Life Without Wires

It's grand once you're in...

I am dipping in and out of my twitter account in the last few days as if it’s cold water. Its just not an attractive proposition to tweet again. It was when I was living in the city and running things that i found twitter useful (last year)- I used twitter for organising, event management, reporting on an event, group texting…that sort of thing. I don’t need that at the moment- To be that out there. I’ve enjoyed being private this year. Then I read this article by Damien Mulley today.

Why? Why would I put myself into that expanding, chaotic mess? For what?

I’ll still give it a go. But as with all of these things I think you need a reason to use the Twitter tool. If I have to let a lot of people know what I’ve seen, or what to do (e.g. if I’m organising an event) or if a riot breaks out on Grafton St. and I’m there, I’ll tweet. If I make an album and want to keep my fans happy I’ll tweet. Otherwise…I don’t know. Biz Stone, founder of twitter, thinks people are not quite getting the point of twitter…I think this is probably more true in Ireland, where the city’s so bloody small you can just shout across the street at someone rather than go through the bother of tweeting everybody…

Many people have assumed that Twitter is just another social network, some kind of micro-blogging service, or both. It can be these things but primarily Twitter serves as a real-time information network powered by people around the world discovering what’s happening and sharing the news. The Iranian election was the most discussed issue on Twitter in the final year of a decade defined by advancements in information access.

via Why we can never rest: a year in the life of Twitter – Times Online.

“Like things I have to look at: red hair and Rothkos, as if the angels just have to show. In fairness to you I must revise this romance to rust, trade in this stash for cash, trade in these goods for ash. In fairness to you I will stare the paint right off this sill, beat down the floor with my feet ’till you and I have time to be still.”

Angels Just Have to Show- Karate.

The games industry and the film industry are converging, they say. Games make an estimated 44 billion a year. The film industry as it exists at the moment is declining, i hear. I can’t find the figures for 2009, but the money made in film is significantly less than is made by games- in the region of 6-7 billion as far as i can tell.

so what happens when the gamers start paying for movies?

I’m excited by the prospect. The Nintendo Wii brought the peripheral studies that were going on in Haptics to the world. MIT Media Lab were doing work on this years ago, but always made it sound so complicated- it was no fun. Interactivity and new user interfaces on the Wii have changed the way people do things, its brought them into the game. Its nerdy stuff simplified.

The reason I’m interested in this is because I wonder about the possibilities of new forms of filmmaking and film viewing using the games channel rather than the film channel to produce and develop your work. What i mean is- would the games industry fund a new model of the film production industry?

In the old days when people used to go to the cinema for new experiences and used to pay for the privilege, filmmakers were given money to experiment and make compelling work. Can this model be translated to the gamers? Surely the games industry have a few million to spare to put into the pockets of aspiring filmmakers looking for new avenues of experimentation and development. Dare i say it- to allow them to experiment and produce ART?

Games are going to need better stories, better direction, better production. Is it just a question of a change of paradigm for filmmakers? For me?

A couple of friends of mine shared this movie with me:
Sita Sings the Blues

Its lovely. This is how it should be done. Its Creative Commons, which means its free to share. I love when people go this way with their work. Of course, you need lots of talent. The director (Nina Paley) describes her approach really well:

People have been making money in Free Software for years; it’s time for Free Culture to follow

I can’t wait to download the whole thing and watch it. Maybe I’ll organise a screening…hmmm….

Cannons and Muses Moran Been-noon discusses this book by Suzi Gablik about art and politics:

“Autonomous art,” as Gablik presents it in her book, is potentially more aggressive politically than politically intended art. This claim established any art as political, whether the artist constructs it as such or not. Gablik believes there is no escape from the prison society enforces upon art, and encourages those who produce culture to be wise and choose the cell containing their work instead of allowing it to be assigned by someone else.

Art and politics feels like a difficult mix. How can you create freely, be removed enough to reveal some sort of universal truth, if you’re playing politician?

If any art is political, then it doesn’t matter one way or another if the artist considers himself/herself political. I believe the most exciting and liberating political art is made in a kind of bubble. Its a spontaneous eruption and may have little to do with the politics that inform it. This doesn’t mean its not political. Its just truthful. Its gets to the heart of politics. When I worked with the Chicago Independent Television collective to start an independent tv channel we often discussed how ‘political’ the show should be. the mix that came out of it shows that you can go one way or the other- its all effective as long as its truthful. Its good if it shows you the soul of the artist(s) in one way or the other- that way you can see the true effects of war, oppression, poverty, even positive political impact like liberation, social justice, change…

During the most oppressive time of the Bush regime (when he was re-elected) I noticed a shift in what radical “political” artists were spontaneously producing. It was more about joy and release, less about a message. But it was still political.

This liberates the artist. the political artist equates to the artist in any context. political artist == any artist == artist, regardless of conflict. art is art, the cell is chosen. its a question of awareness.

Make art not war! as Glenn Hansard said. Kind of.

last year i contributed to a discussion that outlined new opportunities in the ‘knowledge economy’ in Ireland. Neil Leyden of Calico Media suggested ‘A vision for an International Content Services Centre’. you can read the proposal and comments, including my own, here.
So now the Minister has had a read:

“We are also considering the establishment of an international content services centre which would allow Irish and international content owners in film, video, music and multimedia to distribute their content in a fair and equitable manner.”

