Links for a heatwave

Posted on July 17, 2026 by things magazine

The dark forest. A Brief-ish History of SETI. Part I: “Where is Everybody?” / Why the sci-fi dream of cryonics never died / your guide to mcmodernslopcore at the peerless McMansion Hell / Clouds of Unknowing: Edward Quin’s Historical Atlas (1830) at Public Domain Review) / dumbphone … evangelists? / the canny art of the speaker mark-up / Tristan Davey’s Punch Card Archive / the Moberly–Jourdain incident / space Lego abstractions by Alessandro Cazzaniga.

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Truman’s show, the art of London pub lettering. See also East End Pubs, a book by designer and photographer Tim George / city building at small scale with Zlin City: Diorama / sort of related, paper models and paper crafts at Papermau / sort of related, Iso City / the world’s most complex board game, The Campaign for North Africa / The Art of Montreux Jazz Festival / The Art of Roland-Garros (via Meanwhile) / in praise of the Microlino, by Carlo Ratti / Last Days on Grand Parade, a BBC film from 1988. Meanwhile, that same year, World Domination Enterprises play the Milton Keynes Bowl / Dime Records, a French DIY label.

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Two sides of the waste story: Bantar Gebang in Indonesia versus cleaning the houses of hoarders / a history of Lego Building Instructions / a rich collection of two-wheeled ephemera at the Cycle Archive / a provider of modern cat furniture / Life of the Record, an excellent podcast series / a treasure trove of Jimi Hendrix Memorabilia / Twilight of the Velocipede, Typesetting Races before the Age of Linotype / Los Campesinos! Break Down What It Actually Costs To Tour North America / Wallpaper*’s US 400 / Thirteen films that are essential to understanding the nuclear age.

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The Tangible Media Collection / strangely satisfying: Road Trip (via MeFi) / Graphic Design history resources / a collection of sites offering interesting reading / a collection of 70s Sci-Fi Art / NASA’s Architectural Strategy for Permanent Lunar Habitation / in praise of the mosquito coil / in Russia, you can buy ‘bootleg’ BMWs / Visiting the lost land, the site of the mining village of Troedrhiwfuwch / Friction: A Reading List on Why Inconvenience Can Be Meaningful / Ivy Ross on design / How Much Stuff Do You Own?

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Ban Ban Ton Ton, a music website / Pencil Magazine, dedicated to the graphite arts / expansive design reousrces at Cripeography / The Polys are the awards for immersive media / Dreamchore, a ‘psychological exploration game’ / Hockney obit / Ferrari backlash? / on the gentrification of Borough Market / marvel at the lost New Brighton Tower / 10 oddities from around Britain / ‘a man’s lifelong project of constructing a map to an imaginary place‘ / The Edge of the Object, a book by Daniel Williams.

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In living colour

Posted on June 12, 2026 by things magazine

Mix and match for May and June. Starting with a post about the work of Montréal artist and author Raymond Biesinger / ‘Twilight of the Velocipede: Typesetting Races before the Age of Linotype’ / Pixel Skylines, urban backgrounds from old video games / see also Isometric NYC / aerial photography by James Dinsdale / an appreciation of Glenn Murcutt / hasten model collapse with the Halupedia, a hallucination generator that serves up slop to train slop and terminally muddy the miserable waters of AI (via MeFi). See also Iocaine , ‘an aggressive defense mechanism that tries its best to take the blunt of the assault, serve garbage to crawlers, and keep them off of upstream resources’. Also, ignore these 100 phrases / the sounds of Yoo Doo Right.

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A map guide to Underground Paris / overground Paris (suburbs): The Étoiles d’Ivry housing complex / ‘how Backrooms captures the horror of sinister architecture. We thought it was a mash up of The Blair Witch Project and Grand Designs. See also ‘Backrooms and the Rise of the Institutional Gothic‘ / a collection of classic graphic design books / demolition derbies of the past: ‘Once upon a time on the Vineyard, October meant only one thing: The Crunch!‘ / A Necessary Critique of Fontcuberta’s Algorithmic Photography / a celebration of Belle and Sebastian’s visual universe.

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living in the porch of one of the UK’s most expensive houses / the Barnacle Goose Myth / Live London Tube Map / Experimental texts with a chance of blowing a 12th grader’s mind / the Cold War in Switzerland / Dirt, a culture portal / The HTML Review / things that take a long time: ‘On deep time, global hiding places, and the case for forgetting‘ / Tupolev ANT-20, ”The Lost Future of Soviet Superplanes’ / MCP2000, an online music machine / ‘How the pursuit of optimisation reshaped art, aesthetics and us‘ / farewell to David Hockney.

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Media, objects and places

Posted on May 15, 2026 by things magazine

Media. ‘How prosthetic penises in shows like HBO’s ‘Minx’ reinforce existing stereotypes and taboos‘ / a 1927 map of Paramount filming locations around Los Angeles / ‘It came from the deep: The bad movie that made Godzilla good’, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms / sort of related in cryptozoology news: Shark or sea monster? / enter the strange world of Spacemen 3 / ‘Hip Hop Sampling and the Akai MPC as a Platform for Spatiotemporal Discourse‘ / Jackie Gleason: Library of the Paranormal / a playlist of vintage computer graphics / The Spirochaete Trail, an old school weblog looking at media new and old / Siouxsie : Exposures – A photoshoot, 1982, by Sheila Rock / is the indie scene rigged? Are zines the last bastion of AI defence?

The Making of Chuckie Egg, cult 8-bit platformer. Play online: Spectrum emulator; BBC Micro emulator and see also Chuckie Egg: One Life Left by Ste Curran, and information about the original Space Panic, one of the very first platform games / more retro gaming at Super Chart Island / Mirria, a forthcoming game / OSTs assemble at Soundtrack paradise / an auction celebrating 50 Years of Punk / the Adams Jacob Collection of concert bootlegs (via MeFi) / the cartoon history of the duck-rabbit illusion / The Science Fiction Cover Art of Richard M.Powers (via Meanwhile, which also links to Alex Hutton’s imaginary rollercoasters (Alex Hutton; Colossal) and York C20, an architectural gazetteer of Twentieth-Century York.

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Objects. A Catalog of an Entire House/Life, via Kottke, who has also collated a collection of Artemis II phone wallpapers for your delectation / the Plug and Socket Museum (via MeFi) / what does Corinthian Leather mean? / a compendium of awful smells / the story of the psychedelic West Coast jewellers Alex & Lee, as well as a short film about their work / a history of synthesizers in China / Flickr gallery goodness from Unkee E / the history of the 4-colour Bic biro. See also the ‘scripture marker‘ / eraser typography / a giant cardboard computer / self portraits at the Ruth Borchard Collection / Space, Movement and Light, an exhibition of British Constructivist art / corporate autopsies: worse on purpose / the dismantling of record breaking yacht Destriero / paintings by Cinta Vidal.

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Places. A Brooklyn urban spelunking mystery / a new home for the Sarabande Foundation in Tottenham / welcome to Anxietyland, as mapped by Gemma Correll / a personal history of Porton Down / Room & Book, a second-hand art bookshop and exhibition space / the Victorian Society’s essential but depressing list of Endangered Buildings in 2026, sadly revised and updated every year / it’s all in the pipes: the correlation between ghosts and old plumbing / an exhibition of art dedicated to the British Landscape, 1900-1975 / your name in Landsat. Thanks, NASA / an open competition for ideas of what to build at Crystal Palace. This one comes around every generation or so / Grace’s Guide To British Industrial History / He Built This City, an exhibition of Joe Macken’s model of New York City (via MeFi).

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Links to click through and enjoy

Posted on April 5, 2026 by things magazine

Architecture and Design. Is this the best McMansion exterior of all time? McTuscan Heaven / speaking of McMansions, we mistook this Presidential non-library for an April Fool / Gravity never left the discussion: Fallingwater’s preservation since 1937 has already cost more than the equivalent of $19m, or 120 times the cost of the original construction / a Frank Lloyd Wright boat trip (via w*) / an architectural guide to Dungeness.

