Real Life Up Close
January 29, 2009 6:17 PM Subscribe
The Places We Live: Caracas, Jakarta, Mumbai, Nairobi
For maximum effect, skip the intro if you get bored, and select the faces in the upper left hand corner for each city. The dwellings move around faster if you keep your mouse on the edges of the frame.
For maximum effect, skip the intro if you get bored, and select the faces in the upper left hand corner for each city. The dwellings move around faster if you keep your mouse on the edges of the frame.
This post was deleted for the following reason: previously -- cortex
Also, I have the book, which is fantastic.
posted by chunking express at 6:37 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by chunking express at 6:37 PM on January 29, 2009
And the web site is great, so fuck the whiners in the other thread.
posted by chunking express at 6:37 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by chunking express at 6:37 PM on January 29, 2009
I'm so fortunate. The lady on the chair in between the tracks, crazy! Reminds me of a Colonel Kilgore scene from Apocalypse Now.
posted by Flex1970 at 6:47 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by Flex1970 at 6:47 PM on January 29, 2009
Readers, check out Mike Davis' Planet of Slums for a great treatment of this subject.
posted by kozad at 6:59 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by kozad at 6:59 PM on January 29, 2009
Actually, I'm not sure about the site. On one hand, it's moving and evocative. But once you enter the "households," something is lost in the execution. The 3D effect is wonky, making people look like crazy cardboard cutouts. And the narrations I listened to sounded so scripted that it was distracting.
A beautiful site in concept, but it wants desperately to be immersive, and it drops the ball there.
posted by bicyclefish at 7:17 PM on January 29, 2009
A beautiful site in concept, but it wants desperately to be immersive, and it drops the ball there.
posted by bicyclefish at 7:17 PM on January 29, 2009
From the site: "Mumbai is the world's most densely populated urban area, with an average of 30 people per square meter."
Even accounting for high rises that number seemed a bit...off. Apparently they took the Mumbai population density of 30,000 people/km2 and divided by 1,000 rather than 1,000,000 to get people per square meter. The correct number is about .03 people/m2 or 33m2/person, which is pretty dense but not insane.
Great pictures, though.
posted by jedicus at 7:46 PM on January 29, 2009
Even accounting for high rises that number seemed a bit...off. Apparently they took the Mumbai population density of 30,000 people/km2 and divided by 1,000 rather than 1,000,000 to get people per square meter. The correct number is about .03 people/m2 or 33m2/person, which is pretty dense but not insane.
Great pictures, though.
posted by jedicus at 7:46 PM on January 29, 2009
The problem with the narrations is not that they were scripted but that they were recorded in the native language, translated, and read back by English-speaking locals. I agree it is very distracting. It would have been a lot better without a plainer, less "dramatic" reading. The still shots are the best part, IMO. Still, a great post.
posted by BinGregory at 7:58 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by BinGregory at 7:58 PM on January 29, 2009
Ack! ...with a plainer etc.
posted by BinGregory at 7:59 PM on January 29, 2009
posted by BinGregory at 7:59 PM on January 29, 2009
« Older If A Tree Falls in the Forest, The Man is Still... | Your Cheatin' Car.... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Hands of Manos at 6:24 PM on January 29, 2009