Cultural Geography Blog

An oldish article from Canadian Geography Education on the geographical nature of video games: particularly the cartography. It dates from 2019. It starts with a well-known quote from J. R. R. Tolkien. I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit.” —J.R.R. Tolkien Map from Diablo IV - I spent a LOT of time playing the original Diablo I and II games back in the day. Source:  https://mapgenie.io/diablo-4/maps/sanctuary

I like this story from the National Geographic about a project aimed at capturing the concentrates of a place  by a teacher: Marianne Braca. The project was influenced by the work of Tanya Shadrick. Marianne said: Tanya describes her Concentrates of Place as a ‘deliberate way of honouring places and people.’ The project resonated with me, and as a geographer I am so interested in place. I also love the idea of collecting little pieces of a place and putting them in a tin for safekeeping, and I figured if I loved this idea my students would as well.” Shadrick drew on memories from painful events in her life to develop the idea of capturing a place within a tin. The idea of canning 'ideas' or intangible products reminds me of items such as this, which I purchased from Margate's Crab Museum recently as a novelty item. Mostly because I couldn't afford to buy one of Piero Manzoni's cans which contain something a little less fresh. It's also a reminder of one of the...

  The new Arsenal away kit for 2023-24 has a geographical design, based on the shape of the London borough of Islington. Not all fans like the kit, but it's certainly striking in its design.

  A 'long read' in today's Guardian newspaper explores the financial pressures facing fish and chip shops: a cornerstone of British culture ( despite its Jewish / Portuguese / Spanish origins ) because of increasing prices for potatoes, fish, oil, energy and virtually everything concerned with their production. I shall continue to support my local chippies. You can't beat a decent lot of fish and chips. Image: Fish and Chips - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

I went to see the final (?) Indiana Jones movie recently: the Dial of Destiny. I was hoping to see the reappearance of 'the map' to show the journeys taken between scenes by propellor plane (although in the latest film, he uses a 1960s Pan Am commercial flight)  Someone has created this blend of the map sequences from films 1-4: It's an enjoyable film, with the opening set piece sequence on a train being particularly impressive. Here's a trailer: The Antikythera: or dial which is referred to is a real object, and the National Geographic has a report on its discovery in a Greek shipwreck.

This is a film I remember seeing many years ago, probably not too long after it was originally released - early to mid 1970s. It has additional resonance with the current state of the world's atmosphere. If you log into TPTV Encore (free of charge) you can watch the film here at the moment.

On Margate Sands. I can connect Nothing with nothing. The broken fingernails of dirty hands. My people humble people who expect Nothing. T.S. Eliot - 'The Wasteland" Recently back from a couple of days in Margate , which I hadn't visited before as far as I know. The town has had a lot of money spent on it, and it has been gentrified to some extent.  After I had been, I came back and picked up an old Geographical magazine from 2019 only to find that there was a lengthy article on the town and the money that had been spent on it. One of the biggest developments was the construction of the Turner Contemporary Art gallery, which was a little controversial as some local people suggested that there should be money spent on other priorities. This was the reason we went: to go to see the excellent Beatriz Milhazes exhibition. Dreamland has been reopened with some new developments. Sadly it was closed as there were several concerts. We could hear Natalie Imbruglia and Will Young p...

My opening word for WORDLE has always been EARTH : the object of study for geographers... When I remember, I complete the daily puzzle on my New York Times app.  A few days ago, I finally got the word in one...

Crown Lands are an amazing band, and this album has been my most listened to of the year. I finally managed to get a physical copy of their new album, which also came out in a digital 'deluxe' version. Check it out if you get the chance.

 Plenty of cultural relevance.

I posted previously about the prom performance by Public Service Broadcasting with an orchestra. This is now being released as an album in September.