The Second Wandering Notebook
From Barbelith
Okay, this page is about the second official Barbelith Wandering Notebook, also known as The Blue Book for some reason. The original barbelith thread about it is here (http://barbelith.com/topic/17115), if the sport of cat-herding amuses you.
What the Billy Shears is a wandering notebook, anyway?
Well, it does what it says on the tin. It's a notebook that gets passed around to various people.
Each person has two or three pages upon which they can let loose their creativity in any fashion they choose. We are not picky. Once you have made your mark, you send it on to the next person on the list.
People taking part have a commitment to the project as follows:
a/ Don't lose the book. This is vital since we have already lost one half-full book. This means we may now be leery of sending it on to a brand new poster, or people who don't post very much. Don't take this personally.
b/ Don't take ages over your entry. It's a notebook, it's not going to hang in the Tate gallery. Probably.
c/ Be prepared to have your work published online. All the pages of the book are scanned and will eventually have their own little nest somewhere on Barbelith.
d/ Don't horribly deface the book or other people's pages. If you are the kind of person who has uncontrollable urges to write rude words over everything you probably shouldn't volunteer to join in.
e/ Be prepared to shell out for the cost of posting the book onto the next contributor. Ideally the book should be sent guaranteed delivery, certainly within the same country. If guaranteed delivery is not possible, then it should be sent first class.
What are the participants supposed to do?
Each participant is meant to:
1. Receive the book, either through the post or passed on by hand.
2. Peruse and enjoy the previous entries. Or don't enjoy them. Up to you.
3. Add your own entry.
4. Pass the book on to the next individual.
Both the Wandering Notebooks have suffered from a tendency to squat in one place, rather than wander. Wandering Notebook #1 (http://barbelith.com/topic/14771) has in fact quit this aetheral plane altogether it seems. In order to combat this, the following guidelines were suggested. Have they been formally adopted? Well, yes and no. There's agreement that this book should be kept moving, and these guidelines are as good a way of achieving this as any:
(copied from the WB#2 thread)
A Couple of Suggestions:
We institute a time limit, within which people who have been asked to provide their addresses must respond. Something reasonable, like a week (which would cover people who only visit the board at work and people who only visit the board at weekends). If there is no response, the current holder of the book PM's the next person on the list. No exceptions, no excuses.
Linked to this suggestion is the request that if you receive a PM asking for your address, and you are up to your eyeballs in work or engaged in something that would significantly delay your contribution, you say so, and possibly request that the book be sent to you in a couple of weeks. The book can then go to the next person and you will receive later on, at a time when you can invest the time and creativity. A standard could be that you are moved six places down the list.
If you are not interested in this thing anymore, it would also be polite to just send a PM back saying so.
Individuals who have scanners should make a backup copy if they can. It is accepted that a digital copy of the book wouldn't have the...book-ness, but it's better than nothing if and when the book should vanish. People with websites and high bandwidth could volunteer to host scans if they are feeling public spirited.
Can you give me some guidelines as to content?
How long's a piece of string? The only limitations are the size of the page and the media you have access to. Look at some of the examples linked below to see what people have done so far, but don't for a minute think that that's the be-all and end-all of what you can do.
It occurs to me that a final limitation could be that the notebook should remain a notebook. So don't go adding creative efforts that mean you can't close the book into something approximating a closed book appearance. Or don't go burning the book and sending the ashes on as a statement about the transitory nature of creation in the 21st Century. That kind of thing just pisses people off.
A full list of participants:
These are the posters who have already had the book:
Vincennes (http://barbelith.com/profile/2453) toksik (http://barbelith.com/profile/1533) Ariadne (http://barbelith.com/profile/30) Deva (http://barbelith.com/profile/5) Bed Head (http://barbelith.com/profile/2724) puck (http://barbelith.com/profile/151) Mixmage (http://barbelith.com/profile/1008) Olulabelle (http://barbelith.com/profile/2004) Grey Area (http://barbelith.com/profile/1034) Rizla (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/109) Nina (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/882) Petey Shaftoe (http://barbelith.com/profile/89) Alex-Something-Or-Other (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/3230) Kit-Cat Club (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/92) Illmatic (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/1048) Ex (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/1451) telyn (http://barbelith.com/profile/1238) gingerbop (http://barbelith.com/profile/1695) The Seldom Killer (http://barbelith.com/profile/756) grant (http://barbelith.com/profile/213) Sekhmet (http://barbelith.com/profile/2504) Nietzsch E. Coyote (http://barbelith.com/profile/947)
...and these are the guys whose turn is yet to come:
Britain
Lilly Nowhere (http://barbelith.com/profile/1834) lentil (http://barbelith.com/profile/842) fridgemagnet (http://barbelith.com/profile/443) benny the ball (http://barbelith.com/profile/4422) invisible_al (http://barbelith.com/profile/37) Nelson Evergreen (http://barbelith.com/profile/736) Goodness Gracious Meme (http://barbelith.com/profile/72) Quantum (http://barbelith.com/profile/1880) _pin (http://barbelith.com/profile/895) Squirmelia (http://barbelith.com/profile/2340)
Norway
Adrian D. Licious (http://barbelith.com/profile/1646)
Finland
Wembley (http://barbelith.com/profile/4)
Singapore
No star here laces (http://barbelith.com/profile/128)
Australia
the Fool (http://barbelith.com/profile/440)
New Zealand
moonweaver (http://barbelith.com/profile/4513)
Pacific West Coast-ish...
