16 photographs of value clusters

[imomus]

Have a look at this picture-strip of someone's room, then answer ten questions about your impression of a person who might live in an environment like this.



1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"?

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications?

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures?

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why?

6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)?

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here?

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values?

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would?

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be?

Okay, pens down! This isn't really a test. You don't have to answer those (although if you want to, you're welcome).

I suppose what interests me about these questions is stuff to do with the politics of texture, or neural-style taste networks (just how does YouTube know what to dig up for me to watch next?), or cultural capital. This relates to this entry about "geodemographic" marketing, and the way direct mail marketers can target people on different streets, tying up specific postcodes with likely value clusters.

Sometimes I think that, whatever this blog is ostensibly talking about, it really just has one message: "these are my values". It isn't even "these are my opinions". It's not something you could really argue about. It's something textural, a set of values best expressed as colours and shapes. And yet, somehow, from those colours and shapes everything else can be extrapolated. I don't think that's the case for every blog. It would be more true of Lord Whimsy's, say, than Marxy's. But it's certainly true of mine.

I remember feeling this way about my family, when I was growing up. Only my own family had the right textures and colours in our house. It was something I was quietly proud of. (Now that the members of my family no longer all live in the same house, it's interesting to see whose house still feels this way to me. The answer is, my sister's. But in fact we all have different styles now, reflecting different outlooks on life, different diets, different cultural consumption patterns, different peer pressure, and so on. Could we all be in slightly different social classes by now? You'd need sharp marketers to pare social class down to the kind of fine distinctions required for a "yes" answer to that, I think.)

Anyway, I'm fascinated by the way language and most rational thinking (Gladwellian Blink stuff works better) are so utterly inadequate at expressing these values, while emerging description-sets like geodemographic marketing and neural networks are just beginning to find ways to describe and predict them. It's like they're just on the verge of mapping the genotype of human taste.

Comments

Living TV

[niddrie-edge.livejournal.com]

Have you ever noticed how each individual living space, if lived in enough, has its own smells?
Some homes I know always seem to smell of a particular gravy salt. Perhaps their cupboards have not been emptied for years.
The Olfactory is always a good guide for territory and space.
Smell is often referred to as limbic and part of unconscious memory. How can it even be measured? Where is its physical spectrum? It becomes almost musical referred to as tones in a composition.
Yet, whole chemical enterprises have evolved around our approximations of the clean and fresh.
Someone once said to me they could never get used to the fact that they were shitting in someone else's space or someone was shitting in theirs. The existence of a bathroom was to him official sanction that one could shit. Or else we would be using buckets and pails.

Yet at parties , the great common house warming, the bathroom can become a great meeting place.

Re: Living TV

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

I've noticed this. I love the way that people basically seem to recreate the same living space wherever they go, right down to the smells. It's interesting, like the way you can recognise a writer's prose style no matter what stage of their life they were at.

Click Opera Scavenger Hunt!

[zzberlin.livejournal.com]

Click Opera Scavenger Hunt!

1. Publications in image 15 indicate country

2. Color is a bit mono, usually Click Opera is more colorful

3. Yes these people are college educated, you can tell by the literature selection, the whimsy is bourgeouis

4. No I could not predict the daily news read because I am not a daily news reader and do not know the names of the publications that would be read in these rooms

5. Political views are iconoclastic

6. The people that live here don't care about money

7. Age range is 27 to, well, I can't answer this one objectively because I know how old you are Momus!

8. Life priorities: music, color, diversity

9. Probably more info is disclosed in these images than would be in a lunch meeting

10. Changes? Lose the paper, you can't take it with you. Paper is only good as art.

[(Anonymous)]

I have the same Trissa boxes and spherical lamp from Ikea; only since my lamp has the bulky UK plug, I couldn't possibly be able to thread it through the box's handle like you have. That partially answers question 1: "not in the UK." Elémentaire, mon cher Watson. And speaking of texture, I know what those boxes smell like.

Orestes

late Barley Baroque?

