Artist and astute collector of cultural ephemera Seth Price contributes an installment of AFC's IMG MGMT series, highlighting books and magazines with dates ranging from 1531 to Victorian times to the 1960s to the present, all photographed with fingers holding them open to two page spreads. (One of these photos is of two page book spreads, a nicely recursive touch.) The point, I think, is the loss of tactility and authenticity in the typical internet listicle. Or a joke about that. Or something. The books are well-chosen and the captions illuminating; unfortunately what Price calls the "hoard" is preceded by one of his trademark rambling, digressive, self-questioning essays that makes a bunch of points we already know: the Internet cheapens discourse and ethics; the Internet is about "now," internet porn favors the young and hairless, etc.
In the comments yrs truly tried to find a theme in all this and got wryly accused (by another commenter) of defending the Internet. Really!
Day: October 22, 2009
What It Is
Answer to yesterday's request to identify a photo of a double and possibly triple bladed tool:
It is a walnut and pecan budding knife with "1 inch brass stationary bark lifter," for grafting (budding) walnut and pecan trees. (Stationary 2 1/2 inch blades are spaced 1 1/8 inch apart. Three inch polished walnut handle.)
This has been a test of how disconnected you are from the natural world. (I, myself, failed.)
Photo, query, and answer from fp--thanks again!