The Wayback Machine is a great place to find obsolete information

Hey boys and girls!

I actually used the wayback machine to fix a
computer!

Gateway had stopped supporting an older Solo 2500 laptop they
made in 2001, and the current web page no longer carries the patches,
upgrades, and fixes for it. So, I went to the wayback machine, typed in its archived URL for Gateway, and they displayed the Gateway pages for 2001, 2002, and
2003. I was able to download the patches and fixes I was looking for from
there.

Pretty cool!

Input to Wikipedia: December 3, 2005

My new posting is available on Wikipedia under the heading Digital Art Talk, where I look at the definition supplied for the topic Digital Art as "Swatkins". At issue is the focus on the tool instead of digital art in a more holistic sensibility, similar to how the arts in general are defined on Wikipedia. One would not discuss a famous painting, and limit the dialogue to the paintbrush, or the brand of pigment used. In much this same way however, digital art has been proceduralized, stigmatized as unworthy of belonging to the community of Art.

I will be keeping an eye on this discussion, and hope to see it proceed. Mostly, I look forward to it getting an acknowledgement of any kind! (Even bad would be nice...:)

Does the KoolAid Ever Wear Off?: October 2005

Just wondering how this is going....

Lawrence Lessig Remix Artist Statement

Sean Watkins
Lawrence Lessig Free Culture Remix Project
Commodification of Culture
October 18, 2005
Artist’s Statement


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.



The last time. It’s going to happen some day. I know it. The last time the rage flares at something absolutely outrageous or unfair, something so against humanity and society, something so anti-common sense that it finally just wins and dumps me on the street as I run chasing after the perpetrators. The last time I muster the resolve to engage the simalucrum. The last time I am finessed into believing the commodity.

However, I continue to rail. Creating a symbol of outrage, reducing the polemic to a few strokes; a few frames of a cartoon, I can try and clearly state the not-so-obvious to a purposely confused audience. As strongly as I spit, the wind howls against me. As I feel the rage, the outrage fights back with its powerful countenance. As long as someone is looking, Goliath, always Goliath, surrealistically defends his selfishness and greed against the little guy who strikes back and owns the sympathetic cry from the maw of Wal-Mart.

The destruction of the people by the not-so-people, in the name of getting mine. It is here that the image is returned to you, although temporarily. As long as the shroud is torn once in a while, the black, sour, angry, foolish, evil scowling face must retreat and spin, accuse and deny, twist and blather, until someone, in the dead of night, wipes the clarity from the fog. It is time to begin again.

Wal-Mart is open.

Additions to Wikipedia

I am technology support and artist, a combination which can either prove deadly to my own work time, or contribute handily to my abilities as a successful artist. I want to contribute to Wikipedia's entry Digital Art as either a stub entry, or as commentary about the problems encountered with getting software to work properly as an artist. I posted a new discussion topic for review, and hope it is met "warmly".:)

The frustration level found in tracking down glitches that pop up because of incompatibilities between vendor software and the operating systems users interact with are agonizing, and in my opinion, ultimately unnecessary.

An example is the way in which Macromedia updates are not supported by Apple's OSX upgrades.

After installing and doing exactly what the vendor Macromedia said to do, launching "Dreamweaver" usually ends up in a temporary bouncing icon which then fails to load the software.

This not only stops the creative or re-discovery process in its tracks, or at the very least, discourages the artist from pursuing digital art as a medium because of its inherent bugginess.

Some of the topics I browsed were from the What Links Here feature of the Digital Art topic: Demoscene, Postdigital, and HardForum. These proved to be the most positive palces in which I think I could post my new topic. Ars Electronica also hosts an innovative R&D facility, and I will be returning to that site as it might also work as a place to post my research.

I also just found a new link that may prove helpful as an addendum to troubleshooting software compatibility. It is an online metadatabase of software tutorials, in almost exactly the format I would like to see available for digital artists needing to have solutions to all their problems in one place.

As the technical director for a large university's college of visual and performing arts, this entry into Wikipedia seemed most appropriate. It is a work in progress, so please keep checking back for updates.

Welcome to the discussion board!

If there was ever a time for new approaches of post-modern polemic about the neo-conservative ideology, this is it. I appreciate your commentary and ideas on how to bring humanity back to a conservative-ravaged America. This blog allows you to be heard over the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys, Dickhead Cheneys, and Karl Roves who have successfully taken away an alternative voice and image. This blog assumes your inherent inalienable rights as an American not included by the officious right:

1) If you have liberal ideas, you are still patriotic.
2) If you do not agree with George Bush, you are still patriotic.
3) If you believe in alternative energy sources, you are still patriotic.
4) If you are against organized religion, you are still patriotic.

The list goes on. Any others, folks?