This trailer for the game Animal Well is gorgeous! Not sure I'll ever actually play it but I can't help but appreciate that amazing aesthetic.

via Steve.

I've recently revisited Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, a 2011 film about the truly mysterious public installations known as Toynbee tiles. I can't recall exactly when I first heard of the tiles but I do have a blog post here on the site dating back to 2012, so it's safe to say I've been a fan for over a decade. I hate to spoil the future but I was a guest on the podcast Dizzy Spell presenting quite a rundown on all things Toynbee. That episode won't be out for a few weeks but the topic is very fresh on my mind.

For the uninitiated, Toynbee tiles are handcut ceramic tiles embedded into streets and crosswalks with an enigmatic message:

TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOVIE 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER.

There is some variance in the messaging but that's the general gist. The movie, Resurrect Dead, takes an exhaustive deep dive into who is making the tiles. If you have never heard of this or seen the film, I suggest you start opening some tabs.

All that is preamble tho. I have enjoyed the mystery of the tiles for so long but never really dug into exactly what they mean. I also haven't done much follow-up on the phenomena since 2014 (or whenever I have the pleasure of accidentally seeing one in real life). To that end, here's a few intriguing bullet points that will be completely senseless unless you're familiar with the whole shebang:

• The investigators from the film have shared the Minority Association Documents - the group that "Tom Morasco" formed in an effort to reach the press to tell his story of Toynbee's resurrection plans. It's a truly compelling 10-page read through and absolutely confirms the films findings in terms of who the tiler's true identity is.
• The Wikipedia for Toynbee tiles seems to outline that there are Possible Subjects for whom "Toynbee" is referencing in the tiles - providing four compelling options. However, the Minority Association Documents make it very clear that it is referring to Arnold Toynbee. Nothing groundbreaking there, just nice to have confirmed.
• ToynbeeIdea.com hasn't had a new post in many years but there's a wealth of information there worth taking in. For instance, spotting a copycat, Steve Powers tributing the tiles, anecdotes recalling Larry King Live appearances or just random tile news from 2006.
• ResurrectDead.com still proves to be a fun read - particularly the FAQ and the tile gallery.
• This interview with director Jon Foy provides a lot of insight into how the film came to exist, how it was submitted to Sundance and, possibly, where there haven't been more films from Foy - it sounds like it was a total drag financially! That's a bummer because he did a truly admirable job making sense of it all.
• I don't know why this never occurred to me before but you can see tiles on Google Maps Streetview. At 6th and Union in Nashville, TN, there's a copycat "House of Hades" tile captured right there on the 9eyes. One day it will be lost to the archives as well but it's fun to see now.

In prep for the podcast I visited all of the above and way more. I feel like I have a proper grip on what the tile actually means now - something that eluded me for years. I won't define it explicitly in case you would like to make the dive for yourself but I will say that Toynbee's autobiography and the Minority Association documents were my keys to understanding it (to the best of my ability).

Go subscribe to Dizzy Spell, my episode should be out on May 22nd, 2024.

I must assume this sort of thing happens somewhat regularly but it seemed like a somewhat new phenomena to me, so I'm sharing. Professor Nikku Madhusudhan is part of a team researching exoplanets and has found some early evidence that planet K2-18B has shown signs of carbon-bearing molecules - including methane and carbon dioxide (and not ammonia). There are also early signs - tho unverified - of dimethyl sulfide, a molecule that Earth scientists have only seen produced by life. This is all a nerdier way of saying the planet could support life and maybe even have life. Also worth noting, the planet is 8x the size of ours!

The interview is certainly worth a watch as Professor Madhusudhan very calmly explains the findings, his excitement for it and his metered approach to making sure it's verified. The interviewer is maybe a little overly excited and that thumbnail is as Click Bait as it gets but, hey, it's YouTube - whatcha gonna do? I also suggest reading this NASA article about the discovery and the Wikipedia on the planet, both very insightful.

Much of this was reported in September of 2023 so there is likely more new information to dig through. Regardless of the outcome, it is fascinating that the James Webb telescope is able to detect these things at all. Truly a wonder.

