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Found mine in a stall at an electronics arcade in the Akihabara neighborhood in Tokyo last year. It’s been a delight figuring out how to use it and what kind of film it likes (Fuji film came out peachy as hell!). And in taking it to get repaired when the slide screencover broke, I had to find one of the last remaining camera repair guys in Chicago. Nothing like a piece of old tech to keep you on your toes!
Shoutout to usergeneratedcontent for being my patient model.
Feb 25, 2025
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I shoot with an olympus mju ii and even though it’s an expensive, impossible to repair camera (I’ve had to replace mine once already) I love this little point and shoot. it’s great for fun film pics but also capable of really stunning portrait work of my friends :)
Feb 17, 2025
i miss shooting film so much )-: my camera stopped advancing mid summer and i picked up my mom's digital point and shoot out of convenience. it's fun but i miss anxiously waiting for my photo scans and hearing the tension of the dial as i physically turn it. over break i will revive my camera and eternalize my friends on porta 800 again
film attached : cherry blossoms sometime in spring of this year
Dec 24, 2024
The Olympus mju series is probably the best point and shoot film camera that won’t break the bank right now. Amazing build and optics quality, here’s some Fujifilm 400 I shot on mine when I went to NYC last April.
Jan 22, 2025
Top Recs from @salad_valet
i canceled my Spotify account over the summer and have spent the last few months rebuilding my digital music library on a refurbished iPod Touch. reading critiques of the app (and it’s enshittification), i realized i wasn’t even sure of my own musical tastes and preferences. i had stopped picking for myself, stopped seeking out new music, ceasing to know how to choose what i wanted or articulate what i like.
breaking free from the algorithm has been such a joy! i’m borrowing gobs of music from the library, rebuilding my old playlists, and consuming more music than i have in years. and better yet, my data isn’t being tracked by Spotify and i own what’s in my personal library. further, my receptors are more open when i’m out in the world exposed to music, searching for recommendations in an organic way.
Jan 16, 2025
i’ve been trying to articulate why i enjoy this space so much. yes, the UX is reminiscent of Tumblr and the early days of the internet. and there’s genuine sincerity and vulnerability on here that makes it feel really cozy and real, which i haven’t felt online in at least a decade.
but i think what’s undergirding my love of this space is how anti-capitalist it feels. most of the recs everyone shares are vibe-checks, quality of life shifts, meditations and offers, music and movies, just plain good art. i don’t feel compelled to buy anything when i come here. i feel excited and pumped to be a cheerleader, find connection, find common ground. and FWIW the recs i’ve shared that have gotten the most traction are my suggestions for leading a less capitalistic / consumerist life (quitting Amazon, getting off of Spotify, building community to take care of you and your things).
all of this is to say, i love it here and i love you guys.
Feb 7, 2025
hear me out—this one might feel impossible, but i quit purchasing items on Amazon in 2018 and cancelled my GoodReads account shortly after.
i did some serious reflection and realized i’d become super reliant upon, and frankly, quite used to the instant gratification of purchasing something and knowing i’d have it within a day. that’s not normal. the labor practices, economics, and environmental impacts of getting what you want from the internet delivered quickly and right to your door are skewed. i was filling a void in myself with mindless purchases.
i’m aware that they service a huge swath of the internet (Amazon Web Services), own Whole Foods and Abe Books, and will likely take over more businesses we like and rely on. weaning off and avoiding entirely is very very hard, but it can also be a measured decision. that said, i know that it is a privilege to abstain from Amazon. i am able bodied, i don’t have kids, i have access to a car, i live in an urban environment with access to a lot of stuff at my fingertips. but making the choice to break out of the Amazon loop has ultimately been better for my pocketbook and better for my relationship to these mega-tech-companies that have their fingers in everything.
in contrast, i’m becoming more interested in alternate economies, like bartering and sharing. i love the idea of having commonly shared tools and items (tool libraries are very cool). we don’t need to own it all, we have each other.
interested in exploring more? the zine pictured below is a great start, and summarizes a much larger book by the same author on how to resist the leviathan that is Amazon.
Jan 22, 2025