Can't look away, now that they've fallen into orbit. Orange above, dew-chilled below. "Open up for me, Max. I've got something I want to play for you." -Barry Convex, in *Videodrome* (1983). From purple timber no good thing was ever drank. Though it be cool, and dark, much grows in the waters of the bog. It's remarkable what you can turn up when you're a journalist by day. Above us, the celestial fire. Below us, the infernal heat. I'm nourished by the lives that wove the web inside my haunted head. Creatures with which one might relax/ensorcel. The committee of independent consultants has decreed: It kinda seems like an extra city would just be redundant. Watch party at our place! We're going to binge Candle Cove! Following the upheaval, life must go on. "The biblical Tower of Babel was built so high as to defy understanding. Those who built it began to talk nonsense. The tower could no longer be comprehended. There was simply too much of it." -Jon Bois, "Troy State 253, DeVry 141" a.k.a. "We're Serious About Success" (2017). “Sax, who's paying for all this?” Sax tilted his head, blinked. “The sun.” -Kim Stanley Robinson, *Red Mars* I shall stop and think, from time to time, and from the ocean of my mind, I will pluck a memory of you, and smile. Let me tell you, when these gummies hit, they *really hit!* Why is it that the owner class so frequently don't have any class at all? Crossing the veil's not so hard when you can relax to fill the contain you've been placed in. I don't know where this idea comes from that we're the quiet types. We're chattin' about delicious mortals all the time! Everything just gets more imposing with adulthood, doesn't it? All it takes is just one dropship, order yours today! Once upon a noontime sunny, while I pondered something funny, written in a quaint and curious book of a romantic strain — while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my window pane. “’Tis the breezy trees,” I muttered, “tapping at my window pane, only this, the wind's refrain.” It's not just about kaiju; it's about kaijhistory. "There's nothing sexier than giving the last blow to a candle that's about to go out." -I-No, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R "What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp; Dare its deadly terrors clasp?" -William Blake, "The Tyger" By land, by air, or by sea, we've got the world covered. "I hope you'll excuse my cheap wit, but the hour is late and it's all I have left." -A humble crow. And if you can believe it, it's Friday once again, Chère. Those copper-bottoms are no match for our shell-tops. Pikmin! Five of them! Look, Eunice, the company has done quite a lot to wind you up, it's only right that it get the song and dance it expects. It's almost as though what the heart wants is not necessarily precisely what the body needs. Look, the expected value of going again is infinite. So hit me. Hit me. Hit me. This design is also available on one of our commidi-tees, available in the gift shop! (grumbles) "Goddamn group projects, how come I'm always the one picking up the slack at the last minute?" Sure, the sun's out and life feels easy, but do you ever get the feeling that the shallows are getting less shallow all the time? "You say you can't stand me when I'm quiet, and so I shot you with my silence. I can't get that trumpet out of my head." -Lykke Li, "This Trumpet In My Head" (2008). Beware the prisons we build for ourselves, invisible to others, that trap us in our own minds. "Who do I know this man?" -The hosts of Drawfee I'll keep them close so I'm never alone! As above, so below. All that remains is your execution. Time to get out from these narrow confines and stretch our limbs! Discard your ideas, replace them with orbs, for a spherical future! These sculptural creations are ready to make some mayhem, and are also immune to critical hits! What reason do you have to doubt? Have you ever met a pig who tells lies before? You know what would really get us ready for out astral raids? *Costume jewelry!* Watch as I inject this code straight to its root. "Surely someone can just buy some carbon offsets to make up the difference," they said as they struggled to understand one another. If that girl's going to keep her hearts full, she'd better use a spin attack! They're technically all woofers, even their tweeter! A businessman is beset by sexy wingsuited beachgoers with knives! This is making everyone else nervous. If it wasn't for the certification, you'd never even know the place was haunted. A nibble here, a nibble there, and before you know it, you've made a treasure from someone else's trash! Robots! We're doing our part(s)! Despite early accusations that the hare had thrown the race, a deeper investigation revealed a more complicated web of culpability. I can fix him in post. Things aren't going so hot for these amateur rocketeers! Oh my goodness! Do you mind? Can I get a picture? The stripes make it hard