Stories

Click away (day 194)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:35:00 +0000

Sometimes one more click doesn't cut it. Sometimes the unreal nature of digital communications gets louder than the real connections they are supposed to represent. Emails come in. Some get answered. Others sit in uncomfortable silence unable to generate a coherent response or be discarded. As the life stream goes by they scroll off the screen and the silence becomes the response. Sometimes they come back and do not take nothing for an answer. Emails go out. Some are answers and wish to be final. Some are missives and wish to be answered but are forgotten until the response comes. Some are FYIs and are confused when they elicit a response. Whole days go by where the conversations with people in the flesh are greatly outnumbered by those with people never seen. Eventually, the immediacy of digital communication gets confused for the efficiency of information surfing. A manic clicking fest has left a mass of waiting and frustration. Many conversations are in the air. Typing them will always be slower and that's why there needs to be many in the air. It's not more productive, it's the same. Except for one crucial difference: sometimes all the answers come at once and trigger a slight panic at seeing the day's end without an empty daybox. It's the feed for the involuntary scroll out. The drama of the inbox never ceases. It's a soap opera with the same characters and different actors. Apparently younger people don't do email. The drama has no doubt mutated to infect another medium.

I needed time away from the the clicks. I'm back now. I think.

A song for this post.

Alive in a cemetery (day 190)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:32:00 +0000

Just got back from the fourth installment of Paul Wong's 5 Projects. This time it was at the MountainView cemetery. For some reason before I went there I had visions of Halloween with spooky soundtracks and disturbing images. It wasn't that at all. Turns out Paul has a fascination with death in a way that I can relate to. There were 16 works in total, each really interesting. Some highlights:

Vigil 5.2 - Video documentation of Rebecca Belmore's performance at the Talking Stick Festival in 2002. She wrote the names of the missing women in the DTES on her body and screamed out their names then ripped the leaves and petals off of flowers with her mouth. She also nailed her dress to a pole and ripped it free. Repeatedly. A lot of grief.
60 Unit; Bruise - First colour video from Western Front, 1976. Paul Wong and Kenneth Fletcher exchange blood. The video was shown at Kenneth's grave site. He committed suicide two years after the video was shot.
in ten sity - an intense dance piece shot from above a padded room where bodies throw themselves about the room and each other. Dedicated to Kenneth Fletcher. It was projected on a petal-covered sheet underneath a tree. A lot of grief and frustration and energy.
Burka - slide show of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The slide show was projected on the wall, with a woman (mannequin) in a burka looking at it, lit from the inside. She is standing on what seems like traditional carpets but upon closer inspection there were woven guns and war machinery on them. The soundtrack is a machine voice. I wasn't able to quite make out what it was saying. It was interesting to see all the faces. Some looked very disconnected and dead even while alive. Others looked completely normal and happy.
Hungry Ghosts - A five channel piece about death. Different types of deaths, rituals around death, talk around death, violent death, natural death. A really touching piece.

Many other interesting pieces. The setting of the cemetery was really amazing. This was the best of the projects so far in my opinion. Everything worked really well together. I'm glad I went and gave it some time.

A song for this post.

The promise of compromise (day 189)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:49:00 +0000

The search for a portable S3D continued yesterday and today. Some incredibly useful people helped narrow down the search including Michael Verity, Vic Love, and Chris Lakes. There is no perfect solution out there but in the interest of time and future intrepid field stereographers of the S3D Centre, I had to make a decision. I settled on a system by Inition which integrates lower end but narrow Sony HVR-A1 cameras on a side by side rig, a LANC sync method, and a 3D preview monitor. The total weight should be around 30lbs but I'm missing some info to give a precise number. I think this system will be a nice complement to the full-featured Kerner rig with Sony HDC-P1 cameras.

All this last minute shopping has made me realize how much I hate making decisions. Yes, I'm a director and making decisions should be easy by now but sometimes knowing that there is no perfect solution is really heart-breaking. Or knowing you don't have the right people for the job but strategically you still need to go ahead and hope the right people show up. And seeing everyone else's press releases on the same things you are working on and wondering how you'll ever stand out in the crowd. I find comfort in logistics but just like cooking, there's no point being precise without a plan for all the food to complement each other. This is where a good team comes in. And I do have a good team. Shout outs to Rob Inkster, Alexandra Samuel, Dawn Whitworth, Lynn Leboe, Shannon McKinnon, Morgan Brayton, Simon Overstall, Rick Overington, and Bobbi Kozinuk!

A song for this post.

A 3D you can lift (day 187)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:19:00 +0000

bacterial update: I'm waiting for my tea to cool down so I can put the kombucha mushroom in it. It's important not to shock the mushroom. Usually I spend time worrying about things getting cold. It's amazing how long it actually takes for things to cool down. I've been underestimating all this time. Next time I'll plan a bit better. When I did a taste test today, I realized that I had to bottle the current batch before it went way too acidic. So it was a bit of a mad rush around the kitchen to get everything organized. I think this batch ended up with a bit too much yeast. It's not as good as the previous one. And the mushroom didn't form as quickly or get as thick either. Hopefully this next batch is a bit more healthy. I also realized that I need to buy a jar with a spigot. That way I don't disturb the mushroom formation when I need to test the pH. These used to be so popular in the early 80s because of Sun Tea. You'd think they'd be a dime a dozen. But a quick look at the Kitchen Store didn't yield any loot. The Happy Herbalist does sell some containers with spigots but they are twice as large as what I currently have. With the size of my kitchen I can't really fit anything bigger than a gallon jar.

