This is an old edition of Meanwhile from an inferior, more simian newsletter platform that has unhelpfully severed all the hyperlinks. It’s included here in the archive simply for sake of completion.
The spite house, an architectural phenomenon built on rage and revenge
"The haunting Pink House on Plum Island in Newburyport, Massachusetts, appeared on a forlorn marsh in 1925 when a wife agreed to divorce her husband on the condition he build her an exact duplicate of the home they shared in town. He grimly held his end of the bargain, but had the copy designed like a readymade ghost of their lost relationship, with no fresh water, just salt, available from its taps."
Big Don
Peter Serafinowicz gives Donald Trump a Cockney accent … but keeps his words the same. Jolly funny, but also revealing about Trump's mouth-and-no-trousers use of thuggish language.
Judge This
I'm loving this printed edition of Chip Kidd's TED talk on the importance of first impressions – basically the raison d'être of the book cover designer. It's all about mystery and clarity apparently.
Digital print – is the medium the message?
"Digital print is in its infancy – we have not yet fully understood the potential, how to effectively use creative techniques to squeeze the best out of the medium. But we have a unique opportunity – the grammar of digital print does not yet exist. … We are all developing the language of the medium on the hoof. We are singularly blessed with being pioneers, whether we like it or not."
The accidental cartographers
Ben Olins on the history and inspiration behind Herb Lester Associates, esteemed manufacturers of splendid travel guides.
Minifig wheelchair
Good work Lego, about time too. Also: minifig baby!
How to make a book from scratch
Watch as Andy George from How to Make Everything chops wood, strips papyrus, makes glue from hide, carves out a pencil from a stick, makes a brush from horse hair and … good lord, just writing this is exhausting.
Eight minute drawing challenge
Interesting drawing exercise: you draw the same thing six times, first time you have four minutes, second time two minutes, then one minute, thirty seconds, fifteen seconds. The final drawing is allowed just five seconds.
His art materials
Can't beat a good behind the scenes in the studio post – I'm always fascinated by the methods and habits of great illustrators. Rob Turpin, who draws a mean spaceship/robot/floating-rock-windmill-octopus-thing, goes through his arsenal of pens, pencils and toothbrushes.
That is all.