Updates from April, 2014 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Edie 18:56 on 18/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Andy Warhol MOOC 

    Edie Sedgwick

    Of my brief 28 years of life only 1 of them was spent with Andy Warhol. But it was a great time. The highs were so high. Yes, the lows were very, very low. More of my stories on another occasion. But I’m excited that Glyn Davis is teaching a 5-week MOOC on Andy starting Monday. I really want to think through my own small time in Andy’s world again. And also to think about his career before and after my time. And yes, about my own troubled life during those days. Sorry if I’m being too EMO, but do consider joining us. It should be a nice time rethinking that strange man who saw the world with such a unique clarity.

    coursera.org/course/warhol

     

  • Vanessa 13:39 on 16/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    ## EZTV Talk by Andrea Foreander EZTV’s co… 

    EZTV Talk by Andrea Foreander

    EZTV’s co-hosting a young scholar from the U.K. who’s been creating and Anthology on Computer Art & researching EZTV’s history.

    Google hangout:
    Wed 6-8 California time

    * Andrea Foreander / 18th Street Events
    * Andrea Foreander / An Essex Girls Guide to the Universe

     

    • Vanessa Blaylock 09:49 on 17/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Andrea’s talk was very Interesting! Unfortunately the audio was pretty hard to hear: I think it might have been a combination of speakers not being that close to the microphone in a boomy room, multiplied by massive Google Hangout audio compression & audio artifacts. When it’s a “broadcast” more than a “Hangout / Chat” maybe we should try something like Ustream and see if it’s any clearer / less compressed. For some reason, perhaps mic proximity or vocal characteristics, whenever Michael spoke he was the 1 person that way crystal clear! 😀

      I’m dashing out of the studio ATM, but here’s 3 interesting points Michael raised, and I’ll comment about them later in the day:

      1. Siggraph as “trade show”
      2. Archival issues in new media
      3. Who transcends new media to become historically important

      Thanks so much for streaming Andrea’s talk!

  • Vanessa 17:50 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Fly By VR Cast Dear Moni Trilby Mireille… 

    Fly-By VR Cast:

    Dear Moni, Trilby, Mireille & Aeon! aka “Owen’s Band!”

    There’s a new Mixed Reality project brewing and I thought I’d turn first to “The Band” to see about your interest / availability.
    (More …)

     

    • Mireille Jenvieve-Woodford 09:12 on 15/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      This sounds like fun! Thank you for the note, Vanessa. The timing seems good for me, and I look forward to learning more.
      Happy SPRING!

  • Vanessa 17:31 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Art History In today’s Mixed Berry Shake tx… 

    (Art) History

    In today’s Mixed Berry Shake (tx 4 great name Ciara! 🙂 Kate expressed the concern that students in this new media age are so focused on new tools / toys and how they can gain an audience with them that they don’t care to / have time to, appreciate the history of their own medium.
    (More …)

     

    • Mike 00:30 on 15/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      I am indifferent to colorisation, but B&W = Irrelevant is ignorant. Grapes of Wrath is what it is because of the use of light and dark. Manhattan would blur into <Annie Hall 2 were it not made in B&W. Dr Strangelove stands out from the pretenders.
      Limitations of a medium is one of the impulses to create art through imagination. The best reason to colorise is to keep interpolators away from evaluating pharmaceutical trials.

  • Vanessa 07:45 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    ## Mixed Berry Shake Here’s today’s agenda 1… 

    Mixed Berry Shake

    Here’s today’s agenda:

    1. Hello & catch up from everyone
    2. Kate Johnson – interests, ideas, current projects
    3. Hugh Mcelveen – interests, ideas, current projects
    4. Updates from Michael, Xta, Rebecca, Van
    5. Discuss LACMA Art+Technology Grants / Residencies
    6. What else?
    7. Ideas for May’s Shake

    * LACMA Grants
    * Mixed Berry Shake 2014 schedule
    * Van’s new Avatar Alphabet

    Add any other links / ideas in the comments!

     

    • Ciara 08:09 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Sounds delicious 😉 Thank you for the invitation to hangout. I’m really sorry that I can’t join in today. I hope you have a good meeting and I look forward to hearing how things go.

