Grand Text Auto

As I mentioned in passing in my MLA post, this year’s Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts conference in Portland, Maine is about CODE:

Code can be “wet” (genetic, organic, human), “dry” (digital, mathematical, logical), something in-between, neither, or both (linguistic, symbolic, religious, moral, legal).

I prefer my code very dry – best to just show it the vermouth. But however you like your code, and even if you are legalistically or genetically inclined, you should find plenty of good discussion at SLSA. The deadline is March 15: See the SLSA ’07 call for papers.

The casual game review site Jay Is Games is conducting a poll for best of 2006, including a category for IF or art — I think there’s one more day to vote, in case there’s a nominated art/game there you like…

[Update: Never mind, voting is over!]

The MLA was huge and hectic this year, as it usually is, with 40 panels going on at once; interviews happening in hotel suites, mass gladiatorial arena-like settings, and lobbies; a huge book exhibit; and unofficial events of various sorts.

Thursday contained a day of programs on the sound of poetry. I missed friends Matt Kirschenbaum, Kari Kraus, and Peter Stallybrass speaking about the material history of digital and non-digital texts due to the co-occurring Canadian sonic invasion: As they gave papers, Steve McCaffrey delivered Hugo Ball’s “Karawane” and Christian Bök read his “Mushroom Clouds” and “Synth Loops.” There were also papers from Kennry Goldsmith, Charles Bernstein, Johanna Drucker, and Craig Dworkin; Caroline Bergvall read as part of this track, too. The next day, Scott Rettberg spoke opposite his fellow Electronic Literature Collection editor Kate Hayles, the ELO had a get-together, and almost 60 people read in the MLA offsite reading.