There's lots of quality summary posts out there for the MET Gala 2024 but do yourself a little favor and drink from the firehose. Go to Getty Images, search for "Met Gala 2024" and just start scrolling through the 23,000 results. The theme of the night was "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" but the dress code prompt (yes, a different thing) was "The Garden of Time." So, keep that in mind as you partake - lots of great interpretations.

I don't post much about fashion on here as I do not consider myself a fashionable person but I like all forms of art! The Met Gala is ground zero for a bounty of incredible creations and sometimes the occasional cosplay.

Back in 1992, when Twin Peaks had wrapped up its second season, a LaserDisc was released containing the Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack. It is exactly what it sounds like - a long form music video. Specifically, "The show's entire soundtrack album is played over silent video footage shot by a Japanese TV crew visiting the Snoqualmie, Washington, locations where the series was shot."

Of course, it's also been uploaded to YouTube some 9 years ago but it's new to me, so maybe it's new to you. If you're the type that just likes to have some slow TV playing in the background, this is excellent. If you're the type that likes to collect rare LaserDiscs, keep an eye out for this one as it seems to be selling for over $500 USD at the moment.

Not 100% sure how I feel about this. Work I did decades ago with KNI has been added to the Web Design Museum. Specifically, the 2002 Marine Corps site and the 2001 Lenny Kravitz site. Both of them have complete YouTube walkthroughs! Here's the Lenny site and here's the Marines site. Extremely well done captures in both cases.

On the one hand, I feel flattered that this work we did so long ago is still being recognized in some way. My coworkers at KNI were brilliant through and through, I am very lucky to have been a part of that journey.

On the other hand, I can't believe web design has museums now and I can't believe work we did is in them! That Lenny site is twenty-three years old!!! Wowzer.

I wrote a long piece over on We Own This Town about 20 Years of the Protomen. I first posted about the band back in 2006 and my opinion of them has not waivered in the ensuing eighteen years.

If you're still unfamiliar with them - I suggest taking a read through on that deep dive I linked. If you're looking for a TLDR: they're a band that originated as a school project writing a rock opera about the videogame Megaman but over twenty years they've evolved into a full scale theatrical production about technology, the human race and the struggle between the two for survival. Oh, and none of it sounds like "videogame music". "This City Made Us" is one of the more recent releases and will give you a good idea of the kind of amalgam of influences they're dealing with.

It's impressive that any band would last 20 years but for a high concept band from Nashville to survive and thrive for so long, is truly remarkable.

Waaay back in 2008, I became aware of . His films Kings of Power 4 Billion % and Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 are as immensely entertaining as they are absurdly violent. Over the years, Robertson has done a ton of work for Adult Swim - particularly Rick & Morty - as well as tons of short animations on his Instagram, @probzzzz. That's a long winded way of saying, I'm a fan and suggest you indulge as well.

The latest Robertson offering is Jimmy and Baby, a twenty-minute short film of a diamond heist complete with all of the tentpole attributes one would hope for in a Robertson animation. It's unbelievably well crafted and downright hilarious. It's even a little sexy. 10 out of 10, do watch.

Last week I announced that Annie Williams had joined the yk Records roster of artists and announced her debut album Visitor is due May 29th. Lastly, we released the first single "Midnight" - streaming everywhere now. Visitor strays a little bit from the typical vibe you may associate with my little indie label. It's a bit more intimate and much less high-energy rock (tho, you know I love that). Annie's voice has a melancholy quality to it that is just undeniable. I'm honored to get to work with her and excited for everyone to hear the album.

If you have not read this GQ interview with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, please do so at your earliest convenience. It's remarkable to read their insights on being a creative pair at this stage of their careers. Nine Inch Nails really took off in 1994 - thirty years ago. Reznor and NIN still feel associated with the same kind of ominous, dark, angry energy but the man did the score for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Soul. That's not to say he isn't always moody but he's a lot more diverse than most folks think of.