for you to tell how many of them there are. "I'm just really feeling the 'action' part real intense, like. I could honestly take or leave the 'direct' part." This looks like a job for Claude Chappe, inventor of wireless long-distance semaphore! A serpent of a thousand miles begins with a single mis-step. Cut through the air like a hot knife through butter with these fashionable, aerodynamic helmets! Bears shouldn't walk on sunshine! Not like this! Think what you will of these cats, they've certainly thought a great deal about you. If enough of us force ourselves into this box, you won't even be able to tell there's an echo! Maybe y'all better go home, because I'm about to go big. "In a logic that perhaps no man will ever understand, the true winner is the last to finish the race." -Dr. Nils Hellstrom, *The Hellstrom Chronicle* (1971). Who needs spinal column when you've got all this brain power?! Why work together to accomplish something, when you can shun the company of others and complain to strangers? "Spring has sprung! And all the lovers knowing that spring has come!" -Terry Taylor, "Spring Has Sprung" (1997). When the worshipers of the Golden Capybara came into contact with the worshipers of the Golden Eggbug, the Golden Horde was born. Maybe she's born with it. Maybe she knows some really talented craftspeople. My health is assured! I'm gonna live forever! I shall remake this world in my image. Starting with this tree that I shall punch. "Are these dreams a clutch of stifled memories? Was there something in my mind? There are things they say man was not meant to know... Is this shadow out of time?" -The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, "Some Things Man Was Not Meant To Know" (2007). You can't surprise me! My vision's periphery all the way round! In the criminal justice system, the wealthy are represented by two separate, yet equally obnoxious groups: billionaires, whose demands outline what is and is not lawful, and cronies, who enact those demands. "Come closer. Closer." (Whispers in your ear) "Now fight me like a man." "Now, you say you spell 'slaadi' with two As? Fascinating." The beauty of analog systems is that you can always given 'em a good hip check if they're not behaving! Why go to work when your place of work can come to you, direct as the crow flies? Guess I'll wait here until someone restarts the level. "Sinuously erect?" Looks, *New Aeon*, you said it not me. "Did you think such a treasure would have only one protector, waiting around bored and alone for you to blunder in and take it?" I didn't give my heart to a rubber wasp, so much as have it stolen. These ladies aren't going anywhere. It is the world around them that will change. Unfortunately, as reliably as the conveyer belt provides ants, food preparation times quickly add up. Reach for the top with the flats of your feet! WARNING: Improper use may cause a hazardous condition. Do not top off. Teach a monkey to shoot, and they'll paint on a grimmer, grander canvas for the rest of their lives. I touched the giant geodesic orb at the American Pavilion and all I got was this self-referential chost. When you're looking at the world while you've got the blues, a blue Moon just looks like the Moon. It's a tough market out there, no horsin' around permitted. A place for every color and every color in its place (not you, pink). "I'm addicted to shiny things," they said, as they both reached for the lizard. When the trees are under the spell of winter's anesthetic stupor, we teach the blade-bearers how they may be safely diminished. These troublemakers are about to blow their tops! Things are gonna get hot! This motley crew of brash trend-setters are making their way downtown the way *they* would prefer to travel. The centaurs have been over this before, but sometimes the spirit of jazz is too strong to partake in archery. Fortunately, someone brought a spare bow. In the future, music will consist of food sounds, and be prepared by those no longer among the living. They say the uprising was started by a cadre of Jameson-type cyborgs. The spirit of the millennium is alive in the mix of Rs and Bs. "If you think about it, Platinum, the whole rest of the world is Sheep, isn't it?" "I got no complaints, it's regular hours, and I can jog to and from work on the parkway." If it were Ours, We'd make it much bigger. A lancer pilot sits atop a stone wall. Ahead, a pastoral landscape of rolling farmland. Behind, a darkened industrial hellscape. All the armaments known to the artist that are mightier than the sword. "When asked by a noted art scholar the appropriate distance from which to stand when viewing his magnum opus plainly entitled Loss, Tim Buckley famously responded 'What? Fuck You!' and banned me from his forum" -Hareton Splimby The essence of the chaotic alignment is a little less conversation, a little more mayhem. Folks will do whatever it takes to be these dogs' best friends. Sure would be a