Alan Sondheim on Thu, 8 Jan 2009 10:55:44 +0100 (CET)


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<nettime> sondheimogram [x5: HNY, migraine, self-induct, how to, incomplete]


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Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>

     HAPPY NEW YEAR ANNUAL HAPPY NEW YEAR VIDEO!   
     writing under migraine   
     Self-Induction
     How to view The Accidental Artist exhibition in Second Life    
     incomplete generation  

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Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:16:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
Subject: HAPPY NEW YEAR ANNUAL HAPPY NEW YEAR VIDEO!   

HAPPY NEW YEAR ANNUAL HAPPY NEW YEAR VIDEO FROM AZURE AND ALAN
AND JULU TWINE AND ALAN DOJOJI AND OUR CAT OSSI WHO SHOULD COME FIRST
AND HOPE EVERYTHING IS BETTER!
http://www.alansondheim.org/happynewyear.mp4

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Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 14:30:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
Subject: writing under migraine   

writing under migraine
writing this with eyes shut - the light flashes are brilliant, slight buzz
in the eas, the usual reverse-C pattern is distroted, ragged, for some
reason - not sure - the strokes are identical though - except there are
blue/black/yellow-white - perhaps why I find those colors hideous? in the
middle of the installation mostly pinks and reds, tissue, but yes, an
avoidance of this. convera=sation behind me, loud, we're in a cafe, I
don't want to go out into the sunlight p it would be too much to handle.
coupled with a second a few days ago and coupled further with a crisis
i've been going through, worry abou surviving it the insomnia raging
although last night i took ambien for the first time might be contributing
to the migraine, not sure - reverse C into Z - it's not staying table,
slight nausea  growing a bit this is severe - thinking as Azure says
worried about me for the first time actually feeling as if i'm old, think
that hit after not getting the wvu grants so we're disconnected from that
university - the result is no university affiliation and back in the loft
talking to myself, that kind of garrett writing that doesn't do anyone any
good internet notwithsatnding - so the result - that the writing seeps out
becomes maudlin - that piece i just sent out with the text that was then
modified several times - i think it was yesterday morning - the
modifications are great, the first paragraph hideous - i don't seem to be
able to get byeond the hideous at this point - the Z- has warped into a
blunted v-shaped pattern with wide separation  the geometry's not constant
here - topology is - it's moved to the upper and lower portions of the
visual field with closed eye s- wonder why for me it always opens to the
left - in other words revser C which is non-symmetric - headache slightly
more inthe perfrontal right lobe i think - well fells it's from there, who
knows - on the left side more of a dull beat - breating irregular - every
night i think - i'm going to die soon, i've done nothing, i wont know the
weather the next day, what azure will think or say the morning after,
whether our cat will miss me - well this brings tears to my eyes - this is
totally self indulgent but it's my own personal hell which grows day by
day at thispoint - there's no literature in it - heard Lyotard was
frightened beyod elief before he died - David Bohm almost collapsee d - I
think maybe did collapse -- over insecurity in terms of where he was
living - we're up i the air GIVE US A REASON TO COME AND WE'LL BE THERE,
but who would want to hideous slouching behind azure, the pattern has gone
down to a signnle line or the other is outside the visual field which is
iteresting, there's a color change,  some sortof dull sphere on the lower
right, i have no explanation for this but a pool where the zigzag seems to
be gathering - someone just gave me two advil  well when i began typing
this, perhaps that is making the change, the headache has moved from the
frontal to the right-hand brain top and more to the right-side the left
it's gone away, the nauseua is increasing, slight panic attack coming on i
must look ridiculous typing this i a restaurant eyes closed - i just want
to know i have a few years maybe a decade left - just to keep working -
i'm knowing nothing, the little success i'm having i wish i had decades
ago when i could have appreciated it - now i'm a relic - playing agan
january 25 - this all based on stuff recorded in the 50s at leat they
allow me to record again at times -- i worry aboutesp-disk and its
reputation although at least now they're trying to set things right -
maybe it will work, esp was in an inpossible situation but not as
impossible as the musicians, music pounding into my head although it's
low, something popular, i don't know, i don't know popular tunes - just a
remanant up the upper right, a few flashes and reverberations, vibrations,
that's all, the field is gone, the headache is a bit stronger, isn't that
how it always is, i sho0uld leave here, aking a spectacle of myself, im
not blind, what am i doing typing away, probably mistake after mistake,
sometimes i catch them - for all i know my hands have slipped on the keys
- that's what my life has een like - keys sllippe all over the place - i
regret my regrets, that's about as dead and dull as it gets... will stop
now don't want to bore you, it sounds like someone is singing on and on,
that's on wait, on and on, think i have that right, i'm not breathig
enough - more tests and sleep clinic coming up, alreadyhad xrays and
consultations and bloodwork twice, something is bound to show up, idon't
want to live like this, it burdens mywork, infects it...

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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 04:09:59 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
Subject: Self-Induction

Self-Induction

>From Johnson's Dictionary:

Aporia: A figure in rhetorick, by which the speaker shews, that he doubts
where to begin for the multitude of matter, or what to say in some strange
and ambiguous thing; and doth, as it were, argue the case with himself.

Aposiopesis: A form of speech, by which the speaker, through some
affection, as sorrow, bashfulness, fear, anger, or vehemency, breaks off
his speech before it be all ended. A figure, when, seeking of a thing, we
yet seem to conceal it, though indeed we aggravate it, or when the course
of the sentence begun is so stayed, as thereby some part of the sentence,
not being uttered, may be understood. - Smith

Aporrhoea: Effluvium; emanation; something emitted by another. Not in use.

Art: [first definition, only one close art-making of any sort] The power
of doing something not taught by nature and instinct; as, to walk is
natural, to dance is an art.


>> Recursion in Second Life: automated vertical movement with Dojoji
seated on fleeing object = self-fleeing object (movement in determined
stages). There are 125 megabytes of files here but the phenomenon is
unusual and has been more or less captured; check out
http://www.alansondheim.org/ for self-induction pngs, .mov, and .mp4. The
rise seems to top out at 4117 SL units; at least on this occasion, every-
thing stopped. Falling objects (the ones not immediately above the
rocket-prim) meander down, often go off-world.

>> Or not exactly recursion but a repetitive act which constantly steps-up
as object moves, dragging the catalyst with it (catalyst seated on object,
object as catalyst-bed): the prey flees the hunter who rides on its back -
but of course the hunter never catches the pray, which drags the hunter
along with it. Or rather, the parasite move the thing and thereby creates
a vector, exploration, culture.

>> But each particular command, each action is limited; this is not a
continuous automated movement but a movement relying on a performative
repeatedly called upon - there is a double level at work, the level of the
script creating flight, and the level of the avatar Dojoji following suit.
In this Dojoji is not only passive but seated.

>> Therefore it is in the level and performative of the signal itself that
flight is initiated, which is then carried out for the set amount of time
by the script. Think of this as an autonomic nervous system, sensing and
reacting on a quantum level and thereby constructing a chain of events
which continue until what might be a ceiling is reached - in which case
the whole thing stalls. Note that the ceiling may well be artificial, a
result of my computer at this end acting upon the chain, as I attempted to
record everything going on.

>> And of course what is going on is _miniscule_; the excitement lies in
the (false) glimmerings of artificial life as the total local environ-
ment - call this the _habitus_ takes over from the avatar controller and
makes a line for itself.

>> Why _self-induction_? Because the avatar and object-environment, con-
sidered as a _single_ objects, acts reflexively upon itself, just as a
coil for example self-induces. Let the initial charge be the establishment
of the circuit by the avatar controller, and the continuous charging, much
as occurs in an induction (spark) coil be the result of self-action - the
rest follows suit.

>> Of course this is at best a metaphor; still, one can imagine a _system_
of objects, scripts, and avatars, interacting as if in mid-air in Second
Life, producing the equivalent of simple binary circuits. Two possible
models (among many): simple calculation; and cellular automata behavior.


>From Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration:

The practical doctrine of nature we necessarily divide into two parts,
corresponding to those of speculative; for physics, or the inquiry of
efficient and material causes, produces mechanics; and metaphysics, the
inquiry of forms, produces magic; whilst the inquiry of final causes is a
barren thing, or as a virgin consecrated to God.


To access the Odyssey exhibition The Accidental Artist:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22

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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 15:47:56 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
Subject: How to view The Accidental Artist exhibition in Second Life    

How to view The Accidental Artist exhibition in Second Life

The exhibition is quite complex now. Here's some suggestion when visiting:

1. Try turning the glow off. Go to preferences, graphics, and uncheck
basic shading, if it's on. Basic shading seems to use up more resources
than anything else with the rendering engine. You can also set things like
rendering distance; the lower the distance, the faster the loading.

2. Turn the video media button off. This on the lower right-hand corner of
the screen. If you turn it on, the texture-mapping consumes a huge amount
of resources. On the other hand, the audio for the parcel (the audio
button) runs fairly lean.

3. If you find the space too cluttered to enter, try flying in.

4. If you find flying in too cluttered, fly higher, and drop in. There is
a dome in the center of the space which you can enter.

5. Most objects on the ground level (and some beneath the ground, on the
seafloor) will flee from you - what looks crowded from a distance might
well clear out.

