The Digital World Kills Cultural Snobbery or Keen Connoisseurship

Wonderfully written article about the digitisation of mass media, and how this has affected our sense of self and inhibited our ability distinguish ourselves from others.

And here I was contemplating an embargo on books since purchased books just end up collecting dust and occupying precious space. 5 days of reading pleasure for years and years of storage/dust pain. That equates to a very small marginal utility
.

BUT ...

Alas, not only do books "furnish a room, to paraphrase the title of an Anthony Powell novel, but also accessorize our outfits. They help brand our identities. At the rate technology is progressing, however, we may eventually be traipsing around culturally nude in an urban rain forest, androids seamlessly integrated".

My embargo may actually lead to a human apocalypse a la Terminator!

The last paragraph is defining ...
"As all this space opens up—as the tokens of our cultural snobbery or keen connoisseurship (take your pick, depending on the degree of pretentious wankery you attribute to others) recede into the hideaway shelves and flash drives—what will refill it? “After two decades of defining ourselves in terms of our possessions,” Holly Brubach wrote recently in T: The New York Times Style Magazine, “we now need to figure out who we would be without them.” I suspect that once this downturn plateaus and shrinks in the rearview mirror, we’ll just stock up on other possessions, which will be arrayed and arranged to show off not our personal aesthetics or expensive whims but our ethics—our progressive virtues. A place where we could play host to Barack and Michelle and feel assured they’d find nothing amiss."

Lucky I already have Barack Obama's autobiography.

Flavour of Asia

It was disappointing times for the Asian race this morning. 3 oriental culprits all displaying very poor judgement when it comes to train etiquette.

Asian 1 (A1) - Guilty of unacceptable noise pollution when speaking extremely loudly into his mobile phone. Noise pollution intensified when the battery on his mobile phone started fading, which led to A1 adopting the strategy of yelling into his handset, as if the handset was a voice-powered piece of equipment. Quarter way through the journey, the entire carriage knew all about his dirty little secret - he owed the guy on the other end of the phone $5000.

Asian 2 (A2) - Guilty of blaring music emitting from his headphones. Nobody wants to hear TI or similar rubbish that early in the morning.

Asian 3 (A3) - Guilty of playing a keyboard intensive game with the keypad tone at max level. Unbelievably annoying, especially since A3 was sitting beside me.

For all the deficiencies in train etiquette, we certainly make it up in other areas e.g. Asian Poses - must click on website, it is hilarious. I think I was born for the "Puffy Cheeks" pose. It requires no additional effort on my part so I think might give it a go in my next photo opportunity. The website recommends puffy cheeks in addition to other violent poses like "bang or claws, since it adds to the ferocity of the pose". Such ingenuity!

My other favourite is pose #24, otherwise know as the "Nyan Nyan" pose, which is meant to simulate the noise a cat makes. I do like the option of wearing "cat ears and a collar with a bell on it, if you want to make sure no one misinterprets this pose."


Other practical suggestions/warnings include:

• for the Bang pose - to put both hands together to form a thicker gun.
• for the Louder pose - voice amplification is simulated by putting the hands at an angle with palm facing outwards. Although it is debatable whether you will get louder, you will surely get people’s attention with this cute pose
• for the Claws pose - if done right, people will be silenced by the absolute cuteness of this gesture.
• for the Shush pose - optionally, one can make a “shhh” noise with their lips to add to the realism.

Intriguing Photos

WSJ filed this one under "sports snapshots"


Look at the grimace on their faces - yeouch. I think high heel boots are the way to go if have aspirations to win a high-heel sprint. Might be worth it for the $6,225 prize money.

And imagine a 2 year, fully funded worldwide photography assignment; terms and conditions to be determined by your own creativity. Meet Richard Mosse and his body of work, Breach. Breach captures images of the U.S military occupying (or making themselves comfortable) in palaces that belonged to Saddam Hussein, and they had a lot to choose from seeing as there were 81 in total (yes 81?!?!!). Mosse was keen to develop the idea of accidental monument through these photos. My fave photo is this one below, and this interview with Mosse is an excellent read.