It's a pleasure to publish Pauline Masurel's piece "Blue Hyacinth" at
http://vispo.com/StirFryTexts/bluehyacinth3.html (requires IE 4+).
There's discussion between Pauline and me concerning "Blue Hyacinth" and the stir frys at
http://vispo.com/StirFryTexts/mazconv.htm .
"The story has already been written…her blue hyacinth voice.
The story has already been written another in the corner is smoking.
The story has already been written in colour.
The story has already been written and he's just here now to watch it played out."
In one of the four texts, we read of a night club owner's remote reaction to his blowing up a
rival night club called The Blue Hyacinth. In another, a woman describes the actions of someone
who broke into her house and left voice recordings on all her tapes, leaves voice messages on
her phone, "it goes on for months, her blue hyacinth voice." In another of the texts, a woman
relates of having won money bet on Blue Hyacinth at the track, and her own inexplicable giving
up of the winnings.
Masurel has used the mechanism of the stir fry to transform fictive stories/vignettes into a
vortex of poetry…and back again to fiction, as you please.
Many thanks to Pauline for "Blue Hyacinth" and its transformations through the shapes of fiction
and poetry.
There are now five stir fry texts involving various participants: Pauline, Brian Lennon, Leo
Marx, Jerome McGann, Talan Memmott, Mary Phillips, Joseph Weizenbaum, Lee Worden, and
translation into Chinese of one of them by Shuen-shing Lee. They have been published in the Iowa
Review Web, ubu.com, DOC(K)S from France, Taiwan, and offline in Denmark. The project was
started in 1999 and may or may not be finished according to whether the form inspires others to
do something different with it, as Pauline has.
The stir fry form keys on the DHTML innerHTML method which allows you to change the HTML code
inside a <SPAN> or <DIV>. Pauline's "Blue Hyacinth" can transform into
4^30=1,152,921,504,606,846,976 different texts as you mouse over it. So the 'whole thing' will
never be read. But neither need all 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 different texts be read to grasp
what we would call 'the meaning' of the piece.
As we move into combinatorially complex works, we realize that what it means to read a
combinatorium with subtlety and comprehension does not involve the necessarily impossible task
of reading all the possibilities of a combinatorium but, rather, getting a sense of the
directions in which the possibilities tend by sampling them until they begin to diminish in
significant difference. In the end, we see that the mind ranges very quickly through
1,152,921,504,606,846,976 despite its seeming insuperability. A text of
1,152,921,504,606,846,976 possibilities is still amenable to the creation of meaning on a human
scale not simply by disregarding most of the possibilities, but by virtue of the way the
underlying 4 texts guide the reader through primary (spanning set) spaces of meaning.
ja
"Blue Hyacinth" by Pauline Masurel
-
Type: discussion
Comments
Lovely work!
Thought it might be interesting to allow readers to become
contributors if when they clicked (perhaps with a modifier
key -option-) on a link, additional text could be added, but
only viewed when "digging deeper" into the mix (?)
An updated version of "the world's longest sentence."
The 12hr-ISBN-JPEG Project >>>> since 1994 <<<<
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| http://bbrace.net
{ brad brace } <<<<< [email protected] >>>> ~finger for pgp
Thanks, Brad. Yes, I wasn't sure about the wreader input dynamics. I can see how clicking on a
phrase could open a box which would allow you to change a phrase or, with more work, add one.
There is a certain resistance in the nature of the stir fry to what the wreader wants. It's a
bit hard to get it to do exactly what you want it to do. It twitches and turns and resists
attempts to master it. Though I suppose it could succumb to a click easily enough and open up a
text editing box.
And in that case, the thing is changed from an entity on its own to something which permits a
different type of wreading.
I did think of trying to make an editor so that you could make your own, and save them. The
difficulties of the DHTML programming interface were quite steep there, however, unlike Flash or
Director. Still, the stir fry mechanism itself, in its current state, would be hard to do with
Flash or Director so that the text moved with the same furtive energy as the <SPAN> objects do,
which is important to the energy of the thing. It keeps itself together as a single text (a bit
desperately) even as it is transformed into a different text.
The issue you raise is an interesting one, I think, concerning this piece and others. To some
extent the thing is tamed by such a feature. Though that might depend on the implementation of
the editing features. An editable entity is a bit less autonomous an entity. But an editable
entity is also often a more interesting entity for the wreader. And allows a different sort of
insite into the entity. As it is now, the focus is on the texts that were written and their
confluence, as well as on the furtive dynamic entity. I am neither of one mind or the other
concerning whether one should 'honor the text' but, currently, the stir fry is a form in which
the text of the writer is 'honored' in a certain way, or it isn't editable anyway, which may be
a fine distinction, but I think once you make it editable, as it is in Arteroids, for instance,
at http://vispo.com/arteroids , it enters a different territory, no less interesting and
certainly with its own attractions, but quite different.
I saw a piece recently by France's Philippe Castellin, called "Le poeme est la somme…" at
http://www.sitec.fr/users/akenatondocks/DOCKS-datas_f/collect_f/auteurs_f/C_f/CASTELLIN_f/anim_f
/lasomme_F/poeme.html (make sure you get the full url). In this piece, the paragraph marks are
more interesting than any words he could have used instead, which I found fascinating. The piece
is, in part, a subtle examination of how the focus moves from what a text says to the code
entity and also the different language of what the entity is saying, apart from the words that
are shown. And perhaps the poem is the sum of what is said in all these languages.
Thanks very much, Brad, for your interest in Pauline's and my work together.