6. If it clears out, look up - you'll see all sorts of things above you.

7. Fly vertically to see the rest of the exhibition. If you can't fly as
high as you want, click control-alt-d, which opens up an advanced menu.
Open the menu and get rid of camera constraints. You can then move the
camera at a great distance from your avatar body - your viewpoint moves
independently, and you can move at least to the top of the exhibition,
which is maybe a mile or so up, SL measurement.

8. If you get stuck anywhere, teleport back in.

9. Try moving inside the objects; the interior textures are often
different from the exterior ones (this is almost always the case with the
spheres).

10. You can push objects vertically into the sky by moving beneath them
and flying; they flee upwards.

11. You can see the exhibition 'differently' by using the advanced menu,
going to render, and then looking for info - clicking on any one of the
info options will give you different viewpoints.

12. You can often sit on moving objects, which will whirl you around; if
you sit on an object that moves vertically as a result of your proximity,
you can ride it up. When you stand up again, you can fall down back into
the space. The riding height seems to be around 4117 SL units, but unless
you have a flight bracelet or feather, you probably won't go that high.

13. Moving about on the ground level, keep the sound turned on (lower
right), and you'll hear a variety of songs about SL and language. These
mix with a number of looping sound modules embedded in the space.

14. Go to
http://www.kippiefriedkin.com/resources/secondlife-viewer-cheatsheet.pdf
and you'll find shortcuts for all sorts of rendering possibilities; most
of these are also available in the menu or advanced menu.

15. If you've been moving around SL a lot, go to preferences, and empty
your cache; this might speed things up. You'll have to restart SL again.

16. If you see a sign for teleporting, try it. Sometimes it will lead back
to the ground level, sometimes to the seabed, sometimes to a skysphere.
All of these locations have clickable objects which will take you else-
where (or back to the same space but at a slightly different location).
You might have to right-click on the object, then click on teleport - or
you might just left click - it depends on the object.

17, Try different 'lenses' - click on control-8 to make the image wide-
angle, control-9 to return to normal, control-0 for telephoto. Repeated
clicks work as well - with control-8 you can create extreme distortions.

18, Try moving into 'small' spaces and look about. You can save snapshots
of anything you see, on your hard drive.

19. That's about it. The general idea is to run lean, fly about, teleport
back if you're stuck, play with the controls. The architecture is constan-
tly changing and deconstructing itself - play with that....

To go into the space, as always, go to secondlife.com, get an avatar, go
through the initial 'training' which is usually under five minutes, then
click on the URL below:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22

Let me know if you have any difficulties.

- Alan

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Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 03:27:22 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
Subject: incomplete generation  

incomplete generation

Yamantaka texturing in new internal skysphere.
Rotations of every object accomplished.
Buddhist generation noted.
Dojoji generation noted.
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve1.png
Dojoji completion noted.
Buddhist completion noted.
Dojoji generates Dojoji.
Generation redux.
Completion redux.
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve2.png
Samsara occlusion noted.
Mindfulness noted.
Julu Twine noted and emptiness occlusion.
Emptiness generation.
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve3.png
Extended occlusion of generation.
Extended occlusion of completing.
"I have worked on this installation for eight months.
Or thereupon eight months.
I do not dream in virtual prims.
My dreams are more real than real.
My dreams = generation.
My dreams = occlusion."
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve4.png
The interior = occlusion.
The interior = opaque = Brewster angle.
Within remains within.
Within = emptiness = Yamantaka.
"There are times I am sickened by this continuous
creation.
I desire to move on to something else.
My desire = completion.
Completion = occlusion = emptiness.
This condition without mindfulness is 'defuge.'
I am within the generation-occlusion of defuge."
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve5.png
This is crash-occlusion.
Second Life forbidden entry.
Or entry only into the Visible of Samsara.
No movement, no thing, no completion.
Occlusion generation.
To be sure occlusion generation.
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve6.png
Everything from the outside.
Everything visible = potential of being-visible.
Yamantaka invisible from the outside.
Outside = here.
Inside = nowhere.
"It's as if things might be accomplished, but then,
it's clear nothing happens, the interior of the
world remains = is = opaque, obdurate. It's not
that nothing's there, it's that there's nothing."
Generation = game.
Completion = ontology.
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve7.png
Completion = no ontology.
"What of it."
>From the outside = everything visible.
"It's as if there's no interior."
"It's as if there's no barrier, it's all the same."
>From the inside, opaque.
"It's as if there's no exterior."
"There's nothing else."
"Yamantaka, you mean, there's nothing else, not
even that?"
Yamantaka = generation.
>From the outside everything incomplete.
= all things incomplete.
= the game continues.
= there's no game.
"And so forth, sophistry, let the image carry
weight of something inconceivable, complete or
incomplete, no difference, no differance."
http://www.alansondheim.org/ibelieve8.png

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22

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