Bundle of Nerves

I really was!


On the morning of the seminar, all of the mp3 files I had lovingly found, downloaded, spliced and inserted, quite bizarrely disappeared out of my presentation. I had absolutely no idea where they had ALL gotten to. Luckily, I have eventually gotten into good practice and keep all of my media in a file specific to that project. Even I was impressed at how tidy my desktop was.


The next thing I decided I had to amend (at the final moment) was converting a new film clip from my last film "Suffer" from widescreen to ordinary format. I had looked at the footage and thought it was bad enough that the camera adds 10lbs, but widescreen adds triple that. I was feeling a little bit precious, so thought it best to export another clip into a different file format. Not such a big deal, I hear you say, but as anyone with any knowledge of Final Cut Express will know that rendering is a nightmarish, extended, and far too long a process to be stress-free.

By the skin of my teeth! In and looking perfect. Comments were made as to the identity and strength my film-work has. (Hurrah!)


And onto the show...in all of my years of performance I have never been so nervous and I could hardly get my words out in a coherent manner. What made it worse was the fact that my Website assessment that was to happen prior to the digital kiss seminar was cancelled at short notice which gave me a slightly flumuxed feeling.


Anyway, back to the seminar. I had fabulous assistance from Mr Pete Lancaster who set all of my levels and helped me tremendously with my technical run. However, when my examiners came in, they fiddled with the central control panel to adjust the lighting which altered all of the levels including my sound which got lost. I re-ran the first slide twice and then pressed the poor little volume pad so many times that it would have become dented had it not been touch sensitive. The sound was minimal and there was nothing I could do to rectify.

The next hitch was that my Mac decided it was going to ask for a software update right in the midst of the presentation. Did I wish to continue was the message on the screen. Of course I bloody well wanted to continue! I apologised and had to laugh to myself. What else could possibly happen?


Answer: The questions at the end. Oh. My. Goodness. 35 minutes of questions. As you can probably imagine, they were deep, searching, personal, some intrusive and in all honesty, quite draining. I felt like a startled bunny in the headlights. A cold one at that. I ended up leaving a little hat and scarf on (black to compliment my business black) just to feel moderately comfortable. Fingers were shaking from nerves and cold but I was particularly careful not to inadvertently press forward on the dinky remote for powerpoint. I made full use of the red laser on one slide only, just to show my skill and adjustment to all things technical.


And then straight to the coldest bar in town for a couple of cocktails. Needed and enjoyed.


I will let you know of anything when I hear myself. Also, I would like to say thank-you to everyone who has sent me messages of good luck, congratulations and requests to keep the blog alive. (smile) You are all so lovely!


And as always, my fondest regards,


Ms Digital Kiss


Ps. I launched the image. I think it was well received(?!)

68 Hours & Counting!

(smile) I am committed to the cause. I intend to go out in a frenzy of digital overload with an all-bells-and-whistles seminar that will leave the attendees with an insight to the bizarre journey that has been digital kiss at the very least. I am hoping for more, but at this stage of the proceedings, I will just be happy to present the deepest and most integral parts of my paper with visuals and sound to animate and articulate the particularities of cyberspace and all those who frequent it.


I thought it would be easier. I have been diligent to the last fraction of a second, opening up time-lines of film, sizing, resizing, importing, compressing, meticulously selecting exactly the right image, audio, placement, timing, effect, transition. Apart from one slide that was shown at the close of both The Launch and 28DaysB4. I intend to close with it for my seminar too. Simple font that gently fades from white to orange and so forth. The words are A Moment on the Lips under a bold, strong white headline of www.digital-kiss.com and the music is divine (upon request!). It just works.


And there hasn't really been much of anything else. The usual: yoga, to calm my noisy mind, X-country to say Hello to the sheep (that have moved?!) and playing chicken with the traffic on my bicycle. Sleep and dreams are once again quite erratic, but I have discovered that Valerian, (although it stinks) works very well but leaves an odd sensation the following morning possibly akin to a loose canon-ball rolling around inside one's skull. Nice, in a dense sort of way.


Oh yes, the flyer. I forgot that you probably hadn't seen one. Better late than never I suppose. The paper quality is quite something else. Smooth and just heavy enough to fold with an audible and satisfying squeak. Mmm. I chose it because I like the sensation of assured presence when placed in a person's hand. Amazing that I paid so much attention to the tactile quality, almost as much as is presented on the face!


And now I must leave for hot chocolate and Valerian. I will try and get back to post before Wednesday, really I will.


Fondest regards,

Ms Digital Kiss

Almost Done Now.

"Girl In A Pretty Dress." (2005) - print, mixed media.
Self-directed photo shoot with Mr S Jennar.


I am pleased to tell you that at lunchtime today, I forwarded my completed MA paper to my Head of School, Course Director and one other. I say completed, but not quite so as I only remembered this afternoon that I required a digital copy of the Ethical Review Application I had to make at the nth hour in October to be included. I think I remember sharing my increasing stress with you about that particular segment. I will only say that it was horrible. So close (24 hours) to the public launch of digital kiss and those mentioned above telling me that I hadn't as such been given the go-ahead. Even yoga didn't touch the sides. I feel it should be included as comment was passed upon it from the governing/decision makers "never seen such a complete and well answered form."


I haven't been able to clear my head from all of the words, thousands of words about what it was to sell a kiss in cyberspace. It is well documented and I hope able to offer clear and clean insights to digital kiss in order that a good understanding of what the past (nearly) 14 months have been for this work. I present the last element on 10 Feb 2010. All parts, the website, the kiss, the paper and the seminar will be marked as a whole. I hope that all support and enhance each other.


And there is one other piece of news which I am longing to share but because of academic protocol, I am afraid to say, I cannot. In conversation with a Dr at a neighbouring University, it became apparent that I possibly should not have been privvy to the droplet that has quite delightfully come my way. He suggested that I keep it to myself and lucky for all concerned, I really am the best person to keep a secret!


Finally, with reference to the image. This was the first artwork I made that was costume, character and digital image. I needed to remind myself how far I have come since this piece (nicknamed "Legs" - I wonder why?!) but more so, how much I adore how gracefully this has aged...



Fondest regards, as always


Ms Digital Kiss