The galaxy luminosity function is not the only fruit, and with the many legacy datasets becoming available the time is now ripe to move beyond the LF and explore multivariate distributions. Here I've presented two: the Luminosity surface brightness (size) plane (LSP); and the colour luminosity plane (CLP). Both planes show that disks and bulges form distinct but overlapping distributions presumably indicating secular evolution of these components, i.e., two mechanisms and two timescales. This finding argues for the community to move away from global measurements and start to measure the properties of these distinct components independently. We argue that this is best done in the near-IR and should be a key focus of upcoming IR facilities such as VISTA (low-z) & JWST (high-z). Perhaps most important of all the LSP appears to provide a direct meeting ground to the numerical simulations. This last point is by far the most important as its from the cross-talk between simulations and observations that real insight into the processes of galaxy evolution and formation will come.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to my colleagues on the MGC and to the hard work of those that have slaved on the superb 2dFGRS, SDSS and 2MASS facilities and databases. These data are changing the way we view galaxies in a profound way. Finally I'd like to thank the organisers for a very enjoyable meeting and support from PPARC as a visiting fellow to the University of Bristol where this article was revised.