@h4ckernews@mastodon.social avatar h4ckernews Bot , to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar pluralistic , to random

One of the most surprising professional/creative developments of my middle-age has been discovering my love of collage. I've never been a visual person. I can't draw, I can't guess if a piece of furniture will fit in a given niche, I can't catch a ball, and I can't tell you if a picture is crooked.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/12/03/cannier-valley/#bricoleur

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An artist at an easel, wearing a smock and holding a palette. The head of the artist and the subject in the oil painting have been replaced with the poop emoji from the cover of the US edition of 'Enshittification,' which has angry eyebrows and a black, grawlix-scrawled bar over its mouth.
ALT
18+ pluralistic OP ,
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

Your Meta AI prompts are in a live, public feed

These guys on the sofa come from Thomas Hawke, who has recovered and scanned nearly 30,000 "found photos" - collections from estates, yard-sales, etc:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=foundphotograph&user_id=51035555243%40N01&view_all=1

The Shining-esque lobby came from the Library of Congress, where it is surprisingly easy to find images of buildings with scary carpets.

https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/19/privacy-breach-by-design/#bringing-home-the-beacon

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zuck-reprises-tracking-pixel.jpg A moody room with Shining-esque broadloom. In fhe foreground stands a giant figure the with the head of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar; its eyes have been replaced with the glaring red eyes of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' and has the logo for Meta AI on its lapel; it peers though a magnifying glass at a tiny figure standing on its vast palm. The tiny figure has a leg caught in a leg-hold trap and wears an expression of eye-rolling horror. In the background, gathered around a sofa and an armchair, is a ranked line of grinning businessmen, who are blue and flickering in the manner of a hologram display in Star Wars.
ALT
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