Confession time: I’m addicted to pinball. It’s Friday night, I’ve sixteen quarters in my right front pocket and rather than cuddle with my girl and watch movies or read obscure historical treatises to one another, I’m going to abandon the roost and head off to a rumored new machine in town.  I really do love the incline plane, the smooth wood, the rolling ball.

It’s really just a simple bout with gravity, much like the one we fight daily, only compressed into a few rounds. Instead of legs or chairs or jet planes, one is given a pair of flippers. Every one of us loses the years long fight to the universal centrifuge…it’s refreshing to be reminded of the process. Pinball and a pint, then I turn in.

Fucking beautiful. No, really. Have you played? Have you really played? That’s it. That’s the Thing You Have to Do:

Go forth and play pinball. Then you’ll understand. Then you’ll know. If you’d like, tell me how you fared and what you learned. I’ll be here waiting, collecting your tales of wisdom. I know, it sounds like madness. Trust this stranger, if only one time.

It’s obvious, I know, but…it still rocks: [audio:Pinball Wizard.mp3]

It has been a sad, sad month for me and thousands of others. Petters Group, the discount corporate raiders who scooped up a bankrupt Polaroid Corp a few years back, announced cessation of production of Polaroid film. Instead, the company will focus on licensing the logo to electronic gadget manufacturers. The genius of founder Dr. Edwin Land has now passed.

The world of photography will soon be left to computer-bound digital shooters. The uniquely beautiful world of in-camera photography has now come to an almost-total end. Early next year, I’ll no longer be able to procure so much as a pack of the beautifully fecund integral film that I’ve come to love so dearly. Truly, I’m quite upset.

What? You didn’t know of my Polaroid obsession?

Look here, at my other site, JUNETEN.COM.

Or this one: SPLITSECONDCOLLECTIVE.COM

Or here, at my Polaroid camera collection:

What can YOU do to help? I’m so glad you asked.

PLEASE VISIT WWW.SAVEPOLAROID.COM.

Sign the petitions, spread the word. The creative community can’t afford to lose yet another tactile, real-world means of artistic output.