Altered Books

From the Ivanhoe project I heard about this neat site on altered books. The idea is:

Cut the bindings off of books found at a used book store. Find poems in the pages by the process of obliteration. Put pages in the mail and send them all around the world. Lather, rinse, repeat. This site is a chronicle of a very specific set of collaborations between the artists listed below working on the titles listed below.

They have a number of images of altered pages that are reminiscent of Tom Phillips: A Humument.

MP3 Player Sales

I was wondering what the sales of MP3 players is – are there enough out there to see a change in audio consumption habits? Or, are MP3 players and iPods a niche phenomenon? Some figures and proedictions were reported in Electronic News – MP3 Market to Nearly Quadruple by 2009. These are based on market analysis from iSuppli Corporation which predicts that MP3 player sales will go from 36.8 million units shipped in 2004 to 132 million units shipping in 2009. At that rate I think it safe to say we have a widespread phenomenon. How then will it change audio listening and consumption? Will radio be replaced by podcasts? Will online music stores replace storefronts?

Concordia: Integrated Engineering, Computer Science, and Visual Arts Complex

Concordia: EV Complex sneak peek tour is a multipage tour by pictures of the new Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex. This building is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it encodes in the building an intergration of visual arts and computing/engineering – not a normal mix. Second, because it was built in downtown Montreal, they had to build up and there are a number of interesting ways they get around the problems of building up. They have these three floor atriums with spiral stairs that connect departments and they have high-speed escalators and elevators to move people up quickly.

Scumware

M. E. Kabay has a paper in ACM Ubiquity about viruses, malaware and scumware, Some Notes on Malware. It is a long piece (about 21 printed pages) that introduces the subject of viruses, gives a history, and ends up with a discussion of “scumware.” What is scumware, you ask?

Scumware is any software that significantly changes the appearance and functions of Web pages without permission of Webmasters or copyright holders. For example, a number of products overlay banner advertisements with other ads, sometimes for competing products. Scumware may add unauthorized hyperlinks to a user’s view of a Web page – sometimes using links to possibly objectionable sites. Such programs can interfere with existing hyperlinks by adding other destinations to the intended target. In addition, some products install themselves without warning users of these functions; others bury the details of their Web-page modifications in the extensive legalise of end-user license agreements.

I guess the idea is that such software puts scum on the clear surface of your web pond.

Podcasting: rabble radio

rabpea.jpgWayne Macphail of W8NC alerted me to the new rabble radio – fresh Canadian podcasts from the left channel. It is a new feature of rabble.ca for which Judy Rebbick is the publisher (and Wayne is on the board.) Given the CBC lockout, this could become an alternative source of “radio” news. Wayne did a series of podcasts for the McMaster Faculty of Engineering and has been developing interesting ideas about how to use podcasting.

Now, what could do with podcasting in the university?

Since Otar Left … (Movie)

I don’t normally blog movies I’ve seen, but we just watched Since Otar Left … and it was one of the most touching movies I’ve seen in a long time. It takes place mostly in Tbilisi, Georgia and ends in Paris. The three main characters are a grandmother Eka, daughter Marina, and grandaughter Ada who are dealing with each other, life in post-independence Georgia and Otar, the missing brother of Marina (and beloved son of Eka.) The family are francofiles and Otar has gone to work in Paris where he dies in an accident. Like the movie Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Marina and Ada conspire to pretend Otar is still alive. Unlike Good Bye Lenin! the deception isn’t really about politics, doesn’t descend into farce, and leads to a touching conclusion for Ada. I found the movie dealt well with life in Georgia for an educated family without being about Georgia. It ultimately focuses on three generations of strong women, offering one of the best depictions of an independent grandmother I’ve seen. All three actresses are terrific, but Eka (who, according to the distributor is a “90-year-old former dental assistant and fledgling star Esther Gorintin”) is a character we almost never see in Holywood films.

A must see.