Rik Abel

Substance of Style

I'm reading a very interesting book by Virginia Postrel called The Substance of Style. Her central thesis is that we have entered the "Age of Aesthetics" and "look and feel" (along with design) is assuming ever-greater importance. Ms. Postrel managed to neatly deflect criticisms that aesthetic pleasure is 'superficial' or argues that it is rather the case that it taps deep into human instincts. This certainly seems a persuasive argument to me. I'm about a third of the way through and enjoying it enormously, very thought provoking. I might try to write a proper review when I finish it.

New Toothbrush Makes Other Toothbrushes Look Like Worthless Shit

I went ahead a bit the bullet and bought an Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush yesterday. It is a milestone in the evolution of toothbrush design. The cross-hatched bristles and extra-long PowerTip bristles really seem to get into all the nooks and crannies, and it has a big, grippy handle which is most comfortable to use. It's wonderful that we live in an age where toothbrushes have become so perfectly evolved, don't you think?

WaR, huh!

I'm working on a new site for a research organisation called "Working Against Racism" (or WaR, unfortunately...). It's coming along now, so I would like to offer it up for any comments and critiques:

www.mememachine.net/war/

I'm quite pleased with the all-CSS navigation, but I wish I could find a way to do the two middle columns of boxes on the home page without resorting to using a table. Nothing I've tried seems to work properly in IE6. And css-discuss hasn't been much help on the matter...

El Duderino

Go to Lab360 and you can listen to the soundtracks of numerous movies. Splendid idea. I'm listening to The Big Lebowski, which is great even without pictures. Nice one.

awwww...cute.

Ratemykitten.com

Friday Afternoon Links

Fairly self-explanatory:

George Bush portrait made out of arseholes

Brown Bear on a trampoline (QuickTime).

Tallulah

This is a cat called Tallulah, who was sunbathing on a garden wall in Cambridge. In Cambridge the cats are invariably friendly and approach you expecting to be stroked; in London the cats are wary and run a mile before you can get within 10 feet. Mind you, our neighbourhood is frequented by foxes and feral children, so I can't blame them.

I want a kitty.

Streatham in beautiful website shock

Well, at least Streatham cemetery is, in the wonderful Afterlife by Jonathan Clark, a truly beautiful photo documentary, enhanced through a subtle and nuanced use of Flash (not often you hear those two adjectives applied to Flash, eh?)

I must explain that I work in Streatham, and it is one of the less salubrious neighbourhoods in London.

I can prove it. Here are a few photos which represent the seamier aspect of St. Reatham on the Hill (as nobody calls it...):

Mmm...tasty boiled food! Imagine our excitement come wednesday.

The legendary Caesars nightclub. Rumour has it that it was founded by Julius Caesar himself. Please note the banner advertising "Cage Rage 3". Ah yes, the aesthetic pleasures of cage fighting know no bounds.

The delightful, hand-daubed sign for the car wash which is immediately adjacent to our office and staffed by a suspect-looking gang of rogues. Judging by the sign, you'd be quite likely to get your car back with the doors on back-to-front. And you may find various body parts secreted away behind panels...

New Kid on the Blog

My wonderfully clever and talented wife Adrienne has a blog. Hoorah! About time. Go now and read about the Marquis de Sade and Geoffrey Boycott. It's worth it, believe me...

Radical bikes.

Project Laufer is an amazing reinvention of the tandem by some very clever German engineering types. Projects like this give me hope for mankind.

Less radical, but still pretty fly is the BigHa Recumbent.

Hmmm...maybe I will do a bike blog.