Today I learned that LaserDisc's initially started out being called DiscoVision, a format demonstrated as far back as 1972 and released commercially in 1978 with Jaws. It did not take off and MCA sold the rights in 1981, at which time it slowly became LaserDisc and still didn't catch on. The VCR / Betamax beat them too badly because they could record, not just playback.
Anyway, the point here is that DiscoVision is a fairly terrible name for a product that may be referred to as a noun. "Can I borrow your DiscoVision of Jaws?" just doesn't roll of the tongue. Sure, "Can I borrow your V-H-S of Jaws?" is pretty weird too but at least VHS only means one thing. Disco is pretty specific!
I recently found myself listening to Horizon, Volume 1; a compilation of ambient works from the 1980s by Japanese composer Masahiro Sugaya. The music is compelling and inviting.. have a listen:
... But what really struck me was the artwork. There's a delightful balance between vibes - the extremely rigid and isometric vs the playful and handdrawn. Seeing it animated is even more riveting. The illustration work is courtesy of Shoji Umemura.
Browsing Umemura's instagram is a delightful romp of styles and mediums. Lots of illustrations but plenty of paintings and other mixed mediums. All of it has a similar playfulness and combination of vibes but none seem to strike the exact same balance as the Sugaya album cover; more evidence of how special it is.
All of it is fun and worth staring into. There's even more over at Panpro Factory and its blog (this is a collaborative effort with Chiharu Watanabe).
I've talked about the Toynbee Tilemany times on this site. I even did a Dizzy Spell podcast episode all about it! During that recording I was reminded that one of the earliest events in the Toynbee history occurs in 1980, when a caller goes on the air with Larry King and talks about how 2001 relates to resurrection and mentions his group "The Minority Association" that is seeking to spread the word about these ideas.
Now, there's no evidence of this call. Only anecdotal evidence. However, George Washington University keeps a collection of Larry King recordings from 1970-1990, courtesy of the Mutual Broadcasting System archives. I reached out to them last July in search of a Feb 1980 recording; supposedly when the caller made their appearance.
They responded* and, unfortunately, the results are a bit of a dead end. Their response, as noted in the image above, states:
Thank you for your patience. We have just recently reopened and had a chance to look into your request. I've looked through the box that contains recordings from 1980. I'm sorry to report that there are no cassettes dated February 1980. The bulk of the 1980 cassettes are from July and September - November of 1980. It appears that there are significant gaps in the recordings that we have for 1980.
Did the call-in happen during the Fall of 1980, not the Winter? Did the call-in happen at all? Mysteries we may never solve but I'm happy to have checked one little box off my list of possible puzzle pieces to unearth.
* They actually replied in Sept of 2024 but I'm only posting about it now, in March of 2025. I've no excuse for why I took so long.
Really been enjoying the short, informative, entertaining transmissions from Chris Spargo recently. This piece on Bookland is a deep dive into UPC codes, book publishing and standardization as technology goes international - an unbelievably boring topic on the face of it but made quite engaging with Spargo's delivery. It's not ostentatious in the slightest, it's brilliantly British - subdued, calm and subtly goofy (watch him pull book after book from his jacket).
I've been going down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras season for several years but it hasn't been until the last two that I started going down for the end of the season - Fat Tuesday specifically. When you explain the experience to someone that's never been, the assumption is that it's simply an excuse to get inebriated and embrace debauchery. While there's certainly a bit of that, it's only a minor element of it all.
The majority of the experience is the creative outpourings from a massive number of participants. Look at this gallery from Cryptique, the "Krewe of Cemetary Shamblers." These creations are astounding, full stop. Each and every one is a massive labor of love and the results are spellbinding (to me). This level of dedication and detail is everywhere you look, for days.
I'll never be able to capture or summarize the experience properly but I think going here or here are great places to start.
Two quick noteworthy items from the Ampwall team. First, this compilation entitled Cranked To 11: An Ampwall Community Mixtape is an enjoyable introduction to a diverse and growing group of musicians. There may be some misconceptions that the platform is primarily metal and metal-esque music but this comp showcases plenty outside of those genres.
Secondly, they launched a persistent music player. Traversing between pages without music playback being interrupted is a huge feature add. That's just one of several new features launched in the last month. I'm really loving the transparency and the speed of the ampwall platform.
This Marcin Wichary essay on the pervasive-yet-hidden font throughout NYC - nay, throughout history - is quite a fascinating read. It's lengthy but the writing style is perfectly compelling start to finish.
I won't spoil the contents specifically but the title, The Hardest Working Font in Manhattan, is sure to give you some clues. This level of fandom, commitment to research and massive pooling of delightful examples is right up my alley!
