aisyalam

Some evidence of Valentine’s Day is found here in Malaysia, although not the abundance of red being worn that you often find in the states. Of course we are celebrating it around the house – little presents (chocolate, massages), extra nice vibes, & Amy & I even got to go out for lunch together (where I took this picture and was subsequently scolded by the cashier).

I’ve only got a few little things to tell today. The lecture I have been preparing for the past few days was postponed until at least next week, so continued jamming on my homepage interface design project (mentioned yesterday). Pleased with how it is going so far, and hoping to get a little feedback from friends and colleagues in the next couple of days before calling it done. As I’ve said at various times before, my appreciation for Islamic/Arabic art is great, and it is obvious that the ancients pioneered what we now call tables. So many of the historical paintings you see in the East and mid-East contain frame inside frame inside frame, which builds a type of dimensionality that I find really attractive. This can be emulated with tables in Dreamweaver and Word, etc., although these tools can make the process quite tricky (though probably a lot easier than drawing many perfect lines by hand, right?). I haven’t done enough of this type of design, so wanted to put some energy in this direction for this project, being influenced by the environment & all. For the next project, the CD-ROM interface, which will be shipped off to Brazil, I’ll probably use a different technique that reflects the absolute mosaic of that place.

Otherwise, news is that a couple of (sound) poems I recorded last year in Brazil with my friends Marcus Salgado and Ricardo Lira (who call their group Tupã Guaraná) have just been posted at the marvelous audio poetry resource PENNsound. If you want to listen, go to http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Funkhouser.html. The mix of the “Found Poem,” the text of which I did find on the road we live on in NJ on New Year’s Day 2004, was done by Ricardo just after we recorded in Jan. 05; Marcus did the other mix more recently. These and a couple of other tracks we recorded will be part of the Technopoetry Rising CD-ROM. I have a few other files I hope to post up on PENNsound before long, and plan to post eventually many of the recordings I have in my archive (although the task of digitizing old cassettes and DAT tapes will be extremely time consuming).

Finally finished the Melaka travelpod entry, and happy to be moving onward, making headway into creative territory, which feels really good.

Salamat melam & a cheerful day to everyone...