the porous city - other - l.a. |
Los Angeles is where you confront the objective fact that you mean nothing; the desert, the ocean, the tectonic plates, the clear skies, the sun itself, the Hollywood Walk of Fame – even the parking lots: everything there somehow precedes you, even new construction sites, and it's bigger than you and more abstract than you and indifferent to you. You don't matter. You're free.LA residents given to talking about life in the city talk about freedom a lot. Without a cohesive citywide identity or community structure, without a city center in any sense of the word, you don't situate your life in relation to some imagined ur-community or parental figures. You're just there. But I'd add one thing: it's true that the city as a whole cares about nothing. But there are a thousand communities, more, within the city.
Tech
PIM, Javascript, Android, Automobile, Crowdsourcing, Open, Audio, MacOS, Product Management, OS, WRX, Social, Energy, Security, Data, Web analytics, Net, Hardware, AI, Visual, Mobile, Development, Medical, RSS, Collaboration, Business, Web, Wearables, barcamp, s60, Shopping, Storage, a11y
Other
Toys, Food & Drink, CrowdFlower, Life hacks, Feminism, Sports, California, Friday, L.A., Berlin, Activism, Statistics, Podcasts, Bicycling, Boston, Video, Law, Games, NYC, San Francisco, Surfing, Transportation, Minnesota, Clothes, Personal care, Politik, Housing, Quizzes, Travel, Agriculture, Geography, History
Music
Mp3s, L.A., Making, Streams, Mixes, Labels, Booking, Mailing lists, Boston, Hip-hop, Videos, Musicians, Reviews, Business, Events, Shopping, Good tracks, Lyrics, House, History
People
Friends, Exercise, Subcultures, Meditation, Gossip, Enemies, Health, Family, Life hacks, Me, ADD, Heroes, Working with, Languages, Weblogs, MOTAS, Vocations, Stories, Buddhism
Arts
Spoken Word, Events, Sculpture, Rhetoric, Desktop wallpaper bait, Comix, Movies, Animation, Humor, Poetry, Outlets, iPad bait, Burning Man, Literature, Visual
Commerce
Real Estate, Web, IP Law, Shopping, Marketing and CRM, Investing, Macroeconomics, Personal finance, Taxes, Non-profit, Microfinance, Management consulting, International Development, Insurance, Personal services
Design
Cool, Type, IA, Algorithmic, User experience, Presentations, Tools, Furniture, Data visualization, Web, Architecture, Process
Science
Cognition, Statistics and Data, Environment, Networks, Physics, Zoology, Psychology
Travel
Uganda, Vagabond '08, Kenya, Kingdom of Siam