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thezodiaczone · 5 years ago

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Virgo Compatibility

VIRGO + ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 19) The razor's edge between love and hate lives in this common but contradictory coupling. Your attraction feels so fated, it's impossible to resist. Fire-sign Aries loves freedom and risk, but helplessly falls for prudent, parental Virgo, an Earth sign landlocked by practicality and protocol. The tips of Virgo's gossamer wings are singed by Aries' flame—yet, into the fire the Virgin flutters. Both signs have a hero complex, and this relationship centers around fixing each other, or exposing the other to new ways of life. For the first six to twelve months, it's exhilarating. Arduous Aries hand-delivers Virgo's sexual awakening with passion that's tender and all-consuming. Cautious Virgo teaches the impetuous Ram how to slow down, prepare and look both ways before crossing. New facets of your personalities unearth themselves—how lovely!

Once the hormone flood is no longer at high tide, however, there are glaring differences to negotiate. Virgo's well-intentioned criticisms feel like a character assault to Aries ("who cares how I fold my T-shirts? I'm still a good person!"). Aries' myopic selfishness makes Virgo feel resentful and unappreciated—especially after hours of listening to the Ram's diatribes with the patience of a paid analyst. At this point, you realize that you've spent way too much time together, and you've lost touch with the outside world. Roll out of bed and reconnect with your individual friends, hobbies and interests. Trust that the other one will be there when you return.

VIRGO + TAURUS (APRIL 20 - MAY 20) ♥♥♥♥ You're a pair of sophisticated Earth signs who blend like cashmere and wool. Taurus adds the touch of luxe and Virgo is the solid standby. You're what could be described as a "lovely couple," with good taste, social graces and old-fashioned values. Although your earthy natures can also make you hippies at heart, you tend toward the traditional, and you both like possessions of quality. You'll set up a lovely, well-appointed home—though Taurus will have to fight neat-freak Virgo to keep the plastic slipcovers off the sofas and doilies off the appliances. Virgo is ruled by intellectual Mercury, and Taurus by pleasure-loving Venus. As a result, Taurus is more feisty, raw and direct, which can offend Virgo's stuffed-shirt sensibilities. However, the Virgin soon looses up and learns to laugh at himself. It's good to have sensible Virgo around to pull the brake when Taurus overspends, heads up to the buffet for a fourth helping or tips his glass for a refill. Responsible Virgo has far more self-control than the Bull. In private, you're both sensual and erotic, and you can spend hours wrapped contentedly in your Egyptian cotton sheets. You share a judgmental streak, and if you're too intent on fancying yourselves superior to the world, you may limit your horizons. Open your minds, and be willing to try something "lowbrow" or off your beaten paths. It keeps life interesting.

VIRGO + GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 20) Gemini and Virgo share a common ruler: speedy Mercury, who zips around the Sun gathering light and information, then disseminating it to the masses. You're both natural communicators with a thousand ideas and opinions. Romance is a cerebral affair for your intelligent signs. Conversations spark into lively debates; asking each other "What do you think?" is akin to foreplay. Although Virgo is a more staid Earth sign and Gemini is a breezy Air sign, you share a "mutable" quality. That means you're flexible, and you can adapt to each other's quirks. Good thing, since you each have a bevy of rigid, borderline obsessive-compulsive habits. (Virgo's can include folding underwear into identical, neat little squares; Gemini's usually involve hoarding, starting new hobbies or impulse shopping.) You both love control, though Gemini is loath to admit this, while Virgo flies the flag. At times, you may wrestle for dominance, a habit you'll need to overcome for this match to work. Virgo's nagging can take the wind out of Gemini's sails; Gemini's sketchily researched half-truths set off Virgo's trust alarm. But combine the depth of Virgo's cautious planning with the breadth of Gemini's boundless curiosity, and you've got the total package. You can make great parents, too, since your styles tend to complement and you'll divide up roles with ease. Gemini can help serious Virgo lighten up, and responsible Virgo can help ground the easily distracted Twin.

VIRGO + CANCER (JUNE 21 - JULY 22) ♥♥♥♥ This is a couple that can outlast the ages, since you're fast friends and seamless companions. Virgo is the zodiac's helper and Cancer is its nurturer. Your emotional connection is instant, and you're thrilled to meet a kindred soul who knows how to give, not just take. It's a refreshing break from the usual energy vampires you both attract! Your relationship is sweet and storybook-innocent: lots of handholding, sentimental cards, and anniversary baubles. Yet, you're practical, too, stowing away college funds for your yet-to-be-born children, earning advanced degrees, taking out a mortgage. Security is something you both cherish. In a way, you're like parents and partners to one another: you both express love by nagging, fussing and feeding. And it works. A pair of self-professed nerds, you love to cook, decorate, read novels and learn. No matter how much money you earn, you both remain thrifty, too. (Scoring a high-end treasure at a tag sale or an eBay auction is orgasmic.) Your signs are both family oriented, and you make sweet but strict parents who live for your children. Generally, you're close to your own relatives, and you enjoy spending time at family events or hosting holiday gatherings. Keeping the sexy charge alive will take a little effort, though, since you both love to stay home rather than dress up or hit the town. Push yourselves to leave the nest, and socialize with other couples more often.

VIRGO + LEO (JULY 23 - AUGUST 22) You're playing with fire here—literally. Passionate Leo is a Fire sign ruled by the Sun, and his solar power can light up a universe. Virgo is a practical, skeptical Earth sign who can throw dirt on Leo's flames before they have a chance to combust into a world-changing wildfire. It's a shame how quiet and subdued the awesome Lion becomes around Virgo. The problem? Leo is addicted to praise, and needs constant encouragement from his mate. Virgo is the zodiac's perfectionist; his critical nature can cause Leo to shrink-wrap himself into diminutive proportions. Think of Leos Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, and their marriages to Virgos Guy Ritchie and Marc Anthony. Yes, they had children with these men, which is important to the family-oriented Lion. However, both megastars toned down their flashy, go-getter images to play wifey. This dynamic must be avoided at all costs. Virgo's earthy nature should be no more than terra firma beneath the Lion's feet. In turn, Leo must shore up confidence, rather than take flaw-finding Virgo's feedback to heart. While Virgo is the helper sign, a codependent vibe can quickly form if he tries to manage Leo's demanding, dramatic life. Your signs are completely different; what's good for the goose is dead-wrong for the gander. Live and let live.

VIRGO + VIRGO (AUGUST 23 - SEPTEMBER 22) Two fussbudget, critical control freaks like you will either suit each other…or deserve each other. For what is a relationship but a magical looking glass into your own dark and twisted Wonderland? You're neurotic neatniks and private pack rats who will either: a) thrive by living in separate wings or residences, b) nitpick each other to death, or c) grow into happily-ever-after hoarders, aging gracefully in a castle of newspaper clippings saved for the ne'er-to-come Someday. Your grounding Earth sign nature can also be your saving grace, as it gifts you with sophisticated, sensual taste. Forget the horn-rimmed glasses and virginal rep that's been cast upon your sign. You love handcrafted cuisine, fecund vineyards, bespoke furniture and majestic interiors. More than that, you both love the STORY behind everything. What would bore other signs fascinates you, and you want to learn about every nook and cranny that went into your captivations. Our advice: pack your perfectly-matched Vuitton luggage and get thee to Tuscany for couples' cooking lessons. Learn the complete history of a region and travel there on an architectural tour. Call it "intellectual intercourse." Bond over your braininess and the passion will follow.

