#↷ vilem ꒰ interactions ꒱

[rewritingtales]

tag dump

[rewritingtales]

is he offering help? vilem has to think about his next choices quite carefully.

“if it means that you'll put some clothes back on before we get guests, then…” 

he doesn't finish the sentence though, he just makes sure to look at rory straight in the eyes. while vilem isn't going to make too much of a big deal of the conversation, he is going to take some actions. he walks over to his part of the farmhouse and takes off his shirt. before he gets over to his bed, he also kicks off his shows in the process. 

then, he turns around to look over at rory. he motions for the young man to come closer to him and then pats the spot next to him on the bed. again, moving in silence but saying a lot with his words. even though he still has his pants on, that part doesn't matter right now. 

Rory bites his lip and looks down briefly too.

"Is that you... offering help?"

He looks up through his eyelashes. He can't deny that he hasn't imagined his grandpa in his bed. The thought always crosses his mind when he hooks up with someone that isn't his age. And he's found his gaze lingering too long on his grandpa when he takes his shirt off out in the fields or in the barn. Apparently, good genes run in the family, even when you're older.

And he's felt his grandpa's gaze when Rory comes home naked and sweaty. He's caught the last moments of those stares before Vilem looks away. Each one sends shivers through his body and has fueled more than a couple of solo sessions.

But if Vilem is going to bring up the sex of Rory's condition, then maybe it's time they stop tiptoeing around each other.

"I'd say yes if you did," he admits.

[genocidalfetus]

Brain Rot Thot

I think I have one more long photostory in me before I move on from Cyberpunk. I dread that I will be moving on, as this game has been great and my brain rot for two years....but I think I'm feeling the symptoms of burnout from it. I don't think I'll finish Kei's playthrough. Maybe I'll leave it and come back to it a year or two later when the itch presents itself, so his fic will probably go on hiatus. I won't abandon it, but it will be put on pause. I'll finish Vilem's and Vince's because they're almost done anyhow but yea....I feel like people don't really have as much of an interest in what I do as they used to. And I'm not holding it against anyone, even if it stings a little bit to have people unfollow and just not interact with what I do anymore for some reason or another. I get it, people get busy, interests change...maybe I said something once that rubbed someone the wrong way....still though, this fandom isn't what it was and it does sort of suck. But yea...one more big photostory for Vilem because I feel like I need to show people the conclusion to his tale. I didn't make an NPV of him and Kerry and Dino to have them just sit on my computer collecting dust.

I'm kind of ready to go back to my first love. Dragon Age. I hope I love this game, though some of the decisions the new devs have made have me worried, but I've waited over 10 years for this game and I intend to play it.

[consequencesofargentdawn]

The PCU love to zero in on targets they think they can bully without reprisal or without consequences. That is where CoAD came around from, to prevent groups of bullies from attacking and shaming innocent players.

Amidst the recent thread on toxicity, well known community figure and overall genial and welcoming Vaxir waded in on the debate only to be immediately lashed at by long time old guard PCU stooges of Teyha/Teyhani and Coalburnt/Vilem aka the compliant marionette and chief enforcer of PCU groupthink, Shewp.

Not only is Vaxir attacked for the mere act of reading blogs such as CoAD and others (not a crime we should like to add despite what the PCU think) they have a number of other blown up and completely false charges levelled on them, simply because they know they can attack Vaxir with material dredged up from almost a decade ago, not to mention their own fake and false accusations. Why? Because they choose those who will not actively fight back, like all bullies.

Between Coalburnt’s deluded conspiratorial accusations, of which he and his friends have on multiple occasions attempted to accuse Vaxir of the “crime” of “Being CoAD” and the general and casual transphobic sentiment directed towards Vaxir it it no surprise that Vaxir came out to defend themselves at last against these cruel and sick incel fascist bullyboys.

The CoAD team thought long and hard about the response to this.You do not need to excuse yourself, you do not need to defend yourself against hypocrites Vaxir. You have done nothing wrong that these mean spirited, disgusting Nazi praising bigots have not done worse, and in years of targetted harassment of you, they are viable to be reported and banned for their horrific bullying of you.

We stand with you Vaxir. There are members on our team who have roleplayed with you and interacted with you over the years and you have been nothing but welcoming, thoughtful and kind towards those who show the same to you. While it was some time since your last meeting with them, you may recall a Gnome Death Knight by the name of Boltis (their in character name that is) who would often frequent similar places as yourself and your friends. They would like you to know it was some of the best roleplay they have ever done.

So no Vaxir, never capitulate to the PCU. They of all people have zero right to judge anyone else, they are the worst of the worst, the bottom of the bottom. You are valued and you are a good person, as you said we all only human and so we can only improve. So we here at CoAD stand with you, encouraging and in support your efforts to better yourself.

