from "I Completed the Following Requirements"

On October 15, 1994 I recorded my best in the following tests:

Pushups: 20                        Pullups: 1

Situps: 20                             Standing long jump: 4ft. 0in.

Run/walk 500 yards: 2:10

In October 1994 I presented myself to my leader, properly dressed, before going on an overnight camping trip. I presented the camping gear that I was going to use. I demonstrated the right way to pack and carry this gear.

In October 1994 I spent at least 1 night on a patrol or troop campout. I slept in a tent that I helped pitch on a ground bed that I prepared.

On November 14, 1994 I demonstrated how to display, raise, lower, and fold the American flag.

On November 14, 1994 I explained why we use the buddy system in Scouting.

On November 15, 1994 I demonstrated improvement in the activities listed above after practicing for 30 days. I recorded my best in the following tests:

Pushups: 28                        Pullups: 2

Situps: 30                             Standing long jump: 4ft. 4in.

Run/walk 500 yards: 2:01

On November 15, 1994 I demonstrated the Heimlich maneuver and told when it is used.

In November 1994 I demonstrated how to whip and fuse the ends of a rope.

In November 1994 I repeated from memory and explained in my own words the Scout Oath, Law, motto, and slogan.

In November 1994 I knew my patrol name, gave the patrol yell, and described my patrol flag.

On July 7, 1995 I demonstrated tying two half hitches and a tautline hitch by using these knots to pitch a tent.

On July 7, 1995 I demonstrated the rules of safe hiking, both on the highway and cross-country, during the day and at night. I explained what to do if I were lost.

On August 15, 1995 I identified local poisonous plants; and told how to treat for exposure to them.

On August 15, 1995 I displayed first aid for the following:

·         Simple cuts and scratches

·         Blisters on the hand and foot

·         Minor burns and scalds

·         Bites and stings of insects and ticks

·         Poisonous snakebite

·         Nosebleed

On August 15, 1995 I participated in a Scoutmaster conference.

On September 15, 1995 I completed my board of review for the rank of Tenderfoot.

Library of the Human Genome, the best conceptual poem evar!

i found these images of this after looking for a published (as .pdf) version of the whole human genome online. such things do kinda exist, but they involve .tar and .fa files, and programs that i don't have - or care to get. you can find it here: http://hgdownload.cse.ucsc.edu/downloads.html#human

i was looking to find the whole code to use it for a project, but then i found that it was first printed and is currently installed at the Wellcome Collection in London. for me, this set of books is a better project than could ever be made. let me explain: we have decoded our genes to get a better understanding of how we, humans, work. scientists have identified many genes that explain our traits, evolution, and ailments (mutations, syndromes, cancers, etc). this knowledge is then used to inform modern science and medicine. this re-application of this data by scientists is what makes this research applicable and relevant to our lives. but, this bookshelf is only raw data - a huge sequence of letters. this data can't be read, especially by visitors to this collection. thereby these books don't hold transparent language that tells us something about ourselves, but holds an opaque depiction of how we are trying to further understand ourselves. and in a way, that is a failure. for most people the experience of 'reading' these books must be about only the process of it's creation. this is why i believe that this library is one of the best uncreative pieces of writing... ever. (Kenny Goldsmith eat your heart out!)

the first printed copy of the Human Genome (displayed at the Wellcome Collection, London)

detail of ASCL1 (Achaete-scute complex-like 1)

i still wanted to add (through further mediation) to this discussion, so i created another piece based on this transcription of our DNA. the following is two excerpts from a 2,451 page (printed) text piece called human_genome_map.jpg.

the excerpts are shown here as images because the text, when pasted into blogger, goes kinda crazy. to make this, i saved an image (human_genome_map.jpg) of the human genome from a Google search, changed the file extension from .jpg to .txt, opened the file in Microsoft Word, and saved it as a .doc - the final piece. interestingly, at the very beginning of the file you can read a bit of the code - it says "file written by Photoshop 5.0". in this piece there is a fairly straightforward conversation about coding, legibility, and language.

