Updates from September, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Nick 11:33 pm on September 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Response to Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" 

    It was interesting to me to describe film as a return of the hieroglyph, and that in the absence of “ritual”, modern art has taken on social and physical functions. This seems to relate to Foster’s portrayal of media as mere information nuggets in “The Machine Stops” rather than as traditional “art”. Also consistent with Foster’s text is the notion of consumption of reproduced art as a separate experience from witnessing the authentic work complete with “aura”. In Foster’s text, Vashanti sees no need for direct experience or for witnessing such an “aura”, having already read witness accounts and having seen two-dimensional pictures depicting places and events. Foster clearly argues that this mode of experience is inferior through his weak, desensitized characters, although such a judgment seems less clear in the Benjamin text.

    I would argue that the basic premise that art in the age of reproduction must necessarily be politicized in the absence of ritualistic purpose may be untrue. Due to the fact that any reader/viewer can now be an author, it seems that the represented viewpoints and purposes for building art would be too diverse, malformed, and contradictory to be consistently politicized. It seems that Benjamin’s idea that “the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic character” in literature and film supports this idea. Even though Benjamin only suggests that the proletariat can participate in film through their consequential appearance in Soviet film, we have superseded that expectation and now all viewers can become creators via YouTube and accessible video equipment. Since the production of these communicative arts such as literature and film truly do belong to everyone it seems to me that the everyday individual may lack either the intent or skill required to produce politicized work.

     

  • Nick 2:48 pm on September 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    In Defense of the Atari 7800 

    The Atari 7800 is a truly underrated and oft-overlooked game system.

    It is the only Atari machine that truly fulfills the promise of every game system before it: arcade-perfect ports of classic games. No longer would classics such as Ms. Pac Man be butchered beyond recognition by hardware that wasn’t up to the task. Seriously, the versions of Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man, Food Fight, and Donkey Kong Jr. for the Atari 7800 are *the* kinds of experiences you would want from anything called Atari.

    Unfortunately this achievement came just one generation too late. With the NES in full-swing, players were no longer thirsting after perfect ports of arcade classics. Thanks to Nintendo and Sega, they now had access to great original software developed for the home a la Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. It was at this moment in time that the arcade experience was finally surpassed by the home video game console, a blow from which arcades were never able to recover.

    I still think the Atari 7800 represents a good deal for the retro enthusiast on a budget. Despite the tragically small library of Atari 7800 games, the Atari 7800 features backwards compatibility with the Atari 2600, only the most popular video game system of all time. Not a bad feature to boast. Two systems for the price of one.

    So here’s to you, Atari 7800! Shine on you crazy diamond!

     

  • Nick 1:57 am on September 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    "Fantasy Device" 

    My fantasy device is the Insta-Burger – a machine that delivers a burger to your specifications!

    The device consists of a simple area where materialization occurs and a simple control panel slightly higher than waist level.

    The control panel features a series of toggle buttons, all set default to the ‘none’ or other default option. The toggle buttons have a picture above representing the option while each button has text on the button to indicate the choice you’re making. For instance, first is a picture of buns with the buttons “default”, “none” and “toasted”. Next is patty, where you can choose turkey, veggie, beef, or chicken. Next are yes no options for various toppings and condiments. Finally, there is a small keyboard and screen for additional “write-in” topping. As you type, the screen auto-completes potential toppings which you can then add and proceed to type in another write-in topping. Otherwise, you can click create.

    A small screen shows your burger preview. After clicking create, the burger appears before your eyes!

     

  • Nick 7:50 pm on September 19, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    The Machine Stops is a satirical warning against overindulgence in technology at the expense of physical experience, complex human interaction, and self-reliance.

    Perhaps confusingly at first, the technology-addicted and meek residents of The Machine Stops seem to praise “ideas” above all else. Today, we regard ideas as generally virtuous things, the products of active, independent and creative thinking. In Foster’s text, ideas seem to refer more to pieces of information – factoids, opinions, and complaints from others that help shape citizens’ perceptions and feelings for them — hardly the products of critical thinking.

    In Foster’s alternate future, these “ideas” are considered beneficial while the products of direct physical and sensory experience are disregarded. It seems that these direct experiences cannot inform what precisely to think or feel, requiring rather the individual to interpret and read one’s own feelings, a task that must be considered quite laborious by the citizens of Foster’s world.

    Indeed, the popular lecturer implies that “first-hand ideas” or direct observation must be avoided in favor of championing the opinions/perspectives of others. Such a philosophy clearly minimizes the role of self-reliance and personal judgements and advocates conformity and acceptance of the status quo.

    I found the text both amusing and disturbing, as many of the descriptions of a potentially interactionless human life seem familiar and consistent with our collective present day existence — which is a remarkable feat as it has been over 100 years since the text was written. The “ideas” of Fosters text exist today in the form of our Twitter tweets, our Facebook status messages, our YouTube comments, our reality television and our celebrity gossip magazines — while correspondingly, interacting in person continues to cede ground to the brevity and convenience of email, IM, and video chat. We run on treadmills and suffer from obesity epidemics because physical exercise seems repulsive, inconvenient and difficult for us. In Foster’s text, Vashanti complains that “there is no time” and that experiences taking more than 10 minutes are “a disastrous waste of time” — similarly, we complain today that there’s just no time to exercise.

    The final lesson of Foster’s text is, of course, the destruction of civilization — as the decreasingly competent citizens are unable to maintain the Machine that provides their daily needs for them. The lesson is familiar but particularly well-illustrated: that it is both a disservice and dangerous to forget the strength (as well as the joy) that can be gained from direct, physical observation and experience in the shadow of technology’s supreme convenience.

     

  • Nick 3:47 pm on September 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    PComp Sensor Walk 

    During my short walk around the West Village, I saw a number of sensors; the majority of them were simple buttons, including buttons to change traffic signals, buttons to buzz doorbells and intercoms, buttons to call for emergency help, and buttons to interface with an ATM. The payphone, also rife with sensors, sat alone and unused.

    I couldn’t determine if the brake on this bike qualified as a sensor. The same with this light – does it activate when it senses movement, or is it just turned off and on elsewhere?

     

    • Tom Gerhardt 1:26 am on September 20, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Well… the bike brake… I don’t know if that quite qualifies as a sensor… I think it’s more of a direct control… like a doorknob or something. Now, it would be possible I suppose if you had some sort of other system it was feeding into, like a break light or something.

      And that little box by the lights is a motion sensor to turn on the lights… but who knows if that thing is even hooked up, or accurate.

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