[halseyhazzard]

Scrolling Utopia: Internet Interaction Design and the Posthistorical Subject

Halsey Hazzard, fall 2018

for a class on German media theory

Writing just before the internet threatened to take over the world, philosopher and communicologist Vilem Flusser has often been called a prophet of the digital age, based on his concern with then-nascent internet technology and the applicability of his theories to the so-called digital age. Certainly he did dream of a utopian society in which communications technology would engender a more egalitarian global society, but his optimism was far from idealistic. Rather, Flusser’s work contains a demand that we understand the way technology shapes human consciousness so that we might develop and use it responsibly. A sense of urgency underlies Flusser’s calls for responsibility, and this call has grown only more crucial as the internet has grown more pervasive and social networks have ascended to global near-hegemony.

In many of his essays, Flusser argued that historical consciousness, engendered by linear writing, was giving way to a new, posthistorical consciousness as a result of changing technology. Now, nearly thirty years after his death, it would appear the new consciousness Flusser both dreamed and warned of has arrived, ushered in by the digital technology we call, not insignificantly, “social media.” In this paper I hope to deploy Flusser’s theory of humanization to understand one of social media’s most quietly pervasive design elements—infinite scrolling—and its relationship to the so-called posthistorical consciousness. Infinite scroll, I argue, is a key example of how technology shapes human consciousness and how its effects demand that we pay attention and take responsibility for the ways we are constructing ourselves as human subjects.

Throughout his work, Flusser articulates a definition of “human” that depends heavily on technology, and communication technology in particular. He is concerned with an apparent shift that took place with the appearance of apparatuses, which he defines in Toward a Philosophy of Photography as something that mimics a human capability and which merges with a human operator. The human is profoundly affected by its interaction with the apparatus, and because technology is constantly changing (being changed by humans), what is “human” is constantly in flux. What is constant, however, is communication. Humans distinguish ourselves from the “non-human” by our need to store and use “information,” defined as negative entropy. Flusser makes frequent reference to the second law of thermodynamics, arguing that humanization is thus the process of fighting against inevitable entropy through the creation of information technologies. He puts it succinctly in a 2003 interview with Patrik Tschudin: “a person becomes human to the extent to which he figures out which of one’s functions can be mechanized and then delegates those to machines. What remains, that which cannot be mechanized (for the moment, anyway), is that which becomes human” (“The Lens is to Blame”, 6). Taken together, these statements define humanity as a process of endless becoming, driven by the human drive to communicate and the responsibility to one another (and, as a result, agency) communication entails.

If humanization is a process of endless becoming, one should probably wonder what the human is becoming now. In “Humanizations,” Flusser illustrates the status of the human with reference to the “little brain man,” a model for how the brain perceives the body borrowed from neurology. In the linear era, the little brain man is a “tongue-thumb man,” but Flusser hypothesizes that in the telomatic future, “The fingertips, which will touch the keyboard, will doubtless be the most important organs, and it will become apparent that the purpose of the Brain Man’s entire body will be to support the fingertips” (“Humanizations” 190). While he is certainly right that technology has shifted the focus from the tongue, he was perhaps too quick to predict the shrinking of the thumbs.

In recent years, so-called “social media” has saturated Western culture, with Instagram in particular reaching one billion users worldwide (Carman). Much of this growth has occurred concurrently with the rise of smartphones, expected to be in 2.5 billion hands by 2019. While much attention has been given to the content on such platforms, this impending ubiquity demands an analysis of how the material apparati of apps like Instagram are shaping what it currently means to be human. In 2013, at the dawn of Vine, writer Chris Baraniuk situated the then-new (now defunct) video-sharing service in a long history of visual loops. Like the gif before it, the Vine video takes a moment—no more than six seconds long—and repeats it ad infinitum. Hypnotic and without a true beginning or end, digital loops are “uncanny” and “disturbing,” for, according to Baraniuk, ‘the complete absence of teleology and catharsis within the loop destroyers our sense of self, our idea of progress, our intention to accomplish anything.” (Baraniuk). The logic of the loop, he claims, is built into the very languages that make up the digital world. A similar “narrative dissonance” can be found in in “infinite scrolling,” a design element that, alongside the rise of digital visual loops, has quietly achieved near ubiquity as a feature of websites, in particular those considered to be “social media.” Infinite scrolling might at first appear to be the anti-loop. Where gifs only have one frozen moment to offer up for eternity, the infinite scroll seems to promise endless variety. Yet it shares with the visual loop a lack of teleology thanks to its lack of a clear beginning, middle, and end.

