Monday, September 18, 2006

NN20060919: Psychogeography

Psychogeography is "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals," according to Guy Debord's Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography

Essay - http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/2

Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography

by Guy-Ernest Debord


Of all the affairs we participate in, with or without interest, the groping search for a new way of life is the only aspect still impassioning. Aesthetic and other disciplines have proved blatantly inadequate in this regard and merit the greatest detachment. We should therefore delineate some provisional terrains of observation, including the observation of certain processes of chance and predictability in the streets.

The word psychogeography, suggested by an illiterate Kabyle as a general term for the phenomena a few of us were investigating around the summer of 1953, is not too inappropriate. It does not contradict the materialist perspective of the conditioning of life and thought by objective nature. Geography, for example, deals with the determinant action of general natural forces, such as soil composition or climatic conditions, on the economic structures of a society, and thus on the corresponding conception that such a society can have of the world. Psychogeography could set for itself the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. The adjective psychogeographical, retaining a rather pleasing vagueness, can thus be applied to the findings arrived at by this type of investigation, to their influence on human feelings, and even more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same s pirit of discovery.

continued at http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/2

NN20060919: Rashômon (1950)

Rashômon (1950)
In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead. Tajomaru is captured shortly afterward and is put on trial, but his story and the wife's are so completely different that a psychic is brought in to allow the murdered man to give his own testimony. He tells yet another completely different story. Finally, a woodcutter who found the body reveals that he saw the whole thing, and his version is again completely different from the others. - Summary written by rmlohner
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Cast:
Toshirô Mifune .... Tajômaru
Machiko Kyô .... Masako
Masayuki Mori .... Takehiro
Takashi Shimura .... Woodcutter
Minoru Chiaki .... Priest
Kichijiro Ueda .... Commoner
Fumiko Honma .... Medium
Daisuke Katô .... Policeman
Runtime: 88 min
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Color: Black and White




Play SLEUTH Saturday 9/26/2006 in NYC

I've been spending time developing the GPS game SLEUTH for the Come Out And Play Festival 2006 [comeoutandplay.org] in New York City. The winning players get FREE beer tickets. Whoopie!

When: The festival will run from September 22-24, 2006. Games will occur throughout the day in locations around the city. See the schedule of games for more details about events.

Where: While games will run in locations around the city, the festival headquarters will be hosted by the Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, located at Eyebeam at 540 W. 21st Street, New York, NY. Stop by the headquarters during the festival for information and to see game updates.

I receive great pleasure designing with my fellow collaborators: Joshua Klein, Joshua Knowles and Kalin Mintchev.

This is a shameless self-promotional post and if you've gotten this far then I thank you for reading it.

Monday, September 11, 2006

KENYA in December 2006

I'm traveling to Nairobi and Lamu Island in Kenya, December 14-29, 2006 with my son Frank as a trailing spouse to Terese Svoboda [TereseSvoboda.com], faculty with the Summer Literary Seminars [sumlitsem.org] program. I'm starting to get excitied about my first trip to Africa.

Some links for further review:
Lamu Island is Kenya's oldest living town. There are no cars so donkeys are the main means of transport. Until the 19th century dawned, Lamu's economy was slave labour. - go2africa.com/Kenya/east-coast/lamu-island
Lamu Island is a part of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya. ... The island prospered on the slave trade. After defeating Pate Island in the nineteenth century, ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamu_Island
Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) - katokenya.org
Nairobi Safari Walk - kws.org/nsw.html
BOOK IT ON THE SPOT, An African Safari - Budget Travel Online