Monday Morning “Impediment to Productivity” – 20061127

Hi,

Just taking a short break waiting for some backups to finish. This week we are going to do some more of the arts.

One of my favourite writers is Jack Kerouac, this is a youtube clip of him being interviewed in 1959 by Steve Allen and reading from what I am pretty sure is “Visions of Cody” and not “On the Road” (great excuse for a re-read eh?). He is painfully shy but it’s fabulous to have a voice to put to the words.

and

Robert Pirsig (another of my favourite authors), the author of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, gave a really rare interview with the Guardian, Here, he talks about anxiety, depression, the death of his son and the road trip that inspired the classic book. You can read the book here http://www.design.caltech.edu/Misc/pirsig.html

My favourite bit of the interview is where the interviewer asks what Chris (Pirsig’s late son who features heavily in the book) thought of the book,

‘He didn’t like it. He said, “Dad, I had a good time on that trip. It was all false.”

You can find the interview here. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1951397,00.html

Flash Game time. Continuing our vague literary theme, the goal of “Scribble ” is to get your “Blots,” which are walking, anthropomorphic drops of ink, to the flag at the end of each level. Think Lemmings, the Blots walk continuously in one direction until the hit an obstacle and they do an about-face and start walking in the other direction, or until they’re killed (with a cool squish sound)… this sounding familiar? You have a limited amount of “ink” on the screen at any one time, but your lines gradually disappear and replenish your ink supply. This is a serious “impediment”, complete with tons of levels, a save function, and endless retries.
http://www.nitrome.com/games/scribble/index.php (it’s really pink isn’t it)

OK then, how about sculpture, head over to the stationery cupboard and grab a couple of boxes of paperclips then head over to Justin Schlecter’s website, and checkout his “portfolio of intricate geometric paperclip sculptures”. According to Justin “Paperclips are a wonderful medium to work in as they are very portable and inexpensive”. No instructions (that would be way to easy) just inspiration.
http://paperclipart.com/ send me any pics of your creations and I will put them up.

“Blame” time and thanks to everyone who sent in the “CSIRO Air Guitar T-Shirt” but the winner was Bill C by about 3 hours. Here is the deal.
In a demonstration project intended to put their skills on the line, a team led by Research Engineer Dr Richard Helmer created an objectless musical instrument, or ‘air guitar’.

‘Freedom of movement is a great feature of these textile-based interfaces,’ he says. ‘Our air guitar consists of a wearable sensor interface embedded in a conventional ‘shirt’, with custom software to map gestures with audio samples. It’s an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making, even by players without significant musical or computing skills. It allows you to jump around and the sound generated is just like an original mp3.’

NO I don’t want one. well maybe a bit
Here http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/file/pfk8.html and here http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/file/pfk9,,.html

And lastly some of the highlights from over at http://notdeadyet.com.au/duggup
Seriously heavy indie pop hit this week
Lots of other interesting stuff last week, stroll over and have a rummage.

As usual have a good one

thatch

{Currently listening to Christopher Dean and “The Mists of Avalon”}
{Currently reading: Various MySQL and PHP Manuals }
{ Quick Status Check: Still going to Hell }
{Crop Circle Status Check: Over ’til next year}

Published
Categorized as Mondays

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