Recomendo

Flush/Pattern generator/Phantom Kangaroo

img

Recomendo: issue no. 257

Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.

 

Nearest toilets
When you got to go, you got to go. Flush is a free iPhone app that shows on a map all the nearest public toilets. It is indispensable. — KK

Online pattern generator
This easy-to-use doodad.dev pattern generator has a distinct 1980s graphic design vibe. Use it in your designs or just play around with it to see what cool patterns you can make. It would be fun to use this to make book covers or fabric pattern designs. — MF

An eerie place for poems
Poetry is my true love. The imagery of poetry and abstract concepts ignite new connections in my brain. A creation of mine is Phantom Kangaroo — an online and print poetry journal. Over the last decade I have published 300+ poems by poets who write about the surreal, supernatural and occult. I chose these subjects because the otherworldly is what awakens me. This year, I stitched together issues 1 through 23 and published them in a hardcover anthology that you can thumb through whenever you need to break out of the mundane. Issue 24 is free to read online and features a creepy rhyming poem about cats, canonization of women, and incarnating into a body that feels like kiwi. Check it out here. — CD

Four digital note boards
Four Note Boards is an online app and private text tool where you can paste and drag text around into one of four boxes. It’s perfect for when you need to compare blocks of text. I used it to compare and select poems for the new issue of Phantom Kangaroo. It’s simple and allows you to think multi-dimensionally. — CD

Wolf warrior diplomacy
Pundits are calling China’s new diplomacy “wolf warrior” mode. This is in reference to a pair of patriotic films that were the highest grossing Chinese films of all time. If you want to get a sense of China’s new sense of pride and view of itself, watch Wolf Warrior 2. This is a super slick action film (subtitled), with Rambo, James Bond, and the Avengers all rolled into one, and the Americans are the evil bad guys. — KK

Inexpensive tool set
I bought this $20 Cartman 39-Piece Tool Set for a young relative moving out on their own. It has everything you would need to handle 99% of the simple repair jobs around an apartment. — MF

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 06/20/21

© 2022