I no longer recall — and my journals from the time do not record — exactly how or why I decided to go to England in the summer of 1993. That’s a rather significant decision. You’d think I would’ve written something about it, right? But, no, I was too preoccupied with girl troubles and trying to figure out what to do with my life. Just one more miscalculation of priorities for which I’d like to smack my younger self in the head.
In my roamings on the InterWeb, I’ve seen lots of Web sites devoted to “case mods,” i.e., computer housings that are custom-built by their owners to be something more interesting and unique than the basic off-white rectangular box you get when you buy a new Dell. I think of case mods as the geeky equivalent of the hot-rod automobiles my dad and his friends love to build, a sort of folk art that enables the builders to express themselves through technology. I’ve seen some cool ones, too, everything from a TIE fighter computer with an integral desk surface between the wings to a PC built into an antique Philco television. But now I think I’ve seen it all:
Yes, that is exactly what you think it is: a mannequin of a pretty, vaguely anime-style girl in a bikini with a computer sticking out of her back.
While my first reaction upon seeing this was a vague sense of irritation — to paraphrase Cedric the Entertainer’s line from Be Cool, must you play into the stereotype (of the geek who can’t get a date)? — but the more I studied the photos on the builder’s Web site, the more I started to admire the craftsmanship and effort that went into this. The “girl” is actually pretty not-creepy-looking when seen from the front, and having your very own “femputer” (as opposed to a fembot) would definitely make for an interesting conversation starter. Assuming that you’re the sort who could get anyone to come over to the house in order to have a conversation, that is. (Hey, just because something is a stereotype doesn’t mean it isn’t true…)
I don’t know — I think I like it after all. And no, not just for the obvious prurient reasons. It really is a kind of art work, just like a cherry T-bucket. Go have a look at the site and see if you don’t agree. The text is all in Japanese, but there are lots of photos showing the construction of the, um, casing in exhaustive detail.
For the record, I harbor no particular animosity toward Microsoft, at least no more than I do for any other gargantuan corporation that seeks to dominate the universe. Nor do I have any unusual affection for Apple products — to be honest, I’ve never used any Apple products and find something vaguely disquieting about the evangelistic zealotry of devoted Mac afficionados. And while I am impressed by the technical capability of the iPod to hold an entire record collection (yes, I know I’m dating myself by using the term “record” instead of “CD”; that’s just me, though, what can I say?), I have thus far been insufficiently intrigued by them to actually go out and buy one. I’m just not that much of a trend-follower, I guess.
Neverthless, I can positively declare, based on my professional experience, that the following parody hits the nail on the head. And it’s funnny, too. Really. Even if you don’t get it, trust me, it’s funny. Just go ahead and laugh already…
I don’t know if anybody pays any attention to those category links over in the sidebar, but lately I’ve been wondering about their usefulness, or lack thereof. In particular, I’m thinking that a couple of the categories — “General Ramblings” and “Esoterica” — have degenerated into catch-alls that cover way too much ground to really provide much of a service to anyone, including myself. So, in order to give these things a little more functionality for anyone who may actually use them (not to mention improving my own sense of organization), I’ve decided to experiment with creating some sub-categories. The first of these, “Final Frontier,” is now live and ready for your perusal. It encompasses, as you may surmise from the name, all my entries relating to space flight or space exploration (as it turns out, that’s about half of the content that I’d previously filed under “Esoterica”). I’ve gone back and re-categorized everything that fits under this new heading, so you should be able to quickly scan my ramblings on what goes on “out there,” if that’s a subject that interests you. I have a couple of other sub-categories in mind as well, and I’ll be adding them as I find the time and inspiration.
As always when I make a site change, let me know in the comments below if you have any strong feelings one way or the other. Also, any suggestions for sub-categories (or top-level categories, for that matter) are welcome.
In the vein of yesterday’s post about historical events that took place on my birthday, I’d like to point out that today, April 12th, witnessed two major milestones in the history of space exploration.
