___________________
'The Laff-Box was created by Charles Douglass, a sound engineer for CBS studios in the early 1950's, to enhance the audience response for both radio and television programs. Early on, Mr. Douglass saw the need for sound enhancement to make jokes and other lines more affective in recorded productions. The box seemingly ahead of its time with technology and ingenuity. Is about the size of todays standard dishwasher, with wheels for easy transport and numerous tapes with a keyboard that he used to select certain sounds and laughs. With a foot pedal he could control the length and increase or fade out of the tape recorded laughter.'-- Live Leak
__________________
'What is it? It's a machine you feed normal human food, and it goes through its stomachs and gets shitted out the other end. So how does Cloaca Professional work? In much the same way as we all do. It is fed and maintained at body temperature while food travels through a kind of mechanical and chemical assembly line involving ‘organs’, enzymes necessary for digestion, farting and a smelly solid end product. Cloaca is a work of art that produces works of art.'-- Museum of Old and New Art
____________________
'In her piece Self High Five Machine Deniz Ozuygur examines her grade-school memory of the high five as the ultimate symbol of acceptance and popularity. Having been on the wrong end of too many “missed it!” and “too slow!” high fives, the artist takes the matter into her own hands. Using two rubber casts of her right arm, Ozuygur attempts her own D.I.Y solution. One arm remains static as the other is attached to a motor. The motor rotates at a speed of only one rotation per minute. This cinematic slow-motion effect builds suspense and excitement in the audience.'-- Haier Portable Air Conditioners
_______________________
'The Jaquet Droz’ Machine à Ecrire le Temps is a complex structure that artistically shows how complex the innards of a watch could be. In fact, to tell time, a lot of complex machinery has to be involved and this particular Horological machine conveys that complex message in this manner. Machine à écrire le temps apparently was not intended to look like the “Android” or any other common device that is famous right now. It was built as a philosophical contemplation about time itself. It has more than 1,200 watch parts, 84 ball bearings and 50 belts. If you put a sheet of paper at the designated place, it writes the time in pencil, 4 digits at a time.'-- walyou.com
_____________________
'Schaufelradbagger 258, the world's largest excavator, is seen working in the Tagebau Hambach, a large open-pit mine in Niederzier and Elsdorf, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.'-- collaged
____________________
'With this project, I connected a gas generator and air compressor to buckets of paint and secured them onto the seat of a Scrambler amusement park ride. Once the ride was in motion, paint sprayed out of the seat onto an enormous vinyl tarp placed underneath. The result is a series of 60 x 60 foot Spirograph designs which recorded the hidden patterns created by the ride as it turned.'-- Rosemarie Fiore
_____________________
'This is my Sparkfun Antimov 2010 contest entry. It's a teddy bear birthday party. The robot attempts to cut the cake but fails. The clown and bear were supposed to point and laugh at him but it looks like my cheap Chinese servos failed too soon. The robot then shoots the bear with his laser, lighting the bear's hat on fire. He shoots the clown next and then the laser malfunctions, lighting everything else on fire. In the end, the robot kills himself by jumping into the fire on the table.'-- Dennis Brunner
______________________
'The Euphonia consisted of a bizarre-looking head that spoke in a “weird, ghostly monotone” voice and was manipulated with foot pedals and a keyboard. By pumping air with the bellows and manipulating a series of plates, chambers, and other apparatus, including an artificial tongue, the operator could make it speak any European language. It was even able to sing the anthem God Save the Queen. The Euphonia was invented in 1845 by Joseph Faber, a German immigrant. While the Euphonia amazed people, there was resistance to it, perhaps because its ability to imitate a human speaker incited fear of replacement by the machine. It is not that the machine promises eternal speech after the speaker’s death, but rather the death of the speaker in favor of the artificial speech. The Euphonia failed to preserve the human, causing it to fall out of favor and to be replaced by the phonograph, which records and projects the human, and the telephone which transfers and connects the human.'-- collaged
____________________
'Conspiring Machine (2007) is a kinetic sculpture by Norwegian artist Kristoffer Myskja. It appears to be like a classic mechanical music box. The cylinder and cogs are there, and spikes touch levers as the machine does its ‘work’. Levers turn switches, triggering small electronic components to play sounds through two speakers. Each speaker plays combinations of consonants and vowels, in two different voices, giving the impression of conversation between two characters. The consonant-vowel combinations are the most common in every language, so the machine constructs a kind of neutral language. You will perceive it almost as words, but never actually understand what it is talking about.'-- Galleri K
