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The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

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Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#121

Post by iooi »

sago wrote: post #115
ucaetano wrote: post #39

It is interesting to compare Bond with Smiley. While Bond is whom the salesman aspired to be, Smiley is whom he would actually become. The expense account is a reptile fund over drafted by senior management for spurious expenses, he travels, but to cold and boring places, usually on a budget and staying out of sight in cramped hotels and safe houses. Instead of sleeping with beautiful women, he spends most of his tim…

I watched a fascinating interview with a former MI6 manager. This was probably about 10 years ago. The interviewer made some comment about the men she had to manage: the agents. She said, effectively 'men?'. The Grey Man principle is a good one, as far as it goes, except maybe the gender. Fictional spies are interesting reflections of social angst, but I think we're about ready now for a fictional Valerie Plame.

Any chance you can link to the interview? Couldn't find anything through Google

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#122

Post by fit2rule »

Vexs wrote: post #84
monkeycantype wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook this is where the bourne comparison needs to come back into the discussion, because it depends who is doing the replacing. I, my partner and my uncle had had three recent macbooks experience sudden unintended swamping, two with water one with red wine, charlie fixed them all. The apple geniuses - james bond company men all - carefully removed the screws…

That story just makes me sad. Like, from the bottom of my soul and my hacker's heart kinda sad.

Don't be sad about it, there are plenty of Charlie's.

I knew a Charlie in Hollywood, CA. He was an old cranky Asian-American guy, greying beard, real guru stereotype, had a big store full of hi-fi and guitar and studio equipment. Every studio engineer in SoCal knew that if they needed something fixed, fast, no questions asked, you took your synth/guitar/studio equipment to him. He looked at you, told you exactly how much, exactly when to come back, don't argue with him or leave the shop immediately.

In the 90's I built my synth studio by buying cheap stuff that was considered borked - SH101's, Pro One, DX's, etc. - by some studio mishap - spilled wine, homicidal drummer, etc. All of it broken somehow, and thus cheap. A Saturday afternoon with Charlie, and it was like it was brand new.

So the point is, there are plenty of 'em out there, still doing the work. The key to it is always remember one thing, and one thing only: hardware rules us all. Working hardware, even more so.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#123

Post by triangleman »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #88
triangleman wrote: post #7

Can today's Thinkpads still hang with the best of them? (typed on a recently-upgraded late 2006 MBP)

the veep of design at Lenovo has publicly considered building a “retro” Thinkpad (with modern circuitry of course) — http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/retro-thinkpad-time-machine/

That is what the posted article is about, actually.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#125

Post by lemevi »

devbug wrote: post #113
lemevi wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mostly nonsense. You can invent comparisons like this, which are really just half-baked and not very convincing attempts at social science deconstruction, between any number of things and it may appear to be just as thought provoking. I am sure that the generation that watched James Bond in the 1960's trusted their employers more than action movie watchers of the last decade but Bourne stories are about governme…

There were no government conspiracies prior to Iran-Contra affair?

No, not saying that. Pentagon Papers and Watergate come to mind.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#126

Post by sago »

doppelganger27 wrote: post #119
sago wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched a fascinating interview with a former MI6 manager. This was probably about 10 years ago. The interviewer made some comment about the men she had to manage: the agents. She said, effectively 'men?'. The Grey Man principle is a good one, as far as it goes, except maybe the gender. Fictional spies are interesting reflections of social angst, but I think we're about ready now for a fictional Valerie Plame.

What does gender truly have to do with the "Grey Man" idea? The core idea as I see it is to blend in with your surroundings, be "boring grey" instead standing out. Sure, "Grey Man" has the word "Man" in it, but I think the operative word in it is "Grey." Also, where was the interview you watched?

Oh, I wasn't trying to make a massive point on gender, beyond pointing to the fact that fictional spies tend to be male. My interpretation of 'grey man' is not so much blending in, as not being the kind of person one would expect to be a spy. A person who 'looks like they can handle themselves' is probably less useful than an inconspicuous office intern. It would be interesting to see a fictional spy that was believable in that way.

