Soul Sphíncter: Is It Next Week Already?

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Is It Next Week Already?

Last week was so jam packed with activity I have little time for documenting it here. So I thought I would post a couple of things here before setting out on another hectic week come the morn..
The above images are from a presentation I gave in HUMlab on Thursday as part of the ”Creative Space – Människan, Tinget, Rummet” workshop. I used the 3D web browser ExitReality to present part of my talk. I created a blog, Augmented Reality, and switched between a 2D and 3D representation of it during the talk. The title of my presentation was Remixidity: Hybrid Spaces for Exploration, in which I gave examples of mixed reality spaces and embodiment. As well we (HUMlab) staged a small gallery-like exhibition of works and projects dealing with the concept of mixed reality space (second image above). My departure point for the conception of space in the talk was Henri Lefebvre's classic text The Production of Space (I am holding a copy in the first image). More on Remixidity can be found on the HUMlab blog.

Last Wednesday I gave the final lecture for the Cultures of Commonwealth English course that I have written and have been teaching over the past five weeks. All the lectures are online as video podcasts so you can check out my teaching style (or ambiguous lack thereof) here. The exam for the course was on Friday and I expect a great lump of papers to be marked to land on my sorry desk in the next day or two.

On Thursday I heard that a chapter which I wrote in collaboration with HUMlab Research Coordinator Stefan Gelfgren on teaching and learning using the virtual world program Second Life has been accepted for publication. We have to make some corrections but it should be out in the not too distant future. My first academic publication!!

I have also be writing thesis. I received positive feedback on chapter four early in the week from my secondary supervisor, which was very heartening. I have now returned to the third chapter of the text, on design in digital literature and how it implies responses to the texts. The latest realisation, partly provoked by the positive but not uncritical feedback from B supervisor, is that narrativity needs to be a grounding concept in the text, rather than restricting it just to chapter four. A source of inspiration for this line of approach has been Theorizing NarrativityBy John Pier, José Angel García Landa. Which B supervisor suggested in feedback and I happened to have on my desk, borrowed weeks ago but unread. It has been my companion since Friday and has been very helpful.

The final piece of news from last week is my purchase of three vinyl gems:

13. V.A./ OCORA – MUSIQUE RITUELLE TIBETAINE: “S/T” (Ocora Records – OCR-49) (Record: Near Mint/ gatefold Sleeve: Near Mint/ Attached Booklet: Near Mint). First original Ocora pressing out of 1969 on the dark blue label. The recordings on this album are representative of the music and rites of the various sects of the original current o Buddhism and were made in North-east Nepal. Tow of the most important monasteries in this frontier region are represented here, the monastery of Thami of the Gelugpa sect and the monastery of Tengboche of the of the Nyingmapa sect. The music is varied and consists out of big two-headed drums, providing the rhythm, 2 pairs of hollow cymbals, 2 oboes producing a nasal and tense linear sound, handbells, chanting and other esoteric rumblings. The album is filled with tantric drone-like escapades that seem to capture and magnify images of roaring of torrents, the noise of rocks splintering and sliding down the mountain, violent guts of wind, sudden storms, the tinkling of bells worn around the necks of animals and the ankles of children, etc. Again massive….original 1st pressing.