[pop--kandy.livejournal.com]

If it were a decorating style, that is. The prominently displayed Super Ape album just says "I know more about obscure 1970s reggae, and therefore am _possibly_ cooler / better than you"...it's the dead giveaway ;)

There is a lot of similarity between the way I decorate my home (and the choice of objects on display) and how some of my friends do - the mix of ikea and vintage danish modern, plants and electronics. I have a corner of my house (granted, it's not the one that's the most 'designed') that looks a bit like this, with piles of small cult-culture objects, posters and whatnot, magazines and the like, but mine aren't set out for display to show how au courant I am...it's mostly back issues of Sound on Sound (sigh, audio nerdiness).

What I do see in this (and in that corner) is an overwhelming sense of a temporary living space. Storage = shelves = moving crates, to be packed up, shipped crosstown or around the world as roommates leave and/or the need arises. It's very studenty...By comparison I have a lot more "permanent" furniture. I suppose it says something about class or class aspirations. Then again I always hated living in studenty conditions...

Re: late Barley Baroque?

[intergalactim.livejournal.com]

oh, that upsetters album isn't so obscure, i'd have thought. anyway, EVERYONE should hear "Bird in hand" of that album, and is absolutely beautiful, obscure/cool or not. really.

i am frantically packing/moving apartments this weekend, so this post is a timely reminder of just what i miss right now/what i'll spend the next weeks trying to set up.

you can tell the house is not in australia or new zealand, because there is a koala soft toy...

[som-o.livejournal.com]

1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)

Colors are fairly subdued. Combined with the choice of objects visible in the pics that points to Europe. Phone looks German. Radiator maybe, too.

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"?

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications?

Yeah, or something equivalent to that.

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures?

None, they only read mags and books, maybe scan papers on internet.

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why?

Left-leaning apathetic.

6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)?

More.

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here?

25-50

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values?

Art art art. Happiness. Friends.

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would?

No.

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be?

I really like the space.
But.
My space would have to be less masculine.
Black leather/plastic sofa would have to be chucked out.
Ideally it would be less cluttered (although my space is just as…).

[(Anonymous)]

The euro-style electrical outlets are a dead giveaway for continent. So's the water radiator, I've never seen one like that outside Europe.

If I just saw those photos without knowing who's flat it was, I'd probably guess Sweden, just because that's where I happen to live. I see nothing uniquely German, but there's definitively a North European vibe.

I also see someone who's pretty bad at taking care of bills, I bet there's a few nastygrams from collection agencies in that pile.

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few in NYC. But most of the radiators in NYC look completely different.

And most of the furniture is from IKEA.

[(Anonymous)]

I like the yellow can with the orange truck against the black-and-white block drawing, whatever the can is for. Yours is the first residential room I've seen with a dentist's office-style magazine rack.

It may have something to do with the way the pictures were taken, but this room looks a lot like the pictures you take of the world outside. It's like what you see outside is the same as what you choose to put around you.

[iampixiedust.livejournal.com]

Lee "scratch" Perry album.

Marx and Lenin.

Japanese magazines.

European interiors.

Musical insturments and mac.

Ricecooker.

I think it's you, living there, baby.

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice the rice cooker! I just looked over the pictures again, and STILL don't see it. I never cook, so that stuff never 'pops.'

And yeah, it's gotta be him.

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)

The electrical sockets are European. The magazines are European and Japanese, and center around art and music. Other than that, it's hard to tell. Definitely the place of a world traveler, or someone who's familiar with various cosmopolitan centers. It's not an expensive place (there's shoddy patches on one wall).

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"?

Bright and 'happy' tertiaries highlight a very clean and modern white. The white reminds me of the cold modernism attacked in Chromophobia, but most European and U.S. apartments look like that. The person who lives there likes color, but for some reason hasn't invested a lot of time decorating the place. Ready to remain transient?

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications?

Yes. But they're not big readers (except for magazines).

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures?

The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times, The Village Voice, various left-leaning weeklies. Even with the pictures of Marx and Lenin, I don't think this person is an extremist in their views because there's nothing else in the apt that is extreme.

