|k| clippings: 2018-12-23 — unreason of the season

WORK

I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping.

—Steven Wright

WORD(S)

Saturnalia /sat-ər-NAIL-yə/. noun. The festival of Saturn, the ancient Greek god of agriculture. First celebrated in 497 BC. As part of Saturnalia, slaves were treated to a banquet and allowed to make fun of their masters, the toga was replaced by colorful clothes, and slave and masters alike donned conical felt hats. A time of peace, Saturnalia was also marked by temporary cessation of military activities and closing of the courts. Many customs of Saturnalia influence modern-day Christmas and New Year’s activities including the exchange of gifts, decorating with holly branches, and displaying evergreen wreathes. The customary greeting during Saturnalia is “io, Saturnalia!” where “io” is pronounced like “yo.” Try it!

WEB

1. While searching for where to stream some classic Rankin & Bass Christmas shows (the classic Rudolph and Frosty), I stumbled across a playlist of ► Fractured Fairy Tales! These twisted parables took me back. In a good way.

2. Feast your eyes on Ryan Khatam’s flickr photo albums of vintage photography, magazines, advertisements, postcards and more.. Some highlights: The Madonna Inn, Illustrations by Zdeněk Burian and Ryan’s “best of” selection.

3. The Rare Book School YouTube channel contains some great videos up for those of us fascinated by the construction of books, including ► The Anatomy of a Book: Format in the Hand-Press Period and ► How to Operate a Book.

4. [Via Reader B.], the capstone article about the strange Jered Threatin act/incident/performance art piece. As the author observes, “maybe by writing the very story you are now reading, I’ve played a part in carrying out Jered Threatin’s master plan.” → Jered Threatin ※ Previously: Threatin: band creates fake fanbase for tour attended by no one → A fake band goes on tour: Threatin provides a perfect tale for our times → Did Threatin’s Ridiculous European Tour Stunt Actually Work? → The Story of Threatin, a Most Puzzling Hoax Even for 2018

5. The SweatyPalms board on Reddit is aptly named. Other possibilities: HeebieJeeebies or AnxietyInducing.

6. The New York Times has been publishing some great writing about the people in the technology machine. This time around, a profile of Donald Knuth, one of the greatest and most influential computer scientists of all time…and creator of TeX, perhaps “the greatest contribution to typography since Gutenberg.” → The Yoda of Silicon Valley.

7. While you are on the NYT site, explore (and possibly torment yourself) by answering a question you might not have known you have… → What Is Glitter? - A strange journey to the glitter factory

8. Lenka Clayton’s typewriter drawings. ※ Previously, in the same vein: Tim Youd and A Visual History of Typewriter Art from 1893 to Today.

9. On January 1, everything published for the first time in the US in 1923 is liberated from copyright prison. I guess the death of Sonny Bono and the politicians being, umm, pre-occupied with other things (not to mention no danger to Disney yet) allowed this to happen. → For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain.

10. Today Festivus—the supposedly less-stressful, Christmas-time holiday for the rest of us—is celebrated. Created by author Daniel O’Keefe in honor of his first date with his future wife, Festivus would gain global prominence thanks to a 1997 episode of Seinfeld called The Strike, of which O’Keefe’s son Dan was a writer. Festivus traditions include “The Airing of Grievances,” in which each person explains how the world—and the others in the room—have disappointed them that year, “Feats of Strength,” a round-robin wrestling match that doesn’t end until the head of the house gets pinned, and the “Festivus Pole,” an unadorned pole that replaces the traditional Christmas tree (though this was an invention of Seinfeld writer Jeff Schaffer…the original O’Keefe tradition instead centered around putting a clock in a bag and nailing it to a wall). As Jerry Costanza kicks things off, “Welcome, newcomers. The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you’re gonna hear about it!”

WATCH/WITNESS

► ADBC: A Rock Opera … a 70s rock opera pastiche telling the story of the nativity (“a new telling, ‘told in rock’, of the birth of Christ, this time from the point of view of the Innkeeper”) with music by Matt Berry and lyrics by Berry and Richard Ayoade. You know this has to be something to see me through my aversion to musicals and my resentment of Christmas.

WHAT‽

► “Bohemian Rhapsody” on FLOPPOTRON is truly amazing. And, in the spirit of the seasonal trifecta, how about a capella group ► Six13 performing “Bohemian Chanukah” ※ Previously: ► Marbles, Magnets, and Music and ► Wintergatan - Marble Machine

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader A.: “Love the ”silence“ theme in the Web section. In the walks my previous home adjacent to National Forests, I became observant of how much highway / airplane noise one could here until you went in quite a ways. I wondered about the possibilities of maps that might show the outlines of places one could go where there was no human caused sound – now I know the area of it is one square inch ;-)”

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