The F Word: The Semiological Experiment that Apple Rejected

Apple rejected my latest experimental app, The F Word, for its profuse use of profanity. This app takes a block of text, either typed or pasted, and replaces every instance of the word "the" with "the fucking". So it can take any innocuous text and turn it into something that sounds a lot, well, angry. Apple didn't want it.

Fair enough.

I didn't expect that they would. So now I can present to you a free web app: The F Word. (Or copy/paste thefwordsrt.appspot.com). As far as I know, it only works on iPhones. Just navigate to the app, save the address to your phone's home screen, and it'll act just like any ol' other app would.

Here is the lowdown, from the app's About page:

More than merely a semiological experiment, the intention of The F Word is to use a simple, and by itself meaningless, word to alter the tone of almost any text to one with more passion, levity, or angst, depending upon which metaphor you personally attribute to the F word.

By effifying a block of text, fairy tales are more frightening; legal documents are less intimidating; Lacan loses his staunchness and Heidegger isn't so high-brow.

Whichever text you're struggling through, The F Word will, at least, make it a more tolerable read. Type in text or paste entire papers' worth of text. The hope is that the F word will become a little more Fun, and a little less Feared, or a signifier.

Or, just use it for a laugh; that's cool too.

Screenshots:

After you've effified the text, click the "Effified Text" tab on the home screen to see your text. Ensure there is at least one instance of "the" in the text, or nothing will change.

Hope you all enjoy!

-SRT

The Word: Holy Bible Choose Your Own Deity Version

My first app.

I'm so excited, and very pleased with the turnaround time by Apple (less than a week, wow!).

First in a planned series of semiologically-experimental iPhone apps, The Word is designed to alter signs in the Holy Bible KJV by replacing the words God and Jesus with whomever you choose.

From the app's About page:


Now you, too, can replace the word "God" with whomever in this Holy Bible edition.


The Word is more than simply a semiological experiment.


Growing up, I attended Catholic mass every week, each time growing more and more detached from, and belligerent toward, a belief which I didn't hold.


After Confirmation, I never attended mass again, and have since carried a hostile image wherever the words "God" and "Jesus" appear.


I've since read the Bible, but to this day, those words leave a bad taste in my mouth, even though the concept itself is delicious.


So, I created The Word in order to replace a word, nothing more than an iconic metaphor, to one with which I am more comfortable.


And so can you.


Replace the words "God" and "Jesus" with names, concepts, or other gods which most strongly resonate with you.


Less able to believe in Creation theory? Try replacing "God" with "the universe". Already sold on another faith but appreciate the Bible's message? Use "Krishna", "Hera", "Ayn Rand".


Luke17:21 "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the kindgom of God is within you." Try using your own name for "Jesus"; discover your godliness, and perhaps some latent narcissism.


When you are ready, return to the home screen, click "Deities", enter your gods, then click "Re-Deify". Your Bible-reading experience should now be a little more personal and meaningful.


Anything beyond that is semantic.

It has an official release date of November 18th, so look for it in the Entertainment section, else find it right here: The Word

-SRT

@Babycastles

The good people at Babycastles have graciously posted the video of 'INNOVATIVE LEISURE: NEW ATARI GAMES', curated by Ian Bogost. I had a wonderful time appearing via Skype, and felt very empowered by the size of the projector screen. My thanks to all involved for the warm reception, and my sincerest apologies for those who tried to play the game poem sans directions!

Innovative Leasure: New Atari Games - Babycastles show curated by Ian Bogost
from Ida C. Benedetto on Vimeo.

