aisyalam

The primary activities today were a lengthy meeting with the engineers, and reviewing (and preparing a couple of new animations for) the pieces I’ve selected to perform next week.

The meeting at Somnuk’s office began with the two students (Mindy and Eileen) who have built a couple of poetry generators as part of their “final year project” at MMU. Somnuk has always offered “Blind Poet” (building a poetry generator that makes rhyming verse) as a type of project students could undertake but until now no one had, so these young women are really departing from the norm. They’ve used a programming language I’ve never heard of before (Clips 6.23) to do so, because using Java was too difficult. I much appreciated their efforts, which produce some (unintentionally) really crazy abstract texts. The main problem – if it is a problem is that there isn’t a lot of noun-verb agreement. The first form they tried to emulate was a type of limerick called “clerihew” (which I’d also never heard of). Here are a couple of examples of something the program output this morning:

Hector Adeling
swim her aloe-vera of sting
since he lived a sister
he began over this mother

There was a thorn surprising in lightbulb
whose logs enchanted every melancholy flashing
into every lady it loved
at her mortals of every apple
which cried these cave of snipe

Somehow the rhyme didn’t come through on the longer version, but they still have a couple of weeks to get it working correctly.

The other form they have taken up, which I didn’t transcribe an example of as it was very rudimentary and simple, is called diamante (makes poems in the shape of a diamond, where the subject in last line is the opposite of that in the first.

I was glad to see the work, and meet the students; it’s only too bad they don’t have more time to pursue this interest before heading out into the real world…

Next I met with Keh Siong, the tutor who is a Java master. We reviewed my objectives and sketched out how it could be built. In just an hour I learned much more about the (difficult) process than I had anticipated. Apparently what I have in mind (to begin with, a small database containing four or five different types of media files that contains both indexed and randomized attributes) isn’t terribly difficult, but that’s easy for an expert to say. What I have to do now is determine exactly what content I want to use, and then go about creating the database, ID’ing the files, storing the files, storing the links, and manipulating the database. We agreed (with Somnuk’s blessings) to meet once a week for the remainder of my time here. The session was a little overwhelming with new technical information, but that’s OK because this is what I want to do.

In comparison, the little Flash movies I made for my Spam poems and a Google poem (made with the search string “How fast can a zebra run?”) were a piece of cake. Were it were all that easy!

Finally, we had some family time in the late afternoon and evening, which involved a trip to the Alamanda mall in Putrajaya. I didn’t mean to end up walking out of the place with some sizzling hot new duds for the gigs next week, but that’s what happened. So, seem to be ready on all fronts now. I will try to send some dispatches from Bangkok, but if not, will file a thorough report as soon as I can.

Some days are amazingly full and gratifying, and today was one of those days. After the usual routine I set to work on making sound files (at the apartment, not the office, because the better multimedia computer stays at home), and ended up finding nine samples—including sighs, pre-recorded phone operators, frogs, lizards, oceans, and bugs—that I thought contained something worthwhile and could be worked with effectively. Before lunch, up at the office, posted them to the site where I posted files last week. Sau Bin and Siew Wai joined Amy, Alea, and I for lunch (Indian, as usual), where we enjoyed another rambling conversation about Malaysian art and culture; SB was also interested in knowing more about Rochelle Owen, whose anti-Chomsky poem, mentioned on Pierre Joris’ Nomadics blog (see sidebar for link) I had directed him to (which led to a discussion about the plight of public intellectuals). After lunch I proceeded to write a brief Preface to the section of my eBook that contains the eight MMU lectures, then met with John Hii, who is doing the graphic design and some of the interface programming for the project. He has come up with a wonderful dynamic interface for both the media files section and overall interface, using pictures I took in Brazil and São Paulo. In the near future—probably within a couple of weeks—we’ll have completed the technical and content aspects of the project and will only be lacking the (forthcoming) ISBN and bar code. We’ll thoroughly test it, of course, take it up to KL to be produced, then send it out into the world. I also enjoyed a brief meeting with the Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Ahmad Rafi, which I made just to check in, keep him posted about what’s going on, and be sure that all is going well from his p.o.v. (it is). One of the many things we spoke involved conceiving a framework of education based on the AirAsia model (AirAsia is a local no-frills, economy airline that is revolutionizing transport in the region); is there some sort of parallel that a educational institution could develop? We agreed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, but revolutionary if it could be done, leaving us with something to envision, anyway. The other upshot of the meeting is that Rafi is going to help me get access to the audio recording facility on campus, which I plan to make good use of in the near future.