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why?

"Far left." The art world is almost exclusively left-wing, as is the music world. If the resident isn't directly a part of one or both of those worlds, he or she is intimately involved with them. And the bright tertiaries are significantly in vogue with the creative world, and not in vogue with the mass cultures of Europe. They like Lee Perry and images of Marx and Lenin - who else but far left?

6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)?

More. But not a lot more. The equipment is very nice, but the apartment isn't top of the line. And the place itself isn't personalized, so I'd assume that it's a rental.

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here?

20s to 40s

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values?

Yes. Creative. Open to the new. More interested in worldly matters than provincial matters. Cosmopolitan. A world traveler, or wants to be.

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would?

No. But it tells me that I would have no problem sharing a pleasant afternoon tea with them.

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be?

Yes. I would put up shelves and books. Other than that, no. If I had art, I would put that up, but I like the person's style. I'd really only need my books. But if that person was gone, the apartment would be a cold white box, and THAT is not ok.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's not an expensive place (there's shoddy patches on one wall).

That's my rabbit, lowering my cultural capital with his sharp little teeth! Curse him!

[jimyojimbo.livejournal.com]

I feel like I have a semi-"photographic" memory for blog posts - definitely something ringing bells regarding a post about Ikea wooden boxes as a decor plan. :-)

Anyway ...

neural-style taste networks

Is this a term/phrase you just coined or has it been used before? If the latter, could you point me in that direction? I'd really like to see in what context it was used.

[jimyojimbo.livejournal.com]

btw that reel-to-reel is to die for as decoration - is it working?

[maybeimdead.livejournal.com]

geodemographic marketing and neural networks are just beginning to find ways to describe and predict them

byebye free will, hello machine learning. if it could figure out how our tastes are formed, i guess it could also be reprogrammed too?!

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

But only if you've purchased the license!

(frozen) (no subject)

[phuongphan.livejournal.com]

no answers by number. in europe - the outlets. an english speaker interested very much in cultural ephemera (pop) w/ a certain subtext in the theoretical, but not too much since the focus is on the present. most items temporary , new and fleeting (furniture, magazines, soft cover books.) nomadic. design-y.

[stateofthings.livejournal.com]

1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)
-- electrical outlets, window style and heating remind me of german interior design. besides, i think i can spot a Deutsche Telekom logo on that phone. also, must be a country with ikea stores. the book in the box below the super ape is a karl kraus biography published by rororo, a german publisher of pocket books (i felt tempted to google that, since the sleeve design of the series is pretty distictive.) - hell, this was fun.

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"?
--

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications?
-- not necessarily, but almost certainly that; at least the "intellectual", "artist", etc. type.

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures?
-- the guardian or similiar publications probably.

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why?
-- much rather left than right. though probably "above" the political spectrum. apple products, ikea furniture, culture/design magazines, marx/lenin. not your typical cowboy.


6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)?
-- the people living in there probably do not put much emphasis on the "earning money" aspect of life.

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here?
-- 25 to 35, roughly.

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values?
-- beauty, curiosity, cultural awareness come to mind first.

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would?
-- depending on one's skills in semiotics, one could read almost anything out of a person's personal interior design. i am just an amateur in these terms. but i am pretty sure that this is the habitat of the momus.

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be?
-- i would feel pretty cosy. i'd just probably declutter that pile of paper in the box in the last pic.

[(Anonymous)]

i weird collection of images. that seems very setup.
a speaker ON a ibook.. look at these certain magazines. the mac keyboard shows i 2 different picture. would make me think each shot was set up. verse just all taken in quick succession.
the walls are white. and the artwork that is up. are copies/prints. not original. or by them.
there is an unplug organ against the wall. and an old, but not really old consumer reel to reel. looks cool. not to many uses. i would guess this person. likes art, but wishes they did it, verse actually doing it. probably a writer who says they are an artist. and has a slight obsession with proving their personality through pocessions. i don't think its in japan either. i've never seen a japanese apartment like that (in japan). europe or nyc.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The pictures were all shot in rapid succession, with no setting up in advance. The speaker is on the iBook because it's a dead one, motherboard is fried. I use the hard disk to back up data.

answers

[hadleyburg.livejournal.com]

1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)
The power socket beside the keyboard perhaps?

