Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Spinning Playback Head

n.
the disorienting feeling of meeting back up with an old friend and realizing that you’ve become different people on divergent paths—that even though they’re standing right in front of you, the person you once knew isn’t really there anymore.

After the part of a VCR that reads the signal on a videotape.

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

The Standard Blues

Cover image for the The Standard Blues word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Liberosis

Cover image for the Liberosis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Plata Rasa

Cover image for the Plata Rasa word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Xeno

Cover image for the Xeno word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Symptomania

Cover image for the Symptomania word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Fygophobia

Cover image for the Fygophobia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anechosis

Cover image for the Anechosis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows