The Hypothetical Hypermarathon

I’ve started to get a little bored with my second running map. Not that I’ve dropped it or anything. Here’s what it looks like at the moment:

If you haven’t seen it before, this map represents an area of the City of Roses in which I am slowly running down all the streets. Purple represents April to June, Blue represents July to September, and green are the new streets from so far this October.  It’s fine and all, and I do plan to finish it, but it’s definitely a rerun of the first version, and some of the thrill is gone.

The Hypermarathon

I am going to send a sort of running avatar out into the world. Whenever my physical incarnation runs a certain distance here in Stumptown, my hypothetical self can be out running the highways and byways of, well, wherever he runs to. For instance, if the so-called "real me" does my little 2 ½ mile route around the graveyard down the street from Castle5000, hypothetical Michael5000 might be progressing 2 ½ miles down N2370 Road on the way from Alva to Waynoka in northwestern Oklahoma. (Obviously, this example would have to be quite a ways in the future, since I will be starting from my front porch, and it would take me two years and three months to get to Alva at my current per-month running pace.)

It’ll be fun! I can keep you apprised of the whereabouts of my hypothetical harrier in the sidebar. Maybe he can write in from time to time to talk about places he’s been! Maybe even – this would be pretty trippy – I could even go out and meet him somewhere! I could go running with him.

So Obviously, the Question Is…

Where should I/he go? I see two areas of great potential. One would be to send Avatar5000 out to explore areas of scenic, historic, or personal interest. Secondly, perhaps you’d like to invite him to come visit! You really wouldn’t need much of a guest room; he/I could just crash on the couch, or for that matter at the back of the junk drawer, or in a notebook, or wherever you keep your own abstractions.

There are also two important limitations to this venture. One is that I won’t be moving especially fast. Locations in and around Bridgetown would be easy enough to pick off, but the open road will certainly be calling. On the other hand, if I were to put (for instance) FallingWater on the list of places to visit it would be quite some time before I was able to make it to southwestern Pennsylvania (Keep in mind, too, that my avatar isn’t going to use freeways, as they are unsafe and unpleasant to run on). We might also have to confine ourselves to North America, because while I would in principle be perfectly willing to run across a hypothetical Bering Strait landbridge or through the Chunnel, I can’t guarantee that my remaining running lifetime will be sufficient to get me that far.

The journey begins Saturday, October 27! 

But where shall I/he go? If you have suggestions, or would like to invite my avatar for a visit, let’s hear about it in the comments!

The Infinite Art Tournament Round 1: Cranach v. Cuyp!

Lucas Cranach the Elder
1472 - 1553
German

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Aelbert Cuyp
1620 - 1691
Dutch

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Vote for the artist of your choice!  Votes go in the comments.  Commentary and links to additional work are welcome.  Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Coming next week: THE Ds!!!

The Infinite Art Tournament Left Bracket Second-Round Elimination: Avercamp v. Baldung!

Leaving us this week with records of 1-2 are two twentieth century Europeans: Balthus (18 cumulative votes for, 19 against) and Francis Bacon (17-19).  Bacon beat today's first contestant in Round One, but lost to our second contestant in Left Bracket Round Two.  Does that mean that Baldung will trump Avercamp?  Let's vote!

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Hendrick Avercamp
1585-1634
Dutch

• Lost to Francis Bacon in Round 1.
• Clobbered Frank Auerbach in Left Bracket First-Round Elimination.
• Handily defeated 20th Century French painter Balthus in the Left Bracket Second Round.

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Hans Baldung
c. 1484 - 1545
German

• Lost to Giacomo Balla in Round 1.
  
• Trounced Fra Bartolommeo in Left Bracket first round elimination.
  
• Beat Francis Bacon in Left Bracket Second Round by a single vote.  YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

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Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.

The Wednesday Post

Pages Towards an Absurdist Stamp Album
I: Colors

Green:

Red:

Blue:

Liberty 3 cent, purple:

The Infinite Art Tournament, Left Bracket Second Round: Bellotto v. Bierstadt!

