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So, a professor and a student in my grad program both have Gelaskins on their laptops; in one case, a boom box, and in another, a typewriter. What kind of statement does this make, do you think? The husband calls it irony. Of course I am thinking more along the lines of it being an homage to the vanished aesthetic value of creative machines. But then, what statement does a motherboard make? Or the steampunk? (I'll come out and say it-- I don't understand steampunk. It seems a natural extension of retromechanical admiration, and yet, I can make no sense of it.) Thoughts?
Ooh, look at this one for iPhones.
No, you silly FTC goons, Gelaskins did not compensate me to endorse the product. Schtickers is the same kind of concept, but they don't seem to have much to offer in the scribeomechanical aesthetic. (Schtickers! Throw us a Lettera 22!)
You know what would be wonderfully ironic? An Alphasmart laptop skin. And while I'm shamelessly endorsing whimsical expenditures amidst a collapsing global economy, there's just something I love about the Alphasmart. I think there's a wider future in this concept of self-limiting tech, a sort of digital Nicorette for people trying to escape CNN updates about balloonboy while they craft their written works. I don't use the Alphasmart as often as I should, but on the eve of Nanowrimo I'll assert that there is no better/easier way to write 50,000 words, anywhere, in 30 days. Computers can't do it better. In fact, they do it worse. And you can take that to the bank. (What does that expression mean exactly?)
One last promotional push: Ace Typewriter of Portland, OR is rolling out t-shirts with their new design (which kind of brings to mind the old Kidd Valley* logo that was politically corrected into a sort of Formica 50's boomerang to assuage Northwestern feminists.**)
That is all.
* A Seattle-area hamburger chain
** I am a feminist, actually. But you can bet I'd wear the Ace shirt.
Typewriter porn
5 hours ago
17 comments:
Pretty cool shirt. I'm tempted to get one when they are available. Keep us posted!
As for steampunk, it is certainly retromechanical, but more for those that are mechanically inclined. Inventors and tinkerers come to mind.
For example, I read (or heard) something about a guy using a manual typewriter and "hooking in up" to a computer, via USB. That kind of gets you there, but if he actually tore it down, built some sort of a keyboard casing out of wrought iron, used an analog dial to point to caps lock, num lock and scroll lock (instead of LEDs) and set the keys in the casing, well, that would be steampunk.
Or take the movie Wild, Wild West, with the giant walking machines, all steam powered. Its really a matter of taking current parts but putting them together in a way to create future devices...
At least that is how I view it.
Now I kind of wish I had one of the smaller MacBooks that that "Underworld" Gelaskin would fit.
A lot of kiddies seem to think that a lot of rust + some nonfunctional gears & maybe a valve = steampunk. As Deek said, steampunk is more about creating futuristic devices using steam-era technology, not making modern devices look old.
Now, Steamboy is a perfect example of steampunk!
Another good example of true steampunk is William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine.
I remember Richard Polt found that video of the guy who rigs a contact pad underneath typewriter keyboards so that in addition to the hard copy, what you type also feeds into a text file.
Politcally correcting away things like pretty ladies always strikes me as disingenuous, and in some ways, more sexist that just leavin' 'em in there. It's like they're saying "Ooh, we'd better not offend all them bra-burners out there. Because after all, there's nothing that women dislike more than...women?" I dunno. Maybe my Y chromosome prevents me from understanding that kind of thing.
Oh Strikethru, you play a dangerous game bringing up steampunk in this crowd. One doesn't need a Venn diagram to see that there are probably some overlaps in the sets of "retrotech lover" and "steampunk enthusiast."
This reminds me of the faux-woodpanel-sided modern station wagons, mimicking actual wagons. The look is chasing the caricature, more than the original object.
I suppose you could get into terminology predating present-day usage, like "carbon-copying" an e-mail, or laptops being called "notebooks." Remember the Novell e-mail application that had a "spiral" along the top edge of the computer screen?
Anachronisms abound!
Gonna have to drop a big hint to the Mrs about that tee-shirt, possible Christmas present for you-know-who.
Steampunk is interesting. Although it pretends to be some kind of alternative technological timeline (as if the industrial revolution evolved differently), my observation is that steampunk couldn't have occured without first the internet and the techno revolution that we reside within having first developed.
While the basic elements of steampunk existed, technologically, in the 19th century, the usage modes for the technology hadn't been thought of until after the fact.
Rather than a laptop skin that resembles a typewriter, how about a typewriter cover that resembles a laptop? I suppose this would work best with a compact portable.
