On the name: Negative Earth

I went to a British car show near me once when I was a teenager. My Pop Pop Bob and I walked under a steaming sun on dewy grass looking at a bunch of Mini Coopers, MG’s, Jaguars, &c. There was also a polo match. I remember probably being irritated at being forced to do anything with my grandparents at that age the way teenagers always are, but I look back at it fondly. My Pop Pop Bob organized the trip, he was the big British car guy and car guy in general. Took me to drag and go-kart races as a kid and always had a mini cooper being worked on in the garage. The man was a tinkerer. He dug his computer too, I’m fascinated by the connection between cars and computers, I see a lot of crossover.

It was at this show I remember looking under one of the open bonnets of some random British car, no idea which brand. It could have even been a kit car. And it had the above sticker inside. ‘Negative Earth’ just sounded cool in my teenage brain, perhaps for a band name, and it kind of implanted itself in my head and sat dormant for years.

In a lurch forward, I keep buying domain names for various projects and this popped back into my head the same time I wanted to make a blog & digital garden. The term itself has something to do with the polarity of the electricity of the car I think? I could be wrong. I didn’t bother to research or understand the little I did research, clearly. Film photography connotations come to mind as well as nature and the earth itself, something I’m just generally into as a human. It has since turned into one of my favorite digital and web based projects and I think the name really lends itself to the vibe it helped me create. Every time I log on I think of that afternoon with my grandfather and his love for cars and tinkering, and I hope this can be a little piece of him to live on in one of my creations in some tiny tiny way.