With the time left in the afternoon, I set my attention back on the javascript project I started a couple of days ago, and have now come up with the roughest, most rudimentary working sketch of *part* of what I desire to ultimately accomplish. What I’ve put together so far is an uncontrolled, random juxtaposition of more or less haphazard texts that loosely share a common (contemplative) theme. Though it still has imperfections, I figured good enough to post (http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/2006/js/test1b.htm) and start getting feedback. Tomorrow I have a meeting with some IT Java specialists here, java experts, and at least have a draft of the notion of what I want to do, which will give us a place to start. Supposedly a tutor, who will be able to help me for the rest of my time here (a little over three months), will be there, and I’m excited at the prospect of really learning how to build an integrated database composed of various types of media. I seem to be getting closer and closer to this objective every day, and now that it has begun to happen feeling more determination (if not excitement) than ever. Reading about it—learning the basic concepts—is one thing, but actually doing it, and overcoming the many different hurdles is another (and much more rewarding).

A lot going on, as usual: positively so!

P.S.: a little plug from NJIT’s “Newsroom” (thanks Christina Crovetto!) about the gigs in Thailand next week (containing a link that will bring the reader directly back to this page).

Finished reviewing the minidisc recordings I’ve made since arriving in Malaysia today, and found some sounds (waves, bugs, frogs, to name a few) that I’ll make in to mp3s (thanks to Khong, who managed to locate an audio cable for me). Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to post them for shemthepenman (who is =ly shemthesoundace) to work with. Later in the day, while searching for information about how to build audio databases, came across a great site called the Freesound Project Forum (http://freesound.iua.upf), which is a storehouse of all different types of user-contributed sounds that I’ll most certainly make use of in the future.

After a good bit of trial and error, more snooping around JavaScript Source, and prepping a few poems (as images/.jpgs), I made some real headway towards randomly combining images & text this afternoon. What I put together (a page titled “buddha board”) is far from ideal, and only quite remotely what I want to be able to do in the long run, but a start, anyhow, and probably just about as good as it gets using javascript. Good to be practicing, and able to decipher and solve problems encountered in code. I’ll add a few more features and develop a bit more before posting, but glad that something’s happening, knowing that it’s only the very beginning of what will be (no doubt) a multi-year process. Why I invariably take the difficult route I don’t know; that’s just how it goes.

The day went much as expected and felt good to be back in the regular routine (meditation, dropping Stella off at the bus, working out, heading to the office, writing &c.), if only for a few days. The only real surprise was a longer than usual lunch with my FCM colleagues Izuzi and Zul; some of my best experiences on campus lately have been these unanticipated encounters with associates and getting to know them better.

I edited next week’s lecture, and compiled and began editing the MMU lectures—about 85 pages of material that I now need to proofread and format into Acrobat files: far from thrilling work, but still convinced it is a good project, so moving forward on it gradually. Slow going on it lately, and seems like it’ll continue that way, which seems OK (why rush?). I found out last night that today my book is officially being “launched” by Alabama, which means that production formally begins. This sounds like good news, and is, truly, but I was pretty disappointed to learn that even so, the book won’t be out until next April or May. I’ve always heard that academic publishing is slow, but now have first-hand (hard) experience!