_____________________
'The Thread Wrapping Machine is a tool to join different types of material with only a glue-coated thread to bind the objects. No screws or nails are used to join the different components of the furniture. By using this construction method, materials such as wood, steel, or plastic can be joined to form objects and constructed spaces. I wanted to create an externalised joint that would enable me to combine a big range of different materials that normally would require very time-consuming methods of joining them together, and at the same time, to create a decorative pattern formed by the different colours of the thread.'-- Anton Alvarez
_______________________
'The android portrait of Philip K. Dick–an intelligent, evolving robotic recreation of the sci-fi writer who authored VALIS, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, UBIK, and many other masterworks. By ressurecting PKD as an android, we seek to realize genius-level AI with compassion and creativity. While we have a long way to go, even the early versions of the robot have made strong leaps forward towards this goal, resulting in an AAAI award for the AI systems, breakthrough abilities in robotic conversations and human-robot interaction, and world renown. The first version was built in 2005 by Hanson Robotics. Unfortunately later that year the robot was lost in transit to a Google Tech Talk, and the project remained dormant for 3 years thereafter.'-- Hanson Robotics
______________________
'Dutch graphic designer Sam van Doorn has modified a pinball machine so that it uses lithographic ink to make prints. Calling his machine STYN, the device makes messy modern art on poster board with six flippers and the ball. van Doorn doesn't call the resulting works art, rather he thinks of them as design pieces which are the product of "fun and play." The modified pinball machine was a part of van Doorn's graduation project. The machine itself will be appearing at different parties where people can use it to make their own designs, but posters are also available for sale in van Doorn's website.'-- theverge.com
_____________________
'What can a sewing machine do besides sew? In Sewing Machine Orchestra, Montreal composer Martin Messier sets up his own musical factory with a handful of old Singer sewing machines from the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s. As a new media artist, Messier uses everyday utilitarian objects to create electronic music with an unconventional twist. Rather than focus on one medium in particular, he grounds his practice in experimentation and electro-accoustic music, inviting the spectator to become a sonic explorer. “I’m interested in objects that can be manipulated and which have a sonic potential. When I came across the Singer sewing machine, I realized right away that it had that sonic potential,” says Messier, who is a member of the Montreal digital arts collective Perte de Signal.'-- thecreatorsproject.com
____________________
'Sweeping Spirals is part of series of suspended installations by Canadian artist Jean-Pierre Gauthier in which geometric forms (instants angulaires) break up and reassemble in an unpredictable manner. The work is also related to a set of works the artist created around the theme of house cleaning. In Sweeping Spirals, two brooms situated on the opposite ends of a set of interconnected broomsticks take on the shape of a long spiral. Each spiral segment seems to act on its own and the perfect form is only rarely reestablished. In fact, motors pull strings attached to the joints between the segments, creating jerky movements that manipulate them like a big marionette. Moreover, now and then the brooms rub against the floor and push a bit of debris without ever really collecting it.'-- FILE
_________________________
'Like a recycling fountain, Arthur Ganson's Machine with Roller Chain (1996) presents the random play of dribbling, puddling, snaking metal chains. Ganson reveals something of the tinkering-scientific way he works when he tells of his first pass at Machine with Roller Chain. Initially envisioning the lumpy chain falling, blob-like, into the middle of a cradling arc, Ganson said he discovered that a curvature simply caused the chain to "glump to one side and turn around and around. It was completely boring." He decided to bend each side of the arc up into flanges.'-- sculpture.org
*
p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Morning. Yeah, very. Oh, fantastic! Your writing on the Robbe-Grillet releases is ours to keep! Excited to dive into that! Everyone, here's a super treat: Mr. Ehrenstein has written on the new releases of six of Alain Robbe-Grillet's amazing films on DVD by the awesome Kino-Lorber. Reading Mr. E. on MR. R-G is imperative, and, if you have the bucks or know somewhere nefarious or something where you can acquire them sans bucks, the films are just as imperative to watch or own. Right here is where you can start your reading. Please do. ** Grant maierhofer, Hi, Grant. The first novel experience is inevitably and complexly strange. That first transference from one's dreams and hopes of what getting your novel-shaped work out there will be like to the realities that come with the uncontrollable nature of readership is rough. It tests your confidence and belief in your talent, etc. big time. The adjustment is weird, but try to remember that your first experience with that isn't the way it will always be. There's a lot of evolution in the writer/reader relationship, and it changes to one degree or another with each book. Great, cool, about you sharing the ... outtakes? I'll try my best to read them before I leave. Everyone, the fine