There's a been a bit of talk recently about a decline in blogging. It seems people are finding other things to do (facebook, twitter, etc) and aren't furiously posting all day. Probably a good thing. In fact definitely a good thing, because maybe we'll start to discover what it is that blogs are best for - what they're a uniquely good at. And I think I have a candidate - this lovely series of posts by Dan Hill, which he makes very clear are not about the birth of his son. Except they are. Which he admits as well.
I can't imagine these existing in any other form. Part memoir, part architectural essay, part sleep-deprived ramble, all lovely. The distance he inserts by talking about architecture makes it even more personal, so much so that I almost hesitate to link to it. (So I asked, isn't that pathetic?) But it's fantastic stuff and deserves to be read. Where else would you get something that's this personal, useful, interesting and immediate?
August 13, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Thinking Machine 4 is a chess game that becomes art by showing you some of the complexity underlying the computer's thinking. It looks lovely and if you're not very good at chess (like me) seeing the potential patterns and shapes under the game seems to help you get better. And it's just nice to watch. (via Andrew Walkingshaw)
July 08, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
My old boss, and all around splendid gent, Chris Riley points at this gorgeous video about music and DJing in New York. It looks and sounds lovely. Shows you online video can be about more than people falling over and hockey fights. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) And while you're at it check out another of Chris's finds, this bit of vintage Frippertronics with a gratingly smug introduction.
June 01, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
A good man has given up his blogging corporeality for a good cause. The least we can all do is visit and pay our respects.
April 27, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
So far, for me, blogging has been almost entirely about making new friends. It's one of the great things about it. But I'm now rather excited because an old friend has started blogging. And he's as funny and interesting online as he is in the real world. His blog is called TVGrouting (which he explains here). And I suspect it's going to be rather excellent. It'll be especially interesting to us lot because Richard spends most of his life as a lot of us do; trying to have good ideas and then trying to persuade people to buy them. It's just he's trying to think up TV shows. He's currently posing a question about blogs, diaries and television over here, so please go and have a look and see if you have anything to add. While you're there get him to explain his theories about never paying more than £11 for anything.
February 01, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Bobbie Johnson, has started a meme about five blogs which inspire him - beyond his normal professional interest. And he's been kind enough to include me, which I'm regarding as a tag and I'm taking up the challenge. What makes it harder is he's included quite a few blogs that I'd have put on my list, so now I have to think harder. Curse thinking harder. It's also an opportunity to confess to some minor stalking, in the same way that Bobbie's admitted an to obsession with Jan Chipchase (which I share). It was also hard to try and decide what falls outwith professional interest for a dilettante planner. But this is my list.
Anne has suggested that Matt (below) and Schulze And Webb are who I wanted to be when I grew up. She has a point. If only I'd applied myself more. Schulze and Webb's blog is pulse laser, and it's full of original, off-centre ideas about product design, technology and the world, all expressed with charm and imagination. I get quite fan-boy about it. Embarrassing really. For typically instructive and fascinating entries look here and here.
I love blackbeltjones because of Matt's noticing. It's noticing from a splendid angle. He spots all sorts of revealing little things, on and off the web, and every now and then he'll post a big burst of splendid thinking.
I suspect the other thing that keeps me going back to Matt and S&W is the stuff they're thinking about is always new, always changing. The stuff I spend much of my professional life thinking about doesn't change much - cars, sport, shoes, coffee - established categories where everyone knows the rules, the good moves and the bad moves. There's decent fun to be had in finding new approaches to the old problems but it's not as captivating as inventing new categories and new rules, as these folk are doing.
I met Anne from i like today. First time ever. But it feels like I've known her for years because you get this really clear sense of who she is from what she writes about what she likes. And she has immaculate taste, you're going to like everything she likes. And then there's her other sites which are also magnificent; Nothing To See Here and This is M. Sasek. When I started blogging 'i like' was what I wanted to make.
There's nothing as enthusing as enthusiasm, especially informed enthusiasm and Music Thing has all this. If it was just musical gear-porn it would be damn good, obviously, but it's more than that, it's also the best odd musical bits of youtube and genius musical miscellanea like 'how to play music with barbed wire and chainsaws' and features like Tiny Music.
Alex Ross always makes me feel inadequate. But in a good way. His passion for all sorts of music is incredibly infectious, nudging me towards brilliant sounds in exactly the way my music A level didn't. Because of him I've listened to Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet three times. He'll write something dense about the Eroica and then end it with "In short, Beethoven kicks it". (Though I have to say Beeker's giving him some decent competition.)
So there we are. Five inspiring sites. To be honest I'm slightly hoping none of the people I've linked to read this. We might all find my fanboyness a bit embarrassing. Anyway. It's done now.
January 23, 2007 in sites | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Here's a piece from The Economist about the way the post-modern philosophers both predicted and were co-opted by the world of brands, commerce and new media. It's like crack for planners.
December 28, 2006 in sites | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Speaking of flickr toys Grand Union have done a splendid festive thing - Xpapr.com a web 2.0y parody that also makes nice wrapping paper. Genius.
December 19, 2006 in sites | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)