low-lying Narooma on the New South Wales south coast, an award-winning initiative is creating a self-healing barrier against erosion and rising sea levels.
The Inky Depths #8: Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket
The Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket has a very compressed body, which is almost circular. The lower surface is made up of a large ventral flap (called a dewlap) which can be raised and lowered. The abdomen is also expandable by inflating. Like all the leatherjackets, the Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket lacks pelvic fins.
The colouration of the Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket is highly variable, ranging from a pale yellow-brown to dark green with small spots or ocelli. This variable colouration helps to camouflage the fish and often makes it very difficult to see. The colouration of this fish can change during courtship.
THEY CHANGE COLOR WHEN THEY FALL IN LOVE!
For every winter I take my basket and ride down the river
Indigitalization [slYT, 1h9m] is a talk by digital artist Jon Corbett (not that one) on the creation of a computing framework that honors and applies Indigenous culture to computing--including a new programming language and hardware using Cree syllabary.
Slappy the Shoe Frog
Slappy the frog lives in a shoe. (Instagram) (multi-link reddit below the fold.)
Self-testing and toys to help you learn about your music listening
The Music Lab has tests for you to learn how good you are at discerning melodic discrimination and recall, mistuning perception, and beat alignment and more (previously). "This Is What It Sounds Like" offers compare-and-contrast samples to help you reflect on your taste in melody, novelty, realism, timbre, and other elements. Its links lead to further online tests and demonstrations.
I refuse to believe that I'm making up nice things about Mike
"Sayable Space is a television game for 1 or more people, it consists of saying "Space" out loud at the same time as Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) during the intro to Star Trek: The Next Generation." See also, therein, "Mike's Crush", where you say hi to the very briefly visible anonymous cool smoking woman near the start of the Night Court intro that Mike may or may not have said at one point he had a crush on.
waves of fuzz
The New Wave Of American Shoegaze
- "While there're so many revelatory new sounds coming out of Philly, the reason we're on the crest of a New Wave of American Shoegaze, not just one city's worth of cool shit, is that there are several other distinct styles coming to fruition in tandem. One of them is country-gaze, a fledgling genre popularized by its foremost band, Wednesday, who share a kinship with the noisiness of the Philly bands but are otherwise doing their own thing. That is, hitching traditional country music with sand-blasted shoegaze guitars in a way that really hasn't, almost improbably, been done before."
They're long videos, but it's a pretty long book
Night Mind on YouTube brings us his exploration of one of the most labyrinthine novels, Mark Z Danielewski's House Of Leaves. In three parts: Secrets In Sound [1h39m], Labyrinth In Letters [1h37m], and Rest In Roots [1h46m]. It's a great round-up of the book if you've read the work. If you haven't it's full of spoilers but leaves SO much unexplored that you might be driven to crack the book yourself. It's a difficult book to describe, but this comes pretty close.
Breakfast Bangers
Breakfast Bangers
Click the Full English and drop some jungle-full beats.
you're a rich_lord, but you've gone too far
Black Growth, Green Growth, and Creepy Eyes: three of a number of fascinating and unsettling procedural animations by rich_lord.
I don't understand what's going on but this is cool as hell
The Barnacle Goose Experiment is an abiogensis (wikipedia yeah I didn't know either) body horror idle clicker by Everest Rose Pipkin where you play as a researcher in a biodome tasked with generating a world out of their own body. There is sound so you may want to mute the browser tab.
Meanwhile, on Tumblr: Goncharov (1973)
As Twitter is in its death throes, Tumblr is thriving (for certain definitions of thriving) and doing a deep dive into Goncharov (1973), dir. Martin Scorsese. In fact, tumblr is talking about it so much that Goncharov is today's top trending tag there.
The Inky Depths #7: Eels Give Me The Feels
This great post reminded me of a buoy that's been bobbing around - gulper eel, ribbon eel, electric eel - there are so many eels on the Inky Depths posting list, so LET'S TALK ABOUT EELS TOGETHER, it's about time, am I right?! (okay, Inky Depths #4 was about the Slender Snipe Eel. But there is so. much. more. to. talk. about.) Well I'll be hornswaggled, let's dive in! (more inside)
Gloomy Octopus Tantrums
These octopuses need their space!
Gloomy octopuses are one of the few animals that throw projectiles at each other. They like to lead solitary lives but because ideal den grounds may be few and far between, sometimes they are forced to live near each other. Irritable gloomy octopuses throw things at each other when annoyed. Who doesn't want space sometimes?
The NYTimes article is under paywall. If you are over the free article limit, please go to the PLOS abstract here.
