October 2012

drawing in chris shier's canvas 05 (dump version) (gif version)

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noisia_squares_short

slightly longer GIF

shier's website
dump version of canvas 05 (draw and screencap your own!)

cursor = "the artist's hand" (mine)

"canvas 05" isn't an official title, as far as I know -- need to call it something -- Shier numbered it 05 and it's made with the HTML5 canvas element that, along with the iPad, is supposedly going to redefine the web as we know it. Shier's project and the attempts here to interact with and bloggerize it feels slightly like "leaving the zone of audience comprehension," as Frank Zappa called it. Critics are needed who can talk helpfully about this stuff -- evaluating each stage of production, and speaking to the tech as well as the art of it. (E.g,. "The algorithms are sleek but the self-appointed performer/documenter's hand gestures and screenshots seemed hurried. One longs for the days when ineffable abstraction existed only on actual, physical canvas, etc etc.")

more

the new aesthetic - still new

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Speaking of Rhizome, was disappointed to see they've embraced James Bridle's "new aesthetic" pseudo-genre.
A couple of people picked that apart but of course they aren't on next week's panel. We can't have folks disagreeing -- it's unseemly.

Update: Bridle uses the Gish Gallop as a lecture strategy, overwhelming the listener with more spurious and contradictory examples than can be handled in one sitting. You can respond to this by either (i) saying "aww fuck you man, I give up" or (ii) rewarding Bridle with another speaking engagement.

belated smear response

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"Straw man" made me think of some random trash-talkin' last year I never dealt with. This is a comment I posted on Rhizome.org today, in a thread where my name came up:

Will Brand claims "there was a guide a few years ago to arguing with Tom Moody that described the strawman accusation as cheap to produce and costly to disassemble." If Brand can produce this "guide" and provide some context I'll be happy to respond to the accusation. Secondhand reference to a disappointed person's attempt at satire seems about par for Brand, as a writing technique.

My criticisms of Brand got me perma-blocked as a commenter on Paddy Johnson's blog (this happened a couple of months ago). But it's like playing whack-a-mole to stay on top of his disinformation across the wide internet. I've been letting some of it slide.

romney in first debate

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Janet Ritz (Huffington Post) claims that Romney used a creationist debate tactic of rapidly inundating your opponent with lies. (hat tip Bill):

The Gish Gallop, named after creationist Duane Gish, is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in such a torrent of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments that the opponent cannot possibly answer every falsehood in real time. The term was coined by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education.

Matt Stoller (Naked Capitalism) notes that Romney was lying but reminds us that Obama isn't really an opponent of Romney on most issues:

[Obamas'] second term agenda is to cut Social Security, Medicare, frack, cut corporate taxes, bust more teachers unions and pass more neoliberal trade agreements. He is proud of this record. So are his people. But he knows he can’t run on it because it’s unpopular, so instead, he presented himself as a nice likeable guy.