Looking at it now there is some evidence of my reluctance to get involved in an uncertain future producing ‘content’, but still some hope. If the government did begin to define a way innovation and art might be supported in a more radical way, I wonder would I feel more optimistic about the possibilities of survival working with such things?

Lucy Jones filmed a thunder storm out her back yard in Ireland:

Thunder sky from Lucy Jones on Vimeo.

Riceboy Sleeps does beautiful video art and music i’d like to see in a dark room:

Riceboy Sleeps – Daníell in the sea from sigur-ros.co.uk on Vimeo.

I have this image in my head at 32 years of age. You have to choose what to bring with you on a departing ship. You can bring anything you like from your life. But anything you bring is all you have for the rest of it. Its the removal of potential and storing for the future. So choose five things to put on the ship before it leaves, things to carry with you until you die. Anything else is left behind on the shore.
I haven’t decided on my list yet, but its got family, a house to live in, some money, friends and yoga on it. Things seem pretty simple if you’re on your way out. Maybe too simple, but that’s the image in my head.

Today i went to the job club, to see what i might find in the way of work or inspiration. what i came away with after the meeting is a sense of just how far i’ve moved away from the mainstream, in my approach. i either need to get back in the mainstream or move away altogether. if i continue to drift, i might end up like this guy, which mightn’t be so bad:
Aleister Crowley:>
English occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, spy and yogi.
Crowley was also a chess player, painter, astrologer, hedonist, bisexual, drug experimenter, and social critic.

During the meeting of the job club, I rather embarressingly referred to an out of body experience i had by way of introduction to the group. This is not normal behaviour in a social context, and is even less so in a professional environment where one is supposedly looking for employment assistance and advice. Needless to say it caused some shuffling and shifting in seats, accompanied by concerned yet encouraging hmmms and aaaahs and a couple of understanding smiles from the pretty ladies. The out of body experience was, I felt, relevant, given that I had it the last time i tried to go for a job I did not want. I couldn’t control it and I was attempting to explain that i am in something of a quandary. Even if the kind of work i’m looking for is available, were I to go for it, its possible i don’t even want it.

I have gained some clarity at least. Perhaps I did have a genuine out of body experience, and perhaps I should try to have more. Luckily I was sitting next to an Indian woman who saw the whole thing as perfectly normal, so I felt more comfortable. But it indicates to me that i am not reconciled to the fact that I am in need of work, and that I am inclined to talk this way to people who do not want to hear that sort of thing.

So I need to either shut up and get really good and speaking normally in social situations, or let loose and allow this strange new world to open up for me. I hear artists like David Byrne talk about such things all the time. David Lynch uses transendental meditation in his work and noone bats an eyelid. I sit amongst a group looking for a job and I repeat things I think of as normal. I describe the reality of the situation as I see, or experience it. Where does that leave me? I know the discomfort I caused was because of my own lack of resolution. Do I support this kind of talk? Do i want to say this kind of thing?

I should explain, not that it will do any good. In an interview for a job I had held previously, I found myself talking about things I had been interested in last year but that I’ve stopped being interested in this year. I spoke about financial forecasts to the interviewer, and said I’d be very interested in owning an iPhone. Now I obviously didn’t do a good acting job, because not only are these things of little interest to me at the moment, but I didn’t manage to convince the interviewer that i was really into it either. The way this manifested itself at the time was in what i would describe as an out of body experience. I was fully aware of the moment and saw myself from outside talking about things that had no connection to my real self. I was saying the right things, but i wasn’t inside the things I was saying.

So it was no surprise I didn’t get the job. It was a surprise when the company called me to express their confusion about what had happened. The way they phrased it:
“…it was as though you weren’t there.”
Now I have the HR people talking funny.

i’m reading about the Stoics. I’m seeing some similarities between them and the yogis. I should be looking for a job…anyway…The Stoic philosophy of an inner freedom with respect to an outer world, subject to Nature, is ringing some bells. Also there’s the idea of a sage, who’s basically “got it”, who understands Nature and the universe, and can distinguish the real and its components- they’re enlightened. There is a reference to the influence of Eastern philosophies on Stoicism. Based on the little I know about yoga, and the even less I’ve been reading about Stoicism, its helping me to understand both a little better.

Since going to a workshop with Dr. M.A. Jayashree & Prof. M.A. Narasimhan in Dublin a couple of months ago I’ve been mulling over one of the ideas they presented to us during the workshop. Their depth of knowledge was humbling yet it was clear and they were presented in a warm, charming and understandable manner.

The practice of yoga is not a religion. It is designed to facilitate an awareness of the inner Self, so that you can decide for your Self. If you subsequently get drawn to religion, fine, since that’s what’s right for you. You find your niche. But first you have to know your Self, so you know You are making the decision. The Stoics also had a distinction between the emotions/passions and the Self. Or rather, a distinction between what our bodies or instincts might lead us to do, or act, and what our greater nature might decide with a spiritual detachment.

I think it means just take a breath, or count to ten, and get really good at that by practicing yoga.

Its interesting to read how Stoicism introduced conscience, Spirit, virtue and other concepts to Christianity. Its also pretty obvious that the Yogis were there first, and that they were all saying the same thing in different ways.