Explore the WikiCity, something Umberto Eco might have dreamt up / an interview with Marc Newson / build your own Eames house / Smiljan Radic Clarke wins the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize / a deep dive into Frank Lloyd Wright typographic anomalies / Southbank listed at last / what would the Barbican sound like? / design by Tadashi Studio / ‘eco-brutalism’ by Renée Gailhoustet / ‘100 Extraordinary Objects from Sotheby’s History‘.

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Art and Culture: A superb new album from Owl in the Sun / ‘Meet the builder who changed how we keep time‘ / new title: Jackie Gleason: Library of the Paranormal / Spy’s unauthorised indiex to the Andy Warhol Diaries / ‘Designing the Pet Shop Boys: Mark Farrow on 40 years of creative collaboration’ / a new album from The Oaves / music by Gray, featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat / Lansure’s Music Paraphernalia, a music blog / where’s the best place to stand at a concert? / commerce as culture, highly regarded ads.

Yet more tedious AI: Phillip Toledano’s Edward Trevor project / Terminal Sound Nuisance, punk mp3 blog / Jimi Hendrix Was a Systems Engineer / ‘Of Chickens, Eggs, and Cannonballs: Roger Fenton’s Valley of the Shadow of Death (1855)’ / Zara Picken’s archive of modernist illustrated ephemera / Cosplayers and their families / Was Freud a great draughtsman or a lousy one? / a great big sleepy dog / Pilot, an Alien experience.

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Transport and Technology. The Italian Monovolume concept / escape from Amazon Prime / escape from all of them / play Tetris on the cover of a magazine / watch snobs / Intaglio prints of technology by Alexander Endrullat / satellites in space / nostalgia: Channel Surfer turns YouTube into an old TV guide. NMS Ceefax presents the internet like Ceefax. And here’s a VHS slipcover maker / the only known working Aesthedes CAD/CAM station in the world / a ‘beach buggy’ designed by Gerrit Rietvelt / Margaret Calvert on typography / clever graphical effects from games gone by .

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Five pillars

Posted on February 9, 2026 by things magazine

Architecture and urbanism: 2026 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Níall McLaughlin / an abandoned village in Wales / How the Aylesbury Estate became London’s theatre of stigma / Then and now: one year on from the Los Angeles wildfires / This was Paris in 1970, photographic archives (via MeFi) / a computer-generated visualisation of Venice / a collection of Found City Photographs / London Rebranded: The Capital’s Changing Names, Mapped / the impact of Nano Banana on architectural visualisation / the story of Richard Neutra’s Lost Windshield House / city roads, ‘this website renders every single road within a city’.

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Art, Photography and Design: a new zine about 1960s Penguin Crime Novels (via Kottke). See also the long dormant but exhausting-to-compile Pelican Project / a look back at the heyday of the Olivetti Company, Beautiful machines from a beautiful country (via MeFi) / the cultural weight of the monobloc chair, what Coupland once called a ‘category killer’ / Fedor Vasilev’s images of the world of tower blocks / art by Amy Dury / Don McCullin at 90 / links to the finest papercrafts / car portraits by Martin Roemers / Shadow Puppets, a comic by Martha Burgin / Leonard Koscianski’s eerily perfect suburbs / illustrations by Christoph Niemann / the work of Bruce Asbestos / photography monographs at Libraryman / beautiful prints at Kvist Studio.

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Culture: “Take me to your shelter, leader!”, ‘Do you have what it takes to be a shelter manager after World War III breaks out? Take this quiz from 1973 and find out!’ / meet Coalie. He’s not quite Mr Therm, but they’re definitely distant cousins. Coalie could do with a strapline like ‘Mr Therm burns to save you’, updated for the modern era / links to short stories by female authors / Freakpages, ‘a community-curated directory of esoteric articles across the internet’ / from Nigel Kneale’s ‘Beasts’ anthology, During Barty’s Party: watch on YouTube. Not for the murophobic / I fly for news, by Larry Rue, fascinating 1932 memoir by an early ‘aero reporter’ / reconsidering Morris and Co’s Blue Jam, 25 years on / another Brutalist Quake mod / a calendar of 2026’s design fairs / on collecting Dinky Toys. Related, the Google Doodle for Frank Hornby’s 150th birthday / 26 creatives for 2026, via Zetteler / C Thi Nguyen’s ‘brilliant warning about the gamification of everyday life‘ / the extraordinary life of Earl Amherst, 1896 to 1993 / the Epstein saga is the patriarchy laid bare.

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Technology and Transport: which car had the biggest carbon footprint of all time? There’s a strong case to be made for the Cadillac Allanté, which was flown from Italy to the US in specially modified cargo 747s. ‘All in, some Allanté components may have flown 7000 miles round trip, before the car’s key was turned for the very first time’ / a true dream wagon / the 6400-metric ton “Ithacus Sr.“, a 1966 proposal for a rocket-propelled troop carrier designed to carry a ‘rapid-strike battalion of 1200 soldiers’ across continents / the cramp-inducing world of micro yachting / Italy’s Insane Showcars of the 1930s and 1940s / How the age of motoring shaped our modern world / The Londoner profiles the motorist’s lycra scourge, Cycling Mikey / a timeline of studio and recording technology / a chronology of the Casio digital watch / grim news: two million books destructively scanned to teach AI / watch AI agents wibble on to each other at Moltbook / the Computer History Museum has a new digital portal / browse Wallpaper*’s picks from V&A East Storehouse / rare vintage audio Holy Grails.

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Music and Sound: Captain Pikant breaks down iconic drum patterns / are these the 75 greatest guitarists of the 21st century? / upcoming book: Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994 / Tony Iommi: The Godfather of Heavy Metal, Volume One / An Evening Of Sitar Music, a short film about a legendary event / huge treasure trove of Banshees-adjacent press clippings / The Cure, live in Sydney, 1981 / the art rock insanity of Angine De Poitrine, ‘Orchestre Rock Microtonal Dada-pythago-cubiste’: watch a full performance in Rennes, France, during Trans Musicales 2025 / The South London Drone Orchestra / The Boojums, garage rock from Nova Scotia / Sounds of the Forest around the world / ‘A study suggested that men who play guitar in extreme metal bands mainly do it to impress other men‘ / 90s Festival Generator (via b3ta).

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Twixmas Linkage

Posted on December 28, 2025 by things magazine

In no particular order. A photograph album from the Boston Elevated Railway Company, approximately 1901 / a selection of Christmas cards by architects / Casio digital watch heritage / a seasonal tradition: The 2025 Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog / Druid Grove, a house with inbuilt mysticism / a short history of the Fairlight sampler / buy this 2026 calendar from Flummox Industries / The Hairpin Archives / 1975 Christmas Radio TV Times, ‘Time Travel Edition’ / the story behind the Windows hot dog colour scheme / a colour palette generator / art in Sussex at ROSA Magazine.

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Moving Still: A Cinematic Life Frame-by-Frame / ‘How ethical is Google Street View, asks Jon Rafman in Copenhagen. See also the Nine Eyes Archives / ‘Is the Calibri typeface ‘woke’? We asked its designer / The Library of Time / a bit late, but never mind, the Kottke 2025 Holiday Gift Guide / cats! / farewell to Martin Parr / farewell too to FG, the OG / farewell to Perry Bamonte / Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown ‘flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history’ / an FPS on a ZX Spectrum / the lost Sooty and Sweep 2 / the excellent Intertapes, ‘An Online Collection of Found Cassette Tapes’ (via Kottke).