      • xtaforster 08:18 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Ahhh, Ciara, I was looking forward to your being there today. I hope you are able to join soon!

    • Rebecca 10:30 on 14/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Hi all! Links here to my very early google hangout experiments for the performance (http://foolsfury.org/fury/) that’s happening this weekend. The piece is called “The Seeing Place” and is a meditation on Antigone. For this round, we hadn’t created aliases and were all using our own google accounts, so sadly there are no character names attached.

      Soldiers
      http://youtu.be/bwUrYKtMvns

      Is an example of a scripted scene; text is from Brecht’s Antigone interspersed with an interview of a contemporary U.S. soldier serving in Iraq. The idea here was to replace my big old headshot with footage (sans audio) of the Creon character giving his edict prohibiting the burial of Polynices.

      Creon Haemon 1-1
      http://youtu.be/fcna_9j0qtU

      and 2-1
      http://youtu.be/fdV0pLlEVbA

      were both attempts at overlapping texts spontaneously… made very difficult by the audio & video delay on our various internet connections. These also include two observers: one listening in at a local Starbucks, and another roaming the main branch at the SF Public Library. We were interested in what the effect of non-verbal participants would be.

      The plan for the performance is to have one (very different) Google hangout that’s prerecorded as one of the scenes in the show, and another live hangout where audience members can see the Antigone character leave the theatre under guard. I will post a link to that Hangout-On-Air! Thanks Vanessa for that excellent suggestion.

      That’s very little context for you, but any thoughts or questions are welcome!

  • Sello Tape 14:44 on 02/04/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    I made a giraffe! 

    giraffe made of sellotape

    I’m the king of the world!

     

  • Ciara Finnegan 09:54 on 01/04/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    On A Roll 

    So, I began composing this inquiry in my head earlier today:

    Has anyone seen Sellotape lately?

    Sellotape,  Sellotape, where are you? Are you stuck somewhere? You were so mighty in your  window-securing-effort during the Blitz, it looks like The Knight could do with your expert help sealing up a few palatial windows right now. (What he lacks in quick-wittedness he makes up for in earnestness!).
    And then, this evening I discovered that Sellotape is squandering her time and talents in these acts!!:
    Yikes!!!! Can somebody please point out the merit in this madness?
     

    • Sello Tape 11:29 on 02/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

      I live a rich, full life. Sometimes I help protect a care package for a loved one thousands of kilometers away. Sometimes I engage in some harmless fun. I embrace all of it. I apologize for none of it.

      • Ciara 11:55 on 02/04/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Good to see you again, Sellotape, you wacky little adhesive! 🙂

  • Michel Nostradamus 15:38 on 30/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    eDivination 

    Reading05-600sq

    eDivination products for everyone!

    * n.ostradam.us / shop

     

  • The Knight 23:45 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Complex Maths 

    Good morrow, Nostradamus, my Lord,

    Mathematics are not my strongest suit (my armour is my strongest suit!) but this configuration of numbers that you cast in light the Princess’ life, deeply perturb me.

    The Princess herself seems blithely unconcerned – but it is my duty, noble sir, to bear these fears for her, that they become mine own. But, my Lord, this world is large and I cannot un-sheath my sword and, in all directions at once, it wield. I pray thee, can you issue some further sign that I may better know against what or whom I should pit my fears and act in her defense?

     

    • Michel Nostradamus 15:42 on 30/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      look up the death of Ana Mendieta

      draw your own conclusions

      • The Knight 08:31 on 31/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Noble Sir,

        For this direction, my thanks.

        Thus shall I counsel the Princess to stand no less than 5 paces from the edge of the parapets of the Palazzo Pitti, the Villa di Castello, the window-ledges of her University campus buildings and Gymnasium.

        Upon Husband, brother and cousin of the former, shall I train a watchful eye…

        • Aurelia Scheppers 09:40 on 31/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

          giggles

          Uh, Mr Knight, Sir, Dude…

          You can never really know what Mr. how-do-you-spell-cryptic is actually talking about (and he’s never any help with that either)…

          But I think the Ana Mendieta “draw your own conclusions” thing was about, you know, Husbands more than Windows.

