Friday, March 24, 2006
Glad to report the week ended on a positive, progressive note. To begin the day I surprised myself by launching into writing the final MMU lecture, “Professional Possibilities for Poetic Texts.” At the start I’ll quote a Lionel Kearns poem that quotes Olson, which brings Projective Verse into the mix – maybe the only time PV is used to educate those being trained to produce marketable products! What’ll be most challenging is to find examples of texts to illustrate the points I’m developing (which involve expansive rather than insular textuality). We’ll see how it goes.
Then I had to go and do some work for the Prehistoric book: copying all the permission leteters into a single file and sending to the Alabama editor so that project can move into production.
Ate lunch with Donald McCloud, the head of MACEE (Malaysian American Council on Educational Exchange), who came down to Cyberjaya to check in and see how I was doing. We had a very interesting, informative, easygoing conversation, and he reminded me about some ($) resources that I have and had forgotten about (always a plus). One of the many things he informed me about over the course of the conversation was that the Malay word for foreigner and businessman were one and the same…
In the afternoon a couple of graduate students came to the office (one from Kenya, one from Iran), both interested in digging more deeply (intellectually and creatively) into digital poetry. Mohammed is still processing my lecture from 2 weeks ago, and had drawn out an elaborate outline of his understanding of the genre, which was good. Since he realizes DP is expansive, I’m trying to get him to think more expansively about it (he tends to think binaristically). The other fellow is determined to help me fix the missing lines in the Australia flash movie, and I appreciate the unexpected help and camaraderie.
To finish the day, met with John Hii, an FCM colleague, who has signed on to be the graphic designer for the eBook and will also help out with some of the (minimal) interface animation. The concept for it is largely is in place, but I’m really glad to have some fresh blood & a sharp artful mind in on it at this point—it’ll only help improve whatever quality is there. He has offered some interesting views already, and I’m looking forward to working with him during the next 2-3 weeks. Sau Bin was also on campus, toting around the project he has been working on the past 3 months, a virtual map of Kuala Lumpur’s art galleries he has built using Google Earth. It is being evaluated tomorrow for possible inclusion in the Havana biennial, and he was reviewing it. I was glad to have a look, and was impressed with both what he has done and all of the tools that are built into the program that I had no idea existed.
A lot of input and learning this week, even a bit of output; plenty to think about over the next week while I’m away from campus. We’ll see how the blogging goes. On Monday I’m scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as part of the program I will be participating in. Seems kind of unbelievable, and certainly the first time (and possibly the last) I’ll have ever been in the presence of a head-of-state. No doubt that the days ahead are going to be an interesting experience. If I’m able to get online I will definitely file reports…
Then I had to go and do some work for the Prehistoric book: copying all the permission leteters into a single file and sending to the Alabama editor so that project can move into production.
Ate lunch with Donald McCloud, the head of MACEE (Malaysian American Council on Educational Exchange), who came down to Cyberjaya to check in and see how I was doing. We had a very interesting, informative, easygoing conversation, and he reminded me about some ($) resources that I have and had forgotten about (always a plus). One of the many things he informed me about over the course of the conversation was that the Malay word for foreigner and businessman were one and the same…
In the afternoon a couple of graduate students came to the office (one from Kenya, one from Iran), both interested in digging more deeply (intellectually and creatively) into digital poetry. Mohammed is still processing my lecture from 2 weeks ago, and had drawn out an elaborate outline of his understanding of the genre, which was good. Since he realizes DP is expansive, I’m trying to get him to think more expansively about it (he tends to think binaristically). The other fellow is determined to help me fix the missing lines in the Australia flash movie, and I appreciate the unexpected help and camaraderie.
To finish the day, met with John Hii, an FCM colleague, who has signed on to be the graphic designer for the eBook and will also help out with some of the (minimal) interface animation. The concept for it is largely is in place, but I’m really glad to have some fresh blood & a sharp artful mind in on it at this point—it’ll only help improve whatever quality is there. He has offered some interesting views already, and I’m looking forward to working with him during the next 2-3 weeks. Sau Bin was also on campus, toting around the project he has been working on the past 3 months, a virtual map of Kuala Lumpur’s art galleries he has built using Google Earth. It is being evaluated tomorrow for possible inclusion in the Havana biennial, and he was reviewing it. I was glad to have a look, and was impressed with both what he has done and all of the tools that are built into the program that I had no idea existed.
A lot of input and learning this week, even a bit of output; plenty to think about over the next week while I’m away from campus. We’ll see how the blogging goes. On Monday I’m scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as part of the program I will be participating in. Seems kind of unbelievable, and certainly the first time (and possibly the last) I’ll have ever been in the presence of a head-of-state. No doubt that the days ahead are going to be an interesting experience. If I’m able to get online I will definitely file reports…
# posted by chris funkhouser @ 6:22 AM 