I spent the day looking for portable stereoscopic 3D solutions. They are harder to find than I thought. Panasonic just came out with a twin lens solution but it's not really available yet and has limitations like fixed inter-axial distance. Still at 6.6 lbs it's an amazing solution for quick field work. Other than that, it's really a DIY market out there. I love the little Iconix cameras but the issue with those (besides the steep price) is getting small diameter matched lenses. It would be so great to have such small cameras to work with not just because of the lower weight but also to shoot in confined space or at close range. Love knows no bounds and I will find a way. I've also been looking the 3DFilmFactory rigs for smaller side by side setups. The ideal setup would be a system where everything fits in a backpack, is less than 30 lbs and runs on batteries. I remember seeing pictures of Ansel Adams and all the gear he use to lug up mountains in Yosemite. Not sure how much weight he had but it probably wasn't much more than that. I have to have some sort of defined shopping list by tomorrow morning. I've put out lots of leads out there, hopefully some of them pan out.

A song for this post.

To spawn or not to spawn (day 186)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:06:00 +0000

Recently a book review in the Globe and Mail caught my eye, and the eye of many others. It became one of the most shared articles for the week. The book? No Kids - 40 good reasons not to spawn. It caught my eye because I'm quite ambivalent about having kids but deep down I think "but everyone says it's so wonderful, am I missing out?" It was actually refreshing to hear a woman say "I had kids and I regret it". I haven't read the book and judging by the review it may be quite deliberately provocative. Still it's a voice that's not often heard.
Corrine Maier wrote the book in reaction to a policy push in France to promote higher birth rates. Apparently the policy worked. But the author claims many have been duped into procreation by a baby marketing drive. She is there to prevent that from spreading.

She took a pretty big beating in the comments section particularly because she apparently gave a copy of the book to her two children (who can read). I'm assuming they've been around her antics long enough not to pay too much attention. Love is in the details. Nonetheless, it will make for some good stories later on.

I think having kids is like winning the lottery. If you were happy before, you'll be happy after. If you were miserable before you'll be miserable after. Same thing when the bio-clock stops. There's no point agonizing over what could have been or resenting your own life. So, as much as I admire Corinne for having written the book, I think a pros and cons kind of list doesn't really cut it when it comes to kids.

For reference, here are the 40 reasons:

The desire for children: A false aspiration.
Childbirth is torture.
Don't become a travelling feeding bottle.
Continue to amuse yourself.
Subway-job-kids: No thank you!
Hold onto your friends.
Do not adopt the idiot language we use to address children.
To open the nursery is to close the bedroom.
Child, the killer of desire.
They are the death knell of the couple.
To be or to make: You shouldn't have to choose.
The child is a kind of vicious dwarf, of an innate cruelty.
It is conformist.
Children are too expensive.
You become an ally of capitalism.
They will destroy your time and your freedom.
The worst drudgery for the parents.
Do not be deceived by the notion of the ideal child.
You will inevitably be disappointed by your child.
To become a merdeuf (soccer mom) - what horror!
Parenting above all else - no thanks.
Block your professional path with children.
Families: They are horror and cruelty.
Don't fall into an overgrown childhood.
To persist in saying "me first" is a badge of courage.
A child will kill the fond memories of your childhood.
You will not be able to prevent yourself from wanting your child to be happy.
Child care is a set of impossible dilemmas.
School: a prison camp with which you'll have to make a pact.
To raise a child, but toward what kind of future?
Flee from the benevolent blandness.
Parenting will make you soft.
Motherhood is a trap for women.
To be a mother, or to succeed: You must choose.
When the child appears, the father disappears.
The child of today must be a perfect child: a brave new world.
Your child will be in constant danger from pedophiles and pornographers.
Why contribute to a future of unemployment and social exclusion?
There are too many children in the world.
Turn your back on the ridiculous rules of the "good" parent.

Two songs for this post.
One for the adventure without kids.
One for the adventure with kids.
Same artist.

Kinda over (day 185)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:13:00 +0000

I wonder why the Para-Olympics are treated so differently than the Olympics. I also wonder why women are not allowed to ski jump in the Olympics. Those two things seem like they belong in the same category. It didn't seem right to me that the closing ceremonies should be held, and the flame extinguished only to be lit again. I'm not sure of all the complexities of having the Para-Olympics but perhaps one solution is to fully integrate the two so they take place simultaneously. The whole party lasts a bit longer and both get the recognition they deserve. As it is, we're in a no man's land of Olympics. Closing ceremonies have happened but some Pavilions are still up and the Live sites are still there (at least the Yaletown one is). We have to wait for a couple weeks before the Para-Olympics start. The good thing is, we have a second chance at the closing ceremonies. Maybe theirs will have good music.

While we wait, a joke I heard from my friend Alex:

Mukmuk! Who's there? Miga. Miga who? Mukmuk! Who's there? Quatchi. Quatchi who? Mukmuk!Who's there? Sumi VANOC, it's just a joke

A song for this post.

Busy not being (day 183)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:23:00 +0000

I overheard someone talk about her realization that she was living someone else's life. She talked of getting married early ("you were married?") and building an image of what she thought others wanted to see ("you know?"). She divorced, went to art school and learned to do and say what she really feels ("that sounds great"). I didn't turn around to see how old she was. The sound of her voice was mid-thirties. I had the urge to ask her how she knows she's not still living up to an image. There are so few genuine people. I could still hear fear in her voice.

