Review of some recent books and a couple of things, mostly liked -
Interagir, Avec les technologies numeriques, Nouvelles de Danse, 2004.
This is a Belgian journal special issue devoted to dance and technology;
there are articles by Johannes Birringer, La Danse et la perception
interactives), Sandrine Chiri (Panorama des capteurs - which I've found
highly useful in thinking through activated dancers/environments),
Patricia Kuypers and Florence Corin (Entretien autour d'Isadora, avec Mark
Coniglio et Dawn Stoppiello), etc. There is an accompanying DVD with trial
software (including Isadora), and video/photography of some of the dance-
work. Isadora alone makes it worthwhile, although the whole issue is
excellent and important if one is working with the intersection of dance
and multimedia.
Handbook of Inaesthetics, Alain Badiou, Stanford, 2005. I've been reading
'into' Badiou, at first because of his intersection of mathematics, math-
esis, ontology, and philosophy, but this book is a good accompaniment to
the Interagir above; there are useful articles on dance, cinema, and
theater, among other things. At first I resisted his list of six
'principles of dance,' but then I found them useful, precisely through
this resistance, in working out my own position. There are articles on
art, poetry, Mallarme, etc., an excellent volume.
Mind Performance Hacks, Tips and Tools for Overclocking Your Brain, Ron
Hale-Evans, O'Reilly, 2006. This reads as an fascinating sequel to Mind
Hacks, with stress on practicality - mnemonics or mental arithmetic for
example. There are strange hacks such as 'Predict the Length of a Life-
Time' and 'Turn your Hands into an Abacus.' I don't feel I have the
stamina to carry out any of these on a regular basis, but then I don't
have the stamina for meditation either. On the other hand, the book makes
for fascinating reading, and the presentation of mind, as in Mind Hacks,
seems to be opening some new territory of thinking between cog. sci. and
phenomenology that is definitely worth following. I recommend both these
books highly (if you belong to Safari and/or have the money). Now I have
to 'Stop my Memory-Buffer Overrun' (hack 56) and move on.
Running Linux, Fifth Edition, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer and Matt Welsh, 5th
Edition, O'Reilly, 2006, now around 970 pages long. I remember the first
book from O'Reilly w/RedHat 2+ or some such years ago; it was maybe 70
pages in length (max). Now linux is full-blown, the articles in Linux
Journal are more technical, less hack, aimed to some extent at Windows
users and the enterprise. Linux is absolutely wonderful; I gather that
Fries, the large L.A. computer store, is now selling desktop computers
with Lindows for under $200. And linux is becoming increasingly multi-
media as well; it's an exciting time - think of linux as a kind of green
OS or software - it runs on just about anything, and runs well. Anyway,
Running Linux is the one essential book, I think; it covers just about
everything, from the usual chapters on programming and text processing,
to chapters on multimedia, office suites, productivity, etc. The nice
thing about the book is that it seems to work on every level - a beginner
can use it, as well as someone extremely familiar with linux. The book is
expensive - now up to $49.95 USD, but you probably won't need anything
else.
The Official Blender 2.3 Guide, Free 3D Creation Suite for Modeling,
Animation, and Rendering, Ton Roosendall, Stefano Selleri, et. al., No
Starch Press. The Blender guides have also grown in size - this is now 768
pages in size, and as expensive as Running Linux. Blender is amazing - an
incredibly small 3D modeling system that, again, runs on just about any-
thing, from Mac (OS X and higher) through Linux and Windows. This book
doesn't cover game creation, but everything else; there are very lengthy
sections on the interface (absolutely necessary), mesh modeling, Python
(Blender runs on Python and you can use programming directly if you want),
radiosity, character animation, and more. I use Blender a lot; spectacular
effects can be created in an hour or so, and you can use both still image
and video for texture-mapping - the latter lends itself to a total fluid
projective environment. If you want to use Blender, I'd suggest you down-
load it (it's free), and experiment; read whatever information is
available on the site and chats. You may well end up with the book, but at
least you'll have a good idea of the system at first.
Degunking your Home, Joli Ballew, Paraglyph, 2006. I asked to review this
book, and Azure and I have been reading it. I can't find anything, my
bureau drawers are a mess (I guess they're bureau drawers, in a second-
hand thingy that came with the place), I keep finding batteries everywhere
(which have to be repeatedly checked), etc. etc. This is a practical and
relatively cheap ($19.99) book to help you organize your home. It's good.
We're starting to put things in place. Most of the