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reminiscing about mp3 players / hypnotic newspaper collage / deep, deep dive into Take On Me / blowing the budget at the Kraftwerk Auction / Flowers, Mountains, etc., an art consultancy run by Albert Hill / ‘how pop music fell in love with socialist infographics‘ / some ‘Bands Left Behind By Streaming‘ / what is the real cost of HS2? / The Voyage of Terry Waite’s Clogs / artist books by Veronica Ditting (via w*) / photography by Tobias Hutzler.

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Love Immortal, a short film about cryonics / design a a toilet for Walter Gropius / buy The Blue House / London in Miniature / buy an art house / 12 things wrong with architecture / 10 things wrong with design / ArchiTextures is a digital art collection by Richard Nadler / Itiner-e, the Digital Atlas of Ancient Roads / ‘The Wizards of AI are sad and lonely men‘ / ‘Mars is signaling a dark star‘, ‘A vision of “The End of the World” from the beginning of the 20th century’.

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Nuclear War in the UK / the rise of ‘Carspreading‘ / on asymmetry in car design / Has judging a book by its cover gone too far?‘ / Kowloon Walled City in Minecraft / a map of America made up of rivers / the tragic story of Evelyn McHale / Alfred Cheney Johnston and the Artistry Behind the Ziegfeld Follies’ Golden Era / photographic installations by Andrew Hall / alternatives to Bandcamp / Space Echo, a music blog / what next for print in the 21st century? The Fence asks the experts.

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A slow rhythm

Posted on November 2, 2025 by things magazine

Art and photography / a long-running project by the late artist Tom Phillips, 20 Sites’n’Years / paintings by Claire Sherman / lino cuts by Annie Soudain / ‘Nieves González paints Lily Allen at a turning point’ / the art of Ben Edge / More Than a Tool, Life After The Ride, photographs by Josephine Huge / Lee Miller comes to Tate Britain / a guide to how dithering works / animated type at alphabetical playground / Context-Free Patent Art / Girls. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between, a new photographic exhibition.

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Architecture, urbanism and design / from Kottke some nine years ago, but still evergreen (as they say), A Brief History of The Flatiron Building / beware the shiny new corporate HQ: “a perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse”, via this MeFi post / ballroom blitz, bling and bang / farewell to the Ratcliffe Cooling Towers / How do you define timeless design? / exploring radical Camberwell / Owen Hatherley on South London Modern, the legacy of the enclaves of modernist middle class ‘good taste’ that sprang up via Span (and others). More Span.

Uncube gets hacked / a look at Prepping culture / the history of RAF Beaulieu / ‘Stop Calling Yourself a Digital Nomad Just Because You Didn’t Go to the Office‘ / inside simulated London / a new issue of Paperboy Magazine / inside the house of the late David Lynch / farewell to designer John Morgan, a noted designer for the arts who was also responsible for the final (?) edition of things in print, issue 19/20 (winter 2010).

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Music and film / music by Phantomsmasher / 25 years of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea / music by the Terry Gross Band / Time Capsule, (mostly) men and their enviable vinyl mancaves / the Jharkhand Assembly Sessions / Dirty Feed, a traditional weblog devoted to all things related to (mostly British) TV history and ephemera / 100 great but obscure movies, a list from 1991 / 15 Worst Audiophile Snake Oil Products That Break the Laws of Physics but Still Sell in 2025 / Mirror, mirror: The rise of ‘beauty horror’ amid today’s antifeminist backlash

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Other things. ‘What It’s Like to Grow Up With Hoarders‘ / The Night Climbers of Oxford (via MeFi / the golden age of comic censorship, The Incredible True Story of Joe Shuster’s Nights of Horror / A guide to Britain’s dark history / Why are we so obsessed with ghosts? A new exhibition in Switzerland, Visualizing the Supernatural / Angels Unaware: A Woman’s Powerful Place in Alien Abduction Narratives / Revealing Errors, an old weblog / the sad story of Steller’s sea cow / Bee Shamanism: The Death of the Myth of Lineage, another sad story of a missed connection (or catfishing?) in nature.

Do you suffer from Continuous Partial Attention? / a collection of Secret Maps / long-distance routes in late medieval and early modern Europe (1350-1650) / the zoomable, scrollable archive of BYTE Magazine (via MeFi / calculating the world’s Longest Lines Of Sight (also via MeFi) / Lisa Charlotte Muth on data visualisation / different cultural responses to sneezing around the world / a list of generic and genericized trademarks / ‘Instagram wants me to make content – I just want to post a photo’ / I will strange a horse, a text adventure / Inventing the Doomsday Machine, on Dr Strangelove and the ‘salted bomb’. Related, the Doomsday Scoreboard of failed apocalyptic predictions.

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Apparently, yes

Posted on August 1, 2025 by things magazine

Architecture things. The lost houses of Arthur Erickson / 70s villa in France (via wowhaus) / High Line-style instant urban regen proposed for South London’s Bricklayers Arms flyover / sort of related, the ‘visions’ of Brixton past at IanVisits / more unbuilt London: Perceval Parsons and the Grand Central rail terminus / The Case Against Glass Houses / doughnut economics in Swedish town planning / twenty years of The Modern House / the locations of The Studio / Paris’s Grand Palais, restored / a map of Black History in New York / Memory Palaces, all about London’s old cinemas / related, a celebration of the work of SAVE Britain’s Heritage.

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Culture things. Out of Orifice, ‘an eclectic catalogue of insertables’ / Just how controversial was Banksy’s new Royal Courts of Justice piece? Answer: not very / was the Venice Lion Made in China? / a collection of where writers write / the letters of Emma Hauck / Open Culture points us to an archive of 10,000+ Historical Children’s Books / StoryTerra, ‘an interactive map-based platform for exploring the stories through the lens of geography and history’ / “As a result, [Zabihollah Mansouri’s] version of The Three Musketeers, which is some six hundred pages long in the original French, weighs in at more than six thousand pages, published in ten volumes.” / books by the metre / the Potting Shed Press / The Wind in the Trees, a small arts press / more fallout from the death of Unbound publishing: ‘Writers Of Did You Know Gaming “Received £79 Each For Over 7 Years Of Work“.

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Visual culture things. Trinity goes to Hollywood / Fallout: Atoms for War & Peace, an exhibition of post-war poster art / a dive into the hideous emgoldening / other things that are not luxury, this time from an automotive perspective / art by David Evans / Fordite: On geologic byproducts, American automotive lore, and the hidden beauty of the industrial age / The Stooke photographic collection of Traveller vehicles in the UK, 1986 to 1992 / teenagers in their 90s bedrooms, a photographic survey / lives of the New England upper class, a gallery / finding the internet’s surviving visual pockets of goodness / ‘What if every artwork you’ve ever seen is a fake?‘ / Immersive Quarries, on art experiences.

Art by Kate Jackson. Instagram / art by Jonathan Schofield / an impressive collection of art books at dealer Peter Funch / an artist’s retreat in Washington State / would have made a good place for the painter of the right to ply his trade / the art of Kilian Eng / Compare and contrast: Martin Parr takes a cruise, as does Rankin / modern British prints from Dominic Kemp / art by Benet Spencer / The drawing dress: a visual chronicle of PJ Harvey’s I Inside the Old Year Dying tour / Gabriele Galimberti’s ‘portraits of people with their sex toys around the world‘. See also his portfolios of gun owners and toy owners / Accurate Atkinson Dithered Images (via Me-Fi).

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Music things. The South London Drone Orchestra / the Jet Propulsion Laboratory / the sounds of the Tape Bowing Ensemble / The Complete Lionel Blair, taken from I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue between 1993 and 2007 / the Roger O’Donnell keyboard collection / The Suzanne Langille Songbook / an interview with Jehnny Beth / the catalogue of Fundog Records / music by Abandoned Buildings / music by Flocks / ‘Three-minute heroes: TikTok made songs shrink, but artists are pushing back’ / ‘Three Album Run: How 20th Century Metal Never Bettered Slayer’s Unholy Trilogy’ / a new album from Council Estate Electronics / 10,000 drum machines / a List of unexplained sounds.