VIRGO + LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 22) You're next-door-neighbor signs who can learn a thing or two from each other. Virgo is a cautious Earth sign who plans for the worst and prays for the best. Air-sign Libra not only expects the best, he demands it—and thus, he usually gets it. In stressful times, Libra's charm and balanced perspective is a breath of fresh air for anxious Virgo. The Virgin is ruled by mentally-stimulating Mercury, and his mind goes a mile a minute. Libra's ruler is Venus, the goddess of beauty, love and pleasure. Like a gentle lullaby, Libra smoothes the rough spots, helping Virgo relax and trust that everything will be okay. While this may be an illusion, it still has a hypnotic effect on Virgo. Socially, you mix well. You both enjoy arts and culture, and you'll never be at a loss for date ideas: museum openings, concerts, readings. You're also a fastidious pair—you'll have the cleanest house on the block if it's up to Virgo, and the most tastefully decorated home if Libra has a say. The one dynamic to beware: Virgo is the zodiac's helper and Libra is its pampered diva. This can easily turn into a master-and-servant scenario, with Libra feigning helplessness and Virgo scrambling to save him. Like Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds that doomed her to Hades, Virgo must be careful not to swallow Libra's intoxicating tales and sob stories.

VIRGO + SCORPIO (OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 21) ♥♥♥♥ Virgo and Scorpio are two of the zodiac's shrewdest signs. Your collective gaze misses nothing, and your conversations can be as hair-splitting as Freudian analysis. You're both insatiable when it comes to understanding the human soul, and examining your own neuroses can keep you busy for weeks. While your obsessive natures would drive other people mad, it only makes you more fascinated by each other. You're like two scientists in the lab of love, researching, analyzing, and measuring data. Moody and introverted, you both have spells where you crave total privacy, and you'll grant each other that space. You unconsciously absorb so much energy from your environments, and you need to clear yourselves on a regular basis. Nature is soothing—Scorpio is a Water sign, and Virgo is Earth—and you may enjoy a healthy or outdoorsy lifestyle. That can mean renting a private chalet on a pristine European lake, or devoting yourselves to raw food, vegetarianism, and yoga. Virgo is the zodiac's Virgin and Scorpio is the sex sign. In bed, Scorpio can be a bit too intense for earthy Virgo. You're both lusty sensualists, but if Scorpio breaks out the dungeon props and dominatrix gear, Virgo draws the line. The Virgin may indulge a fetish with strangers, but he keeps a strict boundary about how far he'll experiment with a partner. No matter. You're good friends and supportive partners who find beauty in the smallest details—the makings of a quality life commitment.

VIRGO + SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 21) Virgo is an introverted Earth sign, Sag an extroverted Fire sign, but you can bring out lesser-seen traits in each other. On the outside, you look like an odd couple. Prim, preppy Virgo is a crisply tailored schoolmarm; Sag is a rumpled hippie in wrinkled jeans and weathered shoulder bags, more like a grad student during finals. Still, you're both brainy types who bond through long, intense conversations. Intellectual Virgo has a keen, organized mind; thoughtful Sagittarius is the zodiac's philosopher. Together, you'll ponder the meaning of life and psychoanalyze your mutual friends—behind their backs and to their faces. You can both be preachy and judgmental, and you're fascinated by the foibles of human nature. Beyond the talk, you have different lifestyles, and those require adaptation. Virgo's monkish side can make Sag feel lonely, and the Archer's blunt remarks can hurt the Virgin's feelings. Virgo is great listener, but hesitant to bare his own soul. This frustrates Sagittarius, who craves more intimate sharing. Your habits are different, too. Virgo concerns himself with every niggling detail, irritating the impatient Archer, who thinks in broad strokes. Sagittarius must learn to sweat the small stuff a little more. Thank-you notes, birthday cards, flowers, presents—these gestures don't mean much to Sag, but they mean the world to Virgo. In turn, Sag can teach Virgo how to have fun and take risks instead of playing it safe.

VIRGO + CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 22 - JANUARY 19) ♥♥♥♥ You're pragmatic Earth signs who strike a perfect balance between sensible and sensual. You bring out the best in one another. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the communication planet. A natural psychologist and articulate speaker, this sign likes to talk everything out. Stoic Capricorn is ruled by stern, repressed Saturn, and struggles to voice his feelings. Capricorn benefits from Virgo's ability to draw him out of dark thoughts. When Virgo's anxieties take hold, practical Capricorn brings a helpful dose of perspective. Dutiful souls, you take care of parents, friends and family members, and your cozy home is everyone's favorite crash pad. Holidays and parties are warm, congenial affairs, and nobody wants to leave. Marriage is a sure success, and you laugh often, excellent medicine for your serious signs. The lovely thing about this combination is how natural you can be—a refreshing break from your formal public demeanors. A favorite example: One Virgo friend, a singer-songwriter, was stricken with a creative block. Her Capricorn husband poked his head into her studio, and found her obsessing. She launched into complaining, and he deftly interrupted: "Wanna f---?" A satisfied hour later, she finished the song. Offensive to prim Virgo from any other sign, but Capricorn can go there. You relax into your carnal natures around each other, loosening up in ways that few other signs can elicit.

VIRGO + AQUARIUS (JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 18) To say you're an odd couple is an understatement—and there certainly will be odds to beat. Just figuring each other out could take years, and it might not end well. (Remember tabloid train-wrecks Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards, or Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley?) Judgmental Virgo is an introverted Earth sign with a habit of thinking too much. Breezy Aquarius, a carefree Air sign, is the unofficial town mayor, best friend to everyone from the street sweeper to the CEO. While you complement each other in some ways, your lifestyles are very different. Virgo likes time alone with his books and thoughts, while social Aquarius rarely misses a party and can't be bothered to take life as seriously as Virgo does. Where can you come together? You both like to help people in need, and you're passionate about social change, especially through responsible business practices. Saving the planet is a particular passion for your environmentalist signs. You're as likely to meet at a drum circle as you are at a conference on climate control, or volunteering in the Peace Corps. In fact, this relationship is most likely to succeed if you have a larger common vision. Why not funnel your ideals into a successful enterprise? Go start an eco-village, or open a raw juice bar in an up-and-coming neighborhood—Virgo can grow organic produce in a backyard plot. It will stop Virgo from nagging and nosing into Aquarius's affairs, and will keep restless Aquarius from feeling smothered.

VIRGO + PISCES (FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 20) Virgo and Pisces are two of the most powerful healers in the zodiac. Virgo is an Earth sign, clinical and data-driven, always there with a practical answer and a helping hand. Water-sign Pisces has emotional compassion, the ability to empathize and absorb other people's pain. You're opposite signs: Virgo is the doctor; Pisces is the nurse. You can teach each other a lot, doing much good on the planet along the way. Virgo is the zodiac's giver, performing acts of selfless service (Mother Theresa is a Virgo). However, it's hard for Virgo to receive, since he views "neediness" as a weakness in himself. Enter Pisces, ruler of the zodiac's receptive twelfth house. The Fish knows how to surrender boundaries and allow people's energy to flow in. Pisces teaches Virgo that accepting love is a generous and selfless act. It opens the door for others to be their greatest selves, to discover their power through contributing. At times, Pisces' emotional nature can overwhelm Virgo, leaving him ungrounded. You both need doses of solitude to reconnect with your souls. Writing, playing music (especially classical compositions or Gregorian chants), painting and creativity is healing to you both. This relationship also brings out your spiritual sides. Meditation, yoga and metaphysical study can open up great psychic channels. These practices also prevent unhealthy addictions, which your easily-stressed signs may adopt as a means of self-medicating. Watch out for secretive tendencies, which you both have as a result of perfectionism and insecurity. Communicate openly, or air your "shameful" skeletons to a confidante—otherwise, you'll beat yourselves up unnecessarily, causing distance in the relationship.

