Facebook does it *AGAIN*

Okay, in my rational mind, the one over-educated in the school of 1-3rd wave feminisms, pop culture, and marketing, I know that Facebook doesn't really know how much I weigh, and how much weight I gained since moving to Cambridge, where I subsist off pub food and carb-y beer. But it's really, really, really hard not to believe that their ad-targeting is configured by spying on me as I lay on my back trying to zip up my old size 6 okay size 7 jeans.

I mean, everyone whose FB profile says "female" gets these ads, right? It's not just me, right?

A totally indulgent & self-referential work that I've been wanting to do for some time

I finally, after talking about it for so long, wrote the block of code that can interpret XML files to control various video parameters in Processing (thank you, proXML library for being so handy). Jonny and I had this convo about a year or so ago, discussing how rad it would be if an art object was somehow conscious of how popular/valuable it was, and was then able to react accordingly. If it wasn't doing so well, it would spruce itself up to get your attention. Conversely, if it was doing extremely well, it could flaunt it. This would be an exercise of pure cynicism in the face of "net.art" and its convoluted market, and would explore the tension between the facets of a networked art object that are participatory (or require active participation from the viewer) and those that are autonomous to the object itself (i.e. its aesthetic).

I will post some vids or other visual proof-of-existence once there's more to look at; I've been using a boring-looking video to do my testing. But, now that the engine is up and running, I can start populating it with beautiful images. Also, I have to think about the indices I'd call upon to continually test the object's value. Last year, Maegh (a Marxist scholar who studies art movements through a socialist lens) and I started thinking about what a Mei Moses index for net.art would look like. This is a difficult question, because the object in itself, by definition, exists in a place that is accessible at all times by anyone. In a traditional art market, collectors pay for an object that is a stand in for the artist's "genius" and non-alienated labor. But in net.art, the prospect of ownership gets nullified (although the genius+non-alienated labor combo is still there); the net.art object requires a shift/reorganization of the market forces.

I'm still on the fence about how to quantify such an object's worth, though. I guess the clearest indicator is whether or not the artist has gained the stamp of approval from the various cultural institutions. But is there more than that?

BTDubs, I just had a dream in which a novel was written about Olia Lialina. I saw a commercial for it on TV, and jumped up to go buy it. Then I woke up, sat down at the computer, and for some reason, my code started working... Creepy!

Summer Summer Summer Summer!

The weather's finally becoming more reliably agreeable and I'm in high spirits! Quit my job at The Price Center in order to take a Program Associate position at the Community Music Center of Boston. From what I gather, it'll be just like what I do at CCTV, except I'll be paid to be there. And I'll still have time to intern at CCTV on Fridays, and teach my Web Design class, which is such a joy! I'm excited.


(The whiteboard in my "classroom"... That's Professor Harlo to you!)

This new schedule is super accommodating, and will allow me to continue working on my "extra curriculars" without requiring me to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning to travel to Newton. So, I'll have tons of time to work on upcoming projects...

What should those projects be, though? Share.tv has now wrapped for good (I'm logging and capturing the final episode as I type this...) and I want to move on to something more curated and controlled. Also, something with a shorter format that includes both audio and video. Finally, the one qualm I had with Share.tv was that I didn't get much of an opportunity to perform and showcase any of my own work. (Which is to be expected, being the producer/media manager/PR hypeman/booking agent/etc.) With that in mind, I've been working on a couple of things all in their nascent stages that I'll be pursuing over the coming warmer months...

1. A new TV show, obviously! I totally loved working on Share.tv, and I can't wait to do something again! This time, a lot less improvised noise and a lot more video, but hopefully, the new show will grant me the opportunity to work with some of the amazing people that came out in support of Share.tv. I'm open to suggestions. What do you all think?



2. Collage! I love collage. I do it all day everyday (mostly). I also have found a great library in processing that can address video and images through MIDI, and in testing it out, I have been able to actually paint images across the screen with my keyboard, using velocity or pitch to tweak certain parameters (alpha, size, x & y, mostly). So, the natural next step for me is to make performative musical collage— I've been wanting to make some video for some of the new tracks I've been working on for some time now, anyway.



3. Susan Eisenberg, a poet I've done work for in the past, is gearing up for an installation commissioned by Brandeis University. The installation commemorates the 30th anniversary of Eisenberg's seminal work of non-fiction, We'll Call You If We Need You, a testimony to women in the "trades" (electrical, construction, etc.) and the huge amount of BS they had to put up with in the 70's and 80's as lone women in the field. Anyhoos, she asked me to help with the sound design for that project, which is a huge honor. Let you know how that goes...