Oh, and it's nice to see Strikethru blogging again.
~Joe
OK Speegle, I'll take the bait. I definitely think Kidd Valley's new logo is boring, and the old one doesn't really bug me (it's just the 50's pinup thing, same aesthetic Ace is going for) but in a larger sense, I think the 'feminist' angle on sexxay ladies used to sell products is that it's demeaning and/or perpetuates the idea that women are sex objects (which perpetuates mistreating women/excuses violence against women, etc.)
That is of course, the black and white sort of version of what a die hard feminist might think. I think there is some truth to it in a theoretical sense, but anyone truly concerned about the welfare of women would be tilting at windmills to worry too much about neon signs at hamburger joints, IMHO, unless one actually fell on a woman. I mean, if you've got that kind of time, donate to the Girl Effect, for gosh sakes.
And that is all Strikethru has to say on the subject today. Thank you and good night ;-)
Oh and, it is clear I need to do a lot more research on Steampunk. Don't you hate when keychopper jewelry calls itself steampunk? Perhaps this is the locus of my suspicion.
Speculator-- there is a wood paneling laptop skin thing, inspired by a station wagon, I believe.
Oh, I agree with you entirely. What I don't agree with is corporate entities who pay lip service to equality for appeasement's sake.
Also...I took the bait.
Strikethru: "...in a larger sense, I think the 'feminist' angle on sexxay ladies used to sell products is that it's demeaning and/or perpetuates the idea that women are sex objects..."
That's a marketing category that I call, "Our Product Will Get You Laid". Stick a pretty woman alongside your product, and the male demographic will subliminally associate using your product with the opportunity for sex. It is unquestionably and not so subtly using women as sex objects.
Now, having said that, I have no problem with the tongue-in-cheek "cheesecake" graphics such as Ace's or Kidd Valley's. They're caricatures, selling a sense of nostalgia, not sex.
Not surprised, Strikethru.
That's got me thinking of those t-shirts imprinted with a tux jacket/shirt collar/bow-tie design. (Back in the '80s, I had an argyle sweatshirt!)
Personally I'd rather have a dyed Neo than a skinned Neo...some bright obnoxious color would be good--orange, maybe.
But I like the laptop skins! That typewriter one is too cool.
And I totally want an Ace t-shirt....
Wait wait wait.
Did you just say: "...but on the eve of Nanowrimo I'll assert that there is no better/easier way to write 50,000 words, anywhere, in 30 days..."
Because if you DID, I know some fellas who might disagree. And why am I the only one to notice this? Speegle? Clemens? Seaver? Anyone?
That Ace tee-shirt is by far the awesomest tee shirt I could never wear. I'm sitting here trying to convince myself that I could wear it, based on it's absolute, top-shelf awesomeness. But deep down I know I couldn't do it. And not out of some feminist moral high-ground-taking. Mostly it's that I go through my public life trying not to be noticed. Is that a sad and pathetic thing to say? Maybe. But I'm 38, and I'm probably not gonna change all that much, and I can say what I please.
And Steampunk is kinda cool when done well (I'd even say H.G. Wells was an original steampunker) but kinda sucks when it's done like all the six bajillion different vampire romances published every year now.
I saw it, and I figured it was the ranting of a overworked grad student, nothing more. Besides, an AlphaSmart is just a typewriter wanna-be. Or alternately, a typewriter is the AlphaSmart, available in a wider variety of form factors, and with far superior battery-life.
sHIRT: want! :)
The shirt was so cool looking, that I just had to update my typecast blog with a similar period theme...its all your fault, Strikethru!
I agree with Joe V: there's a reason why steampunk is "steampunk: then label was adapted from "cyberpunk," am I correct? It's digital age, post-industrial attitudes and culture grafted onto high-industrial technology, which in its day had little of the tolerance we have for punkishness now.
The "steam" attracts me, the "punk" tends to make me wary and weary.
I stumbled upon your site while looking for information about Smith-Corona Galaxie II typewriters (just landed one in excellent condition for a princely $8; I picked it up to replace my Mercury, some odd machine from behind the once-upon-a-time Iron Curtain). And now I find this post that mentions Alphasmarts.
I had one for a year or so, an early model, and found it great for writing. However, my true creative machine was my Tandy Model 102; just a great little writing machine. So pure, just text. I have an eMate as well... and the more I think about it the more I realize that I have more writer's tools than I could ever possibly use.
I feel dirty...
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