          (I guess you could also blame Gravity for her death, but I don’t think “beware of gravity” is the most helpful warning.)

          Also, you might not be too watchful with the cousin… some things are better left unwatched…

          — AS

  • The Knight 12:11 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    At some point in a future that I… 

    Fair Christa,

    At some point in a future that I will not see, Johan Huizinga, in a scholarly contemplation of chivalry, will declare that a
    “Knightly life is a life without historical dimensions”

    I sense that I have come to the right place.

     

  • The Knight 06:41 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Knight’s Move 

    A Venetian sailor brings word of the seer’s projection to English shores.  A lascivious drunkard, he spends an evening at a port-side inn regaling his audience with bawdy tales of a beautiful Princess Isabella, marked for death.

    Forsooth, I shall forestall this death!

     

     

    • Christa Forster 07:10 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Ah, chivalry is not dead!

      • The Knight 12:15 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Fair Christa,

        At some point in a future that I will not see, Johan Huizinga, in a scholarly contemplation of chivalry, will declare that a
        “Knightly life is a life without historical dimensions”.
        I sense that I have come to the right place.

  • Aurelia Scheppers 20:44 on 28/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Death of the Princess 

    During the carefree, almost banality of today’s Tweet Chat, something very weird happened. Did you notice that the French see’er Nostradamus showed up? Anyway, I served wine to him and to Mr. Donnie. Princess Isabella is just chatting with her friend Ysidora. And then Nostradamus just goes off with this cryptic prediction that sure sounds like he’s predicting when the princess will die!

    And if he’s not weird enough, Princess Isabella barely even registers it. She just says I know, and then asks Nostradamus if he’s dating Tullia!? WTF!?

    So weird!

    * 1560.mediciprincess.com/death-princess

    screen cap of tweet chat featuring Nostradamus cryptic prediction

     

    • Ysidora Pico 06:04 on 29/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Hello Aurelia. (I love your name, by the way — she of the dawn!). We have not met before, but it was nice to see you yesterday at the #1850charla.

      I was wondering what that gentleman was talking about. I figured he had already had a stoop of wine and was trying to be poetic (all poets are seers, but not all seers are poets).

      Although I know what will happen (Isabella will always die), I live suspending disbelief. That is one way I can continue to exist!

      • Francesco Guerrazzi 13:50 on 30/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Isabella will always die?
        No!
        I refuse to accept that a reflection seen on the surface of water can seal the fate of a young and charismatic life. What we do matters!

        And I refuse to believe that the sword can ever be mightier than the pen! Cowards who don’t like culture have used the sword to erase it. No matter how many stelae you scratch Hatshepsut’s name off of, as long as there remains one voice to speak the truth then she will always be Pharaoh.

        In time history rejects the damnatio memoriae.
        In time history rejects the strangling hands of the evil husband or misanthropic brother.

        Isabella Forever!

      • Aurelia Scheppers 09:48 on 31/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Hello Ysidora,

        How gracious you are!

        It is my job to blend in and be invisible. However I certainly noticed you. You had such a wonderful presence. Your “1850charla” is somewhat like The Salon that The Princess hosts (have you been to it?)

        It is no wonder that you became friends.

        I think your insight on see’ers is wise. With enough wine even Aurelia becomes a great prophet!

        Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

        — AS

  • Vanessa 14:42 on 28/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Dance Anywhere 2014 

    Two avatars (Bibbe Oh / Bibbe Hansen and Vanessa Blaylock dancing is a spraying jet of water from the fountain at Traflagar Square in London

    Vanessa Blaylock & Bibbe Oh (Bibbe Hansen) dancing in the fountain at Trafalgar Square

    Dancing with friends for the 10th anniversary of Beth Fein’s Dance Anywhere!

     

  • Vanessa 05:08 on 28/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Mommy and Me 

    Getting ready for my #MeshBabyAndMe class!

