: O

Still on blogging hiatus (more-or-less*) while I wrap up the final weeks of my postgrad course, but I absolutely had to share this:

OMFXZG people, freaking NINJA BEAR! Bear thinks it's Donatello!

awwwww yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

(via twitter@laura_hudson)

*full disclosure, re the "more" of "more-or-less": I have, in fact, lately begun miniblogging** over on Tumblr. Rather than writing full-on wordy wordfests like I do here on this blog, over at looktime.tumblr.com I've just been posting all sorts of interesting images & things, as a kind of record of my internet-image-discovery as I go along.

It's like scrapbooking, the way I see it; it's assembling and collaging, rather than creating content from scratch. Tumblr is built around the easy re-blogging of other people's content, so it's good for that sort of thing. And also, compared to real blogging, Tumblring takes pretty much no time at all! (It's the lack of vowels. And, uh, the general lack of words. And the fact that you can "generate" all your content just by copying stuff directly over from other people's Tumblrs, if you like...)

So, looktime! Please enjoy.

**In the olden times before the "personal computer" existed, the "minicomputer" was a type of computer just a bit bigger and more complex than a "microcomputer"; and so if Twitter is microblogging, then I figure Tumblr must definitely be "miniblogging". Please spread the word.

Soon

Whoo!

Lately, I have been way too busy to give this blog the attention it deserves; luckily, however, my busyness is not quite at Axe Cop's level, yet. (Axe Cop being the webcomic from which the sublime moment above derives.) Most of my specific busynesses look to be cooling down soon, too – but anyhow, we'll see how that goes . . .

In the meantime, I also wanted to draw your attention to what may be the greatest news headline of all time: the "Ash Dash Rash Cash Splash". Subeditors of Fairfax, I salute you.

)

--Thoapsl

Sunday Night Tumbln' Tumblrweeds

When you tumbl your attentions across a numbr of tumblrs, a numbr of those tumblrs' pics are bound to fiercely tumbl themselves onto & into your memories (both electronical & neurological). Or something like that. Does that make sense? What about the spelling? It's got something to do with hipsters, apparently, but I try not to hold that against it.

So: can you guess the common theme for these images? It's a three-word phrase . . .

(Via.)

. . . it's a line of dialogue, i.e. a line you'd expect to hear spoken aloud . . .

(Via.)

. . . it would probably end with an exclamation mark . . .

(Via.)

If you can think of a three-word phrase that would be exclaimed aloud and is cryptically applicable to each of these pictures, leave your guess in the comments! You might win!

(Is that an intriguing game, or a completely annoying and pointless one? Or both? Please let me know – it's late on a Sunday and my good judgment isn't necessarily itself, I think . . . this morning I ate nachos for breakfast . . .)

Intriguing images, yes? The internet is a fine and lovely domain.

Rule #1: Don't Go To Bed Hungry

I tell you what, I think those freaking Top 10 lists really took it out of me. Shortly after posting the final list, I succumbed to a mildly bizarre illness – a kind of feverish, throaty sleeping sickness – and it's taken me more than a week since then to move beyond "miserably ill" and back to mere "croaky ill-temper". What did I miss while I was out?

Lucky for you, wiser webfolk than I have been able to provide commentary on the world in my absence, of which I shall now reproduce a pertinent example:

No, wait – I think that happened before the last Top 10? Aw, whatevs. Let's just assume business as usual & no worries, then.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that you aren't reading this blog in order to receive commentary on current events. On the original hand – are you, actually? Should I be blogging more commentary on current events? Please let me know, if so . . .

Either way, more blogging soon. I've been collecting a fine swag of interesting images without any particular purpose, so I think I'm going to start posting the images without any particular purpose. Just to share, you know. The way all those fancy awesome tumblr kids are doing blog*, these days.

For example: this. I'm not sure where this came from, but apparently it's by someone called Michael Page, who would appear to be kind of awesome. (Click the image for a closer look, I think it's worth it.)

Nice and interesting, huh?

All right. And now: nachos.

Good night :)

*Yeah, "doing blog". That's what I wrote.

Top 10 #1: Top 10 Best Numbers Between 1 and 10

And so we come to the end of a particularly daft enterprise. But better to reach an ending than to abandon a program unfinished, right?

Hm. Either way, I've now finally reached the most profound and meaningful of my Top 10 Top 10 Lists That Don't Really Deserve To Be Top 10 Lists:

It's

The Top 10 Best Numbers Between 1 and 10!

10. 9

9. 5

8. 1.01

7. 3

6. e

5. π

4. 6

3. δ

2. 2

1. φ

Why these numbers, you ask? Hypothetical reader, I am glad that you ask (or in fact, that you allow me rhetorically to ask you).