A song for this post.

A gift of poetry and song (day 181)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:32:00 +0000

I don't even want to write about the K'naan concert for fear of ruining the memory. It was so amazing. He gave generously, humbly, with incredible energy. That guy has so much life force he seems immortal. We need more like him. K'naan for prime minister.

A song for this post.

Life is a battelfield (day 180)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:53:00 +0000

I saw the movie The Hurt Locker last night. I'm not sure what I think about it. I experienced a kind of boredom and confusion throughout, like it wasn't fitting into any trope I was expecting except maybe a video game. No soundtrack makes it deadpan. Camera manipulation is slightly reminiscent of a home movie. No story arc aside from the guy who's afraid to die and indirectly involves an unprepared officer in a dangerous situation. The thread is a macho bomb diffuser who can't get enough.

I know I'm supposed to like it because it's directed by a woman and for a war film that's doubly amazing. But honestly I didn't feel it. If I'd had to guess I would have said 'directed by a man'. I know I'm supposed to like it because it's a different kind of war film that is more 'real'. I agree that it's different. I'm not sure it's more real. We are still only shown Americans doing their jobs. I agree that it doesn't glorify war in the same way but in the end, the macho dude goes back to war because it's the only thing he loves. I guess that ending is easier because he's a bomb diffuser, not just another soldier asked to kill or be killed. Before he goes back to war we are shown the comparison between choosing cereal in a large fluorescent-lit mostly empty supermarket, and diffusing a bomb. Yes life is mundane sometimes but seriously, choosing cereal is not representative. Then we are shown his son and the implication in the monologue is that he does not love him. Yet the admission doesn't even seem callous because the baby is not of talking age yet, and the soldier shows almost no emotion. The last shot of him returning to war again reminds me of a video game.

There is seemingly no value judgment about the war itself. I would argue that making no value judgment leaves it to the default of the war film genre -- war is necessary and aren't our soldiers brave. The fact that war is incredibly traumatic for all soldiers in the field has never been in question. I don't think we need a film to bring that fact home. What we need is a film that makes us think about why it's ok for a country to ask its countrymen to get a gun, put themselves at risk, and potentially kill someone. In any other situation, killing results in life in prison. So yes there is a big difference between regular life and war, but it's not found in the grocery aisle.

A song for this post.

Desire for innovation (day 179)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:14:00 +0000

I was on a panel about innovation today. Alex asked me to be on the panel yesterday after someone else cancelled. I was a bit panicky at the idea of speaking about innovation because the word has been so overused that I can barely get a grasp on it. It seems to be a word we use when we mean "something new that will make me lots of money" when really it should be more like "something new that makes life better for a lot of people". Either way, it's simplistic and trite to add it onto practically every company and product and high-up person out there.

Things get even more murky when we delve in to 'newness'. I've blogged about this before. As we become more public and engaged with each other, the origin of new is harder to pinpoint. Indeed, companies have stiff competition in the innovation business -- their clients. An example is Napster as innovation coming from the user base. It made life more pleasant for millions of music lovers and it did not come from the music industry. What businesses can do is take an innovative product created by the user base and stabilize it, bring to it innovation in the business model, and give a platform for spin-off right back to the user base. Value accrues for everyone. I'd say Apple did half of that with iTunes. Google does the other half. Together they'd be unbeatable. But that is not to be.

As to the origin of innovation, the juicy word of the day is 'desire'. I think it is the real driver. Not technology, not money...desire. It's that longing for something better, something else, the constant craving that kd sings so well about. It exploits technology but technology is not the root. Imagination is the fuel of desire, play is the catalyst. If we are willing to imagine something else, something better and play at creating far out scenarios and start prototyping, soon enough there will be innovation. The issue is that often we are fearful that freedom of thought will distract us from the 'real business' at hand. I get the protection instinct, particularly for small companies struggling to maintain their hold in a market. But I think a company that forgets the spark that started it is doomed to boredom and ultimately, failure.

A song for this post.

One for the birds (day 178)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:31:00 +0000

I mentioned the birds yesterday. They are so loud and diverse sometimes that I feel like I'm surrounded, like I'm in a steam bath of birdsong. I can't hear anything else. What I didn't mention is that someone on twitter told me that a biologist friend of theirs says that half the bird calls are warnings. I was shocked by this. Could it be that what sounds like joyful songs to me are actually cries of fear? Could I be so oblivious? But I shook it off. It's highly unlikely that this is the case because that would mean that a large flock of birds is not moving from their tree despite being in a perpetual state of panic. If it's so frightful to be there surely they'd find another spot. I have seen them panic when an eagle flies by. The songs stop and only a few call and then they leave or go in pursuit. Needless to say this reasoning was too long for 140 characters, so I let the tweet go unreplied.

I recorded some of the birds on Friday. Here is an excerpt. Hopefully I don't get a comment from a biologist telling me these birds are utterly unhappy and predicting a stock market crash.

A song for this post.

party culture (day 177)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:17:00 +0000

It was great having family visit for the weekend. They came for the olympics and in so doing gave us the closest thing to olympic fever we'll experience. We went downtown, visited some of the houses, cheered with strangers, and bought noisemakers. And there was lots of food and drink. An exhausting but perfect weekend.

