Checks and balances

Posted on August 26, 2017 by things magazine

Citywide transportation based on gyroscopic balancing buses. Some beautiful animation, and defiantly utopian. See also this city of rotating buildings from 2007 or do away with commuting altogether and just wait for work to come to you: the Clockwork City from 2011. Or just remember the straddling bus scam / Towers by Emma Fenelon / help kickstart this beautiful edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica / a map made up of All the Roads in the USA, and nothing else (via tmn). An artist called James Medcraft (we think) once did a piece called “Anatomy of mainland Britain”. It took a very similar premise, starting with minor roads and tracks and building up to motorways / art weblogs: Atmospheres of Uncertainty and Contemporary Art Daily / the design of Dreamland / a book that contains Mount Fuji / tumblrs: design is fine and the eye-opening Modern Baghdad / tales from The Wildest West / buy Perry Bamonte’s collection of (left-handed) Cure-related guitars / sort of related, Luna play Fire in Cairo / the Far Game, trek across a future landscape.

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What happened when

Posted on August 24, 2017 by things magazine

The story behind a few things: the story of gated reverb / the origins of Zork / an obsession with foppishness, retro, or just the old ways, Print Mag explores the origins and influences of the McSweeney’s Aesthetic / Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf, now available to play at the York Art Gallery 2017 / the KLF return. More at MeFi and the Guardian / unbuilt New York.

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Number of the beast

Posted on August 22, 2017 by things magazine

La Bestia, a project by Swen Renault on the Beast of Gévaudan, responsible for a series of deaths between 1764 and 1767 that ‘were said to have been committed by a beast or beasts that had formidable teeth and immense tails according to contemporary eyewitnesses’. Renault’s ‘photographic and historic work take form as a investigation in these almost unchanged landscapes where the Beast sowed terror.’ More images by Renault / great etchings by Menchini Cristiano / illustrations by Ayuko Tanaka / a secret studio micro dwelling by Fernando Abellanas.

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All at sea

Posted on August 17, 2017 by things magazine

Koski is a board game that you play with a tablet, a sort of Monument Valley made 3D / what if the Doctor Who theme was recorded by John Carpenter? Or Vangelis? Or even Jean-Michel Jarre? / images of A Room for London, still in place after five years, although currently in hibernation / animated Pelican covers by Henning M.Lederer. See also, as always, The Pelican Project, looking more and more Web 1.0 as the years go by / another blast from the past, things as it used to be / beautiful architectural photography by Sebastian Weiss / archive imagery of post-war Manchester and Salford / explore the image and multimedia collection of Sheffield Hallam University / X-Ray maps of NYC Subway stations, via Kottke / photographs by Maria Gloria Harvey / ‘Musea‘, a photography series by Caspar Claasen / print and film ephemera from the Psychodelic Sixties (sic) / a list of Orkney sea stacks / the ‘Kiravan‘, a six-wheeled supertruck‘ / the story of Wichita Lineman / ‘Walls of water: Hokusai and the Great Wave of Camberwell‘ / photographs by Martin John Callanan / great illustration by Kelsey Wroten / Spaceport America, ‘where the coming of the Second Space Age is already history‘

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Shapes

Posted on August 6, 2017 by things magazine

Google Street View photography discovered and presented by Jacqui Kenny (via Metafilter). Related, the Streetview Landscapes of Aaron Hobson (also via MeFi) / portraits of Trellick Tower residents by Nicola Muirhead / more architectural photography: Spaceships by Lars Stieger (via Kottke) / quite the opposite: Seaside Shelters, a series by photographer Will Scott / ongoing series on London’s National Theatre by Rory Gardiner / insects made from flowers, by Raku Inoue / ruins versus revival, ‘two photographers shoot radically different portraits of ‘new’ Detroit‘ (via Design Observer) / photography via Volvo.

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All the closing credit music for Silicon Valley / 30 poses in 15 seconds, pro clothes modelling 101 / Tory Turk is an archivist, working at the world’s biggest magazine collection, the Hyman Archive / music: A Place to Bury Strangers / the story of Bark Psychosis / ‘The notion of an everyday world transformed by grandiose ventures is not, of course, exclusive to the nineteen-thirties.’ Geoff Manaugh is Hypnotized by Elon Musk’s Hyperloop / we love this: The Water Museum, a VR project by Pippin Barr that explores the evolution of digital water over the decades (via RPS).