Bernardo Bellotto
1721 - 1780
Venetian; worked internationally

Lost to American George Bellows by a single vote in Round 1. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Lambasted 20th Century artist Hans Bellmer in First Round Elimination.

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Albert Bierstadt
1830 - 1902
German-born American

Defeated fellow 19th Century American in a powerhouse Round 1 match-up.
Lost to 17th century sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini in Round 2.

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Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.

Michael5000's Autumn Vacation: the Statistical Breakdown

You know what we haven't had around here for a long time? NEW COUNTIES, that's what! But fortunately, Mrs.5000 and myself have just returned from a two-week odyssey by land, air, and sea. It was a trip on which we saw many beautiful landscapes, visited many wonderful people, and visited three of the great world treasuries of art.

But you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear about the statistics!

Canada!

I'll start with my brand-new Canada map, so new in fact that it doesn't exist yet.

There we go.  Certain liberties of scale taken for purposes of legibility.

Canada: In addition to the lovely province of Quebec, I was able to visit my third and fourth Canadian provinces, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.  Canada being the "place" -- broadly speaking -- where I first had the idea of keeping track of running on the road, it's fitting that I was also able to run my second province -- 3.48 miles was my all-time longest run in PEI, and my second-longest ever run in the nation of Canada!

The United States of America!

Maine: We were repatriated into Acadia National Park, which meant my first new county in slightly over a year.  But perhaps I should explain for any newcomers that I have long kept track of my travels by county; on the above map red counties are those I first visited between 1992 and 1999, blue between 1999 and 2003, and dark green from 2003 to 2010.  The bright green are the new 'uns.

I can't really recommend county collecting highly enough.  It really encourages you to take roads less traveled, which gives you a real sense of what the country is like and how people live off of the interstates.  Also, of course, it lets you thoroughly geek out on data.  For instance, I can tell you that my fifth Maine county makes that state 31.5% complete, vaulting it over Iowa, Arkansas, and Minnesota to become my 29th most explored state.  Maine had also been the 12th-since-last-visited state, but we took care of that and how!

New Hampshire: One new county makes New Hampshire 80% complete, the 10th most-explored state!

Vermont: Some aggressive and delightful road-tripping through five new counties in the loveliest of the 50 states brought it to 93% complete, which was a leap from the 15th to the 7th most-explored state!

Connecticut: Lots of excitement here, as my collection of three new counties finished off the state!  Connecticut now becomes my sixth complete state, following in the footsteps of Oregon (1993), Kansas (1998), neighboring Rhode Island (2002), Washington (2004), and neighboring Massachusetts (2005).  w00t!

With 10 new counties from this trip, my grand total stands at 1023, about a third of the national total.  In answer to the almost inevitable follow-up question, no, of course I don't intend to complete the collection.

New York: New York is terrific, and the island of Manhattan continues to unfailingly defy all its stereotypes, for instance by being among the uniformly friendliest places I've ever had the pleasure to visit.  Lamentably, there was no new statistical action this trip.

Rhode Island: Nor was there in Rhode Island, although we did take a slightly longer route just in order to go through it.  It is amusing to drive through Rhode Island.  It is very small.

Massachusetts: We ended the trip in this fair state, and although there is no longer any room for county-grabbing -- Massachusetts is one of my complete states -- I was finally healthy enough to make it my 10th ran-in state.  And then the next day I broke my all-time Massachusetts distance record (5.12 miles) with a run of 5.35 miles.

Clearly, there's lots of room to grow here.


You know what else we haven't had around here for a long time?  Dorkfest, that's what.  Stand by.

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round FOUR: Balla v. Basquiat!

The Fourth Round of the Infinite Art Tournament gets underway with a battle between the beginning and end of the 20th century!

Giacomo Balla
1871-1958
Italian

Defeated Hans Baldung in Round 1. 
Edged by Balthus in Round 2 by a single vote.  YOUR VOTE COUNTS! 
Got by John James Audubon in Round 3.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat
1960 - 1986
American

Defeated Georg Baselitz in Round 1. 
Decisively defeated Italian master Jacopo Bassano in Round 2.
Beat German artist Max Beckman in Round 3.

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Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Fourth-round matches are open for at least three months after posting.