| recent comments mjp said: I'm, uh, working on it. Right now. ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! shane said: michael phillips,you are a fuckin madman,post yer next story... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! mjp said: Yes, that is a potential problem for people in 10,001. I often worry about... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... damian said: indeed. ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... Scott h Florance said: The Christians believe Jesus Christ tis immortal and he lives forever. It is... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... mjp said: Isn't there a NASCAR or gun or fishing or tabakky-chewing site you can go... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead Andrew Olin Jones said: Hillbilly said you might turn off the smog but I don't want you to do that... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead mjp said: My childhood box? I don't think anyone wants to open that... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up!   previous ramblings • I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead 2.18.08 • Simple is as simple does 1.31.08 • I feel the earthworms under my feet 1.22.08 • New boots and panties 1.19.08 • I haven't given up, I've just stopped trying 12.25.07 • I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons. 12.20.07 • So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night 9.19.07 • Grab the closet case by the horns 8.11.07 • Blogged down in the forum of my youth 5.23.07 • Hotter than July 5.16.07 • 26 Miles Across the Deep Blue Sea 5.11.07 • A rose by any other name, still doesn't smell so good 4.6.07 • Children of a lesser dog from hell 2.22.07 • Squid lights 1.9.07 • Cats and dogs 12.19.06 • Mission accomplished! 11.22.06 • Various tidbits of marginal interest to anyone 11.9.06 • Buddy, can you spare a town? 10.16.06 • A garbage can is somewhat precise. 10.6.06 • Another cantankerous rant - surprise! 9.25.06 • Hey, where you been? 9.1.06 • Geeeeeeee mail, @smog.net 7.27.06 • Oh good lord, it's a kid's show 7.22.06 • Sleeping dogs 6.28.06 • Dumb and dumber 6.21.06 • HDTV for $150! 5.16.06 • Thank you for calling the White House. My name is Krishna, how may I be providing you excellent service today? 4.28.06 • Decades and bits of centuries 4.24.06 • Secret Society 3.22.06 • Sometimes I don't speak right, but yet I know what I'm talking about 3.20.06 • This is the modern world 3.15.06 • Shakespeare never did this 2.18.06 • Who is Lonnie Tolliver, and why should you care? 1.27.06 • Scuttlebutt and innuendo 1.16.06 • Beware the fury of a patient man 1.6.06 • I feel 100 pounds lighter already... 12.30.05 • Dude! Your wiki is showing... 12.20.05 • Yeti spotted, film at 11! 12.19.05 • "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." 12.9.05 • Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... 12.8.05 • Hey, what's with the torn up clothes, and didn't you have a shag haircut last week? 12.5.05 • Shameless self-promotion or a desperate cry for love? You decide. 11.18.05 • Further proof that drinking will kill you 11.6.05 • Big Apple dreamin' on a wooden floor 11.1.05 • Happy birthday to smog. Now where's my cake? 10.16.05 • I got nothing 10.4.05 • free within my own doom 9.25.05 • A Rambling Essay on Politics and the Bleeding Life Written While Drinking a Six-Pack (Tall) 9.12.05 • (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown 8.31.05 • Well, could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then? 8.28.05 • What has four wheels and flies? 8.21.05 • Don't think twice, it's all right 8.13.05 • My ass is getting cold sitting on this glacier... 8.11.05 • Capital radio 8.11.05 • nobody's fault 7.23.05 • secret santa 7.3.05 • everything we touch turns to rust 6.21.05 • on the edge of seventeen 6.13.05 • life at 300 baud 6.9.05 • 12 steps away from the screen, running 6.5.05 • shake a leg 6.5.05 • san pedro anarchy press, Inc. 5.22.05 • Z is for zealot 5.20.05 • Lenny Bruce was right 5.16.05 • bad meat in the can 5.12.05 • it's in the water 5.12.05 • you tell me 5.10.05 • what matters most is how well you're lit 5.5.05 • just keep pulling the handle, it'll all be over soon 5.3.05 • rust never sleeps 4.24.05 • randomness, chaos and deliverance 4.21.05 • baby was a black sheep, baby was a whore 4.20.05 • Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream? 4.16.05 • roses are red, violets are blue, i thought my hell had ended, but the devil is a crafty bastard with a sick sense of humor and a mean streak a mile wide 4.14.05 • rock the cash bar 4.12.05 • many rivers to cross 4.10.05 • imitation is the sincerest form of unoriginality 4.8.05 • if you are the big tree, we are the small axe! 4.8.05 • give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine 4.4.05 • and who the hell figured QWERTY was a good idea? 4.4.05 • your pope was nothing compared to this guy! 4.3.05 • you've got a TV...i've got a TV...we've all got TV's... 3.29.05 • hitler painted roses 3.26.05 • counselor 3.25.05 • she's still here, damn it! 3.21.05 • patience is a virtue, but resignation is for suckers. 