4 - Our Tragic Universe, by Scarlett Thomas

Scarlett Thomas’s latest novel is as awe-inspiring and as much fun to read as her previous two books (The End of Mr Y and Popco). Thomas succeeds once again in dealing with rather serious and difficult subjects in such a way that they become understandable and interesting for almost everyone. In Mr Y the subject was quantum physics and deconstructionist theory. This time it is all about narrative techniques and the ‘storyless story.’ 

The story is told by Meg, who is a genre writer of science fiction novels  and a science book reviewer for a newspaper. She lives with her unemployed boyfriend Christopher and her dog B in a damp cottage in Dartmouth, trying to make ends meet. She may be in love with Rowan, a much older, married director of a maritime museum, but she is not yet sure. One day she mistakenly reviews a book about the end of time, which suggests  we are all already dead and that we will live forever. This  makes her look critically at her life again. When she makes a deal for her genre books to be made into a television series, Meg comes into a lot of money and rents a small cottage near  by the sea, in order to finally have a place to write her ‘real novel.’ Soon she and dog B start living there as well, leaving Christopher behind. Meg has been working on this real novel for years , in fact she has written -and deleted- hundreds of pages already. She hopes to finish it one day, but so far her deadlines have come and gone. She would like to write a novel that is different from traditional novels, and aims for a storyless story. 

I absolutely loved Our Tragic Universe! It is well written in a humorous and relaxed style that gets you into the story from the start. And it is educational as well! You learn a lot about narratives and stories, but also about science, esoteric books, and  even knitting. The characters are original (like Vi, a sixty something  anthropology professor wearing Dr. Martens who likes to swear) yet very true to life. All are intelligent and extremely loveable, and I found myself wishing they were my friends. All in all, a really good read, totally absorbing and unputdownable!

3 - Black tie beach

I really like these initiatives! They're fun and weird and different; and they cheer you up!
Last weekend several hundred people joined in a special mission organized by Improv Everywhere. They spent a day at Coney Island beach wearing gowns and tuxedos, and acting just as they would normally do when at the beach. So there was some swimming going on, some playing in the sand, etc. Katie Sokoler (a very cool and inspirational freelance photographer and street artist) was there and put some photographs on her blog:




To see more of her pictures, go to:
http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/2010/08/black-tie-beach.html

2 - Design your own sneakers

I've always wanted to do so, and now I have. At http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jsp you can design your very own Nikes, using all your favourite colours and materials. You can have a text or symbol embroidered on them as well, your ID (for somewhat obvious reasons my ID is "CHRIS"). I love it! I have to admit it is more expensive than buying just your regular pair, but hey at least they are original!
This is what I designed. To see more pictures, http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jsp?location=launchBuilder,locker,_6d6f674d6964303930322e2e,,215113667&sitesrc=nikeidEMEA_NIKEID_sfem.
Now, all I have to do is wait...

1 - The first 'wearable' magazine

I came across this site today http://t-post.se/index.php. If you like your t-shirts to be original, if you like to provoke interesting discussions, if you like to be surprised, and if you like a bit of fun, then you'll probably like T-post. It is actually a t-shirt magazine. Excuse me? Once every 5 weeks, subscribers get a t-shirt by mail. There's a news story on the inside and an artist's design on the outside. T-post works with different designers every time, and have different news messages to express, so as not to bore you.
I think it's a great idea, and really like some of the t-shirts.