4. GRE's. Shit.

I've become an MVP!

...by which I mean, I have been Producing Music Videos over the past few weeks. It's been a lot of fun, and definitely the best way to get a crash-course in how to shoot more cinematically (rather than journalistically), how to storyboard, and how to coordinate productions. This has been keeping me super busy, and is the main reason why my blog has gone neglected over the past few weeks.

CCTV is starting a group that produces music videos for local artists, which is a great idea. Our group chose a pretty hot track by Rebel and the Truth, a live hip-hop group that sprung out of Berklee, for our pilot. The song is called "Reminisce," and reminds me of old Will Smith/CL Smooth tracks from long ago. It will not leave my head. We just finished shooting the performance sequence at The Middle East Upstairs, and are going to shoot some vignettes illustrating the lyrics throughout the rest of the week...



(photos courtesy of Matt Landry. Mine were crap.)

Also editing a video by The Lost Crusaders for a track called "Whose Name Will I Call?" The track is a bit maudlin, but pretty good. And the shoot I assisted last Sunday was a lot of fun. I also served as Media Manager, which meant sitting in a U-Haul with a bunch of computers all day, uploading data from P2 cards, and generally bopping my head to Hot 97. I could get used to a permanent gig like that :) The vid was shot on those P2 cards rather than to tape, so I'm probably going to need help treating the footage correctly (MXF files, anyone?) Luckily, I've got people.


(Cam-whore auto-portrait. Who could resist?)

Finally, I started teaching HTML at CCTV. The group I teach is kind of advanced, and interested in learning CSS along with a primer in basic page structure, which thrills me, because CSS is fun to teach. What's cool is that the ladies in my class are all non-profit professionals, whose organizations have actually sent them to CCTV to learn how to enhance their web presence. Having that responsibility feels kind of awesome!

How you get here...

Just finished looking at the viewer data from Google Analytics. This blog gets a lot of hits from people looking for more information on D.E. Shaw (a hedge fund I used to work for). I knew that bit of info already. But what I didn't know about was the weird search terms people are coming up with. For example...



Buh?

Update on the FCC thing: Harlo gets her Whuffies from Vuze.com, Consumerist... (!)

About a day after the event, it was leaked (and then officially confirmed) that Comcast paid people from off of the street to fill seats at the hearing (barring hundreds of dissenters from actually attending). Those people wore yellow highlighters on their clothing to mark them as Comcast shills, and are actually visible from the video I shot.

So, my vid has been picked up and linked to on several blogs that have also covered the event. That makes me feel pretty good! Glad I could help the cause!

*gulp*

At CCTV editing my first feature for Share.tv, which is quite a task. I don't know how I'm going to do this every week for 4 months! It's crazy. Here's a screenshot of my canvas: that's DJ /rupture right there, also wondering "WTF".



Okay, done rendering! Back to work!

Some News, and also, the best spam EvER LOLZ

Hello non-existant reader! Hello future generation!

As you may or may not know, I'm working on a big project: I'm producing a TV show on PUBLIC ACCESS! It's cooler than it sounds.


It's called Share.tv, an hour-long program modeled off of the Share collective in NYC (and in several other locations around the globe). The point is, people get together with stuff that makes noise and/or video, and they improvise off of one another. Sometimes the results are mesmerizing, and sometimes they're deplorable, but it's one experience where the process that matters as much (if not even more) than the product, and it's a good time. If that doesn't make for good TV in-and-of-itself, picture that stuff going on with pre-taped segments featuring really prolific new media artist where they're showing off their material. Then, also, I'm going to try to get some animations and music videos interspersed between segments. That's good TV! Writers strike be damned! If you're interested, and would like to help out, cheer, or give me some tips, have a look at the project's website! Or join my Google Group!

On a completely different note, OMG did I get the best spam in the world today! (Now, before you ask me why I felt like going through the spam folder, I'll tell you: I was waiting for one of those confirmation emails you get when you join some service, but it wasn't popping up, so I figured it didn't get past my spam block. I was right.) I can't believe I almost deleted the whole contents of the folder! I would have missed out on such gems as these 5 emails, which I actually rescued from the spam folder, they were so good:



And yes, I couldn't resist the compulsion to open them. I know, I know, it's bad, and I shouldn't be doing those things (bad Harlo! Didn't they teach you ANYTHING at the UNIVERSITY?) but it was SOOOOOO WORTH IT:




Can i borrow someone else's computer to actually pay www . trarnies . com a visit? What's a trarnie? (A cross between a tranny and a carnie, natch.)

o noes its teh singularity

1206071415.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

o noes its teh singularity

So I figured out what's wrong with me

For as long as I can remember, I have always been preoccupied with what I believe is, the insignificant minutiae of language. To be precise, I'm talking about letters: singularly, or in combination, either spoken or written. For instance, I have always ascribed gender to each letter in the alphabet. A is a lady, kind of young, very pretty and extremely friendly and helpful. R, on the other hand, is a real ice queen; she castrates men, especially S, who I always regarded as her loyal yet hen-pecked boyfriend.

