I’m going to transform into an ersatz Pirsig aren’t I?
Zen and the Art of Spackling Small Holes and Shopping on Aliexpress
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Well it’s going to be a very log-level year.
I think I’m looking for the devil in the details. They say he hides there.
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In 2020, insight porn can only be found at the log level. Maps and abstractions are illegal for the next few years. Crawl around in territory, worms-eye-view only, or gtfo
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Crap, this means poetry needs to go on the list
Poetry is way too much work
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I think these themes are on my mind because world is in reboot mode. The hypervisor is going to ask us to choose an OS soon.
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I’m tending towards a phenomenological but borderline impractical theme. Some mix of kintsugi, chindogu, design fiction, Rube Goldberg machines... but not on the elaborate and campy end. Fix/repair/build stuff to embody appreciative views. Like the materiality equivalent of 2x2s.
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I know what I *don’t* want to do or write/think about
- Maker subculture
- Arts and crafts
- soulful shopcraft doer-waldenponding
- actual home improvement handyman stuff
- stunts/clever hacks/prowess
- blue collar larping
- “critical practice in materiality”
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The wooden pendulum clock I’m building now out of a laser cut kit is a good example of the energy that attracts me right now. I’d like my next project to have a the time theme maybe, but I wouldn’t necessarily get deeper into laser cutting or build other mechanical things.
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Maybe fix a broken digital bedside clock? Retire a clock to run on Mars time? 🤔
I did order a lens to make my own telescope out of some scavenged cardboard tubes. It’s mainly about using the tubes but also I’m curious about telescope building.
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Replying to
Ok this take has turned me off kintsugi as an element in the mix.
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Replying to @vgr
I bought a kintsugi kit from Tokyu Hands in Tokyo and I want to say it’s overrated. The craft, not the attitude.
I’m probably missing something nuanced here but it’s just epoxy joinery, followed by very elaborate gold-dusting.
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I think if and I turned into a sort of junkyard makers show (which we’ve talked about a bit) it would be a bit like the fictional show Tool Time within the old Tim Allen sitcom, Home Improvement. I’d be Tim, Lisa would be Al.
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Like Tim, I’d be the blowhard who talks a big game but screws up every project he attempts. Lisa would be like Al. Actually knows what she’s doing and makes stuff which works.
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The risk with this theme is it could easily get very expensive. Will have to set a careful budget.
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