The pointers in a digital age/old school words on paper

Have been reading A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, which is great. So glad I picked it up from the South Seas book shop at Port Elliott.  I also picked up The Woman by TC Boyce which was on sale; this was last weekend whilst we all stayed together in a massive massive beach house at Middleton. Large and white, with bedrooms for everyone, the beach across the road with perfect surf, ideal blue weather that was sunny but not too hot. Louis played at the waters edge with his cousin and helped Ash and Liam dig holes. I read. Andrew slept. The boys played on their laptops. Everyone ate sooooooo much.
The last chapter of Goon Squad introduced the term "pointers" which in the slightly near future is the new term used for babies/toddlers, transferred from their term as a target audience for digital handsets. Musicians and music producers are experiencing a second life by catering to the toddler market and their desire for digital downloads; overworked guilty parents are happy to cater for this, whilst vainly attempting to control/limit their child's digital consumption. This is only the last chapter of an interlinked character story that spans the East and West Coast and the late 70s until the 2020s, I assume, but the story roamed from being comic to being a scary predictor.

Jennifer Egan said:
I don’t experience time as linear. I experience it in layers that seem to coexist…One thing that facilitates that kind of time travel is music, which is why I think music ended up being such an important part of the book."

And in an interconnectedness way, she also references Proust, who she was reading whilst writing, a link made in another book I've just read, a memoir of Nancy Mitford.

Now, back to another connection. Note how I described where I bought the book I just read: this is a tip from Lucy Lehmann's book review blog here. I also really really like her busker concept, in which her companion spruiks for people wanting a word portrait. It reminded me of my time in Bristol, visiting an exhibition on the theme of love. There were many great art pieces, and whilst resting on the museum's ottoman, my companion and I were approached by two guys who offered to "analyse" us as part of the show. Free amateur therapy, they said to us, we could tell them any problem and they'd listen... (they, of course, weren't actually part of the show, something I knew straight away but my friend had to confirm with the exhibition staff).

There's something there, isn't there. About art. Performance. About crossing boundaries with strangers. About paying a lot of attention, to another person, that is personal, intimate, respectful but honest. Lucy talks about being honest and truthful. A portrait painter would experience it, the immense power they have as they gaze at their subject, a shower of attention, an infatuation-worthy level of attention. Girl with a pearl earring.
On a final note-the kid? Absolutely gorgeous. We visited the park and climbed equipment, kicked a ball, he threw it around, he came home and sat in my lap peacefully for an AGM and then we played with lego. He laughed at my silly dance (which will be better when accompanied by music) and then repeated it all over again for his father. His carer said he's very good at playing with older company and observes them to work out his interactive approach. So adorable.

http://lucylehmannsbookofthemoment.blogspot.com.au/