http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz wordsSHIFTminds Thu, 17 May 2012 23:48:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-black-white/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-black-white/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 11:39:44 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4459 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-black-white/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/i-wanted-red-one/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/i-wanted-red-one/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 06:11:07 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4413 Honecker, the SED elite and the Stasi. Living in Hamburg at the time, I felt driven to document the changes I was seeing. Inspired by a recent photo gallery on Der Spiegel’s website, I decided to blog my 1989 essay about the way it felt then. It’s not objective but it does capture the prevailing mood. Twenty-three years later, in the rubble left by the GFC, there are lessons for those of us who feel shafted by a form of power that differs less from the SED’s than we thought it did at the time.]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/i-wanted-red-one/feed/ 1 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-indolence-flesh-sitting/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-indolence-flesh-sitting/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 11:07:40 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4391 “Individuals who sat the most were roughly 50% more likely to die during the follow-up period than individuals who sat the least, even after controlling for age, smoking, and physical activity levels.” Scientific American. A poem about the dangers of sitting, dedicated to writers and all of those condemned to die in front of a computer (pretty much everyone, then).]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-indolence-flesh-sitting/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-mycelium/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-mycelium/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:56:17 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4378 Hexenringe, we call them fairy rings. In spite of the rather twee name, they're thought-provoking and powerful. There's one in France that's half-a-mile wide. The living edge of the underground mycelium sends out its silvery underground threads, secreting chemicals to digest organic matter in the ground ahead, releasing nutrients that feed the mycelium as it grows; a metaphor, if ever there was one.]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/05/tuesday-poem-mycelium/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-emily-perkins/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-emily-perkins/#comments Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:01:17 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4328 Emily Perkins’ new novel The Forrests made a more noticeable impression on me than any new book I’ve read in 20 years; in fact, by the end of it I was buzzing as though I’d taken a drug. I had to go back over the last 30 pages and immediately reread them because the effect was so powerful. An interview with Perkins has been on the cards (or the books) since The Good Word became required viewing for writers and book lovers, a show that will be sorely missed when the station is closed down in June (boo!). (Photo: Patricia Phelan)]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-emily-perkins/feed/ 4 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/icons/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/icons/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:33 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4322 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/icons/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-sunburst/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-sunburst/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:39:57 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4308 Jaco Pastorius, in places imitating and paying homage to the bebop triplets, imagery and effects he used in his playing. His self-titled solo album made an enormous impression on me on its release in 1976 and has done ever since. Jaco even makes a cameo appearance in one of my stories.]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-sunburst/feed/ 2 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-terror/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-terror/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:55:16 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4298 Psycho. Art critic Lloyd Goodrich described the painting as “one of the most poignant and desolating pieces of realism”. But there's more to it than that; this is architecture at its most terrifying and, once seen, it's impossible to un-think it.]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/tuesday-poem-terror/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-john-sundman/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-john-sundman/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:33:38 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4260 John Sundman is author and publisher of the cyber-nano-biopunk novels Acts of the Apostles, Cheap Complex Devices, and The Pains. After Sundman blogged about selling his books at the hacker convention DEFCON, science fiction author Bruce Sterling described him as “the future of printed fiction”. Sundman lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/minutes-john-sundman/feed/ 0 http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/writers-gadgets-amazons-kindle/ http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/writers-gadgets-amazons-kindle/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:12:54 +0000 Chris Bell http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/?p=4178 KDP transforms the e-reader into a publishing platform, and the most powerful device a writer has at his or her disposal. But don’t be fooled into thinking you necessarily need professional help to format your e-book. While an editor is invariably beneficial, designers and other opportunists are trying to mystify e-book formatting and cover design for profit. The paybacks of the Kindle will be self-explanatory to anyone who’s held one for longer than a minute. Writers who own a Kindle that doesn’t contain their entire body of work are either slow or have never had cause to refer to their own writing. Being able to instantly search text strings while away from your desk, look up words in the dictionary, research online via a wireless connection, highlight sections earmarked for revision and tweet quotes are just some of the more obvious benefits. ]]> http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/2012/04/writers-gadgets-amazons-kindle/feed/ 0