* /Now *

...updated (somewhat) February 7, 2025
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Christmas: the pressure was off as most of my friends were away for the holidays. I could focus on amusing myself - what to read? what to listen to? what to eat? (see below). Went for walks. Looked at all the pretty decorations.

Starting the year: I've been enjoying myself preparing for my small web workshop (see "https://endmatter.neocities.org/smallweb") - which is good because everyone says the small web is supposed to be about pleasure!

Then: I need to pull together my notes on Nick Monfort's 'Taroko Gorge' for a CDH presentation in March. The other night went to a book launch for his "OUTPUT - An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953-2023" at UofT. 
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Reading:

Penman, Ian. "Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors". Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2023.

Robertson, Ray. "The Old Man in the Mirror Isn't Me : Last Call Haiku". Exile Editions, 2020.

Walser, Robert. "Looking at Pictures". New Directions, 2015.

Sirius, R. U., et al. "Counterculture through the Ages : From Abraham to Acid House". Villard, 2004.

Jordan, Robert. "Lord of Chaos". 1994. (Book Six of The Wheel of Time)
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Listening:

-Japanese Ambient

--MEITEI, 'Komachi' (2019)
--H. Takahashi, 'Escapism' (2018)
--Yoshi Horikawa, 'Wandering' (2012)

-Psychedelic
 
--Freak Scene, 'Psychedelic Psoul' (1967)
--The Third Bardo, 'I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time' ((1966)
--The Deep, 'Psychedelic Moods' (1966)
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Eating/Cooking:

Stilton (bought a big hunk for the holidays!) with Abate pears - mmm.

Working on Ramen recipes. I got some lovely red & black melamine bowls. (odd childhood memory - 7 years old, or so, getting a pair of black corduroy slippers with red interiors and asking my father, "why do these colours look so good together?")
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Watching:

-'Solo Leveling' on Crunchyroll (2024)
-'Citadel: Honey Bunny' on Prime (2024)
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Browsing:

-'Syllabus Project'
-Kristoffer Tjalves's 'Naive Weekly'
-'from a secret location: Poetry, little mags, small presses, and transient documents from the mimeo era and beyond'
-'Brion Gysin: Calligraffiti of Fire' (1985) October Gallery (2008)
-'Taroko Gorge' - Nick Montfort (2009)

Links list:

https://syllabusproject.org/archives
https://www.naiveweekly.com/about
https://fromasecretlocation.com/about-from-book-to-web/
https://octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2008gys
https://nickm.com/taroko_gorge/
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Quotes:

"My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge." - Laurel Schwulst

"I evoke the term 'handmade web' to suggest slowness and smallness as a form of resistance." - J. R. Carpenter

"I evoke the term 'handmade web' in order to make a correlation between handmade web pages and handmade print materials, such as zines, pamphlets, and artists books." - J. R. Carpenter

"A web that is unpolished, often quirky but often also fun, creative and interesting." - Parimal Satyal

"The range of possibilities is vast: You can tend a website for decades, or just a few days. It can be laser-focused on a single topic, or present a vibrant mix. It can lean technical with diagrams and code, or poetic with artistic expression. It can address an entire community, or a single loved one." - Chia Amisola
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...background image Kelly Sikkema (Unsplash)