#virgo #compatibility #astrology #zodiac #love #relationships #virgo compatibility

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ninafms · 5 years ago

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* 𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐰 , 𝐢'𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 around to posting nina’s introduction , but my theme made me upset so this will be viewed on dashboard only for now ! my name’s 𝐛𝐚𝐲 , i prefer either she / her or they / them pronouns , and i reside in the est timezone . i’m in my final year of college so sometimes i won’t be around all day , but since i only work two days and all of my classes are online , chances are i’m around ! i’m starting this little introduction at exactly 2:30am , so chances are this will be posted at like ... 4am ( lol ) , but i’m super excited to write her out as this will be my first group in about a month or so ! i’m comfortable with messaging through the im’s if that’s better for you , but we could also plot on discord if you’d like ! also , don’t forget to stream blackpink’s new single ‘ ice cream ’ with selena gomez !

💀 * [ jennie kim + cis female + she / her ] —— have you met na-young “nina” min ? they are a twenty - three year old senior currently studying business economics with a political science minor . they live on farrow house , and word around campus is that this gemini is spellbinding + perspicacious , as well as combative + malevolent . i wonder if they’ll make it out alive . biting the corner of her thumbnail when focusing , never being ashamed of back - to - back walks of shame , the infectious sound of her laughter traveling the hall .

NAME : na-young ‘ nina ’ min .

NICKNAME(S) : nini , neens , and nana ( by her parents ) .

AGE + DATE OF BIRTH : 23 + june 2nd , 1997 .

ZODIAC : gemini sun , taurus moon , gemini ascendant .

MYERS - BRIGGS PERSONALITY TYPE : istp .

MORAL ALIGNMENT : neutral evil .

ENNEAGRAM TYPE : the achiever .

GENDER + PRONOUNS : cis female + she / her / hers .

PLACE OF BIRTH : gangnam , seoul , south korea .

PLACE OF RESIDENCE : ivory falls , maine .

SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual .

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : biromantic .

OCCUPATION : senior at holloway university .

NATIONALITY : korean - american .

ETHNICITY : korean .

LANGUAGES SPOKEN : english , korean , and japanese .

i . prosopography .

nina’s story begins during the chance meeting of her parents , ara kim and hyun-woo min , when they were in their early twenties . most would assume that they weren’t compatible for one another as ara was the spoiled child of the kim family , who were known around south korea for owning various luxury buildings and apartment complexes in the gangnam area . hyun-woo on the other hand was your regular college student who worked a job he hated to pay his tuition , but he had big dreams as he wanted to someday own his own architecture firm . when the mindless ara wrecked her fancy car into hyun-woo’s beat up toyota , it was love at first sight .

it was a whirlwind relationship as the couple was engaged within six months of their meeting , and married within eight . with their access to unlimited funds , the couple had a lavish wedding , and hyun-woo no longer had to worry about his tuition payments . now focused on his degree without having to worry about money , he found himself on the development team at his new family’s company shortly thereafter his graduation .

with hyun-woo having his dream job and ara having her dream husband , the couple was thriving . they lived in a beautiful apartment that overlooked gangnam , and they had gone on vacation to bali when ara revealed that she was pregnant . the couple was overjoyed to be welcoming their baby into the world , and to say that they were obsessed with her from the moment they saw her in the first ultrasound and she was the size of a lime . the couple welcomed their little baby nine months later , and they loved every inch of her the moment she was placed on ara’s chest .

growing up , nina enjoyed the spoils that her family provided for her . she went on amazing trips , wore the best clothes , and even got pushed around in a six hundred dollar stroller . despite that , though , nina was a very precocious child , picking up on her developments quickly . as she grew older , nina’s parents saw that their daughter was interested in a variety of things , so when she was five , she began taking piano lessons , and it was evident that she had a natural gift .

as the years passed , nina continuously excelled in her academics and the extracurriculars that she tried out for . as she attended the best schools in seoul , nina was the one who answered questions first , she was the first to sign up , and the first to complete tests . nina was the one who constantly won awards from her school , and she was definitely the one who never allowed for someone else to take her place .

it was something of a shock to her parents that she wanted to attend college in the states , but her parents were not the ones to tell her no . so , nina went on to be accepted into holloway , and she majors in business economics with a political science minor ! i’d say that she’s involved in a lot of student organizations like student government , and she’s a member of the tennis team ! as nuts as it sounds , she’s on the tennis team for the cute outfits , but she loves the sport as well .

ii . temperament .

alexa , play ‘ i don’t care ’ by ariana grande ! she doesn’t care about what other people have to say or how people feel about her , especially considering how shameless she can be in most of her actions . she’s ridiculously blunt , but really hates when people are bitchy for no reason ? i don’t know , a paradox considering that she can be bitchy for no reason too FKNDSFUDS . responds heavily to the energy that she’s given . fully believes that the sun and moon determines her mood for the day .

sUpErIoRiTy CoMpLeX ? gOd CoMpLeX ? sounds about right . she doesn’t outright brag about herself all the time , but she’s definitely the type to bring it up when it applies to the conversation . nina is the mean friend that everyone needs , and has a weird dislike for people who are too nice .

nina isn’t a stone cold bitch , though . she likes having fun , she likes to laugh , and she especially likes to spend time with her friends . she’s capable of empathy and compassion , yes . will she show that all the time ? of course not ! considering that she’s an only child , nina is used to having all eyes on her , so she has no shame in her fame when she comes back to farrow house wearing last night’s dress and carrying her heels .

iii . headcanons .

she already knows that graduate school is in her future , but she hasn’t decided on where she wants to go yet .

nina resides in farrow house , and she’s probably the worst kind of roommate there is considering how type a she can be at times . her room ( or side of the room i’m not sure of the setup ) is relatively organized at all times . she’s a lover of white , but white with color , so she keeps the tones light with soft shades of pink scattered throughout ! she likes a gold accent , and everything has its own place .

doesn’t like to leave her bedroom without making her bed or picking things up . at night she may just slip out of her clothes and go to bed , but she’s definitely going to pick it up that next morning , even her walk of shame clothes KNJFDISF .

despite her behavior at times , nina is someone who studies hard because she doesn’t like anything less than an A . although i will say that she obsesses over her grades , but she knows that if she slacks then she’ll get slacker grades .

this is pointless KFNDJSF but i draw a lot of her style inspo from itsyuyan on instagram , but she also loves to dress in a quality th*t dress when she had the chance to NFJDBSFDS . i love jennie’s long hair , so nina’s own is canon to that , and she definitely had the iconic e-girl streaks .

iv . wanted connections .

i would love to have literally anything that ya’ll throw at me ! some basics that i’d like to write out are best friends , academic rivals , friends with benefits , confidant(s) , frenemies , good / bad influence , one night stand(s) , flirtationship , enemies with benefits , and a current or ex fling !

i love a good women loving women scenario , so i’d like to have an ex girlfriend for her ! i see them as being on good terms and they simply drifted apart , but they’re really close ! sometimes they can get a little touchy feely with one another so hello 👀 .

i would die for literally any form of angst that you could possibly think of ? angsty friends , angsty exes , angsty anything . i love to put myself through misery so honestly … bury me six feet under and i will literally thank you .

all aboard the heartbreak train ! this ties back into my love for angst , but some form of an ex or maybe even someone who she go close to but it didn’t really work out ?

maybe even a will they won’t they ? but essentially , clearly these two have feelings but for some reason things didn’t work out for them and now they’re probably in a limbo or trying to determine where they’re headed but they absolutely refuse to talk about it ! all of their friends notice but they blow them off and ok let me relax and actually allow us to plot , but just some potential ideas !

i will have a desired relations tag that i’ll be updating as frequently as i can , but if none of these work for you or if you have something you see araminta filling , then please let me know ! we can totally brainstorm or if you want , then we can work on chemistry !