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"?
The person is into "design" they are not someone who prefers a "natural" wooden look for example.

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications?
Probably, but not necessarily. If it was Japan, probably not.

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures?
The Independent.

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why?
No one who votes right of centre would own a keyboard like that.

6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)?
They might be earning less, but are probably not living as if that is so.

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here?
30-something.

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values?
City-dwellers, interested in objects and their design, mobile.

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would?
I'd need to have a closer look at the CDs and books/magazines. I do think that CDs and books give a good idea of a person's personality. In fact I think that in some ways the first album a person ever bought gives a better idea of their personality than that person's whole music collection. The first album I every bought was The Sweet's Biggest Hits. The cover just looked so good. I don't think I had ever heard the music.

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be?
Tidy up.

Re: answers

[imomus.livejournal.com]

First album I ever bought: "Ride A White Swan", a T Rex compilation. From Boots the Chemist!

First album Hisae (who also lives here) ever bought: "Candy Candy", the soundtrack album to a Japanese TV animation series.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

At first glance it looks like the home of a sensitive teenage robot.

Here's a collection of textures (http://lord-whimsy.livejournal.com/190324.html) I have found in my house this evening. Not sure what conclusions may be conclusively drawn, since I have not yet completely unpacked my clothes, art, music and books, but they may entertain the eye. I suppose one might conclude that I am attracted to microcosms: small, organic, living, worn, decaying, colorful things...specimens that double as aesthetic emblems...

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

I am a little concerned that you may scratch the lenses of your glasses. I'd stuff them in a brightly colored sock or something, and make the other sock a little sweater for Baker!

[(Anonymous)]

Is there much evidence of Hisae's presence in these pics? I'm guessing the little koala is her, but I'm also guessing that she is the type with a lighter touch who leaves less of a trace.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Most of the stuff on the cork noticeboard is mine. The koala we bought together at Edinburgh zoo. The Japanese magazines are mostly mine, although the bunko books are mostly hers. She actually made me take down a collage of the pages of Studio Voice I put up on the wall. She said it was dasai! The scanner is hers, and the digital alarm clock. She's also a big Ikea fan -- in fact, yesterday she made me promise we'd go there again soon. I'm a bit tired of the place. The energy light is hers -- she loves fluorescent light, and at home in Osaka it's all she uses -- although I bought it. The knitting wrapping it is hers too -- she went through a big knitting phase last year. All the magazines on the rack are hers. She has much the same Apple computer stuff I do, although I now use a desktop while she uses an iBook.

But I think one of the main reasons we're together is that we share an aesthetic. I like the way she dresses, and so on.

[eptified.livejournal.com]

What are these visual values? (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2011558013)

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, this being MySpace, the first thing I see is an ad. For the US Army (There's strong... and then there's ARMY STRONG."). Once more underlining my essential despair about MySpace as a place where, precisely, it's impossible to establish "my space", because everything there belongs to Rupert and the advertisers.

But if you mean the embedded Deerhoof video, I'm seeing a lot of American collegiate and athletic wear there. And hearing a drum kit and guitars. The structure is off-kilter, despite the trad ingredients. The video has a homemade / handmade feel, it's done lofi at home. But with cute sort of retro-thrift accessories.

Overall, I'd say the value-set here is "art school", but they're people who've been out of art school for five years or more, and are therefore being drawn perhaps a little too far into the trad expressivity of the rock they've been doing since. Some of their experimental freshness has been compromised. The drummer is playing the kit with his hands in the video (art school) but playing it with sticks on the record (rock trad). (A familiar contrast in pop videos where the visual director is a more recent art school grad than the band.)

Also, I think the Japanese vocalist has been away from Japan a little too long, and has settled into the role of embodying "whacky Japanese person" for Westerners.

