[microsound] some thoughts

[Kim Cascone]

> 2. these days, everyone's a situationist.
I like this as a slogan but unfortunately this is not true
maybe you mean like in early 00's everyone was 'Deleuzian'
so yes there seems to be a current fad of Situationism in the arts

thanks for the tip: I will read the JG Ballard essay (that is  
contained in his book 'War Fever' btw)

there is a shannon doc on the server
http://www.interdisciplina.org/microsound-repository/index.php? 
&direction=0&order=&directory=miscellaneous/Reading

but try and hunt down a copy of the Abraham Moles book 'Information  
Theory and Esthetic Perception'
also 'Reception Theory' would be a good place to start for a better  
understanding of how we consume cultural artifacts
this was used in my formulation of a better model of communication
I'll post this on the server
but in the meantime check out:
Reception Theory by Robert C. Holub
<http://books.google.com/books? 
id=krIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=Constance+School+reception 
+theory&source=bl&ots=2ez7Sft2Ax&sig=4t7HhFkSIGZ2EzVbqzrON- 
pYjgU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result>

> This is the same with Marx -- after collaborating with a friend in  
> Germany who has about 10 linear feet of Marx in his library and who  
> has read it all -- I realized how marginal the understanding of  
> 99.999999% of the population is about Marx...
two points here:
- having spent some time with both the Communist Party and Socialist  
Workers Party I've found each faction has their own 'prismatic view'  
of Marx
hence the eternal evolutionary splintering of the left - everywhere -  
not just the US
which could be a strength for subverting the undermining of  
capitalist agendas
but has only led to a lack of any coherent strategies or solidarity  
for achieving action

- also, there is no 100% understanding of Marx no matter how many  
linear feet of texts adorn your library
I've met Marxists who read a few key works who have a better  
'grasp' (if one can really achieve this) on things that some who have  
read everything
it's one thing to have a scholarly knowledge of Marxism and yet  
another to use it as a tool for taking ideas and putting them into  
practice