#holloway.intro #i finally did it ya'll NJFJDHBSFDS #instead of posting this at 4am i'm posting it at 5pm but alas .. it's here my friends

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 years ago

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#1yrago My RSS feeds from a decade ago, a snapshot of gadget blogging when that was a thing

Rob Beschizza:

I chanced upon an ancient backup of my RSS feed subscriptions, a cold hard stone of data from my time at Wired in the mid-2000s. The last-modified date on the file is December 2007. I wiped my feeds upon coming to Boing Boing thenabouts: a fresh start and a new perspective.

What I found, over 212 mostly-defunct sites, is a time capsule of web culture from a bygone age—albeit one tailored to the professional purpose of cranking out blog posts about consumer electronics a decade ago. It's not a picture of a wonderful time before all the horrors of Facebook and Twitter set in. This place is not a place of honor. No highly-esteemed deed is commemorated here. But perhaps some of you might like a quick tour, all the same.

The "Main" folder, which contains 30 feeds, was the stuff I actually wanted (or needed) to read. This set would morph over time. I reckon it's easy to spot 2007's passing obsessions from the enduring interests.

↬ Arts and Letters Daily: a minimalist blog of links about smartypants subjects, a Drudge for those days when I sensed a third digit dimly glowing in my IQ. But for the death of founder Denis Dutton, it's exactly the same as it was in 2007! New items daily, but the RSS feed's dead.

↬ Boing Boing. Still around, I hear.

↬ Brass Goggles. A dead feed for a defunct steampunk blog (the last post was in 2013) though the forums seem well-stocked with new postings.

↬ The Consumerist. Dead feed, dead site. Founded in 2005 by Joel Johnson at Gawker, it was sold to Consumer Reports a few years later, lost its edge there, and was finally shuttered (or summarily executed) just a few weeks ago.

↬ Bibliodyssey. Quiescent. Updated until 2015 with wonderful public-domain book art scans and commentary. A twitter account and tumblr rolled on until just last year. There is a book to remember it by should the bits rot.

↬ jwz. Jamie Zawinski's startling and often hilariously bleak reflections on culture, the internet and working at Netscape during the dotcom boom. This was probably the first blog that led me to visit twice, to see if there was more. And there still is, almost daily.

↬ Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society. Curios and weirdness emerging from the dust and foul fog of old books, forbidden history and the more speculative reaches of science. So dead the domain is squatted. Creator Josh Foer moved on to Atlas Obscura.

↬ The Tweney Review. Personal blog of my last supervisor at Wired, Dylan Tweney, now a communications executive. It's still going strong!

↬ Strange Maps. Dead feed, dead site, though it's still going as a category at Big Think. Similar projects proliferate now on social media; this was the wonderful original. There was a book.

↬ BLDGBLOG. Architecture blog, posting since 2004 with recent if rarer updates. A fine example of tasteful web brutalism, but I'm no longer a big fan of cement boxes and minimalism with a price tag.

↬ Dethroner. A men's self-care and fashion blog, founded by Joel Johnson, of the tweedy kind that became wildly and effortlessly successful not long after he gave up on it.

↬ MocoLoco. This long-running design blog morphed visually into a magazine in 2015. I have no idea why I liked it then, but indie photoblogs' golden age ended long ago and it's good to see some are thriving.

↬ SciFi Scanner. Long-dead AMC channel blog, very likely the work of one or two editors and likely lost to tidal corporate forces rather than any specific failure or event.

↬ Cult of Mac. Apple news site from another Wired News colleague of mine, Leander Kahney, and surely one of the longest-running at this point. Charlie Sorrel, who I hired at Wired to help me write the Gadget blog, still pens articles there.

↬ Ectoplasmosis. After Wired canned its bizarre, brilliant and unacceptably weird Table of Malcontents blog, its editor John Brownlee (who later joined Joel and I in editing Boing Boing Gadgets) and contributor Eliza Gauger founded Ectoplasmosis: the same thing but with no hysterical calls from Conde Nast wondering what the fuck is going on. It was glorious, too: a high-point of baroque indie blogging in the age before Facebook (and I made the original site design). Both editors later moved onto other projects (Magenta, Problem Glyphs); Gauger maintains the site's archives at tumblr. It was last updated in 2014.

↬ Penny Arcade. Then a webcomic; now a webcomic and a media and events empire.

↬ Paul Boutin. While working at Wired News, I'd heard a rumor that he was my supervisor. But I never spoke to him and only ever received a couple of odd emails, so I just got on with the job until Tweney was hired. His site and its feed are long-dead.

↬ Yanko Design. Classic blockquote chum for gadget bloggers.

↬ City Home News. A offbeat Pittburgh News blog, still online but lying fallow since 2009.

↬ Watchismo. Once a key site for wristwatch fans, Watchismo was folded into watches.com a few years ago. A couple of things were posted to the feed in 2017, but its time has obviously passed.

↬ Gizmodo. Much has changed, but it's still one of the best tech blogs.

↬ Engadget. Much has changed, but it's still one of the best tech blogs.

↬ Boing Boing Gadgets. Site's dead, though the feed is technically live as it redirects to our "gadgets" tag. Thousands of URLs there succumbed to bit-rot at some point, but we have plans to merge its database into Boing Boing's and revive them.

↬ Gear Factor. This was the gadget review column at Wired Magazine, separate from the gadget blog I edited because of the longtime corporate divorce between Wired's print and online divisions. This separation had just been resolved at the time I began working there, and the two "sides" -- literally facing offices in the same building -- were slowly being integrated. The feed's dead, but with an obvious successor, Gear.

↬ The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Required reading at the time, and very much a thing of its time. Now vaguely repulsive.

↬ i09. This brilliant sci-fi and culture blog deserved more than to end up a tag at Gizmodo.

↬ Science Daily: bland but exhaustive torrent of research news, still cranking along.

The "Essentials" Folder was material I wanted to stay on top of, but with work clearly in mind: the background material for systematically belching out content at a particular point in 2007.

↬ Still alive are The Register, Slashdot, Ars Technica, UMPC Portal (the tiny laptop beat!), PC Watch, Techblog, TechCrunch, UberGizmo, Coolest Gadgets, EFF Breaking News, Retro Thing, CNET Reviews, New Scientist, CNET Crave, and MAKE Magazine.

↬ Dead or quiescent: GigaOm (at least for news), Digg/Apple, Akihabara News, Tokyomango, Inside Comcast, Linux Devices (Update: reincarnated at linuxgizmos.com), and Uneasy Silence.

Of the 23 feeds in the "press releases" folder, 17 are dead. Most of the RSS no-shows are for companies like AMD and Intel, however, who surely still offer feeds at new addresses. Feeds for Palm, Nokia and pre-Dell Alienware are genuine dodos. These were interesting enough companies, 10 years ago.

PR Newswire functions as a veneering service so anyone can pretend to have a big PR department, but it is (was?) also legitimately used by the big players as a platform so I monitored the feeds there. They're still populated, but duplicate one another, and it's all complete garbage now. (It was mostly garbage then.)

My "Gadgets and Tech" folder contained the army of late-2000s blogs capitalizing on the success of Gizmodo, Boing Boing, TechCrunch, et al. Back in the day, these were mostly one (or two) young white men furiously extruding commentary on (or snarky rewrites of) press releases, with lots of duplication and an inchoate but seriously-honored unspoken language of mutual respect and first-mover credit. Those sites that survived oftentimes moved to listicles and such: notionally superior and more original content and certainly more sharable on Facebook, but unreadably boring. However, a few old-timey gadget bloggers are still cranking 'em out' in web 1.5 style. And a few were so specialized they actually had readers who loved them.

Still alive: DailyTech, technabob, CdrInfo.com, EverythingUSB, Extremetech, GearFuse, Gizmag, Gizmodiva, Hacked Gadgets, How to Spot A Psychopath/Dans' Data, MobileBurn, NewLaunches, OhGizmo!, ShinyShiny, Stuff.tv, TechDigest, TechDirt, Boy Genius Report, The Red Ferret Journal, Trusted Reviews, Xataca, DigiTimes, MedGadget, Geekologie, Tom's Hardware, Trendhunter, Japan Today, Digital Trends, All About Symbian (Yes, Symbian!), textually, cellular-news, TreeHugger, dezeen.