"something extratextual was always going to be conveyed"
Maya.land is one of those idiosyncratic personal websites with, for example, a page about heraldry and the Internet. ("Heraldry scales nicely down to avatars.") Maya most recently posted about choosing a new font. "...a lot of what we think we’re perceiving in an artwork or Thing is the part that can be flawlessly reproduced, but the way our minds grab onto it is all about its aura – the origin, the context, the situatedness that a mechanical reproduction wouldn’t duplicate."
Bobtail squids can ooze glue from their skin.
A squid biologist takes to the streets — and Skype — to share scientific knowledge.
Squid biologist Sarah Mcanulty (@sarahmackattack) runs the Squid Facts hotline and recently hosted #Squidtember (with lots of delightful illustrations by Natalie Metzger aka The Fuzzy Slug.) Want a squid fact? Text "OH YEAH!" to 1-833-SCI-TEXT
The Hardest Horror Movie Sound I Ever Foley-ed
Ahead of Halloween, Vulture asked Foley artists to answer the question [Marilee] Yorston commonly fields: What is the hardest sound you’ve ever had to perform in a horror project? The answers ranged from the yowls of a disembodied spirit to the exact gushing of a head exploded from the inside by a discharged fire extinguisher. (archive.ph link)
It's Why Wolf Not Where
Building on the international success of AAAH!BA [previously], competition now arises from a new band, Bee Dee Gee's Hee Bee Gee Bees, who bring us Stayin' Alive (performed by a vampire) and Tragedy (performed by a werewolf).
Frogs with very unusual calls
Frogs with very unusual calls: These seven links (more inside) lead to short 30-second tracks of frog calls that you can play (at the bottom of each page), as well as photos of the frogs and a short description of their lifestyles. Motorbike Frog = these sound so much like motorbikes that in the past, some people have called the police to report motorbikes hooning around at 3am/4am only to have it turn out to be frogs.
Movie: Vordum: Price of Death
Many adventurers. Many monsters. One arena. One gnome. And a prize beyond all imagination...
(Currently 8.7/10 on IMDB)
The Enduring Allure of "Choose Your Own Adventure" Books
To read a beautiful article by Leslie Jamison in The New Yorker about the history and impact of the Choose Your Own Adventure books (Wikipedia), complete with choices for how to navigate the article, follow this link.
To comment about the article, or the books in general, click
oh bother
The U.S. copyright on A.A. Milne's classic children's book expired at the end of 2021. It only took eight months for Rhys Frake-Waterfield to write, produce, and direct Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror movie complete with a bikini-clad woman in a hot tub. The Disney animated version remains under copyright, so the murderous Pooh and Piglet of this story aren't quite how they're popularly remembered. But Christopher Robin is there, and Eeyore (after a fashion), and the 100 Acre Wood.
That ‘Deaf Child in Area’ Is Now a Deaf Adult — and He’s Hot!!!
The Squeaky Wheel: your top news source for disabled people, by disabled people.
I want to go to there
Michael Heizer’s City, a 1.5 mile x 0.5 mile monumental artwork in the Nevada Desert is finally open for visitors in September. Write for an invite! Benjamin Sutton has a brief story in The Art Newspaper, and Michael Kimmelman, Todd Heisler, and Noah Throop have a deep dive at The New York Times. (No paywall)
M A R V E D Y N E
Opplopolis (Twitter, previously) has begun updating again. It is a comic about a weird anachronistic city in which the fates of multiple people - and a completely different science-fiction setting - become entwined with something called Marvedyne.
Early Collaborative Games of Fantasy and Imagination
A few months ago, I posted a rough translation of the rules to a collaborative fairy tale storytelling game more than 200 years old. I've now put that onto a Neocities site with many additional translations: a total of 5 variants of the same game re-published many times between 1801 and 1867, several variants of a game the same age that involves role-playing, and several variants of even older poetry and nonsense games related to the Surrealist game "Exquisite Corpse." There are also pages and translations explaining the history of the games' penalty phase, offering advice on running demos of the storytelling game especially using motifs from the earliest "secondary world" fantasy novel, and possible round-robin storytelling from the 1600s-1700s, as well as links to many additional sources for parlor games from 1551 to 1899.
I dunno man, I'm listenin' to Zuma
Now hear me out. What makes this song stink: Beverly Hills.
I'm not big on harshing anyone's buzz but that's not what's going on here at all. This video is a journey.
You Gotta Know when to Fool 'em
10 Levels of Sleight of Hand - Cheating at Poker. (YT)
"Level 1: this demonstration is based on a routine by Jim Swain, explained on his Miracles DVD set.
