Map of the Week - Jimmy Corrigan's World

I've looked at this site many times and still don't completely get it. It's an interactive promotion for Chris Ware's graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy on Earth. I have not read it, but the story here does not appear to follow the book as described online. It does make an interesting use of maps to tell a story. Click the map below and then the lower arrow. Next click on one of the circles on the globe and you get a piece of the story.

This a typical immigrant coming to the US to find whatever opportunities are out there story. If you really want to follow it the trick is to click on what's supposed to be Tennessee but really is too far south and east. Then click the right arrows. There seem to be parallel stories about slavery and some traffic accident in Panama. Again, the relationship to this graphic novel is unclear. Below is a typical sequence showing parts of the story.


If you click on Chicago you get this nice little zoom in sequence


The site does work in that it makes me curious to read the story. Then again after months of looking I have yet to actually place my order.

Map of the Week - March Madness Map

It's tournament time again in college basketball. billsportsmaps has a pretty nice map of this year's entrants. If you want to relive last year's Jayhawk glory you can find maps from the March, 2008 archive. It's nice to see places like Binghamton and North Dakota State on here. Mainly I just like the logos.


May your favorite team bring you happiness!

Map of the Week - Lordy what's wrong with this picture?

Now showing through May 17th at the Austin Museum of Art: "Lordy Rodriguez: States of America". Rodriguez was born in the Philippines but grew up in the United States. He "reconfigures" maps that are in the words of artdaily.org "at once distinctly familiar and candidly absurd." For example, Wyoming:

More from the artdaily.org review:
"By choosing to draw maps, Rodriguez explores formal relationships and semi abstraction without worrying about the representation of depth. His firm shapes and bright, translucent colors decorate the surfaces of his maps with playful, captivating patterns. While maps often assume an unquestionable authority of accuracy and fact, Rodriguez dismantles conventional notions of locale and geography through intuitive associations and personal narratives. These vivid narratives conjure up the viewer’s own memories and perhaps compel one to ask whether the United States truly look like those that we used to envision."

Map of the Week - Under a Cover of Snow

Here in the Northeastern USA we got hit with a pretty big storm March 1st and 2nd. I've had worse but my back is pretty sore from shoveling. NASA's Earth Observatory put this picture up as their Image of the Day for today (March 4th). The image was taken from NASA's Terra satellite.

Seems like some of the traditionally snowy areas were mostly missed such as the Rochester-Buffalo-Toronto area, parts of the Adirondacks and the Alleghenies while Delaware looks like it got it bad. The "cloud streets" over the ocean are pretty cool.