Larry’s Pretty Good Journal

Traditions and moderns, mixed:

Ndlovu Youth Choir covers Bohemian Rhapsody in isiZulu (ETA: link fixed). Stays acapella for a lot longer than you might expect, but eventually leans into full Afropop for the climax. (via)

Mixing classic art with contemporary UI.

Wikipedia’s collection of pointers for identifying AI writing. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from Not Alone, Patty Griffin.

A few good links:

Studio Ghibli has posted hundreds of stills from their movies, free for private use. Index by movie. (via)

Conservatory student Erin Morton unleashes some considerable soul-backed-by-gospel chops on a cover of Radiohead’s Creep. (via)

Paging skygiants and genarti: yet another bold reinterpretation of the GREAT gatsby. (via a very funny / horrifying subreddit)

---L.

Subject quote from It Wasn’t Me, Shaggy feat. RikRok. (In my defense, linking this song is technically not yet banned by the Geneva Convention.)

For Poetry Monday:

The Wharf of Dreams, Edwin Markham

Strange wares are handled on the wharves of sleep:
    Shadows of shadows pass, and many a light
    ⁠Flashes a signal fire across the night;
Barges depart whose voiceless steersmen keep
Their way without a star upon the deep;
    ⁠And from lost ships, homing with ghostly crews,
    ⁠Come cries of incommunicable news,
While cargoes pile the piers, a moon-white heap—

Budgets of dream-dust, merchandise of song,
Wreckage of hope and packs of ancient wrong,
    ⁠Nepenthes gathered from a secret strand,
Fardels of heartache, burdens of old sins,
Luggage sent down from dim ancestral inns,
    ⁠And bales of fantasy from No-Man’s Land.




From his first collection, The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems, published in 1899 when he was 47. When that turned into a bestseller, Markham (1852-1940) quit his job as an elementary school principal in California to become an editor, critic, and lecturer on poetry. The illustration (thanks, WikiMedia), from the fancy 1900 reissue, is by Howard Pyle and I am always down for any excuse to bring in Pyle. Seriously, he’s even more formative to me than Kipling.

(Meanwhile, a safe and happy Passover to all, but especially you first-born children!)

---L.

Subject quote from The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes.

Arts, arts, arts:

Longboard girls dancing. Longboard guy dancing. (via comments here)

Using Stable Diffusion working anime (and other art-style) QR codes. (via)

Fanmade graphic novel version of the Tumblr collaboration “God of Arepo”. (via)

Arts!

---L.

Subject quote from Halo, Beyoncé.

A few links to make your day better (I hope):

Two hours of squids chilling to lofi hiphop. The description calls them bigfin reef squid, but they’re also called glitter squid for obvious reasons. Part of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Krill Waves Radio series. You’re welcome.

Tony Hawk on the 21 levels of complexity of skateboard tricks, with advice on each one. (via)

Bruised banana art.

---L.

Subject quote from Dumb Ways to Die, Tangerine Kitty (which yes is another daybrightener link).

A few quality links to make your day:

Here are five artist representations of the story of Jonah and his whale. Please note that these images have been selected for composition, technical execution, and comedic value. Early pandemic humor at its finest. (via)

Weird Al Yankovic’s “Hardware Store” (lyrics) is Expert+ level in Beat Saber. Especially the patter-song bridge.

It’s over two years old, so it doesn’t include playing the Library of Congress’s crystal flute, but this list of Lizzo’s 10 Best Flute Videos is still excellent. (via)

(Because we only deal in quality around here.)

---L.

Subject quote from The Shipwreck, William Falconer.

Are these art or science? You decide.

Transient 2: a mix of stormcloud timelapses and lightning slomo. (via)

Plate tectonics, geologists are learning, is more complicated than the simple model you learned in school. (via)

People Matching Artworks. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from A Channel Crossing, Algernon Swinburne.

Arts, arts, arts:

Four “lost” works of Shakespeare.

Oil paintings of clouds. (via)

Generative ambient music channels. via?

Mmm, arts.

---L.

Subject quote from a review of William Morris’s The Life and Death of Jason, Henry James.

What Is Glitter? subtitled "a strange journey to the glitter factory."

Life-sized cut-out paper octopus. (via)

How to measure the size of the earth from your backyard using a stopwatch, a tape measure, and a wall with a view of the horizon: part 1, part 2, part 3. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from After dark vapours have oppressed our plains, John Keats.

Links, links, links.

“The Intersex-Affirming Hospital Policies guide lists ways the medical community can improve healthcare for intersex people.” (via)

Times New Romance, embroidery art by Sheena Liam that's not limited by the embroidery frame. (via)

Seven Square Miles, an In Focus feature of aerial pictures of sites around the world at the same fixed scale. FULL SCREEN TIME PEOPLES (via)

ON THE LARGE MONITOR

---L!

Subject quote from A Connaught Lament, Nora Hopper Chesson.