poorboyoftroy

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An upward redistribution of certain undesirable futures

August 25, 2018

Natural filters applied Like all supplicants of literary cyberpunk, I’ve devoted a decent amount of armchair time to parsing the oft-quoted William Gibson-attributed maxim, “The future is already here -- it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Despite having some serious attribution issues, it is a favorite of technology optimists and a mainstay of douchebag keynotes for all sorts of industry conferences. It is generally interpreted as some version of the following -- that human progress realized in “the future” is generally technology-enabled and that those on the lower socio-economic rungs have less access to the technologies (the Internet, ubiquitous computing, etc.) with which “the future” manifests. A footnote would point out that, yes, many technologies have been distributed down the socio-economic ladder as they have become cheaper to manufacture at scale. There are other futures, though, largely outside of the experience of the global upper and middle classes. From Bhopa

#ContentQuake: A minor speculative urbanism

January 13, 2018

For a sedentary person, I spend a lot of time thinking about public spaces. This isn't to say that it's particularly productive or profound thinking in nature -- but it borders on the prolific. Whether it's weekend farmers markets, coffee shops, large institutions spanning indoor and outdoor spaces like the Woodland Park Zoo, public transit, or the de facto agora that is the Central Public Library, the ritualization of public life engendered by the combination of architectural and urban planning design (as well as the omission of any design intent) is of endless interest to me. My commute unfortunately doesn't involve public transit at the moment, but I believe strongly in it and vote accordingly. Seattle's public transit funding and infrastructure is on the uptick, but it has a lot of ground to gain in what is an intrinsically west coast, car-besotted city in the midst of a population boom. Dedicated bus lanes and the recent expansion of light rail help, but w

#ContentQuake: Poorboyoftroy's best albums of 2017

January 02, 2018

Because the Internet is suffering from a dearth of content, especially from anonymous assholes with no journalist credentials, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring and contribute content at a staggeringly more aggressive pace than I have previously. I'm talking listicles, I'm talking social commentary on the state of the contemporary Internet, I'm talking general social commentary, I'm talking...well, actually, that about covers all possible content permutations. I'm kicking things off with my write-up of my top 5 albums of 2017. Gird yourselves for a wild ride... OK. Here we go. With the list. 1. Jlin - "Black Origami" Full disclosure: when this album released in May, I decided right then and there that it would be my favorite album of the year, that nothing could displace it from that accolade barring some sort of "OK Computer"-level event. I regret nothing. Jlin is peerless in both her particular toolkit, the footwork subg

My LA rider (directed at @LindseyMysse)

November 17, 2017

Like the Platonic ideal of a New York Times 36-hour vacationer, I will be spending the weekend in Los Angeles. Herein find my travel rider, LA rev v.2.9.4 Existential night terrors: they're going to happen and happen frequently. While physically restraining me, I'll need you to recite the Tibetan Book of the Dead until I acknowledge the inherently illusory nature of empirical reality. I expect a new, spontaneous ekphrasis on the 110/105 Interchange each day, each applying a different school of art criticism. Pools are part of the landscape, not to be touched. Beaches “ “. I’m not coming to pitch, but if we come up with a great idea for an anthologized YouTube Red series about the dream/erotic life of Twitter bots, I'm in. Butter coffee is not a thing. I'm all about dystopia tourism provided there's coffee and maybe a nosh in close proximity. See note above re butter coffee . Fatherhood has annihilated my tolerance for alcohol, so kindly marshall eve

A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies... #bladerunner #seattle

September 06, 2017

The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.

FWIW: some music recommendations for your #eclipse festivities

August 21, 2017

I feel a little bad for #Burners this year (no, not #Berners). Burning Man, set to begin in one week, is very much, err, blotted out in the popular imagination by Monday's eclipse. To be fair, I'm not sure Burning Man maintains the same level of public or media interest it did in the halcyon days of the 1990s, back before it became commoditized/sanitized by Silicon Valley, when it was discussed by those who didn't attend as tantamount to a neo-tribalist orgy somewhere in the Nevada desert. All I know: nobody is talking about it, and everybody is talking about the eclipse. I would imagine, too, that some are foregoing Burning Man in favor of a trip to the nearest latitude in the Zone of Totality ("ZoT" because when else will we get to use that acronym). I have no idea what people are hoping to get out of the eclipse. It's a down year in a dark era, to be sure, so perhaps the general need for something, anything to distract us from the Trumpocalypse has latch