Well hello. It's been a chaotic time here at Fassbender HQ. More details on that later, but we've only recently started to enter into a routine that resembles normalcy. And that means I've gotten back into a semi-regular writing routine. What follows, then, is a collection of both random and highly specific moments that have either entertained me and/or passed through my head over the past few months. Enjoy.
Gazebo
When I was a young man, one of my favorite words was gazebo. I'm not sure where I first heard it, but I immediately enjoyed how silly it sounded. Even after all these years, hearing gazebo provides a welcome injection of humor. I dare you to think about sitting in a gazebo without letting loose with at least a smile.
The word itself is thought to be derived from an 18th century joke that melded the English word gaze with the Latin suffix -ebo, which means "I shall." As in, "I shall gaze." If you're having trouble figuring out what even makes this a joke, rest assured I'm right there with you. Those Victorians were strange.
According to the etymologists, gazebo first appeared in print when father-and-son architects William and John Halfpenny used it in the 1752 classic New Designs for Chinese Temples. Some accounts dispute this, saying it first appeared in the Halfpennys' 1755 treatise titled Rural Architecture in Chinese Taste.
But I don't think about that when I hear the word or even see a gazebo. No, my thoughts fall to gentlemen's magazines. Let me explain.
Back in my youth, I would occasionally (and completely accidentally, I assure you) stumble across my dad's cache of periodicals published for a male audience. In addition to the obvious, this form of literature featured an abundance of cartoons — including work from Harvey Kurtzman (editor of MAD), Jack Cole (creator of DC superhero Plastic Man), and Shel Silverstein (most famous for his children's books). Yes, some of the most popular cartoonists working in comic books and children's literature drew dirty pictures on the side.
There's one comic in particular that's stuck with me all these years. I can't remember which title it appeared in, but (and I'm sure you see this coming), it was a one-page gag about a gazebo. The illustration featured a buxom young woman (of course), dressed in red dress (naturally) fending off way too aggressive advances of a mustachioed man, dressed in a suit, who was maniacally tearing at said dress.
The caption read something like, "No, no Mr. Billings! When I asked if you wanted to see my gazebo, I meant that little building over there." (I made up the Mr. Billings part).
And yes, as you can probably guess, a gazebo stood on a hill in the background.
I remember not really caring about the cartoon itself. And looking back on it now the whole thing is disturbing for the casual normalizing of sexual assault. At the time, however, I did get a laugh out of the use of gazebo.
I spent some time (not too much, though) looking through archives of naughty comics on the internet to see if I could find out who drew this homage to misunderstood gazebo or even where it appeared. The only trace I could find was the tiniest of blurry images, a holdover from a long-closed eBay auction of a stack of 1970s-era Playboy issues.
Anyway, that’s pretty much what I think of every time I see a gazebo. Brain function is weird.
Hollywood Sign
As long as we're talking about gentlemen's magazines, it's worth mentioning that the Hollywood Sign (saved by the efforts and dollars of Hugh Hefner in 1978) is getting a new paint job in advance of the icon's 100-year anniversary.
Sherwin-Williams is providing 400 gallons of paint (as they did in 2013 for the 90-year anniversary) to cover the sign in a new sheen of Hollywood white.
The work started in early October and the 10-person crew is estimated to be done by November 1. You can watch the painters touch up the sign via the official Hollywood Sign Webcams.
And if you're so inclined, you can hike through Griffith Park to watch the work yourself. Over at the Los Angeles Explorers Guild, I wrote up a guide on navigating the park so you can walk up and stand directly behind the Hollywood Sign.
(Okay, so I made the image of the sign too small and I’m not about to change it now. But you can see a larger version as the link above).
AI Book Covers About AI
Everyone's going nuts for Midjourney these days. If you're not familiar, Midjourney is an AI that will create images based on text prompts that people give it. Results are mixed, but in general, the more detailed your prompt, the better the illustration.
One of my favorite Midjourney creations comes from a redditor who goes by the handle Memodeth. They managed to get some good results with a series of prompts that had the AI draft up its interpretations of different science fiction and fantasy book covers. Of particular note was a cover for Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries, her series of stories about a rogue AI (a series I wholeheartedly recommend).
Having an AI create a cover for a book of featuring the adventures of an AI was an inspired choice. Check out more of Memodeth's AI-drawn covers for sci-fi and fantasy novels at his post on /r/midjourney.
QE Boardgame
Ask almost anyone and they'll tell you the economy is terrible. But let's think back to the recession of 2008. Things were so bad in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns that The Fed — that august institution responsible (but only in the areas they want to be) for keeping the U.S. Economy strong — stepped in.
The Fed employed a monetary strategy known as Quantitative Easing (Q.E. for those in the know). This is a technique by which the government creates a near-endless supply of money and uses it to buy debt in the form of bonds (private, corporate, and even government bonds) and other long-term securities in order to inflate the money supply and lower interest rates. The idea is to make investing more attractive and stimulate the lending/borrowing cycle. In practice, it's more complicated than that, of course. But you get the idea.
Does it work? Who knows? But now you can try to find out for yourself with the Q.E. Boardgame, an auction-style game that transports you and up to four other players back to 2008 where you try to save the world's economy from collapsing. You play as the central bank in one of five countries (the U.S., China, Japan, the E.U. [yes, I know it's not a country, but I don't make the rules], and the U.K.) each trying to outbid each other on bailing out a series of fictional companies. Oh, and you have unlimited funds. Hilarious fun ensues.
Mechanical Watch
I'm known as something of a watch enthusiast. I'm particularly fascinated by the mechanical watch — an ingenious device dating back to the 16th century that keeps (reasonably) accurate time without the aid of batteries or any electronic parts.
So it's no surprise that I'm a fan of Bartosz Ciechanowski's very detailed breakdown of the functionality of mechanical watches on his blog's aptly named Mechanical Watch post.
Ciechanowski's digital rendition of a working mechanical watch is fully interactive, allowing you to rotate, zoom, and otherwise explore the various tightly packed internal components of the mechanical watch — from the movement to the mainspring to the escape wheel to the balance wheel to the many, many gears — that all have to work in concert keep the watch's hands moving. Especially fascinating is how a single crown wheel works to adjust both the time and date.
If you have even a passing interest in how a mechanical watch operates, Mechanical Watch is worth your time.
That's it for this issue. As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing you again soon. Until then, don’t pass up any opportunity to do something that makes you happy.
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