On the genius design of Super Mario Bros’ World 1-1 , which teaches players how the game works without needing a tutorial. “In order to pass this first little guardian, the player must learn that the A button makes Mario jump.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Sacred Sites . “From Machu Picchu to the Louvre — the book journeys through sacred sites in art and ancient history.” I’ve always loved places and architecture that feel awe-inspiring or numinous. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
I love these isometric cutaway drawings by Japanese illustrator & architect Enya Honami . From Spoon & Tamago : Honami is a skilled draughtswoman by trade, having obtained an MFA in architecture and working at a well-known Japanese architecture firm. But the grueling hours and
The first woman to make her living from painting captured herself and other women in the ways they wished to be perceived.
Some say the decision to cut the In the Galleries series represents a blow to the paper’s regional arts coverage.
New university programs are incorporating generative tools into studio art courses while attempting to address the murky ethics of the technology.
Hyperallergic speaks with Walter Cooper, who wrote the book on queer history in Santa Fe, and Christian Waguespack, who curated the show on it.
Staff say the dress code policy, which prohibits “political statements,” is anti-Palestinian and goes against the values of the artist whose legacy the museum honors.
"This summer, one of my lectures was protested by far-right students. Their rhetoric brought to mind some of the darkest moments of 20th-century history—and overlapped with mainstream Israeli views to a shocking degree."
As one of the top trials riders in the world, Danny MacAskill can certainly do a wheelie. In this fun video, he does wheelies all over the place, joined by a bunch of friends. The behind-the-scenes video is just as fun. And I watched the “how to do a wheelie” companion video
New York’s celebrated, medium-driven fair returns to downtown Manhattan’s Pier 36, featuring 75 galleries with top modern and contemporary paper-based art.
In terms of genes, humans are actually more closely related to mushrooms than plants! That’s because key characteristics—how we store energy, how our cells are built, and our ability to produce Vitamin D when exposed to the sunlight—are found in fungi but not trees or grass.
Are your idle moments spent inventing imaginary conversations between strange bedfellows? The sort of conversation that might transpire in a pickup truck belonging to Samuel Beckett, say, were the Irish playwright to chauffeur the child André Rene Roussimoff—aka pro wrestler
The life-changing magic of being in the groove . “Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of the flow state, in which total absorption in an activity banishes anxiety.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
I ran across an interesting term/concept in Miranda July’s All Fours : third things. A character in the book attributes it to “the Quakers” and describes it like so: It’s a topic of conversation that doesn’t belong to either party. The soul, usually so shy, can speak more
“ Velvet paintings ” may evoke visions of midcentury kitsch, thanks to artists like Edgar Leetig (1904-1953) and a demand for mass-produced decor. But that phenomenon is only a fraction of the history of painting on velvet, a tradition that is believed to have emerged in
A Logo on a Prosthesis Is Like a Tattoo You Didn’t Ask For . “It made my arm seem like a product, rather than my body. The logo made it seem less a part of me, which invited others to treat it that way.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Bulgarian beach bar sarcophagus turns out to be genuine Roman artefact . “Despite its historical value, photos on social media revealed that the sarcophagus was being used as a bar in a popular beach club for some time.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Scientists have found liquid water on Mars , located in the planet’s outer crust. “This is the first time liquid water has been found on the planet.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Toronto-based artist Adrienna Matzeg stitches a tangible record of a trip to Portugal in Bebidas e Lanches , or Drinks and Snacks. Rendering photographic snapshots and souvenir tableaux in textured punch needle, Matzeg depicts the sights of a hot afternoon spent around a table
In a 1956 New Statesman piece, the British scientist-novelist C. P. Snow first sounded the alarm about the increasingly chasm-like divide between what he called the “scientific” and “traditional” cultures. We would today refer to them as the sciences and the humanities, while
I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but the internet only has carrots.” When we come together in groups, it can bring out the best in people. When those groups are anonymous, porous and transient, though, the opposite