Mad Quickies: Amazing Mazes, Magnetic Marvels, Looks of Love, Gerry[font]mandering and a Standout Film Short
What a time to be alive in America! I poured a delicious cup of coffee this morning and attempted to read the news and oh my stars and little comets that ************ who sits in the Oval Office decided that he might want to buy Greenland. I… what the christ? Hottest immediate take on the tweeter questioned if he knew that this was the land mass WITH the ice. To be fair, the Truman administration floated the idea of purchasing Greenland after WWII so the Danes shouldn’t be too surprised. But you just know that he wants this property to bleed it of its resources for ming and drilling and wildlife or, as one smartypants suggested, it would raise the average temp of the US land mass and be a foil for climate change argument. Where was I? Oh -sorry- I blacked out for a moment. Let’s move on here to some Mad Quickies and start with this:
I found you A Fascinating Poster of the 100 Largest Islands in the World created by MapMakerDavid. He “says he used QGIS and Blender with calculations made using the Equal Earth Projection digital elevation model from NASA Island shapes. He also attributes Daniel Huffman for the original relief shading method and hypsometric tint from Natural Earth.”
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“It’s one of the most memorable scenes in film history: an ax-wielding Jack Nicholson chasing his son through a hedge maze outside the Overlook Hotel during the climax of 1980’s The Shining. But the building that inspired the Overlook (and the Shining story in general)—the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado—never actually had a hedge maze until 2015, when its owners finally gave in to public expectations and installed one. Visitors expecting the towering greenery of the film will be disappointed, however—the Stanley’s maze is only three feet high, to prevent children from getting lost, let alone attacked by psychos.”
Thus starts a scroll of 9 of the World’s Coolest Mazes You Can Visit.
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Two designers in Chicago “are taking on electoral gerrymandering in a new font called Gerry. The font, created by Ben Doessel and James Lee, is composed of 26 districts whose absurd boundaries resemble alphabet letters much more than they resemble logical, cohesive population groupings. Alabama’s pronged 1st District bears a striking resemblance to the letter K, while New York’s 8th District looks like an M with its tall legs connected by a curved middle.”
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Takis: his eye-popping and eerily beautiful magnetic marvels defined an era
Effortlessly bridging the gap between the two cultures, the Greek sculptor – who has died aged 93 – played with invisible forces and put the truths of the cosmos on canvas
“The Greek sculptor Takis, who has died at 93 during the run of an acclaimed Tate retrospective of his ingenious creations, was half artist and half mad scientist. His works of art look like experiments – because that’s what they are. He tapped into the fundamental forces of magnetism and electricity to make eerily beautiful contraptions that illuminate modern physics.”
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WHAT”S THAT IN MY EYE
“When it comes to defining what love means, each one of us can have a unique definition. These 50 photographers have shared their unique points of view around ‘Love’ and have been selected as finalists among more than 15,093 submissions in the #Love2019 Photo Contest by AGORA images”
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Lastly, I found an extraordinary and poignant collaborative short created by a team of 6 students for their graduation project at Supinfocom Rubika Animation School in 2018. The film spent a year in festivals, with more than 150 selections and 30 awards. The team members are: Melanie Lopez, Simon Boucly, Marie Cielsielski, Alice Jaunet, Chan Stephie Peang and Beatrice Viguier. Read more about the project at The Stained Club website.
The film is absolutely stunning to watch and will take you apart at the same time. I found this review by Jason Sondhi that begins with this paragraph and is worth your time if you’re so inclined: “A bittersweet animation that pairs fabulous design with emotional storytelling, The Stained Club is one of the standout animations of the year. A stirring tribute to the boundless imagination of childhood, this theme is intercut with a clear-eyed warning about the physical and psychological vulnerability of this fragile age. So while the film is immensely joyful in moments, it uses the inherent innocence of kids to camouflage the ugliness that can lurk underneath.”
I hope you enjoy.
“The Stained Club is a really touching animation by a graduating class at Supinfocom Animation School in France that tells the story of Finn, a sweet little boy who has unusual “stains” on his face. When a lonely Finn goes outside, he finds other kids who also have different stains on their bodies and they all become friends.”
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