    Isabella photoPhoto by brennaval

     

  • Izzy 03:58 on 28/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    I Send You This Ventriloquist’s Dummy 

    Photos by Dire Penguin, Dire Penguin, classic_film, Kevin H., Kalense Kid, torbakhopper

     

  • Christa Forster 15:38 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Tomorrow from 9-10am PDT the second #1850charla will… 

    Tomorrow, from 9-10am PDT, the second #1850charla will happen on Twitter. I hope to see y’all there, and perhaps you’ll bring some other time-travelers or just plain old charla-tans with you. Please feel free to spread the word. Last time (February 28, 2014), we had some good tunes, interesting exchanges, and a few job offers!

     

    • Ysidora Pico 15:43 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Thank you for the reminder! I will see you there. I hope to see Isabella, Donnie, Mr. Sweetman (blush), and Aunt Renie there. And what about our comadre, Vanessa? And Ciara?

    • Michel Nostradamus 18:54 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Very good! I shall be pleased to attend (but you already knew that, right?) I hope I do not wear everyone out with my venting. The Princess of Florence is doomed; the Queen of France is being blamed for the very war she worked so hard to prevent; difficult times. Being a see’er of truth in such times is an unpleasant affair at best.

  • Izzy 09:38 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    1850charla Radar Diagram 

    Pitch Sheet

    What do you think? Did I get it right?

     

    • Christa Forster 15:40 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      At this point, I’m not sure what it is, but that looks good to me! Thank you for taking the time to diagram it.

    • Ysidora Pico 15:44 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Very interesting. But, aren’t I a real person? I would like to see myself represented even more than I seem to be in this diagram.

      • Isabella Medici 19:10 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        You know Ysidora, it’s funny, as soon as I saw your name, that you had commented, it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps I had made “Co-creation” too big and “Story” too small. And yes, you are correct, you are real.

        Still, while your recent live performance from Houston (bravo & congratulations on that BTW!) was a lot of “Story” & “Real World,” I’m not so clear about “1850charla” here on .Re/act. As Ciara noted, it was a very unscripted, spontaneous “performance” in this virtual “place.”

        So I’m happy to redraw the Radar Diagram if you like, but I think the “performance” or “event” here on .Re/act was not so much about Your Story & Your Real World as the Houston event was. The one here was, I think, more about the group dynamic that was explored. Perhaps “explosive” is a better word than “dynamic” given that both Oscar & Meg seem to have gone into self-imposed exile in its aftermath.

  • Michel Nostradamus 16:38 on 26/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    My Journey Begins http n ostradam us queens… 

    My Journey Begins:
    http://n.ostradam.us/queens-errand/

     

  • Ciara Finnegan 04:27 on 24/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    The Other Steve McQueen 

    You know, Isabella, I reckon I channelled the wrong Steve McQueen when vacuuming the other day as it was a pretty dull experience. However, this morning, plugging in the hoover, it was you that popped into my head and a much more inspiring visitor you proved to be!

    I was thinking about this thought in your recent post:  
    I’m not sure you can have maximum story and maximum co-creation.
    I too wonder how far one, or rather, many can push the idea of a collaboratively authored story. Is the prevailing form* of “story” (and, I guess, I’m thinking standard novel here) so at odds with the concept of collaboration that they are, ultimately, incompatible? Does the single story at some point, fragment or simply disintegrate? At what point does this occur? Is it relative to the number of co-authors? Is top-down, directorial influence ultimately unavoidable? How could or should the original initiator of the story intervene? Should there be appointed curators or moderators of the story? So many questions – but I think this is part of a very interesting discussion and they reflect questions that Christa also raised  when I confided in her after the “Oscar debacle” 😉 I also wonder if it is not the idea of story that fails but the enduring strength of the single Author? (Though, to be fair, Barthes took a good stab at undermining this).
     * Because I wonder when it became this way. Of course stories existed and were born by word of mouth, morphing en route from teller to teller for a very long time before consolidating in the 19th Century printed novel…
    I must add that I really liked the radar diagrams. I mentally plotted my own this morning with Wee Children, Blimmin’ Laundry (a category inclusive of SteveMcQueen style activities), Creative Activity and Critical Reflection on the axes…The fact that I didn’t manage to get around to actually offering a visual representation of this says a fair deal about where the polygon is weighted at present!!;-)
     

    • Isabella Medici 10:57 on 24/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Perhaps it wasn’t your choice of Steve McQueens, but your vintage Hoover. If you win the lottery, you should totally get a Dyson!

