The evolution of Mickey Mouse’s appearance is interesting… but not nearly as interesting as his pre-history and the business and technical factors wrapped up in… Read More »Animation History: The Surprising History of Mickey Mouse
Alan Becker breaks down key elements of animation from Thomas and Johnston’s Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. Recommended. Slow in, Slow Out; or, (Sine)… Read More »Alan Becker: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s 12 Principles of Animation (and a bit of the beauty of maths)
Whether you are examining past societies or living and acting within one today, it’s important to distinguish between live and dead players. A live player… Read More »Samo Burja: Live and Dead Players
Most of the artificial sweeteners already on the market are the result of pure dumb luck. The oldest was discovered by accident when Constantin Fahlberg,… Read More »Always lick your hands
While there is a shared understanding [about what constitutes a particular dish], that isn’t absolute compliance. If we had to argue that there is only… Read More »Whose Dhansak? Food and Authenticity
Aux armes, citoyens,To arms, citizens, Formez vos bataillons,Form your battalions, Marchons, marchons !March, march! Qu’un sang impurAbreuve nos sillons !Let an impure bloodWater our furrows!… Read More »Blood, Bones and Building; or, Love’s Labours
This image we know and love – the classic ukiyo-e woodblock print, as Japanese as Tsunamis and Mount Fuji, one of the launchpads of Japonisme,… Read More »New Wave: the Hybrid Hokusai
Here’s Eisenstein again. There’s a lot at work: The combinatorial innovation that was the printing press created further opportunities for cross-pollination by breaking down old… Read More »Technology (23): Elizabeth Eisenstein on how the printing press created new networks and sparked further innovation
I’m working my way through Elizabeth Eisenstein’s excellent The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, an abridged version of her two-volume The Printing Press as… Read More »Writing and Reading as Technology (12): Elizabeth Eisenstein on How the Printing Press Changed Books
CX. There are, moreover, some inventions which render it probable that men may pass and hurry over the most noble discoveries which lie immediately before… Read More »Technology (22): Francis Bacon on Combinatorial Innovation, the Big Three Technologies of the Renaissance, and Pure Science