This Dane in Scotland is putting wrapped Christmas presents into postal boxes going across seas. While I'm doing this, I'm listening to my German friend, Silke, live on NZ radio. Distance is very relative these days. A few links: + Drake's Door: a big selection of audiobooks and poetry recordings with an emphasis on late 19th C and early 20th C British and American literature. Some material is restricted to US audiences only, but there is still plenty of things to sink your teeth into. + The Popdose 100: The Popdose site compiles their favourite 100 singles of the last fifty years. As always it's a matter of personal taste, but it's still pretty interesting. Also, thumbs up for number twenty. + The Museum of Weird Books: "TV Vet: Horse Book: Recognition and Treatment of Common Horse and Pony Ailments with over 300 action pictures", anyone? I'm particularly intrigued by the action pictures. + Judge A Book By Its Cover: a blog filled with horrid cover design, mind-boggling pulp fiction and readalongs of genre fiction. Surprisingly JABBIC doesn't provide full-on snarking but prefers gentle mocking. Nice one.
Paper Cuts and Paper Cuttings
It's been a long day, so I will just point you to some people who do really weird, amazing, and beautiful things with paper and a pair of scissors: + Patrick Gannon - he reminds me of the visceral violence of the Brothers Grimm mixed with the Gothic fairytales of Angela Carter and the more outlandish aspects of Studio Ghibli. Scary and eerie. + Rob Ryan - 1950ish-inspired bright, simple shapes featuring quirky lettering. Poor page layout though (I don't like embedded tables). + Elsita - quite folksy, purposefully naive paper scultptures that remind me of 18th-19thC Russian/Eastern-European folk art. + Peter Callesen - paper installations preoccupied with the classic dichotomies of life/death, culture/nature etc. Stunningly executed.
Enjoy.
Two - No, Three - Links
One website is really eating into my online time: Geni. It's a site which will let you generate your own family tree for free. I have an unwieldy and complicated family tree (think Jeremy Kyle or vintage Jerry Springer) which makes it super-fun to figure out how people are actually related to one another. As Geni also lets you add photos of the different family members, you can also trace where that family chin originated.. Another website which has captivated me today: the 'Coraline' website. The website seeks to promote the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Coraline" book - and in all honesty, I am not a big Gaiman fan. However, try typing in the code: sweaterxxs and you will see why I'm enchanted. Clues: Starmore and miniature.
Addendum: Darn, I forgot to add this amazing video of a meteorite falling in Canada and burning up as it hits the Earth’s atmosphere. The footage is from a police car in Alberta. (via)
Codex or Kindle?
I am off to Edinburgh to attend a discussion on The Future of The Book. Codex or Kindle.. or something else? In the meantime, have fun with these links. + Urban Knitting: the world's most inoffensive graffiti. I'd argue it's not graffiti (as that word refers to lettering or the act of writing) but it's street art. Regardless, it's pretty cool. + Mighty Morph Pads. Sculptural notepads that you can morph into different shapes and/or decorate. Quite fancy. + Rethinking Garbage. How one man is very happy to receive your (empty) candy wrappers and why the end result can be bought on Etsy. + Swedish Dansbands of the 70s. Amusing photos for non-Scandinavians and painful family party memories for all Scandinavians around my age. Dansbands (Eng. "Dance bands") is a genre of music still going strong in Scandinavia - think of it as Scandinavian country music and bands like Vikingarna (youtube) continue to sell out venues. And Swedish TV is doing a The Dansband Factor primetime show! Aaaghrr! + Jenny Everywhere - an open-source comic book heroine.
Post-Post Election Linkage
Having had very little sleep the night before, I was a bit of a mess yesterday. I was sobbing my way through post-election coverage on the TV and my sobs turned into full-blown chest-wrecking wails when I heard the Obamas were getting a pound puppy. Oh, dear internet, I was a sight to behold. My partner, David, was slightly unsettled at first and then began to bait me with news stories just to see if I'd break into tears again. Cruel man. But here we go with some of the things I unearthed: + George W. Bush in pictures. Okay, I didn't sob over this one, but I really enjoyed the captions courtesy of (UK conservative newspaper) The Daily Telegraph. It's teh funneh. + Condoleezza Rice reacting to Obama's victory was one of the most startling things I was seen in years. Her reaction makes me wonder what who the real Ms Rice may be. + Read this if nothing else: Newsweek spills the beans from inside the campaigns. Hackers, the tension between the Palins and McCain's staff ("Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast"!), McCain not wanting to use negative attacks, Barack Obama swearing etc. Oh, and that Barack Obama knows his Star Trek emerges as well. Hmm.. Trek vs. Wars fans might want to read something into that. + UK rapper Dizzee Rascal reacting to Obama's win with Jeremy Paxman wondering if Rascal might consider running for PM (possibly only available to UK viewers, let me know) + Ralph Nader being taken to task by FOX news over his saying Obama could be an 'Uncle Tom'. Yikes. The next years are going to be very interesting, aren't they? + The continuing saga of what Sarah Palin doesn't know. + From Blueyonderletters, how the past eight years shaped November 4, 2008:
"..then it occurred to me: erasing the last eight years wouldn't automatically improve things. The opposite of hell isn't necessarily paradise, in this case. If we hadn't had the pain and the embarrassment and the disaster of the last two political cycles, where would we be now?"
+ A pre-election love letter to Barack Obama's campaign. It's more of a picture-spam, actually and I laughed hard - and then I choked up at the photos of the supporters. Pictures of happy, ordinary people really got to me. There were plenty of those yesterday. + And, finally, just to dampen the excitement: there are some scary people out there and proposition 8 on banning same-sex marriage was passed in California.
I'm going to put on my winter coat now and go for a brisk walk. I have been a complete news junkie these past few days and I need to clear my head. But the past few days have been really good, haven't they?
Saturday Verbal Rampage
I managed to spend yesterday afternoon in very pleasant company. Whilst the rainstorm nearly flooded Glasgow, we had hot chocolate, listened to jazz, curled up in chairs and knitted whilst discussing the US presidential election. I appreciated the afternoon all the more because it made me reflect on far I have come this past year. It takes time to establish a network in a new town, let alone a new country. 2008 has been a long, strange and very tough year - but I am now able to spend a rainy afternoon in excellent company. Thank you all who have been helping me get to this stage. You know who you are. And speaking of knitting.. I am currently working on a red version of the February Lady Sweater. I keep having to rip back rows for some peculiar reason, so it is fairly slow going. Fortunately I think I have managed to crack a particular design problem, so hopefully I will have it done quite soon. The winter's rapidly approaching and I'm going to need all the woolly bits that I can muster. Or perhaps I should just turn on our central heating?
Finally, a few links seeing as it is Saturday and I'm in a lazy, lazy mood. + I am not envious. I'm slightly overhelmed: welcome to an informed tech geek's library. + Today is the 'official' Dogs Rule Day (although, as TangledFrog sez: "Every Day is Dogs Rule Day"). + Related: Could I possibly interest you in photos of people wearing clothes knitted from their dogs' fur? It's slightly freaky but I couldn't tell you why. + So, you want the best 150 online flash games sorted by type and each given a mini-review? You got it.
It's almost time for crap TV, so have yourself a great weekend.