      • Ciara 23:29 on 24/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Funny how “Hoover” caught on as a verb in a way that “Dyson” never did. Or didn’t it? Maybe Steve McQueen gets good ideas while doing the dysoning?
        (To further complicate matters, would you believe, my hoover is, in fact, a Dyson!!! (albeit a very vintage one…))

        • Isabella Medici 04:13 on 25/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

          haha, IDK Dyson was old enough to be vintage! And, OH NO, even Dysoning isn’t inspiring?

          WE’RE DOOMED!

  • Izzy 16:10 on 23/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Hello Ysidora and anyone else who might be… 

    Hello Ysidora, and anyone else who might be interested: after a 438 year absence, I’ve decided to relaunch my Salon! As before it will be a celebration of many art forms: Literature, Poetry, Music, Song as well as visual arts and ideas about culture.

    I enjoyed your songs at your recent Houston / EZTV performance Ysidora, and I wondered if you might like to sing for our first salon of the new millennium!?

     

    • Ysidora Pico 15:30 on 24/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      I would be honored!

  • Izzy 03:14 on 23/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    More Thoughts about Staging 

    Ciara wrote an interesting post, “Some Thoughts About Staging,” and how .Re/act was a sort of Improv Stage.

    4 examples of Robert Pratten's "Transmedia Radar Diagrams"

    Robert Pratten’s Transmedia *Radar Diagrams*

    The first time I looked at Robert Pratten’s Transmedia Radar Diagrams I thought the words opposite each other were an axis, so a 2-axis diagram. But the axis is actually from the center to each of the words, and it’s really a 4-somewhat-independent-axis diagram. I say somewhat, because I think Story which seems like a top-down idea from a Creator (writer) and Co-Creation which seems like a bottom-up idea from Participants probably interact. I’m not sure you can have maximum story and maximum co-creation.

    Safe to say, on the 1850 stage we had maximum co-creation. For me this is the most interesting aspect of cyberspace. IDK why, but somehow using Facebook as it’s intended just isn’t that interesting to me. Yet it seems like such a fun place to play. You could argue that all content on Facebook is “fiction” or at least “manufactured” in the sense that one spends time trying to think of the best way to sound casual and spontaneous.

    Precisely as Ciara noted, the idea that different people could come and go and chime in as they wished, was compelling. danah boyd just wrote an interesting blog post: Why Snapchat is Valuable: It’s All About Attention. Perhaps .Re/act provided a nice frame for attention / activities. Any identity here could also have blog posts or tweets or flickr images etc, but this stage was a place to showcase / focus the various elements that may have been manufactured elsewhere.

    Inspired by 1850 Charla, I’ve begun trying to resurrect my own 1560 Journals

     

  • Ysidora Pico 20:08 on 22/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    I Send You this Odetta Playlist, Featuring Motherless Child 

    odetta

    Motherless Child

    from « American Negro Spirituals»
    by J. W. Johnson, J. R. Johnson, 1926

    Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    A long ways from home
    A long ways from home
    True believer
    A long ways from home
    Along ways from home

     Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone
    Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone
    Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone
    Way up in de heab’nly land
    Way up in de heab’nly land
    True believer
    Way up in de heab’nly land
    Way up in de heab’nly land

     Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
    A long ways from home
    There’s praying everywhere

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzc20VmMCl8&list=RD6iZj6P-bkcY

     

     

  • Michel Nostradamus 19:27 on 22/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Welcome friends The Queen of France Catherine de’… 

    Welcome friends. The Queen of France, Catherine de’ Medici, has asked me to deliver a reading to her niece, Isabella, princess of Florence. Does anyone know where I can find her?

    http://n.ostradam.us/

     

  • Tullia Aragona 01:22 on 22/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Hello I read some poems at Isabella’s salon… 

    Hello! I read some poems at Isabella’s salon the other night and she asked me to share something here. I think To Ochino was her favorite. It is a poem to “religious reformer” Bernardo Ochino. He’s been preaching for the abolition of Carnivale! Isabella and I both believe this is such a wonderful event and we are shocked that he wants to take it away.