Taking a bit of a social break, we saw Robert Lepage's "The Blue Dragon" this afternoon. It was an amazing production with a surprisingly delightful ending. The pace was flawless and the sets and effects breathtaking. I enjoyed myself immensely. The story was real. Nothing glamorous or saturated. Just people struggling to be happy and trying to find home. There were only three actors but the setting felt full nonetheless. Impressive.

By far the best part of the weekend though was being surrounded by the sound of birds in the morning. They were loving the sun and so were we.

A song for this post.

Seeing the sites (day 176)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:40:00 +0000

bacterial update: I think I nearly killed my kombucha scoby. To brew the new batch I used the baby from the previous batch. It may have been too thin when I put it in because when I looked at it on Thursday it was looking kinda strange (lots of tiny bubbles on the surface...kinda of like scoby acne) and the smell was intense, quite yeasty and vinegary at the same time. Surfing a bit on the happyherbalist site I started having a suspicion that the yeasts were taking over because there wasn't enough bacteria in my scoby to compete. Luckily I had saved the momma. Yesterday I did a switch. Things seem much better now (for both of them). Not sure what this means for the current brew or the new baby that will form. Perhaps I'll keep brewing with the momma for a few batches until I build up two good-sized scobys. After things going so well the last time, I felt a bit brought back down to earth.
I offered some of my Pu-Erh kombucha to my brother and his brother-in-law (who brews his own beer and cider). They both loved the taste but said the nose could use some help. Perhaps the pH was a little too low because they both pointed to a slight vinegar smell.
And in other news, I now have a few kombucha followers on twitter. It's a little community forming.

It's hard to believe CODE Live closes tomorrow. It's been such a huge success and I wish it would continue for another week (btw, I recommend seeing the CODE motion pictures online). I did manage to get to the Vancouver Public Library CODE Live 3 site today finally. I really loved it. The video installation outside is a very interesting set up with low benches and logs and built-in speakers into a large wooden structure that also encompasses the screen. Even though it was a bright sunny day I could still see the video and the sounds was excellent. I watched about 20 minutes of fun quirky sport related videos before I went in to see the rest of the exhibition. I had seen documentation of David Rokeby's piece 'Seen' but seeing it live was a completely different experience. It was fascinating to see the patterns of movement and stillness in the library space. To see the flow lines of people in and out even though it was really quiet when I was there. I then went down to see 'Sacred Touch' by Ranjit Makkuni from India. This may have been the most memorable experience I've had of CODE Live. Maybe it was partially my state of mind or the fact that I was alone in the exhibit. I was touched by the blend of spirituality and technology that was done in such a basic and grounded way. Particularly charming was a rotating screen interface mounted on an embossed silver base. As I walked around the post, rotating the screen, a panorama of the Ganges was revealed with occasionally triggered snippets of text and video. Having been to Nepal I was viscerally reminded of the prayer wheels and the ritualistic circumambulation of the temples. The experience was varied enough on each turn that I did several full rotations. There was another screen showing some textile and object interfaces to interactive media. I loved the interfaces requiring prolonged touch of symbols embroidered or printed onto fabric. There was also an egg-like object with buttons that was quite compelling. The whole exhibit felt really embodied and I felt good as I left the Vancouver Public Library, as if I'd visited a new place.

Other highlights for today were seeing acrobat acts at the Quebec House, and going on a video bus ride as part of Paul Wong's 5 projects. I'm still digesting the video bus ride a bit but the part that stood out the most was the juxtaposition of spectacles of real and imagined horror. For example, a mash-up of scene from "Snakes on a Plane" where Paul startles us with rubber snakes, followed by a news report of the horror of Tim McLean's death where Paul retroactively startles us by selling Nestea and toilet paper (the choice buys of the killer) before we got on the bus. It ends with a video of the aftermath of a car crash with the sound of one of the car horns blaring for the duration -- a sort of anxiety inducing virtual rubber-necking.

A song for this post.

Listening exhaustion (day 173)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:03:00 +0000

too much talking
speechless
housekeeping the cure
and excuse

A song for this post.

Purpose in gloom (day 172)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:33:00 +0000

Another day of strategic planning. Not as exhausting today. Just like yesterday the facilitator led us through a visualization to get us in the right frame of mind to think about what things might be like in five years. I came face to face with my pretty gloomy view of the future. In my vision, the air was more polluted, people were more worried, and there was a general sense of urgency to do something. The good part is that people were doing something. So it was gloomy but purposeful. The new campus had lots of green spaces including gardens, it had big open sunny studios, and there was more interaction between faculty and students as a matter of life on campus.

Something that came up a lot during discussion is the distinction between research and teaching and how much they can be brought together before each are compromised. I come from a system where the distinction is quite stark -- research is done by Faculty and graduate students, outside of teaching in sacred research spaces. Sometimes undergraduate students are brought in as Research Assistants. Now I'm being nudged to see if things could be different. The issue is that teaching has to do with breadth and research has to do with depth. They have different goals. And there is also the issue of numbers. There are many more undergraduates than there are Faculty and grads. It's unclear how they could be integrated without decreasing the quality of the research. And let's face it, not every undergraduate will want to go into research. Perhaps the scenario of research in pedagogy is the most obvious one to think about. This type of research needs a willing student body to experiment with and greatly benefits from their input.

