NEW words are most happily received when they arrive without fanfare. When they appear with “ta-da!” or “look what I did!” and are touted as clever or cute, they feel like impositions on our time. We resent that they exist mostly to exalt their makers.
On the other hand, when we revel in new words it’s often for the little jokes and puns implanted by their coiners. We delight in coining them, too, especially goofy throwaway blends in which two words combine syllables and meanings to make one. (How about “bromance,” a strong relationship between two heterosexual men, which combines “bro,” from brother, and romance?)
A large part of the delight derives from the re-orientation that new words make possible. They are fantastical transportation — portkeys and improbability starships — into other cultures, workplaces, minds.
Please lord, save me from a gorno Navy Shower, a nose bidet and a vegansexual, actually on second thoughts I’ll try a bit of vegansexual in the walkshed…
(this photo was tagged, ‘vegan gingerbread dalek’ in Flickr)
This seasonal all singing light display features the words, ‘ding dongy dong’, but don’t let that put you off, the snow will do that just fine.Wishing the blogosphere and all who sail in her a very Merry Christmas 2.5 and a Happy New Year 3.0.’
We took possession of the new London office this morning and then had to search for a priest to exorcise the spirit of Fatness we took to said possession. It was messy and involved crosses, a jigsaw blade, a Bulgarian van driver who was the spit of Boris Karloff and the playing of some phantom darts.
One of the tables wobbles a bit, the sofa bed is going and the red ethernet cables are going to clash awfully with the dark brown wooden floor but all in all it’s a nice little corner of deepest, most spandex’d Shoreditch and there’s a skip in the basement I can steal stuff from, yippee…
Beatriz Farfan, creative director of Fat-Man Collective will undergo surgery today. We all wish her the best of luck with the operation and can’t wait to have her back. The surgery will take place at 4pm GMT, in Bogotá, Colombia.
We will post news of the operation later this week.
Please use the comment field to send her your best wishes.
Lunchtime, back on the beans. Halo 3 being played simultaneously on 4 consoles next to your sponsored bean bag is a little distracting and the pot of pens I stole from this morning has been replaced by a bamboo pipe… weird.
Felix Petersen (Plazes) and Jyri Engestrom (Jaiku) talked about The Future of Presence, microblogging, not liking the term microblogging and streams full of location based info rather than guppies. Jyri talked about our friendship networks surpassing the importance of Google search in our lives. We have become addicted to our friend’s lifestreams, the way we check Facebook to keep a track of what our friends are doing. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul Graham the jovial soul behind Y Combinator just said, ‘If Chuck Norris can wear pink, any man can’. Everything you could ever want or need in a religion/cult/club/masonic lodge 2.0 is encapsulated in that sweet sweet pop philosophy.
As religion has yet to under-go the Web 2.0 treatment, I think there is a great opportunity here, the Cult of Chuck already has a healthy following online and in customized apparel. Could a new world order also be on the cards? Read the rest of this entry »
I’m sat on a beanbag sponsored by Microsoft Visual Studio watching a hoodie breaking his thumbs on one of the on site XBOX 360’s. It doesn’t get much more futuristic web app expo than that.
Ted Rheingold just gave a suitably ‘cool’ talk about the business of Dogster and Catster. As an aside I have just noticed that all the flaxen haired ladies are students which bodes well for the Future of Web App Conferences, which is a conference I intend to stage on Christmas Day in The Maldives, because as my Mother always says, ‘you can never have enough fish’.
Despite Ted’s baffling cap sporting a design as if he had been run over by a bike that had just cycled through white paint he gave some good insights into subscription models, basically, ‘don’t bank on it, but make it feel exclusive so people join the club to feel a part of something in the same way you buy a Gucci bag’. I’ll tell my wife that, she likes bags. Read the rest of this entry »
‘The 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective.’ (via Information Architects.
Ah, I love maps and I love the web and I hate the Underground… well 2 out of 3 ain’t bad - there is an informed elegance to this map which also serves as a great resource and reference for the modern web landscape. It’s also worth looking at the company that created this, Information Architects led by Oliver Reichenstein they are based in Tokyo and seem intent to elevate brand and interface to mystical heights, from the site:
‘The Ideal Website is designed to fit Fibonacci’s Golden Section - otherwise known as the divine proportions. These measurements are said to be the most pleasing to the eye, and have been widely used for everything from judging beauty of a face, to the design of bank notes.’
If I’d read this, then looked at the site, I’d be like, ‘what?’ but having looked at the site and then read this and not knowing my Fibonacci from my Fibea, I understand what they’re getting at, perhaps this is the ideal website?.
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(via NYTimes)
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