3.13.05 • should have taken mom up on those violin lessons... 3.9.05 • last night a dj saved my life! yeah, maaaaan! 3.9.05 • if i had a hammer... 3.8.05 • caveman re-invents the wheel! film at 11. 3.7.05 • he's mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore! 3.4.05 • this is a public service announcement - with guitar! 3.2.05 • battlefield girth 2.28.05 • never give a media giant an even break 2.25.05 • 10 Things I've done that you haven't 2.24.05 • come back, bastard! 2.23.05 • hey, just because he likes Judy Garland records and the Tony awards doesn't necessarily mean anything... 2.23.05 • "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." 2.21.05 • I couldn't say it if it wasn't true 2.17.05 • The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs." 2.11.05 • how to lose 10 pounds in five minutes! 2.6.05 • earth to smog, earth to smog 2.5.05 • my own private chernobyl... 2.2.05 • Estoy solo, pero siento que tu estas conmigo. 1.26.05 • confessions of an obsessive freak of nature 1.5.05 • death wants more death 12.30.04 • every mikkle make a muckle (ask a Jamaican what it means) 12.17.04 • things that don't suck 12.15.04 • what's it all about, mjp? 11.11.04 • old dog, new tricks 9.2.04 • if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all 8.15.04 • Frida Kahlo, Charles Bukowski and Joel-Peter Witkin have left the building 2.13.03 • R.I.P. smog.net 5.19.04 • almost cut my hair...it happened just the other day 4.23.04 • and we're back! 4.22.04 • one cocoa full a basket 2.14.04 • let's get ready to rumble 1.24.04 • brace yourself for a shitstorm 1.6.04 • it's my party, i'll o.d. if i want to 12.6.03 • pimp-a-licious 11.27.03 • on a clear day you can see the 18th century 11.9.03 • men are from mars, women are from vegas 10.14.03 • hit and run walker 10.6.03 • It's all cow, after all 10.2.03 • Johnny Cash is dead, Tower records is bankrupt, gawd save the fucking Queen. 9.13.03 • any history of mental illness? 9.10.03 • boggle: to hesitate as if in fear or doubt. 9.6.03 • pass the aspirin 8.27.03 • this is what i get for leaving the house 7.21.03 • safety in numbers 7.13.03 • god damn 7.11.03 • a million and one stupid things... 6.6.03 • praise Jeebus! 5.23.03 • Kennedy to John Lydon; "Oh, lighten up!" 5.20.03 • they say the French are cowards and assholes... 5.2.03 • I couldn't possibly be *that* fat! 4.19.03 • what's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding? 3.22.03 • this skunk's for you 3.12.03 • Monday's coming like a jail on wheels 2.24.03 • linux, linus, lomax, duck! 2.20.03 • FREE MICHAEL JACKSON! 2.18.03 • the weather in Los Angeles is cloudy 2.13.03 ©1995-2008 mjp | everything we touch turns to rust Tuesday, June 21st 2005, 12:53pm  Associated Press says, "Ending a century-old tradition, Eastman Kodak Co. will soon stop making black-and-white photographic paper, a niche product for fine-art photographers and hobbyists that is rapidly being supplanted by digital-imaging systems."if you're thinking, "no problem, i can still get my paper from Ilford," you might be interested to know that they went into bankruptcy last year. Ilford management saved the company with a buyout, but is it only a matter of time before they go under completely? Another big name in traditional photography materials, Agfa, filed for bankruptcy last month. Polaroid went broke in 2003.  we are increasingly relying on digital methods to produce and store many of the things we create, and that is a frightening prospect. ever try to open a 20 year old computer program on a modern computer? what's that, you don't have a 5.25 floppy drive? neither do i. neither does anyone else you know. and if they do, odds are you can't connect it to your powerbook. and even if you did manage to hook it up, it would probably be broken. in 100 years what will our contemporary history consist of? a few years of hard (or futuristic organic plasma) drive backups?visionaries recognized very quickly that computers would change everything, but i don't think anyone expected such dramatic shifts in the way we create music, art, photography, printed materials --- everything. whether these bit-based creations are as 'good' as traditional creations isn't the point. what we are not-so-gradually losing is not only craftsmanship, but something much worse; our collective memory.  the majority of the old silent movies have been lost because they were made and printed on horribly unstable nitrate film stock. the only record we have of most of these films are the still photos, which remain viable and as crisp and bright as they day they were printed. do you really believe that the picture of you and your girlfriend standing in front of the Eiffel tower, printed on your Epson, will be anything more than an indistinct blob of light blue ink in 20 years? how about 100 years? and what if your great great granddaughter wants to reprint it in 100 years? will she be able to read the CDR you saved it to on any of her equipment? if she goes to the antique store to buy a CDR drive and manages to get it to work, will your disc be anything more than a rust and plastic frisbee?that you can still use tools