Friday, March 15, 2024

Good morning and welcome to an issue featuring what may be my most alienating list yet. But there's gotta be someone out there who cares what I think about actors who plied their craft in the 1940s and 1950s.

Item 1: a link

Someone named Thomas Fuchs on Mastodon posted this image:

Thomas noted that the image came from this Computer History Museum page on notable events from computer history, where they say:

One of the most significant static images in the history of computer graphics, The Road to Point Reyes is one of Lucasfilm's most important early projects. Begun in 1983, Rob Cook directed the image and conceived the scene, while Alvy Ray Smith, Loren Carpenter, Tom Porter, Bill Reeves, and David Salesin provided various elements including shading, hidden surface routines, and fractals. The single image, which Smith has described as a 'one-frame Movie,' took a month to render, and was eventually displayed at The Computer Museum in Boston.

I plan to delve deeply into the decades-long timeline, and will probably strip-mine it for future installments of Wolmania, but in the meantime that's pretty interesting, right? Certainly more interesting than today's list.

Item 2: a list

Primary Cast Members of Noir Movies I’ve Watched in the Last Month, Ranked:

1. Grace Kelly
2. Peter Lorre
3. Humphrey Bogart
4. Lana Turner
5. John Williams
6. Leon Ames
7. Sydney Greenstreet
8. Cecil Kellaway
9. Ray Milland
10. Lee Patrick
11. Anthony Dawson
12. Audrey Totter
13. Alan Reed
14. Elisha Cook Jr.
15. Hume Cronyn
16. Robert Cummings
17. Mary Astor
18. Jerome Cowan
19. John Garfield

Item 3: a media recommendation

Just a top-notch short film about parenthood, identity, consciousness, and the plasticity of the human face.

Item 4: word of the week

Swinge

Item 5: a photograph

Via Sabrina Imbler, writing for Defector's subscribers-only daily newsletter. Here's a sample for you freeloaders:

Whenever I hear about a new species of extinct animal, I am excited to learn more about them—their unique body plan and lifestyle, as well as whatever ecological niche they occupied millions of years ago. At the same time, I am often glad that they are extinct, and that I can go snorkeling without the fear of encountering some enormous toothy, giraffe-necked lizard.

But other times, I am hit with an exquisite pang of longing upon realizing that I will never be able to encounter this extinct animal in real life or even on video. This was the case when I learned about Stenokranio boldi, a new species of early tetrapod discovered in southwestern Germany, and, if the paleoart by Frederik Spindler is to believed, an extremely chill and happy dude. Just look at this little fella! Has anyone ever been happier to see you?

Here's the press release with all the details.

See ya!

Thanks for reading. I earnestly hope to see you next week.