Hey, Metropolis magazine is holding a big design contest with a big big prize. Worth a shot, maybe? You tell me, all you would be designer-entrepreneurs out there…
Author: gordsellar
Cell Phones, Disconnection, and Connection
Does this kind of idea run through your mind when you think of cell phones? I don’t know which is worse–the loss of the sense that walking along a great urban street is a glorious shared experience or the blurring of distinctions between different kinds of places. But these cultural losses are related, and the cell phone has played a major role in both. It sure doesn’t run through mine. But apparently Paul Goldberger thinks of it, and is concerned that we should too. He’s so concerned he wrote an article about these “cultural losses”, titled “Disconnected Urbanism”, for the …
Where Is True Love?
That’s the question I asked an ajuma (a soccer mom) with a baby on her back, in the parking lot of HanShinKoa Apartments a few weeks ago. I’m writing it in English characters because Hangeul will look crazy on most peoples’ computers. But I want to post this story to my Korean blog soon. Gord: “Cham Sarang, eodisaeyo?” Ajuma: ??? (confused look, tinge of “is this idiot dangerous?”) Gord: ??? (reciprocally confused look, tinge of “dammit I need to start studying Korean again!”) Ajuma: “Moragoyo?” Gord: “Cham Sarang-i, eodisaeyo?” Ajuma: “Eongh?” Gord: (dawn of realization): “Cham Sarang Mateu-ga, eodisaeyo?” Ajuma: …
Gorgeous Chicken and Coconut Milk Curry. Thai Style.
Not this Thai… he’s my band’s drummer, not our cook. I’ve seen him roll cigarettes, but I’ve never seen him make a curry soup. I mean the other Thai, as in Thailand’s gorgeous cuisine. Mmmm. Having gone to E-Mart today, having read a couple of comments from a Thai reader (welcome to the eclexys readership, Lynn), and having recently written about wonderful foods I miss, I decided to have some Thai curry soup tonight. Now, it may not be authentic. I don’t know Thai food that well. I thought I knew Korean food but I’ve been told I don’t know …
And one more Quiz: This Time, Classic Novels
In my not so humble opinion, you, of course, belongin the Picture of Dorian Gray, and do not tryto deny it. You belong in the fashionablecircles of Victorian London where exotictastes, a double life, decadence, wit and ahypocritical belief in moral betterment makeyou a home. You belong where the wittyapothegms of Lords, the silly moralities ofmatrons, the blinding high of opium, and thebeauty of visual arts mingle to form oneconvoluted world. Which Classic Novel do You Belong In? brought to you by Quizilla Okay, no more quizzes for today. Thanks for the link to this one, Melissa.
Which Movie do you belong in?
Does it come as any Surprise? Fight Club! What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!) brought to you by Quizilla
What Gender is Your Writing?
Okay, so men and women are different. We all know this. Once in a while political issues make us say things like, “We’re really not that different!”, but then scientists come in and pretty succintly inform us that we are different. Our brains are somewhat different, our bodies take slightly different shapes, our drives in many respects are different. And, apparently, this affects how we write. A bit of software out there on the net, called the Gender Genie, can analyse a text and with a pretty impressive degree of accuracy tell you whether the author is male or female. …
Friday Five: Food and Place
This week’s Friday Five question comes to us courtesy of Adrienne Martini of martinimade. Lately, I’ve been thinking about food. It’s something I think about a lot, granted, but this is more about food and place. For me, these connections are intense and evocative. The question: if you could travel back to any place you’ve lived (or, in a pinch, visited) and have just one meal in each location that reminded you of the time you spent there, what would your top five stops and dishes be? Wow, for me it’s become that way as well. For a long time …
Global Icing?
This is kind of scary: Bill McGuire of the Guardian Unlimited reports that global warming could in fact trigger a new ice age. Or, rather, the resumption of the ice age that never really ended, for that ice age never actually let up. We’re in a warm period, an interglacial period, actually. And it might be we could trigger the resumption of an ice age. Something to think about. The fact that we don’t know, but we’re affecting it, is scary. Because the way we affect things seems to accelerate everything. Anyway, thanks to Rob from about pip for sharing …
sarah hatter and change
Over on sarah hatter dot com, Sarah has something interesting to say about desperation and whether people really do change in life: The more desperate the circumstance, the more urgency a person has to find something to count on, to hold true to. When everything else has failed a person, that is when they start to really believe. How many near death experiences have scared a person out of a life of self-centeredness and deceit? How many death beds have heard confessions of sin and self? How many epic tragedies does it take for a person to begin all over …