Monday, November 14, 2011

Secret Gadgets And Gadget Secrets




The woman came in
To switch off the monster’s film
But stayed
To watch
With him











Old Instamatic cameras used a cartridge
that held film so there was no loading procedure
other than dropping in the cartridge and closing
the back of the camera and winding the film
until the number “1” appeared in a window.

When you used up a cartridge you just took it out
and delivered the whole cartridge as a unit
to whatever store you used to process your film.

The 35mm film that pros used
was considered difficult for people taking
holiday or vacation or random snapshots.

The cartridge didn’t need threading or rewinding.

Old Instamatic cameras were cool gadgets.

The camera called an X-45 even
featured a built-in spring winding mechanism
that you would twist until tight then the camera
automatically wound the film in the cartridge
after each snapshot just like a pro’s motor drive.

Old Instamatic cameras were cool gadgets.

I processed my own film so I learned a secret.

When you cracked open an Instamatic cartridge
inside it was 35mm film,
the same film stock pros used in their pro cameras.

Part of the cool part of being a cool gadget
is to have a secret. And cool gadget secrets
are always the kind of secrets that make you smile.

The gadget part of a gadget is the desire
for somebody to hold you and use you and smile.

Another cool part of being a cool gadget
is the desire for someone to look more deeply
and figure out your secret and smile even more.

I think my old Instamatic X-45
held deeper secrets than the film in its cartridge.

Old Instamatic cameras were cool gadgets.











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“Kodak Instamatic” at Wikipedia



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Little Complicated Things And Stuff


Gadget Angst


A Fun Offering To The World Gadget


















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