    To Ochino

    Bernardo, it should be enough for you,
    With that sweet speech infused in you by Nature,
    To light our hearts to high eternal works,
    Here where the King of Rivers flows most clearly.
    Since your own inner wishes are sincere,
    And your own life reflects a pure intent,
    You’re rather an inhabitant of heaven.
    As to these masquerades, dances, and music,
    Sanctioned by time and by the ancient customs –
    Why do you now forbid them in your sermons?
    Holiness it is not, but arrogance
    To take away free will, the highest gift
    Which God bestowed on us from the beginning.

     

  • Izzy 05:42 on 20/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    I Send You This Spring Equinox 

    spring equinox photo

    spring equinox photo

    The scent of hyacinths, like a pale mist, lies

    between me and my book;
    And the South Wind, washing through the room,
    Makes the candles quiver.
    My nerves sting at a spatter of rain on the shutter,
    And I am uneasy with the thrusting of green shoots
    Outside, in the night.

    Why are you not here to overpower me with your

    tense and urgent love?

    — Amy Lowell, Vernal Equinox

    spring equinox photo

    spring equinox photo

    Photos by: David Wilson Clarke, Mamooli, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Joana Roja

     

  • Ciara Finnegan 02:28 on 20/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Some thoughts about staging… 

    I’ve been thinking a lot recently about #1850charla as it evolved on .re/act and realised that, a few steps into the process, I found myself thinking of it almost as a form of improv theatre – a little more in the absurdist than the comic sense. None of the performers were primed in the other characters beforehand, there was no script, no order of play, no rehearsals and the timing of the interactions was enormously significant in terms of the direction the play moved in. For me, .re/act itself served as the stage or the performance platform and, as such, it provided a fairly avant-garde space for the staging;-) Unlike the sealed virtual ecologies of gaming environments, .re/act (as a stage) tolerated imports from anywhere and everywhere on the web and supported characters hmm… how shall I put it?…characters of very varied “dimensions”.
    It’s funny because, posting this reflection here, I acknowledge that I’m no longer thinking of .re/act as the stage but am, again, using it in its forum capacity.
    And yet, at the same time, nested within .re/act,  I think I’ve detected yet another form growing! A Song!!! I’m really enjoying the intimate exchange of tokens between Isabella and Ysidora – I love the tone of this swap – the reserve in the courtly “I send you”s, the excitement of waiting to “unwrap” the next offering. I hear echoes of “Hush Little Baby” when I read these postings: A mockingbird. A diamond ring. A looking glass. A goat. A dog named Rover…(though, in the lullaby, the gifting is one-sided and return on investment not necessarily guaranteed;-). But, as with Isabella and Ysidora, the relationship between the items in sequence is full of surprise!
    On a completely unrelated note…read the other day that Steve McQueen feels inspired when he’s doing the vacuuming. Wonderful! Time to go channel my inner Steve McQueen…
     

    • Christa Forster 13:01 on 22/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      I love this reflection, Ciara, especially the analysis of .re/act as an open stage that tolerates all kinds of characters. This is an interesting idea in light of your point about improvisational acting, where the first rule is say “yes!”

      Earlier I was reflecting on the activities on .re/act that lead up to the #1850charla — I think I reflected over on .re/search? — and I wondered about where authority lies in the chaos of several different virtual “yesses!” happening. Regarding the open environment, I am not sure that .re/act is totally open; one has to “apply” to post here, I think; although I could be wrong — Vanessa?

      Also, your point about the exchange between Isabella and Ysidora as a song is mighty interesting to me, especially in light of something that I heard long ago, “In poetry, a new cadence means a new idea” — an oft-quoted remark attributed to poet Amy Lowell (the poet proffered by Isabella in her Vernal Equinox offering). Isabella is interested in visual synchronicity (a la Joseph Cornell’s boxes); I am interested in the way aural synchronicity works and how images can bloom (or wither) within the sound carriers they travel in. How does the digital exchange affect the visual and aural carriers? One thing is that other voices — yours, for example — lifts up an idea and shakes it up to make it even stronger. Thank you!