Tomorrow, no strategic planning.

A song for this post.

Blue jackets and red scarves (day 171)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:55:00 +0000

bacterial update: I bottled the Pu-Erh Kombucha last night. It tastes really good, like a nice sweet wine. I'm still amazed that this transformation can happen. I mean I love Pu-Erh tea on its own, but its transformation to kombucha is nothing short of a marvel. I'm wanting it to carbonate a bit so I'm leaving it at room temperature for a while. I'm a little nervous about bottles shattering or the tea shooting up to the ceiling after I open a bottle.   I might chicken out and open one tonight to test the level of carbonation and see how much longer I have before the gamble of one more day is just foolish.

I was part of a group strategic planning session today. Interaction in a group is not my favourite dynamic but the facilitator was exceptional and I feel we got a lot done. Still the day was long. I left the school late and entered the GI zone.   Being hit by the Olympics group dynamic just about put me over the edge of normal social behaviour. Suddenly everyone around me was wearing 'the colours', were on vacation, quite likely buzzed, and caught up in their small group universe.   Under normal circumstances I might have just weaved in and out of such groups but today I just wanted to pop everyone's bubble. Bah hum bug.

I just ate. I feel better.

I've never been one for team spirit.   I am committed to the groups I belong to but always lurking is a skepticism about mob behaviour. I even have an aversion to Facebook groups. We do silly things if enough unreasonable people are making it normal.   I wonder though, are the people that easily lose themselves in the team happier? Do they feel like they belong? Like they are surfing with the waves of the tribe? What differentiates the people that can lose themselves in the team and those that can't? I can't even picture myself cheering a hockey team genuinely. Doesn't seem to be something that can be taught. Yet I've heard that we are all subject to mob mentality given the right conditions. Maybe I have an instinctive aversion to the likely conditions. Not yet curious enough to experiment with this.

A song for this post.

Coming through in waves (day 169)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:42:00 +0000

bacterial update: The kombucha is ready to bottle. I tested the pH and it's perfect but I found the sweetness still a little too high. I left some for Steve to try and he loved it. He had me fill one bottle for him. He put it in the fridge and I later tasted it. For some reason it didn't taste as sweet when chilled. This is a bit puzzling but familiar too -- warm fruit juice also tastes sweeter. Anyway, I think it'll be a nice compromise to bottle it tomorrow.
I fed some of the extra Kefir grains to my cat, and threw away the rest. They are just multiplying so quickly. Steve was starting to compare me to an old lady with 50 cats. I got ruthless.
My friend Tara pointed me to this podcast about fermenters. It's a good listen.

Today was a boring chore day. The most exciting thing I did is try Kefir with Muesli (delicious). But not wanting to spread the boredom I'll resurrect a piece of research that I find interesting, especially for the Breath I/O project, and perhaps for interface designers too.

Apparently our awareness can be entrained to a rhythm. Researchers at the University of Illinois discovered that you could induce awareness of otherwise masked stimulus by entraining with a regular rhythm and letting the masked stimulus fall where a beat would have been (details). I'm now thinking that breathing rhythms may be something to exploit in this way. Perhaps having usually undetectable visuals appear at a particular interval related to the breath. I'm not sure of the limits of this study (they were using very fast rhythmic patterns, to the tune of 12Hz). It's possible what I'm describing would be beyond the range of the effect they observed. I'm also wondering about trance music. Might we become more aware in a rhythmic trance? Castanada can only be around the corner.

A song for this post.

And so it begins (day 168)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:19:00 +0000

Well that was that.   I joined the millions (?) who streamed the opening ceremonies. I wasn't going to. There was an event at the Candahar Bar that I wanted to go to but my exhausted self won the argument and voted for a retreat homeward. Once home, the pull of the stream was irresistible. I had heard from Rob who attended the dress rehearsal for the ceremonies that it was amazing and I was curious. The best part of streaming were the simultaneous tweets coming in from others who were watching. Now I understand the push for TVs to have twitter feeds as a feature. Especially because the ceremonies were something I could watch while doing other things and twitters were a reminder that something interesting might be happening.

I enjoyed parts of the ceremony like the athlete entrance, the fiddle players and tap dancers, spoken word by Shane Koyczan, and k.d. lang. I know this will sound a bit strange but I thought there was way too much use of projections and lights. If there was any controversy about the power used for Vectorial Elevation, it should now have found another target. The stream ended abruptly before the cauldron arrived on the scene so I actually have no idea what the malfunction was all about and how it all ended. Who knew the word cauldron would become so searchable on Twitter.

One of the odd things about television is how they have to keep moving. Even during the minute of silence for the Georgian Luge athlete who died, they just kept on showing images every few seconds. It was a very unfortunate choice. Shouldn't the images have observed a moment of silence too? And after the minute of silence, there was no closure. No 'thank you'. No 'you may sit down'. Just a continuation of the show.   Sometimes I think we add these moments of silence without actually understanding what they're for.

I was very happy to see all the athletes march in. They seemed so happy. I was happy for them. I felt my mood lift.   I didn't get national pride. I just put out a wish that one day we'll do this without an overhang of inequality and war.

A song for this post.

