Jim Andrews
Since the beginning
Works in Victoria Canada

ARTBASE (2)
BIO
Jim Andrews does http://vispo.com . He is a poet-programmer and audio guy. His work explores the new media possibilities of poetry, and seeks to synthesize the poetical with other arts and media.
Discussions (847) Opportunities (2) Events (14) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Paul Green: 'The Terminal Poet'


Here is an experience for you that i enjoyed immensely. At
http://greatworks.org.uk/poems/ttp1.html and
http://greatworks.org.uk/poems/ttp.html you will find the script of Paul
Green's (Britain) radio play 'The Terminal Poet'.

The synopsis:

"Poet Charles Kenning was once a darling of the literary world. Now a
drink-sodden wreck, he's holed up in an inner city high-rise, unaware that
agents of an American think-tank are monitoring his squalor. For both the
Helicon Foundation and the British Cabinet have a use for him in their
hi-tech struggle against urban anarchy and the strange powers of the Quantum
Slut Crew. . ."

The script also contains some mp3 links. I suggest you click on them while
reading that part of the script.

Paul Green has been at it for a long time. Here's a piece of his from 1971
called 'The Gestalt Bunker' which is relevant today:
http://www.culturecourt.com/Audio/PG/DNA/PG-gestalt.mp3 (6:41). It's from a
poet's point of view also, a poet holed-up at the end of whatever we're at
the end of in his 'gestalt bunker', but in 1971. A related piece, again from
1971, is called 'Directions to the Dead End':
http://www.culturecourt.com/Audio/PG/DNA/PG-deadend.mp3 (6:49). This is a
post-apocalyptic poem. All these pieces might be considered 'nihilistic'.
Yet i find them entertaining and not nihilistic in the sense that they find
their way to liveliness and poetry. They are exciting. They create
beginnings.

I find myself going back to 'Gestalt Bunker' and 'Directions to the Dead
End' from time to time. I think after you hear those two pieces you read the
script of 'The Terminal Poet' differently. You have a sense of Green. It may
give you a deeper sense of Green to know he also runs a literary press
called Spectacular Diseases. A catchy name, certainly.

I found the reading experience of 'The Terminal Poet' gripping, and have
read it several times by now.

ja

DISCUSSION

Re: hymns of the drowning swimmer


An interesting 'hymn' jumble, Jason.

Kind of an ambitious 'hypertext' unlike 'old-style' hypertext in the level
of involvement of the visual and sometimes programming, also.

I like the way the source code is available at
http://www.secrettechnology.com/hymns .

I recently got a new computer, faster; the flash is ok on my new machine,
but too slow for my old machine.

I'm curious how you would want to respond/shape the question 'what's it
about?'

Also, how did the texts come about? And the images?

It seems to 'speak' as much through the arrangement, motion, and interaction
as through the words and images? How do you 'see' that issue of how
hypermedia means?

The reference to the recent disaster is 'accidental', a matter of referring
to it after the fact of the composition of the piece? So it seems to me,
anyway.

> http://www.secrettechnology.com/hymns/navigate.html
>
> Jason Nelson

ja
Most recent: http://vispo.com/kearns

DISCUSSION

william poundstone


http://williampoundstone.net combines intelligent writing/poetry with an
approach to the graphical. i came across this site via a query to a
programmer's list for a book that popularizes accurately the theory of
computation/automata. poundstone is the author of various intriguing books
as you can see at amazon if you want to check it out, including 'The
Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific
Knowledge' and 'Prisoner's Dilemma,' both of which i ordered concerning the
theory of computation/automata.

ja
http://vispo.com

DISCUSSION

Dials (for Director Developers)


This message is specifically for people using Macromedia Director.

I suspect many have had to create dials before. I have developed some
general use dials and am writing to see if there are people interested in
testing them and commenting on them. You get a free copy of the code. They
might end up being free anyway, not sure at this point. Comments on their
salability would also be welcome.

Generally dials control sprite properties or things like sound channel
properties such as volume. But of course one may want dials to control other
quantities that aren't either of the above. The dials let you do any of
these things nicely with a specifiable granularity. Also, when the user
cranks on the dial, the dial's values change quickly. But when the user
fusses with a dial, the change can happen slower, with specifiable
granularity.

Dials control properties and data, but sometimes we also want sprites or
other objects to send messages to dials. For instance, if one dial is meant
to control the framerate of several videos, we may want it so that when a
video is clicked (most recently selected), the framerate dial controls only
the framerate of the most recently clicked video, rather than controlling
the framerate of all the videos. The dials support this sort of
functionality also.

Further, we may want sprites to update dials continually or continuously.
For instance, if we have a dial that lets us adjust the temporal location of
the playback head of a video, the dial should change value as the video
plays. The dials support this sort of functionality also.

You can see a 'rough draft' of the documentation at
http://vispo.com/lingo/dial . There are links from there to a Shockwave demo
involving 9 scenes.

Please backchannel me ( jim at vispo.com) if you're interested in testing
them.

Thanks, and happy hoho.

ja
http://vispo.com

DISCUSSION

Re: another response to the Fusco essay


I've been following the Fusco thread with interest and curiosity.

Brian Holmes says: "In effect, a Cartesian worldview has been built into the
computerized technology of graphic information systems, which are
undergirded by megaprojects of military origin, or what I call "imperial
infrastructure." What is a "Cartesian worldview" to Brian? It seems like
he's referring to something more than a Cartesian co-ordinate system (never
mind that GPS must surely be working with spherical geometry, at some
levels, since it's global).

Also, he says a long-term effort is needed "both to grasp the way that
transnational state capitalism now functions, and to articulate large-scale
resistance." What is "transnational state capitalism". Is it 'transnational
capitalism'?

An interesting post perhaps in need of elaboration and clarification?

ja
http://vispo.com