So R. U. Sirius and I gave our big Amsterdam talk is tonight. I was worried this morning, but it went well. We killed, as stand-up comedians say. And SF lives. Many thanks to the Waag Society, Cyberspace Salvations, and XS4ALL for organizing it.
We had a good crowd, and R. U. was brilliant. I put my own talk online last night, it’s called Psipunk. I think Menso Heus of our co-sponsor XS4ALL might have video of our talks on YouTube in a few days.
I projected live realtime computer graphics from my Windows laptop, mainly psychedelic continuous-valued CAs from my CAPOW program.
Yesterday I went out to the offices of XS4ALL, they’re a big ISP in the Netherlands. I had lunch with some friendly programmers and in fact worked my talk in the course of an informal conversation with them.
My contacts there were two nice women, Mieke and Margareth.
After supper I hooked up with Sala again. He showed me a great Art Nouveau movie theater, Theater Tushcinski. A friendly usher let me look around.
And then Luc took me to meet a guy called Soma. He’s a pot breeder, and has perfected a seed called the Soma seed. He had dreadlocks nearly to the floor. Hanging around his place was like being back in California—maybe even more so.
One of Soma’s friends painted an Art Nouveau pot and mushroom frieze along his banister. He told me he saw a UFO before dawn on Easter morning. Sounded to me like it might have been Venus, the morning star. But I enjoyed discussing his vision with him, as I’m working on a novel scene where a guy who’s high on telepathic contact with Gaia sees the Peng UFO. It’s always good to get transreal first-hand input on these things!
Today in the morning I met up with Luc again. He’s a big talker, but that makes for good company when you’re alone in a strange town.
He drove me down to see the tulip fields. They’re near the seashore, as tulips like sandy soil. A lot of these fields are just for the bulbs, and the farmers pick off the tulips and just throw them in a heap.
There was an amazing, sweet smell coming off the fields. Tulips in stores don’t seem to have much of a smell, at least not in the U. S., but these were sweet as honeysuckle.
Luc was on his cellphone the whole time, doing a business deal which, over the course of the day, worked out well for him. I told that was because he was with Het Magische Varken. That’s me. The Magic Pig.
Happy in the tulips. Happy to have the talk over with. R. U. and I laid ‘em in the aisles. Tomorrow I’m planning to take the train to visit Heironymus Bosch’s house in a town called Den Bosch for short, and s’Hertogenbosch for long..
April 11th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Those many bright tulips are somehow touching, marching so neatly to their vanishing point.
April 12th, 2007 at 1:49 am
Cool talk last night, you opened me up to looking at objects at the quantum level although i already forgot the word you used to describe that view.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:11 am
Your talk was very interesting. (I am in your picture of the audience, the guy with the white hair and light sweater on the fifth row). I am an old-time SF reader & fan, basically cyberpunk is not my favorite kind but I have read some of it, years ago. I admit I have not read any of your books thus far but this may change now that I have heard your talk. The main reason why I attended was that you wrote this book on the Fourth Dimension (sorry, I did not yet read that one either). I am doing research on Dr Dionys Burger, the Dutch author of ‘Sphereland’, the sequel to Abbott’s Flatland. In your talk you touched on the issue of multiple dimensions and I presume that you still have an interest therein.
Somthing completely different: your transcription of the name Marijke (Maryke with umlaut) is not correct. The only correct spelling is Marijke, with i and j separate. The diphthong rendered as IJ or ij has a long history in our language; in old times it was also spelled Y or y but never with what you call umlaut (which it is not either). In fact, Dionys Burger’s proper name in Dutch is Dionijs Burger but in foreign publications he called himself Dionys.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Maybe you will consider moving to A’dam on a permanent basis. Honestly, R, I’ve never seen you look so happy, so settled in a place, so content to be in your own skin.
The photos I’ve seen from this part of your trip speak volumes to me about who you are at the core, what you want to achieve in life, and where you may possibly prosper at the end of your life cycle.
Yes I know, California has been good to you. But do you want to live in San Ho forever? And… Holland has been a good friend to you as well.
I send you many happy thoughts, and I look FW to seeing your photos of the Bosch trip (as you would expect). 🙂 🙂
If you see our mutual friend Peter and Mayken please give them my best. 🙂 I’m thinking of them every day as you make your way through the old Dutch Homeland.
your friend “on the happy road” etc
a. d.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Science Fiction isn’t dead, as you quite rightly said; Kurt Vonnegut is, it was a little ironic hearing that the day after your talk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html/partner/rssnyt?_r=1&oref=slogin
April 13th, 2007 at 12:23 am
I like Your way walking ‘n’alking * talking
April 13th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Rudy, I really appreciated Your thoughts. I too think that sf is alive, btw… 🙂
‘bye, Luigi
April 13th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
rudy kentish town is near & have a lot of eyes to be transported with Gather Yourselves – thinking of KURT
rtc – peace 7 love