Dead: jkkmobile.com, Business Week Online, About PC (why), Afrigadget (unique blog about inventors in Africa, still active on FaceBook), DefenseTech, FosFor (died 2013), Gearlog, Mobile-Review.com (but apparently reborn as a Russian language tech blog!), Robot's Dreams, The Gadgets Weblog, Wireless Watch Japan, Accelerating Future, Techopolis, Mobile Magazine, eHome Upgrade, camcorderinfo.com (Update: it became http://Reviewed.com), Digital Home Thoughts (farewell), WiFi Network News (farewell), Salon: Machinist, Near Future Lab, BotJunkie (twitter), and CNN Gizmos.

I followed 18 categories at Free Patents Online, and the site's still alive, though the RSS feeds haven't had any new items since 2016.

In the "news" folder, my picks were fairly standard stuff: BBC, CNET, digg/technology, PC World, Reuters, International Herald Tribune, and a bunch of Yahoo News feeds. The Digg feed's dead; they died and were reborn.

The "Wired" feed folder comprised all the Wired News blogs of the mid-2000s. All are dead. 27B Stroke 6, Autopia, Danger Room, Epicenter, Gadget Lab, Game|Life, Geekdad, Listening Post, Monkey Bites, Table of Malcontents, Underwire, Wired Science.

These were each basically one writer or two and were generally folded into the established mazagine-side arrangements as the Age of Everyone Emulating Gawker came to an end. The feed for former EIC Chris Anderson's personal blog survives, but hasn't been updated since his era. Still going strong is Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond, albeit rigged as a CMS tag rather than a bona fide site of its own.

Still alive from my 2007 "Science" folder are Bad Astronomy (Phil Plait), Bad Science (Ben Goldacre), Pharyngula (PZ Myers) New Urban Legends, NASA Breaking News, and The Panda's Thumb.

Finally, there's a dedicated "iPhone" folder. This was not just the hottest toy of 2007. It was all that was holy in consumer electronics for half a decade. Gadget blogging never really had a golden age, but the iPhone ended any pretense that there were numerous horses in a race of equal potential. Apple won.

Still alive are 9 to 5 Mac, MacRumors, MacSlash, AppleInsider and Daring Fireball. Dead are TUAW, iPhoneCentral, and the iPhone Dev Wiki.

Of all the sites listed here, I couldn't now be paid but to read a few. So long, 2007.

https://boingboing.net/2017/12/29/my-rss-feeds-from-a-decade-ago.html

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aimeesuzara · 7 years ago

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Questions from Maiana Minahal’s Students in English 272, “Filipino Women Writers”...My Responses

Dear students and readers,

I’m honored that you’ve read my work and are interested in these facets of my life and craft as an artist. I love the challenge of being given questions to write about. So, here goes!

1. What is the best thing that writing, performing, creating, etc. provides you? It seems you have many talents, how do each contribute to the person that you are? What do you love about each?

I’ve combined a couple of similar questions here. First, thanks to whomever has said that I have many talents; I’m flattered. I do believe I was blessed with a variety of areas of interest and natural “talent” that I got to explore and develop in different phases of my life. I even felt split about whether to respond to the questions in writing and using my voice and image (because I love storytelling and the voice).

First, what do I love about writing? And perhaps writing, as opposed to performing or creating other kinds of multidisciplinary art (plays, collaborations with dance, music, etc)?

Writing is most private; it’s also a place for confession because in many ways, it’s hidden, is behind a mask. Writing can be on one hand too analytical, but when it’s the most powerful it can also be magic-making, enabling a metaphor to be developed and breathe, an image to vibrate and have scent and color; a scene and characters to come alive with dialogue, backstory, and motivation. It’s a place of invention, slower invention that has no immediate impact except itself on the page - as opposed to live performance which is more of an improvisation and collaboration together with an audience.

Performance, then, is that other thing; I believe performance happens on the page, in that invention, as well, but if we’re talking about performing on the stage or at a microphone, it’s a collaboration among many elements: space (architecture, weather), time, other people / audience, circumstance. It’s also very natural, an ancient throwback to the griots and oral historians and singers and spiritual leaders making incantations...it predates writing. The body is a vessel with so many faculties, and this is the most exciting set of possibilities. Should this line or this word be whispered? Yelled? Projected on the body? Who is my audience when I perform? Are you my audience? Is my audience in the past, present or the future? Am I in the past, present or future? What am I able to bring to life right now, and even co-create with you a new circumstance within the present moment? In theater and in poetry, even if it’s the same exact play or the same poem, each rendering is unique. Did someone laugh at a different part? Did someone cry? Am I feeling the spirit of my grandmother that day? Or my future child? Also, the voice is vibrational. There’s a way in which, when we perform, we are contacting others through the voice, through the heat of our bodies; we share a space and time that never occurs again.

Creating multidisciplinary work - I’ll differentiate as projects that are collaborative, that may involve production elements such as video-poems, dance theater, or collaboration with musicians and filmmakers: this takes the Performance and the Writing to another level. Now, let’s add other people who are experts in their own fields: choreographers, dancers, composers, emcees, filmmakers. I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of these, in making projects such as a “Tiny Fires” poem collaboration (click for excerpt) with San Francisco State University’s Dance Theater, in which my poem was translated into choreography and the dancers learned all of the lines; a recent collaboration with Alayo Dance Theater called “Manos de Mujeres” in which I researched, interviewed and wrote about the lives of Cuban Women and the dance company danced and choreographed to my words; a recent project called “Water and Walls” (click to watch) in which we all wrote verses to music about a shared theme and a filmmaker worked with us to produce a video. These are all exciting ways for the writing to live and breathe and thrive in different ways, through different mediums. When it comes to plays, I do not even perform in the work, but get to see talented actors bring the stories to life, with directors at the helm and production crew helping execute a vision. It’s like giving birth...and seeing someone grow up beyond you, doing things you could not do...

2. What are some influences on your poetry/work? (I reworded this one somewhat; I hope it is still fine!)

I think I’ve answered some of this in the above, in a way. I am influenced by many art forms, and can’t see it any other way. I’ve never sat well with only poetry or only words, which can be limiting, and often, as referenced earlier, can become too cerebral. Words are meant to be released, like songs are meant to be sung. I am influenced by my early exposure to playing piano and dancing ballet, and later playing percussion and dancing West African and Afro-Cuban and Salsa and a slight bit of Filipino movement. I am influenced by the work I love to watch - other theater-makers, poets, dancers. Music influences me deeply, and often I hear poems come to me like strains of music, with melodies and rhythms. The natural world influences me. And history. As you have seen in my book, I can get nearly obsessed with history. The way it was written, the way it omits, the glimpses it gives us into the minds of people. Who is heard and who is not; who is rendered silent in the writing; who needs to be heard, if even in imagination. History excites me and leads me to get possessed. Lastly, change-makers and activists, because I came out of that. I first wrote most fiercely and performed my first spoken word poems because I wanted to tell the story of a little girl, Crizel Valencia, who died at age 6 of leukemia after growing up on a toxic wasteland left by the United States military. I lived in her community and in her home and we drew together. When she died, after making dozens of drawings of herself envisioning her community and her own survival, I felt possessed to write, and speak. So, spirits influence me too.

3. About the book, SOUVENIR: What was the inspiration behind the layout and style of your poems? For example, the use of different fonts and inclusion of outside texts like in your poem "Manifest Destiny 1980." I really liked how you wrote and organized your book by using exhibits (like in the museum, there's a story for each object or subject) I find it very creative. What gave you this idea or how did you think of it?