Also found out that Eric and I will actually be doing two sets at the Festival next week, one short (1-2 minutes!) at the event’s opening (a teaser) and a longer one the next night. The short set was news to me, but quickly came up with an idea of something enticing we might be able to do in such a short slot (involving a couple of googlisms, one prerecorded and looped and one performed live in two voices). Check out the online announcement for the Festival at http://www.bangkok2.com/blog/archives/cat_events.html, and the event website at http://culturebase.org/home/thailand/MAF06.

Tomorrow will to return to some technical/creative work: script discovery, reviewing recordings, & hopefully making some mp3s if I can get ever get my hands on the proper cable.

Back in Cyberjaya for a few days after a weekend in the luscious Highlands of Malaysia, hanging out (“getting religious”) in amazing tea plantations and other verdant environs (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_funks for a slew of images). I didn’t do a lot of digital poetry work, but wrote a little, captured a lot of images, played some music (flute), had a healthful time with the family in a captivating place, and read about half of the book about Kuala Lumpur (which is really interesting and informative).

Today in the A.M. mainly caught up on correspondence, making arrangements to meet colleagues on campus and setting up lectures both locally and elsewhere. It looks like I’ll be making presentations in Penang at some point, possibly early July. Also decided to bow out of the proposed lecture on information literacy in KL, since that’s not a topic about which I have a lot of expertise (except as it pertains to digital *literature*). Downloaded a track that Eric Curkendall had mixed of one of my piano recordings, posted on his site (http://www.soundclick.com/shemduhpenman), which he tells me has somehow made it into the top ten poetry downloads on the SoundClick filesharing site. I’m particularly impressed by this because there are no words in this “poem,” and am definitely looking forward to recording and performing with him last week. The last time Eric and I were together he performed with thelemonade at Komotion in San Francisco (a set I remember Victor Krummenacher calling “very disturbing”), and a few weeks before that we had done an impromptu performance at the Poetry Project in New York. I see next our meeting next week in Bangkok as somewhat of a continuation of that activity, and am getting pretty excited about going up there and hanging out with him.

The P.M. was much more technically oriented. I decided (as I think I said I would last week) to spend a few hours working with javascript. Using images captured over the weekend, I made a couple of web pages using techniques I’ve never tried before. To warm up, I borrowed (then modified) a script from Loss Glazier’s Electronic Poetry Center author page, which presents (randomly) a new image every time the page is refreshed. Then I decided to use a different approach, whereby the image changes (again, randomly) when it is clicked on. This process involved several stages, and was actually quite different (in terms of code placement) than the first trail. I was able to find the basic script at a site called “The JavaScript Source,” which I modified to function with my own materials. This is not terribly complex work, of course, since I already know .html, but presented a few problems I had to solve, and all the while making me think how I could use the techniques effectively in the presentation of creative work. Java it isn’t, but I’ll be getting to that, if all goes well, soon enough. What I put together is up at http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/2006/js/test2.htm

Tomorrow will be largely spent with written language (prepping/editing next week’s lecture, formatting the MMU lectures for the eBook, and who knows what else). But an anxiousness to be programming, designing and building databases is definitely in me, so need to keep after that objective as well; a meeting with the MMU database masters is scheduled for Friday morning, and I want to be as ready as possible for it…

A really unusual thing happened as I was getting ready to leave my office and head to the library late this afternoon. The Iranian student/filmmaker I’ve befriended, who I hadn’t seen in a couple of weeks, showed up at the door wearing an American flag as a bandana on his head. Surprised, I said something like “that’s strange, because I’m an American and I would never do that,” to which he replied “I know.” This fellow and I have met and spoken in my office numerous times; I’ve read a screenplay of his, and always enjoy our informative discussions. But today I learned in just a few minutes much more about him. He explained he was wearing the headwear to let the men who “spy” on “Persian” students at MMU know that he wasn’t causing any trouble. My experience speaking with several Iranian students during the past two months was that they are far from being anti-American; in fact, they wish they could be studying in the US (even if they are not enamored of our country’s leaders). He told me he was forced to leave his school in Iran because of his previous involvement with student activism, ended up at MMU, and changed his area of interest from “water engineering” to film (my opinion: not a bad decision!). Anyway, he says someone keeps a close watch on he and others—but what a get-up! The reason for his visit was to loan me a software tutorial, but we ended up acknowledging and talking about the difficulties of current political circumstances (and eventually he did remove his funny cap)…

