Six Things, Volume 136
Cats | Mute | Stadium Garden | Sundiver | Clocks | Cool S
Thing 1 – Cats
“Start with cats. Always start with cats.”
Mark Twain probably, or someone else clever. Or maybe I made it up just now.
You might remember the film I shared in October explaining all the dogs. Well, predictably enough the people at MinuteEarth, who made it, were inundated with requests from irate ailurophiles demanding a similar film devoted to cats. Here it is.
Competing with it for attention in the cybersphere this week was this excellent guide to the college cats of Oxford (several of which, pleasingly, have their own social media accounts).
Thing 2 – Mute
It’ll take you about an hour to watch all 22 of the Mute Films so far made. In the words of the makers, the series consists of “one-take microfilms that report on the vagaries of human behaviour. Casting a deadpan, mordant eye over a variety of incongruous scenes, it sees the funny side of greed, conformity, futility, anxiety, desire and other traits of modern life.”
There are only three rules:
RULE 1: no dialogue
RULE 2: no camera moves
RULE 3: only one shot
I particularly enjoyed Goal Attainment, Tuba or Not Tuba, and The Crush.
Thing 3 – Stadium Garden
This is how you do it. Rather than let it rot or demolish it, the authorities in Taipei turned an abandoned football stadium into a community garden. Other bits of the complex have also been repurposed – there’s a small conference centre, bars, restaurants etc.
The story’s told in this Instagram post by James Stewart.
Thing 4 – Sundiver
One of the more extraordinary images I’ve seen recently, this composite – “The Fall of Icarus” – is the work of skydiver Gabriel C. Brown and his friend, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy. It took six passes in a small aircraft, a lot of planning and quite a bit of skill.
You can buy a limited edition print of the image here.
Thing 5 – Clocks
Tempting as it is to use this Thing to give LLMs a good kicking, that’s not the primary purpose here, merely a pleasing side effect. Because there’s a serious point underlying these images. Clocks are, in fact, hard. There’s a reason that drawing a clock is a test for early signs of dementia. But these efforts, from various LLMs, are inherently hilarious. They change every minute, and even the convincing ones are subtly wrong. The site is the work of Brian Moore.
Thing 6 – Cool S
From vole.wtf (remember the pig stacking game?) comes this fun thing. Join the dots to draw a cool S as quickly as you can.
Magical. All those cats. And the college cats too. Huge thanks 🤩
I love these posts. Long may they continue