Each poem definitely has its own inspiration, but I can focus on the one you mentioned, first. In “Manifest Destiny 1980″ I was basically writing parallel realities - one in 1980 (my own personal story of migration across the country) and the one in 1803 of the Lewis and Clark Expedition - both which moved from East to West. In mapping out my own family’s road trip from New Jersey to the small Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick, Richland) towns of the Pacific Northwest, where I remembered growing up with stories about Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, I found that we followed similar route as Lewis and Clark. But, while our trip and our experience was about immigrants and their daughter adjusting and assimilating to White America, Lewis and Clark went to study and exploit the knowledge and resources, and the environment, of Native people. We were subjected to being analyzed and studied and ostracized; they were, as well, but in the end were in the position of power linked to the destruction and removal of local people. The parallel in the layout was meant to enable the two readings (top to bottom) and also one interrupting the other.

As for the exhibits: as you probably know, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, which followed the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In the 1904 Fair, Filipinos were displayed in living exhibits, forced to re-enact rituals (at far too many intervals, unnaturally, for show and even competition), eat, sit, and interact in the public eye, as the living conquests of the US Imperialists. I realized that so much of our lives was and is performance as well - my parents needing to demonstrate their ability to work and function within the American context; my striving to fit in, disappear, or perform as the rare Filipino girl in often non-diverse environments. Without being too literal, I was interested in how we can see our lives on display, and what is lost or gained in that performance. And objects - what are the objects that are collected as treasures of war - including our own bodies?

4. In the poem, "My Mother's Watch,” did that situation really happen to you? If you do go back to the motherland regularly, does the profiling still happen to you today?

Yes; that poem is actually pretty true to life. I wouldn’t have called it “profiling” in that I think that term carries meanings of power within a racist context such as the United States. In the Philippines, it was more of curiosity, more of realizing that you could never really “go back” in a way that is simply nostalgic or “authentic” -- that once the departure from the homeland, and the living within the United States context occurs, we may appear similar in skin and features, we may be 100% the same as our relatives in some ways, but we are not because we have lost our native tongues, or cultural norms, or gestures. And also - that I felt so much bigger and taller than other Filipinos speaks to the fact that many of our own relatives or people just like us back “home” had access to fewer resources and nutrition, whereas we were able to grow up on milk and in my case, packaged and microwaved foods. Even in our bodies, we are altered forever. There was an article/ interview about this poem here that may be of interest: http://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2011/05/31/process-profile-aimee-suzara-discusses-my-mothers-watch/

5. What was the hardest part of the book to write?

The whole thing was hard to write, but it was actually harder to write the “colonizer”/white man/government/military and scientific voices because they were so emotionless at times, so declaratory, and in many cases, so condescending, if not overtly racist. To dwell in the language in which Filipinos were called “niggers” and “rabbits” and that torture of Filipinos seemed to be so much fun; or that Native and Filipino and Black people’s skulls and genetics were inferior (according to the scientific racism of the time); and also that so much of it seemed to ring true to today. It’s much easier to write personal narrative, lyrical narrative.

6. What do you hope for readers to remember the most?

I hope that readers can see themselves reflected in the glass of the museum exhibits. That regardless of their background, they see how Filipino-American History is American History and not some niche piece of history, but actually demonstrated some of the most egregious cases of scientific racism and exploitation, the epitome at the end of the 19th century, of colonialism and imperialism. I hope readers check out more of the history, and also reflect on themselves and where they come from.

7. What is the most nerve wrecking thing about becoming a mother for the first time? (Congratulations by the way!)

I put this at the end because it feels, in a way, like a bonus question, but also something very relevant to our lives as artists. Becoming a first-time mother involves putting everything aside - my writing, my teaching, my projects - in service of my health and the health and protection of the child I am going to birth. I have birthed many other things: projects, plays and poems, but a human being -- this requires the most sacrifice and faith I’ve ever had to summon. At the same time, I think it’s very important for you, readers, to know that as artists, our lives are our art, just as art is our life. We never stop being one or another (people, mothers, playwrights, performers). If I believed I would stop being an artist, I could despair, but if I were to stop being an artist, what kind of mother would my son have? He deserves my full self. So, while our time becomes more limited and we have to focus on the child, we do not lose ourselves; we simply change.

Thank you for your interest and I hope you’ve enjoyed my answers!

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a-beast-of-prey · 8 years ago

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GETTING TO KNOW THE MUN

NAME: Jazmin

NICKNAME: Jaz, Jazza, Jazzy, Bite, Bark, Mali

FACECLAIM: Don’t have one. But if I did, probably either Whip, Sasha from AoT, or some stupidly fat and fluffy dog.

PRONOUNS: She/her

HEIGHT: 168 cm… Ish.

BIRTHDAY: November 29

AESTHETIC: Plants (aquatic and forest mostly), bodies of water, the smells of rain and baked goods. And lowkey: neon glowing, pastel colours, gothic/spooky settings, old and crumbling stone architecture.

LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO: Hyper Dark by Sleigh Bells

FAVOURITE MUSE(S) YOU’VE WRITTEN? I’m having a hellava lot of fun on K’ so far! And I still have a major soft spot for Attikus, even if I feel like I need to write him waaaay better whenever I manage to find his muse again… Orendi and Shayne and Aurox were also fun while they lasted, even if I burned their muses out quickly and looking back, realised I wasn’t writing them all that well to begin with.

GETTING TO KNOW THE ACCOUNT

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE ON THIS MUSE? When I remembered KoF’s existence mid-to-late last year and fell deep into the pit of obsession, I remembered K’ was one of my mains in the mobile version of XIII (my first KoF :,,L) and that I liked him a lot. Back then, it was a superficial kind of like… because he looked cool, and broody edgelords were my jam at the time; a box he left a big fat check mark in lmao. But when I actually sat down and poured over his Wiki and playthroughs/endings for his team(s) this time around - really, properly, got to know him - I became enamoured by his story (and the other characters that were closely intertwined with it). I wouldn’t stop being hit with fic ideas for him, so I decided to cave and channel all that creative energy towards an RP blog in order to help me get a better grasp of his character before seriously undertaking any larger-scale fic projects.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE ASPECTS OF YOUR CURRENT MUSE? The biggest is that his past is shrouded in so much mystery still that it gives me a shitton off wiggle room to do one of my fav things: play with headcanons~! Another is that he’s tsundere as hell, which is funny and kinda cute; just peel back the layers of angst and apathy and there’s an awkwardly kind kid deep down. I also like the fact that despite his stoicness, he’s stupidly extra. By which I mean the unnecessary lengths he will go to uphold his ~cool broody goth aesthetic~, which are just hilarious. I mean. He leaves his tits hanging out in the wind from that leather jacket - which he wears no undershirt beneath… - and seems to hoard sunglasses for the apparently express purpose of throwing them at people when he isn’t wearing them. What an absolute tryhard dork. Bless his lil’ heart. :,,)

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING? I’m not entirely sure… But I definitely admire quite a number of friends who I’ve met online. I won’t name any names, but their stuff continually inspires me towards improvement! c:

FAVOURITE TYPES OF THREADS: I thrive on angst and fluff in general. Family and pseudo family bonding, in particular, really gets me; that’s the best shit imho. 👌😩 Also, when one character is badly wounded and the other needs to seek help for them/keep them alive until help arrives. Love that.

