Apple II Forever

Well if you weren't convinced about switching to the mac platform... why not take a listen to this track from the 80's hailing the Apple II:
http://anthems.zdnet.co.uk/anthems/apple2forever.mp3

Its RAD!

site of the day

NO fucking idea what it means or says or does or resembles or how i got to it or anything.
but check THIS out.

The missing athletes

Does anybody else find the story of all the missing athletes (14 from Sierra Leone, 9 Cameroon, a Tanzanian boxer and a Bangladeshi runner) really funny???

I say good on 'em... anybody willing to go to the trouble of becoming an international athlete to escape their country/illegally migrate to Australia should be awarded visas, no questions asked! (if only I ruled the world, or at least Australia).

It just makes me smile, I don't know what the PC police would think of me laughing at the situation, but hey.

Just a bit more spam

Just a couple of project going down which we need some free labour for:


CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS


1. AMERIKA by Mike Parr

120 HOUR ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE
9-13 MAY, 2006
2 SITES: Performance Space and Art Gallery of NSW


2. INTIMATE TRANSACTIONS by Transmute Collective

IMMERSIVE INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION FOR TWO REMOTE PLAYERS
19-27 MAY, 2006
2 SITES: Performance Space and Artspace

PLEASE SEE INFORMATION ON BOTH THE PROJECTS BELOW.
Please contact Tallulah Kerr for DETAILS ON HOW TO VOLUNTEER.
For further information contact: Tallulah Kerr: e:
admin@performancespace.com.au , t: 02 9698 7235


AMERIKA by Mike Parr
ABOUT THE PROJECT

In 1979 as part of the Biennale of Sydney, Director Ren� Block planted a
tree on behalf of Joseph Beuys at the front of the Art Gallery of New
South Wales. A commemorative stone was laid which has since disappeared
and the significance of the site has become lost to the memory of the
city.

At the base of this art-historical tree, Mike Parr enacts his next Bride
performance. Parr will have the stump of his left arm �gilded� in gold
leaf. Over five days, he will sit and rest this golden arm upon the tree
for as long as possible while a live feed is broadcast into the theatre
at Performance Space.

This one-off event by Australia�s pioneer performance artist is open to
the public continuously at both sites, 24 hours a day.


12 VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 9 - 13 MAY, 2006

Both sites need to be staffed 24 hours per day for the five-day event
period. We are looking for two sets of volunteers - one group for
Performance Space and the other for the Art Gallery of NSW.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

General

- Fielding queries from members of the public regarding the project;
- Monitoring camera, video stream and modem reception;
- Liaison with staff and security in case of emergency;



Performance Space

- Maintaining tea/coffee table for visitors;
- Ensuring general cleanliness of exhibition space;



Art Gallery of NSW

- Attending to Mike's needs, eg. replenishing his supply of water;


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


INTIMATE TRANSACTIONS by Transmute Collective

Two players in distant locations experience an intense physical
connection... The Transmute Collective's groundbreaking interactive
installation invites players into a dark void to meet other players. Step
onto the BodyShelf, play and witness the flow of vision and text produced
by your remote relationship. Physical gestures create spectral, coloured
images, sound and text as each player gains a sensory awareness of the
web connecting them to another.

The Transmute Collective's interest in ecological science, philosophy,
dance and new technologies has generated this immersive installation.
Intimate Transactions has toured to Ars Electronica Festival, Austria,
the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and BIOS, Athens Greece. This
work is a collaboration between new media artist Keith Armstrong,
choreographer/performer Lisa O�Neill and sound artist Guy Webster.
www.intimatetransactions.com

10 VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 19 - 27 MAY, 2006

Both sites need to be staffed by two volunteers between 11.30am and
8.30pm daily.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES


- Fielding queries from members of the public regarding the project;
- Explaining what the work is about;
- Demonstrating how to interface and play with the work;
- Assisting the audience in their play and interaction with the work;
- Manage bookings for audiences (Intimate Transactions accommodates
- only one person at a time at each site);



WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU IF

- You are responsible, personable and punctual
- Have an interest in technology and performance plus basic computer
skills
- � (please note some training will be provided)
- Have previous performance or event experience (not compulsory)
- Can commit to several sessions and attend the induction sessions -
- Amerika - On-site training and meet-the-artist sessions -
Tuesday 2 May,5-7pm
- Intimate Transactions - On-site training and meet-the-artist
sessions - Thursday 18 May, 12-6pm



WE'LL PROVIDE
Complimentary membership to Performance Space for a year
Coffee, tea and snacks during your shifts
Camp bed for the 12pm-8am Amerika Shifts

INTERESTED?
You will need to complete an application form and email it back to us
(please contact Tallulah Kerr for form). Don't forget
to include your name, contact details, a short statement of interest and
complete the attached timetable outlining your availability.
For enquiries please contact Tallulah Kerr on t: 02 9698 7235, e:
admin@performancespace.com.au

::Listening to - Damien Jurado::

Programming

I've decided that I need to get serious about programming.
Its funny when you think about picking your language- its a bit like shopping for computers/applications/OS's... there are all kinds of emotional reason why one would choose a certain language over another.

