Jim Andrews – I ❤️ E-Poetry

“Blue Hyacinth” by Pauline Masurel and Jim Andrews

July 18, 2014 by Kyle Brett

Screen capture of Blue Hyacinth: M M M M Blue Hyacinth Pauline Masurel Jim Andrews V I S P O Stir Frys Tabitha flexes against the collar . I try to sound as though I know what I'm talking about. in the alleyway. I just like the look of the grey mare; the bookie can tell, it was probably obvious from the moment I walked in. the hyacinth itself or secreted When it happens the noise insists before, ...it goes on for months another in the corner is smoking. She's watching the race . Rather, it's a subtle matter of class, . when she can't gain entry, Across the road clubbers spill out on to the pavements - he comes. he goes. she waits for weeks. after all. she picks her way back across the landing - Do you want this, I could report it slowly, sadly who would care? and begins to stroke it through the sticky tangle of her hair. — Open “Blue Hyacinth” by Pauline Masurel and Jim Andrews

Slightly modifying the “cut-up” technique of Dadaist and Modernist writers in her digital work, “Blue Hyacinth,” Pauline Masurel encourages her readers not to destroy the original four poems, but rather jumble them together, stir them up, and weave them in a way that shares in the creative process of generating an individualized text. By presenting “Blue Hyacinth” as a stir-fry work (using Jim Andrews’ “Stir Fry Texts” framework) that allows readers to reflect on the original poems, Masurel is changing the author-reader relationship. Masurel ensures that readers become extensions of herself by encouraging readers to manipulate her writings and fashion a text that becomes less a traditional example of poetry and more a collaborative piece shared between individual reader and writer. With “Blue Hyacinth,” Masurel crafts a space where traditional print culture roles fade and are replaced by their mutable digital counterparts. Never once just a reader or an author, those that encounter “Blue Hyacinth” are able to exercise a semblance of autonomy that is novel to texts within the digital medium.

“Blue Hyacinth” por Pauline Masurel y Jim Andrews

February 14, 2019July 18, 2014 by Kyle Brett

Modificando ligeramente la técnica de “corte” de escritores dadaístas y modernistas en su obra digital, “Blue Hyacinth“, Pauline Masurel anima a sus lectores a no destruir los cuatro poemas originales, sino mezclarlos, agitarlos y tejerlos de una manera que comparte en el proceso creativo de generar un texto individualizado. Al presentar “Blue Hyacinth” como un trabajo de salteado (utilizando el marco “Stir Fry Texts” de Jim Andrews) que permite a los lectores reflexionar sobre los poemas originales, Masurel está cambiando la relación entre el autor y el lector. Masurel asegura que los lectores se conviertan en extensiones de sí misma al alentar a los lectores a manipular sus escritos y crear un texto que se vuelva menos un ejemplo tradicional de poesía y más una pieza de colaboración compartida entre lectores y escritores individuales. Con “Blue Hyacinth”, Masurel crea un espacio en el que los roles de la cultura de impresión tradicional se desvanecen y son reemplazados por sus contrapartes digitales mutables. Nunca solo un lector o un autor, aquellos que se encuentran con “Blue Hyacinth” son capaces de ejercer una apariencia de autonomía que es novedosa para los textos dentro del medio digital.

“Speak Poems” by Jason Edward Lewis, Bruno Nadeau, Jim Andrews, David Jhave Johnston, J.R. Carpenter, and Aya Karpinska

January 6, 2013 by Leonardo Flores

"Speak App" by Jason Edward Lewis and Bruno Nadeau — “Speak App” by Jason Edward Lewis and Bruno Nadeau

“Speak Poems” by Jason Edward Lewis, Bruno Nadeau, Jim Andrews, David Jhave Johnston, J.R. Carpenter, and Aya Karpinska

This suite of poems by several prominent writers in the e-lit community was written using the Speak app, an authoring system developed by Lewis and Nadeau. This is the first in the P.o.E.M.M series (Poems for Excitable Mobile Media), a series of apps designed to explore the expressive, artistic, and publication potential of Apple’s iOS computational environment, Store, and touchscreen devices. The app opens to “What They Speak When They Speak to Me,” Lewis & Nadeau’s original touchscreen poem for large installations. The app offers other poems as well as the option for readers to explore the system by entering texts. Considering the effort that goes into creating computational frameworks for e-lit works, it is a great idea to open them up for further writerly interventions. It is therefore worthwhile to see what four talented writers have done and how their own poetics and thematic concerns are expressed through this framework. The main observable variables are font and lines of text, which readers access in different portions and sequences.

In “Character,”Jim Andrews writes meta textual lines from the personified poem’s voice that focus the reader’s attention on the interface.
Jhave’s “Let Me Tell You What Happened” reveals fragments of a situation that most people would find difficult to speak about.
Carpenter juxtaposes two very different conceptual frames evoked by her poem’s title, “Muddy Mouth.”
Karpinska’s “The Color of Your Hair Is Dangerous” explores linguistic slippages resulting from speaking multiple languages.