When one loads a page on a website that employs infinite scrolling, one is dropped into a seemingly-endless stream of modular pieces of content, known frequently as posts. These can be images, short texts, video clips, or a combination thereof. Scrolling is particularly popular in app design for smartphones which, with their small, vertical screens, replace the horizontal thrust of traditional text with a relentless vertical pull. The promise of new content just beyond the bottom of the screen draws the eyes down and the thumb up. Pagination, a holdover from the pre-internet days of bound paper books, presupposes a hierarchy of information, an order that requires a linear progression. Page one must come before page two, page four follows page three, and so on. Entries on sites like the search engine Google that still use this skeuomorphic setup, when not bound to a linear progression, are often algorithmically sorted by relevance. Posts on infinite scrolling sites, however, are typically arranged chronologically, which gives them all the same importance. Yet the constant updates endemic to social media mean the chronology of the infinite scroll is essentially an eternal present. It is impractical, if not impossible, to reach the end of the scroll, yet if even one were successful, one would have to find one’s way to the ever-extending beginning, and start the process all over again. The only way to read everything is in real-time. The infinite scroll thus begs to be constantly checked, foreclosing any possibility of action.

According to Baraniuk, this process--or, rather, lack of process--threatens our sense of self. He may be right, if what we mean by the self is the form of human consciousness that has for so long been constructed in and by linear writing: “historical consciousness”. In “The Future of Writing,” Flusser writes

“Writing is an important gesture, because it both articulates and produces that state of mind which is called “historical consciousness.” History began with the invention of writing, not for the banal reason often advanced that written texts permit us to reconstruct the past, but for the more pertinent reason that the world is not perceived as a process, “historically,” unless one signifies it by successive symbols, by writing” (Future 63)

For Flusser, writing is associated with logic and reason, with the sort of scientific thought that thinks of things in terms of cause and effect. History takes a narrative form, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The consciousness created by this kind of thinking is historical. The posthistorical consciousness, on the other hand, begins with the photograph. In contrast to the linear, logical thinking of alphabetic writing, images encourage formal thinking, and make it impossible to understand the world as “becoming.” Linear reading “has the sense of going somewhere, whereas, while reading pictures, we need to go nowhere” (Line 23). Images contain denser messages than linear writing, and demand to be thought of structurally rather than linearly. Images preceded writing, yet in their current iteration as photographs serve to explain written text, hence their post-historicity. This begs the question: if “[n]arratives make history” (On the End of History 143), does the narrative-less infinite scroll and its attendant digital consciousness make posthistory?

The infinite scroll, lacking finitude, has no historical sense of causality. In the scroll, things simply occur. The infinite scroll, then, with its lack of teleology, would seem to be a departure from linear, historical thought. Yet Flusser explains in “The Future of Writing” that in a world dominated by lines, “everything...follows from something, time flows irreversibly from the past toward the future, each instant is lost forever, and there is no repetition” (64). This sounds awfully like the endless streams of content on social media, signalling that the shift between history and post-history is not so cut-and-dried. In fact, the infinite scroll could perhaps best be compared to films, which, according to Flusser, “incorporate the temporality of the written line into the picture, by lifting the linear historical time of written lines onto the level of the surface” (Line 26). We still fail to grasp the posthistorical surface quality of films and TV programs, reading them as we would written lines. But Flusser suggests that “for those who think in films, it will mean the possibility of acting upon history from without” (25). This will become key, particularly if we understand the infinite scroll as a technology that allows us to step outside the procession of history.

Shortly after making this claim, Flusser calls attention to the distinction between immediate experience and the necessarily mediatized fictions of images and concepts, and further, the distinction between conceptual fiction (“line thought”) and imaginal fiction (“surface thought”). The relationship between these two forms of thought is at stake for our understanding of how media shape thought and thus impact humanization. Surface fictions, he claims, are not only advancing due to technological developments, but becoming more and more indistinguishable from reality, which linear fictions are becoming more and more abstract. Ultimately Flusser claims that “[t]he synthesis of linear and surface media may result in a new civilization” (31). The infinite scroll, by extending surfaces indefinitely so that lines may be followed forever, might perhaps be the very technological development that ushers in this new civilization.

This new civilization could ostensibly take two forms. The first, in which imaginal thinking fails to incorporate conceptual thinking, would lead to “the totalitarianism of the mass media” (34). If imaginal thinking does succeed, however, leading “to new types of communication in which man consciously assumes the structural position,” “a new sense of reality would articulate itself, within the existential climate of a new religiosity” (34). Flusser concedes that neither outcome is inevitable, and that the shape of the posthistorical future depends on choices made in the present. The infinite scroll could be a harbinger of either outcome. It is easy to see how the mass distraction and loss of teleology engendered by the technique could lead to totalitarianism.

On the other hand, the destruction of hierarchies it seems to encourage gestures toward a much more egalitarian future. Flusser, who often wrote urgently of the need for dialogue, might see this as a welcome step toward a classless, networked society.

The society Flusser has in mind is one where “dialogue and discourse balance each other out. If, as we see today, a discursive form dominates, which prevents dialogues from taking place, then society is dangerously close to decomposing into an amorphous crowd” (Stroehl, xvii). Media that encourages discourse imparts information from the top down, such as mass broadcast media like television or radio, whereas media like telephones encourage “[d]ialogue as a noncoercive relationship of mutual respect” (xviii). According to Andreas Stroehl, Flusser “believes that dialogue is the purpose of existence. The sense of responsibility inherent in the dialogic relationship between speaker and addressee offers the speaker an opportunity to give his or her own life meaning in the face of entropy and death” (xviii). To be human is to act on this responsibility to the other by communicating, and the technologies humans design to communicate impact the ways in which we become human.