shame if we took these, the only remaining Talismans, into the Valley with us! Be grateful! The seasonal staff have been working through the night to lay out the white carpet for you. Two test tubes, and within them, two individuals. Their respective genders are not for others to decide. "To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, call it the target." -Ashleigh Brilliant A mountain guide stands near a warm cabin and points across a vast expanse of snow at a shimmering peak. I dunno, if it doesn't, can you *really* say you're living the dream? "Tutto quello a cui riesco a pensare è prendere altre patatine!" -Every seagull in Venice, probably. Now that they've been adorned with flowers, there's no denying that these are the beasts of all time. To go on this journey, goat north. Check out the eyelashes on this one! Just don't step into the circle. It would be best if you simply do what these giant women say. Four intimidating figures, each a force to be reckoned with, indicates the object of their sinister ambitions. Who keeps so many birds in boxes?! Sunset with the girls. What's not to love? Behold the future conveyances of ages past! The moon is not a place for people. It will never forgive these people for trying to be Selenites. Ladies! Now available in blue. The jeans are from grandma, the Nintendo is from Uncle Red. Beneath the city, the harbor. Beneath the harbor, a sleepy community and fish. Beneath that community, a friendly slumbering mass. A woman, dressed warmly, gathers some flowery sprites in from a garden overtaken by frost. See how they sparkle, see how they shine, see how you're drawn from yours into mine. A shady ne'er-do-well pulls himself from the ocean only to discover more than he bargained for. Look, I'm just saying, these creatures are, like, *all wing*, know what I mean? A duel is when two people agree that the other person dying is more important that keeping oneself alive. Beneath the canal, and deeper out beyond the harbor, there are things in the water. "Take this milk. Why do we drink *cow* milk? Who was the guy who first looked at a cow and said, 'I think I'll drink whatever comes out of these things when I squeeze 'em!'? Isn't that weird?" -Calvin & Hobbes, 1993-06-14 Stripes, checkerboards, it's as plain as black and white. It's a chimeracle! You know what would look great in this untamed landscape? A housing development. Oh, they laughed at me at the academy, but who's laughing now?! Just *every* kind of animal, all hanging out together! Let me introduce the team: The Muscle. The Bankroll. The Fixer. The Infiltrator. The Grand Palace is getting positively mobbed by flying aircraft. "There is no joy more intense than that of coming upon a fact that cannot be understood in terms of currently accepted ideas." -Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin If you do it with a twist. Yes, artistically. Can't hardly ponder 'em all, there's so many orbs out here! Surely reading all this trashy gossip isn't bad for me! Don't get it twisted, the bozo on the horse knows what he did. Emmy Noether, iconic physicist and mathematician, was operating on a whole different level. "One of the book's signs is the sounding of seven trumpets, the fifth of which brings forth a swarm of locusts." The material world is behind you. Ahead is the world of spirits. Don't hate us because we're beautiful. Well, maybe go ahead and hate, it's great for our metrics. A feast fit for one or more rodents! A squeezebox, two flutes, and *three* stringed instruments?! Now that's what I call a party! It's November, and all around, the natural world is settling into its slumber. Say 5 degrees by the next 100 years and it sets the world on fire. You think the people aren’t just going to sell the Earth and move? A crowd of real cool shades-wearing dudes can be found on the streets of Los Angeles 2019. A salamander fires an alcohol-based superhero out of a cannon at William Shakespeare. You know, like you do. A bunch of beaky busybodies band together. A man and woman ponder an ord, within which is an alien who ponders them back with an order of its own. From the beyond, further orbs, and further pondering of this pondering. What more does a witch need than the Moon, the stars, an orb, a tower, and ten or so animal companions? Make way for the new goth royalty. A macaw, a parrot, a crow, and a raven walk into a bar. The bartender looks up at them and says, "What is this, some kind of chost?" In the abyss, a face. Upon the face, sweet honeyed mans. The salt is implied. Mary Anning (1799-1847) was one of the great paleontologists of the 19th century. Food is broken down into smaller pieces through chewing (mechanical digestion), while the extensive process of chemical digestion begins. As food is chewed, saliva is produced and mixed with the food. The saliva contains enzymes, like amylase and lipase, that begin to break down carbohydrates and fats. Have you considered... the