I'm trying to remember where. It was a TV program in the UK, and I think the interview took place in an unused london underground station, I think. Sorry. ...

[edit 1:] Was it some kind of show where they trained people to be spies for the camera? I seem to also remember footage of someone having to plant a letter in their mother's handbag without being seen by them. Sorry for not being helpful. Like I said I wasn't trying to make a significant point: the discussion of spies just reminded me.

[edit 2:] Can't find a YT clip of that bit, but the show was 'Spymaster', or 'Spy'. I hope I'm not remembering it too wrongly.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#127

Post by ucaetano »

mturmon wrote: post #102
ucaetano wrote: post #39

It is interesting to compare Bond with Smiley. While Bond is whom the salesman aspired to be, Smiley is whom he would actually become. The expense account is a reptile fund over drafted by senior management for spurious expenses, he travels, but to cold and boring places, usually on a budget and staying out of sight in cramped hotels and safe houses. Instead of sleeping with beautiful women, he spends most of his tim…

Very perceptive. Introducing a third data point helps to clarify that there is more to the story of how we went from Bond to Bourne than just millennial job anxiety. There was quiet desperation back in the Bond era too.

Plenty of it, remember Pink Floyd's "Time" from TDSOTM: "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way"

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#128

Post by mindcrime »

th0waway wrote: post #79
emodendroket wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, increasingly not even independent mechanics can fix various parts of cars, let alone enthusiasts with only cheap tools.

and a lot of that is by design, which is sad, and also is why I am buying older cars.

Amen to that. I am seriously thinking about going out and buying a 1975-1985 or so Chevy C-10 pickup with a small block V8. Those things are dead simple to work on, parts are cheap and plentiful and readily available, and there's plenty of room in the engine compartment to get in there and work.

Contrast that with my 2000 Ford Expedition where you have to jack the truck up and crawl underneath just to change spark plugs. Never mind the need for more specialized tools when you're dealing with fuel injection and messing with the ECM, etc.

Yeah, I think it's time to go back to older cars. I want something I can work on myself without needing a $5,000 tool that I'll use once, and that you probably can't buy in the first place. :-(

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#129

Post by mindcrime »

cujo wrote: post #56
jbl wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although, even bicycles (at least those designed for racing) are starting to become more and more proprietary. Try mixing and matching Shimano and Campagnolo shifters and derailleurs or using a seatpost from an aerodynamic frame in another one.

Have Compagnolo components ever been compatible with other maker's parts? As far as I know Shimano and SRAM are compatible, and most of the smaller players work in the same way. Compagnolo, AFAIK, is the only outlier here. As for the seat post, it's these molded carbon frames that seem to be built for short use and then the trash that are problematic in my eyes. They're just wasteful and most of the people buying the…

As far as I know Shimano and SRAM are compatible,

My understanding is that they aren't, at least where we are talking about indexed shifting (which is pretty much everything these days). The amount of cable pull per "click" is different between SRAM and Shimano, which means you can't use a Shimano shifter with a SRAM derailleur. Or maybe that's just true in MTB world and not road bike world, not sure.

OTOH, chain, cogs and chainrings are pretty much compatible, at least within the constraints imposed by the changes in chain width to accomodate the newer, denser cassettes. Eg, 10 speed chain or 9 speed chain won't work with an 11-speed drivetrain.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#130

Post by mcv »

nulltype wrote: post #4

I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broke…

> he smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook

It wasn't always like that. In my 2011 Macbook Pro, I can replace memory, harddisk and optical drive (with an SSD, for example), and - revolutionary for Apple - the manual even tells me how. It's sad they moved away from that.

I also like how an old car like the Citroen 2CV is so easily hackable, and many car enthusiasts (and even the manufacturer) have hacked that car in numerous ways. It's not being made anymore, and I don't think there's any comparable car available nowadays.

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