blacklog

[Extracted from the Tiny Icon Factory. Colored using a Magic Wand Tool]

Does it make sense to feel nostalgic about something even if you still have it?

Graffiti Pizarronero Number 1, Instance 2 by yours truly.

Blackboards and chalks are everywhere around me. From now on I will use them to post short messages about random things as a low-tech alternative to the web. Please don’t erase.

I don’t usually write about gadgets and shit. I don’t really consider myself to be into toys that much either. I am happy with my good old laptop, a camera and a stylus tablet. Never needed anything else. However, today I ran into this little thing while I was shopping for MiniDV head cleaning tapes in BestBuy, and couldn’t help but really want it, experiencing the extreme desire that only hits you when you face a matter of life or death: a Polariod Pogo instant portable printer. There are a number of reasons why I loved it at first sight: It is wireless, it is almost the size of an iphone, the ink is already in the paper, and most importantly, it prints 3×2 inch laminated stickers out of any jpeg file you want. Instant-Custom-Stickers, godammit! I’ve been waiting all my life for something like this.

The people in BestBuy were not going to make it easy for me. The printer box and the brochures explained how to print from all supported cameras and phones, but did not mention computers at all, and the store clerk was convinced that Polaroid Pogo did not support printing for computers, at least yet. Um. Of course I should have known better than listening to him. Dubious about what I heard I decided to wait until I knew more about how hard it would be to print from my Mac. I didn’t think it would be much of a problem in theory, but you never know. I’ve bought some cheap shit like this before that never worked.

Later in the lab, I was ichatting with Mud about the printer, and he showed me a link to a pdf in the Polaroid website that tells you what to do. Pretty simple. I ran back to BestBuy and didn’t care much about not spending money on superfluous things. I have been happily printing stickers ever since, 30 cents each.

The following example shows a 3×2 crop of one of Amy’s Holga Pictures, and my Polaroid Pogo while spitting out a print of the same picture.

I have recently discovered the MIT Science Fiction Society Library in the 4th floor of the MIT Student Center. I feel like an idiot for not having discovered it before, but giving it a second thought, it was probably better that way. I am not sure if I could have afforded to spend my days daydreaming about telepathic detective gymnosperm plants, steampunk robots that will slaughter you if you don’t speak German, or eighty year long space round trips protecting cargos of a few thousand genetically modified frozen teenagers. Today I am as busy as I used to be when I was a student here, but I am not feeling as challenged, and I can comfortably dedicate some space in my memory and imagination to regularly escape into the fantastic stories collected between the shelves of the MIT-SFS library.

Conveniently enough, I have decided to reactivate the picture collecting mechanism in PictureXS, and I will use it in combination with my simple [and overly buggy] Video2Web picture capturing program to keep a visual archive of all the books I will check out [and hopefully read] from the MIT-SFS library. I wonder if I should scan all the covers, they are so remarkably different from anything you see these days in bookstores, and a definite visual treat.

Two weeks ago at MIT, Henry Jenkins performed his traditional Annual Salute to Dr. Seuss for the last time before he leaves to join USC later this year. Perhaps because this was his last performance he read, commented and showed cartoons for a longer time than usual, adding up to more than 120 minutes of Dr. Seuss’ tales and history.

Henry described Dr. Seuss as a man with a political vision that chose to turn his voice in the direction of children, sending them a message of tolerance and diversity through his fantastic fables. Dr. Seuss became a master of propaganda before becoming interested in writing and illustrating books for children, and Henry’s reflections left me thinking about all the tricky relationships hidden between education and indoctrination.

It took me two weeks to access the pictures I took that day for a number of reasons directly related with using film instead of a digital camera. First, I needed to accumulate enough motivation to take the exposed film to the lab in South Station. Then the lab happened to be running an equipment maintenance procedure that usually takes an unknown number of days bigger than three. Time went by rather quickly, MIT style, and I had to start a new process to find more motivation, this time to go back to the lab and pick up the photos.

I still remember the good old digital days when I could have a picture online a few seconds after I took it, but I don’t miss them. Film and the photo lab are a positive influence in my behavior, moderating my attention and adjusting my vision.

Next thing I know, two Mondays have gone by, IAP is over, and I already feel halfway through a semester that I was supposed to keep myself safely distant from.

Two years ago John took us to Home Depot. We bought supplies to create the PLWall, and had lunch at the Good Time Emporium: hot-dogs, fluorescent lemonades and sweet-n-sour gummy worms.

Tonight we added a farewell visit to the Good Time Emporium in the PLW countdown to-do list.

My PLW days are coming to an end.