Life Less Literary

Speaking of cars (as I was just recently),
<sarcasm>somebody buy me a Zimmer Golden Spirit</sarcasm>,
I wanna be Homer Simpson.

Great Metafilter thread on George W Bush’s visit to the UK here. Top quote so far:

I mean, if I invited someone to my house, and they insisted that I put up 500 of their friends, rebuild the house, and allow them to shoot at my neighbors with no repercussions…I can assure you that they would no longer be welcome.

This cracks me up…

Police on Friday removed the corpse of a man believed to have hanged himself at least a year ago after builders and students at Budapest’s University of Arts had initially mistaken it for a modern sculpture…

As Richard Littlejohn [spit] would say “You couldn’t make it up”.

Matt Stuart has the most incredible eye for a good photo. And, jesus, he must be quick off the mark.

Some Photoshop actions and tips here and here which I probably ought to take a look at. Been meaning to hunt out more stuff like this ever since Guy posted his set of tips, which have since sadly been retired (you don’t know what you’re missing - I swear by my Guy photoshop actions, use ‘em every day. Well, every day that I edit a photo, anyway).

Zang! Who is that, stalking along the tundra! It is Gulch, hands clutching a studded crowbar! And with an ominous scream, his voice cometh

You in some shit now, muhfuh! I hereby void your warranty, and send you back to God!!

What’s your battle-cry?

I while ago I was “debating” with friends the relative merits of “rounded” vs. “angular” design. Over the last ten years or more, there’s been a move in design circles (hmmm) towards making everything curvier, more “organic”. At first I was quite keen on this, the results seemed somehow more natural and beautiful than straight edges and corners. But in the last couple of years I’ve started to tire of it, especially as it’s usually done very badly. It seems that, Jugendstil aside, humans are nowhere near as good as nature at doing curves.

The thrust of my argument was that it’s time for a renaissance in the boxy design of the early 1980s, big blocky digital watches with big blocky numbers on them, ZX81 computers, Doctor Who’s assistant K9, etc etc. Most of my bile was directed at car manufacturers, who used to come up with classy, individual designs where each brand had a distinct look of its own, but who now all produce ugly steroidal clone banana wagons en-masse.

So I was delighted to find yesterday (via Scattershot) the Isuzu Zen Concept SUV. Beautifully, unashamedly boxy. And whatsmore, in the true spirit of the Transformer robots it so resembles, the car turns into Japanese tea room with bamboo flooring and tatami woven mats (I kid you not!). If ever I feel the need to drive a tank, I would like it to be one very much like this, thank you.

I recently re-visited Zoltar the Magnificent’s website. Zoltar is a shop on Marshall Street, just behind Carnaby Street. It’s an incredible other-world of a place. The basement is full of incredible artworks, gold kalashnikovs and pre-Chapman brothers McDonaldised artefacts. The toilet is entirely covered, walls, ceiling and everything with a lovingly assembled collage of hardcore porn, past and present. The garden is incredible too (even more incredible than the mere fact that shops just off Carnaby Street have gardens) - done out in astroturf and camoflage netting, it contains a jungle-hut bar which looks like it was airlifted from ‘Nam circa 1970. Not a shop where I’d necessarily buy anything (although I’d kill for one of their jackets), but well worth a trip for the sheer Viriconiumness of it all. (In particular, I would not be at all surprised to find a mirror leading to Viriconium somewhere in this shop).

If you have the bandwidth, check out the film on their website (under Gamma Quadrant), it’s a gas. But have a look at the entire site, lots of interesting stuff.

WorldChanging is an awesome weblog full of news on science, green issues, global culture and other things that you really need to know if you’re ever going to get your brain up to planet-size. Found via Bruce Sterling’s weblog.