Numerous months ago now, when I was moving into a new room in our house, which entailed a massive sort out of shit, I stumbled upon something awesome. No we didn't find some ridiculously ugly antique which is actually worth a shitload of money, in fact this item isn't probably worth that much, but to me its worth a lot. It's something which I wished I'd had and thought about buying, but knowing nothing about this particular object or the hobby attached to it I decided it might be a frivolous waste of my money, kinda like my buying a £300 guitar was; especially in these times of economic hardship. However this discovery has saved me the money...

See, amidst my growing love for the old, I've developed a slight obsession for vintage items. But it's really quite a mish-mash of different eras and things that I like; I love art deco architecture and design, especially the huge wooden dressing tables and chests they would have back then, along with the visual art and posters. I also love furniture from the 1960s, especially chairs! Amongst the growing list of things I wish I'd studied and become, chair designer is one of them (woodwork was my favourite lesson). I don't quite know what it is about chairs that I especially love, but the iconic ones by Eams & Breur just grab me ... my future house is going to be filled with chairs. I can't get enough of 1950s and 60s stuff; the wiggle dresses of the 50s or mini go-go shift dresses of the 60s, little trinkets and the Bakelite phones etc, although I think I want one of these phones when I can get one.

Anyway, getting off track a bit here, amongst this wish list of items what I really wanted was an old school camera. One like David Hemmings has when he's running around in Blow Up, failing to do a thing about the murder he's captured on film cause he's too busy shagging Jane Birkin & going to freaky parties in castles (or is that last bit La Dolce Vita ... it's all blur). If you haven't see it, I've just spoilt you on it but here's a little visual so you know what I'm talking about... Sexy!

Now as I said, it's probably not worth loads, but it's in good nick, and comes with an over the shoulder carrying case, an extra zoom lens and a separate flash bulb you attach to the top. I got so excited about this I spent the next few hours prancing around pretending I was Hemmings or some kind of David Bailey type that I overlooked the fact I have no clue how to work it, and know sod all about photography.

Now as seemingly everyone will attest to the same, I've always wished to learn photography, or at least get better at it and be able to take arty, poncy shots of breaking waves and shit. So this find has thrown up the prime opportunity, overnight I have acquired an awesome non-digital, proper film SLR camera, now to just learn about photography. I have managed to find a manual online of what all the buttons and dials do, so really I want to get a little guide book to how all the things like shutter speed and light affect the shots.

It's actually quite nice and nostalgic to find something that is a throwback to how things used to be done. The digital camera has become so ubiquitous now, its funny having to learn how to fit a film, and in a way I feel it is better that you don't have 8GB of memory to take hundreds of shots - with this you only have 35 shots before your film is up. It's both limiting yet oddly liberating at the same time; in the sense that it liberates you from the shackles of dependency upon digital means and complacency to good shot making that this engenders in photographers. The nostalgia it creates is comforting, kind of like going back to watching VHS or playing an old mix tape, that you'd sat for three hours listening to the top 40 on the radio to record the best songs; frantically scrabbling to cut it right so you didn't get any of the annoying radio sound bite or adverts trampling over the ends and then minutely writing the track listing out on the back cover. Aah those were the days!

Yesterday iTunes downloaded me the newest version of itself which included a new gadget - the Genius Sidebar. The Genius bar offers recommendations to you based upon the songs you are playing in your library. For example, if I were listening to something by say...  Isis, my handy Genius bar recommends me songs that I haven't got, namely by Melvins, Meshuggah, and The Dillinger Escape Plan that I know do sound something alike - as for Windmills By the Ocean and This Will Destroy You, I have no idea!

Now the art of recommending music to people is no new phenomenon; in the past you would usually rely upon genre specific publications, radio, or a trusted friend with similar tastes, to give you the latest low down on new music, film books etc. However, in these modern times of digital media wizardry, where most people use their computer to procure, store and play all their music, it's no wonder that some clever genius cottoned on to the fact that recommending music to those too lazy to actively search around themselves, could mean big business. So now there are a rash of websites, providing people with not just any old recommendations based upon their lowly, uneducated ear - or poncy, high-brow sneering one - but tailor bloody made to your own wonderful tastes!

