| Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge You don't have to be an Angeleno or an academic to appreciate this sprawling visual essay that pays homage to Southern California's uber-metropolis. Created by an urban historian with a keen interest in maps, visual signs, and the patterns of urban growth over time, this web site "is a labyrinth, just as the city is." Begin exploring anywhere, or click through a series of maps that lead to street-level images and a patchwork of panoramas. Interpretive essays, drawings, models, and urban arcana also abound. |
| With new homes routinely selling for seven figures, San Francisco is a nice place to visit but an impossible place to live. Thus, the city has designated the former military base of Treasure Island, a "a seventy-year-old pile of landfill hanging off the middle of the Bay Bridge," as low-income housing. The players/roommates of this "game" are three 20-something guys (looking for a fourth) who work regular jobs and qualify for Treasure Island tenancy. Their mission: to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Good luck, guys. |
| American Song-Poem Music Archives For decades, tiny ads in the back of semi-reputable magazines encouraged aspiring lyricists to send in their work. Overworked and underpaid session musicians then set these lyrics to music, cranking out up to 12 songs an hour. These recordings were then sold back to the lyricists at a premium. The song-poem music industry is hanging by a thread, but the songs remain: "these finished song-poem recordings are sometimes quite remarkable, either by being so inept in all directions as to defy belief, or by being weirder than the weirdest thing you've ever heard." Curator Phil Milsten offers an array of original solicitations and advertisements, some horizon-expanding links, and plenty of choice MP3s. |
| Centennial Exhibition Digital Collection Philadelphia's Free Library commemorates the 1876 Centennial, a gala 100th birthday party for the United States that was hosted by the City of Brotherly Love. We started at the timeline for historical background: "It was the Gilded Age in America, the year of the stolen election, a year of political corruption, of Boss Tweed, the Whiskey Ring and the Molly Maguires." The elegant interactive map guided us on a photo tour of exhibition halls, outlying buildings, fountains, sculptures, and street scenes. This extraordinary collection of historic images, primary sources (such as Frank Thomas' diary), and a paper model of Memorial Hall is a brilliant display of digitized history. |
| HumanSpellCheck.com These are wonderful times to be nitpicky. The Web is awash with Hannibal continuity errors, the new San Francisco Examiner seems terminally gaffe-ridden, and even the New Yorker has recently suffered some fact-checking woes. Enter the Human Spell Check, a weekly roundup of minor and not-so-minor language snafus in newspapers, periodicals, and web sites. Check the "Daley Wurd Deathmatch" for commonly confused words, and feel free to submit your own found typo: "They're pouring in from English-speaking countries around the world!" |
| Peruvian Graffiti Journalist Michael Smith offers a range of trenchant observations on the politics and culture of Peru. The small Andean nation has been getting a lot of international press attention lately due to perambulating ex-presidents and incriminating home videos. But while Peru's tumultuous political scene takes center stage, you're also invited to explore the pre-Colombian history of the Andes, photographs of daily life, and a treatise on Peruvian soccer. Don't miss the page devoted to legendary Peruvian spy master Vladimiro Montesinos, who makes James Bond villains look like crossing guards. |
| USFL - United States Football League Back in the '80s when the Gipper was President, long before the XFL was even a twinkle in NBC's eye, fans of flamboyant spring and summer football action had the USFL. The upstart league debuted in 1983 with 12 teams, Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, and a couple of national TV contracts. In 1984, league owners launched a controversial and highly publicized antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. Two years later the upstart league suspended play. This site is dense with the sort of detailed trivia that sports fans love: lists of players, team histories, and uniforms, as well as video, audio, and photo archives that celebrate three glorious seasons. |
| Cheapass Games The Cheapass product line was conceived in response to "two basic facts about games: they cost too much, and they are at some level all the same." Thus, Cheapass board and card games tend to eliminate expensive frills and cut to the concept. Self-described "ludographer" and head honcho James Ernest is the prize-winning designer of most of these game with bizarre names like Kill Dr. Lucky and Before I Kill You, Mister Bond; you'll find Witch Trial and Unexploded Cow among the newer releases. Buy games online or just play with the free stuff. |
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