imagine images everyday

I currently have some 200 images on my phone. That I have yet to sync, duplicate and sort on the laptop. That is just from a short period of time, and I've deleted a bunch along the way as well - keeping only those that are good enough.

Back when using film it was 24 at a time. Maybe for some trips you would do two or three rolls. Now that is a trip to the playground, or a long walk when the weather has changed. 

Just knowing they are there, that I can have a look is (so far) more rewarding than looking at a lot of them. They are a gift to my future self. For remembering days, weeks and months now gone. For inspiration, and joy. And for limited curation, in terms of prints, books and magnets.

The reading that inspired this little tangent on volume and remembrance by camera;

"All of this is closer to the now than to the future. We've already seen tagged photos streaming forth from a billion networked smartphones, broadcasting the Arab Spring to Twitter and police brutality at Occupy to YouTube."

[clayton cubitt  blog post - on the constant moment]

How will you deal with everything seen being stored? 

What could you do with it? Make art? Explore your life?


- ...and the sun was here every day in July - bringing monthly rainfall below 10% of normal... but as we entered August the backlog came back, and so did the scheduled buffer for a bit - 

tsundoku, not just sudoku

Wow, the Japanese have a word for "the act of buying books and not reading them, leaving them to pile up": tsundoku 

Wondering if it applies to dvd and games as well?

Or if they have separate terms for the assorted forms of lacking consumption despite the desire.

The backlog is pretty stuck, at least not buying any new stuff. Mostly. Physically.

Got close to half a shelf full of fun stuff from Amazon, mainly photo and drawing or animation related. The stuff that isn't just about reading, but needs some doing as well. Aspirational, more than pratical plans.

Regular books are only Terry Pratchett. And with his health I've been holding off a bit on reading the latest books. Just in case. And despite some splurge shopping the Kindle reading list is in pretty good shape.

Then there are the iBooks shelves - running up a technical backlog, mainly things that are somewhat tangential to "business as usual", since 50% deals at O'reilly are to frequent and to much fun. Daily deals and then some.

Then there was that batch of games during the GOG drm free weekend sale. ONly 15-20 titles depending on how you count expansions. Does that count? Actually considered buying some games on dvd rather than there, since summer sales are in effect other places as well.

...and then there is that 2 month free trial of Comoyo video I've been meaning to get started with. Free. No strings attached.

...and also really should get on Netflix soon, rewatch House of Cards, and some series - but they don't have Sopranos or Wire, so getting a binge on for those will need another solution, like testing out HBO.

How many #backlogs do you have taking up space or mental effort?

Is it a problem, or a pure luxury?



wondering a bit about Google - midway through writing I was "logged out somewhere else", and asked if I wanted to log in again... no, no, just in the middle of typing a sentence, no need to do anything else. 

wanting, needing, craving ...information is a goal

A piece on Nieman, a year ago more or less, but still as relevant. Three video lectures / talks, the first of which prompted the saving of the URL for a later day:

James Gleick ... bestseller, translated into 20 languages, is The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

Clocking in at 73 minutes, I have to admit that some of it has "flooded past" in the year gone by, but I still recommend it.

I group Gleick in with moderately large group of thinkers exploring the impacts of digital tech and content. Books like The Shallows, Hamlets Blackberry, Not a gadget and so on. And there is no doubt that digitization changes "everything". Would I have even heard about those books ten years ago before starting to blog? Maybe, but clearly not twenty years ago before seeing web and newsgroup content for the first time.

It is part magic, part wonderland 

- imagine that just about any speech or lecture can be preserved and shared globally. For no incremental cost on either end.

Rather than traveling to California I could sit on my couch, holding 10 inches of glass and watch the I/O keynote (first hour anyway...) along with A MILLION (!!!) other people. Working with thees kinds of things, it is useful to stop and reflect on just how far we've come every now and then. With hangouts on air and recording, you just need a webcam (built into any laptop and most mobiles) to invite the world in. Google handles the rest. Distribution, encoding, storage.

Just like that. 

Want to do a debate series, inviting two people from different countries each week? Just do it.
Want to do a class for school kids in your favorite subject? Press record.

Sure, there is something like a 100 hours of new content by the time you've finished reading this post. But that just means that the content that does resonate has the chance to spread that much faster, further and longer than before.


- ...and the sun is taking a short time out, so I can just about make out the text on the screen in my reflection .. brightness to the max, blogging from the balcony