New Year Dérive

"The revolutionary transformation of the world, of all aspects of the world, will confirm all the dreams of abundance."

-Guy Debord, 1955

Guy Debord - The Naked City

last night i played games till 2, then danced till 4...awesome. this morning i went to a coffeeshop. i was reading through chapter 2, "Language as Material", from Kenneth Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing, when i came across an idea [below] that can solve a project/assignment problem that i will encounter in the coming spring semester of Intro to Drawing: we can't do our outdoor (city) dérives when it is cold.

Moved indoors, branding has its own psychogeographic typography. [Matt Siber's] Untitled #3 shows a drug store display, scrubbed of its texts. Here packaging, with a slant toward natural beauty, sets the structure and tone of the work.

 Matt Siber - Untitled #3, 2002

 from this, the plan is to get a college van and bring my drawing class to the Louis Joliet Mall to execute our dérives. during prior in-class dérives in downtown Joliet the students have document "the appealing or repelling character of certain places." [or things] (Debord, from The Introduction of a Critique of Urban Geography) in text. this text then takes final form in another Situationist International form, graffiti. the final collaborative piece resembles concrete (pardon the pun) poetry and Siber's text erasure pieces.

documentation of the Fall 2011 Introduction to Drawing dérive graffiti

the final piece(s) of the mall dérive will probably not be graffiti, but a discussion around each or our lists/poems/maps. to test this out i went to CVS and did an in-store dérive. below are the results.

Essance
High Life
19.9
HEAT
AZO
VSFlu
ets. 1837
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Ο
WOW!
5
grey felt squares
orange crush
sun drop
Congclados
b    2x
"I can see so clearly"
rum
Beauty
Implements
93930G790957
09/09/10
red $5
poofs
blackhawks
wisk
bounce
gain
purey
boost
fantastik
horizontal teal stripes
bones
bolts
car cigarette lighter light-up angel
nut
only
sweet peas
fire
AMEREX
AtoZ
blood pressure test 
(1)
say it with flowers
-4-
-5-
-6-

Kenny G. (a horrible paraphrasing that i have done)

12/16/11 7pm
Kenneth Goldsmith lecture @ the Poetry Foundation

In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, "The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more." I've come to embrace Huebler's ideas, though it might be retooled as "The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more."
-from Uncreative Writing, by Kenneth Goldsmith

on the institution
-occupying power of poetry
-social power of poetry
--poetry is normally marginalized - why doesn't poetry matter?
Goldsmith is asking for an "activist poetry"

with the example of Marcel Broodthaers as a model Goldsmith begins his talk about the power that poetry can use to critique institutions. he emphasized that context should be championed over content and that it should be self-reflexive (staples of conceptual art since Duchamp). these qualities may be found through insincerity and unreadability. here the example of Broodthaers can be used - as this piece (Broodthaers' first sculpture) is made of poetry books of his that he could not sell - and marked his transformation from a poet to an artist.

to further the critique, Goldsmith referenced ISSUE #1 (a large collection of poems that were generated by computer software, and then attributed to famous authors) and Vanessa Place's Factory Work (poems written by others but published under her name, and a nod to Warhol's "Factory"). through appropriation (which of course asks, "who is the author") both of these examples draw attention to how poems can challenge the structure from which they are born.

he then humbly mentioned that avant-guard work like this (which has almost no popular readership) needs to be supported by an institution - and would seem to undermine the whole premise of institutional critique. on the contrary, Goldsmith argues that poetry (an art) can critique and comment on the institution from within. he mentioned some art (Andrea Fraser, to name one) that did this, as well as his reading and suit from the White House Poetry Night (an event he was invited to - with no real strings attached. he was basically free to read/say whatever - sans anything "political"). evidently his suit was of the same style and made by the same people who made Obama's suit he wore that night (of course the pattern was different). he read two excerpts from other poems (one by Walt Whitman and the other by Hart Crane) and a bit from Traffic - all very non-tradition, but accepted in this setting non-the-less. for Goldsmith, he sees this place as a meeting of the everyday and the avant-guard - a place to straddle tradition, but still be radical - and to fuck with the institution in a way that it never notices.

