Good. Thinking. Human. #14

Handy door cleans itself

At this time when we’re all reminded to keep washing our hands, I can’t help but think of all the surfaces we can’t help but touch every day (let alone our own faces). With that I'm mind, students in Hong Kong invented a door that is self-sanitising. A few of those would be pretty handy right now I expect. Their efforts won them the James Dyson Award. Dyson himself has been no slouch either (or at least his namesake organisation of investors and engineers). Dyson (the company) whipped up a ventilator adapted specially for COVID-19 patients in just ten days.

That’s handy.

Quick! To the hospital!

Speaking of what can be done in ten days…

With everything that’s happened in the past couple of months it’s easy to forget in early February, near the start of the crisis, the Chinese built a hospital from scratch in just ten days. Fast Company has the story of how they did it. It’s hard to imagine the concrete being dry, let alone every coat of paint (I guess it was pretty no frills). We haven’t heard anything about it since. That suggests either it was a success, or the Chinese aren’t letting any bad news escape from Wuhan. I wonder which it is.

Insta-hospital.

Nice to be here

In these uncertain times (to use a phrase that has gotten old very fast) it’s good to appreciate what we have and realise “yes, we are all in this together”. Irish author and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers, gave a TED Talk recently that was poignant and heart-warming and all deliver in his delightful Belfast accent. Based on his children’s book Here We Are, Jeffers tells us we are the lucky inhabitants of this planet, at this time, in this solar system. All of us are people on this blue marble. It’s a message we need right now. I should add Apple TV are releasing an animated adaption of Here We Are. Looks ace.

This guy may or may not be an astronaut.

Look to Judy in an emergency

The current crisis has made the usually insane-looking doomsday preppers look relatively sane. If you want to join the ranks of the preppers but would rather something useful and nice-looking and don’t know where to start, then maybe check out Judy. Ah, Judy. How can you can be scared when Judy is there to look after you? Judy is a range of kits to help you prep for when Armageddon kicks off properly, as if the bushfires and pestilence wasn’t a clue. Don’t be surprised if there are four horseman riding down the highway fairly soon.

Hi Judy!

“I can’t feel my eight legs!”

And if you’re feeling in a bit of a funk during corona lockdown, maybe a good dose of ecstasy is the answer. Scientists have been trialling ecstasy on octopuses/octopi to see how it affects brain function. The scientists think octopus brains function similarly to us and the research might show benefits for certain conditions in humans. Even if doesn’t show any benefits for us, I’m sure the octopi are having a great time.

He’s waving.

Lockdown bonus ways to pass the time

So you’ve watched Tiger King and you’re up to date with The Last Dance, so what now? How do you pass the time? I got ya.

Music: Hear rare rehearsal tapes from Bowie, Hendrix, Kate Bush and more. Via Pitchfork.

Animation: Here’s a weird horse animation. This just makes me feel gloopy inside. Via This is Colossal.

Netflix: More animation. The Midnight Gospel is a delirious hallucination with serious philosophical undercurrents that gets better as your wrap your warped mind more around it. Read Forbes description of it before attempting to watch.

Kids: And to keep the kids busy and develop skills while we’re in lockdown, Mo Willems has been posting lunchtime drawing classes that are fun and instructional. Although I like just letting the kids go nuts while they’re drawing and seeing what they come up with.

Some guy: And this week I also wrote a piece inspired by the virus and a response from an Aussie legend. So please have a read and laugh for 2-5 minutes.

The Midnight Gospel will warp your mind.

Good. Thinking. Human. #13

CARTOON & COMICS EDITION

I’ve been a big fan of cartoons and comics (and animation for that matter) since forever. Around the age of 8 was the first time I remember saying out lied I wanted to be a cartoonist. Although I never did it full time as such, doing naive doodles has been a large part of my professional career. Today, I’m putting together five links to interesting stories and artists from the world of cartooning and comics.

Shazam! So that’s the real story

Recently there were two Captain Marvel movies in the cinema at basically the same time. It was very confusing. They were different in most ways other than both being superhero movies. So I was very interested to get the lowdown on the confusing history of comics, trademarks and rights, and how the two captains tiptoed around each other.

