M.J. Rose

We think these artifacts rather beautiful actually!

Edison’s Talking Dolls Can Now Provide The Soundtrack To Your Nightmares (NPR – All Things Considered)

“Back in 1890, Thomas Edison gave us some of the world’s first talking dolls. Today, the glassy-eyed cherubs that are still around stand about 2 feet tall; they have wooden limbs and a metal body; and they sound supercreepy. (If you’re looking for a soundtrack to your nightmares, listen to the audio story above.) Edison built and sold about 500 of them back in 1890. Now, new technology has made hearing them possible for the first time in decades.

Jerry Fabris, who curates sound recordings at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, says part of what makes the recordings so unsettling is that they were most likely read by a female factory worker imitating a little girl. (For example: Here’s a shrieking recitation of “A Child’s Prayer” that you will never unhear.)…”

For the rest of the story click here.

Listen to the story —

Shazam!

Happy October!

‘The Power Of The Witch’ – super rare British witchcraft documentary from 1971

“What a find! The Power Of The Witch is a documentary about witchcraft as it was practised in the late 60s and early 70s in the UK – apparently it was only screened once and there is practically no information about it on the web. From the uploader taitsitarot‘s YouTube description:

An extremely rare documentary about Witchcraft aired once in the UK in 1971. Featuring contributions from Eleanor Bone, Cecil Williamson, Alex & Maxine Sanders [above], Doreen Valiente et al. Very much of its time and with some very rare footage, also includes reference to the famously unsolved murder of Charles Walton on Meon Hill.

The Power Of The Witch is worth a watch even if you are not particularly interested in the occult – rather watch it as a document of its time, capturing as it does people’s attitudes, beliefs, fashions and plummy Brit accents. It’s a curious mixture of patriarchal stiff upper lip-ism and unerring belief in both Christianity and the forces of magic, making it feel very much as if it comes from a completely different era. Not to mention, it’s a goldmine of potential witch haus footage:…”

For the rest of the article, click here.

To watch the film, click here.

Forest, to paper, to forest again…

Layer Upon Layer: Eva Jospin Sculpts Cardboard Into Dense, Mysterious Forests (Beautiful / Decay)

“Sculptor Eva Jospin constantly reinvents the idea of what a forest is over and over again. She cuts, layers, arranges, glues and builds cardboard into different interpretations of The Woods. Her pieces range from smaller 2D pictures compiled from dense sticks, branches and flaky bits of wood, to life size 3D installations that you are invited into, and can move around within. For Jospin, cardboard is just the medium for a larger message; these trees express many things:

The forest – an incarnation of nature in the wild – is above all the setting in traditional storytelling of tests of courage, and can be a gloomy or initiatory place. The forest is also where one encounters oneself. This walk through the forest initiates the visit to ‘ Inside’, which is also an inner journey. (Source)

Jospin uses a material that is not only durable, robust, strong, and supportive, but also fragile, impermanent, raw and insubstantial. She plays on these two points of view – they mirror the actual qualities of trees, nature and our relationship to it. These poetic attachments to Josie’s Forest pieces isn’t lost on her critics either…”

For the rest and more delicious photos of these pieces, click here.