Digital interfaces are no exception. Social media, by virtue of its “social” nature, can perhaps be seen as a step toward this telomatic networked society of mutual responsibility. Still, infinite scrolling is a key example of how it is not free from being determined by the political and economic contexts in which it was developed, contexts which impact the very interaction design of the internet. According to Chadwick Smith, for Flusser, “since objects impact the lives of others...and are a projection of some designer’s decisions, they are thus situated in a relational field, encompassing not just aesthetic and political dimensions but, given their infinitely intimate scale, ethical ones as well” (“The Butterfly and the Potato” 48). The infinite scroll, though a feature more than an object, is a prime example of this dynamic. In 2006, software engineer Aza Raskin developed infinite scroll as a way to maximize the time users spend on websites, eliminating the natural stopping points at the end of pages that inspired users to navigate away. This habit-forming tendency was conceived in the service of websites and advertisers that depend on keeping eyes on screens, indicating a motivation behind the design choice other than intersubjective goodwill. Even Raskin is critical of the scroll’s anti-human tendencies: “It's as if they're taking behavioral cocaine and just sprinkling it all over your interface. And that's the thing that keeps you like coming back and back and back” (Hamilton). When we situate the scroll in the context of the rise of technocratic totalitarianism with which Flusser was concerned, it becomes part of the tradition whereby “The Enlightenment has overshot its mark,” causing extreme rationalism to turn irrational, thus barbaric.

If that is the case, what can we do to rescue humanity from this path? Flusser may give us, if not a plan, then at least a set of guiding principles. If being human is about communicating with each other to stave off impending entropy, and if humans have the agency to create technology to do so, then it is imperative that we take seriously our responsibility to each other in our efforts to design the future, especially considering the anti-human tendencies in what we’ve already built. As Smith writes, “Flusser’s concept of design is not about building a better world, but rather of eradicating from it everything that makes it worse” (“The Butterfly and the Potato” 53). That may not necessarily mean doing away with infinite scrolling, but taking seriously the dialogic potential within it when considering the effects it will have and is already having on collective human consciousness.

Luckily, if Flusser is to be believed, the posthistorical consciousness is giving humanity the means to step out of the stream of progress and look at structures, to critically assess our own history in order to fully take advantage of the opportunities the present presents. As long as technology like infinite scrolling threatens to pull us further into our future selves, we owe it to each other to know who those selves are, and who we will become.

Works Cited

Baraniuk, Chris. “‘The Wheel of the Devil’: On Vine, Gifs and the Power of the Loop.” The Machine Starts, www.themachinestarts.com/read/2013-01-the-wheel-of-the-devil-vine-gifs-idea-of-loop.

Carman, Ashley. “Instagram Now Has 1 Billion Users Worldwide.” The Verge, The Verge, 20 June 2018, www.theverge.com/2018/6/20/17484420/instagram-users-one-billion-count.

Flusser Vilém, and Ströhl Andreas. Vilém Flusser - Writings. University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Hamilton, Isobel Asher. “Silicon Valley Insiders Say Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter Are Using 'Behavioral Cocaine' to Turn People into Addicts.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 4 July 2018.

“Number of Smartphone Users Worldwide 2014-2020.” Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/.

Smith, Chadwick T. ““The Butterfly and the Potato: Vilém Flusser and Design”. artUS. issue 26, 2009-1, 46-53.

Smith, Chadwick T. “The Lens is to Blame”: Three Remarks on Black Boxes, Digital Humanities, and The Necessities of Vilém Flusser’s “New Humanism” Flusser Studies, vol. 18, http://www.flusserstudies.net/sites/www.flusserstudies.net/files/media/attachments/smith-the-lens-is-to-blame.pdf . Accessed 18 December 2018

[genocidalfetus]

Vilem met Dino when he was trying to find a venue for the band he was in to play. He found the rockerboy intimidating, but tried not to show it when he asked him if the band could play the stage. Dino saw Vilem and was like "who's this little shit and why's he buggin me?" due to having one of those days as a Fixer. However, the kid laid on the charm and managed to get Dino to agree to let the band play there that evening. But things built from there, where Dino found himself attracted to Vilem after awhile and vice versa, as he came around more.

Kerry thought "cute kid, weird circumstances." when he met Vilem himself, rather than Johnny talking through Vilem's mouth. Vilem thought "fuck, this ain't a dumb crush." when he was actually meeting Kerry rather than watching Johnny interact with him through his eyes. For Kerry, he wasn't sure what he was feeling. At least not at first. Thought Vilem was cute, had gorgeous eyes, but wasn't sure if the attraction was due to Johnny, but then realized it had nothing to do with Johnny after the reunion show. For Vilem, he thought it was a dumb crush as he found himself drawn to Kerry after experiencing Johnny's memories, but the more he learned about the guy through reading stuff online, and then actually meeting him, he realized there were legit feelings. The same feelings he had for Dino, which weirded him out cuz he never had a thing for two guys before.