Morning was taken up catching up on emails and setting up my NJIT server space to handle Java. I think progress was made, but still haven’t managed to get the program to run in a web page (getting a different error message—hopefully this is a matter of the server needing to reboot before it works properly). Then, for various reasons by afternoon became preoccupied with the upcoming gig in Bangkok (probably because I booked the plane/hotel just before lunch, and also filled out the 10 page questionnaire sent yesterday by Festival organizers). So I ended up making a list of potential pieces to perform, making a file of them which I sent to collaborator Curkendall, and listening to nearly 3 hours of field recordings I’ve made here. The best stuff was sounds of frogs, birds, and a barking Thai tree lizard. It was a pleasurable diversion to be working with just language for a change, reviewing pieces I’ve put together over the past three years or so. Some of which are really odd, like the series of “spam” poems I made from unwanted email messages in 2004 (once upon a time one of the editors at Ugly Ducking Presse suggested I make a chapbook of these, but I’d practically forgotten about them since). Anxious to see what Eric thinks of them, this’ll help dictate the direction our show (in two weeks) will take. Next week I’ll upload a few more sounds, work on some video & animations & continue scheming…

Tomorrow we head up to the Cameron Highlands, to check out the tea plantations and breathe in the cool mountain air (which’ll be odd, given the amount of heat we normally encounter here). Bringing some eBook work with me, & hope to be pretty much finishing what I can of that project next week (anticipating that the elements of the production aspect are going to take awhile).

Much of the morning spent preparing and posting a half-dozen sound files on the WWW, for Eric Curkendall to download and tinker with. These are not new recordings (http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/sound/curkendall.html) but a few pieces I had on the laptop that I thought would be fun to work with. We’re beginning to plot and plan our upcoming gig in Bangkok, which will hopefully be a sensory extravaganza. Eric has been spending a lot of time with his audio software, so we’re planning on using a mixture of loops and live sound/vocal processing, with words, animations, hip threads, and who knows what else. Planning to start with a ritual (kesa) chant, break out the durian piece, at least one piece from my spam series, and do some interactive parts taking live requests from the audience and performing google generator poems on the spot. During the next week I’ll be selecting and making mp3s from the several hours of recordings I’ve made since coming to Malaysia, which, though a chore (for which I need to acquire a cable that I do not have in hand), will also be fun.

High point of the day was having a lengthy lunch with Amy, Sau Bin, and Siew Wai Kok, who has just been added to the MMU FCM faculty. A great conversation about the complexities of the country and the role the arts plays (or does not) play within it. It is through free-wheeling conversations such as this that we are able to build a fuller understanding of what is going on around us. Sau Bin also gave us a book he just finished, The Consumption of Kuala Lumpur, by Ziauddin Sardar, which looks quite interesting…

The afternoon was spent becoming more familiar (and somewhat frustrated) with Java. Spent an hour or so studying tutorials, trying to get the program I wrote yesterday to work without success. Realized, finally, that it was a server issue (just one of many instances beginner’s ignorance). Now that I have some familiarity with it, want to move on to what I want to do with the program but definitely need some outside guidance; to that end have contacted the fellow who steered me toward Java here, and hope to be able to get together with him next week. Also feeling like I need a better book, so will head over to the library again tomorrow…

The week on Redang and in Terengganu was extraordinary and practically workless in terms of professional advancement. Probably just what I needed: to spend time a completely new and remarkable place, swim in vivid waters filled with hundreds if not thousands of fish, hike in the jungle, write a couple of simple poems and journal entries, spend time with the family, and take a bunch of photos (www.flickr.com/photos/the_funks). I didn’t miss blogging, jogging, and the usual routine, and only wish I could say that I came back well-rested, but that’s not what happens chasing after 2 kids, no matter where you are…

I did finish reading a great book that I picked up on the advice of Eric Jones (another Fulbrighter here), Henri Fauconnier’s The Soul of Malaya (originally published in 1931), which made me appreciate our surroundings all the more.

