Sunday, October 31, 2010

halloween hyperreal

I just offered this up on Twitter, because, well, it's true, of course:

Standing in line at a cafe on a bright autumn day, my eye scans the scene and is immediately drawn to...a lit computer screen. #hyperreal.
On this Halloween afternoon at Strada, where the Jolly Green Giant walked by with a nonchalant air as I was locking up my bike, when you're given permission to be a side of yourself who is actually someone else, I'm tempted back to the ideas of Umberto Eco, Jean Baudrillard, and myriad others who probably have thought such things but whose ideas weren't published in the 'right' form, the idea of the hyperreal, "absolute unreality as real presence".

But I'm not feeling it in the occasional Halloween costume that saunters by, as much as I am in the ubiquitous medium that populates cafe tables, desks at home, offices, and indeed people's pockets: screens. Screens, the rectangular, shimmering surfaces into which we peer, to which I've paid my homage to before on this very blog (saying the same thing this time? Perhaps...), the 'windows' that Anne Friedberg has done much to describe in her recent book, too.

I'm not sure if there's a profound statement to be made about this today, just a noticing, a marking, of how easily, how naturally, my eye is drawn to them, as are the eyes of others, to those spaces where reality seems somehow so much more real, or is it enabling, than the plain old blue sky and yellowing leaves on these patio trees. Is it strange that this day of costumes should be an occasion for seeing screens, as opposed to looking directly at what lies within them?

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

1, 2, 3 clouds...

First time sitting in Local 123 in quite a while, at that point in being sick--that is, getting better, but still carrying around the remnants--where there is a tinge of the melancholy written into everyday sights and smells. Something about body chemistry, which is amplified, for sure, by the overcast, slightly cool weather.



(tbc...)(?)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

the best wifi cafe in berkeley

Got a little work done this afternoon in what I'd say is without doubt the best wifi cafe in Berkeley. Or, at least, the one with the most available seating. Yes, Airbears (the Berkeley wireless network) works at Memorial. BYOE(spresso).

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Game 1

After a much less-than-inspiring lecture by Ian Hacking (I guess I should have just studied more math), still getting over being sick, and the still-boiling pressure of CVs upon CLs, the Giants' Game 1 of the World Series is a pretty welcome break! Can't believe this is happening just across the water. 8-4 Giants, into the top of the 8th...

Bright spot: free coffee when you buy bread at the German bakery on University Ave, and pretzels of all shapes and colors! Speaking of colors.

More brilliant post when less brilliant cold.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

CLs and CVs at FG

Working this morning on a cover letter at Fertile Grounds, Elana's old haunts, on the sidewalk with the sound of cars and passersby fading in and out of consciousness. A fine fall morning that almost feels like..fall. Perhaps more later, but for now, back to the acronyms.