he also mentioned that the occupy movement is a prime place for such activities. he sited a person in S.F. (i think) who brought a sign that read, "GUCCI, Do The Dishes". by Goldsmith's recanting, this person was booted out of the protest because she or he had broken the social contracts of the occupy movement. so, Goldsmith was able to enact his critique because he played by the rules of that institution, while the GUCCI sign carrying protester was excluded from the discussion because her or his message challenged language and social contracts directly. in an interesting twist, a quick google search for 'gucci do the dishes' comes up with this:

anywho, he ended his talk with saying that poetry should be used in other fields (law [Vanessa Place], science [Christian Bök], politics, etc) to drive and alter that field's discourse.
---
in the Q&A he laid out his basic principle of "uncreative writing":
poetry is near 100 years behind visual art. this is because the visual arts were challenged by new technologies: the still and moving cameras. these technologies were able to do what artists had done for millennia, so they had to adapt. writing is facing this change now. "The internet revolutionized writing... Language will become mimetic"

*
i've since, and because of this, decided to put my piece, D, on my site. all the text in this piece is taken from Wikipedia.

silence, in 9 parts

Silent Band (from My iTunes)

Aphex Twin - Penty Harmonium

Beck - Black Tambourine

Blackalicious - Ego Sonic War Drums

Boards of Canada - Dawn Chorus

Fela Kuti - Funky Horn

Sparklehorse - Piano Fire

Squarepusher - The Modern Bass Guitar

Talking Heads - Sax and Violins

Thom Yorke - Cymbal Rush

gig in the sky

My first attempt at transcribing Pink Floyd's The Great Gig in the Sky.

* * * * *

And I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it — you've got to go sometime.

oa oh ah oh oh ah oh ah oh ah

ah

ya

ya

ya

ah ha

yah

ah

ah ah ah

hah

ah

ah

ah oo

oh

oh

oh oh oh oh oh

ay

yay ya ya ya

ay ay ha

ya

ah

ah

oh oh

oh

oo

oh oh oh

oh

ah

ha ya

ha ha ya

ay

oh

oh

oh

oh oh oh oh oh oh

oh

oh

oo

I never said I was frightened of dying

oh oh oh oh oh ay

oh oh

oh

oh

oh

woh

ay

oo-ay

oh oh oh oh

woh

oh

woh

woh oh oh ay

ah ha ya

blush, celebration, dimples, snoozy, kitty

OMG QT

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November Graveyard

And green tea of

CS Gas stove and skinny training squad last means all along we ask a lot of change when you try ads and our asked not to hide behind the enrollments grass and this holiday grandiloquent nine and a school and sexuality fellow at night and ends crimes of engaged in knots between us down 18 minutes rained down is honest dropped to an elaborate hot ham bone and freeing it can mean a lot in stocks got in bulk Smeal offense, all play ties much known as the reactions and the sun and essential asking Stan R. Stanton U I's boys division of dazzling and we a Los Gatos man and Colleen – rows across and long reign of the shortest outing mind which key goals and may have came from 10:00 AM

And green tea of is a poem made using Windows Speech Recognition, Microsoft Word, and a Youtube video that features Sylvia Plath reading November Graveyard. Perhaps I'll do something better with this process soon.

 
 

uncreative writing

"In the event, [the UbuWeb conceptual poetry] collection happened to gather a particular kind of writing to make a secondary argument: some of the presumed hallmarks of poetry—the use of metaphor and imagery, a soigné edited craft, the sincere emotional expression of especially sensitive individuals—might be radically reconsidered, and poetry might be reclaimed as a venue for intellect rather than sentiment. Understanding writing to be more graphic than semantic, more a physically material event than a disembodied or transient medium for referential communication, the online anthology showcased works fundamentally opposed to ideologies of expression."
-Crag Dworkin, The Fate of the Echo, Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing, 2011. [via the essays, seen here]