Not un-glad to return to the fray today, lots to catch up on—a morning of emails, making arrangements for gigs in Bangkok and Singapore, also working out some of the details for a presentation I’m making for an int’l conference on information literacy in Kuala Lumpur in mid-June (http://fpmpp.uitm.edu.my/icil2006/index.html). In the afternoon, finally got to work on some Java programming; I figured out how to “write” (actually, like all neophytes just learning a language, mainly copied) and compiled a little program that makes the question “This is electronic writing?” appear on the screen, and also learned how to put compose a call & response type program. Next step is to figure out how to embed into a web page. Of course, neither of these pursuits has anything to do with what I want to use java for, but figured I better start at the beginning, get familiar with the language, and then move on to the more complex stuff (and hopefully before long, but I’ll need a better book to lead me towards database building).

An almost (but not quite) found poem (tab-step formatting mangled by blogspot):

Java, key words

abstract
boolean
break

byte
case
catch

class
continue
default

do
double
else

extends
final
finally

float
for
if

implements
import
interface

long
native
new

package
private
protected

public
return
short

static
supper
switch

synchronized
this
throw

throws
transient
try

void
volatile
while

Saw an “acrostic poetry generator” on the WWW at some point today (http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/acrostic); the classification of generator was a little misleading, however. I’d call it a heuristic tool to get someone to think about how to prepare an acrostic; I wasn’t so impressed by the suggested words that appeared in pop-ups as the program progressed. On the other hand, I’m totally pro-acrostic and sure this would be a good device to get kids to play with language and form it into something directed.

On another front, my dear friends Ben Polsky (http://benholli.tripod.com/benpolsky.htm) and Holli Schorno (http://benholli.tripod.com/hollischorno.htm) have just added a son to their lair, Tilden Sky Polsky (http://www.flickr.com/photos/benholli2/), and have asked me to be the boy’s “God-Father.” An honor, indeed! Accepted with delight!!

Woke up a bit before five a.m. and got up with Aleatory. In the darkness we played on the couch with her stuffed rhino and giraffe. At about 5:30 I put her on the floor so I could check my email, and there appeared a message from my department’s chair (Bob Lynch) saying that I have been recommended for tenure by NJIT’s committee that determines such things. Since I’ve been working on this objective for a long, long time, the news came as a great relief, and brought not a little joy into the pre-dawn apartment. Even though I worked my tail off for the past few years, and seem to have accomplished a lot, I was still worried that it might not happen (because you never know until you know). Anyhow, the beginning of a good day. After a little family celebration (that included a phone call from my parents), morning rituals as usual: zazen, Stella to the bus, run, whirlpool, University…

But instead of working in my office I spent the morning in the office of Forest Lim, who had invited me to come have tea with her. When I arrived, she was there with Lydia, and Koo, who is also on the FCM faculty. They’d set up a big (empty) computer box as a table, had 4 cushions placed around it, and we spent the next 90 minutes sitting on the floor getting acquainted over cups of tea, mee hoon (a noodle dish with sprouts), and little (asian) swiss cakes. Forest has spent a good bit of time in the US, in the Bay Area (where she studied at CCAC), and she got her MFA at Yale (under the tutelage of Janet Zweig). The books she made at Yale were absolutely tremendous! She’s a print and paper maker who combines traditional and digital techniques; I was stunned by the beauty of her work. She showed me a book that she made in California called “Winter and Tea,” an extraordinary artifact that was a foot high and completely made of handmade paper. It begins with poems printed on velum, attached to the handmade paper pages; underneath the velum is an image. Later, the pages become boxes filled with remnants of rituals, organic materials, and tea. A four inch box (actually a drawer) at the bottom contains a miniature tea set! Wow! This was one of the most special, compelling meetings I have ever experienced on any university campus.

