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via cpb

Speaking of pic-see, thanks to Camille for remembering my Nasty Nets post about the "porn pic-see." (I'd forgotten it.) By way of follow-up, never saw that use of my open directories again (knock woodgrain).

pic-see Oct 09

Using the Nasty Nets pic-see utility to view my image directory for Oct 2009: the raw material for the blog, without the tasteful resizing and including some images I never posted.
A great idea: if this script was portable, it would be how I would like to try to do my catalogue raisonné.
I have a lot of slides going back to the dawn of time that I would like to webbify. I don't necessarily want to post it all on the blog as regular posts, and would like for some images to be large-sized without clicking links.
With John Michael Boling's brilliant (hint) utility I could create directories of the old work by year, then make links to the pic-see-displayed pages on my sidebar. One thing it's missing now, though, is the ability to link to thumbnail pages--right now it's just a menu item. The October '09 group looks kind of interesting as thumbnails--with the cpb-found ink jet printer creating its own peculiar space in the grid.
If I had a catalogue raisonné then people could see my varied and prodigious output at a faster clip and possibly stop saying they can't get a handle on it. Individually the multiple styles and changes of tone seem like confusion; in the aggregate they seem like deliberate confusion on a massive scale, which is somewhat more critical. It won't help but I'll feel like I gave it my best shot.

One of the teams participating in the New Museum's one-day pairings of artists and technologists has announced their project in advance. The event takes place April 17 and was discussed at length on Paddy Johnson's blog.

Erin Brandstetter (artist) and Ben Kefauver (founder of LiveJournal) will do the following:

Kefauver will spend the day "optimizing" Brandstetter's computer. Eliminating viruses, turning off hidden Windows processes that interfere with smooth running of other software, and removing one year's worth of Windows Security Updates. This will leave Brandstetter's computer vulnerable to "exploits" but it won't matter because she won't be accessing the Internet. The last is a delicate operation: each update must be removed in reverse order from the order in which it was installed, and if anything goes wrong it could destroy her operating system. (Ticketholders with limited time that day might want to come for this part--it should offer edge-of-the-seat thrills.)

Kefauver's cleaning operation will take most of the day. As the clock is running out, Brandstetter will make an animated GIF that will then be projected. "I'm just really looking forward to working with a machine that isn't all gunked up and slowed down," Brandstetter has said. "It will inspire me to do my best work."

Kefauver has commented, "Yeah, I feel like a mechanic, but both of us agree that a day with an optimized Windows machine running third party software beats a lifetime in the closed Apple ecosystem."