I wish I could just listen to articles. My Audm is always on – usually Vanity Fair pieces about Republicans because I’m just a rubber-necker like you. Sometimes I come across long articles and (following last week’s comment about never having time) and wish I could listen to them instead of have to read them. I’m an excellent and eager multi-tasker, I can do a million other things while listening to articles but reading demands my full concentration and it’s another reason I resent it.
Saying that, I tired of trying to read ‘relevant’ non-fiction and finally opened Tom McCarthy’s Making of Incarnation which Justin recommended to me and it’s brilliant. I forgot that you’re allowed to just read fiction. I used to work in a bookshop, long before I took anything this seriously and just chose to read things I actually wanted to rather than things I felt I should.
It’s a great novel (so far) and Justin was bang on with the recommendation. It’s the only novel I’ve read that features Blender as a McGuffin. About a third in and we’ve already had a IP-minded conspiracy theory build around the back catalogue of Lillian Gilbreth, examined the inner working of a CGI and simulation company and got really into kinematic science. The reviews for it aren’t great but I’m loving the detail and world-building. It reminds me a little of Crying of Lot 49, this idea of a shady, diffident secret society on very specific technical grounds. It’s chock full of CGI terms and technology but turned towards this worldbuilding project. Years ago I wanted to do a project about the computer graphics industry as a political force, like small arms, tobacco or oil. What would they lobby for? How? What would make them so powerful and how would we live with them? Maybe I’ll do it one day still, McCarthy comes close.
I’m involved in writing a script at the moment at work and there’s something not quite right about it. I used to absorb myself in novels and worldbuilding projects when I was doing more speculative design stuff, not just sci-fi but Russian tragicomedy and Argentinian dramas. It’s helping a little to get back there again.
Recently
Week before last I was in Lisbon for Humane conference giving a sweeping overview of trends impacting the future of Higher Education and trying not to re-enter debates about digital learning I was deeply involved in in my previous role. If you’d like some Design Futures / Foresight stuff, get in touch!
Upcoming
I’m up in Manchester 4-8 July for a thing so if you’re around and want to meet up, please let me know!
Short Stuff
- Very much enjoyed this excellent call for ‘Imaginology‘ from Stephen Asma. Something I’m super keen on promoting and normalising, the use of ‘icky’ things like intuition and imagination.
- Check out this amazing short – ‘Revenge‘ – made by Leo Avero in Blender. There’s a strong Ian Hubert influence in there but it’s interesting because I think that Avero has drawn on limitations of hardware for stylistic decisions. For instance, there’s a slight ‘glitchiness’ to the visuals which I think are probably caused by noise filters that are creating interference every few frames. This would have meant much shorter render times but he’s then clearly embraced the effect for it’s ‘painterly quality.’ The characters look a little clay-like, again reducing rendering time without sub-surface and animation time without needing to get super human-like motion. I can also see other influences in there which I adore, Control for one in the office scenes. Anyway, check it out:
- Some useful ideas of what a good Web3 might look like, basically, the opposite of the current Web3. I enjoyed this much more nuanced and detailed exploration of Web3 that delves into some of the contradictions and behind the veneer of scams and heists – Paradise at the Crypto Arcade on Wired.
- Perhaps a small step toward a general AI – Gato – which can recognise images, play game, respond to chat and control a robot arm. Simple suff but all in one package.