Dino and Kerry had a brief fling a few months before Vilem came back to Night City. It started with two musicians talking music, getting a little high, developed into a little thing, then fizzled out. But the two still thought about one another from time to time, and it got rekindled due to their mutual feelings for Vilem.

Tell me things

I'm goin back and doin a lil VP around when Dino and Zayn met the first time and how both were pretty pissy/snarky with each other due to the circumstances. Not like, hate kind of pissy, but the understandably irritated and annoyed kind given the context.

But it made me curious.

How'd your shippy characters feel about each other when they first met? Did they hit it off right away? Did they low key or very high key hate each other at the start? Was it a slow burn?

Share 🤲

[samwestonhonoursdesignproject]

‘Imperfect Information: The Prospect of Material Thinking’ by Nancy de Freitas

Freitas explores a number of theorists whose ideas closely link to the Paul Carter’s ideas regarding material thinking. Freitas identifies that, “material considerations” are of most importance in-regards to theorist Paul Carter’s ideas around “material thinking”. Freitas makes a number of intriguing and pivotal statements. The first being, “Designers aren’t necessarily attentive to the way they make and remake the material world in order to adapt it to living in the future” (Freitas 2). “Through creative attention to the material processes which shape our lives, they make material, new forms of and for living.” (Freitas 2). 

Section: Imperfect In-formation

Within the section ‘Imperfect In-formation’, Freitas draws parallels between ideas presented by Vilem Flusser and Paul Carter in-regard to materials. Flusser, proposes that, “

Section: Material Action

Section: Living Material

Freitas states, “Designers need to take account of how social and cultural relations are today, more than ever, mediated through material artefacts and further changed over the lifespan of artefacts. We adapt through our use of artefacts and we also adapt artefacts to our changing needs.”

Although, stated on materialthinking.org that ‘material thinking’, “is an awkward term that resists simple definition” (Materialthinking.org). A number os practitioners have formed their own interpretations of the term. Freitas refers to a number of theorists and practitioners whose ideas draw similarity to the core value of ‘materials’ and ‘material thinking’. Similarly to theorist Braudel, I may could consider the everyday moments of interaction between both the person and the material and the take this further by identifying the sort of relationship this may generate. 

“Designers need to take account of how social and cultural relations are today, more than ever, mediated through material artefacts and further changed over the lifespan of artefacts.” (Freitas 9). 

After reading these articles, consider how they inform your project’s current approach to materials and material thinking. Come with a collection of ways to really push that aspect of your project further.

[calumdixon]

UX School - Master Apprentice - Citadela App

The next post I found to create a master apprentice from was a dribbble post by an interaction designer at google named Vilem Ries. The original post shows a carousel of cards that when tap on expand into a fullscreen image. From this fullscreen image the user can drag down to reveal an article, clicking on the images in the article will also move into a fullscreen display that gives some extra information on the image.

To create this post I set up an auto-animate trigger between a screen with the location card not expanded and a second in its expanded form. To create the effect from the downward drag leading to the article content I created a invisible layer that would have a drag trigger applied to it. this would use auto-animate and lead to an art board with the article content. The reason I chose to use an invisible layer is because it meant I could use a drag trigger without moving any of the on screen content. Lastly to create the expanding image effect I used three art boards. The first was the original article content screen. This screen would have a tap trigger applied to leading to a second art board showing the image in its expanded state. Then a time trigger would start leading to a new art board where the same content would be displayed by the new art board would be shrunk to the to the viewport height so that the art board could no longer scroll. The reason for the two art boards for this effect is because using only a single transition results in the image moving upwards and the viewport position suddenly changing because the image being clicked on is under the fold.

Original post  

[countofthreefoldedness]

review

There is often a strange resistance I find with recently defunct technology, lacking the nostalgic pull of older devices and the seamlessness of more integrated usage of contemporary technology. In this state of purgatory there is no seduction pushing it in becoming a prosthetic, outsourced functionary to daily life. Thus I found no easy use for this Olympus digital voice recorder. As an amateur sound recording device, its market would now have be entirely usurped into the smart phone, one touch, one pocket, one glass, one button logic.

The only way I could then find a way around using this Olympus was through shaping an encounter with it. Vilem Flussers in his writing on the cultural artefact wrote about an apparatus as that “lies in waiting.. it sharpens its teeth in readiness”. The Latin word apparatus is derived from the verb apparare meaning ‘make ready for’ or ‘to prepare.’ This stage of waiting can have different status’: one that’s ready at hand, one that requires a total resuscitation from a different time or in this case one that is entirely situational.

