Aestheticus ex Machina

[zhai]

I will admit to a piercing weakness for high performance machines, even though that high performance comes at a high cost. And it strikes me that aesthetics are for the eye what aromatherapy is for the olfactory and respiratory systems, reaching the mind at parallel strengths. There is something about seeing a well-loved firebird red SRT/10 Dodge

Comments

[eggsniper]

Can I buy some pot from you?

[zhai]

Sadly, this is pure air.

You guys getting enough snow up there?

[eggsniper]

Meh, less than a foot here, though more I'm sure in the hills. Wind was a bit irritating though.

[justinhowe]

Ha! Maybe it only works if you know how to drive... though I will admit to similar feelings when looking at bookshelves.

[zhai]

Books can have a similar effect, yeah. Every once in awhile I can still get overwhelmed flipping through books or looking at bookshelves and just wrapping my mind around the number of pages and number of words on each page and all of it totaling up to the immense amount of time and energy spent going into that condensed piece of thinking and expression.

I think you have to be plugged in to the car aesthetic from a relatively young age. My dad used to work on cars, so there was a car aesthetic in the family in general.

[justinhowe]

Oh sure, my dad worked on cars too in the yard when I was growing up too. My brother and I would help him -- but yeah, the aesthetic never stuck.

[haikujaguar]

Or watching the Blue Angels fly? :)

I've actually done "fan art" of the Blackbird and the old stealth bomber. *chuckle*

[zhai]

Yes! Jet fighters, absolutely.

At my graduation at RPI the coolest moment was a fly-by the president had arranged of a B-12 stealth bomber. It is one of the coolest damn things I have ever seen. It flew very low over the field, enough that it was the size of a dishplate in the sky, but you couldn't hear a thing. Sci-fi to the max.

[derren]

I remember hearing a very large thing. It even drowned out Shirley Ann on its second pass over.

[zhai]

Wait, who are you again? ;)

Funny how memory works. I must have entirely flaked. That or I wasn't listening to Shirley Ann in the first place. =P When I think about it, it doesn't make any sense that it would have been silent. But it did look extremely cool.

Good to see you back around here.

nihil ex machina

[boonofdoom]

boo car fetish!

the feeling i get when seeing a firebird red dodge whatever eeling (great verb) down a summer highway is approximately similar to that of driving south on I95 through north jersey past endless stainless steel vats and belching refinery smokestacks looming over poisoned wetlands: utter hollowness and desolation. the world has already been destroyed, and no amount of looking at trees will ever wipe that revalation from my mind.

not that there isn't a certain aesthetic to despair.

Re: nihil ex machina

[jeffhowell]

How do you feel looking at a Volta http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/future/volta.html or the Tesla?

(Not trying to start something, just thought it might be an interesting tangent. Also the Volta kicks ass and I mention it whenever I can because I want them to really produce it).

I hate driving, but love vehicles. I think it might be because I'm not in good health, not much of a hiker or nature lover. Definitely don't want to be a destoyer of nature though.

For some reason cool looking future cars don't equal horrible gas hog Hummers in my mind. What causes me despair is male car lust of the 'hemi' truck kind.

Re: nihil ex machina

[zhai]

Hi Jeff! Hope you had a happy new year.

I have been stalking the Tesla since it was first announced. I really, really, really want to see one close up.

I think, though, that it's ultimately in the same category, though its power source differs. Electricity sources still aren't clean enough yet, they're just cleanER. Then there's the tremendous amount of waste that still goes into generating a hybrid or a Tesla (or a computer)...

Re: nihil ex machina

[areitu]

My favorite automtoive blogsite called The Truth About Cars (thetruthaboutcars.com) is running an editorial series regarding the Tesla. It may be an interesting read as they are hardened editors who can see through the hype.

[areitu]

The Viper is the sledgehammer of the automotive world. It performs the way it does out of sheer brute force with no finesse. Need power? MORE ENGINE! Need more grip? HUGE TIRES! Suspension too soft? MAKE IT HARDER! and the result is a hugely intimidating, difficult and unfriendly machine.

I never figured 'ya for someone who appreciated cars and machines, though! :)