| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 |
 | Blow me, but this cover of "I'll Come Running (to tie your shoes)" by Chica and the Folders is marvellous. Admittedly, there's a limit to how far wrong you can reasonably go, but nonetheless... Thanks, . I don't know why more Casio-toting Bontempi goddesses don't address themselves to this project. Ladytron could do a mean "The True Wheel".
Speaking of technology, while I found myself moistening gently over MythTV boxes, I also found myself wondering whether such devices increase one's consumption of television, or simply make one a more efficient consumer of television. At present, I think I probably watch maybe an hour or two of television a week, which, given how people tend to underestimate their television intake in order to appear more intellectual, we can probably peg at about four hours. That's 4 hours in 168, or a little under 2.4 per cent of my week. At that point, what constitutes useful technical support? A digibox? A PVR? 5.1 sound?
Unfolding. As of this weekend, I own a DVD player. I occasionally bought DVDs in the past, but watched them on my PC. I had efficiently persuaded myself that, since DVD players were becoming cheaper all the time, and those cheap DVDs were becoming smallerand more sophisticated, if I simply held out eventually every feature I wanted from a DVD player would be available at the desired price point. As you can imagine, this is a line extending towards infinity, and a damnably useful one. It's only a shame you can't use it on clothes or alcohol. However, since this DVD player was free, the price (vanishing/Zabriskie) point argument fell apart. Problem being, it now makes perfect sense to buy DVDs in ever larger numbers. Which is useful, because I haven't been shopping enough lately.
So, question 1: How much television do you watch? How much technology do you use to watch it? How much technology would you ideally have, why don't you have it at present and what do you think it would do to your consumption? What other media devices do you employ?
More generally, the world is full of technologies I don't strictly speaking need, but do rather fancy. The latest from Apple, the iPod Shuffle, makes me feel strangely empty, although not sufficiently so to eat the damn thing. Please tell me they're joking. Reassure me that anyone attempting to sue Apple for the deleterious impact on the digestion of having eaten a solid-state music player would be laughed out of court. Even in the US. If it were not already the case that I carry with me at all times at least two devices able and willing to play me music, it would be a definite gimme.
The photovoltaic waistcoat, as not modelled by Ben, provoked a moment of hardcore internal fist-pumping (no, not like that), but despite the sheer joyous glory of the idea doubts immediately began to germinate. Simply put, can you imagine yourself (or, more to the point, me) wearing something designed for that level of practicality? It may even offset the Buck Rogers cool of the concept. Ben can get away with that sort of thing, because he has something - iPod, satphone, snakebite kit, Luger - for every single pocket, and might need any one of them at any moment. Also, the PV cells will be good for trickle-charging his hair. The equivalent backpack, on the other hand, is clearly a good and necessary idea, and it is purely a question of when I can talk myself into laying out that much cash for an item of technology designed for all its environmental marketing essentally to take into account the possibility of at any time being more than a cable's length from a plug socket, when every datum available about my life to date suggests that that will never happen.
So, question 2: Roght now, what single thing would both make your life complete and yet have almost no impact on your life whatever?
3 Comments:
The new mac mini. I know I don't need it. I know I have just spunked a wodge of cash that could have better been spent on rent clothes and food (in that order) on shiny lumps of technology. But dammit, I want one.
They say that it is about the size of a small hardback book. It would look great on my bookshelf.
1) i watch several hours of TV a night, in an odd fasion, which goes along with the second part. i hate adverts. i hate my television usurping my control. so i use Netflix and rent DVDs of shows i like, and pretty much avoid live tv altogether. the only new technology i'd want would be a nice, fat apple machine to do my music recording on. blasted windows bloater i have has too much software latency. a real clunker. but i tend to hate technology, even though i make my living on it and use it to record music. in my mind, it rarely simplifies anything, makes anything easier or does what it claims. just more busy work.
2) a POD box for my guitar. 32 classic amps emulated. straight into the mixer. freakin' sweet. wouldn't change my life at all because i'd still end up using the buzzy tube amp setting, basically making a full circle back to the monster antiquated tube amp i currently use, buzzing and all.
"I'll come running": I heard it once and I fell in love. But it is nowhere to be found.
cecilia555@katamail.com
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