2005. Does Not Belong To
The math symbol on the back of my head means Does Not Belong To as in "such-n-such DOES NOT BELONG TO the set of so-n-so". In 2005 I made a movie of my getting the haircut done by my friend Julie. I added relevant text explaining the purpose of the haircut. The movie can be seen here:
These are the notes for that movie:
As a child, I'd been a very good mathematician & a good artist. Then, around age 9 or 10, I decided that being a mathematician probably wouldn't be very much fun & that being an artist probably would be so I decided to pursue being an artist instead. I thought that the social life of a mathematician would be lousy in contrast. I was still a good enough mathematician as a teenager to be able to quickly do large calculations in my head. When I learned about set theory & imaginary numbers I was particularly excited - but it wasn't until much later in life that I realized how significant my enthusiasm in these areas was. Decades lapsed as I dedicated my life to other things. Then, around 2003, perhaps at age 49, I decided to read a pop math book to see whether I could still get anything out of it. I found it fascinating & found that I still had some feeble abilities in this area. Over the next 5 years I read 9 more layperson math books & started making work that was inspired by them & by other researches. Hence "Haircut Paradox" was made in the fall of 2005. I make no claim that it's 'important' as math in any form ('pure' or applied, etc) or that it's even logical but it was at least fun for me personally. During the 5 years of these readings I'd been taking notes. In the beginning of 2008 I decided to write a math book. I had no intention of writing one that any mathematician would take seriously, I wanted to write a more 'pataphysical math humor book, a math book that only I could or would write. I thought it might be 160pp, if I could write it at all. It came out at 409pp. I had 2 friends create marginalia especially for it as a typical (for me) perverse formalist touch. I gave technical specifications to the 2 marginaliaists to enable me to easily assemble the book. Both of them ignored them, one of them dramatically so. Both of them took longer to make the marginalia than it took me to write the book. When I got the marginalia & saw how difficult it would be to integrate it into the design because of my friends' disregard of my instructions, I became severely discouraged. Nonetheless, I eventually tackled the job of scanning, resizing, & replacing everything they'd done. Again, it took me longer than it'd taken to write the book. After it was done, I was discouraged: ALL THIS WORK & WHO WOULD EVER PUBLISH SUCH A THING?! At one point, a magazine expressed interest in publishing a small excerpt. That fell through when the excerpt became too small to be acceptable to me. SO, 5 years later, the book has only been read by maybe 4 people MAX. Will I ever publish it? I hope so. It's possibly the best thing I've ever written. It also heavily quotes from math books whose authors & publishers might not want to be associated with such an outlaw text - even though I give all due credit & disclaimers. Its name is "Paradigm Shift Knuckle Sandwich & Other Examples of P.N.T. (Perverse Number Theory)". Interested publishers are encouraged to write to me. - February 21, 2013 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Of course, part of the purpose of the haircut is to say that tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Does Not Belong To any particular subculture, etc..
- February 2014 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
back to 1989. B&W
forward to 2007. OPEN mind
{tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE can be contacted @ <idioideo at verizon dot net>}
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)