My friend, the mysterious ZFT, is currently trying to restart his writing career. When he was a younger lad, he wrote for all kinds of publications but since he graduated and got a full-time job he's had less time to dedicate to his writing craft. He's always doing fifty different things at once.
Anyway, I mention this because he asked me yesterday if I had any ideas for stories about local things - strange odd things that you could only know if you grew up/lived most of your life in Toronto. I couldn't come up with anything and this upset me a little bit until I remember that for 2 of the last 3 years I've been living elsewhere. When I did live in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) I was in stuck in suburban hell. I haven't been a committed Torontoian for at least three, maybe, four years now. It's starting to get to me. My goal is, hopefully, to change this situation somehow. I haven't figured that part out yet.
The only idea I had, which isn't cutting edge, is the impact digital cameras have had on concert going. I don't know where I'm going with it but it seems that these days, for certain people, going to a concert is more about themselves rather than the music. This, I realize, isn't a new idea but when you're taking pictures of yourself with your friends during the performance that you've paid good money to see it makes me question it. Is this the same as talking during a set? Does the picture of the photographer and their friends create a more personal link to the event than a random shot of the band? Obviously the photograph is replacing the actual memory of the event, so what does this do to our ability to remember? Does the past, which Augustine said was just memory, actually cease to exist for us because we create machines that do it for us? A photograph is a moment in time that always lying, representing a presence that no longer exists and never existed in the photograph.
Then there's the entire question of digital media with its complete lack of any physicality, existing between electric moments without any concept of past or future.
Oh, I'm feeling better. Still haven't finished unpacking but this isn't new for me.
1 comment:
i think most of these people at concerts with cameras are there to take pictures of the bands...haven't you noticed all the concert blogs?
in some ways, it is about them, because rather than living in the moment and listening to the band, they're taking photographs.
on the other hand, they then go home and write about the show and post pictures and setlists, which is pretty band-centric, so i don't really know.
but that's my take on that particular aspect of your posting. don't get me started on the other.
Post a Comment