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.
This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Tech
Collaboration, AI, Social, PIM, s60, Audio, Product Management, Open, Energy, Shopping, Development, Android, a11y, Mobile, WRX, Web analytics, barcamp, Wearables, Automobile, Storage, Security, Hardware, Net, Crowdsourcing, Business, MacOS, RSS, OS, Javascript, Medical, Web, Data, Visual
Other
Clothes, Geography, Surfing, Friday, Statistics, Podcasts, Transportation, Housing, Politik, Games, Activism, Minnesota, Food & Drink, Toys, Personal care, Quizzes, L.A., Bicycling, Sports, Life hacks, History, Agriculture, NYC, Boston, San Francisco, CrowdFlower, Law, Video, California, Travel, Berlin, Feminism
Music
L.A., Boston, Mixes, House, Booking, History, Mp3s, Labels, Good tracks, Mailing lists, Lyrics, Videos, Shopping, Streams, Events, Business, Musicians, Making, Hip-hop, Reviews
People
Buddhism, Subcultures, Gossip, Vocations, Working with, Health, Heroes, Meditation, MOTAS, Me, Friends, Weblogs, Languages, Family, Life hacks, ADD, Stories, Enemies, Exercise
Commerce
International Development, Shopping, Insurance, Real Estate, Investing, Taxes, Marketing and CRM, Web, Personal services, Non-profit, Personal finance, Management consulting, Microfinance, Macroeconomics, IP Law
Arts
Movies, Animation, Visual, Desktop wallpaper bait, Events, Rhetoric, Comix, Sculpture, iPad bait, Literature, Poetry, Spoken Word, Humor, Burning Man, Outlets
Design
Cool, Architecture, Tools, Process, Furniture, Presentations, Web, User experience, IA, Type, Algorithmic, Data visualization
Science
Networks, Statistics and Data, Environment, Psychology, Zoology, Cognition, Physics
Travel
Kingdom of Siam, Kenya, Uganda, Vagabond '08