Rob Walker's Blog, page 50
October 27, 2009
Update: 3 things
1. Although we might not approve of every use to which their new owners have put our ex-insignificant objects [that's the Cape Cod Shoe, above], we encourage them to send us photos of the objects in their new contexts. Or post them to this Flickr group pool. (Worth checking out if you haven't — some great stuff there.)
2. We're on track to announce the winner of the Significant Objects fiction contest hosted by Slate.com today. As previously announced, there were over 600 entrants, so it took ...
October 26, 2009
Wooden Animal
Object No. 85 of 100
[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Meg Cabot, here.]
So Brandon was going to Cabo for spring break and I saved up all my tip money for a year to chip in for the rental car to go with him.
But then at my last cleaning Dr. Jones said if I didn't get my wisdom pulled out right away my incisors were going to overlap, and I might never get my dream job as a television news journalist like Katie Couric.
"When is the last time you ate?" Dr. Jones wanted to know.
And I...
Update: Significant Objects on WFMU
Benjamen Walker's always excellent WFMU show, "Theory of Everything" is about Significant Objects today. It's on right now! Check it out.
Weekly Project Update
Sea Captain Pipe Rest (Story by Michael Atkinson) in its new home.
Aggregate cost of objects, sold so far: $111.03
Aggregate sales, post-Significance: $2,718.22
Coming up this week: Yes, yes, the Slate contest winner. Sorry for the delay!
Recent reactions from elsewhere: Jawbone.TV assesses the project (and its relationship to advertising, among other things), here; a very thorough analysis. S.O. contributor Nick Asbury asked me some questions about the project, answered here. For more...
October 25, 2009
Full-color stories
As you know, the winners of all our auctions receive a copy of their Significant Object's invented story. Usually that story is told only in words, so presentation is straightforward: a printout.
The objects for sale now in our shop are all part of our three-part collaboration with the Center For Cartoon Studies. That means the winning bidders will get not just their Object, but a rather attractive four-color copy of the story-in-comics.
I guess that was always obvious, but it didn't sink in...
October 23, 2009
Update: Significant Objects/Slate story contest
Earlier this month, when we announced that Slate was hosting a fiction contest to select one of the 100 stories we'd publish as part of the Significant Objects project, we figured that it would only take a couple of days to read through the entries and pick a winner. Because the contest's deadline was last Friday (Oct. 16), we announced that Slate (and we) would publish the winning story today.
No such luck, I'm afraid. Why? Because Slate received a staggering 600+ entries! That's right: over ...
Top Ten Sales — Updated
Back in mid-September, we paused to assess our list of published stories (and concluded auctions) to see which 10 objects have sold for the most money to date. In part this was to see if the exercise would help us refine our hypothesis about how narrative makes objects Significant. And in part it was because everybody loves a Top Ten List. Here is that list.
It's about time for an update, since there have been a few changes. Here's where we stand now (and some thoughts about what it all...
Update: a note about our classifications
Last month, in an update, I explained our Significant Object categorization scheme: a FOSSIL is an object that bears witness to a vanished era or way of life (including childhood); an object that played a role in a crime or memorable public event is EVIDENCE; a TOTEM is an object from the natural world — animal, vegetable, or mineral — that is a tutelary spirit; while an object that has magical power, is lucky, or is alive is a TALISMAN. The excellent cartoon stories we've published this...
October 22, 2009
"Dilbert Stress Toy" story runner-up
Significant Objects published a three-part series of cartoon stories in collaboration with The Center for Cartoon Studies. Today, instead of publishing a new Significant Objects story, we're going to post three runners-up. (Note that only the three finalists were colored; we first read them in b/w.) Bid on the objects that appear in these stories here.
The "Dilbert Stress Toy" cartoon runner-up is by Tom Casteel. Enjoy!
"Alien Toy" story runner-up
Significant Objects published a three-part series of cartoon stories in collaboration with The Center for Cartoon Studies. Today, instead of publishing a new Significant Objects story, we're going to post three runners-up. (Note that only the three finalists were colored; we first read them in b/w.) Bid on the objects that appear in these stories here.
The "Alien Toy" cartoon runner-up is by Ben Horak. Enjoy!