And about time too, I hear some people say, after all that computers can do you'd think they can match the fact that some idiot who likes one blonde-generic-pop-bimbo is going to like their slightly skinnier and younger clone too.

So you've now got Apple's so called 'Genius Bar', along with Last.fm and, one other that I've road tested, The Filter. Ignoring the fact that a part of me feels that ones taste in music and film cannot be predicted by a computer or based upon five reviews given of totally unrelated films - I do actually use these things. They are rather helpful in some respects. I am a huge fan of Last.fm, though somewhat biased because the other two are new to me. However, of what I've seen I'd still say Last.fm was ahead by a mile. It works by adding a small application to iTunes or whatever media player you use, and then 'scrobbles' (that would be records, to anyone normal) the tracks you listen to. Simple as! You don't need to do anything else but listen to your music as normal and the more you listen, the more it can build up knowledge of what you will like.

I've downloaded loads of new artists thanks to its recommendations, and have to say they're pretty spot on. Although take your eye off it for one moment and an accidental scrobble of Will Young could seriously damage your overall taste. Also I don't think it's quite sure what to suggest when I've scrobbled a mixture of Huey Lewis & Robert Palmer, Chopin, Slipknot and Dire Straits all in one week.... this is where nothing can trump the human mind.

The Filter is slightly different in that it relies upon a similar application and also your own % ratings of artists and films. Apparently it also combines the two and will deduce something along the lines, that if you listen to a lot of metal you will like horror films. I think The Filter is a good idea, but I find the rating and reviewing a laborious task - and the range of artists limited - and I'd say it's also true that people only really rate artists that they like and know, and are also swayed by what they deem cool to like/hate.

The Genius bar is somewhat negligible to be honest. It obviously recommends songs on that which you haven't already got, and which other users have also bought, like Amazon. To be honest it's clearly a catch up/marketing ploy by Apple to get you to purchase more from the iTunes store.

All three of these sites however rely upon the other users and how many members it has. Last.fm not only goes upon matching up obviously related artists, but also on what other users are listening to in addition to the root artist. So, as with so many things, these sites are only as good as their users.

Merits and drawbacks aside...

I find it a fascinating concept that nowadays, instead of relying upon any number of reviews and critical opinions, thought up by people who may have spent years immersed in a certain genre of music - we now listen to a computer. Instead of weighing up the opinion of people who have actual human ears to hear music, or eyes to see a film, and form an opinion on it, as well as knowing the background and progression of the artist and their work - we now take the advice of a computer. There's something highly disconcerting and a touch Orwellian about the fact that we rely upon highly devised mathematical algorithms to tell us what to listen to and watch.

Numerous things are wrong with this scenario; 1) It highlights a catastrophically huge waste of time, effort and above all money - Peter Gabriel's The Filter has had $8.5million in investment - to think up highly intricate algorithms - so as to be able to see that someone who likes Iggy Pop may also like The Stooges!!
2) To hear Peter Gabriel talk about it, you can't help but get the feeling that in fifty years time we'll be living in a futuristic world where humans and thinking altogether will have become obsolete; instead we'll all be run by computers, with nothing left to do but breathe. Well why not ey?... apparently freedom of choice is a massive burden, especially when we live a "24hr lifestyle". In fact it would seem that not only do these gadgets free us from the total inundation of media the interweb provides us (which, granted is a problem) - but that overall these programmes are better at knowing what you'll like than your own self! 

And there's the crux - a somewhat ethical question really - will there come a day when computers are better at making decisions than a human mind. It starts with simple things like deciding upon songs or which route you take in a car - all in a nice calming voice, until they eventually become wiser and they decide that the meatsacks they are helping out are worthless lazy lumps - and they'd be better of without us!