writer and d.l. Grant Maierhofer, author of the first novel 'Persistence of Crows', which was in my year-end faves list, for whatever that's worth, has shared some pieces of it that didn't make the final cut, and I urge you to have a read even if you haven't read the novel itself yet. They're here, as are links to where you can buy the physical book or Kindle version, which I also urge you to take advantage of. You did send me the physical book, and I have it, yes, and thank you! An MFA, cool, why not? A lot better than a whole lot of other alternative occupiers of your time. Great to see you, man. ** Keaton, Hey, man! I not only didn't close my eyes, I had them opened way wide. Very nice stack, or, wait, two new stacks! I think they're just getting increasingly complex and fantastic. Thanks, big kudos! Everyone, we haven't had a new image/text stack from stack master Keaton in a while, and there are two, count them two new ones that are quite a couple of doozies. Take my advice and click this to get past the fuss that I'm making and see what it's about, okay? ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. Check your email a little later today. I'll be glad when the prep is over, that's for sure. I saw a bunch of photos of Tokyo's new snow storm yesterday, and it was totally surreal. I hope it's not just ankle soaking muck by now. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh! How awesome to get to see you! I am indeed going to Antarctica. Yeah, how cold it's going to be down there semi-scares the shit out of me, and I'm hoping all this gear and cloth-based stuff I've bought will keep me alive, but, yeah, daunting. You'll get some kind of full report in a month or so assuming my fingers haven't been amputated by then. How are you? ** Sypha, Hi, James. Yes, Jesse leant me a Ligotti book. I still have it, and I started it, but I haven't finished it yet for no good reason. I haven't talked to Jesse in a while. He seems to be in very private mode at the moment. I miss him too, for sure, and I hope he reemerges before too long. 'Crime and Punishment' and Tosh's Sparks book are such a funny combination. That combo turns my thoughts into a haiku or something. ** les mots dans le nom, Hi. It's cold here too. Coldish. I like it. Yeah, I guess I'll be in ... Patagonia, the Chilean part, on Valentines Day. Antarctica doesn't start, or, rather, the trip there by ship doesn't start until the 25th. I probably won't even know Valentines Day is happening. Thanks for reading 'TW(XL)'. The publisher still hasn't sent me a copy, grr, so I'm not even sure what font they ended up using. ** Steevee, No, I don't know Selda, but, man, that sounds really, really good. I'll be all over that between my errands and packing today. Thank you! ** _Black_Acrylic, Great about the big success and fun of Yuck 'n Yum's Zine Idol. Congrats to CC. What was it about their proposal that gave them the edge, if you can say? In the meantime, I'll check the gallery on your blog. I'll definitely read Mark 'kpunk' Fisher's piece on the Actress album. He's always worth reading no matter what, I agree. I would love to have that post, Ben. On Tuesday night, I'll be on a plane to Buenos Aires, but, please, if you don't mind a slight delay in its appearance, having that post by you would be great. I'll make it the first post to appear upon my return. I've got nothing set up for the blog post-vacation, and it's going to be hell to catch up, and having your post would be a huge help. Thank you for offering, in any case. ** Torn porter, Hi. Thanks, man. Hey, that's totally incredible and great news about you getting that funding! Whoa, man, very, very sweet. Zac and are angling to shoot our film this summer too if we're really lucky. Anyway, congrats to you all over the place! ** Creative Massacre, Hi, Misty! That procedure sounds completely weird. Kind of interesting too. But the face numbing sounds really spooky. I'm getting eerie face numbness symptoms even imagining it. So I'll stop imagining it, ha ha. I'm really glad you're over that and becoming yourself again. Thanks for the good wishes about the Antarctica trip. It should be as memorable as things can get, I would think. Love, me. ** Misanthrope, Hey, George. Nice B.I.G. quote. Sweet. NB is a class guy. I wish he was still around here, but class guys like him know what they're doing. Last week of May for your invasion, eh? I'll do my utmost to be here, and I'm pretty damned sure I will be. Paris is saintly. Can't speak for London. ** Rewritedept, Thanks so much for holding down the weekend here so wisely and masterfully, Chris! Trip prep is ... I can't say going well, or maybe I can. It's happening. It's far from finished, but it'll get done, I guess. Zac will be the man with the camera on the trip, and I'll try to borrow some of his shots for some kind of trip report. Good news about your job's transformation into something more financially lucrative. And about the gig prep's success. And re: the nice party. My weekend was good, crazed. Trip prep. Writing. I got to hang out for a little while with Gaspar Noe, and that was awesome. I hope your Monday is as good as mine. Hopefully it'll be a lot better. I'm in stress mode. My days suffer accordingly. ** Bill, Hi, B. Yeah, Antarctica, wild and intense, yikes. Should be something to talk about here when I get back, for sure. What's on your agenda today, tomorrow, this month? ** Okay. Your second to last new post for a while concerns some machines of note. Note them, if you will. And I will see you tomorrow.