Wanting more (day 167)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:17:00 +0000

I attended a talk by Bruce Alexander today. He's a professor of psychology at SFU, and recently wrote a book called The Globalisation of Addiction. He's been studying addiction for over 30 years and brought up some interesting points about the mechanisms of addiction, or insatiability as he prefers to call it. First he makes a distinction between insatiability and exuberance. Both have excess as a characteristic but differ in the feeling experienced by the person exhibiting the behaviour and the person witnessing the behaviour. As he puts it "Exuberance gives you a contact high. Insatiability gives you a contact low". I suppose the line is fine and that one can certainly morph into the other. I remember a line in the animation Ryan where one of the characters talks about the first flush of addiction being highly creative, productive, and attractive. Often the language around the behaviour can identify the deeper motivation of the action. He gave an example of Lady Gaga exhibiting insatiability behaviours not only because of what she does (which could just be exuberance) but also how she talks about it ("if I lost [this fame], I would die"). I think we've all been around a person who drinks and crosses the line from exuberance to insatiability. There a moment where discomfort enters the room. We're all slightly embarrassed and fascinated at the same time.

The even more interesting part of his talk was when he started talking about the origin of insatiability. Gabor Mate who also works in the Downtown Eastside claims that addicts are there because they were abused as children, didn't get what they needed and got lots they didn't need. Bruce Alexander contests this by saying, there are many children who have had completely normal childhoods but end up in the DTES, and many who have had horrendous childhoods but are not addicts. He also contests Gabor's claim that the brain cannot really recover from a faulty wiring that happened because of the abuse, saying that half of the addicts in the DTES are able to kick their habit. So he fundamentally rewrites the equation of addiction by saying that the dysfunctional behaviour is present before the addiction is. He further claims that the dysfunctional behaviour is caused by a massive dislocation, a fragmentation of society. The insatiability comes from a need for community that has been lost and that we try to fulfill with other things which never work.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end of the talk but I'm intrigued enough to pick up his book. I know he takes the position that the war on drugs is not working and he is pro-legalization. I'm not sure what other changes he proposes. I recently heard Gabor Mate discussing the war on drugs, saying "the war on drugs is a war on people". And he's right. When has a war ever brought more health? The war is worse than the drug. Especially if it leads to more community fragmentation.

A song for this post.

Glowing hearts singing (day 165)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:24:00 +0000

I spent the evening at the St-Andrew's Wesley United Church. It's a gorgeous church right downtown, with vaulted ceiling, stone arches, stained glass. Being in there feels like being hugged. It feels safe, special, and it smells good. I was there to hear four of Canada's best choirs sing - the Chor Leoni Men's choir, the Elektra Women's Choir, Musica Intima, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

I love the sound of a choir but it seems this love is not shared by my contemporaries. We were surrounded by baby boomers. It was very hard to spot anyone younger than fifty. I dwelt on this just long enough to feel anachronistic and then gave up and just enjoyed the singing. The choirs started and ended the evening singing all together. Just to hear that many voices singing was impressive enough, never mind the combined talent. They actually ended the evening (after the encore) with 'Oh Canada' which almost had me running out of the church but I stayed just so I could sing along with them. At least we all knew the words, however ridiculous they are (especially in French). I used to love singing the anthem when I was younger. I'd get chills of pride and secretly loved the show of unity. Now I see it as a symptom of artificial borders and it seems ridiculous that all countries sing 'we are the greatest'. This isn't football. Anyway. I digress. The singing was awesome.

Some highlights:

Elektra Women's Choir singing 'Snowforms' in Inuktitut. It was like being in a snowstorm followed by walking in snowdrifts while feeling flurries on your face. Lots of really interesting vocal effects.
Everything Music Intima sang was a highlight. Their singing alone was worth the price of admission. I especially loved their rendition of 'Mon Pays'.
Chor Leoni singing 'Spaseniye' a hymn by Chesnokov. Made be cry and relax all at the same time. Their rendition of 'La Cucaracha' was also really good.
The four choirs together singing 'Vive L'amour'. I got all sentimental and for a moment felt good about welcoming the world to Vancouver.

Now I'm thinking I'll join a choir. I used to sing in one when I was younger and totally loved it. Apparently going back to your play roots is a good thing to do.

A song for this post.

Of meatheads and surrogates (day 164)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:20:00 +0000

bacterial update: It's been a while since I did an update. A few things have happened. My kefir grains were going crazy so I had to radically cull them. I have a bunch lying dormant in the fridge. I can't keep them there for much longer. May have to use them to make kefir charmers or something. I discovered that part of the issue with the overactive fermentation is that I was using the continuous fermentation method (i.e. not cleaning the container between ferments). I guess there was enough bacteria left in there to significantly speed up the fermentation. The lesson is that if you want to be able to increase your milk to grain ratio, use continuous fermentation. I needed to do the opposite so I am now cleaning the container between ferments. I'm up to 24 hour ferments again.
The next kombucha batch is going really well. There was a bit of a hiccup last week when it overflowed because of gas accumulation between the tea and scoby. I guess it had nowhere to go because the scoby was right against the narrowing of the container opening. The more gas accumulated, the better the seal, until it overflowed. As I was cleaning up the mess, I took the opportunity to test the tea. It was still really sweet but the pH was getting lower. The taste wasn't very good but I didn't get too worried about it. I tested and tasted again today and I have to say it is delicious. Slightly more acidic, and with a sweetness of something like a Gewurztraminer. In fact it tastes a lot like it too, oddly enough. I'll let it go a bit longer to reduce the sweetness further. Maybe test it again on Thursday or Friday. I think it might be true what they say about Pu-Erh tea making the champagne of kombucha.

