Monday miscellany

An artist who embroiders obituaries - Christine da Cruz also commemorated the writer of Elizabeth Taylor's obit, who had died six years before Taylor; his work was "too good to throw away" said the editor.

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Spot the cookie alert -

IanVisits, source of many things to do in London, has had a thought about these alerts, which EU legislation (bless 'em) requires websites to display. Along the way, it's interesting to note that the shade of blue affects click rates: a slightly purpler shade is more conducive to clicking than a slightly greener shade ... to the tune of an annual $200m of ad revenue to Google.

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The annual pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery is now open - see pix here (or here, the source of this one). But don't let the pix put you off - these pavilions have to be experienced ... it's all about moving round in the space.

"To see things properly, it is not enough simply to look. People who look at life - purely as witnesses, spectators - are not rare; and one of the strangest lessons to be learnt from our literature is that professional spectators, judges by vocation and witnesses by predestination, contemplate life with less understanding and grasp of its rich content than anyone else. There really is no substitution for participation!" - a quote from space-theorist Henri Lefebvre

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(via)

I've been enjoying The Londonist's podcasts, which are about an hour long. Great listening when you're resizing etc pix for the web. This week’s guest is David Mantero, who works for one of London’s oldest map-sellers, Stanfords in Covent Garden (where you can walk over London - or the world - on different floors), established in 1853; he's talking about the history of the firm, monopolies, Michael Palin, and the threat of Google maps.

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For a summer's day - a walking tour of gardens/parks within the Square Mile

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"Quentin Blake: Inside Stories runs at House of Illustration 2 July-2 November 2014. Tickets are £7 (adult) or £4 child, and must be bought in advance from here."

"MUST be bought in advance" online - ? You can't just turn up and get a ticket at the gallery?

With an imperative like that - with such need for planning - would you bother to go at all?