March 26, 2008
“Until you have kids, remedy you’ll never understand.” That’s what my fuckup-addict high school classmate and ex-best-friend once said (after he accidentally fathered his second child by a woman he didn’t love, drug after he burned every last bridge but one between us. But before he ended his pain one dark night by steering himself […]
Filed under: Artifact, Jetsam, symbol | Comments (0)
March 16, 2008
A brilliant, ailment hand-made thing: a swivel pulls a tiny steel squid head through the water. The maker has sewn metallic leatherette around the link between the head and the trefoil hook, dosage to make it more fishy. For extra fishiness, the head-fins are twisted: tugging it makes the thing spin like a propeller. No […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, Tool | Comments (0)
March 14, 2008
Sometimes a heavy little object is so pure it cannot be parsed from its origins. Analyzing Stan Lee and Jack Kirby‘s emerald-muscled Mr. Hyde is as pointless and masturbatory an exercise as trying to glean God’s “actual” intentions from line-by-line interpretations of the Bible. Text overpowers context. Some things just are.
Filed under: Artifact, General, symbol, Tool | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
Sometimes a heavy little object is so pure it cannot be parsed from its origins. Analyzing Stan Lee and Jack Kirby‘s emerald-muscled Mr. Hyde is as pointless and masturbatory an exercise as trying to glean God’s “actual” intentions from line-by-line interpretations of the Bible. Text overpowers context. Some things just are.
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008
This quarter may or may not be involved in a death. This quarter may or may not be worth $2.00. This quarter may or may not be worthless. This quarter was minted in Denver near the end of a 32-year run of silver quarters, information pills and is barely worth the silver it contains …
Filed under: Artifact, Found Object, Objet, symbol | Comments (0)
March 6, 2008
The printer‘s box doesn’t mention two things: 1) You’ll blow through a complete set of eight 12-dollar color. cartridges every three months or so. (Do the math. Ugly.) And …
Filed under: Artifact | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
I open the capsule. Inside, sildenafil the tightly-rolled message lies in wait, a fragile knot of mystery. I pull it out with tweezers as carefully as I can (cotton gloves probably would have been far less intrusive, but I’m a geek, not an archivist) and unfold it. Attempts to spread it flat are not quite […]
Filed under: Artifact, Tool | Comments (0)
February 19, 2008
For the past, order let’s see, six months, my 8-year-old son has been bandying this … phrase … about. For a while, he didn’t know what it meant, and cared even less, but he would utter this phrase every chance he got, snickering and cackling like a fiend. It is the funniest thing he’s ever […]
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January 31, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Toy | Comments (2)
January 25, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, symbol, Tool | Comments (0)
January 24, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, symbol, Tool | Comments (1)
January 22, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Edible, symbol | Comments (1)
January 20, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol | Comments (0)
January 14, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 8, 2005
Modern man has a relentless, hardwired hunger for the institutionalized fetish. We worship computers, guns and stuffed animals with the same fervor reserved for prophets and rockstars. We commercialize our obsessions. We build our very obsessions into fetishes. Physical objects give meaning to the otherwise baffling ethereality of daily life. Unable to find enough mutual […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments (0)
January 6, 2005
To wait for a thing, to truly be patient and allow it to come at its own pace, is an inhuman act of will. We yearn – for new jobs, hot concerts, latest games, fast cars, slow weekends, a first kiss, a second chance, freedom, food, rest, love. Childhood trains us to await Christmas with […]
Filed under: Artifact, Tool | Comments (0)
January 4, 2005
To wait for a thing, to truly be patient and allow it to come at its own pace, is an inhuman act of will. We yearn – for new jobs, hot concerts, latest games, fast cars, slow weekends, a first kiss, a second chance, freedom, food, rest, love. Childhood trains us to await Christmas with […]
Filed under: Artifact, General, Part, symbol, Tool | Comments (5)
November 19, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments Off on #284 :: Betel Nut Box
November 9, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments Off on #274 :: New York City Subway Token
November 7, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments Off on #272 :: Bell & Howell “Filmo” Double-Run Eight
October 31, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments Off on #262 :: Casio VL-Tone
October 20, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Artifact | Comments Off on #255 :: Stereopticon card: Unloading ore