and machines made 200 years ago says something about the people who made them, and the methods they used. what does this mountain of wobbly impermanence that we're building say about us? on Tuesday, June 21st 2005 at 4:06pm, melissa sue said: Eugene Delacroix made some point that I agree with, can't recall word-for-word, about how painters once made their own materials, canvas, etc, and this is what made an artist an artist. The act of painting becomes almost a ritual. The set-up time and the clean-up time, along with having to know how to make canvas and mix paint, add to the experience of what it is to make art. It required craftmanship and dedication. These days i feel guilty with pre-stretched canvas and bulk tubed paint, but it could be worse. There's a lot of Nice Things being done with our computers these days, but I'm still pretty sure that Photoshop, etc. is stealing our lives and our culture, until any jackass with a mac can sell more portraits than you, faster and better and with kick-ass pixels. on Tuesday, June 21st 2005 at 4:15pm, carol es said: mjp, you make a very good point! on Tuesday, June 21st 2005 at 7:55pm, tbonekkt said: why the jabs at macs? on Tuesday, June 21st 2005 at 11:47pm, mjp said: i could have said, "generic notebook computer," but i wanted a brand name. it's a rhythm thing. besides, it isn't a jab, a poke or a swing. it refers to any computer. i guess i should just be thankful that you don't use an Epson printer... on Thursday, June 23rd 2005 at 2:41pm, goodespeler said: "a few years of hard (or futuristic organic plasma) drive backups?" when glanced over, this could be easily have been mistaken for a few years of hard (or futuristic Orgasmic plasma) drive backups...in which case, I would have agreed with you. We are all searching for the quick satisfaction vs. the everlasting one we get by investing in the future. on Sunday, June 26th 2005 at 2:13am, Marshall Astor said: "what's that, you don't have a 5.25 floppy drive? neither do i. neither does anyone else you know." /raises hand I actually do have at least one working 5.25" floppy drive, if not several. Anyone wanna buy some SCSI II controller cards? Or maybe a 2600 baud modem? anybody... on Monday, June 27th 2005 at 10:42am, mjp said: well i've seen your mountain of computer parts, so i knew you had at least one of everything! but i need that 2600 baud modem for my new BBS...send it over. this 9600 keeps crashing my Commodore 64... on Friday, July 1st 2005 at 9:55pm, Marshall Astor said: You should see the system that one of my 5.25" drives came with (I bought the whole system for the drive, controller card and maxi tower). The tower has a dual processor 386 board, sporting two powerful 25 MHz processors. It probably cost $5000+ in 1988 dollars, and cost me $10 in 2003 dollars when I bought it. Imagine the total nerd who was running that system in the 80's! on Saturday, July 2nd 2005 at 6:38pm, tbonekkt said: My first "personal computer" had two 8" floppy drives..external, of course. on Thursday, July 7th 2005 at 11:48am, Marshall Astor said: 1986 Invoice magic! I'm a sucker for old computer invoices, I like to sit around and figure out what billionaire I would be if I could travel back in time to 1986 and sell my old junk! (too bad I can't post a linky) http://photos21.flickr.com/24274884_07f6902cd9_o.jpg on Thursday, July 7th 2005 at 9:13pm, tbonekkt said: a monochrome display AND dos? damn must have been your birthday. and even printer ribbon! on Sunday, July 10th 2005 at 3:08am, mjp said: what's really sick is that $3895 XT would cost $6672 in 2005 dollars. you could buy fourteen dell 2.8gHz P4's with that now and still have enough money left over for a DVD player and a 32" TV. ...and a printer ribbon. on Wednesday, May 30th 2007 at 6:08am, rubyred said: you see this kind of thing through the centuries: manuscripts in roll form that were transcribed in to codex form were more likely to stand the test of time. of surviving 2nd century greek manuscripts, 99% are rolls; of surviving 5th century manuscripts, 90% are codices. so a lot of shit literature has stood the test of time merely because of preservation, while a lot of the great stuff has been lost due to a lack of preservation. and now a whole lot of 20thC archival and library material printed on acid-based paper is decaying. the digitization of literature is going to fuck up the whole concept of 'authorship' in all kinds of ways; i think Brown university is already conducting some kind of hypertext experiment in regards to this. one of the books i was studying for a lit course awhile ago was out of print, but there was an online version of it. it is truly awful trying to read a novel on a computer. i hunted high and low til i found a 2nd hand copy (it was by a NZ author so it was pretty hard to find). i don't think books - two covers filled with paper - will ever be obsolete, but the hypertext is going to (sadly) gain more of an audience. this is great for academic research, but it'll take a lot of the joy out of the process and ritual and experience of producing and reading books. smog.blog powered by buddy V2.0 |