9

It's the biggest numeral we have: after 9, all we have left is 0 again. Also, it creates a hypnotically symmetrical square, which is kind of neat, don't you think?:

5

Symbolism, magic, political power: that's 5. It crops up surprisingly often, if you look for it.

1.01

This should be an obvious choice, shouldn't it? It's 1, but it's a bit more than 1. It's a symbol of improvement, of education, of progress. Doesn't it make you feel better, just looking at it?

3

The smallest number that's big enough to be genuinely numberish. 3 things are enough things to create a whole bunch of problems that literally can't be solved. 3 contains enough complexity to generate a universe.

e

It's a bit more than 2. It's all natural. It's a pleasantly fractal concept to base your logarithms on, if you need some logarithms. And hey, who doesn't need logarithms? Who doesn't like logs? Who doesn't like rhythms? Answer: nobody! (FACT.)

π

Obviously.

6

For making us happier, and in particular for giving us the best opportunity to giggle at New Zealand accents.

δ

By which I'm talking about the Feigenbaum constant, 4.669201609etc. This number emerges at the heart of complex systems like the weather, or the economy, or pretty much every system of interacting relationships in our world. This constant is our sublime proof that chaos theory is not chaotic. So, you know; it's kind of important, and it's kind of neat.

2

The loneliest number, next to number 1. (So, it's not so lonely.) This can still be problematic, but it's also pretty nice.

φ

By which I'm talking about the number of the Golden Ratio, 1.6180339887etc. (And yeah, the Silver Ratio probably also deserves some respect, but that's another story.) This number is the ratio of ratios: it's everywhere, even when it's not, and it's the reason that most nice architecture and design looks so nice. For services to aesthetics, recognised & unrecognised: thanks, φ.

Cheers.

--the listless thoapsl

Positive Randomivity for the Week

I don't who made this, but I'm very glad they did.

Friday Is Out Of Context

You know, somebody says "Slug Monster!" and you think you know what they're talking about. You turn around for a look, but you already feel like you know what you'll see. Heck, you've seen some horror movies, you've got a pretty vivid imagination; you've seen plenty of slug monsters before. How bad could this one be?

Obviously, you have underestimated certain German illustrators of the early 1920s.

(Note, also: the body in the lower left is not being crushed by the slug. It is being absorbed, or possibly growing out of the slug's body like a deformed limb.)

This image is actually part of a cover for a 1920 issue of Der Orchideengarten, a fantasy magazine that ran for an impressive fifty-one issues in Munich from 1919 to 1921. After the horrors of the Great War, THIS is what people were reading to relax.

Image via the ever-awesome A Journey Round My Skull blog. There's plenty more mind-melting Orchideengarten imagery and info to be found out there, if you dare . . .

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: A salt is not a defence.

Mondays Can Be Disturbing

But not today! Check it out: have you ever seen an image more charming, more sweet, more heartwarming?

Aww yeah!

It's the wand that really makes it, I think.

I found it here, but it's originally from here – an odd site called TeeFury. Yeah, tons of sites sell novelty tee-shirts, but this TeeFury place is unique in that it puts each shirt on sale for one day only! By the time I discovered the Unicornasaurus, I was already too late . . .  :(

Heck of a hook to grab regular traffic & impulsive sales, huh?

Friday Is Out Of Context

Gosh, you know what's lovely? Flowers. Flowers are lovely. Everyone loves flowers.

Wouldn't it be great if we could tell a heartwarming children's tale about flowers? And we could give them all names!

And faces.

Oh god their eyes, what have we done? HOLY NO WHAT HAVE WE DONE

*aazdzzrgghghhlmnllnzz!!*

oh sweet william, please stop. please stop

It's all the fault of T. Benjamin Faucett, but I found it here.

Childhood was harsh in 1924.

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: An anthropomorphism is not sneezing pollen.

Friday Is Out Of Context

Do you see this match? Do you see it?

Illustrations from the old Saturday Evening Post really fascinate me. There's something really striking about this image, don't you think? (On the other hand, I think modern-day Ikea catalogues are endlessly disturbing and fascinating, so maybe it's just me.)

I could say something about the vertical composition and the blue eyes, but seriously – it's a heck of a picture, yeah?

Anyhow, the context: it's 1955, and you're not a public service announcement about forest fires, you're actually an advertisement for a timber company. BUY WOOD.

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: A lumberjack is not a little match girl.

Friday Is Out Of Context

Monkey Pope Says:

Seriously guys, I know, this whole Michael Jackson reminder of tragedy and despair is hard on us all. Yes, it really is.

(for context: this is an illustration by Dorothy Lathrop for a 1942 publication of Walter de la Mere's short story "Mr. Bumps And His Monkey" – you can find the story here, and I found the image here... but it sure looks like Monkey Pope to me.

