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‘more than a mere assemblage of moviemaking information’
Thank you Glen for sending me this little treasure which I found in my in-tray this morning – for that you are a prince among men. I’ve also uploaded the first two pages of one of the many fabulous example storyboards that the book includes in glossy colour. It’s called ‘Laura’s Seventh Birthday’, and it’s […]
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post-humanism and the phonograph
I won’t even bother to pretend to rehearse the endless determinism vs. agency debate problem, but here is Nicholas Gane on Kittler on technology: Gane, Nicholas. Radical Post-humanism: Friedrich Kittler and the Primacy of Technology, Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 22, No. 3, 25-41 (2005) (citations removed for the sake of nice clean copy) Kittler […]
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(not) like sweeping powder over glass
Some things about typewriters and the corporeality of the mechanical and the sensuality of literacy: Typing means “taking foolish chances with words”: Typing represents to me the work of writing, of striking the physical world, and in so doing, changing it. Writing on a laptop (as I did to write this) is like sweeping powder […]
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spot the difference
Apple’s new ads run a line familiar from my research into 80s advertising (speed, ease of use, corporate vs. ‘everyday’). But this time, the brands are personified. And they’re kinda funny. But just in case you were in any doubt, yes, it’s true. Technologies are made in their creators’ images. And they wear the pants […]
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A is for Apple
In the beginning, there was an apple from the teacher… You could use it in the kitchen… Eventually even Mom could join in… Then it grew so small you could take it out into the world, where you were now more liberated, individual and same-yet-different than ever before. If you like this stuff, the Mac […]
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love and the mechanical sublime
In Adelaide over the weekend, I used Harry Potter as an excuse to experience the Capri Theatre first-hand. The Capri is a majestic, massively high-ceilinged theatre, with wooden floors, and two tiers of plush velvet seats. It is also home to the SA branch of the Theatre Organ Society, and boasts the most incredible theatre […]
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The BBC and technodemocracy
One of the things I learned at Wednesday night’s talk by Paula le Dieu was that among the rash of early 80s microcomputers was something called the BBC micro (an Acorn). It came out of the BBC Education “BBC computer literacy project” – apparently, the Beeb wanted to build a microcomputer that could do everything […]
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for my useful box – an archive of apple TV commercials
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Musical Amateurism and Technological Change
Two articles that problematize the cultural values attached to the modernist producer/consumer dichotomy, especially with regard to musical amateurism. From Antoine Hennion (whose work is all too rarely available in English), Music industry and music lovers, beyond Benjamin: The return of the amateur: […] the amateur could easily be reinstated at the centre of the […]
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Retro Chic Moves On
SHoLtZ ViTRiNe asserts that the retro chic army has turned to obsolescent digital technology in search of that all-important grunge factor (although without quite forgetting that whole “analog is warmer” argument). “MP3 players suck.” Says Garry Banes of Time To Drive magazine. “That bloody ‘squishy’ sound that makes tasty cymbal sound like Biros on tabletops. […]