Colossal
• Kate Mothes
Four Shortlisted Artists Stand to Win the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026
The winner of the competition receives a £15,000 award plus a commissioned work for London's National Portrait Gallery.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Four Shortlisted Artists Stand to Win the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026 appeared first on Colossal.
Perseids
Work Chronicles
• Work Chronicles
(comic) The courage to question
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Charli XCX - Camera
Charli XCX is a Grammy-winning artist who has been making music since she was a teenager. In July 2026, she released her eighth album, Music, Fashion, Film. It debuted at number 1 on the UK charts—her 4th album in a row to hit number 1 there. In addition to her music career, for the last few years, she’s been acting in films. And for this episode, we talked about how those experiences inspired her song “Camera," and how she and producer Finn Keane figured out how to translate that into music.
For more info, visit songexploder.net/charli-xcx.
Colossal
• Kate Mothes
Brussels’ Grand-Place Is Carpeted with 750,000 Fresh Dahlias in a Tribute to Hokusai
Titled "Neo Hokusai," the monumental arrangement last weekend in Brussels covered nearly 14,000 square feet.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Brussels’ Grand-Place Is Carpeted with 750,000 Fresh Dahlias in a Tribute to Hokusai appeared first on Colossal.
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
How a Cowboy Rides When the Range is on Fire
"When wildfires approach, moving cattle to safety means managing their fear and instincts. Here’s how it’s done in B.C.’s Nicola Valley."
18.08.2026
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
Amazing Abandoned Places with Cal Flyn
Cal Flyn is the author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. She also has a new book, called The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness. On today’s show, she and host Kelly McEvers explore the allure of places that humans have abandoned.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Particle Physics Equipment
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Disney’s ABC Sues Trump’s FCC Over Challenge to Its Broadcast License
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Apple Gives Legal Middle Finger to DOJ Challenge on Apple’s July Discovery Win
9to5mac.com/2026/08/17/apple-dojs-latest-challenge-in-antitrust-case-fails-at-every-level/
Mojo🔥 is now open source
This is a wild story: The Scientist Who Lived with...
This is a wild story: The Scientist Who Lived with Dozens of Children from the Pacific Islands. “I realized I’m in the middle of a pedophile operation that has been run out of the N.I.H. by a Nobel laureate for thirty years.”
“Scientists have found that people are being...
“Scientists have found that people are being exposed to more toxins than previously known, and beyond damaging lungs, wildfire smoke may affect hearts, brains and other organs.” (Research is preliminary & ongoing but sheesh…)
Colossal
• Jackie Andres
Dark Emotions Evoke Growth in Alejandro Aguliar Canela’s Graphite Drawings
"It’s more about not discarding what might be considered unwanted, but instead finding some use for it," says the artist.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Dark Emotions Evoke Growth in Alejandro Aguliar Canela’s Graphite Drawings appeared first on Colossal.
Ring of Fire in the Sky
Portuguese photographer Rui Santos captured this shot of the recent solar eclipse.

Stunning. Here’s what makes this shot look a little different from other eclipse photos; from APOD:
Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week’s total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering the remaining blue tones and deepening the already gold-dominated light.
Tags: 2026 solar eclipse · astronomy · eclipses · photography · Rui Santos · Sun
How to make a good Star Wars movie for once ....
How to make a good Star Wars movie for once. “Stop making stuff that’s so self referential and start focusing on projects that once again are bringing things from the outside and putting them in a Star Wars container.” Fan service is bad storytelling.
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Organized Thieves Are Targeting AI Server Chips With Violent Highway Hijackings
wired.com/story/the-worst-ive-ever-seen-cargo-thieves-are-turning-violent-in-pursuit-of-ai-hardware/
And also a trailer for season 2 of Star Wars: Ahsoka ....
And also a trailer for season 2 of Star Wars: Ahsoka. Huh. Lots of Anakin, but where are the space whales?