Just an ordinary guy

Batman is a great character because as a superhero he’s really just a guy in a suit with lots of gadgets and some serious mental issues (Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man rocks a lot of the same characteristics). Recently on Sad and Useless I came across Ordinary Batman Adventures. Sarah Johnson puts the dark knight into everyday situations. It may be essentially one gag repeated but I really like it.

Simple but effective

Also from the archives of Sad and Useless (why do I hang out on a site with that title so much?) comes a visually playful cartoon by Tango. I love how cheeky and visually inventive they are.

Spiegelman battles “The Orange Skull”

Art Spiegelman is one of the giants of comics, a Pulitzer Prize winner no less. He’s also been a comics scholar. This year, Spiegelman published an essay in The Guardian about many comic creators’ immigrant origins and how many of their stories were a reaction against the spectre of fascism and nazism. Spiegelman was asked to contribute to a Marvel Comics retrospective and brought up how much these creators might rally against current day Trump. His essay was rejected because Marvel is trying to stay apolitical. Needless to say Spiegelman was not happy to learn billionaire and former Marvel CEO is a longtime pal of “The Orange Skull”.

This isn’t fine

In the piece above, Spiegelman writes about how the creators of Superman were weaseled out of the fortune their comics made. Another artist who lost control of the world is KC Green. Two panels of one of his comics became the meme known as “This is fine” where the dog is surrounded by a world on fire. Vulture posted an interesting story about how Green is fighting for recognition and taking down others’ efforts to monetise his creation. It raises many issues about ownership int he internet age.

Good. Thinking. Human. #12

Can your mum make one for me?

Halloween is just around the corner and a young kid’s thoughts turn to candy and dressing up. There’s one mum out there who deserves extra credit for these crocheted horror costumes that somehow equate to being extra cute.

Hell’s condiment

While chocolate treats are on our minds, it reminded me of the Cadbury Creme Egg Mayo that launched this past Easter. Holy hell. Some ideas enter your brain but should never be said out loud, or created, or launched on an unsuspecting public. Read what it tastes like.

Who said retail is dying?

Old mate Banksy has launched a new shop. You might be able to jag a piece of art/merchandise for just $13. It fills of all the cheekiness his Banksiness is known for, including a T-shirt of his shredded artwork that is partially shredded like the piece it’s based on. Check out BBay.

The IRL Vincent AdultMan

Kids these days aren’t all stuck on screens. Some have get-up-and-go and the chutzpah to do this. Pity they can get all the dirty movies they want on those aforementioned screens rather than having to dress up like Vincent AdultMan from Bojack Horseman.

Bojack is back

I’m obsessed with Bojack Horseman. I’ve been reading a book about the show’s creation, plus reading books by art director/illustrator Lisa Hanawalt, and creator/writer Raphael Bob-Waksberg. On October 25 Netflix is dropping season 6 (or the first eight episodes, with eight more to follow in January). It saddened me that Netflix decided to end the show. Bojack is used to being heartbreaking, so the end of the show won’t disappoint.

Good. Thinking. Human. #11

Why so serious?

My favourite news story of the week came from New Zealand where a copywriter (those rebellious buggers) got wind he was about to get the axe at work. The HR department summoned him to a meeting and told him he could bring someone with him as ‘emotional support’. The cheeky chap decided to shell out $200 for an ’emotional support clown’. The clown made light of the situation and the story made global news. Best $200 he ever spent.

Reasons to be cheerful - Nuclear energy?

David Byrne has launched a new website called Reasons to be Cheerful, which sounds optimistic. And the site generally is. Byrne himself wrote about how companies are divesting from fossil fuels. The article includes justifiable concerns around nuclear energy. This week, Byrne’s old mate, and notorious brainiac, Brian Eno, responded directly about how his opinion on nuclear has been changed. It’s thought-provoking, counterintuitive but well laid out.

Not-so cheerful nuclear energy

I finally got around to watching HBO’s Chernobyl. Binged it in one weekend. It’s harrowing and as well-made as you’ve come to expect from HBO. Business Insider has delved into what the show is accurate about and what is invented/changed/exaggerated for the screen. The Chernobyl writer, Craig Maizin, is very eloquent and writes about he approached the truth in Hollywood Reporter.