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Weird things. Limb extension surgery, a fascinating feature / a collection of Tintin mash-ups / How many cigarettes / ‘Design for centuries’. ‘Project Hyperion explores the feasibility of crewed interstellar travel via generation ships, using current and near-future technologies’ / handy NASA guide to the solar system / related, beautiful data from NASA (via Kottke) / the history of Lego Space / What if you could search every visible word on New York City’s streets? (via Kottke) / Owls in towels / Island with fort for sale / The 1970s psychology experiment behind ‘Star Wars’ special effects.

Sweat and Soul, The Personal Collection of Richard Simmons / The Origins of Gaff Taxidermy as Historical Oddities / see also Kelly’s One of a Kind Mink. Perhaps all taxidermy is haunted: Mouse Magic / Illustrations of Madness: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom / ‘Till Tech Do Us Part: Romance in the age of surveillance cinema’ / we are living in The Rot Economy / are we reaching the end of the Smartphone Era? Betteridge’s law in action / perhaps you need a Trump phone? Similar in vibe and style to the Escobar phone / the people stuck using ancient Windows computers / digital Murmurations / the world of car magazines in the 1990s. The Autocar acrostic in question / the Google vs Foxes / How to plan for your digital legacy.

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So we’re only doing this every couple of months now?

Posted on May 19, 2025 by things magazine

Other things. Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI / FBI history in artefacts / how much does the internet weigh? / Based on a True True Story?, a scene-by-scene breakdown of Hollywood films at Information is Beautiful, via Kottke) / the Stephen Merchant collection of Star Wars memorabilia / a collection of Department Store Catalogues at Archive.org / A collection of famous fake images, including The Book of Veles. There’s also an upcoming documentary on Swiss contactee Billy Meier, I Want to Believe.

Why does Switzerland have so many bunkers? / curl up and dye with the Punpages, via b3ta, which also links to this thing of beauty: London Live Tube Map / a homage to the original Fiat Panda 4×4 / all about trick decks / should you dump your toxic friend? / The Chairs of Doctor Who (via b3ta) / Small Wonders Magazine, an online publication / The Guide To Sleeping in Airports / Save or Shred? On the Allure and Conundrum of Unpublished Novels / a list of Abandoned Blogs (via MeFi). Or just click around on our sidebar.

Microsoft’s Top 50 products / all about IBM’s once world-beating design language / the first selfie in space, 1966 / a test to decide on your views on the nature of reality / an archive of perfume bottles / Philip Graham on The Adventures of Tintin, from 2012 / The Office of Collecting & Design, and on Instagram.

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Music things. The official Sonic Youth Reverb shop / the excellent sounds of Oxford band Mystery Biscuit / the meticulously packaged releases of California record label Time Released Sound / Pocket Operator DIY contest winners / a new release from Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan / an interview with Andy Vella / decaying vinyl acetate of Mixes of a Lost World / The Art Of Poison-Pilling Music Files.

Cloudberry Records has a blog on all things indie / The New Cue, a music newsletter / buy the late Andrew Weatherall’s music gear at Soundgas / Shadow Garden, ‘a moonlit anthology of contemporary DIY guitar music’ / is Subvert.fm the ‘next Bandcamp’? / an amazing set of esoteric musical browser tools at Femur Design / a project about Shared DNA in music / math-y prog from Japanese guitarist Yusuke Terauchi.

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Art things. The work of Kathleen Guthrie / the paintings of Caroline Walker (via (Wallpaper*) / the joy of a night out in 80s Leeds / The Rembrandt, a short story by Edith Wharton / monographs and more at Modern Art Press / prints and more at Flummox Industries / art, fashion and the automobile in inter-war France / Wrong Answer, a bookshop / the miniature home sculptures of Ted Lott / The Last Ships, a photography project about shipbuilding in 1970s Britain by Chris Killip (via Meanwhile).

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Architecture things. Dezeen interview with Venice curator Carlo Ratti in which he blames Dezeen for the state of architecture / was the Biennale a Tech Bro Fever Dream? / the world’s ‘smallest mobile tiny house‘ / exploring the World War 2 scars of London / Gloriously Unnecessary: The Return of the Architectural Folly / celebrate five years of the Perambulations architecture walking guides / architect Duncan Baker-Brown on adaptive re-use.

London from the Rooftops, the photography of James Burns / The Twentieth Century Society’s Buildings at Risk report. More at the Guardian / How Saudi bought Britain’s architects / Graven Hill, ‘The chaotic brilliance of the UK’s biggest self-build town’ / restoring the Brutalist Villa Gontero near Turin / Common Edge, architectural musings.

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Navigating a way forwards

Posted on March 24, 2025 by things magazine

Broken Veil is a new podcast that dips into the weird/psychogeographic/quasi-non-fictional realm / a sad farewell to publishers Unbound / Elizabeth Goodspeed on what happens when we treat the past like a stock library / The Social Media Sea Change, a must read from the Culture Study. ‘What happens when the thing that structured so much of our lives loses its utility?’ / The Satellite Crayon Project from SKY Perfect JSAT. Includes “Crayons of the Seas”, “Crayons of the Mountains” and “Crayons of the Lakes” / tech schadenfreude parts I and II: surprised face. ‘Neom is reportedly turning into a financial disaster…‘ / Starship was doomed from the beginning.

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‘Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991‘ / record labels vs the Internet Archive: ‘Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is perhaps the most heavily streamed song in the case, with nearly 550 million streams on Spotify compared to about 15,000 views on the Great 78 Project‘ / The Sunderland Collection, ‘exquisite cartographic objects from the 13th to the early 19th centuries; / Naked under dungarees, the rise of #hotboybadart / Uniform Freak, (air) hostesses with the mostest / see also Anya Hindmarch’s Air Anya concept store / an ode to the OP-1, a Pandora’s Box in reverse / an incomplete bestiary of contemporary humanoid robots.

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Paintings and amazing drawings by Hope Gangloff / Of Gravity, Clocks, and Audio Dragons, via this appreciation of hi-fi charlatan Peter Belt / music by the Oldfield Youth Club / photography: Take a (rail) trip down memory lane to 1973’s London Victoria / Jim Goldberg’s series on the “Rich and Poor” of San Francisco between 1977 and 1985 / Belgian photographer Thomas Nolf documents the aviation obsessed / AI-designed (or ‘aided’) architecture? Not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, ushering in the Tech-McMansion era / in a similar vein, why is Country Life using AI to create cover art?

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We’re all being quietly gaslit by AI. Is ChatGPT’s short story genuinely beautiful? Jeanette Winterson thinks so. Some other writers respond / Joan Didion’s Los Angeles, a map / “There Is No Advantage to Thinking”: on Leon Festinger’s ‘When Prophecy Fails’ / US specific, but interesting nonetheless. Search for a brand and see its politics: Goods Unite Us / a visual search through Frauenkultur’s Second Wave Feminist Reading Archive / ‘Blood, sweat, tears and body shaming: a cartoonist’s guide to becoming a mother‘ / ‘is there a word for how a vision of the future always seems an obvious product of the era that created it?’ / Out of Fashion, an exhibition of 20th century art.

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Visit the Museum of All Things, ‘a nearly-infinite virtual museum generated from Wikipedia’ (via Kottke / the delayed consciousness of phoneworld, Kate Wagner on The Eternal Present / Of Gravity, Clocks, and Audio Dragons, via this appreciation of hi-fi charlatan Peter Belt / sort of related, The Great Vinyl Record Buying Swindle (unexpurgated version). Price vs quality / related, the Secret 7″ sale / Disney for adults, Nickelodeon resorts / Livebox Bonn make custom dioramas / sort of related, an absolutely wonderful collection at the cutaway house illustrations appreciation post & fan club / classic Penguin box sets. Both via Meanwhile / the timeless appeal of Olivetti / the effects of vertical social media photography on architectural representation.

