Eight of us, associated with Howard Rheingold’s pioneering virtual community of Brainstorms, were to gather at Howard’s Mill Valley home and then go out for dinner.
Muti-faceted uber guru Howard Rheingold, once editor of The Whole Earth Catalogue, is a famous pioneer and explorer of the internet, of virtual communities and the general implications of the technological revolution. He was founder of Electric Minds and later of Brainstorms.
Howard has one of the most interesting and beautiful little studies in the world - his computer room-cum-office which is tucked beside the house. It is exquisitely compact and full of the art he produces. Howard also is an artist and one of his trademarks is his vividly-painted footwear.
Also in his lush and lovely garden is his neat little workshop and another studio in which a marvellous pataphysical project is underway - the construction of a Time Machine. It has been six years in the planning and is just taking shape with the help of Howard’s fellow pataphysicists.
Two people can sit in the Time Machine and interact with various gadgets which will transport them to a chosen time. Not that they leave this world in so doing. Howard suggested that outsiders could harass them if they wanted. It is all a concept of whimsy and imagination.
Howard’s garden is a magical sanctuary, curtained in lush greens. His fruit trees bend with well-loved years. His pear tree leans with the history of storms. His vegetables reach for the sun from their raised beds. Spiders happily trap invasive insects. Everywhere, tucked into corners of the garden to pleasure the corners of the mind are little surprises - plants and rocks and artworks. It’s a private wonderland.
Thereafter, the eight of us, including Howard’s wife Judy Mass Rheingold, swarmed by car to Sausalito off to gather around a big round table and break, not so much bread, as lots of crab legs - and to talk about life, the universe and other things of note or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment