“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)

“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.”.

“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)

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 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.”.
“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.”.

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

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.”.

Online books, poems, short stories.
“Read Print, your free online library.
Our website offers thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast.”.

My choice: James Joyce, A Painful Case.

“He could not feel her near him in the darkness nor her voice touch his ear.
He waited for some minutes listening.
He could hear nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent.
He felt that he was alone.”.

“You have the right to remain silent. Do you wish to talk to us now?”.

Miranda warning card: “virtually indestructible, includes the five rights as well as the waiver. Front printed in English, back printed in Spanish. Price: $3.99.” Ready to buy? (®Chief Corporation)

43Folders presents the Hipster PDA:

“…The Hipster PDA is a fully extensible system for coordinating incoming and outgoing data for any aspect of your life and work.
Let’s make one together:

1. get a bunch of 3″ x 5″ file cards
2. clip them together with a binder clip
3. there is no step 3

From the 43Folders Wiki* :

“There are a number of benefits to a Hipster PDA over a digital PDA:

• Cards can be arbitrarily resequenced, given away, and writing by hand is freeform and unrestricted
• Won’t run out of batteries
• More durable
• Cheaper
• Information doesn’t get lost in there; when something’s no longer relevant, you throw it away

See also D*I*Y, where Douglas Johnston explain how to build, tweak and boost your Hipster.

*This is a 43Folders Wiki content, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5. license.

Well, I’m rumblin’ in this JCB. I’m 5 years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me. And the engine rattles my bum like berserk While we’re singin, “Don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work!”

JCB, a song by Nizlopi.

“A lot of people have wondered about the content and origins of Nizlopi’s JCB song,
particularly as it seems to strike a chord with so many people.”.

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