An article of this length and this level of enjoyment is a rare treat these days. Never forget that the open web is still a wonderful treasure trove.
This paragraph is hidden from view but it allows me to add some additional keywords for possible search results; like Gorton, Gordon, Leroy, DSKY and felt leaderboard.
I was gonna use this Veep GIF for the cover but it was just too real. You're here for relief, not reminders. So, let's get to the enjoyable distractions!
Lifeforce trailer - have we talked about this 1985 Tobe Hooper movie about Space Vampires? It recently got the whole restoration treatment and I think it's time I finally saw it.
C64 Demo: Phonics Is Dead - YouTube has realized that I need to be aware of all things Commodore 64. This demo is fantastic but considering it was made on a computer from 1982 is unbelievable.
David Lynch on Living & Dying - the only upside to Lynch's passing is that clips like this bubble up. This is not your typical Friday Videos fodder but, damn, it's 3 minutes of delight.
TV Wheel: The X Box - did you know Joel Hodgson (or MST3K) had a 1995 pilot called TV Wheel, funded by HBO? It's sketch comedy show with a single camera mounted inside of a giant rotating mechanism. It's 37 minutes! I can't really decide if it's funny, which isn't a great sign, but there are lots of familiar faces in there (I spy David Cross).
Backflips - I continue to highly enjoy Montessori Boy and continue to wish they posted more on YouTube, as I can't quite seem to get TikTok into my regular rotation.
Fofão - have I mentioned Fofao here yet? The Brazilian children's show mascot that is pure terror? I don't think I have. I'm sorry to bring this to your attention if you weren't already aware but if I have to know it exists, so do you.
This library is used only to generate and analyze the RAW waveforms that are played and captured from your audio devices (speakers, microphones, etc.). You are free to use any audio backend (e.g. PulseAudio, ALSA, etc.) as long as you provide callbacks for queuing and dequeuing audio samples.
That doesn't sound like much but it's doing all the heavy lifting to encode the audio with the data and decode it on the other side. There's plenty of demo videos and demo apps you really should play with.
There are certainly some practical considerations to keep in mind with an audio based communication tool - namely, this isn't going to work in a crowded space - but it sounds fantastic. I love a scenario where sci-fi informs reality and all of this feels lifted directly from a Star Trek script. I'm not saying we're ever going to hear it out in the wild but I sure do love seeing it as a fully working demo.
DeskPad - a virtual monitor for screen sharing. DeskPad creates a virtual display that is mirrored within its application window so that you can create a dedicated, easily shareable workspace.
I screen share quite frequently at work and have yet to find a Google Meet, Zoom, et al experience that is pleasant.. especially from a larger monitor to a group. Maybe this is the key to all my problems!
Cursor: AI Code Editor - the moment I post this, it will be outdated. In fact, as I write this, I know that Cline (a VS Code AI agent) can combine with Claude Code - which may even be superior!
The point here is, these code assistant agents are getting very good. Maybe not Build Your Own Bandcamp good but if you need to build a marketing website, they can do a great deal of the work for you now. Pretty wild.
pISSStream - ... a menu bar app that shows how full the International Space Station's urine tank is in real time.. Need I say more?
Kim Deal releasing her first solo record is a noteworthy event in itself but this video for "Big Ben Beat" contained an additional little treat: it's directed by Richard Ayoade! It also features appearances by Lydia Fox, Ida Ayoade, Esmé Ayoade and Fay Milton. It's an Ayoade short film, in multiple ways! I don't think he's credited as director on anything since The Double in 2013, so it's nice to see that seal be broken.*
I'm not sure I'll ever have the opportunity to use this set of Neobrutalism components but I enjoy the aesthetic. It's a little nostalgic, a little whimsical and seems pretty robust!
I've no idea how I ran across Daughter of Swords (Durham, NC) but I was immediately smitten with "Talk to You." High energy pop tendencies with yearning melancholy self-doubt lyrics - sign me up!
The album from which that single emerges - Alex - is set for release on April 11th. If I wasn't already hooked, this had me insta-preorder:
Daughter of Swords’ music has grown thornier, an unpredictable and knotty tangle of technicolor synths, heady guitar, bubbling rhythms, a sheen enveloping songs about raw human intensity writ large – crushes, desire, anger, alienation, the horrors of late-stage capitalism, the cascading paradigm shifts it seems we're all hurtling toward.
The video is brand new to me but I love the analog glitched out effects and playful nature of it; undermining those lyrics. Get this in your ears.
These two tech stories really have nothing to do with one another but I do find the dichotomy between to be entertaining, so I'm posting them both here...