>> It's a pleasure to publish Pauline Masurel's piece "Blue Hyacinth" at
>> http://vispo.com/StirFryTexts/bluehyacinth3.html (requires IE 4+ for PC).
*********
> Lovely work!
>
> Thought it might be interesting to allow readers to become
> contributors if when they clicked (perhaps with a modifier
> key -option-) on a link, additional text could be added, but
> only viewed when "digging deeper" into the mix (?)
>
> An updated version of "the world's longest sentence."
>
>
>
>
> The 12hr-ISBN-JPEG Project >>>> since 1994 <<<<
>
> + + + serial ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/b/bbrace
> + + + eccentric ftp://ftp.idiom.com/users/bbrace
> + + + continuous hotline://artlyin.ftr.va.com.au
> + + + hypermodern ftp://ftp.rdrop.com/pub/users/bbrace
> + + + imagery ftp://ftp.pacifier.com/pub/users/bbrace
>
> News: alt.binaries.pictures.12hr alt.binaries.pictures.misc
> alt.binaries.pictures.fine-art.misc alt.12hr
>
> . 12hr email
> subscriptions => http://bbrace.laughingsquid.net/buy-into.html
>
>
> . Other | Mirror: http://www.eskimo.com/~bbrace/bbrace.html
> Projects | Reverse Solidus: http://bbrace.laughingsquid.net/
> | http://bbrace.net
>
>
> { brad brace } <<<<< [email protected] >>>> ~finger for pgp
I probably suggested the deeper-layers of (alternate)
contribution because the navigation through the existing
slippery-shifting text felt a lot more like writing than
reading.
Probably-not, but is the blue-text also related to
(printers') bluelines?
I have to ask: how does anyone find the time/impetus to
keep-up with the ever-new proprietary web software and
compatibility-uses? (I'm _still almost reluctantly working
on my first Flash project. All I really wanted to do I
suspect was to distribute/publish my 25-yr old still photo
project in the only venue that might give it chance… All
this other stuff flying-around the screen ;)) But, the Blue
Hyacinth, gives me some inspiration/hope.
/:b
> I probably suggested the deeper-layers of (alternate)
> contribution because the navigation through the existing
> slippery-shifting text felt a lot more like writing than
> reading.
Yes, it is rather compositional; too many possibilities for the author to keep track of, though
it isn't hard to look at each single part and how it reads beside each other single part it's
beside, or "single joins" as Pauline calls them.
> Probably-not, but is the blue-text also related to
> (printers') bluelines?
That'd be for Pauline.
> I have to ask: how does anyone find the time/impetus to
> keep-up with the ever-new proprietary web software and
> compatibility-uses?
I only upgrade when the old version doesn't work anymore for some reason (which happens, as my
system slows to a crawl) or there's some feature in the new version I want.
(I'm _still almost reluctantly working
> on my first Flash project. All I really wanted to do I
> suspect was to distribute/publish my 25-yr old still photo
> project in the only venue that might give it chance… All
> this other stuff flying-around the screen ;)) But, the Blue
> Hyacinth, gives me some inspiration/hope.
You have an interesting presence on the net, Brad. You're on several other lists I'm on also, I
have chuckled many times reading your critical remarks, and you maintain some of your project
via ftp, as well as the Web. I just spent an hour clicking through some of your photography at
http://www.eskimo.com/~bbrace/bbrace.html . I recognize some of those places, of course, like
the "unexpected pond"–have had that experience before around Victoria. Maybe it isn't in
Victoria; but it is an experience.
And you've been doing that 12hr-ISBN-JPEG Project since 94. Can't be too many instances of net
projects from 94 still going. And something added to it twice a day. That's pretty remarkable.
ja
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>We had just returned from Dwarf hunting in South America when the phone rang.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"Buzz, Buzz";</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"You get it", said I.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"No, you get it, I insist ", said she.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"Hello" I whispered.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"Louder, you idiot, and pick up the Phone.."</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"Buzz, Buzz";</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"I'll only do it if it learns the correct ring.";</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"Correcting?";</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT size=2>"No correct RING";</FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">"I won't marry you with that attitude";</SPAN><BR>"Bastard.."</P>
<P>"Who is it?"</P>
<P><BR> </P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: { brad brace } <[email protected]>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: { brad brace } <[email protected]>
<DIV></DIV>>To: [email protected]
<DIV></DIV>>CC: [email protected]
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Re: "Blue Hyacinth" by Pauline Masurel
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 20:54:35 -0800 (PST)
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I probably suggested the deeper-layers of (alternate)
<DIV></DIV>>contribution because the navigation through the existing
<DIV></DIV>>slippery-shifting text felt a lot more like writing than
<DIV></DIV>>reading.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Probably-not, but is the blue-text also related to
<DIV></DIV>>(printers') bluelines?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I have to ask: how does anyone find the time/impetus to
<DIV></DIV>>keep-up with the ever-new proprietary web software and
<DIV></DIV>>compatibility-uses? (I'm _still almost reluctantly working
<DIV></DIV>>on my first Flash project. All I really wanted to do I
<DIV></DIV>>suspect was to distribute/publish my 25-yr old still photo
<DIV></DIV>>project in the only venue that might give it chance… All
<DIV></DIV>>this other stuff flying-around the screen ;)) But, the Blue
<DIV></DIV>>Hyacinth, gives me some inspiration/hope.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>/:b
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>+ the internet is not your life.
<DIV></DIV>>-> post: [email protected]
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