Kinda fascinated by this one. My experience at 10 would have been 12 years earlier, a few years before the Commodore VIC-20 became available to homes and there were no computers in schools, especially not my little country elementary school. It wasn't until high school (1985 or so) that we had access to Commodore PET and CBM computers that were extremely limited with basically no networking and no access to BBSes. So I'm a bit jealous of the experience you had, even though it's a far cry from the world(s) my own children could access when they were 10.
Very thought provoking piece: ASCII art is a great example of how creative thinking and hard work can take limited tools and make something amazing. In a way it feels to me that something like Minecraft took a simple toolset but then made it big and flexible enough that you could do some pretty amazing stuff with it. Minecraft blocks look crude up close but if you use enough detail and pull the camera lens back far enough you can generate some amazing stuff.
Thanks, Mark! It’s so strange what our kids have gone through in terms of technology. And Minecraft is another great example I’d forgotten of simple tech used to great, detailed effect, thank you for bringing that up. Maybe this generation’s ASCII? 😅
Thanks, Misti! It blows my mind that folks produce such imagery with limited tools...always reminds me of the comment when doing photography: “You must have a good camera.” It’s always the person, not the palettes at hand.
Lovely nostalgia-inducing post. I'd forgotten all about that way of sharing images!
Thanks, Bryan! Surprised me that people still use ASCII outside of small social media uses.
Kinda fascinated by this one. My experience at 10 would have been 12 years earlier, a few years before the Commodore VIC-20 became available to homes and there were no computers in schools, especially not my little country elementary school. It wasn't until high school (1985 or so) that we had access to Commodore PET and CBM computers that were extremely limited with basically no networking and no access to BBSes. So I'm a bit jealous of the experience you had, even though it's a far cry from the world(s) my own children could access when they were 10.
Very thought provoking piece: ASCII art is a great example of how creative thinking and hard work can take limited tools and make something amazing. In a way it feels to me that something like Minecraft took a simple toolset but then made it big and flexible enough that you could do some pretty amazing stuff with it. Minecraft blocks look crude up close but if you use enough detail and pull the camera lens back far enough you can generate some amazing stuff.
Thanks, Mark! It’s so strange what our kids have gone through in terms of technology. And Minecraft is another great example I’d forgotten of simple tech used to great, detailed effect, thank you for bringing that up. Maybe this generation’s ASCII? 😅
Could be!
Wow I had no idea the work done on MS Paint!
What a treat of a post! Thanks!
Thanks, Misti! It blows my mind that folks produce such imagery with limited tools...always reminds me of the comment when doing photography: “You must have a good camera.” It’s always the person, not the palettes at hand.
We had a dot matrix printer into the mid-2000s, and I literally hear that picture being printed!
Ngl I want to do one of those photo booths!
Awesome post, Bryn - despite it making me feel SO OLD....!!!!!! You've taken me right back! 🤣
Thanks, Rebecca (and I’m sorry 😂😘)
🤣