The readiness unfolded itself after a week of carrying the object in my backpack. Amounting to one occasion of use, this was to record a meeting of collective I am in Brussels. Around this device we start to sing. To form songs out of loose ends of archives and our own collective writing pursuits. The device shaped the occasion, shaped the form of how we would interact, that we would depend only on the expression of our voices . With this occasion and around the what this object prepared we have decidedly formed a choir.

[amodernpieceofglasswork]

Notes: Waste Time on the Internet by Kenneth Goldsmith

20 August 2018 On archiving Our archiving impulse arises as a way to ward off the chaos of overabundance. Joseph Cornell’s boxes – stockpiling and collecting of ephemera, organising them by arcane and precise system. Management of information _ downloading, cataloging, tagging, duplicating and archiving. Cornell’s boxes are similar in constructions to computers. An interior voyage. Each box an interface, with its own operating and navigational systems, like browsers. Desktops resembles Cornell’s boxes – a time before multimedia is coined as a term. Cornell’s prediction that this is how we interact with vast multimedia formats. Multiple windows. A distraction, but a life training for a distracted world. Not always a bad thing. Instead of destroying our concentration, the distracted is attracted by a rival interest. Dream machines and eternidays Jacques Lacan - mirror stage. The image of oneself as a whole person is intoxicating which can explain why we are hooked on external representations of ourselves (as in the myth of narcissus). We enjoy seeing ourselves being tagged or retweeted, we can’t leave Facebook or Instagram. Mcluhan’s theory that insertion of the self into the media is a basic precept of electronic media. Humans are fascinated by an extension of themselves in any material other than themselves, which is why people have interest in social media apps: it’s interface is designed such that when you log in, you are greeted with likes etc, an accumulation of social media capital, a symbolic currency for which ‘I’ is the social media’s metric of valuation. Compulsive ‘instagram it’ behaviour Vilem Flusser’s description of such a phenomenon in 1983, writing about the analog camera: Flusser’s view is that the content of the cultural artefact is completely sublimed by the apparatus. The camera app, instagram, robotise all aspects of our lives. Coerces us and we obey. Instagram: we think we document our own memories, but these are just memories for the app. Once we buy into it, it’s hard to leave it. Your cultural artefact is locked within that system. Personal notes Not too sure about the effectiveness of Goldsmith’s argument about how time spent online is not wasted. I enjoy this book for some of the references to modern art history and some interesting examples of artworks. I think his class Wasting Time on the Internet (and the list of how to do so at the back of the book) can all make for a kind of performance art. Goldsmith’s point of view, as an artist/educator, is worth reading, especially since my interest in this topic stems from my own art practice. I think given his position and background, I do not doubt that his time spent online is wasted at all. That might not apply to most people.  Kenneth is his own example of this theory – he is interested and focused on this subject, he is adding value to this conversation about our relationship with media, devices and information consumption. But I suppose he agrees to some extent: ‘not everyone is as focused, distraction might mean missing the main event, but what if nobody knows anymore what or where the main event is?”. Works mentioned 1. Black Box – Jennifer Egan (2012) 2. Joseph Cornell’s boxes 3. The Clock – Christian Marclay (2010) 4. Finnigans Wake – James Joyce

[rewritingtales]

is  he  being  harsh?  yes.  does  he  care?  also  yes,  but  he  won't  say  that  part  out  loud.  there's  a  part  of  zeke  that  is  very  familiar  to  him.  although  he  doesn't  know  all  the  parts  of  him.  that  man  that  he  made  love  to  that  night,  or  fucked  depending  on  when  you  look  at  it,  is  familiar  to  him.  the  monster  that  bit  rory  and  turned  him  into  one  of  his  own?  that  part  not  so  much.  although  they're  getting  to  know  each  other  in  more  ways  than  one.  dinner,  farm  work,  and  now  sleeping  together?  one  would  think  that's  more  intimate  than  he  is  with  anyone  else.  technically,  it  is.  vilem  hasn't  let  anyone  sleep  over  since  zeke.  everyone  that  he  sleeps  with  he  ends  up  kicking  out.  once  again,  he's  not  going  to  put  any  of  that  into  words  though.  “why  do  you  think  that  everything  i  say  is  to  spite  you  or  to  get  back  at  you?”  for  a  couple  of  seconds,  he  thinks  that  there's  nothing  he  can  say  that'll  make  the  wolf  think  he�� actually  likes  him.  oh  well.  he  shouldn't  care  about  that  sort  of  stuff  anyway.  “if  i  wasn't  okay,  i  would  have  attacked  you  by  now.”  vilem  uses  his  arm  to  prop  himself  up  too,  facing  zeke.  he's  not  necessarily  tired,  so  he  doesn't  feel  the  need  to  go  to  sleep  yet.  “if  you  kill  me,  i  can  think  of  at  least  two  people  that  won't  stop  hunting  you  until  you're  dead.  you  know  your  odds  and  the  risk  you  run,  so  i  know  you  won't  hurt  me.  same  way  i  won't  hurt  you.”  is  he  admitting  to  the  fact  that  he  trusts  the  monster?  out  loud?  hell  is  going  to  freeze  over. 