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Inside the story of Jaguar’s re-brand / how to make a profit by bulk-buying the last ‘traditional’ Land-Rovers ever made / an overview of BMW’s historic models / digital art by Dirk Koy / a 3D model of San Francisco’s Sutro Tower (via Kottke) / related, Gaussian Splatting / Andy Vella on his recent Cure artwork / Miki Berenyi on life after Lush / search out emulation via Virtual Synthesizers (via Synthtopia) / an interview with Bong Joon Ho / all about the Folly Tower in Oxfordshire commissioned by the eccentric Lord Berners. ‘His Rolls-Royce automobile contained a small clavichord keyboard which could be stored beneath the front seat’. Berners’ satirical novel, The Girls of Radcliff Hall is at the Internet Archive.

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Lucky dip click

Posted on February 21, 2025 by things magazine

The Inconvenient Astrologer Of MI5 / Twin Peaks donut supercut (via Andrew Womack) / Arcade Marquees, a book that ‘showcases a collection of 600 arcade video game marquees from 1980 to 2020′ / see also this huge digitised library of computer games magazines / the pocket computer museum / the story of the Hexham Heads / a collection of book covers for Stanislav Lem’s Solaris / items – many intriguing – from the personal collection of the late Barry Humphries / rig rundown with The Jesus Lizard / very Things-adjacent, the Office of Collecting & Design and its excellent Instagram page / see also John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries.

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Construction timelapse of the largest cruise ship ever built in Germany, the AIDAnova (via Jalopnik) / sort of related, Solstice – 5, a short film by Paul Chadeisson (via MeFi) / Drawing without Borders, an online exhibit from the Royal Drawing School / the capital on film, sets and backlots at These other Londons: the imagined city of the backlots / a history of South London’s Dawson’s Heights Estate at Hidden Archiecture / the tallest abandoned skyscrapers around the world / see also The Leaning Tower of New York.

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A new album from Black Bordello / Sixes And Sevens, a new album by former Banshee John McKay / a balding salaryman / TWELVES, an archive release of Loop’s classic 12″ singles from Dinked Edition / Cabin Crew, a new book about holiday huts / paintings by Aglae Bassens / letterpress studios in the UK: Hooksmith Press, The Printer’s Devil, New North Press, Railton Press / Johatsu, ‘the people in Japan who purposely vanish from their established lives without a trace’ / ‘hurtful crashes‘, schadenfreude-infused supercar CGI / a bungled stunt in the (original) Italian Job. The scene in question.

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The ongoing rise of Technofascism / A Cartography of Genocide at Forensic Architecture / depressing AI generated visuals of Trump Gaza City incoming in 3, 2, 1… / sort of related (bear with us), Logos of the early Ufology Scene, a book from the KFAX Series, covering the graphic design of organisations run by ‘Self diagnosed experts [who] bestowed wisdom upon loyal readers, enraptured with stories of flying saucers and big eyed little green men’. Here’s a theory. Flying saucers are a projection of collective colonial guilt. Flaps happen at times of great national crisis or uncertainty (eg drones in New Jersey ahead of Trump II: the Trumpening, or the saucer hysteria that coincided with the communist witch-hunt era) and are accompanied by much wailing speculation about whether ‘they’ are saviours or subjugators.

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Slopping out

Posted on January 14, 2025 by things magazine

Where have all the flowers gone?, a 1978 BBC film that ‘traces the hippies of ten years ago to find out how they are living today. Yippie leader Jerry Rubin, ‘Social Deviant’ Mick Farren, Oz editor Felix Dennis, Dr Timothy Leary ‘the messiah of LSD’, Lynn Darnton, the founder of the ‘Tribe of the Sacred Mushroom,’ folk singer Vashti Bunyan, and many more’ / The Design of Classic Doctor Who Title Cards at Kottke / also at JK, readers reply to ‘what’s the one thing only you noticed?‘ / ‘Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TV’ / whatever happened to the old-fashioned firing? / Futurism, fascism and Musk / ‘what the fuck are we doing anymore (yes this is about social media)‘, depressing journo screed (via MeFi).

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Also by Kate Wagner, on Neuschwanstein Castle, ‘… such a Sistine Chapel of pure sentimentality and sugary kitsch that theme park architecture – most famously, Disney’s Cinderella’s castle itself – owes many of its medieval iterations to the palace’s towering silhouette.’ / Bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong, an informative visual essay (also via MeFi) / A Very Hallmark Supercut Christmas (via b3ta) / everything you ever wanted to know about Harold Pinter. Not to be confused with Harauld Hughes / the Public Domain Image Archive, the spirit of the old internet / more modern life is rubbish: ‘The truth behind your £10 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fuelling Shein’s success’ / not to underplay the terrible loss of life in the LA fires, but architecture and art is also under threat, whilst music, both classical and rock, has suffered major losses. See also ‘the architectural ashes of the LA fires‘.

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Walking New York City with Owen Hatherley / gobsmackingly awful house / ‘The pointy-shoed corruption of medieval London / the Rainbow Code, ‘used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects… constructed from a randomly selected colour, plus an (often appropriate) noun taken from a list’ / all about the Moon / things learned in 2024, things predicted for 2025, journalism, things predicted for 2025, in 1925 / Best Shoegaze albums of 2024 / fine track, Now Transient by FLOCKS / My approach to running a link blogby Simon Willison. Bring back link blogs / ‘AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it‘ / related, a fine takedown of the current (still expanding) AI bubble: AI, a talking dog for the 21st Century, at The Gist.

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Mostly harmless

Posted on January 1, 2025 by things magazine

All about Elite, including Elite on the 6502, which meticulously pores through the source code of the original BBC Micro game / sort of related, the ISS offers a live-streamed view of Earth / also sort of related, For the over 50s, What used to be but is no more? / see also favorite instances of haptic nostalgia (via Kottke) / Lego_Adventure in the City, a stop motion film by Rogier Wieland / What are some “holy grails” of collecting? / remember Stanley Green? / sort of related? the Canadian ‘fruit machine‘ / a familiar original from David McCallum and David Axelrod / one of several hacks to get your Google search utility back without AI: via MeFi) / see also Better without AI.

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‘Jellycat burglars: Meet the people surfing the soft toy crime wave‘ / what is the cost of perpetual skepticism? / music by Mystery Biscuit / Bristol house for sale with pre-installed Banksy / the Sainsbury Archive / unsurprising news edition: Abramovich dodged millions in tax with superyachts-for-hire scheme / Stephen Fry on the future of Twitter, from 2009 / a gallery of e-ink faces for the Watchy open-source watch / yikes, the Stimulation Clicker, easy to lose half an hour to (via b3ta) / another classic: top tips for blog monetization / What Is Going On At The National Portrait Gallery? / a collection of familiar illustration tropes / the NATO graphic novel / ‘The battlefield is everywhere. The wild nuclear maps of “Wild” William Bunge’, at Doomsday Machines / whatever happened to the Cryonic Castle? The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is still a thing / the London Contemporary Architecture Map / Tour 21 lesser-known modernist houses in Europe / buy a classic Westminster shagpad.

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News and views at The Index / an index of Nordic Happiness markers at Kotona / David Lynch’s world of perfume commercials and car commercials / the performance art and music of Tony Morris. Ivor Cutler meets Suicide, we think someone said / art by Helena Boase / Data Centre murals by Fuchsia MacAree (thanks to Happenstance Books) / an essay on the Disappearing Living Room, thanks to ever-more cramped housing conditions / Virtual Dreams II: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, Japan 1993?-?1999, via Andrew Womack / how to date your Anglepoise. More tips at the very comprehensive 1227 / the wonderful work of Andreas Wannerstedt (via MeFi) / photography by Clark Winter / Concrete TV. NSFW in an old-school kind of way.

