The Documented Life: A New Old Twist
Yesterday I read this op-ed by Sherry Turkle about how we can no longer simply think or sense or experience or converse without interrupting ourselves to make a record with a device: we miss the experience in the process of “capturing” it, documenting it.
I don’t really think this is so different from what we’ve always done, either mentally in the form of inner chatter (what meditators try to stop), or externally by keeping journals or sketchbooks. Let’s just say our acquisitiveness has become more visible; in our attempts to grasp elusive experience and compel the moment to seem more real, less dreamlike, we’ve invented a newer, faster, shinier mousetrap. “Better,” well, that can be debated.
In response or no, I left my iPhone behind last night (not for the first time) when I came over to my parents’ house for dinner. The camera is one of the aspects of the gadget I have the least-mixed feelings about. It has enabled me to take some wonderful pictures, and I’m not even a photographer. But I do sometimes get busier capturing the sunset than experiencing it.
After dinner my parents sat down in front of the PBS NewsHour, aptly dubbed “The Snooze” because it’s their excuse for a post-prandial nap. Just as the show rolled into a long feature on whether brain-training videogames can keep you sharp as you age, my mom (90) slumped forward over her baby-blanket knitting (3 more great-grandchildren coming in March!!), and my dad (almost 96) had his head thrown back with his mouth open. The coincidence of sound and scene positively cried out for documentation. (My parents still have their wits in both senses, so I can confidently say that they would find it funnier than we do.)
But I didn’t have my phone. So I decided to do something quaint: try to draw them. (I’m even less of an artist than a photographer.) They did not stir as I tiptoed out of the room and back in with paper and pencil. Long story short, I couldn’t begin to get their faces—it was severely humbling even to try—but I didn’t do too badly with their hands.
You want us to do what now?…
Fred and Ginger getting ready to bump heads in “The Carioca” in Flying Down To Rio (1933) Released almost 80 years ago this month….
So find eight pianos in a circle and a bunch of extras (some with fruit on their heads), and get out there and try it yourself!
Holiday Spending!
Ok, I hate to be Althousian, but if you do any Christmas Shopping through Amazon, I personally request that you please go to my blog Fluffy Stuffin and make your purchase through my Amazon portal. I finally made $18(!) from a years worth of purchases from various folks. As I am in a huge struggle to merely exist…anything would be greatly appreciated. Your price won’t be worse for using the portal, but I get a small slice. Thank you again, and I apologize for the pleading.
Obligatory Thanskgiving Post
Tomorrow marks the 20th time my wife and I have celebrated Thanksgiving since we met, and the 19th in which we’ve celebrated by staying at home. After we moved in together for college, we determined to stay home for Thanksgiving, as (a) we were planning on going home for Christmas and (b) the time spent traveling and visiting could be better spent that close to finals. It’s become our favorite holiday BECAUSE we stay home. We’ve traveled for all the others, but not this one!
The main traditions? Largely the same as everyone else’s. We eat turkey with all the trimmings. (My wife has perfected her turkey skills, and I have never eaten a better bird.) Follow the meal (which has been getting prepped since last night) with a little bit of lounging and then a marathon session (for me) of washing dishes. (No dishwashing machine in the current house, but even when we’ve had one it was never enough and much was always done by hand.) Follow that with a total collapse in front of the TV, usually to watch a disappointing football game or two. (Tomorrow’s games don’t look all that good, save that the NFL is so wild these days that you never know what you’re going to get in any game.)
Along the way we’ll imbibe our favorite wine, reflect on the things that were good from the previous year, try to avoid thinking of whatever has gone wrong, and think of friends and family. At some point, perhaps tonight, we will watch the infamous WKRP Thanksgiving episode. Friday perhaps we’ll dare some shopping, but usually we skip that nightmare. Perhaps we’ll just take our daughter to a park instead.
But the main thing is WE will be home together, with our daughter and our cats, and that is always the best of things.
All the [depressing] news that’s fit to print….
From the New York Times, a depressing story about what it is like to be long-term unemployed. This largely matches the experience that I’ve had, and the experience of those I know in this boat.
Death of a legend! [Updated]
Sam Behr died recently. He was 86. Here in Orlando he was notable for two things.
First, he had a store downtown that sold shoes. The store’s slogan was “We can fit any human!” And they had any number of improbable stories backing it up.
Second, in the 1980s he became a local media celebrity for his work on TV commercials for Allied Discount Tires, a local tire chain, run by a friend of his if I recall correctly.
Here’s a sample of Sam’s work:
Rest in Peace, Sam, and here’s hoping that in the afterlife your nuts always get hand-torqued and never fall off!
UPDATE: I added a link to the local obit above. And according to local legend (which has a grain of truth to it), the ad I embedded above only ran once. I actually saw that one on TV one summer, I’m happy to say! Sam represented a type of garrulous Southern man that has become increasingly rare, sadly.
UPDATE 2: Here’s another piece about Sam and the commercials he did – all unscripted! And here’s probably the most infamous ad he did. Remember Oral Roberts?
Ruminations on Bullying
Bullying has been much in the news lately. In particular, the case of Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins has created a lot of furor.
Before getting to any other thoughts on the matter, I’d like comment on some of my own experiences with bullies, and thereby show that there are different kinds of bullies. (My examples will not be exhaustive of the different types, at least I don’t think they will be, and will be someone repetitive. So be warned!)
Of hand, I can recall dealing with six bullies during my lifetime. (I do not count my mother in this list. I’m not sure she fits, and I don’t think we have 43 years to discuss the matter.)
WARNING: Long post follows.
“[I]t’s all a matter of perspective.”
“Don’t picture it as being pulled under by a rip tide, think of it as a rising tide pulled gently into place according to the stately clockwork-like Law of Newton’s Gravity. See, it’s all much better that way. Especially if you’re heavily medicated!”
Either way, it’s still drowning.
More wisdom from the archives!
The Ambivablog archives, that is.
As part of a side discussion on Human BioDiversity, intelligence and IQ came up. Commenter wj wrote that his scores on IQ tests were always going up. Amba responded with:
Your own personal Flynn Effect!
Actually, doesn’t sound mysterious to me — sounds like you were learning how to ace IQ tests!
Lo and behold!
Has a 15-year-old explained the Flynn Effect?
UPDATE: Basically, the 15 year-old has posited that, in fact, people have been learning how to ace IQ tests. Or at least do them better. It’s interesting stuff, honest!
Ambiance 