-SRT

My 8-bit Daughter

I found a few free moments today, found myself playing with my future phone and an app called PicoEDITOR. Now I know that future phones are notorious for enabling considerable media consumption, but now and then you can find some incredibly efficient tools for creative production. So, with the above-mentioned app, I spent a minute or two creating an 8x8 pixel sprite of my soon-to-be year-old daughter Aria:

Then, I subsequently created a stereoscopic 8x8 drawing:

I know that some of you don't have fancy future phones, but luckily, this type of art is entirely transferable across media. Color some graph paper, or collage some colored paper. To prove the fungibility of this creative exercise, I have cross-stitched my daughter's sprite:

floss on 22-count canvas

Having taken just a few minutes, this constrained form of graphic art is perfect for a daily Moment.

-SRT

Press and Exhibits for Atari Game Poem

I know it's been a while since I've updated everybody regarding my Atari game poetry project, and in light of recent events surrounding this project, I thought that now would be a great time to do so.

First, I wanted to mention that my second Atari game poem, Calm, Mute, Moving, was featured in an article on page 4 of the October 2011 issue of Game Developer Magazine.

Suweeet.

Secondly regarding "CMM," I received a much appreciated "Wow" by Ian Bogost on the AtariAge.com forums, and was subsequently contacted by Mr. Bogost requesting that I include Calm, Mute, Moving in an Atari Art Game exhibition that he is curating at Babycastles on November 13. Ian Bogost is Director of the Graduate Program in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, and is also a game designer (Persuasive Games), author (How to Do Things with Video Games, Racing the Beam), and Atari "game poet" himself (A Slow Year). Babycastles is an independent video games arcade in New York City.

Super suweeet.

Lastly, regarding the project as a whole: I have only sound programming left to do on the third installment of the Atari game poem triptych Monday. Still untitled, the third poem will be premiered, along with the other two pieces, at the Louisville Arcade Expo, March 2-4, 2012 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky. Going back upon my original Moment Art concept Monday, this third Atari poem features... well I guess you're going to have to attend the expo to find out! (similey*)! Word is, you'll have a chance to win my entire Monday exhibit in a select game tournament, complete with the game poem cartriges, an Atari, a TV, and all necessary controllers and documentation.

How suweeet is that?

Touched by the positive response that this project has received, it occurs to me that I may not be the only one who appreciates this form of expression, and since there may actually be others besides me reading this blog, I guess I'll post a little teaser shot, from the early stages of development, of the final untitled game poem for the Atari:

Untitled Atari game poem screenshot

Post-Lastly, there are some creative ventures coming your way for those who are enjoying the Daily Moment Art process, so stay tuned for some how-tos!

-SRT

* similey - it's like an emoticon, only a little more textual in context.

[squared]: A Dice Poem

[squared] is not an attempt to reincarnate a chick-v-egg debate. Rather, it is an analog[ue?] vision of a computer generated poem.

More specifically, the 6 faces of each of 3 die display 1 of 18 pieces of prose, and are a tangible means of randomly generating one of my previously untitled generative projects. Should we encounter an EMP, blackout, or summertime power outage, these poetry dice will accommodate unlimited rolling while your CPU remains DOA, thus providing, to the user, endless enjoyment [or what we call in the business "poetic appeasement"].

[We don't really call it that.][I made that up.][Sorry.].

Poetry dice require no coding experience, so this is something that can be done by anyone [and I hope you do!]. Nevertheless, for those interested, here is the .python code for [squared]:

# [squared]
# Sonny Rae Tempest


from random import choice
from time import sleep


dice1=['The middle-aged woman closed the curtains. She then,','The old woman picked up the glass. She then,','The young woman dashed down the stairs. She then,','The old man closed the book. He then,','The middle-aged man put down the shovel. He then,','The young man washed his hands. He then']
dice2=['laughing,','winking,','blushing,','without a word,','sobbing,','shaking,']
dice3=['took the diamond from the middle-aged woman.',"petted the young woman's sandy hair.",'gave the worn pages to the old woman.','tossed the young man the glove.','handed the middle-aged man a folded check.','embraced the old man.']


while True:
print ('\n'+choice(dice1)+' '+choice(dice2)+' '+choice(dice3))
sleep(4)

-SRT

Semantics

-SRT