dan symonds
Niagara Falls, New York
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• Dan Symonds is 29 and lives in London, where he constantly looks for good excuses not to be a Software Design Authority (the money is good though).
• He also writes poetry, which is published on his site walrus.nu and on the hold.
• He jointly runs cheshire-cat.org (a contemporary arts & entertainments community) with Jude, who also makes fantastic fractal art. They also do cheshirecat.tv (an internet tv station).
• For musings about internet technology and Dan's day to day life, check out his journal d-log.
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• What do you do for a living?
To provide an income, I work designing software. However, not everyone would call that living, so I'll deliberately misinterpret the question.
For a living, I touch the sun, ride the winds and thrash down rain. I talk to people, and try to listen. I don't take more than I can carry. I get wasted now and then. • Who are your favorite artists?
I'm not sure I have favourites, or not of a continuous nature. Besides, I'd feel guilty about leaving people out.I have a fractal I found on the web on my computer desktop, I've been reading a book by Mikhail Bulgarov and I'm enjoying the new Gorillaz tune. Does that count? If not, ask me again next week. • What influences you to write about/how you do?
I'd like to say the random sleet of inspiration catching the tip of my outstretched tongue, but that sounds pretentious. I try not to be influenced by other stuff I've read, but suspect I inevitably am. I guess it's a process of rapidly articulating subterranean thoughts when the timing is right, and then excising bits until there's almost nothing left. I want each piece to mean something too, but not necessarily what it says. • Where do you see the underground writing scene in 25 years?
The net is unleashing a wave of personal publishing on a humungous scale. Whether it will reach everyone is moot, but one day I hope it will be as ubiquitous as electricity (it's difficult to get a connection without).What will this mean for underground writing? It's like taking away the ground, off the top. And I don't think the publishing giants will triumph, because people will write clever software agents which will bring them new stuff they like based on what they look at and what the people who looked at the stuff they look at look at.I might even help write some of that software myself if someone is willing to pay me for it :) • cait - tell us about the most devastating negative situation you've been involved in and how you handled it and do you still use condoms even if it's not for the purpose intended...? (no water balloon scenes pullleaaaaaaase heh -
I try to always use condoms for the purpose intended, but sometimes the temptation is just too great. Never mind, most witnesses can be easily bribed.The most devastating negative situation I've been involved in was probably poisoning myself to death for a few minutes while trying to consume hallucinogenic mushrooms (some of which almost definitely were).
I think I handled it by finding out lots of stuff about myself and deciding that most of it was ok, or at least that's how I rationalise it.
I suppose it turned out more positive than negative in the end, but it felt pretty hairy at the time. |
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