Patti’s poetry

To change speed a little, This is Patti Smith. Rock poet, brilliant writer and deadset legend, Patti Smith has a fantastic original Instagram account titled ThisisPattiSmith. Well worth a look. Her post about Amy Winehouse is a good example. She writes like the poet she is. Smith is also about to release a new book on 24 September. If it’s anywhere near as good as Just Kids and M-Train it’ll be a treat.

Natural comedians

It’s one of my favourite times of the year. No, not Christmas. It’s that time when they announce the finalists of the Global Comedy Wildlife Photography competition. So much goodness to warm the cockles.

Fuck the border wall

Speaking of cockle-warming, I have to share a bonus link today. This came up a while ago and this is a case of creatives and artists using their powers for good. They turned the US/Mexico border wall into see-saws. Follow the link for video. Just melts my cold black heart.

Good. Thinking. Human. #10

Art you can look down on

JP and Mike Andrews use aerial photography to find colourful abstract and geometric shapes in scenes from everyday scenes around the world.

Back to the drawing board

I’m a big fan of a good pencil. My favourite is the Palomino Blackwing 602. It’s easy to write with and fancy stationery makes me happy. The BBC has a short history of the pencil as one of the 50 things that made the modern economy. All the talk of the moon landing recently got me thinking about the old story about NASA spending millions to invent a pen that writes in space, while the Russians just sent their cosmonauts up with pencils. Turns out there’s more to the story as explained by Scientific American.

Made by space

Yes, there’s been an inundation of space talk lately. I bumped into this list of innovations that only came about via the space program. So the next time you slip into your aerodynamic swimsuit, you know who to thank.

The Big Book of Beastie Boys

I’m currently devouring the Beastie Boys Book. It’s fun (there are sections written by the two surviving members as well as those from within their circle e.g the kid who introduced them to the internet), and it’s emotional (the presence of the band’s main force, Adam ‘MCA‘ Yauch is felt throughout and Horovitz and Mike D both heap sincere praise on their fallen comrade). It’s also evocative of NYC and visually exciting too. Rolling Stone has a good review, Vulture has an excerpt about making Paul’s Boutique and The Guardian excerpts a good section about their first tour to the UK.

Funny like Hitler

I’m a huge fan of director Taika Waititi. The trailer for his new ‘anti-hate’ movie Jojo Rabbit has dropped this week. Looks funny, especially the scenes with Hitler, played by Waititi himself: “People used to say a lot of nasty things about me. ‘Oh this guy’s a lunatic. Oh look at that psycho, he’s gonna get us all killed.’” Waititi smashed it with Thor: Ragnarok among his other hilarious films.

Good. Thinking. Human. #9

More space junk

I wrote last time about the photography of the Apollo 11 mission, and after the 50th anniversary last weekend, space has been on my mind. NASA has built a treasure trove of photos over the years and they recently realised 140,000 of their best. Including the Earth, astronauts on space walks and gaseous galaxies from deep space. Stunning.

The not-so-sweet story of New Coke

In the past week I polished off Stranger Things 3. In one of the later episodes the kids try new Coke and have diverging opinions about the product. New Coke was always held up as a warning to marketers about what not to do. Conspiracy stories abound about what was going on at Coke at the time, but I found this story about the other forces at play that saw the new cola die a very public and famous death. It’s also a story relevant to modern day in how backlash can be manufactured and ulterior motives abound.

What are the odds?

I’ve been in advertising for around half my life. I thankfully haven’t had to make many ethical choices about what I work on (cigarette advertising has been banned, haven’t done much work for mining companies, and my work on casinos and chemicals is in the past). One thing I would object to working on now is gambling. I’ve become anti-gambling and think it does an inordinate amount of damage in society. This year, one AFL player has copped a huge fine and a 12-week playing ban for gambling on games. The players are warned about it, not just in terms of affecting games but in terms of their welfare. The hypocrisy is that the AFL is heavily sponsored by gambling. Western Bulldogs player Easton Wood has spoken out about it. He claims he’d be happy to be paid less if it meant less gambling sponsorship in the game. I can only think this would be a good thing. Kids know the odds on games and that can’t be healthy.

