pacquola.org

Blog

  • The Brompton Bike

    Brompton bike “Once parked the Brompton stands on its own leaving both hands free. There are three main parts to fold and it takes just ten to twenty seconds.
    When folded, a Brompton stays locked together automatically.

    Vulnerable parts like lights and cable-runs are out of harm’s way, and because the chain and gears are inside there’s no worry about getting grease on your (or your fellow traveller’s) clothes.

    You can choose any combination of handlebar, gears, colours, weight-saving and other features exactly as you wish, almost without restriction.”.

    The Brompton Bike.

    Above: Folded Brompton, brochure picture (©Brompton Bicycle Ltd.).

  • I used to believe

    “I Used To Believe will remind you what it was like to be a child, fascinated and horrified by the world in equal parts. The following pages will reassure you that the things you used to believe weren’t so strange after all.”.
    (Matthew Connolley)

    “Used to say our father, who art in heaven, hello whats your name?.”

    I Used To Believe. The childhood beliefs site.

  • All look same

    “Chinese. Japanese. Korean. What’s the difference?
    Some say it’s easy to see. Others think it’s difficult, may be even impossible. Who can really tell? That’s what we want to find out.
    And if you’re wondering whether or not to take offense, remember: alllooksame is not a statement. It’s a question.”.

    All look same? by Dyske Suematsu. “The difference is in the eye of the beholder.”.

  • Payphones

    payphone “I was 15 or 16 years old at the time and can’t explain why but it felt powerful to do that, to pick up a phone and call any location on earth just to see who was there and to find out what they were doing.

    I also remember calling a certain phone booth on Kennedy Boulevard, near the University of Tampa.
    Often when I’d call that booth a drunk would answer.

    I don’t remember saying anything when the winos answered that phone, but my actions might sound strange: into the phone I played tapes of myself playing piano.
    Sometimes people listened. Other times they hung up.

    Today I am a concert classical pianist, but I no longer play the random phone booth concert circuit.”.
    (Mark A. Thomas)

    The Payphone Project, by Mark A. Thomas.

    Above: Phone on yellow pillar, by Tanner Beck.
    Picture released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

  • A Word A Day

    “I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body.
    Then I realized who was telling me this.”.
    (Emo Phillips)

    “A.Word.A.Day includes a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day.

    You can think of it as a word trek where we explore strange new words.
    Words are usually selected around a theme every week.”.
    (Anu Garg)

  • Cute culture

    “Kawaii style dominated Japanese popular culture in the 1980’s. Kawaii or cute essentially means childlike.

    …Cute style began as an underground literary trend amongst young people who developed the habit of writing stylised childish letters to each other and to themselves.”.
    (Sharon Kinsella, Cuties in Japan)

     

    “…Put these tones – Formalism and Cuteness – together and you get the somewhat unexpected style I call Cute Formalism.
    It’s unexpected because in the west it would be an eccentric, if not forbidden, combination of signifiers.

    Formalism for us is intellectual, masculine, dry, adult, hard, macho, unsentimental, avant garde.
    Cute on the other hand is silly, feminine, wet, childish, soft, effete, sentimental and kitsch.
    What kind of chimera is this?”.
    (Nick Currie, Cute formalism)

    Sharon Kinsella “has been involved in research looking at emergent social trends linking youth, the media, subculture, corporate culture and new modes of governance, based on Japanese case studies with global application.”.

    Nick Currie “also known as Momus, is a songwriter, a blogger and a journalist for Wired.”.

  • Explodingdog

    I am not like the other girls, by Sam Brown “My name is Sam, I draw pictures from your titles.”.
    “This site could be thought of as a long term semi-collaborative art project.
    Nobody pays for anything.
    And when I draw a picture using someone’s title it is added to the front page for anyone who is interested to look at.”.

    (Sam Brown, from answers to questions)

    		Leave me alone

    Explodingdog, by Sam Brown.

    Top, left: I am not like the other girls;
    Bottom, right: I am alone please leave me alone, detail.

  • Juno Records

    “Juno Records is the world’s largest dance music store.
    Based in London, our web site was launched in March 1996, and since then we have built a reputation as the most comprehensive source for new and back catalogue dance music.”.

    Analord
    “Over 48.000 titles in stock. The site is updated daily to contain a complete listing of new UK dance releases and imports, along with sound clips and track listings.”. Juno

    Right: Analord 05, Aphex Twin. Breakbeat Electro. Listen: Cilonen.

  • Seat for Very Short Visits

    Singer Chair Singer (Chair for very brief visits), described on Exibart:

    “In 1945, Bruno Munari invented a chair for Zanotta paraphrasing the frenetic lifestyle.

    …The seat for very short visits is inclined by 45° inviting the guest not to stay too long, because there is no time, because the visit probably is not wished, because there are other things to do and the time passed in a meeting is considered wasted time.”.

  • One Bag

    One Bag, by Doug Dyment: all about packing, luggage, and travelling light.

    Clothing:
    “Natural fabrics can be cooler, but wrinkle more easily, dry more slowly, and are generally heavier than synthetics.”.
    Lunch:
    “Cost savings aside, a lunch in the park, with fresh bread, cheese, yogurt, and fruit from the local shops, is likely to be more memorable than another tourist trap pizza.”.