Why “ffactory”?

(A statement of purpose, manifesto, and FAQ, all rolled into one.)

What’s with the double-f? How’s it pronounced?

From found photobooth series at The Boat Lullabies

I like the connotation of industrial production for a post-industrial age, and didn’t want to mimic the [now quasi-defunct] Factory records. I love smokestacks and beautiful old factory buildings, buildings that are no longer built and rapidly disappearing.

I like the “ff” ligature.

The domain name was available. (I still haven't turned it on, but will in the late autumn.)

I pronounce it the same way I pronounce “factory.”

What do you offer that others don’t?

I strive to not simply pass on an item that you’ll have already seen without any value added. That may be a little critical spin, or an eye-roll, but most often I will provide context that may help in getting oriented—I’ve already dug a little, why not pass along the fruits of that labor? Although the going sometimes gets a little wonky, I aim to keep posts accessible and short.

I’m not an early adopter, since I usually buy used and remaindered, so you won’t get reviews of the latest and greatest, but you will get some of that, plus a load of pointers to things in the past coupla years. You’ll see a fair number of pieces on things happening and showing in Baltimore, but also in DC, New York, and Los Angeles.

My interests are in how and why culture is consumed by the individual and the society, including the phenomena of wonder and spectacle, visual culture, cities, politics (leadership, rhetoric, and voting), branding, the question of authenticity, and the merging of design and culture, travel and tourism, the middle east and south Asia, and criticism of all kinds.

I also use the blog as a kind of commonplace book, a way to hold onto ideas, articles, and images that I used to lose.

I like it. How can I help spread the word?

Kindly forward something you think a friend will like to their emailbox, or link to ffactory. Or write!