Meta-Ken

Finished reading Holtzman's "Digital Mantras" today. Quite an interesting read, although at times I was put off by the author's repetition of a few key points. Reminiscent of Hofstadter's "Gödel, Escher and Bach", Holtzman weaves several schools of thought together and comes to some interesting conclusions about the future of role of computers in the advancement of art, science, philosophy and even religion. The book offers a fascinating glimpses into the rise of structuralism and it applications in the studies of linguistics, visual arts and music. Along the way the book is interspersed with biographical and autobiographical tidbits which added a much needed human element to the story. Overall, I was impressed with this book - you can check it out at Amazon.com here.

This book came out in 1995, and one of the topics Holtzman touches on is Virtual Reality. Remember Virtual Reality? That amazing idea from the 90's that seemed to fade into obscurity just as quickly as it arose. Perhaps the public's expectations were too high. We were expecting the HoloDeck from Star Trek and we got something that was more akin to an early version of Atari's Pong. I remember thinking then, about 10 years ago, that technologies such as the Internet and Virtual Reality were going to radically reshape the world as we know it. I wrote a paper in college arguing that networking technologies such as the World Wide Web would change the way people mobilize political action, that far-reaching virtual communities could balance the power of geographically localized states. Looking back now, I wonder - is that change really happening? Things certainly don't feel that different. But perhaps terrorists are using the web to plot the destruction of the United States? Perhaps the blogosphere is going to find a place along side traditional media as a source of news? But there's still not much happening on the Virtual Reality front. Not that I read in the papers at least. I want my "Neuromancer"-style virtual reality network naviagation interface already! :)

This post was greated by DashBlog - a Tiger dashboard widget for posting to any blog that supports BloggerAPI. Check it out at http://dashblog.theonelab.com .

I still feel like a newborn baby trying to navigate my way around Tiger. Most keyboard shortcuts are only executed after some fumbling around with control, option and command keys..right now, they are indistinguishable so I end up trying them all until one works! Haha..

Here's a shot of the work from the last session. More shading on my right buttock and upper right thigh, as well as some on the right-middle portion of my back.

I just picked up a new 12" Powerbook G4 Laptop. I'm impressed with it so far. It's a big leap for me since I've always been a PC user. I was a bit hesitant with the recent announcement that Apple would be moving towards an Intel-based platform, but I think I've made the right decision. Along with the move to a new computer and operating system, I decided to move to a new music production platform - Abelton Live. I think this means I'll be spending a lot of time in front of the computer for the next few weeks (months?).

Japanese woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e and Shin Hanga) just might be my new favorite way to blow money. Check out these prints I just acquired by Hasui and Kuniyoshi. Beautiful stuff! I'm especially keen on Kuniyoshi's prints since they are often used as tattoo designs. You can click on the images below to view a larger image.

Hasui's "Miyajima Shrine in Snow"


Kuniyoshi's "Hayata Hironao Kills A Nue" (from the "800 Hero's Of Our Country's Suikoden" Series).


Want to learn more about Ukiyo-e? Check out this link.

Got some work done on my back yesterday, will post pics in a few days.