I watched the movie Surrogates tonight. Another movie about avatars but this time a distopic view. Everyone has a surrogate robot that they connect to. The rhetoric is that you can be young, beautiful and invincible until you die. I'm not sure how they deal with the issues of muscle mass and bed sores, but I suppose that's another movie. There were a few funny moments where some surrogates are seen 'jacking' -- overloading their circuits with electricity for a high. Or a fight between a couple where one surrogate just disconnects when things get uncomfortable. I actually enjoyed the movie. I seem to have an appreciation for watching machines die. I got the same thrill by watching Terminator. War looks kind of ridiculous when it's machines fighting machines. Like boys in a sandbox with toy soldiers. There's some lesson in there somewhere.

Increasingly I find the idea of an avatar appealing. It would reduce the need for travel which I hate. Well I hate air travel. I might still want to do road trips. But as with any technology I doubt our specie's ability to moderate. Especially when it comes to avatars, a little self-hatred could go a long way towards being addicted to not being in the flesh. There would need to be wicked hangovers to moderate the addiction prone. May be best to keep our avatars virtual for now.

A song for this post.

Engaging in dialogue (day 163)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:16:00 +0000

CODE Dialogues happened yesterday. I didn't blog about it because I needed a break to get clear on what stood out for me about the event.

Bruce Ferguson started the day with a pretty heavy talk on the responsibilities of being an artist working with technology in the context of a world where many things are not working optimally. There is still a tech divide. The disparity of, say, access to the web, is pretty glaring when you see it on a map. He was basically pointing out that artists have a role in working with technology in a way that highlights the inflection points of tech as creative and destructive.   He was pointing out that culturally we are still pretty clumsy at discerning what we should do with tech, and how we should do it.

It was a nice segue into the next talk about urbanism, technology and participation. Alexandra Samuel did a great job moderating a fairly difficult group of panelists. The discussion found its legs I think on the discussion about interaction vs. participation. My feeling was participation in this case was perhaps meant in the sense of 'engagement'. The difference between interaction and participation then centres on commitment to a larger dialogue for which the artwork or technology becomes an entry point. Many interactive artworks are still very much about entertainment and spectacle. And in some ways, people expect that. As it becomes more mainstream I think we'll see a shift in emphasis to work that provides deeper ways to engage.

As I was getting ready for Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's talk during the break, the discussion in the morning started to worry me. His work is so much about play and grand gestures. It can be hard to relate his work to social responsibility. There was some controversy about 'Vectorial Elevation' being enacted in Vancouver both because of the cost of installation and the amount of power needed for the lights. Especially in the context of the Olympics where the cost/benefit analysis continues to trigger a lot of anger. Rafael himself is not one to emphasize political issues in discussion about his work. I was super nervous.

In good form, he started his talk with Mexican music to lighten the mood. He went on to describe a series of recent work from his relational architecture, shadow box, and sub-sculpture series. I was really glad that he finished his talk with Voz Alta, a work to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tlatelolco student massacre in Mexico in 1968.   It is by far his most political work and I think highlights the potential of participation at a visually grand scale.   It was about owning a space and speaking out, involving the memory of the buidings and geography directly. It was not about 'alien memory' as he often states of his relational architecture work.

I started with a question about the tension between large scale public installations and political overt work. Creating large public installations often requires official permission and sanction so may limit the range of expression possible, yet the potential for impact is high. He spoke about the fact that the work in Mexico was commissioned by the students at the University. They were able to mount the work independent of government control. It made me wonder if this would even be possible here. He spoke about needing to compromise but not giving in on crucial points of the work.
I followed up with a question about Vancouver and why Vectorial Elevation, if he could have done a Vancouver-specific work what would it have been. He didn't answer the second part of the question but talked about Vectorial Elevation as being ideal for the Olympics because of its possibility for cross-country and international participation. Hard not to agree with that.
I then addressed the controversy more directly and asked about the need for such large scale work. Why spend such large sums when there are more pressing social issues to be solved. He spoke about the power issues with his work and said that people usually felt more comfortable once he told them that the power needed to run his piece for the entire duration of the exhibition was equivalent to three hockey games. He also mentioned that the controversy noticeably quieted down once the piece went up. He ended it with support for the fight to re-establish arts funding in BC. People clapped.   Thinking about it now I think I would have rephrased my question. I framed it in the context of the Olympics and NASA, things that are expensive but appeal to a hopeful sense of unity, exploration, out of the reach of the practical grittiness of life.   I think I would have asked his opinion more directly about how such endeavours help or hinder the possibilities or motivation of solving some of the more gritty issues of living in society.   Because that is the tension. When I experience a work like Vectorial Elevation, am I suddenly more optimistic about world unity, world peace? By highlighting the best of human nature, do we give ourselves a push to work all the more harder to solve the problems? Or is it a distraction, a diversion? I suppose anything can become a way to hide from responsibility.   When the question is framed about money I think it hides a category mistake. Many of the social issues we face are about process, not money. It apparently takes 75K per year for the government to take care of one homeless person. Clearly, money is not the issue. Still if we devoted all the energy and human resources that was devoted to the Olympics towards alleviating suffering in the Downtown Eastside, I'm sure we'd see progress.   Where people are willing to devote energy is the real issue. It also helps that the Olympics has a definite end point, a goal.
Anyway, that is the real discussion that I would have liked to have with Rafael. I still don't know what he thinks about it. I sensed he wasn't going to go there with me. He spoke eloquently about his work and process but stayed pretty clear of its potential impact.
I'm sad I didn't get to ask him about the question about Augmented Reality.   But I think he would have been against the personal and commercial nature of it. Over the time I spent with the documentation of his work, and at the dialogue, it became clear that he is very much about people physically engaging with each other and the space. He's a very social person and fun is very much part of his motivation.

