London, United Kingdom

If any city has a right to boast its glory through music, media, and "All I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirts, its definitely London, the capital of the United Kingdom.

It seems like a lot of what we love, use, and recognize today originated from with London's city limits. Ideas such as mercantilism and world trade began with ships on the Thames river in the 1500's. Many of the settlers that began our nation (I'm talking to my fellow Americans here) came from London and brought some of its culture overseas. Today, London is the most visited city in the world, has one of the busiest airports in the world, will be the first city to host the Summer Olympics three times in 2012, and is the largest city in the European Union. And if you think New York City is old at the age of a few hundred, London has been around since 46 AD (It was appropriately known as Londinium back then).

I've never actually been to London, but I hope to one day. Until then, I have to rely on the bit of "London" I can find in the U.S: Harry Potter, The Beatles, and the most important "import" from London, Coldplay.

Coldplay is one of my favorite bands for a number reasons. They never run out of good music (they've been going strong since 1996), and most of their music sticks to the alternative rock genre (in other words, they haven't turned totally pop like some other bands have). If you've ever heard any of their music, then you know that their lyrics are well thought out and contain several metaphors that have actual meaning. It's good to know that there is at least something on the radio that isn't just a repetition of five or six words "from da hood".

Coldplay is unique, however, in that their artistry extends beyond their music into their music videos. One of their latest music videos, based around a song called "Strawberry Swing", took over 5,000 hours and a crap load of chalk to produce. However, the hard work payed off with a stop-animation video unlike any other (click here to see it!).

In my opinion, their greatest production was that of their 2003 hit "the Scientist". In this video, the group experiments with "backwards filming", in which the video is played backwards, yet the lead singer's lips still move to the lyrics of the song. Not only is this difficult technique able to draw interest to the song, but it's also able to make the storyline more effective. See for yourself here and come back when you're finished.

What did you think? Did you the video meant more to you played backwards than if it had been played normally? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

So, this is an example of what a normal blog post will be like. I'll try to slap down an interesting introduction, and then lead you to something that will make you think. Sometimes it will be a music video like this one. Other times, it'll be a book or maybe something from the news. Either way, it should be something you can enjoy. Also, I think I'm going to stick to titling posts with locations that are relevant to what I'm talking about. To know more about our world, we have to know more about where things are in our world! (Yeah, I'm a geography geek in case you haven't noticed).

Have a wonderful 8th day of Christmas!

--Coffee

Agloe, New York

It's probably a dismal thought, but I believe that several of my original thoughts and innovations have originated from Wikipedia. People say that it is a risky thing to rely on Wikipedia for information, because quite frankly anyone who can read and work a computer can edit it. But then again, don't we learn more about the world from the people around us anyway? Sure, there are people on Wikipedia who offer false information and are a little biased, but aren't text books and teachers the same way too?

I don't want to get off topic, because I'm most definitely not creating a blog based on the glory that may be Wikipedia. But while jumping from page to page on Wikipedia one day, I was lead to an article about a town named Agloe, New York - a town that inspired me to write what I am writing now. The article reads,

"Fictional Agloe, New York is an example of a copyright trap that became an actual landmark. In the 1930s, General Drafting Company founder Otto G. Lindberg and an assistant, Ernest Alpers, assigned a scramble of their initials to a dirt-road intersection in the Catskill Mountains north of Roscoe, New York.^[1] The "paper town" then began to appear on Esso maps.^[2]

Later, Agloe appeared on a Rand McNally map, but it turned out that they had gotten the name from the county administration. Someone had built a general store at the intersection on the map and had given the name Agloe to it because the name was on the Esso maps.^[3]

This fictional town is featured as an important part of the plot in the novel Paper Towns by John Green."

In case that didn't make any sense, I'll explain it in more detail. Agloe, New York was originally a work of fiction, created by the brilliant guys at Esso as a ploy to catch other map makers who tried to copy from Esso maps. However, somewhere down the line a person had the idea to turn Agloe into a real place by placing a country store along the intersection where Agloe was supposed to be. The store is long gone now, run down by the wear and tear of the weather and elements, but the idea of Agloe as a real place still exists - all because of that one man's (or woman's) thought to make it exist.

As you read earlier, Agloe was a central part of award-winning author John Green's book, Paper Towns. I picked up his book a couple weeks ago on the recommendation of a friend of mine (I actually found the "Agloe, New York" page via the "Paper Towns" page on Wikipedia), and it made me think like no other book before. And then that thinking made me think about...thinking. It's a funny concept to think about, but an important one. Thinking plays an important part in our lives and in the world around us. Yeah, thinking allows us to eat, sleep, play checkers, and LOSE THE GAME, but more importantly, it allows us to create an algorithm we can use to take a thought...and make it real. Thinking gave us the inventions that seemed impossible in thought, but turned out possible in reality. Thinking gave us Agloe, a place that wasn't supposed to exist, which became a place of inspiration for John Green readers and map enthusiasts alike (I happen to be both!).

Anyways, thinking is important, because we can use it to influence the world around us and shape it into a world more in tune with our minds. Ideas lead to more ideas which lead to discoveries which leads to creations which leads to even more ideas! The cycle continues!

I've titled this blog "Thinking Agloe", because it's the style of thinking that I want to promote. I don't think there is any idea that can be called a "stupid idea". It all depends on the algorithm needed to turn a thought into a reality. For Agloe, it was the construction for a general store. For you, it might be the act of joining a new sports team or entering a literary contest or taking a trip to a far away place. Sure, there are thoughts that will never become real entirely. Pigs will certainly never fly (although it might be the coolest thing ever). But you can always get close enough to reality that can satisfy your world. Do you really want that pig to fly? Put it on a plane!

My previous blog was entirely random, and had no purpose. This blog has the purpose to show you the purposeful. Whether it is through entertainment, literature, science, current events, or even Wikipedia, I'll post about things or ideas that I find meaningful and that you'll hopefully find meaningful too. Hopefully, it will allow us to think, and this thinking will train us to think of ways to turn our thoughts into something meaningful.

I'm sorry for the length of this blog post, but I figured you might as well know what I'm trying to accomplish. If it felt like I was rambling, I probably was rambling, because I have a tendency to ramble, as you can see by this extremely long and useless run-on sentence. If you didn't understand what I was trying to say, no problem. Just enjoy what I find!

That's it!

-for the introduction to Thinking Agloe

AND

-for 2010!

Happy New Year!

-Coffee