This site was formerly Living Room, but before that, it was The Bike People. We have simply returned to our emphasis on bicycling in the city in the context of cultural, social, and environmental sustainability. All our former content is still available through the article indexes on the left.
Snippets, Musings, & News: the Bicycle Fixation Weblog
Sunday, May 4th
But Is It Art?
Grant Petersen once described bikes as "movable art that can just about save the world." Maybe that sounds a bit fanciful, but maybe it really isn't....Today I rode a nice sixty or sixty-five miles in total, rolling out to Pasadena to meet Chuck Schmidt's Rose Bowl Vintage Ride; at the halfway point, my friends John and Brian arrived, and afterwards we rode home together, stopping at The Coffee Table in Silverlake for a bit of refreshment. I hadn't expected to stop anywhere (except Beantown in ultra-safe Sierra Madre), so I hadn't brought a lock; when we got to the coffeehouse I just leaned the Bambina against the wall where teh free newspapers and bulletin board lived. I thought she made a pretty picture there , so snapped the below:
That led me eventually to think, Can bikes, plain or fancy, really be art?
Interesting because through most of Chuck's ride I had been talking about classical music with Charles, one of the regulars and a programmer at a classical radio station...so can a bike compare to a sonata, let's say?
Let me say, Yes!
If art is a work, crafted by the hand or mind of a human being, that can expand you beyond yourself by your experience of it, then let me dare say that a bicycle is as much a work of art as a poem, a song, or a painting--or a sculpture or a great building. That it is practical (in this case as personal transport) does not make it any less so.
The Bambina was very good to me today. Plain though she may be, she is certainly a work of art by any functional definition.
Richard Risemberg on 05.04.08 @ 08:21 PM PST [link]
Thursday, May 1st
Knicker Socks Back in Stock!
Our knicker socks are back in stock as of today, and we have added the Olive color to the Large/XL size--by popular demand. Price has gone up slightly (though not much; the U.S. has, unfortunately, nearly ceased to mill yarn locally, and the dollar dropped since our last order). These are the only game in town if you want genuine knicker socks without a loud pattern on them. As before, they come well over the knee on most people, are thick enough to wear into snow weather, yet not so thick you can't wear them on most summer days (the wonders of wool), and they look dressy, yet are tough. You can wear them over tights for really cold weather, and still look sharp while everyone else rolls around resembling a sasquatch.
Need some now? See our knicker socks page. Get 'em while they last!
Richard Risemberg on 05.01.08 @ 06:04 PM PST [link]