Obsolete

Bill Murray is skeptical of new technology. Like watches that...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:51:00 -0500

Bill Murray is skeptical of new technology. Like watches that don’t have hands.

Who the hell wears watches anymore, right?!

Wait, I’m wearing a watch. And it has hands. Three of them! But I’m a crazy obsolete-shiz loving hipster chick. Also: I’m typing this on an Atari.

On my other Tumblr site, Internet For Dogs, I just experimented...

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:01:07 -0400

On my other Tumblr site, Internet For Dogs, I just experimented for the first time with Poladroid, a little program that lets you upload a photo through a small widget that looks like a Polaroid camera.

Drag the digital photo onto the camera and then you see it develop in slow, Polaroid fashion, fading from a kind of murky gold into the colors of your picture. You can stop the developing any time if you want an only under-developed, murky gold picture. Or, you can try to have some patience and wait until it’s done. I couldn’t wait! That’s why this shot looks a little yellow-y. But I like it.

I was hesitating about using this picture: I think the Polaroid white picture frame motif is overused these days. It has become shorthand for “snapshot.” Now that snapshots often don’t ever leave a screen, it’s hard to visually represent them without showing screens. So, the frame is kind of an easy solution, I guess; it also apologizes for the fact that a photo inside might not be great quality. Hey, it’s only a snapshot!

The subject of this photo is the Silver Jews’ David Berman and his dog, Gittel. I interviewed Berman about his dogs at The Dogs.

Miss the scent of newsprint? Now, there’s no app for that....

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:06:58 -0400

Miss the scent of newsprint? Now, there’s no app for that. But there is a candle…

I recently was shown this excellent video by Daft Punk, directed...

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:58:19 -0400

I recently was shown this excellent video by Daft Punk, directed by Spike Jonze. It incorporates some of my favorite things: Boomboxes and dogs.

The story just wouldn’t be the same if he was listening to an iPod instead of a ghetto blaster. And, when she takes off without him at the end, the more modern dog would just have texted her. But not the old school boom box dog. He’s analog all the way, even if it means watching the love of his life sail away on a crosstown bus without him.

(internetfordogs via TheDogs)

thingsorganizedneatly: SUBMISSION: Rotary dial phone...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:10:05 -0400

thingsorganizedneatly:

SUBMISSION: Rotary dial phone disassembled

villagevoicemedia: Five Things We Learned From New...

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:35:51 -0400

villagevoicemedia:

Five Things We Learned From New Consoles

With Sony and Nintendo both announcing new game systems this week, Joystick Division looks back at lessons we’ve learned from the new consoles of the past.

Scripps National Spelling Bee Is Obsolete

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:06:22 -0400

Scripps National Spelling Bee Is Obsolete

My Nieces Attempt to Describe Objects from the “Dinosaur...

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:37:57 -0400

My Nieces Attempt to Describe Objects from the “Dinosaur Times” (via Motherboard)

As hard as he tried, MLK could not get cell service in the...

Tue, 31 May 2011 15:06:21 -0400

As hard as he tried, MLK could not get cell service in the South.

(via juliasegal)

The fax man says: “People always ask me,...

Mon, 30 May 2011 15:32:22 -0400

The fax man says: “People always ask me, ‘What’s all that squealing?’”

How to Use a Fax Machine (by expertvillage)

Duane Reade is running a New Yorker style caption contest. This...

Mon, 23 May 2011 21:08:06 -0400

Duane Reade is running a New Yorker style caption contest. This image is the latest installment. I’m not good at these things… Maybe something about the operator talking dirty? Anyone got anything better? You can submit yours on Facebook.

Is the guy on the the left supposed to be Obama? The guy on the right looks like Ira, from my payphone tribute video.

via audreyrenee:

Sun, 22 May 2011 19:19:36 -0400

via audreyrenee:

The brouhaha over Blackwing pencils

Fri, 20 May 2011 22:05:47 -0400

The brouhaha over Blackwing pencils

Dearest OBSOLETE Tumblr followers: Please come follow my dog...

Thu, 19 May 2011 21:30:18 -0400

Dearest OBSOLETE Tumblr followers: Please come follow my dog Tumblr, Internet For Dogs.

There will be occasional cross postings with OBSOLETE. This, for instance, is a dog dressed as a gramophone. I have been trying to find a picture of a dog dressed as a typewriter, fax machine, or VHS player, but no luck so far…

Photo

Thu, 19 May 2011 16:28:09 -0400

This evening at midnight Motherboard.TV is hosting a party in...

Thu, 19 May 2011 01:17:51 -0400

This evening at midnight Motherboard.TV is hosting a party in conjunction with the BLIP festival in Williamsburg. It’s at Babycastles, this crazy arcade full of one-of-a-kind video games-cum-art projects.

OBSOLETE (aka me aka Anna Jane) will be hosting two typing games at the event: a two player game (“The Typewriter Skillz Speed Challenge”) and something I’m calling “Twitter on a Typewriter.”

Hope you can make it! I’m actually looking for an extra electric typewriter that someone can lend and transport to the event (at 285 Kent Ave near the Bedford L). Must be in good working order. I will guard it with my life. And give you a free copy of Obsolete for your trouble.

The Unabomber’s possessions are getting auctioned off....

Wed, 18 May 2011 18:12:15 -0400

The Unabomber’s possessions are getting auctioned off. Among the storied objects on the block: his typewriter. I think I felt safer when this was a loonytoon’s weapon of choice, instead of email. At least you can see a typewriter. Or throw it across a room in self defense.

From Motherboard.tv:

Today, the U.S. Marshals office is selling some of his possessions through an online auction. “We will use the technology that Kaczynski railed against in his various manifestos to sell artifacts of his life,” said U.S. Marshal Albert Nájera of the Eastern District of California in a press release. “The proceeds will go to his victims and, in a very small way, offset some of the hardships they have suffered.”

This isn’t just weird in and of itself, the selling of the trappings of a serial killer at auction, iconic possessions that immediately present a kind of caricature of the lone madman (knife, check; hatchets, check; grey hoodie, check). The selling of these artifacts is an attempt to compensate the victims, but it’s also the sort of pseudo event the Unabomber would appreciate and ridicule. The effects being auctioned and trotted out for the media present a bizarre kind of restitution. They’re artifacts in an ongoing online Unabomber exhibit, one that will perpetuate the myth long after the man himself, now in a supermax prison in Colorado, passes away.

This is what portable music looked like in the days between the...

Thu, 12 May 2011 15:59:03 -0400

This is what portable music looked like in the days between the invention of the violin and the Walkman.

(via Rebecca Greenfield of TheAtlantic)

Obsolete, the hardcover book, is now available as an e-book....

Tue, 10 May 2011 22:43:25 -0400

Obsolete, the hardcover book, is now available as an e-book. Ironic? Yes. Awesome? Also yes. Thanks to Andy Mesa (@acetracer) for the photo!

This is a neat way to pay homage to print media without actually...

Thu, 05 May 2011 13:42:18 -0400

This is a neat way to pay homage to print media without actually having to read anything.

kayliafisher:

Cut squares of newsprint larger than nails. apply a base coat of polish. when nails are completely dry, soak them in alcohol, then press newsprint on nail and slowly pull off. top coat to seal.