It is worth noting that all five poets (including Lewis) engage the theme of speech, structuring their lines to allow readers to intuit their structure. They help map out the framework’s rhetorical potential.

Featured in ELO 2013: Chercher le Texte Virtual Gallery

“Rude Little Song” by Jim Andrews

February 7, 2019October 21, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

Open “Rude Little Song” by Jim Andrews

This aural piece is a kind of Lettrist sound poem, because it uses verbal language in sub-morphemic units (with thanks to Melissa Lucas for the term). In other words, the poem is concerned with putting together snippets of vocalized language sounds that don’t carry semantic meaning, all performed a capella, recorded, edited, and spatially arranged by Jim Andrews. The visual composition is as non-referential as the sounds, activated by moving the pointer over the pulsating colored squares.

This rough (“rude”) little gem is Andrews first audio piece produced with Macromedia Director— an important exploration with a digital tool that allowed him to produce works like “Enigma n2,” “Oppen Do Down,” “Nio,” and “Jig-Sound” before Adobe bought out Macromedia and changed the audio engine for Director. For a detailed account of these audio works, read “Visual Music” (pgs. 207-244) in my dissertation, Typing the Dancing Signifier: Jim Andrews’ (Vis)Poetics.

Featured in Cauldron & Net.

“Enigma n” and “Seattle Drift” by Jim Andrews: The Cauldron & Net Editions

October 12, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

When Jim Andrews published these poems in Cauldron & Net, Volume 1 in 1999, their original DHTML and JavaScript codes were compatible with the two main Web browsers of their time: Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer 4 (IE). This was during the peak of what is known as the “first browser war” in which IE became the dominant browser in the market. At the time, each browser was implementing code differently, creating code incompatibilities that led to the practice of detecting browsers to redirect readers to different versions of the document, or determining what part of the code was executed in a specific session. Some writers opted to pick a browser and directed readers to view the work on that one, while others sought cross-browser compatibility.

“Moment” by Joe Keenan

July 25, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

This is a generative poem you can visit for years and continue to find things to surprise and delight. It is structured around a text— aptly named as “a strand” (as in a fiber or rope made of letters or characters)— which is shaped by “aspects,” which are programmed structures that shape and transform the strands through color, animation, scheduling, formatting, and other transformations possible in DHTML. Considering there are 10 “strands” (plus a “user-fed strand”) each of which can be shaped by 36 different “aspects,” each of which can have multiple controls and toggles, you don’t have to do the math to realize that this is a work of staggering generative possibilities. Combined with a few randomization and combinatorial touches, this is a work that will always welcome you with fresh moments, inviting you to play with its structures.

“Aleph Null” por Jim Andrews

February 13, 2019April 5, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

Aleph Null (2011) marca el regreso de Jim Andrews al trabajo de código abierto desde que se cambió a Macromedia (ahora Adobe) Director en 2000. Sus primeros trabajos fueron escritos en DHTML entre 1997-2000, un período altamente creativo en el que encontró su “voz” Como poeta y programador de literatura electrónica con obras como “Seattle Drift ” y “Stir Fry Texts.” Las limitaciones de DHTML en ese momento lo llevaron a convertirse en Director, lo que le permitió desarrollar piezas altamente musicales y visuales, como “Nio,” “Arteroids” y “Jig Sound.”

“Aleph Null” by Jim Andrews

April 5, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

Aleph Null (2011) marks Jim Andrews’ return to open source work since he shifted to Macromedia (now Adobe) Director in 2000. His earliest works were written in DHTML between 1997-2000, a highly creative period in which he found his “voice” as a poet and programmer of electronic literature with works like “Seattle Drift” and the “Stir Fry Texts.” The limitations of DHTML at the time prompted his move to Director, which allowed him to develop highly musical and visual pieces, such as “Nio,” “Arteroids,” and “Jig Sound.”

“Arteroids” por Jim Andrews

February 13, 2019April 4, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

Este trabajo combina la poesía con uno de los géneros nativos más antiguos en los medios digitales: el videojuego. Basado en el juego de arcade Atari de 1979 Asteroids (que a su vez hace referencia al videojuego de 1962 Spacewar!), Arteroids reemplaza el barco y los asteroides por palabras y frases. El juego comienza con la suficiente facilidad, porque las palabras se mueven lentamente en la pantalla, pero a medida que avanzas en niveles, el juego se vuelve incrementalmente más rápido y desafiante, hasta que alcanzas el punto en el que apenas puedes leer los textos porque estás centrado en la supervivencia .

“Arteroids” by Jim Andrews

April 4, 2012 by Leonardo Flores

This work combines poetry with one of the oldest native genres in digital media: the videogame. Based on the 1979 Atari arcade game Asteroids (which in turn references the 1962 ur-videogame Spacewar!), Arteroids replaces the ship and asteroids for words and phrases. The game begins easily enough, because the words move slowly on the screen, but as you advance in levels the game becomes incrementally faster and more challenging, until you reach the point in which you can barely read the texts because you’re focused on survival.