On Jun 15, 2005, at 6:11 PM, Tom Moody wrote:
Chris is doing his best to answer questions and gets these "I
dunno... I
dunno" answers from this blowhard.
Gee. I guess I should take insults personally, but I have better
things to do with my time. Instead, since you pointed the spotlight
at me, I'll just grab the mic here and elaborate on my posts and
analyse from there:
(tap tap - is this thing on?)
First: I think Chris has been doing a great job -
***I really like reading his posts and viewing his work, when I
can.***
Second: I have had intermittent access to the list and the net due to
machine failures - making this month rather challenging for me in SO
many ways. (luckily that will all change tomorrow at 10.30 AM)
Third: Like you, I have also found the mood of this month's posts
getting rather dire and grim, so I figured I would do something
positive and :
try to LIGHTEN THE MOOD A LITTLE HERE (hey - what a concept!) with a
funny anecdote and then bring in some actual (if small) insight based
on his own points. It's public speaking 101 - start with a joke that
has a useful point,
(
wherein I amplified Chris's post about
There was the
early dream by some of the web's democratizing
capability- that citizens will be more involved and
empowered. If that was the case George W. would not
be president.
by pointing out how the very people who were developing the tools for
this Internet-thing (when I was at Macromedia supporting Dreamweaver)
anticipated the very same issues that Chris pointed out. I wasn't
being condescending to Chris - I WAS AGREEING WITH HIM. A LOT.)
)
- and then go into other points.
-> Example of other point: the very paragraph you so excoriate:
Chris Pointed out:
The web has leveled the playing field
for easy entry, but the discipline of practice and the
place of the author filter out the good from the bad.
to which I replied:
I dunno. I tend to think people find an audience or vice versa. Good
or
bad - I dunno - depends on the audience I suppose. Discipline is a
means
to an end and not an end in itself - but practice is a good thing as
it
creates consistency. I think the author gains more from a practice
than
the audience.
Where in the "I dunno" refers to my not exactly agreeing with his
point, but not completely disagreeing, hence the "I don't know", aka,
I dunno. It's something I'm thinking about... like "I dunno..."
I have a lot of problems with people who approach discipline and
rigour as ends in themselves, and I see that over and over again in
the art world - where obsessive compulsive disorder is rewarded as
creativity (viz Stephen King's writing habits prior to his accident).
I *do not* see Chris in that light at all - however, I think the
point is worth making, as practice is the shadow or the lining of
ritual.
At the same time: I believe practice has aspects of importance:
practice provides consistency. Because the audience has random access
to work, their only benefit in the artist's practice is in the volume
of work produced by the practice. Hence: the real benefactor to
practice is the artist. Chris has taken this kind of ritual of daily
blogging and provided us all with his art. This is fine for us all,
we get his art - but given his statements about "not doing" the blog
for a few days, and his ambivalent feelings about that separation, I
found quite illuminating, as it indicates the depth of how his ritual
has been routinised into his life.
I find that also very interesting, as it indicates the depth of his
commitment to the ritual. I find great beauty in that - it's the
human stuff that matters. Hence, my point that I feel the author
gains more from practice (as with meditation) than the audience.
that his images are abstract only serves to underline that connexion
between the ritual and spiritual and daily practice.
So many emails that are rude and condescending to the (remaining)
guest.
I would not disagree. However, I generally do not include mine among
them. More on that later.
I can't stand reading these emails anymore! Nothing substantive is
being
said, it's a nightmare! Release me from this prison!
How does that elevate the discourse?
Since I'm such an utter *Blowhard*, I do hope the moderators will
permit my analysis of your own contributions. At first this might
seem to hurt, but it will feel better shortly - you'll see that it is
actually all to a positive end:
On June 2 you did the following:
1. you introduced people. (very good)
2. you extensively quoted from a website (not as good, but
interesting)
On June 3 you:
1. linked to a repost of email I already received mentioning that you
discovered now to control text wrapping.
2. You noted that you composed two songs using various softsynths.
HipHop Guitar full version and a rhythm only track. Frankly, as a
musician myself, I didn't much like them. The sus-like chord stuff in
the "piano" fill sound throws the sound off the aggressive bass which
sounded like it was completely diatonic. The drums are uninspired (a
frequent if not endemic problem with much electronic music), and
everything sounds a shade behind the beat, making it sound more
lackadaisical than driving. The guitar sound itself was fairly
convincing, but I find hyper-mimetics in synthesis less interesting -
if I want a guitar, I'll play a guitar or get a guitar player - but
that's my personal preference. Drummers are a different story,
because they're loud and use up a lot of space, and micing a drum kit
can be a tricky business (I've done it tooo many times....) I also
know a lot of really good guitar players... Also, the guitar melody
drove around flat 5s and seconds and in and out of key in a way that
reminded me of some prog rock (which is good) but didn't really go
anywhere or develop the melody (not good). Finally, the songs
establish a groove and poke at a song structure, but never really
arrive at one. I find that problematic with a lot of electronic music
- modulating key sig or even simply changing chord or shifting mode -
these are all effective strategies for working with melodic music,
but it is often sorely lacking in much electronic music. However: I
think they're a good start at something, and with development could
be very interesting.