Level 2: I use a shuffle sequence created by Rod the Hop in this phase and throughout the video. It is explained in Steve Forte's books, Gambling Sleight of Hand Vols. 1 and 2.
Levels 3 & 4: these demonstrations are based off of Harry Lorayne's routine Numero Uno, released on Vol. 1 of his "Best Ever" DVD set.
Level 5: while different in method, this level is based off of ideas found throughout Jim Swain's act on the first DVD of his Miracles DVD set.
Levels 6, 7, & 8: these levels are comprised of a slight variation of Darwin Ortiz's routine Positively Fifth Street, found in his book Lessons in Card Mastery.
Levels 9 & 10: this demonstration is a (very) slight variation of the Dai Vernon Poker Demonstration, published in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic."
some of the pictures could only be described as “disastrous”
In A Guide To Asking Robots To Design Stained Glass Windows, Scott Alexander has a desire to make some very specific images. But, as he finds out, "the artists I’ve asked to design this all balk. I need an artist who works for free and isn’t allowed to say no. Enter DALL-E-2, the new art-generating AI."
Queer Games Bundle 2022
"Purchasing the Queer Games Bundle [Pay what you can edition] is a direct action that you can take right now to support queer people in a life changing way and in exchange you get over 500 amazing, heartfelt, fun, and radical games. "
insect art
Insects in Art
"Throughout history and across many cultures, insects have inspired artists and artisans. Moth larvae, bees and beetles have provided silk, wax, dyes and other art media. Some insects leave traces on their environment that artists capture, while others in effect become collaborators as their natural behaviors are incorporated into art."
The source of all flowers is a stunning manuscript page.
At Islamic Illumination, UK-based Saudi artist Dr. Esra Alhamal hosts the annual Golden Flower Art Challenge! See everyone's completed flowers on Instagram! This year's floral templates are inspired by Mughal manuscript borders. Previous templates included Turkish plates in 2021 and Safavid Iranian textiles in 2020. And, as Dr. Alhamal says, have a creative Ramadan!
Holly Herndon's SPAWN AI: singing with someone else's voice in real time
Herndon's remarkable software allows one person to sing with the voice of another. it's uncanny and spectacular.
Herndon's videos from her @SonarFest presentation/collaboration. the collaborative possibilities! the ethical questions! Musical identities now way spongier with this new tool.
Calleafgraphy
The art of calligraphy on a dried leaf was practiced widely in Ottoman Turkey. This was difficult and delicate work. The leaf was dried, and the tissue removed to leave the skeletal membrane, with gold ink applied over it. For Ramadan, here are 20 exquisite examples… (sltwitter, or threadreader rollout)
Now you know your A-B-Trees
Occlusion Grotesque is an experimental typeface that is carved into the bark of a tree. As the tree grows, it deforms the letters and outputs new design variations, that are captured annually. The project explores what it means to design with nature and on nature's terms.
Updating my style in my mid-30s
I'm a mid-30s guy who wants to feel more stylish (not necessarily fashionable) but without breaking the bank or radically changing my overall style.
The "FU" is how you answer the phone when the man tries to bring ya down
Futel: Free Public Telephony in the name of Social Justice. "Denial of telephony services has long been a tactic used against undesirable populations, and our devices will counteract that. But more importantly, we will help to establish a new era of communication, one in which reaching out is not only desirable, but mandatory." In a nutshell, Futel fixes up old public telephone booths, and then resituates them back into public spaces so that Anyone can call Anyone again, and be able to stick their used gum in the plastic folder that used to hold a phone book. Here's a HOPE talk from 2018: "Futel: A Technology So Advanced We Leave It Out On The Street All Night"
A Movement That’s Quietly Reshaping Democracy For The Better
Imagine you receive an invitation one day from your mayor, inviting you to serve as a member of your city’s newly established permanent Citizens’ Assembly.
"You will be one of 100 others like you — people who are not politicians or even necessarily party members. All of you were drawn by lot through a fair and random process called a civic lottery. ... Important decisions have been shaped by everyday people about 10-year, $5 billion strategic plans, 30-year infrastructure investment strategies, tackling online hate speech and harassment, taking preventative action against increased flood risks, improving air quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and many other issues."
The Prisoner Opening
The Opening Credits to The Prisoner.
To say more - that would be telling.
This is the best __________ I know of....
What are your favorite mundane items? I want to own the best box cutter, oven mitts, key ring, wallet, dog collar and lead, notebook, pen, reusable shopping bag, bed sheets, sponge, dish washing brush, lint remover, and _______ on the planet. What's something you own that's amazing and you think everyone should own? Price is no object — what's a thing you bought and never want (or need) to switch to another?
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