Afterwards, off to the library to pick up a couple of books on java to start prepping for the next phase, then took the fast train to KL to get some contact lenses. I’ve been wearing glasses (nearsighted) for nearly ten years but have never had contacts. It took nearly an hour for me to get the process of putting them into my eyes down, which included a bit of stinging and frustration, but finally figured it out. Big rain, home to family, Indian dinner at our favorite local café, then packing some bags, and a toast (Guiness) with Amy. I might not be posting for awhile, as we’re off to spend a week on the South China Sea early tomorrow, but again soon, for sure.

I finished the lecture (http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/mmu/8) with an hour to spare and was pleased by how the presentation transpired. Unfortunately, not a single one of the students for whom it was “compulsory” to attend was compelled to show up, so when I started (25 minutes late, waiting for the supposed crowd), the audience consisted of five faculty members, and my friend the filmmaker Ali, who has become interested in digital poetry during the past few weeks (his friend, Ali II, showed up a little bit later). A few kids trickled in gradually, but not until the session was at least half over. Only a couple of questions were raised afterwards, mostly having to do with what “ism” the work fell under. After steering the discussion in a general way away from the -ism trap, I stated my view was that DP is built off of the tenets of both modernism and postmodernism, but that there were even more -isms that could be applied, so we could call it a “multi-ism” endeavor.

A horde of students did manage to show up for Fritz Donnelly’s presentation, which was entertaining and humorous. He was a charming interactive speaker, whose work is probably a good model for the students to have seen. Like me, he made a point to (and took pride in) giving students permission to following up (creatively) on any idea, no matter how odd, that came into their mind. That, along with a shared DIY ontology, was the extent of crossover between our sensibilities.

Anyway, my lectures at MMU are now completed, and I’m ready to move on to other challenges. I’ll take a few days away from campus next week to re-group and re-orient my mind, then proceed into some new creative projects. To that end, after meeting with Forest and John tomorrow, I’ll head to the library to get a couple of books on java, and see what I can do with that, to begin with. The eBook will take a bit of time, but not too much. We’re halfway done with our time here, with some good things to show but have barely scratched the surface of what I really want to do.

Encouraging news on the book front is that we finally received the terms of use for John Cage’s work ($150 for 2/3 of a page and a few quotes), and I have identified the image of André Vallias’ I am hoping to use on the cover (a full iteration of his piece De Verso/The Verse). Little by little all of the pieces are beginning to come together…

As it turns out, not only is the programme (lecture) tomorrow happening, but it is somewhat of a major event on campus, for which posters have been made and which all Delta (senior) students of the FCM must attend.

This morning’s lecture went well, even if it was not wildly attended (maybe 40-50 at peak). The best part for me was the discussion that followed, in which students were mostly interested in comparing written/printed poetry (which they perceived as being more accessible to the public) with the new forms I have been promoting. I explained that both could exist, in fact that the new was a subset of the old. I used the durian poem as an example of how I could write something, but that my own sentiments could possibly be expressed better digitally. At the very least, they were entertained by encountering my novel (yet still unfinished) work about the fruit, which served to propel further the discussion. The rest of the day (after a lunch of nasi ayam) was spent laboring intensely over tomorrow’s presentation. It is still unfinished, but since the session isn’t until one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have a couple of hours (after seeing Stella run her first cross-country race in the early a.m.) to finish it up. I’ll be presenting fewer works (perhaps 6-8), and less history, but more ideas. Since the topic is “Poetic Possibilities for E-Texts” I’m fine with discussing what the possibilities are instead of going over everything that has already transpired. However, that means unlike the past few lectures, I don’t have a lot of eye candy for the audience. I’ll try to figure something out so that a reasonable, engaging, presentation transpires.

Otherwise, not much to tell besides that an MMU FCM colleague named Forest stopped by my office with a beautiful handmade (handsewn, handmade paper) book, seeking advice on how to transform it into an electronic text. I think this will interesting project to be a consultant on, so we made a plan to meet on Friday morning.