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Folding Stuff

Posted on July 26, 2017 by things magazine

Peter Thiel floats away on Deregulation Island, a libertarian oasis of geodesic domes and space frames. Rust ahoy / the Doomsday Clock keeps ticking / order a subscription box to take your mind off things / the visionary flying machines of Charles Dellschau, chronicler of the Sonora Aero Club / music writing at The Blue Moment / visual text compression via Kempressor / unfolding house / London, 1975 / related, on the wonders of wandering in London / a big collection of Micro Machines / Visothkakvei, drawing and illustration / mild backlash against ostentation of billion dollar tech offices, teaching us very little about the office of the future / related: from decks to moats: ‘the complete guide to modern office jargon’ / spot the difference, the architecture of Astana / music by Bethany Weimers / music by She Drew the Gun / Wavegrower, a tumblr of mathematical animations / Leonard Plugge, the first plugger? / Peckham pop from the Honey Hahs.

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High and lows

Posted on July 19, 2017 by things magazine

Tiny London apartment for sale in a former water tank. Beautiful details but obscured windows covering such an incredible view would a constant source of regret / music writing at Velvet Sheep / which links the neo psych of Thee Oh Sees / apologies for the crashing mood change, but there’s some seriously ominous aesthetics – dread design – in these mercifully unused IS car bombs, captured intact in Iraq.

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Off the grid

Posted on July 14, 2017 by things magazine

White Spots, ‘A Journey to the Edge of the Internet’, is an app that not only graphically represents the invisible wireless world around us, but also the places with no connectivity, the so-called ‘white spots.’ ‘White Spots on the digital map will soon disappear, leaving no place on earth unconnected.’ / Closet Archive, ‘a stuffed history of the closet, where the “past becomes space”’ / the weirdest places in Europe / The Sugden House, the Smithson’s pared-back post-war masterpiece, is on the market for the first time.

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Mystery jets

Posted on July 6, 2017 by things magazine

Benedict Redgrove documents NASA’s next generation rocket launcher / the exceptionally pretty Effeffe Berlinetta / Wreck, a sculpture by Jordan Griska / Unbuilt Liverpool / Shard apartments remain unsold. But wait / strangely intrigued by private islands / sort of related, more Amelia Earhart intrigue / collection highlights from the Tobin International Geological Map Collection / what we click on and why. The results will surprise you! / calligraphy tips for the left-handed / Japanese Playground Equipment at Night, photographs by Kito Fujio / could almost fit into the Accidental Wes Anderson locations subreddit (via Design Observer) / photographs by Stefan Giftthaler / Heterotopias, ‘focusing on the spaces and architecture of virtual worlds’.

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Slightly more sombre

Posted on June 28, 2017 by things magazine

We meant to link to this a few weeks ago, but then tower blocks burned and in the immediate aftermath it seemed a bit too raw. But it’s at least heartening that K+C’s new MP – a noted design writer – should have the power of observation to note the many flaws in the idea of the ‘trickle-up economy‘. A shame that the debate should subsequently be opened up in the most tragic ways possible. We doubt any MP has ever used the term ‘privately run hipster millenials’ playground’ before / the Rhinowolf modular tent / related, what happens to the tents left behind at Glastonbury? / America’s empty railways, photographs by John Sanderson / a phone memory card as a repository of memory: The secret lives of young IS fighters, by Quentin Sommerville / Demystifying the Ancient Tangle of London’s Streets, the story of the A to Z, courtesy of the NG’s All over the Map blog. See also Trap Streets, Ghost Words, and Mountweazel – see: Fictious entries, a post on cartographic fictions / Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science? / a massive magazine archive (via Meanwhile) / Speedrun World Records (via RPS) / animation and printmaking by Stina Lofgren / Life Without Stuff, a short film / worth revisiting, a collection of supercuts.

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Switched on

Posted on June 22, 2017 by things magazine

At the corner of Lovecraft and Ballard, the role of place and architecture in dystopian fiction, an essay by Will Wiles / we love generative music sites: this one if from Google in honour of Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger / Old Man’s Journey, a game / “Hear This, You Creators!” aggregates new creative work / Precious Plastic, a domestic recycling workshop, a project by Dave Hakkens / UVB-76 is a radio station better known as The Buzzer / a short film about Antarctica / landscape and interior paintings by Jon Redmond / Hugo Roussel’s installation Pièce pour Dominique requires twelve guitars and twelve amplifiers. See also Musique pour 30 pédales.

