Cultrface – a blog dedicated to culture and how it enriches our lives.

That time when Sony crowdsourced a new logo—and never used it

Image via Typeroom via Verge

For feedme.design, Chris Kernaghan journeyed back to the 80s when Sony, for its 35th anniversary in 1981, did a contest to redesign its logo and why they didn’t use any of the entries:

Gathering nearly 30,000 global submissions, including the UK, Europe, North and South America, Japan, and Asia, three winners were eventually selected.

[…]

Judges found no clear winner in Sony’s logo redesign contest, opting for equal prizes.

The classic logo endures, symbolising “innovation”. Sony deemed the ’80s-winning logo designs lacked longevity and legibility, leading to the retention of their current logo.

“It was the decision of the judges that there was no clear first, second, or third place winner and that the prize money should therefore be divided equally among the three finalists,” the ad reads.

While Sony made the right decision, I wonder what they expected to get if nothing of the 30,000 entries wowed them enough. This is why you hire a good design team (internal or external) and stick with them.

Foi thong: a Thai dessert with a Portuguese past

I’ve written about the legacy of Portuguese culture in Eastern Asia before (Adopted Portuguese words in the Far East and How to make a Taiwanese Castella) and foi thong is another example to add to the list.

Known as fois de ovos in Portugal, foi thong is a Thai dessert made of eggs, turned into thin strings, and boiled in sugar syrup with some added pandan leaves for flavour. Etymologically, foi thong means “golden threads” in Thai (foi meaning “thread” and thong meaning “gold”), while the Portuguese fois de ovos means “egg threads”. I know which name I prefer.

Foi thong was said to have been the creation of Portuguese nuns who used egg whites to starch clothes, leaving a lot of excess yolks which they turned into the delicious dessert[1]. It then found its to Thailand via a woman named Maria Guyomar de Pinha as well as other Asian countries thanks to Portuguese explorers.

Lion Brand has a recipe for foi thong and here are the ingredients:

  • 20 eggs
  • 850g white sugar
  • 6 cups of water
  • 2 pandan leaves
  • 2 tbsps egg whites
  • A pair of skewers or chopsticks
  • A mold for drizzling

^ 1. (via Wikipedia; unfortunately, the original source link is dead)

(via Atlas Obscura)

SNL's Santa Baby sketch is my new favourite Christmas video

I saw a clip of this SNL sketch on Instagram earlier today and had to fish out the full version. Santa Baby stars Ryan Gosling and Vanessa Bayer as a couple at a Christmas dinner party with an unhealthy adoration for Santa Claus. By now, we all know that Ryan solidified his comedy chops with an amazing performance as Ken in Barbie but the signs were always there. He’s absolutely hilarious!

All I’m saying is Ryan Gosling deserves an Oscar before he retires.

Christian holiday SNL sketch related: I’m obsessed with Michael Keaton’s Easter Candy SNL skit

An eco-friendly Christmas tree by Buro North

an eco-friendly christmas tree

Back in 2007, design studio Buro North created this eco-friendly Christmas tree. It was made from environmentally aware ingredients, flat-packed, and sustainable since it won’t shed or otherwise deteriorate. Of course, it wasn’t actually green and many people—myself included—probably didn’t enjoy the minimalist, stripped down vibe. But hey, it was eco-friendly!

(via bltd and dezeen)

Greensleeves

Today I learnt that Henry VIII didn’t write Greensleeves and that it was a “romantic myth”:

The piece is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after Henry’s death, making it more likely to be Elizabethan in origin.

Alison Weir, Henry VIII: The King and His Court (New York: Ballantine Books, 2001): 131 via Wikipedia

One of those things I’d picked up as a child and hadn’t thought to look up since. So many lies!

Abolish Sinterklaas. Abolish Zwarte Piet.

Today on Bluesky, I was reminded that the feast of Sinterklaas is tomorrow (6th December). For those who don’t know, Sinterklaas is a Dutch character based on Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus). While this celebration involves gift-giving and general festivities (which start tonight, on 5th December), it also involves Sinterklaas’s “assistant” called Zwarte Piet, traditionally cosplayed by white people in Blackface.

With all the definitions out of the way, I can get to the point of this post: I loathe and despise the concept of Sinterklaas having a Black “helper” (clearly an enslaved Black person). I don’t care if apparently 92% of Dutch people didn’t think he’s racist in 2013 or if it was “of its time” or “part of tradition”. It was racist BS then and it’s racist BS now.