BIGGEST STRUGGLE IN REGARDS TO YOUR CURRENT MUSE: His moods and trains of thought can be rather difficult to get a grasp on… In part because he hasn’t really been subjected to enough varied scenarios in canon to paint him as acting like anything other than an emotionally constipated, perpetually pissed off bundle of rage… :/ So I’m doing my best to help flesh him out more with headcanons, and giving a fair bit of thought to what his reactions to facing any kinds of situations that haven’t been brushed upon in canon may be; softer and/or more vulnerable ones, in particular. But that brings up the constant worry that I’m twisting his character into a too-OOC mess. That and sometimes (often) his muse will ping-pong between feeling one thing one moment and then abruptly decide to feel the complete opposite the next… A prime example of this would be my thread with @hackingfirestarter. In canon, he’d likely snap and snarl and fight the entire time he’s been taken captive; fighting tooth and nail until he’s forced to submission via unconsciousness, or outright killed. But I figure being experimented on for so many years - even if he’s repressed or forgotten the majority of those memories - would shake him up; have given him a fear of sterile environments and surgical tools. Because yes, K’ is a badass, but he’s also only a sixteen(ish) year old kid who has gone through a lot of trauma. Much as he may wish it, he’s not the emotionless block of ice he presents himself to be.

So TL;DR: I’m always worrying that my attempts to make K’ seem more fleshed out/human are coming across as being way too OOC. And the fact my muse for him doesn’t seem to know what the fucc it wants to do in terms of emotions half the time isn’t helping matters. :,,,/

TAGGED BY: Indirectly by @pendles-is-friendles

TAGGING: @ciphxring, @wickedreplicant, @hackingfirestarter, and anybody else who sees this and feels up to doing it!

#{{HAHA OOPS THIS TURNED OUT LONG}}#♱ [OOC] all bark no bite #�� [MEMES] chance encounters #{{yeaaaaah. my confidence is wavering pretty bloody badly at any given time}}#{{also there being no info on his past is a double-edged sword}}#{{I have lots to play with but also it’s. too much}}#{{like Christ. this poor kid doesn’t even know his own name; the one he had before NESTS got their mitts on him}}

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undergroundimagined-blog · 8 years ago

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What is the relationship between cinema and space in your studio design project?

Viewing Fort Lane through the lens of cinema allowed me to view the space as an intimate and exteriorised environment. Through this process It allowed me to view Auckland city in an imaginative way allowing for a design intervention that’s not only seen through the designer’s lens but also a cinematography lens. Auckland Central was a hive for activity in the early nineteenth century where theatre was a major part in the entertainment aspect of the social life of people. It was a means of escaping what was real at the time and being

transported into a fantasy world where pleasures became a reality. Through the process of creating surfaces, cutting these and then creating a script for my design I will be able to produce work which has a social narrative of Fort Lane that will reveal the underlying personality of this dark lane and these qualities will be heightened through cinematographic processes. My design is based around the question: how can the process of destruction in society be a catalyst for the design of shared space within our urban environment? I believe that

although Fort Lane has a history of violence and drunken outbreaks my urban intervention

will be a means for safety amongst this chaotic field of animals and this will be done through the lens of cinema as well as design and architecture.

How does this relationship inform your design strategy for Fort Lane?

The film techniques used in cartoons and their reasoning why is a relationship between fort lane and cinema that I saw. I chose to focus on cartoons including ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ and ‘Road Runner and Coyote’ where there is the reoccurring theme of death. Death in the most creative form is the ultimate way to end the constant tension between the two characters. Violence and undermining themes ran deep across so many childhood cartoons as a parallel to the emotions which were present not only then, but also to this day. Violence, drugs, sex and alcohol are all problems which society faces and will always face, although it’s a serious problem, turning it into a fake reality through cartoons lightens the message and allows people to twist it into believing that it is okay despite the outcome of what these actions do to our selves and others. An interview with David Silverman emphasizes this point where he states that Itchy and Scratchy cartoons are "an ironic commentary on cartoon mayhem in the sense that it's taken to a more realistic level. The kids on The Simpsons are laughing at it, and we're laughing too, but part of what you're laughing at is the over-the-top excessiveness of the violence." (Silverman, 2008) Fort Lane is known for its violent history and chaotic Friday night dramas where the ultimate goal, similar to the cartoons, is to get as intoxicated as possible and suffer the consequences later. Businessmen and woman dressed up in suits and skirts scarring their appearance with their face in the gutter vomiting their Friday night away. With this goal as a foundation I wonder if I could create a place located on Fort Lane as a sanctuary where the outside world and its chaos is blocked out momentarily.

What is your research question? What are you exploring through your design and theoretical inquiry?

Upon arrival on Fort Lane it is clear as to why Fort Lane has been categorised as a high criminal activity area within Auckland Central. Emotions of uncertainty is almost instantly heightened as you walk down the peculiar sloping sight. My research question is: how can the process of destruction in society be a catalyst for the design of shared space within our urban environment? The formation of spaces should not be limited to constructing four walls that provide shelter of sort born from a simple idea. Spaces should thrive in the environment which they are placed in. Fort Lane is an area which is alive with potential. The destruction of the street allows us to uncover the hidden treasure below and use this as a means of possessing the inhabitant in a trance which allows them to also understand the uniqueness of this dangerous lane in an alternative way. Cartoons and the twisted messages which they show have been a major aspect in this design process allowing me to create formations that reflect the macabre and sadistic scenes which play out on screen for children to watch yet it’s a reality which we face daily in places like Fort Lane.

How is your project and thinking informed by contextual research?

Through the design process I was inspired by Philip Beesley and Joep van Lieshout. Joep van Lieshout is a designer who works with art, design and architecture as a means of portraying dystopic and utopian themes. His designs all have in common similar motives which he uses in his work as a way of highlighting the disturbing qualities which material obsession, systems, power, sex and death can have on people (Van Lieshout, 2017) .One particular piece that I was interested is the work ‘Nuclear Reactor 2016’. Van Lieshout uses his art as a way to reveal the interplay between destruction and utopia. Van Lieshout uses methods used in genetic manipulation and robotics to draw parallels between the societal threats we face in the 20th century. Philip Beesley is an artist who works with the notion of dystopic architecture and installations. Beesley’s installations are contemporary ideas that focus on the rapidly expanding technology and culture of responsive and interactive systems (Beesley, 2017)Kinetic energy and the way people relate to space is how these unique formations are created. They are not only beautiful but also leave the viewer questioning the world which they live in. I believe that in order for design to be successful it should leave the viewer questioning not only what the design is portraying but also their view on the world as a whole.

What is your script for Fort Lane?

Through this journey of exploring ideas and understanding how fort lane behaves I hope to create a narration where there can be an escape from the dangers of this world and the animal activities that are heightened down this lane. This would not be possible without the people who are active participants in this lane and they are a primary focus for me during this exploration. Each character represents a particular personality which enters the site and help narrate the way the actual design and the intervention I am hoping to achieve will be created. The final scripting for this site will be driven by our natural human instincts and our behaviours in public spaces.

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 8 years ago

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The Two Sides to Graz, Austria: (Part 2) The Culturally Creative City, From History to Hipster

My trip to Graz was a combination of a #EuroCityTrip project to highlight the city as a ‘cool neighbour’ to Slovenia’s Ljubljana and as part of my #YearInAustria project, where I set out on a city-hopping tour at the start of summer to uncover the urban hubs of Innsbruck, Salzburg and Graz to show you how not all Austrian cities are the same. Graz was my third stop.

Part 2: Trendy, New Graz. The Hipster to the History

Graz – Austria’s second largest city – is defined mostly by its 900 years of history which lives on in every street, city pocket and hillside. But that’s just one half of its cultural story.

The modern persona of Graz, which helped give it the coveted titles of UNESCO City of Design and European Cultural Capital (2003) is just as worthy of your attention in order to understand it as a whole. (You can read Part 1: 900 Years of Historical Graz. The ‘Mediterranean’ City of Austria here).

While there is a mesh to the old and new parts of Graz, the River Mur neatly cuts the more obvious parts of old and new Graz in two. Which makes for easier navigation for visitors wanting to delve deeper into its two distinct personalities. Locals see this ‘south’ side of the city as more ‘playful’ and the contrast between the two is welcomed and celebrated.