truth  be  told,  zeke  was  full  of  shit.  because  someone  had  tortured  him  &  he'd  let  them  walk  away.  worse  even.  he  saw  him  regularly  &  even  though  he  sometimes  wondered  if  he  shouldn't  just  end  him,  zeke  never  actually  went  close  to  trying.  quite  the  opposite,  much  like  with  vilem...  he  felt  drawn  to  him.  his  curse,  clearly.  he  was  drawn  towards  those  he  shouldn't  be  drawn  to.  or  something  like  that.  but  as  per  usual,  he'd  do  his  best  to  make  the  other  believe  he  was  this  monster  everybody  was  afraid  of.  not  that  he  wasn't,  but  not  all  the  things  people  whispered  about  him  was  true.  he  enjoyed  a  bloodbath,  truly,  but  he  was  ...well,  it  was  complicated  sometimes.  though,  most  people  who  crossed  him,  really  didn't  survive  it.  there  were  just  exceptions,  which  generally  proved  a  rule,  right?  yeah.  "that's  right."  there  hadn't  been  much  fanfare  the  other  time.  they  wanted  each  other,  they  ...got  each  other.  zeke  lost  control  of  his  shift  &  well,  the  rest  ...was  history.  honestly,  vilem  should've  been  flattered  he  did  that  to  zeke,  because  only  few  hook-ups  left  him  so  relaxed  &  spent  he  forgot  who  he  was  for  the  time  being.  but,  they  really  didn't  have  to  go  over  it  again.  "strangers,  huh?  guess  i  deserved  that."  he  didn't  know  what  they  were...  he  really  didn't,  but  they  had  long  since  passed  strangers.  what  else  was  there,  though?  zeke  didn't  care  about  sides  of  the  bed,  but  vilem  seemed  calm  with  his  choice,  so  zeke  would  be,  too.  he  ...couldn't  remember  feeling  this  ...on  edge  last  time  they  shared  a  bed,  which  was  annoying.  yes,  that.  "can't  disagree  there."  people  were  stupid,  except...for  a  few.  he'd  like  to  count  the  old  farmer  to  that  list  of  exceptions,  too.  zeke  followed  suit  &  propped  himself  up  on  an  arm  facing  the  other.  "you  still  okay?  sharing  your  bed  with  a  stranger  and  all?"

[genocidalfetus]

Brain Rot Thot

This site will forever fill me with both joy and frustration....

Also, I miss Kerry. I like seeing my old posts of him and Vince popping up here and there and am quite happy that people still interact with the post of mine where I wrote him being all emotional in Vince's voicemail, along with those emotional shots of him. I feel like that's my 'thing' when it comes to VP. Creating emotional shots that tell a story of some sort and bring the viewer into the character's head. Can't wait till Vilem falls for the rockerboi and vice versa, then they both decide to bring Dino into the mix and they become The Three Of Strings. Posing and taking shots of three people is going to be a challenge, but I think I can do them justice.

don't mind me...just rambling

[genocidalfetus]

WIP Wednesday

The second part of a chapter I'm working on. It's an interaction between Vilem and Dino the night before 'The Heist'

[rewritingtales]

“       i   met   you   outside   of   the   castle,   so   i   can't   say   that   you're   on   the   list   of   royalty   i   hate.       ”        biancenieves'   stepfather   is   another   story   though.   technically   he's   no   longer   king,   which   bodes   well   for   him.   the   little   smack   is   playful   enough   that   it   brings   a   smile   to   his   lips.   is   he   not   meant   to   touch?   especially   when   the   young   prince   makes   himself   seem   so   tempting.   his   hand   slides   even   further   up   when   it   connects   to   the   back   again,   fingers   brushing   along   the   way. 

there's   an   unspoken   truth   between   the   two   of   them.   aside   from   the   big   bad   wolf,   it's   also   been   a   long   time   since   vilem   has   stripped   away   his   responsibilities   and   let   himself   enjoy   the   moment.   which   is   disheartening.   especially   when   the   man   thinks   back   to   how   fruitful   he   was   in   his   youth.   maybe   he   is   getting   old.