Ok enough with the blow by blow. I felt terribly uncomfortable up there. Even though it was supposed to be a dialogue the nature of the setup made that difficult. I think I would rather do radio.

A song for this post.

Shadowing Rafael (day 161)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:17:00 +0000

I spent many hours familiarizing myself with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's thought patterns today. I didn't have the luxury of speaking to him so I googled him and read books about him and watched videos and read interviews. Mercifully, there was lots of repetition. I need to know a bit about Rafael because I'll be responding to his talk tomorrow at CODE Dialogues. It occurred to me that I could go in cold, or warm I guess...because I already knew some things about him but I think the preparation will be worth it.

Some of the things I take away from my research:

He does not like the term "collective intelligence" (Pierre Levy), prefers "connective intelligence" (Derrick de Kerckove). This seems to be a reaction to the utopian ideas behind collective intelligence. We agree.
He currently has two streams of work: relational architecture, and sub-sculptures. Relational architecture being transformations of public spaces to promote new relationships and sub-sculptures being about dynamic and chaotic systems.
Likes the idea of being surprised by public participation.
Works off of Duchamp's premise that "Le regard fait le tableau" (the gaze creates the painting). Loves the dialogue between artwork and public. Sees artwork as having awareness.
Likes the idea of temporarily changing public spaces, putting it back into the hands of the public, subverting the usual commercial or political purposes of such spaces.
Is inspired by current scientific thought.
Likes to reveal the mechanisms of surveillance, even in his own work.
Shadows are an important aspect of many of his works.

Some of the questions that came up for me:

Vectorial Elevation is a work that has been enacted in other locations. If he could do a work specific to Vancouver, or one that more specifically involved its architecture, what would it be?
In Vectorial Elevation, how does the delay affect the piece. How would real-time interaction change the piece?
Why shadows? I have my own ideas but it would be nice to hear him talk about it.
The tension between analog and digital in his sub-sculpture work.
What does he think about AR? A lot of his work is about making the virtual visible in grand public gestures. I wonder what he might think about the private nature of most AR work (as in one device, one person...each having their own view of the world).
Would like to hear more about spin-offs from his work (open software, other tech). He said in an interview that if artists had the budget of the defense department they would produce more innovation. I tend to agree. But I think that applies to a lot of fields. The defense department is overvalued.
Sound does not feature prominently in his work. Or at least does not seem as deliberate in most cases. Why is that? Does he see that changing?
Would love to hear his thoughts on the claustrophobia that can result from computer work. His work is so spacious, it seems an antidote to email apnea.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow. I'm happy to keep an open mind and work with him to create a great public dialogue. Somehow I have a feeling he won't make it hard.

A song for this post.

Elevated (day 160)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:10:00 +0000

I just got back from the opening of Vectorial Elevation, a public art work by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. There are large search lights, I think 9 on either side of English Bay. The patterns of the lights are input from people around the world at http://vectorialvancouver.net. I input a couple patterns tonight. In total there will be time for about 130,000 patterns, no where near enough for the amount of interest it will probably generate but the queue resets every day which helps with the fairness aspect. After you input a pattern, it tells you how long before you see it in the sky and will also send you a picture.

The feeling when you're standing underneath it is like a tent or a cathedral of light. Also feels a bit like the northern lights. It's nice that there is a pause between patterns, unlike search lights or promotion lights which just circle endlessly in the sky. I can the tops of the lights from my kitchen window. Sometimes the lights would go straight onto a highrise downtown. That must have lit up some living rooms. I think he mentioned fixing that bit of potential public annoyance.

A song for this post.

Opening gifts (day 159)

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Lantin) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:57:00 +0000

It feels like Christmas eve pretty much every night now. Every day there is something to look forward to. Last night was the game, tonight was preview night at CODE Live 1. Tomorrow is Opening Night for CODE Live. And it goes on. I picked up more tickets today: for a choral evening at St-Andrews, and for the Cirque Eloize.

I wholeheartedly recommend going to see the CODE Live exhibitions. There are three sites, CODE Live 1, 2 and 3. CODE Live 1 is at the Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC). CODE Live 2 is at Emily Carr. CODE Live 3 is at the Public Library. Some highlights from CODE Live 1:

Vested: Don Ritter - Traverse panoramas of cultural and political sites. Wear a vest. Blow them up.
Condemned Bulbes: Artificiel - Giant lightbulbs glow and buzz in a trance inducing electric space.
787 Cliparts: Oliver Laric - Clipart of humans doing things, going by so fast it's like a lifetime of human diversity and passions in a minute.
Instant Places: Ian Birse, Laura Kavanaugh - Beautiful visuals of Canadian geography, processed and mixed. A very restful and evocative piece to behold. Made me love Canada all over again.

The space itself has been transformed for the exhibition and is quite interesting. I loved the mural in the lounge. I still don't know who created it. It looks like a primordial soup of cellular organisms.

A song for this post.