Welcome to this week's edition of our Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
??: I am loving the colorful ’80s-inspired artwork of James White, aka “Signalnoise”. Each piece is a real mood, and you can read about his thinking and artistic process in this interview he did with Tobias van Schneider (who I've been mentioning a lot around here, I know).
??: Speaking of things inspired by the ’80s, this incredible branding work for Monterrey, Mexico's ATM Pizza is really something. If the pizza's anywhere near as good as the design aesthetic surrounding it, then they've got a killer product on their hands.
??: Friends and Astronauts is a site made by...uh, I don't actually know who, but they've been getting groups of their actual-magician friends to make free videos showing how to do magic tricks that you can do at home, all in the name of supporting those friends' works, along with COVID-19 relief efforts.
The site only leaves one collection of these up at a time, and as I write this, 'Collection 3' is the one that's up.
???: It's almost criminal that this virtual session of The Seatbelts playing “TANK!” — their official theme song from the all-time-great Cowboy Bebop anime — doesn't have more views. If you know this song and don't do the “3, 2, 1, let's jam” thing at precisely the right moment, you're not wired right.
??: You might not think you're willing to sit for an hour watching an artisan baker make sourdough bread, but once you start the video, that time will simply fly by and you'll come out the other side wishing it were even longer.
This is exactly the kind of thing that makes YouTube great sometimes.
✏️?: I enjoy filling out crossword puzzles like the ones in the NYT, but I haven't decided yet whether it's a hobby worth paying a subscription for. In the meantime, I'm digging the Crossword Hobbyist site where you can create and share your own puzzles, or browse and solve their newspaper-style ones.
??⬅️➡️: There's something so wonderfully charming about “Short Trip”, a browser-based interactive illustration made by Alexander Perrin in 2017. You get to drive a trolley around (using left/right arrows on your keyboard), picking up and dropping off passengers along the way, ringing the bell now and again (spacebar), and generally getting lost in a sense of peace for a while.
He wrote a bit about the project here.
??: There are loads of great Instagram accounts that curate the photos and artworks of other people under a general theme. Passion Passport is full of insane travel photos to kindle your wanderlust, while Sci-Fi Daily is a gallery of cool science fiction artwork. Enjoy getting lost with me, won't you?
?: After watching this in-depth explainer on how to make egg pasta, I have a much better understanding of pasta flours, techniques, and more. I'll be watching many more of Helen Rennie's videos soon.
Neat Stuff We've Published Recently
- If you're still in need of a mask for wearing out in public, this one by Ugmonk is the one we'd recommend.
- The YōK Ergo Grip gives your Nintendo Switch a much more natural-feeling, cramp-free grip that feels comfortable enough for hours of gameplay.
- I'm still kind of blown away how slick the Copilot budgeting app for iPhone is. The onboarding process alone should convince you.
- XIRON's “Paperlike” screen protector recreates the tactile feel of writing and drawing on paper, except on your iPad screen.
- Charge up to four AA/AAA/C/D batteries and/or up to two 9V batteries (depending on the mix) with the EBL Universal Smart Battery Charger.
- AUKEY's new “Omnia” 100-watt USB-C PD charger delivers full speed charging for all USB-C devices, including the latest MacBook Pro 16″.
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.