There is an organisation called Kick Out Zwarte Piet that campaigns against Zwarte Piet and its depictions in culture and I’m in full support.

If you want to support a non-racist helper of Santa, look no further than this good boy:

The Simpsons - Homer and Bart adopts Santa's Little Helper

What do reindeer eat?

It’s customary to leave out a mince pie and a glass of milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph on Christmas Eve night. While I’ll sidestep the part where none of the other reindeer get anything despite doing more work collectively than Rudolph, I wondered: can Rudolph eat a raw carrot? And what do reindeer actually eat?

The first question has a general answer: no. The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd says that because carrots aren’t native to the sub-Arctic areas that reindeer are from, they haven’t adapted to eating them and their teeth aren’t prepared for chewing the crunch orange stuff. Phil Endsor aka “The Reindeer Whisperer” backed this up in a quote from The Independent:

“Carrots aren’t part of their natural diet and reindeer struggle to digest carrots because they don’t have any incisor teeth on their upper jaw – we’ve never seen any of the reindeers we look after eat one.”

via The Independent

However, Aoife McElwain from The Irish Times spoke to Kevina O’Connell, the manager of Glendeer Pet Farm and she said the opposite:

“Carrots are great for reindeer,” confirms O’Connell. “They love them and they give them energy. And, of course, carrots help them to see at night.”

Despite her 28 years of running the farm, I’m inclined to agree with The Reindeer Whisperer on this one. But one thing they all agree on is what reindeer definitely eat and that’s Cladonia rangiferina or reindeer lichen, a moss-like fungus that forms an important part of a reindeer’s diet. You find reindeer lichen in habitats like forests, particularly in boreal forests like those found in Canada.

Since reindeer are herbivores, they mainly eat vegetation including herbs, grasses, mosses, and bits of shrubs and trees. If you live near green areas, you could swap the carrots for more green and aromatic options like these to keep Rudolph and his stomach happy.

yr fave film critic: my new favourite podcast

yr fave film critic s01e21: cm punk in love

yr fave film critic is a podcast hosted by The Armchair Auteur aka Dom Griffin. In it, he discussed film news (and often wrestling news), what he’s watched in that week, and answers questions from listeners/viewers with episodes usually coming out every Friday.

I struggle to get into and keep up with podcasts because I have to be “in the mood” for them compared to music where I passively listen. But yr fave film critic demands just enough concentration that you focus but not so much that you have to stop everything you’re doing or you’ll miss something important. I think that’s by design, knowing how Dom creates, and that’s what makes the podcast so approachable and easy to listen to.

You can follow yr fave film critic wherever you get your podcasts (heh) and you can stream the video versions on YouTube (the updated playlist is above).

More from Dom: Dom Griffin on Spider Man: Across The Spider-Verse, The Fast Saga, Ranked (by Dom Griffin), and The Armchair Auteur’s Year in Review (2022)

Atlas Obscura on umami's historic culinary journey

You may know it as monosodium glutamate (MSG) but umami is one of the most popular flavours in the world. Atlas Obscura tracked its journey around the world, its name origins, and dispelled myths over what umami actually is:

Umami comes from molecules found in meat (inosinate), plants (guanylate), or both (free glutamate). Some processes like aging and fermenting create free glutamate, bringing out the umami flavor. (Think: cured meats or cheeses.) But umami is also strongly present in mushrooms, seafood, and tomatoes. The latter points to why ketchup is such a popular condiment: its umami-ness acts as a flavor enhancer.

I covered some of the racist history of MSG (monosodium glutamate) a few Decembers ago but with Atlas Obscura’s article, it’s good to see just how far umami has travelled in terms of awareness and the various names and foods it shows up in.

  • Umami in tomato ketchup? Check.
  • Umami in bacalhau? Check.
  • Umami in aged cheese? Check.
  • Umami in smoked mackerel? Check.

And the name “umami”? It comes from the Japanese word umai, meaning “delicious”. I’ll eat to that!

The Above the Clouds Kilimanjaro 2024 Expedition Team is comprised of Black women and will focus on “fostering connection, community & joy on a journey to the Roof of Africa” as they attempt to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro. You can follow their journey on Instagram. (via Denver 7)

Mermaid and Pirate‘ (Bookshop link) is children’s book by Tracey Baptiste and tells the story of a Black mermaid and a Black pirate who become friends who understand each other despite not speaking the same language. Great for establishing the advantages of friendship, especially for Black children.