(The) Absolute

Recommending stuff that doesn't suck.

[jyxchen]

no.2

[theabsolutemag]

“Anime Architecture,” a New Exhibit on Display at the Museum for Architectural Drawing

The exhibition ‘Anime Architecture’ presents original drawings from famous Japanese animation films. The show focuses on virtuosic renderings of urban architecture. In drawings made for the films Patlabor (1989), Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Innocence (2004), the megalopolis skyline is seen to be crushing in on what remains of traditional wooden housing. Industrial sites with endless labyrinths of cables and piping and utopian science-fiction constructions form backdrops for the dynamic film plots.

For more anime/architecture eye candy, we also recommend the Tumblr Architecture in Anime.

[vimeo-deactivated20240328]

Icelandic landscapes are mesmerizing through this drone’s-eye view.

[freegameplanet]

Sacramento is a beautiful little game that takes you on a day trip through a wondrous watercolour paradise, filled with dragonflies, flamingos and giant goldfish.

Play The Full Game, Free (Windows & Mac)

[killscreen]

Miyamori will be a foxy love letter to Japanese folklore

[theabsolutemag]

#TBT Here’s What The Media Thought About “Twin Peaks” In The 90s

It’s been 20 years, but Twin Peaks is back in the media again. David Lynch’s bizarre crime series about a murder in a small logging town has been a cult hit since its 1991 debut. But now that’s it returning next year on Showtime, the media gets to obsess over the show again — in a more Internet-y way, of course.

I was too young to remember the original hoopla of Twin Peaks‘ 90s debut, and so I found this media roundup of interviews and news promos from 1991 to 1992 to be really interesting. People were just as perplexed by it then as they were today, but their most passionate obsession was with the show’s originality. In the ’90s television was dominated by sitcoms and crappy network crime dramas. A show like Twin Peaks blew everyone’s minds. “It’s SO unusual,” beamed Kathie Lee of Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee (before it was Live! With Kelly and Michael). Donahue — remember him? — even dedicated a cheesy whole show to the TV show, barking at the cast to explain the plot to him because he didn’t get it.

If you’re as amused by old stuff from the ’90s as I am, this playlist of more than 40 videos will keep you weirdly entertained today.

[prostheticknowledge]

‘This Is Fine’ Plush

Kickstarter campaign from KC Green brings to physical life a familiar meme, the content coffee-drinking dog in a burning house:

From that far away year of 2013 comes a set of images so powerful, it stayed relevant for 3 more years and possibly beyond. 

From my old webcomic “Gunshow,” this dark horse of a comic rose into prominent usage among the college testing crowd and grew from there. Normally the first two panels are only seen. Brevity is the soul of wit, after all! But it continued to seep into the consciousness of America and the world as things seemingly just got… worse.

I, for one, hope there’ll be a day when we no longer have to look for the dog on fire to support our feelings, but until that day comes, maybe a nice big plush of the boy will help.

More Here

[ocean-in-an-onion]

[lastnightsreading]

Megan Abbott at Astoria Bookshop, 7/29/16

[theabsolutemag]

"At Home with Monsters,” a Look at Guillermo del Toro’s Collection

An assortment of props, paintings, sculptures, and drawings currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

[alpha-beta-gamer]

Honey Rose: UFE blends 2D beat ’em up combat with branching narrative visual novel gameplay to create a unique “life-management simulator” in which you play a university student who’s attempting to balance her studying with her dream of winning a prestigious wrestling championship.

Read More & Play The Honey Rose: UFE Beta Demo Build, Free

[freegameplanet]

The Room Tribute is an incredible RPG adventure tribute to one of the greatest worst movies of all time, adding superb pixel art animation, lots of great easter eggs and a wicked sense of humor to the super cheesy dialogue and bizarre story of the original.

It’s a great game in it’s own right and a must play if you’ve ever experienced the bizarre broken oddity the is The Room. Highly recommended.

Play The Full game, Free (Browser)

[theabsolutemag]

“Fifteen Dogs,” The Talking Dog Novel That’s Definitely Not For Kids

Fifteen Dogs is a hard book to sell. In words, its premise sounds silly: a bunch of dogs are given human intelligence via a wager between two Greek Gods. The wager? If dogs have the same intellect as humans, would they live happier lives? Typically “what if dogs were as smart as humans” is a hypothetical scenario more fit for Disney than literary adult fiction. But Canadian author André Alexis takes a more philosophical approach, exploring morality, depression, and our perceived “places” in society. Oh yeah, and there’s lots of doggy deaths, too.

Although there are fifteen dogs in the book, the novel focuses on just a core handful: Prince, the poet; Majnoun, the fair leader; Atticus, the religious enemy; and Benji, the conniving Beagle. The fifteen initially start off as a pack, even inventing their own language that only they can understand. But when a rift splits the pack in two sides, the dogs quickly realize that this new consciousness might be more a curse than a blessing.

For dogs lovers expecting some kind of fictional look at behavioral theory, this book is not for you. However, for those who like experimental fiction, particularly ones that gut punch you in your dog-loving heartstrings, Fifteen Dogs is a novel quite unlike any other.

[theabsolutemag]

Funky Gif Illustrations by Veronyka Jelinek

If you like these, don’t forget to check out It Ain’t Over ‘Till the Fat Lady Sings, an interactive game/experience made with Tim Garbos.

[adamvanwinden]

April told me how she used to toast marshmallows on her bedroom lamp while reading as a child and I just had to draw it because that’s adorable

[digg]

This is what music notes look like

Resonantia, released last year by artists Jeff Louviere and Vanessa Brown, for example, explores the phenomenon of cymatics—the patterns that sound waves induce in physical objects Louviere was struck by the idea that each note produces a particular shape in liquid. To investigate these patterns, he rigged up a contraption involving a frequency generator on his laptop, a rebuilt amp with a speaker pointing upward into a plastic vitrine filled with ink-black water, and a guitar tuner.

[tesslucia]

Fervid Heights