DALANI NEWS Journal of lateral modernism

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Steve Michel’s Journal of Lateral Modernism Vol. II•No. 1•January, 2004

Haitian Modernism Revisited

This year marks the 2ooth anniversary of Haiti’s Independence and Liberation. Situated in the Caribbean, Haiti is adjacent to the Dominican Republic on the largest island in the Caribbean. Its main city Port Au Prince is more widely known but did you know there is a town in Haiti named Niot? Or that Haiti has one of the few architectural pieces recognized by UNESCO: the Citadel at Ramiers.

Haiti has a culture, language, music , and spirituality that is unique. It has had, for many years, a circle of painters, artists in and outside Haiti.

Poverty? Haiti has known better days. Part of the misery in Haiti was brought about by factors, which I will not get into here. Sm.

NEW Flash: Lawsuit Against Popular Video Game Moves Posted by Top News on 1/2/2004, 10:08 pm

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A lawsuit that claims a top-selling video game is dangerous to society and asks that it be removed from store shelves will be decided in federal court.

Haitian civil rights groups filed the lawsuit because the game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, instructs players to "kill the Haitians" and awards points for each kill.

The New York-based Rockstar Games Inc. has agreed to remove the offensive line from future versions of the award-winning video that has sold 11 million copies.

But the Haitian organizations, led by the Haitian-American Coalition of Palm Beach County, have also asked for more than $15,000 in damages.

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Figure 1:

Home audio and interior design

Nowadays with the advent of home theater and digital audio, considerable ink has been expended in audiophile press as to the ideal in equipment to better enjoy music. I have discovered that audiophile aficionados are obsessive in hair splitting technical jargon that makes Snoop’s shizzle dizzle comprehensible in comparison. Discussions, ardent and feverous, rage at audiophile sites on pernickety audio gear comparisons. The fact is when analog turned digital, most modern gear now deliver outstanding performance at a reasonable price and when all is said and done as Oscar Peterson put it: ‘It’s the music that matters.’

Which brings us to the fundamental crux of this article: what exactly is audio equipment supposed to accomplish? The glib answer is that the expensive high fidelity equipment will recreate with utmost precision a concert experience or recreate movie theater audio right in your living room. Now with most surround sound setups, you get a mess of wires running around and under furniture all over the room and if you mostly listen to music, when was the last time you attended a concert with the musicians playing the instruments behind you? Do I need to hear in high fidelity the subtle concert sounds of spectators screaming in the back row? Don’t get me wrong. A five or six speaker system complete with subwoofer can sound sublime. But after a digital signal from a dvd/cd has made its way through thousands of dollars of audio equipment out through an equally expensive set 5-6 speakers, what then? ....>

Actual quote:

“Prefer wisdom to philosophy” Sm

Well your living room for starters. Living rooms are a dynamic seldom considered or discussed in audiophile press. Studio listening rooms and concert halls are designed with the help of acousticians for optimum reverb and sound absorption. On the other hand, your average living room is a small half open enclosure filled with paraphernalia, which may or may not contribute to an optimum listening experience. Ceilings and walls reflect sound waves and improperly placed speakers further degrade the sound. Unless you are prepared to redesign a listening room, your best bet (and simplest) is to check your speaker box placement and listening position.

As a rule of thumb, hard bare walls may create ‘slap’ echoes so consider hanging some art on your walls preferably of soft materials (furry paintings anyone? Or check my relief sculpture Figure 1) and/or filled bookshelves. Also subwoofers (the large low frequency speaker) should at unequal distances to the room boundaries for ‘smooth bass response’. A visit to this site will provide some guidelines. Keep in mind that there are many subtleties to this and remember to trust your own ears as to what is best. Sm.

What’s good about Lichen:

Lichen are a Symbiotic relation of algae and fungus that survives extremes. To learn more click here.

Featured art of the month:

Ougan sighting? Or abstraction of the inscrutable. Cyberspace ‘stevography’.

Before physics: A thousand year before Newton and Einstein. ’Certain African theological principles stipulate that energy is never destroyed, only transformed’.

This is the New Year issue of DALANI: A webzine that defies categorization. Technical problems encountered in the last issue have been fixed. And the site is constantly being improved with the capacity to inform...

Happy New Year 2004

Next month:

Poetry recitals near you...more news

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