“Hey, Forkface!”

As a huge fan of Pixar and the Toy Story franchise, I was very concerned when Toy Story 4 was announced. How could they possibly follow the perfect ending of Toy Story 3? They had perfectly wrapped up the narrative. Why continue…other than of course the lure of more money? (Mel Brooks in Spaceballs comes to mind, “We’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Cash”.) But I do love the craft and storytelling of Pixar, so I enjoyed reading about the creation of new toy character, Forky, as voiced by Veep and Arrested Development star, Tony Hale. I especially liked the part that one of the suggestions for his name was Forkface, which they couldn’t go with for obvious reasons.

Blissful rampant consumerism

If you’ve ever seen a strange off-brand product pop up in the aisles of your supermarket, it could be the work of a merry prankster who goes by the brand name Obvious Plant. I’m a big fan and This is Colossal has a good collection of some of his pieces. He started with signage or possibly as a Tumblr and moved into plastic packaged toys. If you’re quick you might just snag one of them when he pops them up on eBay. They’d make great toys for the kids.

Good. Thinking. Human. #8

Neil Armstrong’s junk

Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing. The number of articles around it are getting crazy but I enjoyed one that poses that the moon landing shots are artistic masterpieces. They certainly must have literally changed how we looked at our place in the universe, and isn’t that what the best art does? It got me thinking about what sort of camera Neil Armstrong used with those big ol’ padded astronaut gloves on. I came across a blog from the Smithsonian about stumbling upon a bag of junk Neil had in his cupboard. Imagine just having a whole bunch of artefacts from a pioneering mission that changed history and just stuffing it in the closet next to a box for the Salvos.

One small step for art photography

A closer look

Another person who is giving us a different perspective on the world is photographer and inventor Gary Greenberg. His TED Talk is about the beautiful details of the nano world. His 3D microscope can send us into a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids world that transforms tiny everyday objects into something amazing. This link has more photos Gary has taken of sand. I had no idea it was so varied.

Honey, I blew up the sand

Sew smart

You might have seen this week that Elon Musk’s working on a way to link computers to our brains via tiny threads. As someone who wishes that books got into my brain faster I feel very optimistic about this but as you read on you see that the threads are implanted into the brain requiring drilling through your skull. In the future this drilling will be done by laser drills (sounds like fun). The New York Times details what the possibilities could be. Thinkers and futurists such as Stephen Hawking have said we’ll have to assimilate with machines or be subservient to them in the future. The smartphone is really stage one of a machine appendage but soon we might be artificially upping our intelligence through tiny USB cables. Can’t wait.

Elon Musk wants to slide into your thoughts

Stranger memories

I’m working my way through Stranger Things 3 on Netflix at the moment. It’s a cunning and calculating show that tweaks the nostalgia nerve like a well-aimed laser drill. As a child of the 80s I have memories of most of the references the show makes. In season 3 the show’s hotheaded sheriff Hopper takes on his own Magnum PI style after seeing Tom Selleck. It’s the show disappearing up its own arse, so hilariously one clever editor cut together scenes from the show with the original Magnum PI intro. Also, for graphics and TV geeks, there’s this rundown of how Stranger Things got its retro opening credits. It’s an evocative opening sequence and perhaps unsurprisingly the designers have created many of the great recent credit sequences.

Hopper P.I.

A Great Australian

At the May election it seems Australia chose coal over the environment (particularly a coal mine over the Great Barrier Reef) . It does make you feel rather helpless about what you can do to help. LADbIble have started a campaign to make the reef an Australian citizen, thereby affording it the rights and protections of every other citizen. It may be cheeky but I really hope it’s a success. Here’s the campaign site.

Longtime resident, first time citizen?

Good. Thinking. Human. #7

Police struck by irony

This tickled me. In Turkey, the Pride parade was the target of a police crackdown. Their riot police took to the protestors with water cannons, inadvertently creating a huge rainbow and a 100-foot-long arch of irony.