My time in the trendy part of Graz started by checking into the Wiesler Hotel, on the other side of the River Mur from the historical old town. The lobby bears an artwork of jagged wood – a beam puzzle art installation by Austrian artist, Clemens Hollerer. It’s a sister of the Hotel Daniel brand, that’s been making its ultra trendy mark in Vienna (although it first in Graz).

The hotel lies on the same stretch of Grieskai street that’s home to the city’s revered modern landmark of the Kunsthouse (modern art museum, built in 2003) and affectionately known locally as the “Friendly Alien”. You can’t miss it, and since I was obsessed with this architectural bubble before I even arrived, it was the perfect location. Not to mention that as a coffee freak, the hip Tribeka coffee shop was also on the same stretch of funky straße (road). It’s here that Graz’s younger generation hang out, and who are quite possibly living in the adjacent Lend neighbourhood.

This side of the river is packed with the ultra cool and for those looking for contemporary immersion in a historical city. The creative neighbourhood of Lend starts in the area around Mariahilferplatz, whose history dates back to the 19th century when immigrants from Yugoslavia and Turkey settled here, bringing together multiple cultures, cuisines, communities and commerce.

It’s a natural trend for the creative minded to be attracted to the underdog areas; the gritty and unknown. Today Lend is a mix of eco initiative stores, trendy eateries that reflect the cultural mix of the area or where you can gorge on traditional Backhendl with a bit more chic, outdoor markets, and a regenerated old red light district area (the area specifically between the Kunsthaus and Lendplatz).

In the evening a small clusters of casual pubs and urbanite bars, and late night foodie spots like ‘Brot und Spiele’, give it a homely and ‘in the know’ neighbourhood feel. The hipster bar, Kabuff is a play on the areas past, meaning ‘no brothel’ in Styrian dialect.

The charity design shops are at the very heart of this creative side of Graz, selling all kinds of upcycled items from fashion, jewellery and homeware. Yet the focus on the design projects is that they focus on youth employment and the involvement of young locals, which means when you shop here, you are a part of a full-circle initiative.

There are pockets of street art, buildings painted in a myriad of colour and pattern, a church (St.Andrä) that combines religion with contemporary art, and repurposed old spaces that make for super geil (cool) hangouts. It has been given a new lease of life from what was once a place seen as discarded and unkempt. What’s exciting is that it is still expanding and adding colour and life to an area that was once on the sidelines of old, historical Graz.

The fact that this area is built on multi-culturalism and thrives on this community spirit is of great importance. The annual Grieskram food and performance festival brings everyone together and the socio-cultural project, Annenviertal encourages Graz locals to take part in community activities to drive interest and awareness in new business and neighbourhood initiatives in order to keep the area on the map. As a visitor, you are just as a much a part of keeping this side of the Mur River alive.

That’s not to say that this ultra hip Graz separates itself from the old. It simply compliments it.

While the ledges of the Schlossberg looks down over this area, this side of the river looks up. In the Kunsthaus, one of its ‘nozzle’ windows points in a different direction to all of the others – for a direct old to modern facing view of the famous Bell Tower on the Schlossberg.

The River, a vein of the old city, is connected with modern structures such as the Murinsel (a café and exhibition space) that sits right in the water with footbridges that link to both sides of the bank, and the Mur Promenade (which you can access via stairs leading down from the main Erzherzog Johann Brücke) with a waterside bar and spot for relaxation. The brave go river surfing in the strong currents, which you might be lucky to spot on a good day.

That’s not to say all of contemporary and cool Graz is contained on one side, either.

Artworks have made their way across the river, blending with the historical old streets, like the blue ring in Schlossbergplatz, and sporadic structures on other squares, like the lampshade metalwork I found. The Joanneumsviertal cultural centre is a funky glass structure nestled within the old town streets. Trendy hangouts like Ducks Coffee Shop on Rabergasse and Albert’s bar on Herrengasse are well-established new haunts in the historical centre.

Then you have independent stores like first package free organic grocery store, Das Gramm that is practically next door to the old chocolate making shop. Not to mention when the sun goes down and the old Graz hums with heavy metal and Indie music bars like Tick Tack and Guest Room, DJ spots like Café Mitte and underground clubs like Club Q.

Graz is also host to plenty of cultural festivals throughout the year too, giving all the more reason to come back after you’ve explored its history and hipster hangouts. Graz hosts all manner of creative festivals annually, including the Austrian Film Festival in March, the electronic music Springfestival in May, and the Steirischer Herbst contemporary art festival in October takes over the city with everything from visual art, theatre and political debates.

Graz’s modern history defines it just as much as its 900 years past. Crossing the River Mur and exploring a whole new side of Graz that lies right behind the ‘Friendly Alien’ landmark completes the picture as to the city’s origins, cultural diversity and artistic heart.

Read ‘Part 1: 900 Years of Historical Graz. The ‘Mediterranean’ City of Austria’ here to see what there is to see and do in the historical side of Graz.

Top Tips: Things to See and Do in Graz

Arnold Schwarzenegger fans can sip a coffee in a room dedicated to him in Andy Warhol style at the Grand Café Kaiserfeld. The ‘Governor’s Room’ is filled with portraits of the Hollywood star and Graz’s famous son. Nearby Thal is his homeplace where you can visit his birthhouse with is now a museum, where you can pose with a giant statue.

The Parish Church on Herrengasse, while known for its Baroque Tower, includes a reminder to the cities darker days, featuring modern art stained glass windows, one which includes a portrait of Hitler and Mussolini watching the crown of thorns coronation of Jesus.

For a taste of the Styrian craft beer scene, head to café bar Vintage.

For the best Backhendl indulgence (half Styrian chicken in crispy breadcrumbs) head to The Steirer on Belgiergasse, pictured above. The restaurant also has the largest selection of regional wines.

Return to the ‘Friendly Alien’ at night, when it becomes an light-art installation.

Local top picks for the Lend neighbourhood hangouts include brunch favourite Blendend, Rangoon for cocktails and Lotte (a smokers bar). We enjoyed taking random strolls and testing all manner of hideouts!

The weekly farmers market takes place in Lend Monday-Saturday in Lendplatz, until 1pm

If you want to be in the know about local events and nightlife while in Graz, check out the listings on Kultur Graz.

Things to Know about Graz:

Graz is close to Vienna and is well-connected to the capital (and all other major Austrian cities) via the ÖBB rail network. From Vienna, the train journey is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. Graz is also seen as a ‘sister city’ with Slovenia’s Ljubljana, which surprising similarities (as I will write about later).

Graz is a very easy city to explore on foot, which is why an all-encompassing city card isn’t necessarily needed.

Grab a copy of the “Graz. Made by locals for Young Travellers” map. It’s detailed without being boring, and full of insider hints and tips, alongside the very best hangouts, from coffee to quirky themed bars.

Should you wish to take public transport, a 1 hour ticket (valid from the tram and bus) is €2.20 and a 24 hours ticket is €5, which is much better value.

If you are a museum fan, the Joanneum 24 hours tickets grants admission to all exhibitions under the ‘Universalmusuem Joanneum’, which includes the Kunsthaus and Schloss Eggenberg (just outside of the city centre).

Check Out Our Video From Graz:

GRAZ | Austria’s Southern Beauty from Emiliano Bechi Gabrielli on Vimeo.

For further Information on Graz:

Check out the Graz Tourism Information website. For further information about planning your trip around Austria visit the Austria Tourism website, where you can also keep up to date with all my adventures.

The post The Two Sides to Graz, Austria: (Part 2) The Culturally Creative City, From History to Hipster appeared first on Borders Of Adventure.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 years ago

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By @Beschizza: My RSS feeds from a decade ago, a snapshot of gadget blogging when that was a thing