Then, there's the combination on letters, which spurs a bit more emotion in me. I'm incredibly sensitive to the sounds of certain syllables. Like, the song "Ay Bay Bay" by Hurricane Chris really really rubs me the wrong way. I can't stand the cadence of that combination of syllables as he raps them. It conjures up an emotion in me that's kinda akin to being caught masturbating, or something equally as mortifying.

I always thought that there was something seriously wrong with me. Like, some sort of cognitive disorder that was probably harming my ability to understand language like other people. But, I was intrigued by the theory of it, and wanted to get to the root of this behavior. I totally just read that I'm a Synesthete, and my particular brand of synesthesia is called "Ordinal linguistic personification". According to the Great Wiki, I have the tendency to associate ordered sequences with personallities. Apparently, 1 out of 23 people constantly and involuntarily is prone to synesthetic associations, and its prevalent in a lot of history's most prolific artists.

I haven't felt this special in a very long while (!) and I can feel some new project on the horizon that will explore this in greater depth. What's interesting about this tendency, I feel, is the many ways synesthesia can manifest itself in any individual, and how deeply your associations are steeped in your own personal mythology.

More on this to come! I'm going to do some reading!

that damn google navbar

(I can't get rid of it.)

I just re-did my blog, opting for a more sleek, streamlined, and modern platform, rather than the slapped-together job I did last year. (I'm no programmer...) Natch, I'd want my blog hosted on my domain, and chose google's direct FTP option, but soon got frustrated because certain awesome little widgets and apps don't work on blogs hosted away from google's precious little servers. So, in order to open up my template to google's customizable widgets, I had to make a subdomain on my website, and point its name servers to google. I wasn't too happy about having to do that, especially when I learned how much of a pain they made it to re-tweak the CSS so it's formatted how I like it. Well, here I am: I did it, I broke you, google. I broke your template down, even though you tried everything in your power to stop me! Now if only I could get rid of that navbar...

okay, i did it.

Finally, I finished the write-up for my Halloween project with Dorkbot:Boston. YAY!!!! Including vids and pics galore! Yowza!

Betta Splendens (2)

It's COMING!

Betta Splendens

So, here in Somerville, I joined up with Dorkbot:Boston. Dorkbot here is a much much much smaller crowd, which is really comforting. We're working on a group installation for Halloween: we have lots of space at this Burrito joint by the Davis Square T stop.


My project is called Betta Splendens: it's basically a haunted fish tank inhabited by a ghost fish who doesn't like it one bit when you tap the glass! I'm currently working on the project now, and have bought a beautiful betta fish to star in my project. She's so photogenic!






Here's my technologically-thick and verbose write-up for the project. You know, grad schools are going to have to read about this, too...

NYC --> BOS

So, I'm moving to Boston. (Well, Somerville, actually.) Moving is quite the stress-inducer, so I haven't been blogging or making things; I have new favorite activities now, like packing, stressing about cash, and generally making my friends' and family's lives miserable. These activities are so much more bomb than the dreaming and scheming that normally fill up my days.


Anyway, in order to get back to the dreaming and scheming, I've started a video/image/hypertext-y diary. I assume, of course, that no one actually cares what I do, but just in case, here's a link to the first entry. More will be coming on a semi-regular basis.



...and off I go...

new podcast

...at the old LvH site.

The Astroboy Series

So, these are some unprocessed pics from a series I'm making. So, um, they're pictures from the TV show Astroboy...
...Taken while I was watching the TV show Astroboy...
...at 2 AM on Saturday night...





















I have so many pics of this up on the flickr, if you're interested...

The Office WebCam Screenshot of the Day

Today's game: high contrast/low contrast!





I now have a flickr set dedicated to this very series. Just so you know...

A bad photographer :(

To compensate for my rotten foto skills, I've started to take pictures of pictures. These are from the pre-flight safety video shown on my flight to Miami.

web cam

they put a webcam on my system at work. so what am i doing? taking screenshots of myself.