Data viz of every book in the world
phiresky made an incredible data visualisation of all the books of the world using ISBNs (International Standard Book Number). That’s about 100m books in special visualised “bookshelves”!
Cultrface – a blog dedicated to culture and how it enriches our lives.
It's all Ancient Greek to me
This Bluesky post made me laugh:
Oh yes, Homer’s famous “Tes Thdpssssps.”
👍🏻
@carausius286.bsky.social on Bluesky
Above is the film poster for The Odyssey, which is coming out on *squints at the Roman numerals* 17th July 2026. The title is written in Greek letters but the problem is that the letters aren’t direct replacements for Latin letters so it doesn’t actually mean the same thing.
Queer Design Club: bringing LGBTQ+ designers together
Queer Design Club is a community for LGBTQ+ designers to celebrate their efforts, share their work, and connect with like-minded queer designers. Founded in 2019, QDC has over 4,000 members from over 70 countries.
Through lived experience, LGBTQ+ people bring unique ideas and insights into the design process. Centering queer voices is essential to building an inclusive, innovative industry that reflects the wider world it serves. Queer Design Club is proud to be part of a movement that champions authenticity and empowers LGBTQ+ creatives to lead with their full selves.
I would have loved something like this back when I wanted to be a graphic designer so it’s great to see it now because LGBTQ+ design is often overlooked and community is so important right now.
Check out the Queer Design Club website to find out more and if you’re interested in becoming a member, have a look at their different membership options.
Atlas Obscura on Madagascar, the world's biggest vanilla grower
Back in 2018, Atlas Obscura found out how and why Madagascar grew 80% of the world’s vanilla:
The reason that Madagascar is still on top of the vanilla game is grim: According to The Financial Times, it’s one of the few regions with the right climate that is also poor enough to make laborious hand-pollination affordable. While other countries, such as India, have dabbled in heavy vanilla production, huge swings in the international price make it a dangerous crop to grow widely. Many farmers choose to stick to other crops. This concentration of vanilla production makes the industry and prices even more precarious—currently, events in Madagascar have led to some ice cream parlors losing money on each scoop of vanilla.
7 years later and Madagascar remains the world’s biggest vanilla grower and exporter (ahead of France) but the export percentage varies depending on where you look. A quick Google search gave me figures of 54% in 2023 for export but growth is apparently still 80%. Either way, the circumstances suck and I’ll perhaps think twice before I buy any Madagascan vanilla products (a rarity but it’s better to be considerate).
JSTOR Daily on Monaco's “ties to science, religion, and royalty”
For JSTOR Daily, Rob Crossan explored the history of Monaco, the principality located between France and Italy, tracing its Medieval roots and its modern-day riches:
Monaco’s history dates to 1297 when François, a member of the exiled Grimaldi family from Genoa, seized the fortress of the Genoese rulers of the area. As Kendall W. Stiles explains in a chapter from his 2018 book, Trust and Hedging in International Relations, the Grimaldi’s proved themselves adept from the outset at negotiating with far larger powers to avoid their territory being swallowed up.
[…]
The Grimaldi hold on Monaco even managed to survive the French Revolution, though the uprising resulted in the French deposing the royal family for two decades. But following the defeat(s) of Napoleon, the principality returned to the family in 1814, Stiles writes. In 1815, Monaco became a Sardinian protectorate before receiving independence once again in 1861.
I’ve been to Monaco a couple of times and it’s been beautiful to visit and the perfect way to get your 10,000 steps in (twice). A lot of history for once small sovereign city-state.
I found this site called asianart.com on Wiby and thought it was really cool. It basically shows different art studies and exhibitions that feature Asian art. Stuff like this is really important now more than ever so go check it out!
RKZ, Cultrface’s spiritual forefather, has a Pinterest board of his favourite men’s outfits and it’s the most stylist collection I’ve ever seen.
The machete order for Fast & Furious
I’ve covered machete orders for Star Wars, X-Men, and MCU movies. Now it’s time for Fast & Furious. After watching Tokyo Drift last night and looking up some of the characters, I realised that Han features in later movies and wondered where the film featured in the F&F timeline, given it was the third movie released.
Radio Times covered the machete order timeline, placing Tokyo Drift somewhere in the middle:
Although it was the third Fast film to be released in cinemas, Tokyo Drift is actually set between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. Swerving away from the story of Brian and Dom, the film follows a completely new set of characters led by Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), a student forced to move to Japan to avoid jail time.
Here’s the list (as of 2025):
- The Fast and the Furious (2001)
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017)
- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
- F9 (2021)
- Fast X (2023)
We know that the next movie will be the last, with Leterrier announcing that the film would be delayed until 2026. I have only seen Tokyo Drift so I’m looking forward to following this order in the future.
For want of a nail, a horseshoe was lost.
For want of a horseshoe, a steed was lost.
For want of a steed, a rider was lost.
For want of a rider, a message was lost.
For want of a message, a war was lost.
For want of a war, a kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a nail.
Proverb
Hey! If you need a pixel font for your project, this video has 13 you can use and they’re all free for personal and commercial use. Links are in the description but you can see them in action in the video.
Something I just learnt about Jesus and the moon: In the Manichean religion, Jesus Christ was worshipped as a lunar deity, often being called the King of the Moon, or simply Jesus the Moon.
(via Wikipedia)
The Nokia Design Archive is an interactive portal designed by Finnish researchers to showcase the mobile phone company’s iconic design history. Nostalgia is a helluva drug but I think we’d be slightly better off if phones were a but more daring, a bit more robust, and didn’t have chatbots shoved in them for no reason.
Peter “Navy” Tuiasosopo has sadly passed away. He was best known for his roles as E. Honda in Street Fighter (1994), Ed Tuttle in BASEketball (1998), and a Samoan Guard in The Fast and the Furious (2001). (via)
Print Mag's 13 African American graphic designers you should know
Glenford Laughton compiled a list of 13 African American graphic designers you should know about for Print Mag, including Art Sims, Sylvia Harris, and Aaron Douglas:
Known as a key artist in the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas was a pivotal figure in developing a distinctly African style of art through his blending of Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles with connections to African masks and dances. His illustrations, published in Alan Locke’s anthology, The New Negro Movement, showcased his detachment from European-style arts and evolution into his own style, clearly communicating African heritage.
Star Drag: The Next Degeneration is a series of fictional stories inspired by Star Trek and Björk, created and written by Thomas Stevens. You can read them on the website and check out some 3D character models.