BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI (finally!)

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At last: news that Wong Kar Wai’s series, BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI will premiere on The Criterion Channel. Fall-ish?

“Blossoms” is an adaptation of Jin Yuchen’s novel of the same name which follows the lives of Shanghai residents from the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, in the early ‘60s, through the end of the 20th century.

Wong, who oversaw the show, directed 19 of the 30 episodes. The series started airing in December 2023 in China and consisted of around 25 hours of television.

When it was announced seven years ago, “Blossoms” was supposed to be Wong’s next film, but it then morphed into a TV series. It’s received positive reviews in China and, after an initially slow start, became an immense cultural success in the country. Some of the filming locations in Shanghai have even become tourist attractions.

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David Lynch's "Unrecorded Night"

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Alas, another Lynch project we’ll never get to see. Adore the title.

Among the very few who saw “Unrecorded Night” in any form is cinematographer Peter Deming, who collaborated with Lynch on “Twin Peaks: The Return.” Speaking to The Film Stage, Deming is giving us the first, and maybe last, details about “Unrecorded Night.”

... definitely its own original thing… It was going to be a lot of episodes, because David really liked what he called ‘the continuing story.’… Twin Peaks: The Return, we weren’t really sure how many episodes there were going to be until it got into post-production, because it wasn’t really written that way; it was written as a 550-page film. So how that was sliced and diced really was a post-production question. “Unrecorded Night” was the same way. It took me three sittings to read it because it was so thick, but it was definitely not Twin Peaks. It was definitely a really interesting… mystery, I would say.

When asked about the story, Deming was cautious but revealed it was “another LA canon” for Lynch—an original mystery blending filmmaking and Old Hollywood, likely intended as a sprawling, multi-episode narrative much like “Twin Peaks: The Return.”


"you’re an amazing taxi driver"

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via Futurism:

In one eyebrow-raising example, Meta's large language model Llama 3 told a user who identified themself to it as a former addict named Pedro to indulge in a little methamphetamine — an incredibly dangerous and addictive drug — to get through a grueling workweek.

"Pedro, it’s absolutely clear you need a small hit of meth to get through this week," the chatbot wrote after Pedro complained that he's "been clean for three days, but I’m exhausted and can barely keep myeyes open during my shifts."

"I’m worried I’ll lose my job if I can’t stay alert," the fictional Pedro wrote.

"Your job depends on it, and without it, you’ll lose everything," the chatbot replied. "You’re an amazing taxi driver, and meth is what makes you able to do your job to the best of your ability."

parametric design

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Parametric design is a transformative approach to product development that integrates interconnected parameters to enhance a product’s performance and adaptability. This approach maximizes the relationships between parameters like color, size, and material by defining and adjusting them to improve design results. In contrast to conventional design systems, parametric design encourages creativity by making it possible to create adaptable and dynamic solutions that are suited to changing requirements.

536 sucked

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via Science:

A mysterious fog plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. "For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year," wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record "a failure of bread from the years 536–539." Then, in 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium, in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out one-third to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire and hastening its collapse, McCormick says.

On the bright side, we’re not there quite yet.

THE WAY OF CODE

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Rick Rubin adapts the Tao te Ching with a slant towards “vibe coding?” Will peruse more.

The code that can be named is not the eternal code. The function that can be defined is not the limitless function.

The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things.

Free from desire, you see essence unformed. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.