In the Loop: November 2023

Paint the Town

The grass is always greener. Paint the town red. Wave the white flag. Out of the blue. The black sheep of the family. Rose-colored glasses. A gray area (or a grey area, depending on where you live). There are as countless colorful idioms and expressions, if you want to throw a little shade (or hue, or tint, or tone).

We associate colors with feelings and objects and seasons and people. Colors turn our black-and-white-and-read-all-over into vibrant landscapes and technicolor worlds. This month, we're looking at colorful, arty things and listening to them, too (this month's playlist is a cacophony of hues). So read on, and crank up the color.

Editing Q & A: Who Arted?

MLA
Hunter, Timothy Yanick. Collapse & Incompletion. 2023. Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. https://moca.ca/programmes/timothy-yanick-hunter/

Chicago
1. Camille Turner and Camal Pirbhai, The New Brunswick 5, 2018, color photograph on vinyl, light box, 172.5 x 119.5 cm, Museum London, https://museumlondon.ca/index.php?p=exhibitions/camille-turner-and-camal-pirbhai-the-new-brunswick-5.

Turner, Camille, and Camal Pirbhai. The New Brunswick 5. 2018. Color photograph on vinyl, light box, 172.5 x 119.5 cm. Museum London.

APA
McClenon, A. J. (2021). Deep surface: Salivary gland and cornrow map study from page 885 (mixed media collage/drawing). Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, United States. https://www.hydeparkart.org/exhibition-archive/aj-mcclenon-notes-from-vega/

Playlist: Music is Better in Technicolor

What's the Diff?

There are a lot of sneaky words out there—words with similar spellings, similar sounds, or just similar vibes. Here’s the lowdown on some of those commonly swapped-by-accident words.

Dying is the present participle of die—aka to cease living. Dying refers to death.

Dyeing is the present participle of dye—aka to color with liquid. Dyeing refers to coloring a fabric or other material.

Dieing is technically a word, but it never refers to death or liquid color. It refers only to cutting metals with a die-cast machine. You’re either talking about shaping metal in a machine shop or it’s (more likely) a spelling mistake.

Cool Guide: The Whale Is Pale (Every Color in Moby-Dick)

Stuff We Like

A compilation of Prince’s (you know, The Purple One) best dance moves.

Vantablack is the blackest black pigment in the world.

ICYMI: Merriam-Webster totally made fun of Twitter Blue by claiming to launch exclusive definitions with Merriam-Webster Red™ (and other times the dictionary wore sassy pants).

Jon Mattox breaks down New Order’s “Blue Monday” into all its clever bits.

Didja ever wonder about color naming patterns around the world? Obviously.

Peep these stunning photos of evaporation ponds in France.

Move over, red. "Blue is the color of desire."—Scientists and Poets

Here is a lovely review of Maggie Nelson’s book Bluets (which is amazing).

Here is a look at every color cardigan Mr. Rogers wore on his show.

Pink wasn’t a “girly” color until surprisingly recently. Thanks, Mamie Eisenhower!

Where do color names come from?

Incarnadine? Filemot? Gingerline? Check out 26 colors you might not have heard of.

The New York Times presents the “25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II.”