Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Mobile blogging, Douglas Coupland and the Bushbuddy wood burning camp stove

One of the things that tipped me over the edge into smartphone ownership was the possibility of mobile blogging; this is the third consecutive mobile blog. The other was the ability to suck podcasts directly from the ether onto the playback device, meaning that I am able to catch interesting radio programmes that I would otherwise miss. I've been using the Podtrapper app for Blackberry for this and highly recommend it.

A recent edition of the 'Books and Authors' podcast featured an interview with Douglas Coupland, discussing his novel 'Generation X', a favourite of mine that captures perfectly the spirit of the early 90s. In it he coined the phrase 'McJob' and made a number of cutting observations on the senselessness and futility of modern work.

In the podcast interview, Coupland, a Canadian, criticised American society for its insistence on turning everything into a product, a trait which he feels has resulted in them losing touch with their art.

It is fitting that the Bushbuddy wood-burning camp stove, a photo of which, topped by a boiling billy, accompanies this post,  is designed and manufactured in Canada. Rather than being a soulless product that consumerises that most elemental of human experiences - cooking in the outdoors - the Bushbuddy is a work of art that makes the cheer of an open fire compatible with zero impact camping.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good camp stove. Remember though that not all Americans insist on turning everything into a product.

25 March 2010 at 15:33  
Blogger Unknown said...

Don't worry - I wouldn't make the mistake of tarring all the members of any nation with the same brush, especially a large and diverse nation like the US.Ā 

As it happens I'm counting the days until I fly out to the US for a holiday. Stay tuned for mobile`blogs from the National Parks of southern Utah.

Last time I was in the US was Colorado in 2006 - a lot has changed since then and I'm looking forward to talking to the people as much as admiring the scenery.

27 March 2010 at 10:31  

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