First (and perhaps most significantly), on this date in 1961, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first human to travel into space. Twenty years later, on April 12, 1981, Americans Robert Crippen and John Young piloted the first orbital space shuttle flight. (I have reluctantly come to accept that the shuttle program has mostly been an expensive disappointment, but the Columbia and her sister ships were still the first reusable spacecraft, surely a noteworthy accomplishment.)
According to Boing Boing, “Yuri’s Night” events are planned in cities all over the world to commemorate these landmarks in human spaceflight. Unfortunately, I just found out about all this and have nothing planned, so I plan to simply raise a quiet toast on my back deck this evening as I gaze out at the stars and remember what we puny primates can accomplish when we set our minds to it…
One of the drawbacks to getting paid for correcting spelling and grammar mistakes is that you become highly sensitized to how language is used (and misused) out there in the Real World. In other words, I find myself proofreading any copy I happen to encounter, even when I’m off the clock. These days, I automatically and unwillingly spot errors in restaurant menus, freeway signs, junk mail, smart-alecky t-shirts, captions on the TV news, and even professional publications that, in theory, ought to be paying someone to do the same work I do but frequently don’t appear to bother. It’s like I have some kind of lame-o superpower that I just can’t help but use. I’m reminded of the well-meaning but clueless mom in the first X-Men movie who asks her son, “Have you ever tried not being a mutant?” Well, yes, I have, with no luck. I can’t not see these things, even when I’d much rather be oblivious to them like everybody else.
According to Scalzi, there’s a new meme going around based on the historical things that occurred on one’s birthday. The idea is that you run over to Wikipedia, enter your birth date (but not the year), and then select some interesting tidbits from the resulting list of information about that date. You’re supposed to choose at least three historical events, two births, and one death that all happened on the day you were born. I, of course, find this sort of meaningless trivia fascinating, so I selected a few more items than what was called for…
Not to be cruel or anything, but may we safely assume that Sharon Stone’s Hollywood career is now over? Honestly, who, aside from Stone herself, who hasn’t had a hit in years and is probably worried about making the mortgage, has been clamoring for a sequel to Basic Instinct? That movie is fourteen years old. Fourteen. In pop-cultural terms, 1992 may as well have been the Cretaceous Period. I seriously doubt the primary movie-going demographic these days — which would’ve been in diapers in ’92 — has ever even heard of Sharon Stone or seen that notorious leg-crossing scene. And I don’t think we, ahem, older viewers have shown much interest in the further adventures of Catherine Trammel, either.
In case anyone is interested, I’ve added two new snapshots to the gallery, both of my parents. View the new shots here and here.
Before you ask, no, my parents don’t dress like rhinestone cowboys all the time; these were taken at an Old West costume party they attended recently in Milford, Utah. Where’s Milford, you ask? It’s west of Beaver. Seriously, we have a town in southern Utah called Beaver. Look it up, if you don’t believe me. As for why my parents would drive all the way down there for a fancy-dress party, ya got me. But then, I once flew all the way to Los Angeles to go to a Highlander convention, so who am I to talk?
Here’s something kind of cool: This morning, a fellow blogger named David left a comment in my entry on those curious scopitone thingies, informing me that today is Joi Lansing’s birthday. (She would’ve been 78 years old, if she hadn’t died 34 years ago.) He also linked to my humble site in his own entry on the subject. I don’t think I’ve ever been linked to before; it’s rather flattering. Thanks, David!
On a related note, I learned from David’s blog that someone has written a novel that revolves around Joi, or at least the idea of Joi:
…Comfort and Joi records one weekend in the life of a man suffering a “low-grade obsession” with real-life bosomy blonde bombshell, Joi Lansing. He shuts himself away in a borrowed house on the coast of California to try to write a book about the minor glamour girl who appeared in such “classics” as Hillbillys in a Haunted House and Queen of Outer Space. But the deeper he goes into her career, the more questions he asks about himself. Offbeat movie history from the fringes of Hollywood triggers haunting personal memories as he follows this “beautiful beacon in a Sargasso of bad filmmaking” and finds an unexpected path to his own past.
I have, of course, added this volume to my wishlist.