When your cannons backfire…

Wave at the camera

A decade of getting cold and wet in search of the perfect shot has led an Aussie photographer to create a beautiful collection of waves from around the world.

Just waving at the camera.

Waves of migration

New research has been done into how the first inhabitants of what is now Australia came to reach the continent. Obviously, continental drift meant that the land masses were much closer together as a meta-continent called Sahul. This article in The Conversation digs into the strategies and planning that went into getting people to migrate further on and the “voyages over centuries” that brought the first people to Australia.

Lower sea levels let the first people literally become Australia’s First People.

Closer to reality

Virtual Reality is coming on in leaps and bounds. Fast Company reports on what they call “the iPod of VR”, a $400 unit that isn’t clunky or too ridiculous and might prompt a few game developers to spend some time working on the platform rather than developing the next Angry Birds. Not sure if I’m going to buy one soon but worth keeping an eye on.

VR hasn’t gone away, it’s only getting better.

Music vs Science

And to finish with something funny today: when a woman asked for Mariah Carey birthday cake, what turned up was something altogether more niche - a Marie Curie cake. “When a hero comes along…”

Happy birthday!

Good. Thinking. Human. #6

Puff piece

Australians have invented some great things: the Hills hoist, Victa mower, wifi etc. And as the winter cold sets in I’ve been thinking about the invention of the puffer jacket. Turns out it’s another great Aussie invention. I bought my first puffer last year after wearing the same leather jacket daily for about 20 years. The phrase that came to mind was “where have you been all my life?”. So warm, yet so uncool and unflattering. Yes, I’ve reached the age where practicality wins over any pretence to fashionability.

The first puffer jacket got the last laugh.

Circle of stupid

It’s scary how close we can come to full-blown war. With someone as loose as Trump leading the way, hopes aren’t high something stupid won’t happen. Rolling Stone may not be the cultural touchstone they once were, but they’ve always kept up excellent political reporting. This piece about how the key moments in a timeline are eerily (terrifyingly) repeating and playing out in the latest conflict with Iran.

There’s a gulf between the US and Iran.

Hot hits

Speaking of in-depth reporting, the New York Times published a huge report on a fire at Universal Studios that destroyed the master recordings of many of the giants of 20th century music. The story was begun not long after the 2008 fire and the bombshell only just published this week. It’s a great piece that gets into why masters are important, how poorly these recordings are archived and stored, and how the PR machine went into action double-time after the event. They successfully hushed up the damage until this report. Now the estates of artists like Tom Petty and Tupac are suing (which exposes what the company feared at the time). Here’s a shorter summary of what happened and what was lost.

Universal coverup exposed by the New York Times.

OK Minidisc

Radiohead were the subject of a recent hack and ransom attempt. 18 minidiscs (remember minidiscs?) worth of demos and sound desk recordings were leaked. The band are notorious control freaks, so this wouldn’t have pleased them at all. Instead of giving into the hackers demands for 150,000GBP they popped the recordings on Bandcamp with proceeds to aid Extinction Rebellion. Everybody’s a winner. Except the band. Worth listening to for the brilliant version of fan favourite ‘Lift’. This was the song they buried because they thought it’d make them too popular with the wrong type of people. They released a version on the anniversary edition of OK Computer but it pales compared to the hook-laden version here, there are other treats in there too. If you download it it’s worth having this fan-made google doc of all the tracks.

A computer hack took us back to the minidisc era.

It Vegemite be art

Boredom is often a great stimulus for creation. Actor Heather Mitchell started creating portraits on toast of her co-stars. She’s got quite a gallery now of her tasty artworks.

Stars on toast.

Good. Thinking. Human. #5

It’s getting hot in here…

While it might sound like a hack comedy bit to talk about the differences between men and women, a recent study found that the temperature in offices had a notable effect on women’s productivity. I’ll give you one guess on who is usually in charge of setting the temperature in an office…

Turns out women are more productive in warmer offices.

Overreacting?

The HBO series Chernobyl has recently concluded and by all reports it’s brilliant and horrifying. With the renewed focus on Chernobyl, I was very interested to see that while Ukraine still operates a dozen or so nuclear facilities, land in Chernobyl is being leased to create a solar farm. Meanwhile, the New Yorker wrote an insightful piece about what parts of Ukrainian/Russian culture and protocols the series captures well and what it changes for the sake of drama.

