Archive for the 'simulacrum' Category

"A skeuomorph or skeuomorphism (Greek: skeuos—vessel or tool, morphe—shape)[1] is a derivative object which retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original." Nice find, Carl.

Map detailing which parts of Hollywood-area California can act as stand-ins for which other geographical areas.

"Everything you use can be counterfeit. This isn’t just about phony handbags, but about the medicine you take, the wine you drink, the batteries you put in your wireless mouse."

Lego is releasing Indiana Jones sets, including a few from Raiders and one from Last Crusade, maybe just so they can follow up on the popular Lego Star Wars video games. But. This set notable features a Lego Ark of the Covenant.

"Winter is shrinking. Meanwhile, we extend our artificial version in a frenzy of decoration and experiences. Harrods opens its Christmas shop in August, mince pies are on the supermarket shelves in September, and Christmas singles are plotted in spring."

Continuing today's unintentional simulacrum theme.

Completist approach to Duchamp's most famous piece, and what is to be done with it. My high school Marxist Studies teacher (no joke) continuously used Fountain as an example of how ridiculous the art world is (fair point) but there's much more to it.

"Not that anyone else would notice, since no one ever notices when you’re not wearing a particular item of clothing, unless that item is your pants. But I had internal street credibility, which, in Ohio, where I live, is sufficient."

This one time I participated in a linguistic study that had me determine whether a sentence made grammatical and logical sense. After the hundredth or so determination, I started to feel like I was hallucinating. That's sort of what this site is like.

"What can the mechanical man do? Plenty! He can walk, and he can talk. He can stand, sit, bow, and otherwise comport himself after the fashion of a human being. But he can do more than that. He...can perform any number of duties advantageous to mankind."