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