Everything is Interesting
A calligram [kal-uh-gram] is a poem, phrase, or word in which the typeface, calligraphy, or handwriting is arranged in a way that creates a visual image. The image created by the words expresses visually what the word, or words, say. In a poem, it manifests visually the theme presented by the text of the poem.
Guillaume Apollinaire was a famous calligram writer and author of a book of poems called ‘Calligrammes.’ His poem written in the form of the Eiffel Tower is an example of a calligram.
Eye music (often referred to in English by its exact German translation ‘Augenmusik’) describes graphical features of scores that when performed are unnoticeable by the listener. A clear definition of eye music is elusive, for the border between eye music, word painting, and representations of melody and form depends on the relationships of composer, performer, and listener. Word painting (also known as tone painting or text painting) is writing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song (r.g. ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death).
To a person well-versed in the style of Baroque music, word painting is, as intended, noticed. But someone unused to Baroque musical style may not appreciate that musical effect – to them they are merely notes and lyrics. In this case, word painting is no longer the issue. For them, the ‘leaps’ of written notes are unhearable, but are visible only to the composer or performer: a definition of eye music.
read more »
Graphic notation is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic notation evolved in the 1950s, and it is often used in combination with traditional music notation. Composers often rely on graphic notation in experimental music, where standard musical notation can be ineffective. A common aspect of graphic notation is the use of symbols to convey information to the performer about the way the piece is to be performed. These symbols first began to appear in the works of avant-garde composers such as Morton Feldman, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as the works of experimental composers such as John Cage and Earle Brown during the 1950s and 60s. In the late 1970s, the Brazilian composer Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta started producing graphic notation in four dimensions, inside virtual reality.
After working as Stockhausen’s assistant, Cornelius Cardew began work on a massive graphic score, which he titled ‘Treatise.’ The piece consists of 193 pages of highly abstract scores. The score itself is almost its own separate work of art. In 2008, Theresa Sauer edited a compendium featuring graphic scores by composers from over fifty countries, demonstrating how widespread the practice has become. Notable graphic scores(in which the music is represented using symbols and illustrations) include: Hans-Christoph Steiner’s score for ‘Solitude,’ created using the Pure Data programming language. Altered Notation can be seen in George Crumb’s work, where he uses traditional notation but presents the music on the page in a graphic or nontraditional manner such as spirals or circles.
User innovation refers to innovation by intermediate users (e.g. user firms) or consumer users (individual end-users or user communities), rather than by suppliers (producers or manufacturers).
Eric von Hippel of MIT and others observed that many products and services are actually developed or at least refined, by users, at the site of implementation and use. These ideas are then moved back into the supply network. This is because products are developed to meet the widest possible need; when individual users face problems that the majority of consumers do not, they have no choice but to develop their own modifications to existing products, or entirely new products, to solve their issues. Often, user innovators will share their ideas with manufacturers in hopes of having them produce the product, a process called free revealing.
read more »
Amateur professionalism is a socioeconomic concept that describes a blurring of the distinction between professional and amateur within any endeavour or attainable skill that could be labelled professional, whether it is in the field of writing, computer programming, music, film, etc. The idea is distinct from the sports term ‘pro–am’ (professional–amateur), though related to and ultimately derived from it.
The concept and terms have been used, since 2004, as a descriptor for an emerging sociological and economic trend of ‘people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards,’ as described by Demos, a British think tank, in the 2004 book ‘The Pro-Am Revolution’ co-authored by eclectic writer Charles Leadbeater. Leadbeater has evangelized the idea (in ‘amateur professional’ order this time) by presenting it at TEDGlobal 2005.
read more »
Egoboo is a colloquial expression for the pleasure received from public recognition of voluntary work. The term was in use in science fiction fandom no later than 1947, when it was used (spelled ‘ego boo’) in a letter from Rick Sneary published in the letter column of ‘Thrilling Wonder Stories.’
It was originally simply used to describe the ‘ego boost’ someone feels on seeing their name in print. As a reliable way for someone to get their name in print was to do something worth mentioning, it became caught up with the idea of voluntary community participation. As a result of this, in later years, the term grew to mean something akin to an ephemeral currency, e.g., ‘ got a lot of egoboo for editing that newsletter.’
read more »
A stand-your-ground law states that a person may use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. In some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the ‘stand your ground’ law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit. The difference between immunity and a defense is that an immunity bars suit, charges, detention, and arrest. A defense permits a plaintiff or the state to seek civil damages or a criminal conviction.
More than half of the states in the United States have adopted the Castle doctrine, stating that a person has no duty to retreat when their home is attacked. Some states go a step further, removing the duty of retreat from any location. ‘Stand Your Ground,’ ‘Line In The Sand,’ or ‘No Duty To Retreat’ laws thus state that a person has no duty or other requirement to abandon a place in which he has a right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant. Under such laws, there is no duty to retreat from anywhere the defender may legally be. Other restrictions may still exist; when in public, a person must be carrying the firearm in a legal manner, whether concealed or openly.
read more »
A Castle Doctrine is an American legal doctrine that designates a person’s abode (or, in some states, any place legally occupied, such as a car or place of work) as a place in which the person has certain protections and immunities and may in certain circumstances attack an intruder without becoming liable to prosecution. Typically deadly force is considered justified, and a defense of justifiable homicide applicable, in cases ‘when the actor reasonably fears imminent peril of death or serious bodily harm to himself or another.’ The doctrine is not a defined law that can be invoked, but a set of principles which is incorporated in some form in the law of most states.
The term derives from the historic English common law dictum that ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle.’ This concept was established as English law by 17th century jurist Sir Edward Coke, in his ‘The Institutes of the Laws of England’ (1628). This was carried by colonists to the New World, who later removed ‘Englishman’ from the phrase, which thereby became simply the Castle Doctrine. The term has been used to imply a person’s absolute right in England to exclude anyone from their home, although this has always had restrictions, and since the late twentieth century police have also had increasing powers of entry.
read more »
Good Copy Bad Copy is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances, directed by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke. It features interviews with copyright lawyers, producers, artists, and filesharing service providers.
A central point of the documentary is that ‘creativity itself is on the line’ and that a balance needs to be struck, or that there is a conflict, between protecting the right of those who own intellectual property and the rights of future generations to create. Artists interviewed include Girl Talk and Danger Mouse, popular musicians of the mashup scene who cut and remix sounds from other songs into their own. The interviews with these artists reveal an emerging understanding of digital works and the obstacle to their authoring copyright presents.
read more »
The Daily Omnivore 