See – hipsterdom

I love computers, but not as a gamer or coder or programmer or anything of the sort. I love them from a historical point of view. The history of computers is a fascinating one. I used to love the Computers & Business Machines exhibition at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, but when the newly renovated museum reopened after years of being closed, this wonderful display of postwar technological history was gone, with just a fraction of its items being relegated to a much smaller exhibit on technology in general. I was rather dismayed.

So I was thus most happy to discover the Computerspielmuseum in Berlin, which details the history of computer gaming and contains an archive of 20,000 games that are currently being digitized. The museum’s collection of gaming devices is not enormous, but it is varied and illustrates how the original form and design were so simple compared to today’s complex systems. As someone who remembers the first Atari system hitting the market, I’m constantly amazed at the complexity of today’s gaming systems.

Any gamer will love this museum. Go forth and play!!

photo credit.

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Vogue

Drop me off at the Fashion Collection at the Victoria & Albert in London or the Museum of Clothing in Madrid and I will be content. I think it all started when I began watching old Audrey Hepburn movies as a child. I was mesmerized by the elegance with which she wore Givenchy’s beautiful dresses. Obviously, with this kind of sophisticated taste in fashion, by the time I got to high school, I wasn’t going to wear some frilly gown to the prom. Come on, it was the 80s…you know exactly what I mean — ruffles, puff sleeves, and A-lines!! To counter the hideousness that was prom dresses of the 80s, I went round to the local vintage shop, La Di Da, and bought a gorgeous 1950s silver moiré taffeta tea-length dress. It wasn’t Givenchy, but it was his style and it looked fab. It even had the original price tag from Furchgott’s on it — $14.95!

So with this in mind, it should come as no surprise that I was quite excited when I happened upon the Museum of Design and Fashion in Lisbon. Housed in an industrial warehouse with cement floors & walls, this museum is a design lovers delight. Quirky, funky, & mod, this collection runs the gamut from furniture to shoes to lip-shaped sofas to bookshelves. Definitely check it out to get your kitsch on!

Category: See

Gaming Galore – The Mothership

Mod, Bakelite, & Lamé