Or maybe I've been reading too much fantasy sci-fi? I mean I live in a world of magical seeds for god's sake... 

I stumbled across this story in the news the other week, about a man in Australia auctioning off his entire life on Ebay. Ian Usher is the man and at his website he had detailed and catalogued all his belongings; house, contents, vehicles etc. However, he is not just selling his possessions and worldly belongings, which arguably could not be called selling his life; he is actually throwing in with it his lifestyle, friends and job! A truly complete modern day package of the seemingly perfect life. His house is lovely, and he has all the things a modern day someone would want.

Many people would find this idea completely absurd, and I myself can see an element of that within such a 'madcap crazy scheme'. However, despite its implausibility, it is certainly is an intriguing idea, which at heart I am enamoured with. The idea of completely disclosing yourself of everything you own, your whole life... your identity perhaps and all sentimentality you hold toward your possessions is a daunting one at that. Yet, this man is doing so under the circumstance of splitting from his wife of six years, and using the money to go anywhere and do anything he wants. 

The goal of the project and the reward he gains from the sacrifice is certainly tempting. Indeed I feel it would take something of that magnitude, a major shift in your life and circumstances to prompt you to do such a thing. It is that aspect that is truly appealing. Who in life doesn't dream at times of ditching everything and starting again? Creating a blank slate and escaping from the monotony of our everyday lives, which one may have been stuck in for over 20 years. I would certainly love to try out such an experiment in my forties, perhaps. The appeal of escaping, and the liberation from a life which, may not necessarily be dull or boring, but just having gone on too long is, perhaps not such a crazy idea after all. In fact, who knows, maybe it could become common place. 

It seems to me that getting up and leaving for somewhere completely new, even becoming a new person, creating a new identity is something that one could associate with the past; when people had the ability to do so and weren't tracked and placed on file so much. Perhaps it would be an idea for this act of complete and utter change to become say, in vogue again. A modern day repackaging of the escape they used to fictionalise so much in the films of old. Yet, this is probably the romantic in me getting carried away...

There are certainly flaws in the idea, especially this specific one of Mr. Usher; selling your friends, lifestyle and job are difficult to say the least. It perhaps more of a novelty than it is a practical reality. How can he be sure that his buyer (assuming he even gets one) will take on board his kind of lifestyle or like his friends?! Maybe his buyer will be a fat lazy guy who just wants to sit in his spa watching his widescreen from the patio all day. In fact, the whole aspect of him trying to sell on his life as a whole, is somewhat narcissistic seeming... to me it's almost like he doesn't want to give up on all he has worked to achieve, and assumes that his life is so great that someone would want it just like that!

The idea that anyone can just buy a life readymade with all the necessities of a job, friends and a lifestyle, is a little... off-putting. I wonder if he will ever get a buyer, who will truly be committed to, at least test-driving his friends, job and lifestyle like he wants; or whether the buyer will merely want his home and possessions and disregard the rest. For what is unnerving about this idea is that someone can buy a whole perfect 'life', as if they were picking something out of a catalogue or off a supermarket shelf. Selling your possessions is one thing; marketing you r whole life and identity is another. I wonder what this says about the person that is selling and the person that is buying? I mean, who would really want to take someone else's 'life' so to speak?! and if so for what reasons!

Thus there are flaws to his plan, yet on the whole I think if I had been through something major like he had, it would be a liberating and exciting thing to do. Some people crave stability in their lives and plans, and whilst I like to have a plan in place too, I think that after a while a real shake up in situation and change is something which is vital to a fulfilling life. Change should be just as vital to humans as stability and security, and perhaps nowadays we become too stuck in our ways and attached to the material things in life and the routine, that we miss out on important and life enriching experiences. I know that this idea is something I will certainly keep in mind throughout my life and if I did ever reach a point such as him, I might just be crazy enough to consider it!

I'll be keeping an eye to see if anyone does actually buy his life...