Microsoft announces Majorana 1 chip - I do not claim to have the least bit of legitimate understanding of Quantum Computing but I do find the emerging technology to be absolutely fascinating. So, don't ask me to explain all the qubits or topological superconductors at play here but it's worth noting this level of emerging technology. It seems poised to be far more impactful than any of the drama you see playing out with OpenAi and others.
Humane AI shutting down - after launching less than a year ago, the Humane AI pin has been acquired by HP and announced they will be shutting down the devices (don't worry, "offline features like battery level" will still work!).
The pin was widely mocked and never gained much traction. I suspect we'll see the same for the Rabbit R1 and maybe the Friend. I know it's easy to dunk on these devices but I like that there is some innovative thinking outside of "make an iPhone app." The Humane pin had a fascinating, albeit impractical, interface. I know they overpromised and underdelivered. I know they were more hype than anything practical. I get it but I can't help but feel excited by the attempt. And at the end of the day, we did get a wonderful meme from it.
This Janus Rose piece for 404 Media- You Can’t Post Your Way Out Of Fascism - is a must read. If nothing more, the first paragraph alone needs to hit your eyeballs:
If there’s one thing I’d hoped people had learned going into the next four years of Donald Trump as president, it’s that spending lots of time online posting about what people in power are saying and doing is not going to accomplish anything. If anything, it’s exactly what they want.
I'm as lost as everyone else (as is Rose) in the flood of bad news coming at us every single day. I also feel a deep sense of defeat and despair. Overwhelmed and prone to inaction - because what's the point? But.. that is the point. And I know it!
I don't have any set of answers but I found this piece served as a good reminder to focus on your local community. Support those around you when you can - donate to a food kitchen or a public fridge, attend a rally. Meet with others. Do something even if it's tiny. Then do it again.
Big shoutout to Alex Steed for the nudge towards the piece. Much needed.
Hompulon - a collaborative project from Matt Glassmeyer and Tom Spiker. "Hompulon is an alien hot potato of angst, confusion, bliss, brooding, and calm, passed back and forth to avoid radiation." I can't classify what genre this encroaches on but it's instrumental compositions filled with reeded instruments, pedal steel, drum machine, synth and a landscape of emotions.
William Tyler - Time Indefinite - To appreciate this fully I think you need to read through the "about" text that accompanies it; primarily the part where Tyler finds an ancient tape machine and begins making tape loops that make their way into this record. There's only 3 songs available at the moment but they are immersive soundscapes, sometimes chaotic and abrasive and sometimes gently coddling. Sometimes all of the above. Can't wait to hear the whole thing.
Tennessee Rhythm Company - another project that Matt Glassmeyer has some involvement in but with a much different vibe. These four tracks are steeped in R&B; complete with Wultizer, Moog and plenty of perfect horns. Dare I say a bit of funky vibes work there way in there too. Current favorite work mix on repeat.
The host of this video vacillates between amusingly self-deprecating and annoyingly self-aware but, despite that, this short video on the 3DS-EXP 645 Film Camera is worth a watch. It's a six lens camera designed for making lenticular prints, aka those prints that "move" depending on what angle you view them from. Almost every mention of this camera online is actually a link back to this video - a redundantly circular trip which just seems to confirm how rare this camera actually is. Occasionally you can find full product images, so it's worth digging around to find out even more after viewing the above.
As noted in previous posts, I don't know much about the Commodore 64. It was released in 1982 and is considered the "highest-selling single computer model of all time," with estimates between 12.5 and 17 million units out in the world. Mostly I know it is beloved and continues to be a platform that artists are making incredibly impressive works with.
This Mojo Demo is an excellent example of that level of mind melting impressive work. Released in 2023 by Bonsai & Pretzel Logic, it is a 17 minute animation that contains a plethora of nods to old games and movies while also embracing a good ole dystopian storyline here and there. I'm smitten.
I love it when I encounter a very nerdy thing that is clearly very impressive for very nerdy reasons but the specifics of which are entirely beyond me. For instance, this Linus Akesson Commodore 64 demo entitled NINE is "seemingly impossible." By and large because the Commodore 64 can only support "8 sprites on a given raster line" but this video proports to use more!
Look, I don't know anything about C64 rendering limitations and the related rabbit holes are just as confusing but that doesn't make it any less interesting! Great animation, fantastic music and a little mystery if you care to unlock it.
Many thanks to Raquel Laneri for sharing her experience in both meeting David Lynch and having him publish his Top 5 Sandwiches, a list that he took very seriously and contains many excellent sandwiches. Maybe pair this with the perfect milkshake?