“       you   never   get   tired   of   your   tricks,   do   you?       ”       a   playful   grin   forms   on   his   face   as   he   pegs   the   question.   honestly,   florian   can   do   just   about   anything   and   the   farm   owner   will   go   along   with   it.   they   have   the   privacy   that   they   need   to   let   this   little   game   go   on   for   hours   if   they   wanted.   but   he   knows   he   has   a   home   to   get   back   to.   he   moves   his   hands   down   when   the   other   grabs   his   face.   both   grab   onto   either   side   of   his   waist,   holding   him   into   place.   there's   no   getting   away   from   him   now.

finally,   when   he   feels   that   mouth   on   his   it's   like   he's   taken   back   to   their   first   time.   vilem   parts   his   lips,   only   slightly,   to   let   that   tongue   inside.   as   he   returns   the   kiss,   he   begins   to   softly   suck   on   florian's   tongue   as   well,   almost   desperate   to   see   if   he   tastes   the   same.   his   body   begins   to   roll   into   the   hips,   grunting   into   the   kiss   in   the   process.   here   they   go   again…

“       you   are   being   too   kind   to   me,   vilem.   and   here   i   thought   you   hated   royalty.       ”                       florian   says   with   a   chuckle.   but   when   he   felt   the   older   man's   hand   against   his   back,   he   felt   his   voice   hitch   at   the   sudden   warmth   against   his   skin.   the   contact   made   him   pull   away   from   it,   arching   his   back   a   little,   then   giving   the   man   a   playful   smack   on   the   shoulder,   before   he   rests   his   body   again   ...   sighing   now   when   he   felt   his   hand   again.

it's   been   a   long   time   now   since   the   last   time   he   let   himself   be   vulnerable   like   this,   to   give   himself   to   someone   like   this.   and   even   with   a   facade   of   a   playful   but   reluctant   prince,   the   want   in   his   voice   and   smile   was   still   evident.   and   just   hopes   vilem   can   see   that   as   well.

"       is   it   really?       "        he   asks,   smiling   himself   as   he   played   along   this   little   game   they   are   doing.   this   wasn't   the   first   time   he   was   on   the   man's   lap,   neither   was   this   the   first   time   he   kissed   him.   but   it   was   still   fun.   moving   even   closer,   until   the   distance   between   them   was   nothing   and   his   groin   was   already   touching   vilem's,   he   then   held   vilem   on   both   sides   of   his   face.   keeping   his   gaze   against   his   own.        "       well,   i   do   know   a   little   trick   to   know   if   that's   true   or   not   ...       "

and   with   that,   florian   finally   let   his   lips   take   vilem's   ...   purring,   moaning,   and   laughing   as   his   tongue   seeks   entry   as   well,   looking   for   the   familiarity   of   the   older   man's.   and   as   if   on   instinct,   his   hips   began   moving   on   it's   own   as   well--   rocking   against   the   older   man's   until   he   can   feel   him,   all   of   him,   against   him.

[rewritingtales]

technically they're his first? vilem might not know what jeb is exactly, but he knows that they're nothing like the were-creatures that he's had to deal with in the past. no, they're something much more sinister than that. “in the way that you're thinking, yes, you're my first.” he shakes his head almost faster than the words are able to come out of his mouth. “no, i wouldn't.” magic like that comes at a price. plus, he's not meant to live forever. he's human for a reason. “i'm happy with the way that i'm aging.” vilem sticks his chin out and puffs out his chest a bit.

Jeb can smell the faint fear... no, alert. Wariness wafting from their new friend. That delights them. They are monsters by their nature, and they exist to be feared and shunned and hated. "Does that make us your first?" They ask as the mist spills out of their form, clinging to Vilem along with their arms. "Would you like to live longer?" Their question rings dark and hollow, with unearthly glints in their eyes. Many humans they have encountered wanted immortality without knowing the risk of being endless. Of course, Jabberwocky can help them exist forever. Within their domain. Lost in the mist forever.

[rewritingtales]

the wrapping of the arms is just a hug. that's what vilem has to say to himself to believe that they're not going to unhinge their jaw and swallow him whole right then and there. honestly, he doesn't really know what jeb can do. that puts him off above all else. if he knows, he might be able to protect himself. “well i don't have any monster friends, so.” he always judges them before they can get too close. he doesn't count zeke as a friend either, considering he kicked the wolf out of bed the last time they had sex. “i'm fifty-eight. average life expectancy of humans is in between seventy and eighty, although some have been known to live over one hundred.” not that he thinks he's going to be in that special category. the lick to his cheek makes him look over at jeb again, still not moving much. “ahh, my beard. sometimes i forget it's not black anymore.” he chuckles softly, a clear joke from his part. vilem knows he's old.

Jeb leans closer, catching the aroma of complicated emotions. Apprehension, curiosity, alert... All delicious and attracting the monsters they are. With a giggle and toothy grin, they circle the hunter before wrapping their arms around Vilem. "Friends. We don't have that many human friends... this is going to be fun." They hum at that comment though, admitting "we are not used to telling how old humans are. You are obviously not a child, but that's pretty much it." But this is good. They are learning human. How to act like one, how to get along with humans... Though they are monsters, Jabberwocky harbors no ill will toward humans. Monsters cannot exist without civilization; they are defined by the bound of society, existing outside that line, so without humans to fear them, monsters cannot be. Jeb laughs excitedly when Vilem gets the answer wrong. They poke their tongue out and run it against the bearded cheek, "the answer is your hair on the face."