links and bookmarks
I keep forgetting to link to this – I saw it on APOD a while back.
That is a map of the observable universe. Click through for details and larger size.
It reminds me of the large-size illustrated sf books of my childhood, with their maps and colourful celestial names; books like TOUR OF THE UNIVERSE, which you can still find copies of (UK) (US). I’ve spend a little time inside this map, and intend to spend a lot more time there this month. It’s a wonder, and an engine of wonder.
Taking a moment to look back on my mark-making here over the last month and pick out the pieces I thought worked better than others, mostly for my own consideration going forward:
Stress, Memory And The Brown Bear – probably not the best morning synthesis, but it shows a path to the future.
Unknown Physical Mechanisms On The Sun: A Talk At The Science Gallery, Dublin – I should unpack a few more of my old talks.
IN MONTMARTRE, Sue Roe – use more images!
Marvel’s MOON KNIGHT: Mr Knight, Mr Moench And Me (A Tiny Bit) –
The Power Of The Novella and Alan Garner’s TREACLE WALKER – this and the above had rough drafts in the newsletter, and got expanded and cleaned up here.
You Can’t Live In This World But There’s Nowhere Else To Go (Unless You’re The Moon FedEx) – thoughts on Jack Kerouac
Do Self-Reproducing Probes Dream Of Electric Cats and Disco Space Is The Place – probably the best of the morningcomputers.
In 1928, the poet Paul Valéry had a vision of the future: “Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.”
I copied this quote into my notebook five years ago, and it knocks me over each time I come across it. Today we can let the entire world—and everyone’s opinions about it—into our heads with a swipe or a click. Of course we’re going to feel a little crazy. Sometimes my mind lands on a jittery thought: screens have become our reality and the physical world simply exists to serve their needs. It’s more of a loopy sensation than a coherent idea, but I clearly need to step up my information hygiene.
I love her stuff so much. (link)
The little shortie I made for @combmusic‘s E is being screened as part of the Festival of (In)Appropriation #10 program again! You can watch it online from Fri Jun 12: 6.00pm PDT – Sun Jun 14: 11:59pm PDT. The tickets are either free or you can choose to pay from $5 to $25, as the Northwest Film Forum is donating all their June proceeds “to organizations that empower the Black community, including Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, Rainier Valley Community Clinic, Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network, and other organizations to be announced.”
All infos here: https://nwfilmforum.org/films/festival-of-inappropriation-10-encore-online/
Great word discovery, via Atlas Minor:
“I’ve learned there’s a precise word for the footprints of a dying creature: a mortichnia, or “death march”.”
This sad Moleskine notebook usually lives in my jacket or my shoulder bag, as my daily working notebook. Which means this sad notebook has not left the house in three months. I just realised today that he’s been forgotten, buttoned into the top pocket of a canvas jacket since the first of March, and hasn’t been written in since Feb 29.
I’m not on social media any more. Apparently I have to mention this from time to time, because, I dunno, people naturally assume cultural workers are there all the damn time? I gave up. But I do have other machinery, which is how I know that writer/producer John Rogers just did an excellent thread on using notebooks as part of your work.
Pretty sure most people will find something of interest there.
Sad notebook has been moved to my desk, since I’m clearly not going anywhere for a while. (Even though I restocked my shoulder bag last week in optimistic preparation for The Great Release.)