I don't mean to sound mean -- I like this band. But that's how I read the textural aesthetics of this video.

[(Anonymous)]

"8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values."

100% narcissist.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

No, because a narcissist cannot be analytical, and would never entertain the possibility that s/he could be predicted, specified and pinned down by geodemographics or neural networks.

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

For 1) The power points look European. So it'd be somewhere in Eurasia.

Other than that, my intuition tells me that the person whose place this is engages promiscuously in culture, more so than the average person, and is probably involved in some kind of creative activity (or intends to be).

[insomnia.livejournal.com]

The amusing thing to me are the similarities, especially with my desk area, which is the most "me" place in the house for my clutter.

We both have the Harman Kardon speakers, for instance. I currently have the subwoofer surrounded by a large, loose sheet of transparent blue polythine wrap, which I got with a large boquet of blue plastic flowers and chocolate roses. The roses have long since disappeared. I also have several stuffed animals, roaming amidst computer manials, books on country living, software boxes, and cyberpunk novels, CDR's, DVDRs, and various bits of computer equipment. I keep recieving stuffed animals as gifts from partners, girlfriends, lovers, etc. and don't have it in me to get rid of them. They seem to predominantly be stuffed rabbits. One of them is wearing Mardi Gras beads.

Other oddities on my desk include a small round basket made from cloves with shoelaces in it, a 50's style squirt gun, lint brush, cheap, shiny chinese rattle with jingle bells on it, and an old-style whirling wooden noisemaker, inside of a Nyanko box left over from something from Japan, a carrying case for Bushnell binoculars, an apothecary chest with numerous small drawers, a carved wooden box from Poland, two cloth foldable storage containers shaped like shoe boxes filled with screwdrivers, my checks, an old handheld video game, an OBEY (http://www.obeygiant.com/main.php) sticker, a gyroscope, various seeds, 3-D glasses, and Japanese pez dispensers. Other desk items include a sewing kit inside a tramsparent blue plastic zip-up cannister, a large bag of mixed buttons, a oddly-shaped map taped together from print-outs of areas in the Santa Cruz mountains that aren't on the normal maps, a Chinese wooden flute, a two old Chinese tea tins filled with pens, electrical tape, a portable recorder, a sign which features an obscure Sesame Street monster, a bag containing 50' of speaker cable, several misc. cables and chargers, my camera phone with a twirly space-themed cover, the complete collections of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster stories, a gardener's journal, a Phillips Classic I wooden boarhair brush, and a cube-shaped desk clock which changes colors on the hour.

The desk has two large racks for CDs that get dragged out and rarely put back in the large primary collection. They include a boxed collection of Django Reinhardt, Astor Piazolla, old Roxy Music, Desi Arnaz & His Orchestra, Dif Juz, T.Rex, Kate Bush, two CDs of yours, Harold Budd / Robin Guthrie, Gary Numan, Wire, The House of Love, a few Robyn Hitchcock discs, Big Star, Sigur Ros, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, and the Akira soundtrack.

One person's clutter, another person's existence.

[insomnia.livejournal.com]

Please make allowances for the fact that I have a very large desk that wraps around the corner of the room, and that it has lots of nooks, CD-racks, and space on top.

I should note that I used to own a reel-to-reel, and also had a white spherical light very similar to yours.

I wonder what happened to it, as I never knowingly got rid of it. Probably in the garage somewhere...

[sriniram.livejournal.com]

It's pretty clear that the apartment is yours, or modeled along your style chic. Pardon me if I sound rude, my style sense conflicts violenty with yours, but I like your blog just the same.

1. It's clear that art is very important to this person, even if it is to relive a life style that has passed. Doesn't mind living in the past.

2. He / She's a pack rat, absolutely loves to carry stuff around (unless he/she's the type that frequents antique stores and garage sales)

3. Takes the time to decorate the apartment in a particularly "falling apart" and antiquated fashion.

4. Doesn't really care about cables, knick knacks cluttering up the apartment. It is a very busy setting.

I am more of a minimalist person with white spaces and order even if I do let my room get cluttered and fall apart from time to time.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't mind dissenting views at all -- in fact, a few more might makes things more interesting!

