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A pictorial history of electronic music mapped to the circuitboard of a theremin

This pictorial history of electronic music adapted and mapped on the circuit board of a theremin was created by the quirky folk at Dorothy. The theremin is thought to be one of the world’s first electronic musical instruments along with the Moog synthesizer.

A pictorial history of electronic music mapped to a circuitboard of a theremin

Our Electric Love Blueprint celebrates over 200 inventors, innovators, artists, composers and musicians who have been pivotal to the evolution of electronic music from the invention of the earliest known sound recording device in 1857 to the present day. Key pioneers featured include Léon Theremin, Bob Moog, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk and Aphex Twin.

The print loosely groups genres, from the obscure Musique Concrète (Pierre Schaeffer) to the better known Krautrock (Kraftwerk, Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Faust, Cluster, Harmonia and Amon Düül II) Synthpop (Gary Numan, Human League, Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Pet Shop Boys) and Electronica (New Order, The Prodigy, Massive Attack, LCD Sound System and Daft Punk). There are also references to the experimental BBC Radiophonic Workshop and our favourite innovating record labels Mute and Warp.

If you enjoyed looking at this beautiful pictorial dedication to electronica then you will love reading these other articles about electronic music. The cream of the crop of classic science fiction soundtracks; emerging Ukrainian electro-pop group Onuka, and hands-down the best electronic music channel on YouTube.

Every Picture Tells A Story: Nest Of The Lemon-Breasted Flycatcher

Shot by Archibald James Campbell(1853-1929) now a treasure of the National Library of Australia. Beautiful, delicate, a treasure frozen in history that I found here.

A boudoir where a mermaid can prepare for a night out

Enter into a magical underwater world where a mermaid is able to prepare for close up glamour shots in her boudoir.

This delicate and miniature world fit for a sea-dwelling princess was created by artist Peter Gabel.

Extraordinary workmanship and marine inspiration has gone into this creation. Although custom built with love, sadly all of us mermaid admirers are forced to view from a distance – Peter isn’t making these magnificent creations en masse or to sell on Etsy. Instead I hope you enjoy this peek into this enchanted world within the bell jar, created using foraged items from the seashore.

All photographs were taken by Mark FJ Maiden Photography reused with permission from Peter Gabel.

An underwater world of beauty

Starfish chandelier.

Table made of urchin spines and mother-of-pearl

Chairs made of sea urchin spines and tiny scallops.

Rubber tree plant made of sea urchin spines and operculum set in a barnacle pot with black Hawaiian sand ‘dirt’

Mother-of-pearl and sea urchin spine plant stand with philodendron plant made of sea urchin spines and Emerald Nerite operculum.

Courtesy of Mark FJ Maiden Photography

If you enjoyed this post then you may find this one about tiny people and their adventures in fruit and vegetable worlds enjoyable, as well as this post and this one about tiny books. But for now I’m inspired to go to the beach, it’s summer at the moment in Australia!

A pep talk for babes who are on fire

This pep talk is brought to you by the PEP TALK GENERATOR.

You are a ball of fire. You are a flaming, feisty, bold ball of fire. You may feel like you get extinguished a lot, but you are set ablaze more times than you are drowned. You are smart, you are unique, you are interesting, you are creative, you are capable and you are important. You can kick ass when you set your mind to it. There is no obstacle you can’t overcome. Don’t stop believing in your ass kicking skills, ever!

And this song by The Boss is brought to you by the big man himself.

The title of the peptalk really made me think of Bruce Springsteen. There’s no coincidence that you can see fireworks here. In 24 hours or so there will be a new year upon us. Now’s the time to throw away that shit that’s been bothering you this year and start afresh with a new perspective, a new fire in the belly. Go forth and be a babe on fire.

Pep Talk is a wonderful project by a lovely creative collective called BABE VIBES. Check out more free Pep Talks or download their wonderful PDF booklet entitled #MethodsOfSelfCare.

Spend 2016 with these little guys in a miniature world

Artist and Creative Director Tanaka Tatsuya has created a larger than life selection of vignettes for every day of the year. The Miniature Calendar features tiny people in amusing and whimsical settings for a feature calendar that has been amusing the Japanese speaking world for the past few years and has only hit critical mass in the western world in the past few months.

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Here’s a tasty sample of his work, which can also be found on Instagram.

