Re: virus: E.F. Schumacher--more memes, please

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Mon, 11 Jan 1999 08:49:27 -0800

N CASH wrote:

>I think you really have a handle on things.

Thank you for your wonderful complement on my acting skills.

>Am I allowed to ask about your art?

It has covered several fields including sculpture, painting, and illustration. I'm currently doing pro-bono graphic arts work for a local culture jamming organization. I was going to point you to a couple of my descriptions my work in the archives, but the link to the archive search engine at the CoV isn't working. David?!?

>I don't know if these two are synonymous. I think a person
>with good instincts can perceive, but a genius can translate/create.
>Your thoughts?

Mastery of the craft of expression is essential. But I venture that anyone of such a renown that might warrant our discussion has already proved their craft on some level.

>> Scientists may have ethical questions about experimenting (memeticly) on
>> human subjects, but for an artist it's part of the job description!
>
>I agree all the way up to job description. I think some art can be
>powerful without this controversial aspect.

And I would answer that this art's very power is a testament, overt or otherwise, to its ablity to actively mold the viewers thinking and emotion.

>And for all the "strides"
>music might have made in this interaction triangle thing, don't you have
>a problem at all with the commercial jingle machine that is the record
>industry? God, I feel like Linus...

Of course. I also bemoan the fact that rock has become, as jazz had previously, a form so formalized, delineated, and enamored with its own heritage that variations on previously described themes are the only innovations now seen as possible.

But then, having shed a tear, I move on to the newer, still innovative forms of music all around these days.

>Also, nobody commented on Schumacher. Would you, could you, in the rain?
>On a train, in a tree...?

I intend to and have yet to delete your original message. I often feel that when I am active on this list I may be stepping in before another has a chance to make a useful comment. And so at times I hold off on addressing the meaty issues right away in order to give others a whack at the ball. Unfortunately, this can often backfire when no one else jumps in to make what seems to me like an obvious comment.

-Prof. Tim