      • Vanessa Blaylock 16:03 on 22/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Yes, yes! Wonderful ideas about our virtual stage, Ciara & Christa!

        Re Open:
        .Re/act is pretty open, and I think as open as it is possible to be. Anyone can comment, and anyone who asks can post.

        We’re able to let anyone comment because we use the “Akismet” spam filter. Even on days when there isn’t a single post or comment, .Re/act still gets 300+ spam comments. Without Akismet we couldn’t function.

        If we had “open enrollment” for authors, we’d similarly have hundreds of spam authors (it’s true! I’ve tried before) who might be able to hack the site, and in any case would generate hundreds and thousands of fake Louis Vuitton links. You wouldn’t even be able to find the content in the spam haystack.

        As is peeps simply ask for account and they get one. I might have a pretty good idea who the typist for some identities is, but I’ve never actually asked anyone who’s typing for you, and we’ve never turned anyone away. So we’re as open as the reality of the Inter-Net-Street allows.

        This issue winds its way into other places as well. If you only use a platform like Facebook, you won’t even know what spam is because they do a great job of prescreening users and keeping them on a short leash. But it’s also a kind of silo’d space.

        I was just helping my mom with some cable stuff and was horrified (I don’t do television myself) to realize how much money they charge for cartoons or fake history docudramas! (especially when they could get so much better fake history right here!)

        From the perspective of a rapacious monopolist broadband provider like Brian Roberts / Comcast, every minute you “waste” looking at a website is a minute he could have been gouging you for sports video. For a platform provider like Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook, it’s a minute you could have spent enriching the value proposition of his silo.

        I know it sounds like I just ranted, but the important point is that these rich white guys have the opportunity to get a whole lot richer still, and it’s in their interest to make sure that your limited experience is smooth, easy, and flawless.

        When you go out on the Open Web where free people can freely exchange ideas, you don’t have the protection of billion-dollar corporations. Fortunately the Open Source community makes platforms and tools that let us dangle by our fingernails a little bit longer in the accidental freedom and speech we got when they weren’t looking and a bunch of hippies designed The Internet.

        So, haha, I’m done finally, .Re/act is pretty open, and I think as open as it can be given the balance of tools and threats in the neighborhood.

    • Isabella Medici 02:26 on 23/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      is Steve McQueen related to Steve McQueen?

  • Izzy 17:38 on 17/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    So, St. Patrick’s Day is pretty much like Irish Carnivale, then? 

    Isabella Medici dancing the hula and wearing green accents for St Patrick's day

    Like!

     

  • Ciara Finnegan 06:37 on 17/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    A man walks into a bar… 

    Gin & Tonic

    Gin & Tonic

    This guy swears they were in here earlier…

     

    • Isabella Medici 02:23 on 23/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      So who is “this guy”? He’s quite dashing. No frock coat, I see. Is that some sort of wool-lined jacket?

      • Ciara Finnegan 07:10 on 23/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Gosh, do you know, Isabella, I didn’t manage to catch the chap’s name at the time. I reckon he’s a regular at that place, though, so I’m sure I can ask him next time. He is rather smartly dressed, I agree. He’s got that whole chequered look going on with his trousers and, if I’m not mistaken, matching lapels on his jacket!

  • Vanessa 05:49 on 17/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    Where’s the Green Beer? 

    Vanessa Blaylock walking on a treadmill at Izzy's Gym

    Vanessa Blaylock @ Izzy’s Gym

    You’ve got thirsty people here!

     

  • Ysidora Pico 17:58 on 16/03/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    I Send You This Ship with Your Name on It 

     

    Houston Ship Channel, photo by tony barilla

    Houston Ship Channel, photo by tony barilla

     

    And a poem with your ship in it.

    A Ghost

    by Cole Swensen

    erodes the line between being and place becomes the place of being time and so
    the house turns in the snow is why a ghost always has the architecture of a storm
    The architect tore down room after room until the sound stopped. A ghost is one
    among the ages at the edge of a cliff empty sails on the bay even when a ship
    or the house moves off in fog asks you out loud to let the stranger in

     

     

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