Annie Vought

I LOVE THIS WORK. The use of the handwriting--different handwritings--the distortion of them and the ability to alter the perception of language. "The Next Ten Things I'm Gonna Do Is Get Drunk" is fantastic. Not only the irony of the title but the large, mushed up, incomprehensible writing which gets consistently mushier and more illegible. I really like the way that the title adds to the piece. All of her titles are this way. So often artists ignore the power of the title in enhancing their work, and I like that she embraces it. In the images on her website it's hard to really get a sense of how the work looks (some of it is quite large) in person because it is photographed at awkward angles and even when it's straight on it still is hard to read because of the shadows cast by the light. Interesting thoughts of documentation come into my mind then....Also. "Get out of study hall". That one is great. Yes. Ok. I'm in love.

ASCII ART

PAPER RAD!

Check out Paper Rad's newest web comic "Scrolly Scrolls".  I like it because of its unique format for the web.  You just keep rcolling toward the right as you read it.  It is this kind of constant rush of one image to the next, and the way it all works in a line, almost like some kind of demented film strip.  

http://www.paperrad.org/scroll/

Interesting inspiration for formatting a not only images, but words as well

Also, if you like this then check out Scott McClouds site for other strangely formated comics.  The web makes for a very open ended format for anything.  The link below is to his web comic "The Right Number," and below that is a link to a great related speach he mad at the TED conference. 

http://www.scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/trn-intro/index.html

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html  <-- SO GOOD!

Bob Cobbing

Bob Cobbing has to be the funniest sound poet!  Alphabet of Fishes has a style unlike any other.  His voice takes on the strange rhythm, almost like breathing.  In the beginning of the song he says the words at this steady pace with emphasis on his breath.  As soon as he establishes this consistent structure, he breaks it with an abrupt, low bellowing noise that catches you totally off guard.  I like how he knows how funny it is, and he draws out the bellow way longer than any other word. 

It is so weird how half way through the song a choir of children's soft voices can be heard in the background, and to me it sounds like he is trying to orchestrate them.  Even funnier still, is when he does that strange thing with his his throat, where he is panting and simultaneously making these high squeaking noises in the back of his throat.  It is so cartoony, and he all the sudden sounds 50 years older.  

I really like how different each of his tracks are.  In "15 Shakespeare Kaku" he is not only funny, but also totally scary and disturbing.  At times it felt like i was getting my ears raped by a consortium of of mutant babies.  I also like how the poem goes through a multitude of different phases.  It is cool how he also uses his voice to create strange ambient noises, and it sounds especially weird when he overlaps it with odd machine-like samples.  

I am fascinated with generating unknown, unexpected forms in image-making, and i see this piece as seeking to accomplish a similar form of experimentation through sound.  Through each wave of noise in the song, a different range of contrast and expectation is established. I have never heard the human voice expressed in such unknown ways.  It is very fun and surreal. 

Seepferdchen und Flugfishche

Hugo Ball's "Seepferdchen und Flugfishche" is one of the strangest tid-bits of sound poetry i have come across so far.  The way his voice and the woman's overlap and interrupt each-other creates the most bizarre cacophony of sound.  One one hand the sounds seem to collapse upon each-other and become one continuous noise.  On the other hand, each sound has such contrast from the last that it give the overall string of noise this crazy sense of ebbing and flowing.  When i close my eyes and listen to it, it is as if the sound is jumping around in space, shooting from the back corner of the room right up to my ear, then zipping up and swinging back down.  It is a very interesting effect applying that kind of abstract expression of spacial contrast through sound.

TRAMVAI

I love the scores Forunato Depero creates for his poetry.  "Tramvai" is a beautiful example.  I appreciate the way he seems to apply al these levels of logic to help inform the way it should be read.  The page is broken up into strangely framed sections, and decorated with a wide variety of typefaces filling up the space.  No one type face seems to be used more than once, suggesting that each phrase of the poem should be given its own unique character. The type is quite expressive too.  Some of it is set at a large scale, and feel strong and deep. Some type is set small and repeats like a pattern, and suggests a sort of chanting or rhythm.  Some words grow in scale by each character to suggest the word crescendos as it's spoken.  The aliqgnment is all over the place too. One line it will be left justified, and the next it will be centered or right justified.  In the poem "Verbalizzazione astratta di Singora" the allignment is realy strange.  Words are set vertically, with only one two each line, and it creates a strange sense of ordered columns.  he also sets type that is read vertically.  It is funny that for a page so packed with different connotations that is articulating non-sensical words, the score still feels like it sticks to a unique and carefully crafted logic.

She is a femenist but she still does the dishes.

kitchen. sink.
KITHCEN SNK.
............kitchen sink? Kitchen kitchen ink?
sink||||||\\\\\\\>>>>>_______!
float kitchenSink() {
sink();
kithchen(0, sin(theta));
}

float theta = kitcheNSNK

kitchensinkkithcensinkkitchensinkkitchensink.
SINK.

......................................................
*sink*
............................................................................ sink.

..............sink..........s..........i.............n...........k..............sinksink.

for int sink(kitchen++);
if(kitchenSink == 0.0001) {

float sink = sink++;
}

.................................. kitchen sink.
kitchen
kitchen
kitchen
kkkitchen^ink
pow(kkkitchen, sin(theta);

kithcen
kithchen
kithcnehn
kithchenth
kitchchenen
kitchennnnnn.





sink.