The northern hemisphere is spending a lot of time in the dark these days, so I'm interested taking long exposures, 8-30 seconds or so, in urban environments. The goal would be to use existing objects (mail and newspaper boxes, retaining walls, benches, bollards, etc) and either a Joby Gorillapod or a dedicated beanbag (such as those found on thepod.ca) to stabilize the camera for streetscapes. The camera would be mostly level and held in landscape orientation, but absolutely precise framing isn't critical. Full-sized tripods simply aren't an option for a number of non-photographic reasons.
In my specific case I have both beanbags and gorillapods suitable for cameras ranging in size from compacts to medium format, so having sufficient support isn't a limiting factor. While I recognize that the "go out and try it" method has real merit, time constraints and winter temperatures make blind experimentation somewhat unappealing. I'm also very interested to hear if there's another support method that I should be considering but haven't thought of.