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Year end accounts

Posted on December 21, 2024 by things magazine

Utter December randomness follows. The Art of Christmas at the Modern British Gallery / Fear and failing in Chatham, a gonzo art journey / Brick my World, an application that ‘turns your photos into stunning LEGO® models using classic rectangular bricks’ / a guide to London’s Members Clubs / as McMansion Hell dives into New Jersey 19th Century Eclecticism, you can also watch this video on The Invention That Accidentally Made McMansions. Spoiler alert, it’s something called a ‘gang-nail plate’, a ‘galvanised steel connector plate used to produce rigid distortion free joints in timber jointing’. So now you know / related, a revolution in nuts and bolts helped the Victorians build the Crystal Palace in just 190 days.

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Support the SE London BookFest 2025 / How to Watch a Baby, impressive presentation for this piece at The Verge / IMG_0001, ‘a machine for inducing nostalgia for a brief period not too long ago’ (via MeFi) / TCL is making AI-generated movies. It’s as awful as it sounds / ‘And so begins a science-fiction horror show of a feedback loop… Microsoft starts boiling the Copilot frog: It’s not a soup you want to drink at any price.’ / build a Lego Minimoog / is an AI-powered Lego building app that shapes construction plans using your phone camera.

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Read an extract from Ghost Of An Idea: Hauntology, Folk Horror, And The Spectre Of Nostalgia at The Wire / ambient works by Norman Westberg / music by Demdike Stare / ‘Thirty years after Dog Man Star, Brett Anderson looks back on Suede’s album covers‘ / art by Anna Gaton / ‘Why are cassette and CD players so bulky now?‘ / Lost In Cult preserves video game culture / Flummox Industries, a tumblr / Every Noise at Once, a journey from Spotify’s genres / Firehose, experience Bluesky in real time / Oneletterwords, a weblog.

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The Fry Art Collection, ‘artists who have lived in and around Great Bardfield and Saffron Walden’ / Anthony Powell’s collaged boiler room / Rolling Pin paintings for Black Friday, Daniel Eatock / Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture / paintings by Hanie Soltani / Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, a new publication / not to be confused, The Thing Magazine / the story of the Wagner DOWA 81, a homemade aircraft.

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Artist Ian Robinson makes oil paintings inspired by people’s passions and their collections, whether it’s books or music / the 100 best games to play on PC today / Iconic works from Martin Parr’s Archives / Transformers at the Moon, ‘a European based Transformers resource website’ / the Mercedes Brochure Archive / fuzzy lo-fi fun, Spiralling (demos) by Norjack / coming soon, Casa Mexicana / search the Plantin-Moretus Museum collection of woodworks / a visit to the Science Museum’s Hawking Building. Official page. Related, very old digital pictures of the museum’s old stores at Blythe House.

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Britain’s ‘best new building of 1996’ to be demolished. More info / Roman road uncovered in South London / the exhibition that helped save the country house. See also Lost Heritage’s complete list of over 2,000 houses demolished in the twentieth century / a celebration of Paul Rudolph, the architect’s architect (for better and for worse) / Aqualillies, synchronised swimming photography by Brad Walls / Off Assignment Magazine, ‘a non-profit literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers’ / a fun collection of Internet obsessive lists outside of fandom / ‘A road trip like no other’: my epic drive on Kraftwerk’s Autobahn / We should all read less news. Have a happy Christmas.

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Things thrown out of the pram

Posted on November 12, 2024 by things magazine

We all deserve and need random, enjoyable links. Onwards. Modernist Estates, a new agency (not for profit!) looking to make the most of the best bits of 20th century architecture and help get it into the hands of those who appreciate it most / sort of related, The ransacking of Britain: why the people finally rose up against ‘sod you architecture’. It’s a bit of stretch to equate the happily successful movement to save Covent Garden Market with the desire to abandon all contemporary architecture altogether / more urban catastrophes. What went wrong with Turkey’s concrete Disney castles? / and have you you heard about the “Cognitive net-zero sponge luxury resort city: Elisium“. Wasn’t there literally a movie called Elysium about a terrifying dystopia/utopia for rich motherfuckers who let the rest of the world burn? Oh, yes there was. AI-generated tat of the highest order / somewhat related. Introducing: The AI Hype Index / “I love mid-century modern but it makes me sad” / a collection of then-and-now images of Europe’s now car-free plazas and squares.

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Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk’s monograph ‘Office‘ has been reissued. It’s giving major Severance vibes (via Wallpaper*) / beware the incoming Boomer Stuff Avalanche / related, what’s a fair price for that? / musings on the history and art of playing conkers / Forums Are Still Alive, Active, And A Treasure Trove Of Information (via the grandaddy of all forums, MeFi) / a collection of Practical Betterments / Design Dynasties: the powerhouse families of Italian furnishing / an oral history of HotWired / beautifully presented gubbins, The UFO Timeline / weirdly not on that database, the legend of The Sandown Clown / stream the unsual at Eternal TV / Retro 80s Versions of Tech Company Logos.

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Collectives, a series by Cássio Campos Vasconcellos (via Kottke) / the sunflowers of artist Charles Mahoney / still lives by Leah Gardner / the paintings of Christiane Kubrick as a fashion backdrop / art by Jim Naughten / art by Sophie Milner / still lives by Michael Weller / still lives by Kenne Gregoire / time travel with this spectacular house in Hastings / cute stone animals from Studiomama / art by Helene Appel / eerie suburban landscapes by Leonard Koscianski / installations by Caitlind R. C. Brown / the return of the Hello Kitty Fender.

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A Soft Murmur, an online ambient noise generator / compare and contrast with with this descent into the raw synth sounds of Defender / deconstructing The Bells by Jeff Mills / the wonderful children’s book The Great Blueness / the Art of the Title / a complete archive of CineFex Magazine, the bible of film special effects /Manchester Digital Music Archive / tech and gaming thoughts at Get Info / Everything, All at Once Forever is a new book about the 90s music scene by photographer Joe Dilworth. Interview here / ‘the World War II Supercut, a video project that combines 143 World War II movies into one 12 hour series’.

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Things ordered neatly

Posted on October 3, 2024 by things magazine

Present and Correct is not just a meticulously presented stationery store, but also a fantastic old school blog, a curatorial treasure trove of the kind that was practically extinguished by the rise of social media. A must visit / see also the excellent Letterform Archive / an exhibition about the art of replica Japanese food / the historic aerial photography of Arthur William Hobart / ‘Firsts: The History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection‘ / actor Jason Schwartzman on his favourite things / What’s it like to leave an art world career? / a house through time / The Moon and the Sledgehammer, a 1971 documentary about a vanished era.

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A gallery of the art of interiors / blue or green? / Lifekollektiv, an old school blog / Booklop, worth investigating if you love books and circular economies. The ‘Vinted of books‘ apparently / Ex Utopia, a site about overlooked architecture / Peter Doig on art and value: ‘The 65-year-old artist estimates that, since 2007, his paintings have achieved combined sales of almost £380m. But he has now revealed that he has made barely £230,000 for himself from selling them.’ / The Exotica Project, containing ‘one hundred dreamland 45s’ / ‘from ‘Masseduction’ to ‘All Born Screaming’, browse St. Vincent’s fashion archive / art by Patrizio di Massimo.

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We Will Survive, a new show looks at the prepper taxonomy / rent a Carlo Mollino villa in Varase / ‘10 x “Bad” (but actually good) David Bowie songs that this very bad David Bowie fan never really listened to before’ / looking for quirky covers of 80s synth pop? / the last print issue of Future Music / an architecture tour of London Zoo / the story of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals / The Great Oil Sniffer Hoax / a map of Modern Amsterdam / Oculi Mundi, an antique map platform / a guide to figuring out the age of an updated map (via Meanwhile / inside the esoteric Warburg Institute Library / Viz, the early issues (Dec 1979 to July 1988) / turning Google’s creepy podcast bots focus on each other.