Chernobyl is going solar.

NASA rides again

NASA will be all over the news in the coming weeks as we hit the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I’m not looking forward to seeing how Donald Trump can manage to make this momentous achievement seem like a boorish bludgeoning of the rest of the world.On the other hand, I’m glad to see NASA are still using every bit of creativity and ingenuity that have at their disposal to develop this amazing tyre that could feature on future rovers for the Moon or Mars.

Cop this, aliens!

Virtual Rock Show

Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd is auctioning off a huge collection at Christie’s. It’s bound to bring in millions of pounds and one or two might be up there with Clapton’s Blackie or Brownie. To attract buyers (and less wealthy guitar geeks) Christie’s have built a virtual showroom that lets you move through the virtual recreation of Christie’s and peruse the guitars and their rough price guides. Bear in mind they seem massively undervalued for some reason. You can’t buy vintage guitars for the prices displayed, let alone one owned by a a name as big as Gilmour.

Dave Gilmour is selling off some old junk.

Ryan Reynolds plays with Fyre

Ryan Reynolds is a funny bugger. He bought a gin company and then proceeded to prove his marketing genius. It always helps an ad campaign having a famous celebrity at your disposal (plus, their famous friends) but Ryan is really nailing his style of humour in these spots. His (fake) feud with Hugh Jackman was great and his latest ropes in a certain star from a certain documentary about Fyre Festival whose dedication to his job knew no limits. Enjoy!

No one blows quite like this man.

Good. Thinking. Human. #4

Taking the black

Advertising awards season has come around again. This week, the D&AD awards were announced, the most difficult to win. One of the standouts for the year was Droga 5’s campaign for The New York Times which won a Black Pencil (and probably a few more to boot). All of these videos are affecting and not only just showcase the value of a subscription, they also demonstrate the value of the work their journalists do. Amazingly powerful.

New York Times campaign.

Throners be groaners

Speaking of taking the black, Game of Thrones wrapped up early this week. A lot of people had issues with this season. I had my issues too despite being a defender of how this season had panned out. But in Scientific American there’s a brilliantly detailed description from a writing point of view why season 8 (and recent seasons too) have felt different to the early ones. This is long but it exposes a change that people may not have noticed but they certainly have felt.

The hate for the final season of Game of Thrones explained?

For the birds

I have been a longtime follower of the ARIA singles and albums charts in Australia, but in recent years I’ve let it slip. Streaming music has distorted the charts and the singles aren’t relevant to my tastes in any way whatsoever. But it did delight me to hear a recent chart placing in the UK singles charts. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has produced a single to raise awareness about endangered birds. It’s literally 25 birds singing.

The birds making a noise on the charts.

More human than human

Stephen Hawking (and futurists like Ray Kurzweil) have maintained human evolution won’t keep up the pace of technology and we’ll either have to augment ourselves or become subservient to artificial intelligence. HBR looked into wearable AI that will augment human intelligence rather than be left behind by our new robot overlords.

How else might AI let us create a non-invasive tech hybrid?

The important inventions you didn’t ask for

I’m a big fan of inventors. This chap called RightCoastGuy is uploading his various inventions to Reddit and they’re all hilarious to me. Examples include The Cuisine Curtain to cover your mouth as you chew, blinds for sunglasses, and the iDangle to dangle your phone from he roof inches above your face so you can look at it while lying in bed. Dare I say, I think he' might be a genius.

As a self-conscious eater this could be handy.

Good. Thinking. Human. #3

Delicate new music

I’ve been totally obsessed with the new FKA Twigs track. It’s a beautiful and emotionally affecting electronic ballad. The video by Andrew Thomas Huang is worth a look too, a mind-bending CGI confection. The director has done a few Bjork videos and here he’s pushing it to the point that it risks overwhelming such an intimate song but really it’s simply my favourite song of the year so far.

Rapt with new video for Cellophane.

