Of Borges, Virtual Reality, and Web 2.0

I am a fan of Borges.
So, when I found out about a new book on Borges, my curiosity took charge.
The new project is by Perla Sasson-Henry and it's called Borges 2.0: From Text to Virtual Worlds. Its premise is of much interest to me for it deals with the Web and a supposed 'pre-knowledge' Borges, the librarian, might have had about it.
As the review has it:

Yet a growing number of contemporary commentators — whether literature professors or cultural critics like Umberto Eco — have concluded that Borges uniquely, bizarrely, prefigured the World Wide Web. One recent book, “Borges 2.0: From Text to Virtual Worlds” by Perla Sassón-Henry, explores the connections between the decentralized Internet of YouTube, blogs and Wikipedia — the so-called Internet 2.0 — and Borges’s stories, which “make the reader an active participant.” Ms. Sassón-Henry, an associate professor in the language studies department of the United States Naval Academy, describes Borges as “from the Old World with a futuristic vision.” Another work, a collection of essays on the topic from Bucknell University Press, has the provocative title “Cy-Borges” and is expected to appear this year.

So, why read this book?
First and foremost, I would say, one needs to reads this because it asks intellectually stimulating questions about book and knowledge organization and how those who came during pre-Web 2.0 saw and quantified information. But the main reason would be, it asks some appealing and interesting questions about Borges' literary instinct about narratives and plot lines.

For did there, ever, live a better librarian than the incomparable Argentine?

hat tip to ny times' Noam Cohen

What Is the Scene?

On New Year's Eve I asked my musician friend Liam, who plays with the West-based band Calico, to explain to me how he understands the term 'scene.' Liam is one of the regular Gesprächsparter who provides me with much helpful musical and cultural information. He often says things like, 'it's the scene, you know?' or 'it's in the scene,' 'I know her/him from the scene, and so forth.'

Other young professional friends of mine employ the same term when they discuss their respective job markets, their decisions regarding moving to certain urban areas, and so forth.

Many of them morph statements like, 'The scene is quite good there, so I'm considering the job.' 'Ah, yes, and I year the scene's something else there, so will have to check it out.' 'So, how's the scene there?'

Like other folk out there, I am of the general belief that where the artists gather comfortably, there I would want to be also.

The scene seems to reveal much about the urban setting itself.

Richard Florida has much work on the concept of the city and what urban development says about the quality of life. He has also written on the 'scene' and what the 'creative class' has in mind when talking about the scene. He is of the opinion that geographic place is of primary importance and that it is one of the factors that determines how happy a person can actually be. He ventures as much as to say that ultimately picking a scene is as important as picking a partner/spouse and career.

So, just why does the 'scene' matter? Because if one is especially in the creative business, one needs constant stimulation from other fellow creatives. A place that welcomes and supports creatives tends to be a more tolerant, boundary-shattering type of place, and most artists tend to flock to areas where they are promoted and seen as important commodities in the immediate culture.

It makes sense to me why my lawyer, medical doctor, engineer, musician friends first investigate the scene of a place before deciding to join said place. And while technology and WiFi enables us much by bringing it closer virtually, geographic proximity is of the utmost importance. There is no price for real artistic support engendered by the community in which one lives.

This is what my musician friend, Liam of Calico, observed re: the question of what the scene is.

'The scene as it exists everywhere i know of contains its own
fragments of sub-scenes, if you will. Within the music scene there's
the various genres and sub-genres. I've even heard us referred to as
a "third south" band more than once. Naturally that geographic label
means more than just our locale of practice space, many of our
residences and oft-played venues, but it seems that third south as a
whole has created its own identity in the last year.'

Kate Nash: A Perfect Blend of Cool and Talent

Kate Nash is the next 'it' girl of BritPop.
Her music is reminiscent of fellow Londoner Lily Allen even though Nash opts for a more distinguished rock sound.
This coming week Nash will be performing sold-out shows in North America and she seems to have arrived both critically and commercially.
But is it just her unique voice and execution that marks her as unique?
In her case, it seems to be this rather special blend of easily recognizable BritPop traces, edgy uber-urban style, sensual voice, and 'good girl' persona.

The Times are featuring her today. A snippet says:


With 21st-century pop finesse, Ms. Nash managed to start a career by recording songs into her home computer and making some fortunate MySpace links. Less than two years after she quit a job as a fast-food waitress, she was atop the British pop charts. Her New York City show on Wednesday night at the Bowery Ballroom is sold out.

Ms. Nash is part of a steady stream of young English female songwriters who have lately become MySpace and YouTube darlings. Before Ms. Nash were Lily Allen (who endorsed her early) and Amy Winehouse; in her wake is the folky teenage songwriter Adele. All of them attended the BRIT School, the free performing arts school in London supported by the British Record Industry Trust.


And her Cinderella-esque past seems to serve her present hype quite well indeed. However, Nash does live up to the hype. Songs like 'Pumpkin Soup' and 'We Get On' are both upbeat and contemplative. Nash is one of those performers who simply knows how to translate micro life tidbits into the macro canvas of human experiences. "I was walking along..." she sings in 'We Get On' and one feels as though one is walking the streets of London with her. She has this rather remarkable ability to translate the ubiquitous into sheer musical poetry.
Her album, Made of Bricks, hits the stores January 8th.
I highly recommend her.