straylight (http://barbelith.com/profile/165) Damon (http://barbelith.com/profile/2919) Mr Tricks (http://barbelith.com/profile/67) izabelle (http://barbelith.com/profile/1039) nightclub dwight/durban cowboy (http://barbelith.com/profile/1419) at the scarwash (http://barbelith.com/profile/1183)
...Middle America...
The Tower Always Falls (http://barbelith.com/profile/1278) RadJose (http://barbelith.com/profile/391) The Apple-Picker (http://barbelith.com/profile/956) Charrelz (http://barbelith.com/profile/4236) Sally Dammerung (http://barbelith.com/profile/59)
...up into Canada...
Captain Zoom (http://barbelith.com/profile/292) Mister Snee (http://barbelith.com/profile/480) moriarty (http://barbelith.com/profile/121) strix (http://barbelith.com/profile/707) Keggers (http://barbelith.com/profile/339) rising and revolving (http://barbelith.com/profile/3696)
aaaand finally, East Coast-ish. Roughly speaking. I think.
Krug (http://barbelith.com/profile/2031) tbedlam (http://barbelith.com/profile/2280) Abigail Blue (http://barbelith.com/profile/1015) Benjamin Birdie (http://barbelith.com/profile/281) Manny Being Manny (http://barbelith.com/profile/282) Qalyn (http://barbelith.com/profile/1072) bitchiekittie (http://barbelith.com/profile/520)
These guys aren’t yet on the list, not quite...
Well, as it stands, all these names are now kinda officially at the end. Sort of thing. Argue about it in the thread (http://barbelith.com/topic/17115), by all means.
NYC - stepinrazor (http://barbelith.com/profile/2063) NZ - barberellababy (http://barbelith.com/profile/3922) Hull - trebor (http://barbelith.com/profile/2698) ? - quinine 92001 (http://barbelith.com/profile/47) ? - flameape (http://barbelith.com/profile/1819) Pittsburgh - xenosss (http://barbelith.com/profile/4836) Northumberland, UK - Ganainm (http://barbelith.com/profile/5107) London - paranoidwriter* (http://barbelith.com/profile/5126) *Now bannned New Hampshire - xk (http://www.barbelith.com/profile/5595)
And, these guys *were* on the list, but have been skipped along the way...
So, if you’re reading this and recognise your name and are absolutely outraged, then just add yourself back in.
Multiple Man (http://barbelith.com/profile/2304) tzara (http://barbelith.com/profile/4753) nrvous (http://barbelith.com/profile/659) Emma Pirate (http://barbelith.com/profile/2573) Cloned Christ On A HoverDonkey (http://barbelith.com/profile/1448)
So, how can I ever get to see this thing of beauty?
You can thank the gracious Grey Area for hir consistant brilliance and commitment to the noble cause of ART. Ze's hoisted up scans of the pages so far. Here, have a peek:
pages 2-3 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page2-3web.jpg) - Vincennes (http://barbelith.com/profile/2453)
pages 4-5 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page4-5web.jpg) - toksik (http://barbelith.com/profile/1533) pages 6-7 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page6-7web.jpg)
pages 8-9 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page8-9web.jpg) - Ariadne (http://barbelith.com/profile/30)
pages 10-11 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page10-11web.jpg) - Dr Deva (http://barbelith.com/profile/5)
page 12 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page12s.jpg) - Bed Head (http://barbelith.com/profile/2724) page 13 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page13s.jpg) page 14 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page14s.jpg) page 15 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page15s.jpg)
page 16 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page16s.jpg) - puck (http://barbelith.com/profile/151) page 17 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page17s.jpg) page 18 (http://www.stuehrmann.net/barb/page18s.jpg)
Page 19 (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage.jpg) - Mixmage (http://barbelith.com/profile/1008) Page 20 (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_01.jpg) Page 20a (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_02.jpg) Page 20b (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_03.jpg) Page 20c (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_04.jpg) Page 20d (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_05.jpg) Page 20e (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_06.jpg) Page 20f (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_07.jpg) Page 20g (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_08.jpg) Page 20h (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/mixmage_09.jpg)
Page 21 (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/olulabelle_01.jpg) - Olulabelle (http://barbelith.com/profile/2004) Page 22 (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/olulabelle_03.jpg) Page 23 (http://www.ioddia.com/blogging/olulabelle_02.jpg)
Note, added by Grey Area: My hosting is not commercial. So don't go linking to these images in your blog, LJ, website or what-have-you. If the bandwidth exceeds my current 200Mb a day limit, the images will either be taken down or reduced in size.
