Ars Nihil

A quick and totally personal review of the recent Richard Linklater movie about the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (liked it but didn't love it for a couple reasons...).

Christmas this year has been a muted one for me, mostly watching dogs and catching up on much-needed sleep, but I also watched a couple fun videos. The first one is from Extra History about the various weird Christmas creatures and the tales associated with them. The second is a brief history provided by the Victoria & Albert Museum about the wonderfully weird Victorian origins of the Christmas card. Hope you all are having a Happy Holidays and that the new year might be a be

Not really in a blogging mood due to a whole lot of private life stuff going this month but in time for the holidays. Yet here's a couple interesting posts I found when running through my Reddit saves explaining about why there were all sorts of weird food trends (think Jello molds and meat-and-pineapple combos) that were recommended by cookbooks during the 1950s to 1970s. Also adding an hour-long video from Vintage Lifestyle USA that surveys this very peculiar genre of cook

Despite growing up loving electronic music, techno is a blind spot for me. In the '90s, it was normally conflated with distinct genres like house or jungle or just as a synonym for "Electronica" but techno is its own world with different characteristics and customs. In honor of World Techno Day, I'm embedding a Reddit post that leads to a good thread on which albums to start off with if new to techno (like me!). I'm also posting some of the albums recommended, some relevan

New issues are now up on my itch.io account and can be downloaded in both full-color PDF and printable PDF versions. Here are the links to all of the new ones:

This one's a little more of a shock since Malo was only 60. I don't have a lot to add for noting his passing other than The Mavericks were a staple in my house growing up, especially What A Crying Shame ( which was posted here back in June ). He was a talented singer and it's sad that he's now gone. If you've never heard them before, I recommend checking them out. They were a unqiue band within country music due to picking up a number of Mexican and rock influences they infu

While I firmly believe war is never a thing to celebrate, I do find reading about important battles interesting and today I was reminded is the 220th anniversary of a very important one: the battle of Austerlitz between Napoleon's forces and the coalition put together to stop his advances into Eastern Europe. The Napoleonic Wars aren't a common subject here in the United States since we weren't as affected by them but they were a huge deal for how later events occurred throug

Because it's related to my line of work in the real world, going to mark that today is technically National Computer Security Day. Don't really know how to celebrate that exactly but make sure your computers and all other tech have robust protection, especially if you're doing online shopping this month. My understanding is some nasty computer viruses are hanging out this during the second half of 2025 (specifically the Shai-Hulud supply-chain attack from September ...). Use

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a strugg

Finally did the thing I've been wanting to do for several years now and have begun making the zine versions of this blog! The first two issues are now up on my itch.io account and can be downloaded in both full-color PDF and printable PDF versions. I'll post a quick thing for each one I make but here are the links to both of them. I'm also going to post the full essay from Issue A-1 in its uninterrupted form as a bit of a taste of what to expect with this thing. Ars Nihil I

"It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it... There is communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk." M.F.K. Fisher , The Gastronomical Me (1943)

I was hoping to write more about this in greater detail this year since I have a personal story to tell but now cannot due to circumstances outside my control. I'll write to it next year once that situation has concluded. That said, this is still a very important day to note and I would like to do so. I hope if you're reading this that you will take the time to go through the websites below, remember those who died this year, keep them in your heart, and watch over those who

Self Portrait of a Drowned Man , Hippolyte Bayard (1840) I've been flipping through some books about the history of photography and this photo was one of the more striking examples of how strange early photos actually were. It's a considerably famous work not just because it's the first staged photograph ever taken but also because it's one of photography's funniest and pettiest "fuck you" moments. The overall story is that Bayard got robbed of his credit in innovating the fi

I'm fortunate that I've never experienced poverty. So while I don't have lived experience to relate to a thread I saw the other day on Bluesky, it feels important enough to embed and post in full here as a Basic Knowledge Stuff post. I'm also including a non-connected but related Bluesky post with relevant information. Photo by Isaiah Villar ( Unsplash )

Saw this earlier while looking through my feeds and the person who wrote this certainly has a flair for making a story interesting while disclosing certain things about the magic trade. Also adding a video of the 1973 Tonight Show appearance for context, some of the more interesting resources cited in this write-up, and related articles.

This one is personal because I'm the son and grandson of Marines. While I never served and I don't always agree with the mission, I would also feel short with myself if I didn't post something to commemorate this day.

While I knew today was the anniversary, I had always thought the wreck of SS Edmund Fitzgerald was much older (I know someone from Michigan and the way they describe it made it sound like it was in the late 1800s/early 1900s) but apparently it was only 50 years ago: Image from Wikipedia I'm also admittedly not a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan (my mom loved his music, though) but the song is both appropriate and fitting to what happened without making it cheap. Let's remember the

I'll be honest: I haven't been feeling it with either the journal entries or the blog overall lately, so I'm going to call a rough hiatus for the rest of 2025 for daily journal posts. On the plus side, doing those has helped remind me to tend to this blog regularly and not just let three months go by without a thing. Recently I tried to mix them up by adding "offerings" but that was only turning into more of a chore without adding much else of substance about what's actually

Started teaching myself Spanish, which seems to feel easier than expected (took German and Latin when I was younger, so that might be why). Otherwise relieved about this past Tuesday, which makes things feel less hopeless but still exercising caution about the future. - AB 11/7/25 Today's Offerings Album ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid (1995) Image/Video Zane Golia has some weird super-cut videos I've been binge-watching lately. They're funny if you can find the dark h

Today's pretty non-descript - enjoy the offerings. - AB 11/6/25 Today's Offerings Album Sun Goddess by Ramsey Lewis (1974) Image/Video Image by Mariola Grobelska ( Unsplash ) Wikipedia Entry Social Media Share Article of Interest Special Day of the Year