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We no longer have the energy / a last visit to the epic Citroën Conservatory / Hollywood Can’t Ditch Its Teslas Fast Enough / more automotive nonsense, Vroom with a view, tower blocks for cars (and the people that drive them): ‘Car culture counts as genuine culture in these nouveau riche ghettos where there’s nothing to do but gorge at Nobu or Cipriani and then pop next door for liposuction’ / the 1973 RingRail Plan for London / photography by Vincenzo Pagliuca / farewell to Postmodernist prophet Frederic Jameson / visit the Lee Miller House / people define joy for Nick Cave.

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Landscape or hellscape

Posted on September 5, 2024 by things magazine

Posting is very sporadic right now, apologies. On to the links. The amazing USC Optical Sound Effects Library. Lots to download and sample here / Colossal continues to be so, so good. See, for example, this link to Tapedeck.org / the Archives of the Impossible at Rice University, a collection of ‘materials related to paranormal currents in American history’ / blurry urban remnants at Street Ghosts (via MeFi) / the pleasure of solid soaps / St Vincent in Wallpaper* / why Ethiopia loves the Beetle / a vast collection of Radio Shack Catalog(ue)s / McMansion Hell hits the 2000s / impressive John Adam mansion for sale / build a pictureseque city with Transmtertram / old news, but loved this concealed letter complaining about columns. Is more hidden criticism stashed within the capital’s Po-Mo icons?

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Sorry for the late response / worth exploring Bookloop / An Ancient Geometry Problem Falls to New Mathematical Techniques / Friends don’t let friends use “cf.” / going to the moon? The Lunacy of Artemis / Found Democracy #USA, a project by Barbara Gibson and Marta Kochanek / Life in Fifteen Gigabytes / some fun features at the Internet Archive / a new bus sign at Limehouse Town Hall / ‘Record labels forgot these songs existed. One man rescued them‘ / the last rotor cipher machine / Lego landmarks by Rocco Buttliere / John Hinde’s photographs of Butlin’s / Heptadecaphobia, fear of the number 17 / Curated Maps / The English Execution: a coin operated automata. Via the Fairground World of Ross Hutchinson.

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Martino Gamper’s Hook Book / Nobody Reads Ads, except when they’re well written / Peckham 2, Banksy Nil / the story of Rex Whistler / the surrealist world of painter Henry Orlik / Penguin Series Design (via MeFi) / Animated Knots / if you must, a good explanation of AI tokens. And more / Picturing a Voice: Margaret Watts Hughes and the Eidophone / ‘Drumulation Sensation: The Short But Smashing Reign Of The Drumulator‘ / play with Patch Kessler / more awful architecture / look at these sobering images of e-waste in countries like Ghana, and then think about the drawer or cupboard or cardboard box inevitably filled with dodgy cables, unspecified charging blocks and many, many old, cracked and shonky smartphones.

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Here, there and everywhere

Posted on August 1, 2024 by things magazine

Here, there, and everywhere. NASA’s spacesuit problem just got a lot worse / Networking Tips for Music Festivals / art and installations by Takashi Kuribayashi / a tiny house round-up, 12 American icons of design and at home amongst the Earthships / Videoseconds aggregates videos of gigs from pre-internet days / Andrew Womack on the joys and familiarity of compact discs / it’s a thing, honest / enjoyed this post on Kowloon Walled City / How To Find Old New York, updated / Watergate, an online exhibition at the Museum of Portable Sound / A brief, weird history of brainwashing / remembering Kenneth Grange / the Great Bardfield Artist Map / London Flipped, ‘the first full-size map of London drawn upside-down’ / Collider, instrumental music by Chemtrail / World Domination Enterprises, live in Uxbridge, 1991.

Stir World, architecture website / folding coathangers at Yetch / Fitzcarraldo Editions are small publishers / Oh joy. One Person One Price, ‘Digital surveillance and customer isolation are individualizing the prices we pay’ / The Decamillo Database, ‘a continuing project to list every country house built in Britain and Ireland, standing or demolished’ / which common words does AI like using? / paintings by Jen Orpin (via Meanwhile) 20 years of BLDG BLOG / measurements, etc., at The scale of life / animations by Tomohiro Okazaki / Speak & Glitch, ‘the [Texas Instruments] Speak & Spell is reborn as a chaos monster and glitchy groovebox’ / frankly terrifying story about art, innovation, tech bros and an ancient fort: The art-loving tech bro turning a Napoleonic fort into a blockchain bunker / a house of books in the landscape / https://www.gamechampions.com/en/blog/the-evolution-of-gaming-consoles/.

La Sentinelle, 8-bit needlepoint recreation of a classic computer game, emulated here, codes here (PC/ST version) / so go on, Which architecture studios are working on Neom? / this is the end (and perhaps related to the last link?): Lore Machine, an AI-driven ‘story visualisation system’ (via Technology Review) / related, Google AI Uses Enough Electricity In 1 Second To Charge 7 Electric Cars / AI does not make for a good travel concierge / make your own Spin Painting instead / 15 Years of Plant Time Lapse Videos / the beautiful work of Postcard Models.

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And into the light

Posted on June 20, 2024 by things magazine

Design and culture things. An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth, Bernard Sleigh’s magnum opus was one of the origins of our ideals of the fantasy world / Logos of the Early Ufology Scene / see also UFO Sightings Around the World, from 1613 experiments with Google, archived now that the company has pivoted to AI / a famous literary hoax: Naked Came the Stranger / industrial hoaxer John Ernst Worrell Keely and his discovery of ‘etheric vapor’ / a collection of ‘Out-of-place artifacts‘ / Signs and Wonders: Celestial Phenomena in 16th-Century Germany (via MeFi) / Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from a bombing raid over Berlin, 1943 / the Secret Netflix Codes Cheat Sheet / The Past and Future of Galactic Suburbia / the life and work of Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon, etc) / Lego cars by Peter Blackert / Powell and Pressburger’s A Canterbury Tale, 1944 / Ethnologue, a site about the languages of the world / On This Spot, ‘hundreds of recreatable then and now photos’ / great cars at Curbside Classic / the Chevrolet Sky Lounge Camper / printing and binding 8000 unique covers for Eye Magazine / the collapse of Fisker Automotive / more AI mush confusion, courtesy of the estate of Ansel Adams / Instagram and AI: How to opt out of Meta’s AI training / see also ‘ChatGPT on your iPhone? The four reasons why this is happening far too early‘ / AI Is a False God / I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again.

John Margolies’ Photographs of Roadside America / File Photo Digital Archive / ‘walking journals‘ from Japan / Rose Couch paints with thread / zines and more at Unitom / old vs new, an exercise in automotive scale / Neo-Selectric, a typeface by Ben Fehrman-Lee / The Exotica Project, ‘one hundred dreamland 45s’ / books about juvenile delinquency / see also Pulp Crush / which reminded us to check on a couple of favourite old school sites. Happily they’re both in rude health: Diamond Geezer and Everlasting Blort / design by Melissa Price / some great online second hand books / The Yellow Wallpaper, 1892, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was once ordered to ‘never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live’ by a contemporary neurologist / ‘Horror stories of cryonics: The gruesome fates of futurists hoping for immortality,’ e.g. papers like Suspension Failures: Lessons from the Early Years. Related, our visit to Alcor / The Wind Map, ‘a living portrait of the wind currents over the U.S’ / from 2000, ‘A high-tech hunt for the Loch Ness Monster‘ / Tiny Awards honours modest websites / sort of related, post germination at MeFi’s LinkMe.

