arts & ego interactive

Software corporates' unfortunate nationalism

route — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I wrote this a few months ago, before I moved to the Netherlands.

Zune has just assured me that GB (my computer setting) is not part of the UK (my live email setting). Doh – they’re the same country! Technically, the diﬀerence is Northern Ireland. But then, I’m signing in with a .IE mail address. So what’s happening: is Microsoﬅ taking sides in that old conﬂict? That’s how it seems.

the annual news majig

route — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:31:59 +0000

It’s time for that annual news majig.

still in Paris
still contracting computing skills to clients
still doing that engineering thang
still not sitting still
never will

I’ve not been sitting on my hobby arse either. In early 2011 I constructed corrupt press, a poetry press. It’s published 3 collections & 15 chapbooks from 18 diﬀerent authors. They’ve got some smashing reviews, too, supporting my belief that Paris is a rich source of English language poetry. Thanks to all the poets for their brilliant books. :-)

Eindhoven

route — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:49:18 +0000

I’ve just accepted work in Eindhoven, to start in the middle of February. Another country … :-)

30 years ago

route — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:47:57 +0000

I just got a wee bit nostalgic.

30 years ago – and a little bit – I blagged myself a summer holiday job in Cambridge. The product being built did rather well. Subsequent products from the same people have been really rather successful.

I was a spotty polytechnic summer holiday job student, I had no real role in the thing, of course – but I was there. And it was good. :-)

corrupt press

route — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 06:46:54 +0000

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been setting up corrupt press, a small poetry publisher. Preparing books for publication is a lot of work! Anyway, please do go have a look, there’s four great books (although I’m ever so slightly biased), with more to come.

The Paris launch is on May 10th at Poets Live.

App Store continues to be useless

route — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:07:04 +0000

Right now, I’m being reminded Apple’s restrictions make their App Store, and in consequence their products, pretty useless.

I want a copy of my website in my pocket, so I always have access to my work. I sometimes have the unexpected opportunity to read: I need full access to my work if I’m going to select poems appropriate in the context. Furthermore, I like to be able to revise, and see the results of the revision. For all of that, I need the webserver.

I used to own a Sharp pocket computer, a Zaurus. It did the job perfectly well: it ran Apache, and I’d have my website in my pocket whenever I needed it.

Apache is a perfectly good product, long etablished, highly reliable, which does exactly what I want. Indeed, Apple so like it they ship a copy on every iMac. However, their incomprehensible restrictions prevent it’s installation on my iPod. In consequence, I cannot keep a copy of my website on my iPod, so I cannot have a copy of my current work on me.

Of course, you might pretend, you can use the iPod’s wiﬁ to browse the web when you need to do this. But anyone who’s attempted to use public internet connectively will know how unreliable it is. Connectivity remains uncommon, and is rarely free, let alone reliable and eﬀective. I cannot depend on having access to my online website whenever I need access to my work.

Apple’s anti-web art attitude is very disappointing. For me, it makes their product pretty useless for much more than playing music, admittedly it’s core purpose. I’ve previously pointed out their app store is laid out to prevent comparison of product details … well, evidentally, that’s because you can’t buy products with useful details anyway.

All I want to do is run up a webserver that can manage SHTML so I can exploit my poetry. It’s not rocket science, but it’s contrary to Apple’s mistaken paternalism.

My main mobile is falling apart; I need to buy a new smartphone soon. Guess who’ll carefully check Microsoﬅ and Android. Gosh, you know, it took Google two seconds to show that you can run a webserver on a Windows 7 phone.

Vingt Magazine's 20 Questions

route — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:15:09 +0000

Vingt Magazine have published my answers to their 20 questions. I was asked because of my involvement with Poets Live. I made some new self-portraits for them.

I’m currently prooﬁng the ﬁrst two books for corrupt press, and they’re very good ﬁrst collections too. Of course, I would say that, wouldn’t I – but I mean it. You’ll be able to judge for yourself within a couple of months.

Wow … it’s a long long time since I’ve written a dear diary. Apologies, such things can be incredibly yucky.

revisited

route — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:04:55 +0000

I’ve revisited my old ﬁlm photos again. When I ﬁrst did so a couple of years ago, I presented the images I wanted to see when I took them. I soon reinterpreted, since the best turned out to be those damaged by mold, subsequently published in the smoke.

This time, I’ve reinterpreted the photos with my contemporary eyes. In particular, I’ve returned to old ‘experimentals’, and looked again at failed images. I didn’t have a chance to work with them when I ﬁrst took them: I remember being extremely frustrated that commercial printers refused to print the things, oﬅen despite my instructions (it was a major reason why I moved to slides). Now, ﬁnally, I can work with my experiments of thirty years ago.

But I’ve long forgotten many of the ideas behind the experiments: I’m no longer the person who took the images. So I’m presenting them damaged with the ﬂuﬀ of time—literally—they’ve covered in dust, hairs and other horrible gunk.

The ﬁﬅeen sets in revisited are 2G1, 2G2, 2G3, 2G4, 2G5, 2H1, 2H2, 2H3, 2H4, 2H5, 2I1, 2I2, 2I3, 2I4 and 2I5.

revisited (xii)

route — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:09:10 +0000

revisited (xii).

revisited (vi)

route — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:07:07 +0000

revisited (vi).