8/13/2022 #76
Here and Now, Art, Salman Rushdie, Rappler, Climate Fighters (Tan), Brutalism (Copeland), Uncomics (Haverholm), Oldster (Botton), Community Canning, Appel, Neko Case, Chicane, & Clannad.
HERE AND NOW
I often spend a lot of time sorting things for the newsletter, seeing if they work together. But tonight, I don’t feel like curating. I’m just going to let it be what it is. This is what life brought to my “doorstep,” here’s what I gathered together, like pebbles on a beach. Some rough, some pointy, some smooth.
There are a lot of little “pocket parks” in Monterey and its adjacent communities. Today we went to Oak Newton Park, near the Presidio. It’s a small, lovely neighborhood park, which I’d never seen before. A family was setting up some ambitious decorations for a 14-year-old’s birthday party. A small group of people had gathered there for a doggie play session. Most of the oak trees there are covered with moss.
ART
Next weekend’s issue (August 20) will get playful and feature “everyday artist and educator” Mai Ryuno, answering Six Questions!
I’ve shown this in unfinished form, earlier, but I’ve been in an art slump lately—so I used this evening’s Outpost deadline to push me into finishing this tiny artist book; I just needed to make the covers and finish the last page. Perhaps it’s an “uncomic”? See the Uncomics link below.
LINKS
You may have heard about the knife attack on author Salman Rushdie. Here’s hoping he survives this horrible attack and recovers to write more stories. Check out his newsletter on Substack: Salman’s Sea of Stories.
Buying up banned books (a report from Rappler)
The Rappler fights against its shut-down by the Philippine government.
“Two Generations of Filipino Climate Fighters on Their Battles with the Government” (by Mitzi Jonelle Tan for Shado).
I knew a little about Brutalism as an art movement, and always disliked the architectural style. These days, it’s also sometimes applied to web design. Anyway, check it out for yourself: Brutalist Web Design by David Bryant Copeland. After reading the article I have mixed feelings because I’ve associated the style with a graceless display of dominance. However, there’s a kind of honesty about it that I appreciate; and I realize that one of the ways that the internet mesmerizes is through design. Even “minimalist” design can be mystifying in its seeming simplicity.
Uncomics and the field of uncomics, by Allen Haverholm.
Thx to my partner for this. I had no idea there was such a thing as a “municipal cannery.” A visual introduction to municipal or community canning, which may be undergoing a re-birth.
In a recent post on Oldster newsletter, Sari Botton writes about “embracing limits and embracing them on our own terms.”
SOUNDINGS
Rosaire Appel’s fifty-eight seconds of “Liquid Calligraphy” (I learned about Appel’s work from Haverholm’s Uncomics):
Neko Case: “I’m an Animal (You’re an Animal, Too”):
“Saltwater” original dance track by Chicane, which used samples from the theme for the television series, “Harry’s Game,” featuring vocalist Máire Brennan and Clannad (see below).
Here’s the theme by Clannad for the end title of the British television series, “Harry’s Game”:
More next weekend . . .
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