clockwatcher

This recent New York Times story illustrates how the Slow movement (i.e. Slow Food, Slow Cities and the rest) is parallelling the Futurist movement to an uncanny degree. Both originated in Italy, for starters, but even beyond that, both movements seem to originate from a sane premise that then spins off into slightly less-sane pursuits.  100 years ago, the most avant-garde artists -- the Futurists -- were embracing many of the things the Slow movement is now setting itself against. While Futurism is most closely associated with visual art, architecture and -- unfortunately -- Fascism, the Futurists were interested in influencing all aspects of human life, beyond the aesthetic.  Consider this 1931 Time Magazine article  about Futurist food and compare it with this description of Slow Food International: "an international organization whose aim is to protect the pleasures of the table from homogenization of modern fast food and life." Though one movement began in an effort to

Part resting place, part sounding board, clockwatcher is my online repository for thoughts on time -- mine and others'.  My interest in time encompasses topics such as marine chronometers, monasteries, railroads, newspapers, vaudeville, still photography, the Futurists, splitting the atom, stopwatches, the labor movement, the Industrial Revolution, the microwave oven, TiVo, cell phones, alarm clocks, efficiency experts and the Slow Food/Slow Cities movement.  Through this blog, I hope to explore these ideas and more, and get your input along the way.  Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.  -- Carl Sandburg