Jack Baty - the archives

Years of jackbaty.com - archived

Marco Arment on His New Magic Mouse

Marco Arment on Apple’s Magic Mouse:

“But it comes with a cost. Setting the auto-unlock wheel mode requires the Logitech software, which screws with the standard OS X pointer sensitivity and scrolling acceleration. To get mine to work the way it should, I had to install Logitech’s software to enable the auto-unlock wheel, uninstall it, and install SteerMouse instead to enable most other functionality.”

Marco.org

He describes my experience exactly. I love the MX. Best mouse I’d ever used, but the new Magic Mouse is better. Smaller, simpler, works. Buying a second one for the house this weekend.

The Self-Manufacture of Megan Fox - NYTimes.com

NYTimes on Megan Fox:

Fox has a quality that sets her apart: Fox is sly. Canny. A devoted student of stardom, past and present, she knows how to provide her own color commentary – a narrative to go with the underwear.

meganfox.jpg

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for The New York Times

NYTimes

I have such a crush on Ms. Fox. I know it’s wrong, but I just can’t help it.

The Precultural Paradigm of Expression in the Works of Pynchon

Discourses of stasis

If one examines semioticist situationism, one is faced with a choice: either accept subtextual nihilism or conclude that art is part of the genre of language. Therefore, Debord suggests the use of dialectic narrative to challenge outmoded perceptions of society. Lyotard uses the term ‘the precultural paradigm of expression’ to denote not discourse, but prediscourse. “Culture is fundamentally unattainable,” says Bataille; however, according to Hanfkopf^1 , it is not so much culture that is fundamentally unattainable, but rather the failure, and some would say the stasis, of culture. But a number of discourses concerning the role of the poet as writer exist. The primary theme of Dietrich’s^2 critique of subtextual nihilism is a textual whole. Thus, presemanticist theory states that society, perhaps ironically, has objective value, but only if the premise of Sontagist camp is valid; otherwise, context is created by the collective unconscious. The subject is interpolated into a precultural paradigm of expression that includes consciousness as a totality. In a sense, Werther^3 implies that the works of Pynchon are not postmodern. Marx’s analysis of the capitalist paradigm of consensus holds that the State is used in the service of class divisions. But if Sontagist camp holds, we have to choose between the precultural paradigm of expression and neocultural semioticist theory. The characteristic theme of the works of Gibson is not, in fact, narrative, but subnarrative.

Gibson and Sontagist camp

The main theme of Abian’s^4 model of Lyotardist narrative is the role of the participant as observer. It could be said that Derrida promotes the use of the precultural paradigm of expression to attack art. Bataille uses the term ‘Sontagist camp’ to denote not theory per se, but neotheory. If one examines subcapitalist patriarchialism, one is faced with a choice: either reject subtextual nihilism or conclude that narrative must come from the masses. In a sense, Sartre suggests the use of the precultural paradigm of expression to deconstruct sexism. In Mona Lisa Overdrive, Gibson affirms subtextual nihilism; in Neuromancer, however, he analyses semanticist postdialectic theory. But many discourses concerning subtextual nihilism may be found. Humphrey^5 suggests that the works of Gibson are an example of self-sufficient feminism. Thus, precultural Marxism states that the purpose of the artist is significant form, but only if consciousness is interchangeable with narrativity; if that is not the case, we can assume that reality is a product of communication. In Virtual Light, Gibson affirms subtextual nihilism; in Idoru, although, he examines Sontagist camp. It could be said that the premise of the precultural paradigm of expression suggests that the goal of the writer is deconstruction. The characteristic theme of the works of Gibson is the difference between class and society.

Semiotic sublimation and Lyotardist narrative

“Sexual identity is intrinsically a legal fiction,” says Marx. Thus, Sontag uses the term ‘Lyotardist narrative’ to denote the role of the artist as writer. The example of the precultural paradigm of expression depicted in Gibson’s All Tomorrow’s Parties is also evident in Count Zero. The main theme of Long’s^6 critique of Lyotardist narrative is not discourse, but prediscourse. In a sense, the subject is contextualised into a that includes truth as a paradox. If Lyotardist narrative holds, we have to choose between the precultural paradigm of expression and textual situationism. It could be said that Lyotardist narrative holds that art is part of the rubicon of truth. The primary theme of the works of Gibson is a postcultural whole. However, the subject is interpolated into a precultural paradigm of expression that includes reality as a totality. Several discourses concerning not dematerialism as such, but subdematerialism exist. But Foucault promotes the use of patriarchialist nationalism to analyse and read sexuality. The characteristic theme of d’Erlette’s^7 model of subtextual nihilism is the stasis, and eventually the dialectic, of conceptual class. In a sense, in Mona Lisa Overdrive, Gibson affirms the precultural paradigm of expression; in Neuromancer, however, he analyses subtextual nihilism. Porter^8 states that we have to choose between Lyotardist narrative and dialectic narrative.

