Every Object Tells a Story

The first class I ever took in college was called American Autobiography. The secret to writing college-level papers on autobiographies, it turns out, is to realize that memoirists do more than just write down the things that happen to them. There is always both an agenda and a designer. Here's an excerpt from a paper written for that class:

Franklin describes in great detail his initial experiences in Philadelphia. He was dressed in his work uniform, and was weary from a long voyage. He relates that "I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings; I knew no soul, nor where to look for lodging" (pg 92). He made his way to a bakery in order to purchase bread with what little money he had. Even such a simple task was difficult in an unfamiliar setting. A difference in dialect prevented him from effectively communication to the baker which type of bread he preferred. Eventually he managed to purchase "three great puffy rolls" (pg. 93) but was forced to meander down the street "with a roll under each arm and eating the other" (pg. 93). He admits that made "a most awkward, ridiculous appearance" (pg. 93).

Why does good ol' Ben Franklin go through such length to describe this seemingly embarrassing and un-educational experience? He confesses that "I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and shall be so of my entry into that city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made there." Aha. Franklin is nice enough to explain his agenda for the inclusion of this particular passage. But even if the memoirist declines to share her motivation, don't doubt for a second that she has one. Said James Young, a historian of memorials, "The motives of memory are never pure."

I just watched an hour-long version on PBS of a slightly longer documentary called Objectified, directed by Gary Hustwit. Objects, it would seem, are a whole lot like autobiographies: the really good ones make you forget that they were designed at all. But if we can look and think again about our objects we'll realize that someone (hopefully) thought long and hard about how our objects work and look. The film includes a great interview with Jonathan Ive, a designer at Apple, who explained the thinking behind the little sleep indicator light on my MacBook. It should do its job, he explained, but then it should disappear when it no longer needs to indicate anything. And its cool to see how he accomplished that: my 18-month old laptop's sleep indicator light is still visible when the computer is not sleeping; but the latest MacBook iteration features an indicator light that just plain disappears when not in use.

That's just one example of how maybe the least significant feature of one product is the result of deep thought and design. The movie is great in all types of ways, especially if you're interested in chair design (designers, apparently, love talking about chairs), why form no longer follows function, how designers are starting to think about issues of sustainability, and attempting to bring a fresh perspective to all the things that fill our world.

Learning how to use a new type of computer is fun!

Upon my return to the eastern coast I was greeted by family, some friends, about ninety minutes of Tisha B'Av, and my recently described new lappy. It's nice; I like it. It doesn't do all that much more than my one did, but it's nice that it only turns off when I want it to.

I've spent pretty much all of this day in my room at my parent's house playing around with the computer. I feel like such a blogger. But, unfortunately for all nine regular readers of this blog, I didn't spend my time furiously blogging, but, rather, learning how to use the new OS and transferring my documents, photos, videos, music, etc., to the new compy. And I'm happy to report that, after about eight hours, I've learned how to "right-click" and that about 80% of my music made it through the transfer process. And I think I'm well on my way to developing a serious case of carpel tunnel syndrome. Laptops: the gift that keeps on giving.

I feel OK spending my day learning how to use a new computer; many great things have come about through just such an exercise. I can think of one. But I imagine there must be more out there somewhere. Anyway, the one that I know about is this: Stephen White, the bestselling author of thriller novels, started writing back in the day when home computers were brand new. He started writing just as a way to teach himself how to process words. And he kept at it and was very surprised when he realized that all those pages he wrote looked about as long as a book. And even more surprised when he showed this book-length pile of papers to a few friends who really liked it. And even more surprised when this work got acquired by an editor. And so on until he became famous enough to come visit the Denver Publishing Institute in 2008. So, perhaps, I'll go on to become a world-renowned something in a field I never imagined I had any talent for, and I'll look back on today as the day this all started.

Of course, I didn't spend all day with the computer; I managed to witness the implosion (or at least, the latest iteration of implosion) of the Mets's bullpen. And I emailed some folks in my continuing quest to find someone to pay me money to assist an editor or two. I think it would be a bad move to blog about work, so this'll be the last time I'll mention the job search in this forum. If you feel the desperate need to hear about office life from this source, then you're even more delusional than I realized. But, also, if you really critically need a lighthearted take on life in an American office, I remind you that summer is almost over which means that new TV shows are just around the corner which means that you can get your fill of comedic office hijinks from the funniest show on television which not insignificantly is set in an office. I'm referring, of course, to 30 Rock. I'm excited. And I feel I should mention explicitly the link I just linked to 15 words ago, just because it's a terrifically named fan-site.

Sorry for the posting delay; there'll be more tomorrow, probably on the Olympics.

Thanks for stopping by.

Yo. Science. What is it all about? Techmology. What is that all about? Is it good or is it whack?

Here's a thoroughly modern conundrum:

My three-year old Toshiba Satellite lap-top computer is just about at the limits of its functionality. It keeps overheating and turning off when I don't want it to. (I have taken to propping the thing up with my fairly new copy of Editors on Editing, and that seems to cool it down just enough to stay on so long as I don't have more than two programs running concurrently.) Windows fails to initiate properly at least half the time, bringing me to a scary blue screen, which asks me if I want to retry loading Windows normally or try loading with the last known configuration that worked. All video screens in Internet Explorer for some reason turn green and fail to show the images that should go along with the sounds which I can hear. I use Firefox so this isn't a big deal, but it's annoying for things like Netflix's streaming content which only works in IE. And the wireless doesn't work in most of the places where I live. In short, it's time to get a new compy.

Now here's where the thoroughly modern conundrum comes into play. I decided to buy one of those new-fangled Mac-style computers. They're so white and sleek, and owning one will make me just as cool and different and edgy as all the other dozens of millions of young folks who own one. And, to boot, they have a deal now where they offer $300 off an iPod just for buying a compy. This seems like a pretty good deal, but, from reading the internet, I know that Apple is rolling out their new line of products within like six weeks. And they're going to be the most bitchingly cool computers in the OC. Seriously. The new lappies are going to rock: There's going to be Macbook Touches, and aluminum casings, and new iPod touches, and lots of other cool stuff. Never before in the history of the universe (at least, that I am aware of off the top of my head) has technology moved so fast that people'd be worried about things like buying a product like a month before an improved one came out, and, also, without the worldwide internet, people'd have no way of knowing that new stuff will be released. There's a crap-load of Apple Rumors websites out there which do things like read the company's security updates combing for hints of something new.

As for me, I really wanted a new iPod, and can't really tolerate another six weeks of my current compy situation until the new stuff comes out, so I ordered the current model. So I'll have at least a month of being technologically up-to-date before all my stuff becomes old.