Somewhat off topic: by the way: what software are you using? I've
been using Ableton Live 4 and Propellerhead's Reason 3. I've been
delving into Max/MSP a bit, but I find the results vs. effort ratio
less than useful for most of what I try to do. Now that Ableton has
MIDI, I don't think I'll have much reason to use Reason (ducks!) as I
can toss softsynths into Live that are much nicer than anything found
in Reason.
On June 4 you:
post how linkoln remixed your music. I didn't find the remix added
much of note to the song. The "break" (the middle eight?), I didn't
find much of an improvement - I liked your version better.
On June 4 you:
Sent congratulatory comments to linkoln/jimpunk for their work at a
link which now reads:
/stadium/2005/06/4be-linkoln-jmpunk-at-empyre.html fucking doesn't
exist on screenfull.net
Charming.
and then I don't have ANYTHING from you until today's little outburst.
Now, as I noted, I've had Very Squirrely access to the web for the
past month or so. I did send a rather nasty post early on (June 4?),
but Michael had the very good sense to prevent its appearance (thank
you Michael). I will no longer post things at 2 AM after getting
hammered on Vodka and Kahlua. I promise. Beer from now on...
;-)
And I'm sorry if I have missed some of your posts, but that's all
I've seen from you, truly.
Hence, from the bulk of your own discourse as I find it in my inbox,
I feel that my comments were actually about as substantive as your
own, so I don't understand where all the vituperation comes from.
I am of the opinion that great ideas are best explained clearly and
simply, and when the mood of a list gets angry or snippy, someone
needs to step in with a bit of humour and an injection of humanity
through the use of vernacular - it all helps move things along a
good deal.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I would request from you the following:
(no: you don't have to write on the whiteboard "I will get off
Henry's back" 100 times...)
What I think would be cool is this:
If you spend a few minutes, like I did here, and build an analysis:
assemble the things you find offensive (if it's a lot of them, then
pick some of the crueller thrusts) and just go point by point. A
little self-criticism in the list can be a good thing once in a
while, and there is no time like the present. In fact, there is no
other time than the present, but that's a philosophical point for my
physics list...
Since you're probably still enraged (although I hope not) I'll use
the last of my little spotlight here to point out where things seemed
to have gone off the rails and into the weeds, to mix a few
metaphors...
First: there were some very good posts: Anna Munster, clemos, rich
white, and others all had some interesting points for discussion.
First: there were some very incommunicative posts: from abe linkoln,
who posted links to screenfull with no description or explanation or
introduction, and then a link to David Lynch describing the weather
in LA.
Second: jimpunk, for reasons unknown, sends a cryptic "unsubscribe"
message.
Second: abelinkoln sends a series of links to works that are, for the
most part, not his own.
Third: Abe sends more links interspersed by reply text.
Third: Abe signs off...
So at that point, we had a lot of input, some discussion, and a
growing sense of discord, and the disappearance of two of the
artists, neither of whom gave a reason for leaving.
Then on June 14, 2005 11:16:07 PM PDT, Robert Labossiere rummaged
around in his footlocker, found a hand grenade and lobbed it under
the sofa like so:
i find the buzz around blogging is really dreary, really...
shortly followed by Brad Brace opening up with a flame thrower:
or: validated art-online (net.art) is merely/briefly the
default content for new software/applications
Which didn't sit well with Chris Ashley, for what I would think are
fairly obvious reasons. His replies were strong and to the point and
voiced obvious frustration.
such as:
And you joined this conversation because...?
and
Is this supposed to be the point at which I say "Hey,
Kominos, fuck off, you cunt!"? Would that make you
happy? And then you can say, "See, I was right about
those bloggers."
No, I'll maintain my composure instead. I think I'll
ignore your posts from now on.
and a few posts later, some of which were actually not unpleasant and
a few were nice, (including my own, *sniff*) you (Tom Moody) chimed
in with your voice of frustration.
So, I get a sense of a lot of unfocussed anger and frustration from a
variety of quarters.
I'm not one to suggest we all stand in a circle around a fire and
sing Kumbaya, but I think it would be very good if we, as a
collective entity simply focus on the topic at hand, and try to be
nice, and say smart things about what we find here. Smart ass is one
thing, but cruel and dismissive is another. Be ready to say "Oooops -
Sorry." Lord knows I do - at least 20 times a day - but that's
because I'm a clumsy oaf who needs new glasses.
In conclusion:
Mr Moody, please do reconsider your unsubscription from this list. I
took no offence at your remarks, and while I may have been a tad
sarcastic, I do try to choose my words carefully - I try to reduce
complete misinterpretation.
I even consider being a blowhard some kind of an achievement these
days - given my history of asthma, allergy, bronchitis and lung
infection...
:-/
best regards,
HW
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