04.01.2004: Paris
Something I wrote for today’s Circuits section in the NYT: Blog-Bleary? Try (What Else?) a Blog. It’s about the imminent launch of Kinja, a “blog portal,” and includes a quick survey of other meta-blog sites and services.
People and things mentioned in the story: Nick Denton, Gawker, Bloglines, NewzCrawler, NetNewsWire, Feedster, Blogdex, Technorati, Meg Hourihan, Jay Rosen’s PressThink.
04.03.2004: Fiona Project II
The final output of the mysterious collaborative video project is here (1.3MB QuickTime). Volunteers were asked to submit a short video clip with a certain phrase on the soundtrack. If you like cute pets or cute kids, then you are going to love this. Thanks for playing!
See also 4.7.2003.
Update: The jury has decided to award two prizes for the best submissions: to Jonathan and his robots, for achievement in cinematography and sound design, and to Mum, the singing cat, for sheer force of talent. Each will receive a photo print.
04.06.2004: Saint Germain des Prés, Paris
See the church on old maps at Historic Cities, which has lots of giant map scans.
DearSaintAnthony.org makes writing on statues obsolete.
Paris, Beyond the Image. “Focusing on places where violent events occurred and how those places look today.” (Speaking of maps, the same site has a nice 1937 Paris Métro map (606K).
04.13.2004: Paris, night, skaters
Paris.
The Friday night skate is huge.
Upload a photo and the French postal service will put it on a real stamp for you, or at least on a little stamp next to a real stamp, which you must choose from among a few dull designs/messages. Nice idea, though.
04.16.2004: Spring, Paris
04.19.2004: Typography, Paris
Paris.
Coming in October to New York’s great white elephant, the TWA Terminal at JFK: an exhibit called Terminal Five in which big-shot artists will fill up the terminal’s empty spaces with cool stuff. From the project proposal (1MB PDF): “Artists will respond to the unique challenge of this site-specific exhibition by designing new work for the entire terminal, from luggage carousels and VIP lounges to the tunnel walkways and ticket counters.”
“Good times — MSN! Good times — MSN! Got it? Here we go.” Via moderna.org.
04.22.2004: Mitterrand branch, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Mitterrand branch of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, designed by Dominique Perrault.
The towers, which are meant to look like four open books, surround a courtyard with a small forest that was shipped in from Normandy.
Tips for Paris-bound geeks: A company called HotCafé has been putting WiFi hotspots, most of them free, in a bunch of Paris cafés. The McDonald’s hotspots are also free here, but the croissants are not going to be as good. For dial-up there are “free” ISPs — you pay for a local call, and the ISP gets a cut of that. I have had good luck with FreeSurf.
04.27.2004: Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.
The last time I was here, Oscar’s grave was covered in Smiths lyrics. This is an improvement.
There are more of these in a gallery of 32 photos.
See also 10.14.2003. Related sites, in French: Official, unofficial.
The slick Fotolog clone PhotoBlog.be has only been up for a few weeks, and already it’s had to struggle with the Brazilian problem. “PhotoBlog is all about high quality visual narratives and not about plain dating pictures. We will defend this positioning by all measures, while maintaining an ‘open spirit’.” Background: Gothamist, Wired News.
04.29.2004: Paris shop windows
Shop windows, Paris.
From “Paris Insider’s Guide,” a free and mediocre print publication: Burglars Codes (pdf). “Burglars often stake out houses and flats before breaking and entering. They leave chalk marks next to the entrance to the building. Learn how to interpret these and don’t forget to wipe them off… Courtesy of Neuilly-sur-Seine Police station.” If you were a burglar, why would you share this information? Maybe there’s a socialist burglar collective. See also hobo signs.
The legendary Mahir is now the king of blogging. I can’t find his blog. See also 7.4.2002.