I admire a lot of things about both of them - their work ethic, their commitment to pushing their own boundaries, and their lack of fear on talking about topics that (basically) every other person of their status steers clear of. This bit of Reznor talking about streaming music is great:

“I think the terrible payout of streaming services has mortally wounded a whole tier of artists that make being an artist unsustainable. And it’s great if you’re Drake, and it’s not great if you’re Grizzly Bear. And the reality is: take a look around. We’ve had enough time for the whole ‘All the boats rise’ argument to see they don’t all rise. Those boats rise. These boats don’t. They can’t make money in any means. And I think that’s bad for art. And I thought maybe at Apple there could be influence to pay in a more fair or significant way, because a lot of these services are just a rounding error compared to what comes in elsewhere, unlike Spotify where their whole business is that. But that’s tied to a lot of other political things and label issues, and everyone’s trying to hold onto their little piece of the pie and it is what it is. I also realise, I think that people just want to turn the faucet on and have music come in. They’re not really concerned about all the romantic shit I thought mattered.” &emdash; Reznor

It's not like he's trying to be brash or controversial, he's just calling bullshit on what he see's as bullshit. How refreshing.

Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of their work, it's a worthwhile read simply as an invigoration for yourself and your own projects. These two have no obligation to score a soundtrack, write another NIN album or play a live show ever again but they have found a way to make all of it rewarding. That's a great goal.

I've seen a good bit of hype surrounding the new Cindy Lee album, Diamond Jubilee. The record is only available on YouTube and Geocities. It's also just over 2 hours long. Damon Krukowski wrote a long treatise about how it contrasts the new Taylor Swift. Pitchfork wrote up a legitimately meaningful review with a score of 9.1. Cindy Lee used to be a member of the band WOMEN, which seems to push the hype even further!

Given all that, it's very easy to assume this album will not actually be enjoyable to listen to. Or that the distribution tactic of making it exclusive to a few platforms is what people are appreciating more than the music itself. Surely this is just some sort of exposition that only gatekeeping music journalists can manage to appreciate?

The answer to that is a resounding No! Diamond Jubilee does have a lot of hype surrounding it but it's absolutely legitimate. The Pitchfork calls it "the greatest radio station you’ve ever come across" and that's impossible to argue with ( it surprises me to say it but you really should read the whole thing). There are a ton of ideas across these 2 hours, most of which are influenced by Doo-wop girl groups and bedroom indie pop... but it really can't be reduced that easily. It's an impressive blend of uniqueness and familiarity all at once.

I recommend sitting with the entire record. My skepticism didn't fall away until I let the whole record play top to bottom. Like listening to the radio, I wasn't engaged the entire time but I was also never turned off. I imagine on future listens those bright spots and recessions will ebb and flow to different tracks depending on my mood. Some will argue that the record could have been reduced to one disc or a stellar 45-minute experience but I think that misses the point in this case. You're free to make your own version of the album but the real celebration here is the greatness of the abundance.

A day with new music from Crumb is a good day indeed. This is actually the second release this year and the artwork certainly ties together.. fingers crossed there's a new record on the horizon.

I'm sure you've seen the Game Boy Camera, a 1998 accessory with a 128x128 pixel sensor and a 4-color palette. It's about as lo-fi as it gets but there's something charming about it as well. This 2 Bit Toy is an evolved version of the original that uses the original printed circuit board and sensor but now allows for filters and lenses. The available resolution and color palette are the same but it does improve the incoming data. The new results are still charming low resolution but there's a tiny bit of extra fidelity there that is fun to experiment with.

The Mountain came out in 2018 but only came on to my radar a day ago. Director Rick Alverson is familiar to me through their 2012 film, The Comedy and 2015 film Entertainment but in name only, I've not seen any of them. That's neither really here nor there but just to say, I'm intrigued. The Mountain trailer looks gorgeous and has some echoes of The Master in terms of the plot being hinted at.

Certainly adding this one to the queue.

I really enjoyed The Three-Body Problem novel (and the whole "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy). I also enjoyed the Netflix series - tho it is certainly incomplete, they did a good job tackling a very difficult and dense topic. This explainer vid does a good job of breaking down that dense and difficult topic. Neil deGrasse Tyson can be bit grating sometimes but there's no arguing that he's enthusiastic, whip smart and passionate about breaking down big problems into consumable ones.