cheese unknown to science? Vaccines make you figuratively (literally?) demonproof. Team Rocket takes a tumble from a castle into the trash. This little sprawling gloom, she's gonna let it loom. Now, all is dark, and we may let the strings sing to those beyond the veil. It's autumn, and what better time to share our reflections with one another? This bird had it all figured out, or so they thought. Two beaked warriors with blades drawn are ready to protect a beaky baby. A bad day for small boats out on the big, big ocean. For thousands of years, cats have had homes. Now, they have demands. A salmon is dead, and the culprit has been identified by a witness. The powerful gather in secret to toast their unassailability. Bespectacled British scholarship is no match for theropods! Nothing to do on a rainy day but take it in stride and dress appropriately. Bookmaking is a machine for turning forests into knowledge. Cube. Pyramid. Sphere. Hexagon. Crescent. Perfection. "The triffids are coming! The triffids are growing! The triffids are killing!" Three imposing figures consider their respective blades. A pink zebra is looking to get a trio of animals drunk; only the one with the worst judgment is interested. A pair of stegosaur sailors discuss the dream of starting over on a new continent. The Great Wheel is the hottest date spot for singles in all of Paris. Princess Zelda is very unimpressed by this clown's Android. Imagine, if you will, a field with every kind of flower. Was she rescued from the water, or is she merely humoring her gormless suitor? A stretch of ocean separates the ambitions of the explorers on the left from the predations of the pirates on the right. You can really feel the notes of regret and lament as it goes down. It's hot in this desert, it's boring, and it's time to go home! The future corpses of America face down the power behind the throne. These cats are cross, so leave 'em be. Warning: Coffee may be the brutal, searing temperature of the sun. What if praying mantises, only Byzantine? WereGarurumon se gare sur La Rue de la Gare, aux ecart de la rousse avec la roue dans la route. These pups don't run! Three royals ladies, three noble creatures. Loose lips cost souls. If you think about it, a tongue is like a snake but also like a brain. A supergroup over 400 years in the making. A group of 19th century women paint a sitting model. An unfortunate king drowns as a snake and an angel look on in alarm. Three performers make music for you across the wires, and into your ear alone. The next move you make could be your next. Cats inspired by box chart a course to become box. Truly, it's good to be alive. Ooh, let's slip that gap! A star-struck owl gazes into the vast unknowable depths beyond the atmosphere. A trio of big fans. Hell is empty, and all the bastards are here. Folks with skin untouched by the sun. A celebration of NASA computer Katherine Johnson. Crowd around the scrying pool, you're not going want to miss the preview of next week's episode! Some round, chill friends soak in the sunshine. "Please turn down the volume or play something other than Drake." Now is the springtime of our mild affect made glorious summer by these daughters glam. Don't rate this sports car in terms of horsepower, but rather in terms of cow power. Orange you tempted by this dizzying cornucopia of vices? Even a flat Earth resides in a vast and voluminous universe that is full of wonders. "We've got to build our life on new foundations. We must get back to primeval integrity." -Eugène Ionesco, 1960. "That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful." The Little Prince (1943), on the subject of The Lamplighter. Just a whole bunch of little guys! Two onlookers witness slowpoke, painted liked one of their French girls. Two string-instrument artists struggle with and dwell on their art. Mazeppa regrets riding bareback in the company of much wilder ruffians. This place is just chock full of dogs! A book tyrant descends to announce that reading is now mandatory. The month of June is a time for beautiful flora. Things are getting hot, and some foundations are starting to crack. The desert is full of strange and wondrous visions. Jack's lucky chucks attack Waluigi's semi-wahtomatic wahndgun. "It’s not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience. They would be the artists. It is the job of artists to give the audience what they need." -Alan Moore, 2007 Ain't no rule say that dogs can't take baths. Behold some freaks who always thinks with their tentacle ganglia. Where'd you get those creepers?! Think about it. Have you ever *seen* your skull? Or anyone else's, for that matter? What girls want: Trash & Cats. "Did you know? It is impossible to outrun your own reflection." -Celeste (2018) These boys done been kicking your ass so hard, their shoes wore out! A delicate boundary between worlds, but doom awaits those who believe their love will carry them across its threshold. 