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Pixels

Posted on June 21, 2017 by things magazine

Rómulo Celdrán, HI RES (via tmn). See also United Nude’s lo-res Lamborghini / vaguely related, Raphael Fabre’s CGI portrait ID / also vaguely related, Lego architecture by Sean Kenney / Cook’s Camden, a new book on modern housing in the London borough / start contrast, images of North Korea / paintings by Matthias Weischer / Le Petit Neant is an art magazine / the rooftopper hashtag, people vogueing up high buildings / the Detroit Library tumblr / Lovecraft linocuts / Things that don’t work yet, Dan Hill ‘on Roli Blocks, musical technologies, and designing connected objects in general’.

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Hiding in plain sight

Posted on June 19, 2017 by things magazine

A critique of Apple Park, which is then given its own critique at Dezeen. The take-away: is a big, bespoke office building a good use of the world’s resources? / Lesbian Separatist Cottage Fantasy, occasionally quite nsfw – a sort midcentury softcore Cabin Porn / what are the best bad reviews? Schadenfreude by the slice / animated subway maps at My Modern Met, via MeFi / animations by Felix Sputnik / New Brutalism, a tumblr about post-war British architecture by photographer Simon Phipps / How we make a game called Hidden Folks, beautiful gifs / stunning illustrations by Yasunari Awazu / paintings by Tessa Coleman / What Britain used to look like from the air / the story of the Lagarfljót Worm / the Mudhoney documentary, heroic also-rans / ‘The heart of the positive, mind-open internet’. Thank you, Meanwhile.

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Weekly things

Posted on June 14, 2017 by things magazine

Rock cartography: this is Spinal map / U T O P I A, a project by photographer Christopher Ashlin / the furniture of George Jakob Hunzinger / art by Belinda Jayne Ayres / Little Ones, a rather moving short documentary film / synth artists profiled at analogue craftsman / poetry from Gerry Mitchell / art by Deborah Klein / bring back Interstate 76 / Unequal Scenes, aerial photography by Johnny Miller / Modernist Estates on the Grenfell Tower Fire / Anywhere, ‘A mythogeography of South Devon and how to walk it’ / Adam Buxton’s Soundcloud is worth your time / there is a new-old Age of Empires / a New York Times feature on the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race / Daniel Eatock’s ‘repaired vehicles‘ project is now a book from Draw Down / drawings and abstract architectural concepts by Noam Saragosti / a short history of microdots / Dirt Meridian, photographs by Andrew Moore.

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On not needing roads

Posted on June 7, 2017 by things magazine

Over 1% of all DeLorean DMC-12s ever made have been converted into replicas of the ‘Back to the Future‘ time machine (87 of 8583) / explore the Interland / It! Is coming to take you away / snapshots of the urban 80s / sort of related, 101 books about where and how we live, from Jane Jacobs to Richard Scarry / illustrations by Ben Tolman / the illustration of John Vernon Lord. See also works for sale at the Illustration Cupboard.

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Bricks, snaps, clips and cupcakes

Posted on June 5, 2017 by things magazine

How Lego clicked: the super brand that reinvented itself / ooh, Monument Valley 2 / Tallulah Fontaine, a tumblr / photography by Frank Herfort / photography by Georg Aerni / on Brutalism, a story in the Washington Post / Commoditised Warfare, with gifs by Christoph Niemann / illustration by Ivo van de Grift / TV series cancelled after one episode / Linear Obsessional, a record label devoted to field recordings and other obscurities / The Graceful and Manly Pastime of Skating, intriguing early urban skating history at MeFi / photographs by Roland Iselin / the the evolution of iconic cars / A World Without People, could possibly be better than the world with people / ‘Brutalist Redesigns‘ by designer Pierre Buttin, ‘giving popular apps the brutalist treatment’ / when gentrification tips over the other way: the story of Bleecker Street, NY. ‘But on July 9, 2000, Magnolia was featured on “Sex and the City,” in Season 3. The 30 seconds of Carrie Bradshaw and her friend Miranda eating cupcakes outside the bakery were all it took to turn the street.’