I used to use pico and code C in linux because I figured it was hardcore and it would give me a good grounding. I don't know how true that is... but I guess it helped when I needed to build complicated expressions in max (which uses C-like syntax for its expressions). But all in all I get too bored with C- mainly cause I'm crap at keeping track of it all when the project blows out beyond one source file... but mostly its just too hard for me.

I have also been playing with SH scripts to automate my installations, got the shits with applescript -> its a beautiful thing when you tell a gallery assistant that all they need to do to turn your work on is to flick the switch on the wall. Soooo, i thought i might move into python (also the XBMC is completely based on python scripts) or something.
But;
Not entierly decided which way I'll turn.
I've grown a certian fondness for the Xcode text editor... its actually VERY nice. 
Played a bit with Java on there and I'm liking what I see!
Its SOOOOO much easier... plus Max/MSP now allows for embedding of Java applets in your patches, might stick with it a bit.

Advice is naturally welcome.

xbmc

I was going to write about my trip away and all that Jazz, but I got distracted by upgrading my xbox's dashboard to the latest version of XBMC (xbox media centre)... once more I am blown away by what that box does now.

There was a beautiful moment where I was on alison's laptop browsing and playing clips from my laptop's itunes library through the xbox. A bit of unnecesary complication- but the ability to control music and video remotely and stream through various protocols.

And this is from a machine I bought for under $200 including a remote control from chinatown, well add $80 for modchip and $180 for 200gb HD.

::Listening to - Artist | Track::

Well I'm Back

And I have some kool pictures to show from my time away- just have to find the usb adapter to my digital camera... 

Cute?

Found a site that is dedicated to cute pictures... so if you are feeling down, just go and peer at some fluffy Bunnies for a while.

::Listening to - Elliot Smith | Kill All Rockstars::

In recent times

I'm a bit all over the place at the moment, too many projects and not enough brain power/memory - can we upgrade that? We can?

Next week I will be up north (yay for getting out of sydney) to install that work. Am still programing the souund engine - and just crossing my fingers that the Video tracking engine I built a while ago still works...

Been doing some volunteer work for SliceTV, which as far as I can tell is an ingestion system for TVS (Channel 31). I'm supposed to setup their IT infastructure.

Was accepted into a show called safari which is run in the lead up to the Sydney Biennale... don't know if it has an official connection to this or not - but the good news is that its funded, well at least I don't have to pay for the space.

Attempting to do the whole freelance life again... I forgot how much crap there is to remember on a daily basis. I'm pretty much completely dependant on iCal to keep things in order, as I generally don't know what is going on from one minute to the next.

Incidentally I'm listening to the Bloc Party (don't cringe, wait till I finnish) Silent Alarm Remixed... and its actually VERY good, I know, I know - the Silent Alarm Album was a pile of shit so how can the remix album be so good? Well it seems that the things people did to the songs on the remix album is what they should have done in the first place... its really diverse and interesting with alot of freedom to explore left of centre aesthetics - if only they had been willing to take that risk, it would have been such a better album.
This said, the remix of Banquet is a pile of shit (disco crap), while I quite liked the original.

::Listening to - Bloc Party | Silent Alarm Remixed::

Music Stats

As per a post on Shannon's blog I tried out Last.fm.
I wasn't really sure what to think about it at the time so I just signed up to give it a go.
Essentially I think the radio driven by a community is an interesting concept- though I have never been able use the net as a radio station, don't know why, just feels wrong. Thus I am dismissing the last.fm player as completely uninteresting to me...
The part I do like it the statistics it builds, which is probably what most people object to, and I'm sure iTunes or whatever does also statistics but the last.fm page showing your top weekly artists and overall most listened to tracks/artists was a real eye opener.
A BIG flaw is that if you play some tracks that haven't been named just right- the iscrobbler app throws them out, making the stats a bit less than accurate - i.e. the stuff that doesn't have auto-online naming will not show up at all (sorry to the independant releases).

With that in mind my top artists are (and the number of times I played them):

1	Fennesz	69
2	Elliott Smith	50
3	The Microphones	38
4	The Notwist	28
4	Grand Salvo	28
6	Smog	27
6	Cat Power	27
8	Sigur Rós	23
9	Hood	22
10	TV on the Radio	21

Anyways I was surprised to find that I like Fennesz as much as I do!

::Listening to - take a look for yourselves::