ah, a cold sunday morning, coffee in hand, cats laid out luxuriantly on cushions, relative calm and quiet… what better time to lazily click through my own archive of links and begin fresh? you see in my travels i inevitably come across stuff which though eye catching, funny, or interesting never make it into their own post. maybe i simply don’t know what to say about them so they languish in unimaginatively titled folders, or maybe they seemed more naturally part of a larger post which never materialized. in either case i’ve decided to simply round a bunch of them up and share them, a bit of autumn cleaning as it were. today i’ll focus on links which would fit snugly in the sights & sounds category. don’t be fooled though into thinking that their belated posting marks them forever with the scarlet “f” for filler. there are some truly worthwhile sights within.

amateur enterprises a great name but so much more. one of those sites that straddles the line very mysteriously between parody and poetry. i am inclined to think they are deadly serious but that may be a reflection of my own silly earnestness. in either case i think the sites brilliant. think max earnst if he were totally single minded and web savvy. it explores numinosity. “a numinous object is one in which matter, form, and situation combine to ‘haunt’ or otherwise fascinate the imagination.” this site has a lot to offer and requires patience for any reward. a few of the sections include imagined, observed, remembered, words into matter & other machines, and on the manufacture of numinous objects. hidden within are many odd goodies.

the lost museum. “in 1841 the showman phineas taylor barnum opened his american museum in new york city. dominating lowerbroadway at park row, in no time barnum’s american museum became the “most visited place in america. a cornucopia of exhibitions offered visitors, in no particular order, information and entertainment, scientific knowledge and trumped-up fantasy, moral lessons and cruel voyeurism, the sacred and the profane. shortly after twelve noon on Thursday, July 13, 1865, in one of the most spectacular fires in New York’s history, Barnum’s American Museum was destroyed.” explore that lost museum here, reconstructed virtually for your viewing pleasure. fun. reminds me a little of the fantastic museum of jurassic technology featured on egg, and in the book mr. wilson’s cabinet of wonders.

lord whimsey, mammal of paradise. another great title, and ever so much more. titled: “a compendium of deeds and thoughts never before seen, in this, our benighted age; the brilliance of which cannot last long in our world of mud and tears.” this site centers on the quasi-fictional character of lord whimsey himself and revels in all things dandy. essays include on affected provincialism, how to become a bon vivant, and the treatise on onanism, on self congress. the “charts” section includes beautiful and strange pdf’s like dandyism vs. foppery and the wonderful grooming from which the included thumbnail was culled. searching through you can find many fun tidbits. the site is evidently the brainchild of a couple of illustrators / designers from new jersey. their other sites include plankton art co. and the associated affected provincials quartely. these are two very talented and interesting folks.

days in a day. this is another extremely obtuse and well done site. “at a certain age, fascinated by my communist parent’s collectivist and utopian delirium, i had decided to be a member of a bug society… but primates cannot become social bugs…” this is an absorbing trip through a city, told in tiny flash animated vignettes. after each vignette your “notebook” gets updated and a bit more of the tale is told. the story itself is really not the point here i suspect, but rather a framework to present the beautifully designed interactive chapters. taking a look through the links i also came upon these two issues of an affiliated web magazine (the capitalist issue and the raquel issue) which between them showcase 18 different artists. all in all interesting stuff.

the y-leg organism. i’ve been wanting to post this for a while but truly do not know what to say about it. it is mysterious and it is obtuse and because of, or despite that, it’s interesting. there are three texts.  titled ram: representative of evil (the anti super hero) , nature man: representative of good (the super hero), and the noseless man book one. these three texts are presented as books whose pages you can filp, but dispersed throughout are other hidden tidbits. this is one of those “when in doubt, click stuff” sites. there are other texts as well as many sketches and audio to be found. i like it because in a certain way it achieves some of the things i initially wanted to achieve with the archeography section of the nonist, before i got impatient and just shoved it out there for public consumption. don’t know what the y-leg organism amounts to in the end, but i like it.

the censored cartoon page. “a guide to the cuts and edits which have been rendered to the classic cartoons of warner brothers, mgm, paramount, and other studios when broadcast on television. gags that are deemed inappropriate for children, racist, violent, etc. are simply edited out of the affected cartoons. this is a guide to these “lost” moments.” pretty cool. i think when i was a lad these characters still got their faces blown off with shotguns. ah, the good ol’ days.

the grand illusion. “Grand Illusions was formed in 1996 (old by Internet standards) and was originally designed as a way of sharing our enthusiasm for various science based phenomena, fun and games, optical illusions etc.” a very cool site. many illusory oddities for your enjoyment as well as a few interesting essays like, why didn’t the roman’s invent photography?, the mystery in the mirror which deals with vermeer’s possible use of the camera obscura, and the strange story of napoleon’s wallpaper. good stuff.

how it works… the computer just found this funny. a book from 71 digitized for you guffawing enjoyment. irony aside i still think these old machines are aesthetically pleasing in a weird way. for similar old timey goodness check out the walkman museum,the phenomenal product design database, and hell, i’ll throw in the arcade flyer archive for good measure.

The Perry Bible Fellowship. a web comic. the link points to the archive. the main page offers other stuff, student films, paintings, etc, but it’s the comic that i like. funny. evidently this strip is now syndicated in the new york press. who knew? i guess people who still read the new york press. at the end of his bio, the creator, a kid named nicholas gurewitch, says: “if you’d like me to make something for you, let me know.” i’m sure we here at the nonist could come up with something, couldn’t we?

crease patterns. silly link i guess, but this origami blew my mind. it can’t be real can it? these people are masters of an art form i don’t really care that much about, but masters none the less. just the diagrams alone are cool. you can print the diagrams out by the way and fumble pathetically with your own lack of dexterity and skill. enjoy.

super marketing ads from the comic books. “they promised us spectacular treasures and secret knowledge, super intelligent pets, and incredible powers… often the spectacular treasures were nothing more than gross misrepresentations and the secret knowledge was a lesson in the value of reading the fine print. this collection represents some of the best, most memorable, most audacious and most bizarre of those ads.” says it all.

lastly i’d like to offer up a cornucopia of record related links, whether to scoff, marvel, or steal from, these albums of days past are worth a browse. bizarre records, cover heaven, rare covers, space age covers, sexy covers part 1, sexy part 2, stolen covers, cover search part 1, cover search part 2, cover artists (including the bad ass mati klarwein), covers by comic artists (scroll down for index), collectibles, and finally the boldly titled album cover art gallery. enjoy