I'm a bit curious about the connection between art and living in the past? What is that connection, since the art involved here is contemporary art?

The memorabilia here is all from junk stores, not my own past. I buy a local past (here mostly communist bric-a-brac and old tech from Eastern Europe) wherever I am.

I call the style "high density information", and I don't think it's either falling apart or antiquated! I'm genuinely puzzled by this impression.

Yes, it is busy. Cables are actually a positive aesthetic for me. Check out my 2005 album sleeve, where tape and cables play a big part:



James Goggin, who designed that, is one of the people I've met whose taste in environments most closely matches mine. I dubbed his style "benign sobriety" here (http://imomus.livejournal.com/205447.html).

[imomus.livejournal.com]

[obelia.livejournal.com]

college educated. enjoys conversational debate (drinks up information via magazines). Workable income (not $$$$$$$$$ but not -$). Busy life. Masculine. quite masculine. solitary brain.small spouts of warmth (wood panel keyboard)does not mind some gentle female companionship (pink scarf thing on wall)but she must enjo conversational debate and bring her own collection of magazines to the table. Independent.

if one had seen bowls of fruit lying around, my judgements may have changed.


One of my favourite past times is imagining people and their characteristics to put into houses that i pass by

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

no reply for the perfect australian. there you are.

[mandyrose.livejournal.com]

1. Is there anything in the pictures which tells you what continent we're on? If so, is there anything here which indicates which country it is? (Don't rely on things you already know, if you know who this is.)This person does not want to live in the US. International traveler culture, and the predeliction for frequent moves, are represented by these objects.

2. What do you notice about the colour range in evidence here? What, if anything, do these colours "mean"? These colors indicate a mind that "floats like a butterfly". Very airy and intellectual. These colors are limited in such a way that I can tell I would not be refined enough for this person, I would be too earthy. These colors are two-dimensional, which I like. These are people who are too cool to be bothered by anything. Life is like an amusing game. You could go spelunking in their minds without hitting any sharp objects.

3. Is this a room occupied by people with university-level educational qualifications? Oh, yes, in fact this is a textbook (sorry for the pun) example.

4. Could you predict which daily newspapers (if any) are read in this room by looking at what's in these pictures? Oh, one or two daily newspapers would be read occasionally, but mostly newspapers would not be glossy enough for these denizens. Maybe one found secondhand in a cafe. I like that, too.

5. What kind of political views would you extrapolate from the pictures? Why? Flightily idealistic, mostly apathetic, absolutely necessary, charmingly unrealistic.

6. Are the people who live here, in your view, earning more or less than the minimum wage (as measured in their country of residence)? They may be earning slightly less now, but they come from families where they were raised with more priviledge. Classic art-school!

7. What is the likely age range of the people who live here? The new 20.

8. Can we guess some of these people's life priorities -- their basic values -- by looking at the pictures? How would you describe those values? Fashion is of utmost importance-- although iconoclasts, and ahead of/creating the curve. Being insulated, exclusive, abstracted and protected. Concocting your own world. Likes to keep things on the surface. Pursuit of beauty. May be the home of those that don't care for swimming.

9. Did you feel that these pictures gave you as much information about the people living here as, say, meeting them would? Yes, although the people would not like me to know things about them not represented here, and perhaps would not even care to know these things about themselves.

10. If you lived here, would you immediately make some changes? What would they be? Paint the walls a slightly dusty, greyed/warm dovey earth tone. But in a pattern, like-- like big Robert Mangold murals. Move everything away from the walls and sweep behind things. Wash the floor with lemon-scented diluted cleanser. Make Baker a dais. A hay dais. Install flannel sheets, make more teas.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

What is the likely age range of the people who live here? The new 20.

Ha ha, I love you mandyrose!

By the way, Baker already has a hay dais. I mean, a sort of manger where he can eat Timothy Hay (and anyone else he finds there).