wordfalls and scatters

It does eat my time, true. But in between doing a little work today (admittedly not as much as I should be doing), I've been rectifying my sad lack of exciting listening. Yup. That's right. Instead of just demanding that you and you give me music, I have been exploring the internet and finding some Stuff.

I've mostly been limiting myself to music that is free and legal (no copyright, public domain, etc), since it's less hassle and there's a lot of it. It did mean that I couldn't find some music I've been getting cravings for (marabi music, african jazz, older hugh masekela, among others), but I've found enough to please me.

The day started with Ska for the Skeptical, which is a very pleasant way to start the day. I also got some good Brazilian/capoeira music from Oddio Overplay, which also links to a heap of different collections and sharing networks. And right now I'm listening to a selection from the Stap isi blog.

More:
* This month's collection from bumrocks, which I haven't listened to yet. I've been given to understand that it's 1980s alternative stuff...'though I can't find the link that told me that, now.
* I found one or two things that I liked on playlist. Plus it reminded me about Project Gutenberg, which has an audiobooks section. I like that some are read out by computers. (In my head, that means there is a computer in an argyle vest and reading classes sitting next to a child's bedside, with a storybook open in front of it.)
* I got a few of MC Hawkings' songs from soundclick, although sadly couldn't find "F*ck the Creationists".
* Spin the Globe have a couple of free world music mp3s available a week, plus a section that links to other sites with free world music, which I haven't fully explored just yet. I'm looking forward to exploring rare Persian music, music from South Africa (hopefully some african jazz or kwaito will surface), Brazilian hip hop (since crappy genres are better in a different language), and possibly the (unholy) genre of Yu-Mex. Also: I hope vintage bellydance music reappears!
* The Benn loxo du taccu site ("African music for the masses") also grabbed my attention, 'though I haven't had much time to look around it just yet.

Perhaps I shall also put in some time in a while trying to find similar sites with music that is neither old nor world music-ish.

So, as it turns out, I am going to Karachi. I talked to the folks at HIVOS about it, and they assured me that not only was it safe, but there would be plenty of people to help look after me. They specifically mentioned that I could tell my mother I would be quite safe. So, sticking with my usual method of decision making (wondering vaguely about the problem for a heap of time, then making a snap decision), I went and bought my tickets today.

( In case you are fretting, here are some other things to think about: )

In work-related news: things are going ok, as far as I can tell. I'm pleased with my interview at HIVOS this morning, and I think Mysore will be useful. This afternoon I will make more phonecalls, and try to line up interviews for the next week. I'm also incredibly relieved that Karachi doesn't sound too dangerous, since I think it would be a pity to miss it.

I've also thoroughly abandoned any attempts to be objective and uninvolved, since I don't think that it's ethically sustainable. Prasad has made me promise to write and article or two for him to translate and put into the KRRS magazine (I'll probably do one on the involvement of women, and one on the importance of building networked and self-propagating activism), and I may be giving a talk at Janastu about the issues that have come up in my research. I'm also going to be discussing some of these issues with a few different activists over the coming months, and linking them up with ideas and activists working on information management/networking.

Also: I really think someone should go to this talk on the role of public intellectuals and report back to me on it. It sounds interesting.

Finally: I think I'd like to write something for the Limina conference, unfortunately I am quite worried that it will turn out to be horrible postmodern, in my least favourite sense. Is anyone interested in co-authoring something with me? Is that something that one can do? (I don't know about all this grow-up academic stuff.)

Hello kids! ( Do not expect coherence today! I am all askew! )

Oh my! I am so in love with this crazy german student housing. It is odd how delighted I get by this kind of stuff. A couple of days ago my mother sent me a photo of one of the railway-carriage rooms that we visited at the museum in Kalgoorlie, and ever since then I've been lusting after a space like that to live in to a ridiculous extent.

I think that I'm far too enchanted by small and novel living spaces.

If you wanted further proof of my time-wastiness, why not tell me who you think I am? (Who says randomly clicking through shared-interest-lj-usernames doesn't pay off?)