For more of a whimsical world in miniature, check out my other articles on miniature books here and a story about my most treasured tiny book here.

A pep talk for babes who feel small

Map Porn: The Most Beautiful Geological Maps on Earth

This pep talk is brought to you by the PEP TALK GENERATOR and written by a wise woman named Celeste.

Don’t keep yourself too hidden. Embrace feeling small — let it open up the world before you, then watch it change with your touch. From the way you move oceans to the breaths you unknowingly take. The universe is already falling for you. Make lost your new home, and don’t stop. You’re meant to be you, where you are, right now.

Pep Talk is a wonderful project by a lovely creative collective called BABE VIBES. Check out more free Pep Talks. They are totally addictive.

Hipster menu generator: get ready for culinary darts of displeasure

I’m sure you’re familiar with the trend of indecipherable menu items that’s sprung up all over the world recently, right? it’s also known as hipsterising a menu. Suddenly there’s a whole new world of pretentious sounding menu items that you’ve never seen in all of your years prior, living on our planet. Who knew that a charcoal foam, basil jelly and lavender dust is something that you must have with your Sunday eggs and bacon breakfast.

The algorithm: the more obscure sounding the food – the more inherently impressive it is.

I find this glut of ridiculous sounding food names really irritating. And the often times indecipherable menus rendered in their cursive text on blackboards infuriate me, in a subtle ‘first world problem’ kind of way.

Want to know the history of the eggplant on your plate, then ask the luxuriantly bearded waiter – or sorry -barista! my bad, to recount the history of the individual eggplant from seed to field to plate.

The whole OTT spectacle of it makes me want to puke into my mouth a little bit. I suppose it’s a great thing that people care a lot about food and where it comes from. I just find it all a little bit…wanky to be honest.

The Brooklyn Menu Generator

Enter the Brooklyn Menu Generator which contains culinary darts of displeasure such as:

FINGERLING BISON SPREAD WITH FARM-TO-TABLE EGGPLANT

MINIATURE WATERMELON PANINI WITH FRIGHTENED SEAWEED DISCS

ARTISANAL PEACH & PRESSED SEAWEED

SUNFLOWER & BLISTERED BISON

If you squint hard enough then you should be able to understand the obscure wording. If not when you ask the barista about it, you will get a look of subtle disdain along with the explanation.

Beware of massaged, smashed and distressed things on the menu….I’m sorry. Just. Fuck. Right. Off.

The Life of a Chicken named Colin

Hot tip: If you don’t mind caps-lock swearing combined with funny hipster culture memes on Twitter then @getinthesea is for you.

A Pep talk for babes with anxiety

Maira Kalman. Seeing the Profound in the Ordinary World http://wp.me/p41CQf-2p

This is a pep talk for babes with anxiety. Close your eyes and sit with that feeling. Research shows that anxiety takes 20 minutes to pass when approached with mindfulness. This is not going to last forever. Recognize that your anxiety is part of who you are, but not all of who you are. Discomfort is often a sign of pushing our boundaries and reshaping ourselves. Your anxiety signals that you are on the brink of earth-shattering things. As you sit with your anxiety, tell it that it’s just a harbinger of good things to come, and you aren’t going to let it stop you.

This pep talk is brought to you by the PEP TALK GENERATOR.

A wonderful project by a lovely creative collective called BABE VIBES. Check out more free pep talks. They are totally addictive.

Every picture tells a story: The girl with the big imagination

I can totally identify with this image. I don’t know where it comes from originally but I found it on Tumblr. Anyway nothing too deep, it just resonates with me. I hope you like it too.

Book of Hours: Eric Gill at Terse

Action is for the sake of contemplation.

The active for the sake of the contemplative

To labour is to pray.

Work is the discipline (the yoga) by means of which

The body holds its noise and leaves the soul free a little.

Recreation is for the sake of work.

Leisure time is for the sake of recreation.

In order that the worker may the better return to work.

Games are like sleep – necessary for the health of the body and the mind.

A means to health.

The health of the workman, the labourer, the man who prays, the contemplative.

Leisure is secular. Work in sacred.

Holidays are the active life, the working life is the contemplative life.

The object of leisure is work.

The object of work is holiness.

Eric Gill, Artist and Sculptor.

English (1882-1940).