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Music things. Prince could be tricky to work for / cigarettes, cigarettes, cigarettes vs cigarettes, cigarettes, cigarettes, cigarettes / The Loft’s Gideon Coe session / She’s All About That Bass, ‘It’s not your imagination: a disproportionate number of women really do play bass guitar in rock bands’ / Ferrous is an eBow for the modern age / quirky, unique sonic instruments from Archil Lab / PlayPhrase, search films for dialogue / Disquiet, a site about music / All the Techno Subgenres (with examples) / contemporary classical by Darcy Copeland / a guide to Hawkwind’s best albums / related, It’s Nice That on how AI-generated album covers prioritise virality over creativity. Hawkwind-type album art is ripe for ripping off, although space-art-doyenne Chris Foss recently spoke out in favour of AI’s positive use as a tool / Wax Heads, a game about running a record shop (via the Guardian) / BBC Sound Effects collection / The Vinyl Factory — Reverb, a sound and media installation currently on show at London’s 180 Studios / music by Tony Njoku.

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Architecture things. Beautiful prints by t_zuan0321 / Texas Gothic Revival, the style you didn’t know you needed at McMansion Hell. Sort of describes modern America in a nutshell, really / a short guide to Frank Lloyd Wright / the sad End of the Wayfarers Chapel / highlights from the 2024 London Festival of Architecture / Dystopika is a tool for making dystopian cyberpunk cities / see also ICity, ‘a Geometry Nodes-powered procedural city generator for Blender’ / Josep Lluís Sert’s abandoned hotel complex at Cala D’en Serra, Ibiza / Doughnut Economics and urbanism, a new humanist economic model / an obituary for architect Julyan Wickham / retro futurism always sucked. How about a Return to Ladybird Modernism. Let’s go ‘Back to an optimistic vision of the future from the past’, at Grindrod, via Meanwhile / who could the pulverizer of Art Deco friezes possibly be? / Non-Structures by Francisco Ibanez Hantke at The Velvet Cell / suggested alternatives to flattening M&S Oxford Street / the Twentieth Century Society is seeking to save the KX100 phone kiosk / related, Kiosk, the last Modernist Booths, a new book from Zupagrafika / The Fence fields a strong line-up for the 2024 Carbuncle Cup (not to be confused with Building Design’s award of the same name). Winners, all / the backrooms photo and our fascination with liminal, queasy spaces / see also The Backrooms of the Internet Archive.

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Art things. Who’s got a problem with Damien Hirst? / art by Emily C Thomas / contemporary craft recommendations / paintings by John Clark / reliefs and artworks by Elias Sime / beautiful art books by Patrick Fry Studio / ‘Looking at people looking at art: inside the mind of a gallery attendant‘ / art by Philippa Tunstill / art by Jess Blandford / art by Dan Preece / beautiful drawings by Leggy Gordon / the work of Michael Perton and Elke Grabbert / Michael Mandiberg’s ‘Zoom Paintings’ / Loft Law, Joshua Charow’s photographs of New York’s last surviving artist’s lofts / ‘That yearning feeling: why we need nostalgia’.

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Out of the shadows

Posted on May 27, 2024 by things magazine

So, we’re now secure. Apologies for what might well have been several months of downtime for many readers. The mysteries of secure sockets, certificates, caches and domain records has hopefully been sorted by the good people at Nethosted, leaving us with a mighty backlog of links (as always).

On to the links and the thinking. The rising tides of slop are creating a ‘zombie internet’ / half of this post could be given over to AI-bashing, but let’s try not to just in case the bots read things too. Nevertheless, our slow descent into AI mush continues apace, even though (right now), it seems obvious that current AI toys struggle hard with practical applications, invoking schadenfreude rather than sympathy. Clippy gets spliced with Deep Thought and power consumption, protocols and thoughts of unwanted consequences go out the window(s). We can remember it for you wholesale!, Microsoft promises, fingers firmly crossed behind their sweaty backs.

All the while, a Johansson-a-like whispers sweet synthetic nothings into your ear. What will happen when the new era of total recall collides with the oodles of dross shovelled at us by online retail platforms: Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here’s how they get made. See also Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins / a glitch in the matrix of online, or why online shopping is a complete nightmare / more wretched retail: Super Cute Please Like, the not so shiny world of Shein.

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Other things of a (mostly) less insidious nature. An interview with Erno Rubik to celebrate the half century of the eponymous cube / a new map from Herb Lester Associates, ‘Facts concerning H.P.Lovecraft and his environs‘ / Out of the Shadows / How the occult bewitched London art / Reign in Blood / Losange Magazine, for Renault enthusiasts old and new, featuring vehicles like this wonderful 1956 camper / a great big collection of National Geographics / Unwrapping the Terry’s Chocolate Apple.

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Technology. A Floppy Disk MIDI Boombox: The Yamaha MDP-10, at Nicole.Express / a truly massive speaker / VEEB Projects bring old clocks back to life, amongst other things / Rocket Man No More, the rarest Boba of them all / Map Happenings, a blog about the mapping industry / Cybertruck moaning / The Forbidden Toys, alt plastic entertainments / I Never Could Get the Hang of Thursdays, a book about the Hitchhiker’s Guide radio show / the final edition of Electronic Plastic

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Music. Farewell, Steve Albini. Another obituary. An excellent Oral history of Shellac / The Loft, Live at the Moth Club / skip a few decades: interviews with Ride and the Mary Chain / the pioneering women of shoegaze / a look back at Hex by Bark Psychosis / Cindy Lee’s new album, Diamond Jubile / a colossal selection of drum loops / Your Community Hub, a new release from Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan / Andrew Womack finds great new music / Reverb, a new show at 180 Strand, London / Robert Parkin takes videos of gigs / music by Obfusc / the 50 best post-rock albums / sort of related, Mastery Bridges & The New Rise of Offsets / scroll down for Francis Bourgeois’ commuter playlist.

Art. ‘Of Nudes, a Peeled Orange, and a Loaf of Challah: What I’ve learned about Instagram and the suppression of figurative art’ / art by Sarah Hamilton / art by Graham Little / geometric art by Morgan Echols / an essay on Paul Nash and death from the sky / a guide to the best pizza in Milan / the typewriter-powered art of Raffaella della Olga / a selection of photography by Vivian Maier / collages by Jess Stone / art by Space Goose / some thoughts on the art of framing / Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War Book, a photographic study of arms fairs / art by Leonie Boss / Beautiful plotted paths by Florian Markus / illustrations by Iris Hatzfeld / The Photo Registry, a tumblr (tumblr! Remember those?).

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Architecture. Snarky but on the nose assessment of car-branded residential skyscrapers / the Rural Indexing Project, via Meanwhile, which also pointed us in the direction of Owen D.Pomery’s excellent KIOSK / the Twentieth Century Society is saving dinosaurs / why has a £40m property in North London failed to sell for over four years? “It is quite idiosyncratic, the décor. Therefore, it needs someone to understand it, to appreciate it — and to pay for it.” / domage, zéro étoile pour Daniel Daggers / the concept of ‘Storyliving by Disney’ at the town of Cotino. Prediction: in the future, lots of people will live in branded cities. Wainwright weighs in.

Ron’s Place, Birkenhead, a piece of living outsider art (could Disney do this?) / The inaccessible and abandoned islands of New York / The beauty of concrete, or the economics of ornament / drone views of London / skateboarding with Alvar / some more ludicrous and depressing Line news / a visual explainer of container ships / mid-century musings: That mysterious font is Festive, not Stymie / What ever happened to mass design? / the function of colour in public buildings / the Lucky Dice Cabinet by Diederik Schneemann.

A Thousand Suns, online short sci-fi movie series / a review of Dorian Lynskey’s Everything Must Go / a collection of short online 3D games by Little Workshop (via MeFi / Riviera Style, a visit to MIPIM in Cannes / Astana, new writing about architecture from a South Asian perspective / hopefully it won’t be another two months before we return.

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