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Hobbies and collecting

Posted on May 25, 2017 by things magazine

Some random things. The Society for the Preservation of Letraset Action Transfers (via Daniel Gray) / The Searcher, the ‘informed voice of metal detecting’ / Celluloid Wicker Man, a site by writer Adam Scovell chronicling his obsessions (‘Folk Horror, Landscape in Film and Literature, Film Music And Sound Analysis,’ etc) / Strong and Stable My Arse, Deller strikes back / My Social Media Fast / Red Means Recording, great tech demos / splendid Microsoft Paint illustrations for a self-published e-book about summer camp shenanigans (via Coudal) / Attention, K-Mart Shoppers, relive the atmosphere of 90s big box retail with these digitised cassettes / Caracas’s Living Ruin, the story of El Helicoide de la Roca Tarpeya, a mall-turned-slum-turned-secret-police-detention centre / Stan is a robot who parks your car. And remembers where (s)he left it.

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The Even More Occasional

Posted on May 19, 2017 by things magazine

The usual occasional collection of links. Apologies for the infrequency / a massive Soviet Futurism post over at It’s Nice That (via MeFi). You’d have thought that all the nice things on the internet would have long since been found by now, but no / Vinyl Postcards, delivered to your door / the wiki list of Lost Films / the Falcon Nest, a modernist perch / Hometowns, a photography project by John MacLean / Zannone: Italy’s forbidden ‘orgy island’ / probably a useful place to take your new Privat Smartphone / Mathieu Bernard-Reymond Converts Charts Into Monuments / also looks good: Brutalism in Tehran / A Mind Is Born (256 bytes) / Skywatching, ‘two artists explore spy satellite calibration markers in the desert — and trace the satellites in the sky today’ / related, Stuff in Space, an interactive guide / art by Michael Johansson / art: A Headlight in the path of our breathing by the amazing Daniel Danger, at the Black Dragon Press / the cinemas of Peckham / city building kit: ArcKit / Crawley Creatures make animatronics for film and TV / fossil hunter gifts: chocolate ammonites / conceptual design for 21st Century Walkman, the Elbow / available now, the Freewrite, a sort of hipster typewriter / the world’s best 10 filling (gas) stations / a new novel from Rosecrans Baldwin: The Last Kid Left / two tumblrs, occasionally nsfw: bricoblog; motorpsych; Atencio; gifs by Paul Robertson; darkshapes / Letters of Last Resort. To be opened after the nuclear code envelope. Via b3ta, which also has an interview with director Ben Wheatley / the global Fossil Atlas (via Kottke) / learn electronic music with Ableton’s handy tutorials / items recovered after the tsunami, photographs by Tomohiro Muda.

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The Very Occasional

Posted on May 8, 2017 by things magazine

The wartime sketchbooks of Victor A.Lundy (via Metafilter). As an architect, Lundy designed the Warm Mineral Springs Motel, Sarasota in Florida in 1958 (amongst many other places). The motel’s entrance is strongly reminiscent of Foster & Partners’ Repsol Partners / paintings by Fred Ingrams / the top 30 Modernist houses for sale in France / Connell, Ward and Lucas for sale / wine labels by Steven Noble / Lego models by hachiroku24 / The Field Study Handbook / the portraits of Joseph Szabo / the return of the mighty Antonov AN-225 / minipeople, an atmospheric illustration tumblr / beautiful skeuomorphic smartphone animations from Covestro Lab / where oil rigs go to die / on the brief flowering of ‘Persian Palace‘ architecture in Beverly Hills / Rue Morgue is an online magazine about modern horror media / a guide to figuring out the age of an undated world map / the B3TA newsletter is back and links to Sgt Pepper Photos, a brilliant piece of photo research.

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Birthday celebrations

Posted on April 23, 2017 by things magazine

All of the genuinely great works of the 21st century have been acts of digital humanism, the analogue version of which once a driving force behind mystic intellectualism (via Kottke, which is celebrating turning 19) / a case in point: The Book of Miracles / Bantmag on the The Lost Tribes of Tierra del Fuego / also related, The Triarchy Press Idioticon / some more from the current archiving kick at Kottke: The Web’s Best Hidden Gems / People of Peckham, a project by photographer Joel Knight / Urge to Create still a favourite tumblr / on High Heels / the property billboards that reveal the truth about Britain’s luxury housing market / more Waymo fun / revamping James Stirling’s One Poultry / declassified imagery of US nuclear tests / shimmering digital baroque works by Benjamin Dillenburger / portraits of contemporary Athenian brothels by photographer Diego Mayon / the motor-racing photographs of Hermann Schwarz.

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