Playing with language, came up with a few new words (for me, anyway) today: intextricably, textension, textended, textraordinary, prelationships. Of course I wouldn’t be surprised if other neoligists like mez have thought of and used them before (a simple google search would probably bring results). Anyway, they all apply to the work I (and others) have been doing with language…

Good news is that Alabama seems to be moving forward on my book. It is going to be a long time before it sees the light of day, I’m sure, but glad to know it is in motion. On my end, still working to get clearance from Harvard to use portions of Cage’s I-VI, and obtaining an image from André Vallias for the cover.

Spent most of the day—when not being distracted by domestic tribulations here (our nanny was robbed at knifepoint in KL) and at home (the couple who is minding our home and studio is splitting up)—working on tomorrow’s lecture. It took me all day, but managed to come up with something I liked and thought was reasonable. The challenge was not to present the same works I have shown previously, a process brought me to a few things I haven’t seen for awhile, or ever. The links are posted at http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/mmu/7. Also learned that the lecture scheduled for Thursday (which I was told yesterday was cancelled) is on, and that I’ll be sharing the bill with an experimental filmmaker from New York named Frits Connelly. This means a lot of work tomorrow—but hey, that’s what I’m here for. On the bright side, this also means that I’ll be done with my MMU lectures this week, so I’ll be able to finish up the contents of the eBook. Next week is Stella’s school vacation, and we’ll be visiting an island (Redang) over on the east coast of Malaysia, and after that, with the exception of a few regional lectures, the rest of our time here will be mostly about continuing my research and making art.

My mom writes in a recent email, “you all must be in a constant state of sensory overload,” and she is certainly right about that. I arrived back in Cyberjaya from Langkawi last night after an intense week of meetings with various Malaysian public figures and organizations, and even more discussions with eight other Fulbright scholars and others who were part of the program. Plenty of sights, sounds, and tasteful tastes absorbed, in high-level (in terms of brain power) company. I thought it would be back to life as usual here, working at my desk all day (prepping for lectures later in the week, working on the eBook, etc.), but that was fairly naïve as this is never the case in Malaysia. I did take care of some expected business in the morning, and did work on lectures, but after lunch (where Amy, Alea, and I dined with students from Yemen, Pakistan, and Iran) once again—thanks to my dear colleague Sau Bin—found myself in extraordinary international company. Philip Dean, Dean of the Media Lab at University of Art and Design Helsinki [http://mlab.uiah.fi] was visiting campus, so I sat with him for a bit and learned of some interesting narrative studies that are happening in Finland: interactive television and text-messaging projects. Philip was accompanied by a local artist, Joseph Foo, who is the creative director of the trinity group, a multi-disciplinary brand identity consultancy in Kuala Lumpur. I was glad to meet these folks, and to be quite distracted from the lecture due to a lengthy conversation with Sau Bin in my office; he is helping get a truly balanced perspective on culture here, and the role art plays in it. Plus, he’s a great artist in his own right—his work is now on display at the Havana biennial. I’ll finish the lecture tomorrow! Otherwise, a surprise email from Jason Nelson, who wanted to let me know about his most recent work, “Pandemic Rooms” [http://www.secrettechnology.com/pandemic/], which I will be showing in the lecture. I particularly like the drag and drop audio sections, but again Jason has produced an extraordinary, multi-faceted electronic work. He says he’s glad I’m out here spreading news about our field to the world; to that I can only say that I’m near ecstatic that so many superb works are being made across the planet.

In Langkawi I was staying in a “50,000,000 year old rainforest,” which meant that nature was on high. I was able to make several excellent field recordings of insects, birds, and who knows what else, which I will send up to Bangkok for Mr. Curkendall to play with in preparation for our gig there next month. Also posted more than 200 images to the flickr site today, so if anyone’s wondering what this all looks like, that’s the place to go (www.flickr.com/photos/the_funks).