"In an astonishing move, the European Com mis sion (EC) has reversed a decision made in a UK tax tribunal, and refused to classify works by Dan Flavin and Bill Viola as “art”. This means that UK galleries and auction houses will have to pay full VAT (value added tax, which goes up to 20% next year) and customs dues on video and light works, when they are imported from outside the EU. The decision is binding on all member states." Very sad.

"Immanentizing the papernet." Mike Migurski's blog about paper things. Already, so much good stuff here.

Music sequencing by drawing small towns: things by roads are noises; cars are your cursor. Currently in Flash; coming out for iOS soon. Worth checking out some of the best examples to see what's possible. It's a bit fiddly, but utterly delightful

"Steven Strogatz, an award-winning professor, takes readers from the basics to the baffling in a 15-part series on mathematics. Beginning with a column on why numbers are helpful, he goes on to investigate topics including negative numbers, calculus and group theory, finishing with the mysteries of infinity." Lovely series of online articles at the NYT explaining maths. Lots of good stuff.

"Street Fighter is about everything games are about – all you’ve learned about positioning and strategy, every reaction tightened by every sudden twitch of your trigger fingers, every educated guess made at your opponent’s next move – all played out in a simple two-dimensional box where you test everything you’ve ever known about videogames. Street Fighter IV is the same old game of two-dimensional space control, strategy, and flat-out mind reading but it took whopping great polygons in an old-fashioned game to take a 2D fighter back to the masses." This is all true.

"To apply the same point to videogames, ‘we’ are exceptionally good at the analytic mode and extremely poor at the rhetorical persuasion. As a cohort, we’re remarkably analytical. There are not many writers, bloggers, critics, etc of videogames who are either committed to the persuasive communication of the veracity of their feelings, moods, and strange hunches about videogames, but there sure is a lot of people willing to point out the textual or dramaturgical features of XYZ latest game." This, many, many times over. It's one reason I tire of so much wordy criticism at the moment: it is exhaustive, but lacks direction. (This, for me, was the gap between my first years at university and my final year: finding the courage to make my own arguments, rather than just synthesizing everything around me).

Marvellous, touching, sad short story from Jonathan Safran Foer, about how families communicate.

The Spring/Summer 1985 Argos Catalogue, in its entirety, on Flickr. A slice of consumer history. Products, industrial design, toys, games, technology, all preserved. Hoping this doesn't get taken down.

This sounds great: Andrew Collins presenting a 30-minute documentary on a history of 3D – from perspective drawing through early stereoscopy to the present – on Radio 4 this week. Must remember to listen-again/iPlayer/huffduff/whatever it.

Christian Nutt interviews Jesse Schell Lots of really interesting stuff in here – to be returned to, I think.

Nice list of restuarants and pubs. One of my favourite things about The Trip is turning out to be the food.