One hell of a sitcom premise, there...)

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: A cardinal is not a primate.

On a more personal PS, I'm extremely busy with work this past & coming week, so apologies for the less-blogging-than-usual. Usual conditions will be reasserted in a week or two, I hope. And then – news! New things! And on my other blog I'll be publishing some scripts I've written, too!

PPS: did you know that Catholicism's concept of Papal Infallibility was only invented in 1870? You'd never guess the idea was that recent without looking it up, would you?

PPPS: I really hope that someone appreciates the multiple levels of awesomeness involved in that "cardinal/primate" pun up there. Seriously, that's at least three puns in one sentence. My day has not been wasted.

Friday Is Out Of Context

Let's say you saw this on the cover of a magazine.

When you think of alimony, do you think of circus laundry? Personally, when I think "weapon of female revenge" I think of something a little more literal, but I suppose that's maybe a generational thing? You tell me, magazine readers of the past – what the hell is up with you people?

For increased context, here's the complete picture: cover of Coronet magazine, May 1952. (Found via.) Note that this issue apparently sold well enough to justify at least one printing of two and a half million copies. Note also that the complete picture still fails utterly to link the elephant-watches-man-hang-circus-laundry image with its "Alimony: Weapon of Female Revenge" headline, in absolutely any way. Was there a last-minute editorial change? Were they trying to appeal to that lucrative men-who-fear-women-but-love-the-circus market? Am I missing an important visual metaphor, or something? Help me out, seriously.

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: An ex-wife is not an elephant in the room.

Concept Art for your Nostalgia

Turnips are great. They're especially nice baked in Cornish-style pasties.

I never thought about it, back in the day, but are those things masks... or faces?

Either way, they have no eyes. Only darkness.

*doki doki, doki doki*

(Also, Winona Nelson is great. & I saw it here first.)

Saturday Morning Is Sometimes A Bear

Click to zoom in on the caption, which is so unnecessary it's mindblowing. Saturday Evening Post of 1952, hooray.

The picture is an illustration by Stan Galli – I picked it up from here. How great are the facial expressions? (Answer: "Quite")

It originally accompanied a short story. I'm a big fan of that story's spectacular title and headline:

What chance indeed?

Giddy!

You'd think that even a couple of "giddy women" would know better than to picnic at a place called Danger Canyon, though. It's like when people climb Mt Disappointment and they're surprised that the view isn't very good.

Also the bears are cool

Friday Is Out Of Context

If you click on the image, you should be able to enlarge it enough to read the caption.

It's the facial expressions that really make this one, I think. Go ahead and drown in those big dark eyes.

(Also: is that a Loch Ness monster in the background, or a dragon? Wt?)

So yes, apparently the Saturday Evening Post magazine was a culturally prominent publisher of fiction with illustrations. This picture is from an illustration by Lynn Buckham from their issue of July 26, 1958. I don't know everything about the story that it accompanied, but I do know it included the following line of dialogue (no joke): "Softy muscle man, I hate you!"

See, people assume that 1950s America was all conservative and repressed and boring, but the truth? This is where the '60s begins. Woman in scuba gear rides moose, escapes Scottish loch monster. Those freaky beats.

This Friday Is Out Of Context Thoapsl Says: A moose is not to make fun.

Yo, what?

Yeah, I know. I had a pretty good routine going, and then I go for more than a week between posts?

SUCK.

If I were a couple in an Austin Briggs illustration, this is what I'd be thinking of me:

However, in my defence: I've been doing stuff.

(If you can't follow that link, send me an email & I'll invite you to the private blog where my novel hangs out.)

Anyhow: never mind. More to come, etc.

See you soon

--Thoapsl

Happy to the Monday of the Easter

Yarr. Is happening.
Tho I'm honestly not that much of a fan of chocolate eggs, okay.

No music videos this week, I'll be back later...

Saturday Morning Is Sometimes A Bear

Is that really some kind of white whale, there? It looks more like an albino dugong to me, but I thought dugongs didn't live anywhere near bears. Unless there was an escape from a zoo? (Or... an escape from an aquarium? But that would be a rather complicated sort of escape, I figure. Yes.)

Whale or not, it's an awesome illustration, am I right?

Ah, hmm. To summarise: I think I am just not yet feeling completely with-it or properly awake this morning, no sir no indeed.

Also the bear is cool

Headmaster, Targetmaster

There's a whole bunch of these Obamastyle riffs out there, but I swear – there's something really sublime about this one.

"Change into a truck." Think about it.

(Also: if you get the joke in the title of this post, then I can't wait to show you my next Friday out-of-context post. *whistle*;)

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