Daytime is eyes everywhere, burning tyrant above casting needles of open sight. You know they can't see through you, you're not transparent, but still you cannot but think of breaking CCTV cameras and mobile phones, crushing eyeballs. You fear that these thoughts too are visible, so eventually you sleep through these hours, preferring to come out of your hole after dark. Dodge, walk away, be gone.
Still safe for work.
13/07/2013
03/07/2013
One Man's Garbage
Do you find there are too few museums in your area?
Hardwood oak floors a knee-hurting bitch to walk slowly upon from exhibit to exhibit?
Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art a forbiddingly expensive airplane ticket away?
Actually went to London for a weekend and wanted to go and see the Sutton Hoo collection in the British Museum, but your significant other would rather go shopping and coerced you to join (philistine that s/he is), and you can't go back to London for another look?
Hogwash. You don't even have to walk away from your seat in order to access wonderful art, archaeological findings and historical collections - the Google Cultural Institute has started to make wonderfully detailed high-definition photos of many world-class collections, many of them zoomable for details and all of them accessible for free.
The photographic representations, bordering on artworks in their own right, capture beautifully the hue of the items in question, the complex patterns of strokes in the paintings, the spots and dents in the once-buried items, thus to an extent illustrating a glimpse of what makes these items worth dedicating whole buildings to. "Oh," you might say, "but will never be the same as seeing that Sutton Hoo helmet in real life!"
And then you go for that second trip, and as soon as you get close enough you'll find the Real object, that which cannot be replicated by a picture, is just an unwieldy hardhat. Such is the case with a lot of things; too far away and they are "just a photograph" of something we imagine to be important and special, too close and the magic(k) fades to reveal the dull piece of old scrap metal some graduate student dug up and handed over to his professor for her to take credit for. They seem like two different objects, and in one sense, they are.
Hardwood oak floors a knee-hurting bitch to walk slowly upon from exhibit to exhibit?
Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art a forbiddingly expensive airplane ticket away?
Actually went to London for a weekend and wanted to go and see the Sutton Hoo collection in the British Museum, but your significant other would rather go shopping and coerced you to join (philistine that s/he is), and you can't go back to London for another look?
Hogwash. You don't even have to walk away from your seat in order to access wonderful art, archaeological findings and historical collections - the Google Cultural Institute has started to make wonderfully detailed high-definition photos of many world-class collections, many of them zoomable for details and all of them accessible for free.
The photographic representations, bordering on artworks in their own right, capture beautifully the hue of the items in question, the complex patterns of strokes in the paintings, the spots and dents in the once-buried items, thus to an extent illustrating a glimpse of what makes these items worth dedicating whole buildings to. "Oh," you might say, "but will never be the same as seeing that Sutton Hoo helmet in real life!"
And then you go for that second trip, and as soon as you get close enough you'll find the Real object, that which cannot be replicated by a picture, is just an unwieldy hardhat. Such is the case with a lot of things; too far away and they are "just a photograph" of something we imagine to be important and special, too close and the magic(k) fades to reveal the dull piece of old scrap metal some graduate student dug up and handed over to his professor for her to take credit for. They seem like two different objects, and in one sense, they are.
01/07/2013
Troll Science 101: the Coin Experiment
Summer is here, the sun is shining and yet here you are sitting in front of a computer and reading my depressing blog. Shame on you. Here's a fun little experiment you should do instead.
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