Random Etc. Notes to self. Work, play, and the rest.
…And You Will Know Us by the Shape of Thames
Pete from Trulia sent me and Eric a copy of Simon Foxell's Mapping London, and I've been poring over its pages for the last couple of days.
Visually, my favourite map is definitely the one entitled "Social and Functional Analysis", which has a beautiful cellular structure:
But lest I get too involved with the aesthetics or content of any one particular map, or the print quality of the book, or the sheer Londonness of the thing, there's also the "Fetish Map of London", whose description warns:
[Chris] Kenny draws attention to the way that maps can become fetishised objects, by creating links between Kongo fetish figures—with their nailed in 'pledges' or 'commitments'—and the pins in a wall map. His map of London is covered in such pins, tacks and nails to the point of rendering it almost unitelligible.
Normally that reference would be enough to keep me quiet, except I'm delighted to find that I'm mentioned in the book, on page 137 for my Travel Time Tube Map. Sadly the link is a little muddled (pointing people to del.icio.us instead of here) but I hope that can be corrected in future editions.
That aside, the book is of a very high quality and full of historical and contemporary mapping gems from all kinds of sources, including many that I can't find anywhere online (who says print is dead?). I've taken a few snaps of my favourites so you can get an idea of what's in store if you buy a copy, and I can definitely recommend that you do.
I'd been saving this title for a potential Pecha Kucha presentation, covering 20 different maps of London, but it doesn't look like happening any time soon. Meanwhile, maps of London are on my mind: watch this space for some new ones coming soon!
The Importance of Perspective
I'm reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions at the moment. Our protagonist, Kilgore Trout, is hitch-hiking in a truck which has PYRAMID written on it in massive letters. He wonders about the implications:
"Trout wondered what a child who was just learning to read would make of a message like that. The child would suppose that the message was terrifically important, since somebody had gone to the trouble of writing it in letters so big."
I often wonder the same thing about blogging, twittering, linking on del.icio.us, open source programming, and so on. The things we do in public, on the web, aren't always that significant. And yet to a passing reader they must appear to be very important to us. It seems that often we don't get around to writing the important stuff down, precisely because it matters so much.
My new year's resolution is to take time to write the important stuff down, in MASSIVE LETTERS.
New Year’s Degobah
Like Mike, I spent New Year in a holiday cottage in Sonoma, enjoying the company of friends good and new. Aaron was a permanent fixture in the kitchen, tending to his cassoulet for three days in a quest for the mythical crust.
Being vegetarian, I didn't sample the dish itself (though that didn't stop some people!). I did manage to document the eating using the timelapse feature on my camera
Degobah Timelapse from RandomEtc on Vimeo.
Proof that narrative is hard: A 3 month Flickr summary
(I started posting to Flickr again, after almost a year without photos. Lots of these shots are thanks to Ben's magic powers, the convertible dérive.)
One or two dinners and brunches at Suppenkuche:
One or two games of Settlers of Catan:
One or two nouns too many:
Artists messing with tissue cultures:
The canals of Venice, Los Angeles:
Downtown Los Angeles, from afar:
A Korean Temple on a coastal hilltop:
The port that sustains the sprawl:
And the cranes that keep it moving:
Meanwhile, I learned a language that nobody knows:
But not the one that this city prefers:
Reflections on their reflections:
Bill Clinton has a library:
The Northern Irish peace process has a chess set:
Hillary wanted to be a nuclear scientist:
Bill wanted to be a cowboy:
People have a very different attitude to animals than I do (part I):
People have a very different attitude to animals than I do (part II):
San Francisco has secret pockets...
... full of junk:
And views!
But fog! And palm trees!
I have seen a Hitler teapot:
Having palm trees outside the studio still stuns me:
As does the radical change in building style, one hour away:
I have seen the Bay Bridge from a funny angle (part I):
I have seen the Bay Bridge from a funny angle (part II):
That fog again, a curious accent:
A curious contrast:
And in between colours:
Now live music is rare:
But epic:
The transport is suprisingly European:
Meanwhile, brief returns to London take me straight in at the top:
SxSW Interactive, Saturday March 10th
Just a quick note to say that on Saturday March 10th I'll be appearing at SxSWi in Austin, Texas as part of a panel convened by Flickr/geoblogger's Rev Dan Catt entitled "Mapping: Where the F#*% Are We Now?". In the fancy SxSW panel picker, Dan's proposal read:
"Last year online mapping was emerging, now it's everywhere; on your mobile, in your camera, on your wearable head-up display, in your location aware clothing, even on paper and in your kids. Which of those did I totally make up? Guess it's time to check in with those people who actually make maps, merge virtual and real worlds at location flux points, and, you know, put maps online."
It sounds great! I'll be wearing both my old, trusty OpenStreetMap hat and my new, fancy Stamen hat, which should make for an interesting balancing act.
This is what it looks like when I’m doing the washing up.
This is what it looks like when I'm doing the washing up., originally uploaded by Just_Tom.
This marks the end of my third week in San Francisco. No news is good news - it's all going swimmingly.
I'll be in Dallas from Tuesday for two weeks, not sure how well my internet connectivity will fare, but I hope to post a little bit about my first month in the US. In the meantime, "happy holidays" and all that.
Chance Encounters
Mikel Maron is writing up the fascinating things he's found out about a friend's new place in Weaver House in London's east end (see also parts 2, 3, 4 and 5). We were there on Thursday and it truly is a bizarre spot for a building. Today someone found my photo of it on Flickr, and it turns out he used to live there.
In related news, someone spotted her husband's car in my Youtube video of Sycamore Speedway in Illinois. The internet is amazing!
Typists = £30 per week
Typists = £30 per week, originally uploaded by Just_Tom.
I love it when old bits of London are revealed temporarily. Like this poster at High Street Kensington a few weeks ago.
It may as well say, "Hot blonde in short skirt wanted, for typing and stuff." Any idea of the date?
Don’t Pick Up The Phone
Simon Says Don't Pick Up The Phone, originally uploaded by Just_Tom.
Putting aside the issues about watching repeats of televised events like X Factor (and putting aside issues about watching X Factor at all thank you very much), I'm always amused by the after-thought of "DON'T PHONE, YOU'RE TOO LATE" banners.
I like these ones because they alternate between Simon, Louie and Sharon. I'm not sure who I'm most inclined to listen to, but if Simon Says don't call, then...
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