tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post7960453731318628053..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: The Assault On Aesthetic SensibilityFrancis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-4457354860744670382017-01-01T19:30:07.462-05:002017-01-01T19:30:07.462-05:00I wonder about the sensibilities of surgeons befor...I wonder about the sensibilities of surgeons before I go under the scalpel. The interview before and the doc's bedside manner mean a lot.<br /><br />Where do Rube Goldberg constructions fit? They seem like motion, cooperation, and imagination in creation of smiles and wonder.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01555726542017160201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-45190238606201867572016-12-31T12:29:02.414-05:002016-12-31T12:29:02.414-05:00Wanda: yes! My grandmother's sewing machine bu...Wanda: yes! My grandmother's sewing machine built in 1920 works as well now as when she purchased it for $50 in 1921. A machine made in 1887 has excellent stitch quality, better than machines 100 years younger. I could go on and on. Pre-1970s, they were engineered to last, and to be easily adjusted (rarely needing true "repair" unless neglected). <br /><br />In the last few decades, the shift has been to "disposable" machines that break down and need a technician with a special tool to open up and service. And, since they are made to poorer tolerances, they do break down - frequently. <br /><br />I have a sewing student who decided to buy a sewing machine. She ended up getting one just like mine...a 1960s model that has everything the modern machines do except "reverse motion" stitches. (There are machines from the 1950s-60s that *have* these stitches, she just didn’t want to spend that much.)<br /><br />I am a total advocate of vintage, mafe-to-last, well-engineered sewing machines, as opposed to the flashy plastic junk sold new in the stores today.PamiStumphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13453230074095348919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-64877667413497682082016-12-31T09:26:49.654-05:002016-12-31T09:26:49.654-05:00Good point about the desensitizing caused by autop...Good point about the desensitizing caused by autopsy scenes on TV. Wasn't that one of the reasons public executions were done away with - because they had a coarsening effect upon the people who watched them?<br /><br />These couture exhibitions are simply joke processions now. I remember years ago someone describing this style as 'the Tina Turner recently-assaulted look'.<br /><br />The function+form aesthetic of the past is one of the reasons I so easily end up collecting things. My latest obsession is sewing machines (much to my husband's dismay - they can take a lot of room!). I started with an early 1960s Singer, and discovered how really superior it was at carrying out its function. Then I began noticing others, and how actually BEAUTIFUL they were. Cheerful colours, shiny chrome, even attractive fonts on the levers. The machines from the 50s are heavy, solid steel machines, with jazzy style details; it's like collecting miniature vintage cars! Modern machines are just blah - they can DO a million more things, they're computerized for efficiency, but they all look the same. And they're half plastic and break down easily. Not like my 1950s Japanese clone machines!Dr. Mabusehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04190706197508265132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-75914547445480970942016-12-30T21:54:33.144-05:002016-12-30T21:54:33.144-05:00And the thing I disliked most about the CSI episod...And the thing I disliked most about the CSI episodes (after the first few, of course) was the incremental degradation of values after it was observed how effective the actually "showing" was. So the porn scenes and the debauchery of the human in demise was more intense every week. They kept pushing the envelope with scenery that wasn't really required to tell a great plot or story line, which some episodes did have. I see all of Hollywood that way... like, it could have been so good, if only...' <br /><br />This was great article, Francis. You do have a heart for value and craftsmanship.<br /><br />(...Oh, can I make a comment about celebrities and their deceitful voices in politics?)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07795222563523474963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-53609493321609562062016-12-30T17:59:02.279-05:002016-12-30T17:59:02.279-05:00I am reminded of the 'Objectivity Room' in...I am reminded of the 'Objectivity Room' in That Hideous Strength. <br /><br /><br />MontyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-11800636457178601152016-12-30T10:13:19.795-05:002016-12-30T10:13:19.795-05:00Linda, I think a great many people who saw those C...Linda, I think a great many people who saw those <b><i>CSI</i></b>autopsy scenes experienced a formless unease, something they couldn't quite articulate. That's part of what makes the danger so great: you can't quite pin it down. Degradations that act directly on your aesthetic sensibility bypass the rational centers, which makes them hard to conceptualize, and thus hard to fight off.Francis W. Porrettohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-53642737718899029642016-12-30T09:33:41.563-05:002016-12-30T09:33:41.563-05:00I knew I hated the CSI corpse display, but didn...I knew I hated the CSI corpse display, but didn't realize why. Part of it is that the actors talk about it in dehumanizing ways. In contrast, the show Rizzoli & Isles has many scenes in the morgue, but the details of dissection are veiled, and the doctor always talks of the dead respectfully.Linda Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15024201252345608291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-36831474726263119142016-12-30T08:54:17.380-05:002016-12-30T08:54:17.380-05:00" If the device won’t perform according to it..." If the device won’t perform according to its assigned function and specifications, it’s useless no matter how pretty it is. "<br /><br />My father always told me that was the difference between an engineer and an artist. Which is why engineers were highly paid and artists weren't.Kyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16399082135529920025noreply@blogger.com