Promising panels

I’m a big believer in the power of human ingenuity. It makes me appreciate the wonder of renewable energy. I’m also incredulous we don’t have 100% renewables. I came across these biosolar panels that have twin functions of cleaning the air and also growing food. Britain has just gone an entire week without burning coal for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, which is a huge achievement for them and a huge indictment on Australia. We humans have unlimited problem-solving potential, we just need to apply it.

These solar panels suck.

Tactics to battle the dead

Like most of the world, I’m deeply into the final season of Game of Thrones. The Battle of Winterfell was massive as promised and the longest battle sequence ever assembled, following 55 nights of filming that exhausted everyone in the production. I really enjoyed a military deconstruction of the tactics used by the living in this battle. Including one by two military experts, one by a historian, and another by a defence writer, and yet another good tactical analysis by Wired.

Best laid plans and all that.

Tobacco companies’ dirty work

Alex Bogusky is an advertising legend who mostly removed himself from the business after having an attack of conscience. He recently wrote a piece for the New York Times about how tobacco companies have used vaping and its legal grey areas to prop up smoking itself. Bogusky has the insight to see what insidious plays the old guard of tobacco companies are deploying.

Immerse yourself in art

The Amsterdam Light Festival brought the colour of Van Gogh to an epic scale and added movement to massive panels that let you get right inside some of Van Gogh’s famous artworks. Looks incredible.

Starry-eyed

Good. Thinking. Human. #2

1. A homeless shelter that fits in a backpack.

The homeless problem in Melbourne seems to be getting worse. A lot of people are sleeping rough and winter is on its way. Fast Company featured this article about as shelter that fits in a backpack.

Home is where this backpack is.

2. Humans examined by aliens.

I have ambitions to start my own webcomic. One day I’ll get around to it. Friends recently recommended this webcomic that seems to have gotten a lot of attention very quickly, Strange Planet. It seems to have struck a chord. I want to buy this T-shirt. But as is the way of the modern world, his conservative Christian views have also been unearthed via an old tweet.

Humanity explained through aliens.

3. Game of Oreos.

Game of Thrones’ final season is now well underway and there brand tie-ins have been plentiful. Have you seen this Oreo recreation of the title sequence?

All men must dunk.

4. Get a feel for hagfish slime.

From one delicious video to a less tasteful story. The Atlantic uncovers the strange story of a strange fish. It isn’t as disgusting as it sounds and the actual slime itself sounds like a very unique substance that has served an interesting evolutionary purpose.

Slime after slime.

5. The return of Alan Partridge.

Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge is back in This Time with Alan Partridge. The six episodes are available to watch on ABC iView. Coogan and his great character are as funny as ever.

Hello again Alan Partridge.

Good. Thinking. Human. #1

Ideas. Creativity. Humour. Human ingenuity. Neuroscience. These are a few of my favourite things and with this newsletter I’m aiming to curate what I find into a collection you’ll find as interesting as I do.

1. Making something new

I appreciate anyone who creates something new. So it got my attention recently that there were chemists who were literally creating new things at an atomic level. Borophene is a synthetic substance that could have many applications. Even at a single atom thick it’s strong, flexible and conductive.

None more black.

2. Nick Cave opens up

Nick Cave’s latest tour was part solo concert and part Q and A. Continuing with that theme he’s also been answering fan questions on his site The Red Hand Files. It’s erudite, thoughtful, and honest. His writing crackles like many of the best lyricists, and it’s worth devouring every one of his answers.

“Dear Nick…”

3. Probably not the best idea

Carlsberg beer had one of the world’s longest running and most famous taglines from ad history. Their latest campaign twists on that classic in a way that seems like contrary thinking but possibly has the opposite effect tot he one that was intended. David Mitchell in The Guardian dissects the new campaign.

David Mitchell has some thoughts on beer.

4. The smallest release from Record Store Day

Vinyl records are completely impractical but that’s part of the reason why I love them. For this year’s Record Store Day, Crosley took the impracticality one step further and released a tiny turntable that plays three-inch records. This is more gimmicky than practical but it’s cute all the same. Why did they do it? Why not?

World’s cutest turntable.

5. What’s the word I’m looking for?

I’m a big fan of new words that have a clear meaning you can infer just from listening to them, such as this one: