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.
Doom 3
Anybody played Doom 3 yet?
The narrative is intriguing, this time.
I'm not finished yet (am on my way back from Satellite operations).
The atmospheres are often nightmarish. The odd one is genuinely freaky.
Especially the ones outside the base, in the 'open air'--and you can't
breath, so you don't have time to check it out much, but those outside
scenes are perhaps most memorable.
Just got back from being a roady for a gig in Dallas. It was in the basement
of the basement of what used to be a huge Sears warehouse. In what used to
be the boiler room. Huge ceilings, concrete pillars, and enough mouldy
concrete dust to kill a tubercular novelist. An intense setup for two days,
transforming this space into a good venue for a multimedia show on nuclear
annihilation. Sort of like a bunker.
And a wee bit like Doom.
I think Doom is made in Texas, isn't it?
That'd be about right.
I keep being reminded of my trip to Dallas, somehow, playing Doom 3.
Gotta say the experience is intense like Myst was. Only of course in quite a
freakier way. But the narrative is better thought out in Doom 3, unlike the
first one. A lot like Alien of course, like Doom 1. It's not exactly Death
in Venice concerning psychological sophistication, but it is definitely
'immersive' in the engrossing atmospheres it creates and Burroughsian
constant mayhem (as in the trilogy 'The Ticket that Exploded', 'Nova
Express' and 'The Soft Machine'). And you keep on keepin on to see what the
story is going to do. That's an important part of why you continue to play
this piece. That wasn't so much a factor in Doom 1, though it was a wee bit.
The politics of Doom 3 are ambiguous in some ways, but very clear in others.
Like it's very down on interplanetary corporations.
But the main thing is that "the gateway to hell is open" and Doom 3 is of a
savage techno hell.
On a slightly different note, I read in
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/221355_abuse23.html that "A
high-level Army investigation has cleared four of the most senior Army
officers overseeing prison policies and operations in Iraq of responsibility
for the abuses of prisoners there, congressional and administration
officials said yesterday."
ja
http://vispo.com
The narrative is intriguing, this time.
I'm not finished yet (am on my way back from Satellite operations).
The atmospheres are often nightmarish. The odd one is genuinely freaky.
Especially the ones outside the base, in the 'open air'--and you can't
breath, so you don't have time to check it out much, but those outside
scenes are perhaps most memorable.
Just got back from being a roady for a gig in Dallas. It was in the basement
of the basement of what used to be a huge Sears warehouse. In what used to
be the boiler room. Huge ceilings, concrete pillars, and enough mouldy
concrete dust to kill a tubercular novelist. An intense setup for two days,
transforming this space into a good venue for a multimedia show on nuclear
annihilation. Sort of like a bunker.
And a wee bit like Doom.
I think Doom is made in Texas, isn't it?
That'd be about right.
I keep being reminded of my trip to Dallas, somehow, playing Doom 3.
Gotta say the experience is intense like Myst was. Only of course in quite a
freakier way. But the narrative is better thought out in Doom 3, unlike the
first one. A lot like Alien of course, like Doom 1. It's not exactly Death
in Venice concerning psychological sophistication, but it is definitely
'immersive' in the engrossing atmospheres it creates and Burroughsian
constant mayhem (as in the trilogy 'The Ticket that Exploded', 'Nova
Express' and 'The Soft Machine'). And you keep on keepin on to see what the
story is going to do. That's an important part of why you continue to play
this piece. That wasn't so much a factor in Doom 1, though it was a wee bit.
The politics of Doom 3 are ambiguous in some ways, but very clear in others.
Like it's very down on interplanetary corporations.
But the main thing is that "the gateway to hell is open" and Doom 3 is of a
savage techno hell.
On a slightly different note, I read in
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/221355_abuse23.html that "A
high-level Army investigation has cleared four of the most senior Army
officers overseeing prison policies and operations in Iraq of responsibility
for the abuses of prisoners there, congressional and administration
officials said yesterday."
ja
http://vispo.com
Re: Re: Re: adobe acquires macromedia
> More on this whole deal here:
>
> http://www.webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2005_04.html#a000516
Forms. Flash and forms. There's the sort of business it's for. Filling in
forms. DHTML aspires in that direction also. Not toward the service of art
but the service of business. That's where the money is: business documents.
That's 'the enterprise route'. More or less the route of dullness.
See, that's what I like about the historical trajectory of Director: it just
never went there. The folks developing it were always more inspired by
multimedia possibilities than by things like business forms.
Adobe is quite print-focussed. Nice very nice. That's why they never had any
"Web magic".
Now they have Macromedia. A pity, really.
If Microsoft had got them, it would be a foregone conclusion all their
products would disappear and become inconsequential because Microsoft simply
cannot deal with creative products. With Adobe having gotten them, it's a
bit less clear. But that print-focus and business focus does not bode well.
ja
http://vispo.com
>
> http://www.webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2005_04.html#a000516
Forms. Flash and forms. There's the sort of business it's for. Filling in
forms. DHTML aspires in that direction also. Not toward the service of art
but the service of business. That's where the money is: business documents.
That's 'the enterprise route'. More or less the route of dullness.
See, that's what I like about the historical trajectory of Director: it just
never went there. The folks developing it were always more inspired by
multimedia possibilities than by things like business forms.
Adobe is quite print-focussed. Nice very nice. That's why they never had any
"Web magic".
Now they have Macromedia. A pity, really.
If Microsoft had got them, it would be a foregone conclusion all their
products would disappear and become inconsequential because Microsoft simply
cannot deal with creative products. With Adobe having gotten them, it's a
bit less clear. But that print-focus and business focus does not bode well.
ja
http://vispo.com
Re: adobe acquires macromedia
They probably would not sell Director. It could pose tough competition for
Flash if a company prepared to really work it got hold of it. They will
probably not can it and probably not sell it. Instead, they will keep it
going yet let it languish as Macromedia has. This is Roger Jones's take on
it. He was quite an interesting voice in that Director history I published
on the list a while back.
And of course they will combine Fireworks and Photoshop into Fireshop.
ja
http://vispo.com
Flash if a company prepared to really work it got hold of it. They will
probably not can it and probably not sell it. Instead, they will keep it
going yet let it languish as Macromedia has. This is Roger Jones's take on
it. He was quite an interesting voice in that Director history I published
on the list a while back.
And of course they will combine Fireworks and Photoshop into Fireshop.
ja
http://vispo.com
Re: adobe acquires macromedia
They could combine Freehand and Illustrator into 'Frustrator'.
That's a comment from Tom Rockwell on a Director list. The thread name is
"Let the doom-thinking commence".
ja
That's a comment from Tom Rockwell on a Director list. The thread name is
"Let the doom-thinking commence".
ja
Re: adobe acquires macromedia
Yes, well it's certainly up in the air, isn't it. They might not be able to
handle anything as 'small' as Director's market, as you say. In which case
they'd either can it or sell it. I think it'd be hard to can. Because there
is a genuine market for it whose needs aren't met by other products. Though,
you know, if they can it, well, those of us who use it would either move on
to other tools or steal the source code and release it publicly. That'd be a
very interesting trip to San Francisco, wouldn't it? Or Seattle, as the case
may be. Then again, coding from a prison cell, well, I guess that doesn't
happen much.
It's been around since 1987 and has survived. Improbably. It's whole
existence is improbable. It's mainly for artists. Though of course those who
mainly foot the bill, buy it most, are industrial multi-media companies. As
in pharmaceutical multi-media etc. It hasn't really gone 'the enterprise
route'. Never has. Probably can't, by now. The architecture is too fucked up
for that. Too much baggage. Ha. Like some people I know and love.
So releasing the source code publicly like Netscape did, dunno, it'd
certainly be a puzzle. No one person knows the whole thing since it's been
around since 1987. I wonder what the documentation is like?
ja
http://vispo.com
handle anything as 'small' as Director's market, as you say. In which case
they'd either can it or sell it. I think it'd be hard to can. Because there
is a genuine market for it whose needs aren't met by other products. Though,
you know, if they can it, well, those of us who use it would either move on
to other tools or steal the source code and release it publicly. That'd be a
very interesting trip to San Francisco, wouldn't it? Or Seattle, as the case
may be. Then again, coding from a prison cell, well, I guess that doesn't
happen much.
It's been around since 1987 and has survived. Improbably. It's whole
existence is improbable. It's mainly for artists. Though of course those who
mainly foot the bill, buy it most, are industrial multi-media companies. As
in pharmaceutical multi-media etc. It hasn't really gone 'the enterprise
route'. Never has. Probably can't, by now. The architecture is too fucked up
for that. Too much baggage. Ha. Like some people I know and love.
So releasing the source code publicly like Netscape did, dunno, it'd
certainly be a puzzle. No one person knows the whole thing since it's been
around since 1987. I wonder what the documentation is like?
ja
http://vispo.com