Into It

Given the infinite access we’re afforded to color, it’s hard to imagine the importance its been given throughout history and the passion that has gone into its hunt.

In the pursuit of vivid color, each region of the world tapped its own resources. In the Middle East, the semi-precious stone Lapis lazuli yielded a bright blue pigment, and in China, the deep red-orange pigment vermilion was derived from a common ore of mercury.

The violent pastime known as bull baiting entertained the wealthy and poor alike throughout the Middle Ages and well into the 19th century.

The spectacle took place in public rings, where a single bull stood tethered to a stake. With crowds gathered around and the bulls agitated, dog owners paid a fee to let their canine have a run at the bull.

Since the first simple arcade games were developed in the late sixties, the video arcade has fought a war of innovation and marketing with home gaming.

What’s called The Golden Age of arcades was sparked by the 1978 release of Space Invaders. The game was so successful, in fact, that it brought about a shortage of the 100-yen coins used in the Japanese machines.

In the following years, arcades were dominated by single player games like Pac-Man and other missions of skill, whether it was navigating the upward climb in Donkey Kong or scuttling across a busy road in Frogger.

The barber pole has come a long way to be stationed above old brick shops, to repeat and repeat its lonely spins. In fact, the barbers themselves have a strange past, their title once denoting a more taxing profession.

In the middle ages, if you required dentistry, surgery, fire cupping, or a session of leeching, you’d visit the barber-surgeon. It was hundreds of years before the roles we now know as doctors and barbers diverged completely.

When we hear the word “noise,” we think annoyance and distraction. And that makes perfect sense. Noise is essentially interference, something that disrupts our experience with everything from radios and televisions to images on digital cameras. But our ears have a unique relationship with colorful noise.