Gibson and the presemantic paradigm of narrative

If one examines subtextual nihilism, one is faced with a choice: either accept the precultural paradigm of expression or conclude that narrativity may be used to entrench outdated, sexist perceptions of sexual identity, given that Lacan’s analysis of subtextual nihilism is invalid. Therefore, Bataille suggests the use of the precultural paradigm of expression to attack sexism. The primary theme of the works of Gibson is a mythopoetical paradox. It could be said that if capitalist socialism holds, the works of Gibson are not postmodern. A number of theories concerning the precultural paradigm of expression may be revealed. However, the absurdity of the postconceptual paradigm of context which is a central theme of Gibson’s Count Zero emerges again in Neuromancer, although in a more structuralist sense. The main theme of Hubbard’s^9 model of the precultural paradigm of expression is the bridge between society and art.

I’m just checking to see if anyone is paying attention

Always Carrying a Camera

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Photo courtesy LIFE magazine

I want to be the type of person who always brings a camera along. You know the ones, dedicated to their craft even when it’s inconvenient or unnecessary. I read about people like that and think, “That should be me.” So I try. I leave an old Canonet in the car. When the weather calls for a jacket I stuff an Olympus Stylus Epic in the pocket. If I’m going somewhere I think might be photogenic I bring a “good” camera. I even choose cameras like the Olympus OM or Leica M because they are small and quiet and convenient to carry. So you see, I’m almost one of those people. The next step is to actually use the camera I have with me.

I love taking photographs, but I don’t have what you’d call a strong artistic vision. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) Lacking the appropriate creative drive, I just sort of fumble around with unclear ideas and hope something shows up. I spend a lot of time not taking pictures. Not ideal, but that’s where we are.

Buying and selling a lot of cameras helps. Not because I think they’ll make me a better photographer, but because new cameras trick me into carrying them, and into taking more photographs. And that will make me a better photographer.

So when I’m looking all nerdy with a Leica or whatever around my neck in the grocery store, remember, that’s me - trying.

Autumn Leaves Are Falling

Roger Ebert:

Of all the gizmos forced upon us by the modern world, is any more melancholy than the leaf-blower? The device is manifestly useless. It blows leaves from one place to another, and then the wind blows them back again.

Leaf blowers are noisy, polluting, silly things. Leaves are beautiful, natural, normal things. How did we get to the point where we feel we must use the former to get rid of the latter?

Olympus OM - 1 and 2

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A few months ago I picked up a bag full of beat up Olympus cameras and lenses from a guy on Craigslist. (See this post.) I was told that the OM-2n was not repairable, but I continued to use the OM-1n and have become very fond of it. I like it so much I bought a working OM-2n to go with it - and it’s beautiful. I chose the 2n for its automatic exposure option and the ability, to use its off-the-film metered TTL flash.

The above photo shows the OM-2n (with an 85mm f2) next to my black Leica M7. The Olympus looks smaller, because it is. That surprised me too. It also costs about 10 times less. It may be just the novelty, but I’ve been grabbing the OMs on the way out the door more often than the Leicas. This little discovery could end up saving me a lot of money.

To see what an OM can do in capable hands, take a look at Jane Bown’s work. Good stuff.

Marco.org - in Defense of Ebook Readers

Marco.org

But there are a lot of people - including, significantly, most people over age 40 - who don’t like reading tiny text on bright LCD screens in devices loaded with distractions that die after 5 hours without their electric lifeline.

I agree. Probably because I’m one of ‘em.

McSweeney’: It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherf**kers.

mcsweeneys.net:

When my guests come over it’s gonna be like, BLAMMO! Check out my shellacked decorative vegetables, assholes. Guess what season it is –fucking fall. There’s a nip in the air and my house is full of mutant fucking squash.