Hand-crank Projector Progress - Lindstrom

I'm getting further along with the reconstruction/re-imagining of the hand-crank projectors. Thanks to Andy Hensler at the Wexner Center, I'm learning a lot about these projectors and the mechanics of how to turn an antique hand-crank film projector into a digital video projector. Although my approach isn't as "orthodox" as Andy would prefer, I think we're finding some good solutions. For example, I had to resort to buying the projectors on ebay. I can only see so much in the pictures that the sellers provide. I made it part of the project to do the best I could with what I could get. I don't have all the time and money in the world to start amassing a lot of projectors. In any case, we're figuring things out. Our biggest concern, no matter what projector we use, is how long the cranking mechanism will hold up against all the churning that might happen.

Here's the crank-side view of the Lindstrom, my favorite projector. The metal is thin and a lot of things were screwed into place instead of pressed or soldered. This was helpful for my simple mind. I could take things apart quickly and easily to get an idea of how things worked. First thing we took off was the back compartment that housed the light bulb. Next we took the clamp off that held the film in place which would be in the way of the lens of the video projector. Andy took the lens off and then we decided how the back compartment needed to be cut to eventually house the video projector - which turned out to be a slot in the back to give room for the electrical cords and a slotted notch in the front for the lens of the video projector. Also, there's sturdy foam cut into a useful base that holds the digital projector firmly in place inside the compartment.

The placement of the video projector proved much easier than I thought; it was made easier since the original antique lens was easy to remove. We wanted to keep the idea of the original look of the lens cylinder above the crank handle. Andy found a random object in his workshop that could serve as a substitute without obscuring the projection from the digital projector.

Andy had a really good sense of how to connect the cranking mechanism to the potentiometer of the scrolling mouse. He drilled a hole through the middle of the pulley shaft that connects to the handle on the other side. He then threaded a flexible wire into the hole and then crimped the other end of the wire into the mouse wheel.

This is a simple solution that seems to work well. We're still concerned with how long this connection will hold up. I am superglueing the end of the wire that connects to the pulley shaft just to be on the safe side. I'm fairly certain that the crimping will hold on the mouse side, but we'll find out soon enough. We had the option to use an allen wrench to connect the wire to the potentiometer, but Andy decided to use the plastic mouse wheel instead which I think is a better idea anyway. I was a little concerned that the metal allen wrench might strip the plastic potentiometer over time. I like using the connection that was originally built into the construction of the mouse.

The next issue was deciding where to mount the mouse board. We discussed mounting it below the pulley shaft which at first glance, as Andy held it in a reasonable place, disturbed my sense of aesthetics. The green circuit board might highlight the modernization of the projector, but it was all I could see. Upon hearing my response, Andy just smiled at me and said that it was no problem to mount it upside down and spray paint it black. "Oh, okay."

Ultimately, we opted to mount the board (which I still have to do) underneath the projector because the bend of the wire will be less convoluted or severe. Andy hot glued parts of the original mouse housing back to the circuit board to make it easier for me to glue the board to the bottom of the projector.

When I got the parts home yesterday, I plugged the USB connection from the mouse board into my laptop and voila, it worked like a charm.

List of things I still need to do to finish this projector:

- secure the wire to the projector with super glue

- build a small base for the projector (since the mouse mechanism will be on the bottom)

- secure the mouse circuitry to the bottom of the projector

- screw the back compartment securely into place

- find a small washer or rubber stop to keep the bottom reel from flying off

Here's a detail of the crank-side that had the lens and film clamp before we removed it. Just in case you wondered...

Class and Rehearsal for Hand-cranked Projector

This is the first draft of the montage from a class and rehearsal with Real Women Dancing (RWD), a group of women in east Texas featuring Juanita Finkenberg, Linda Choate, Vicki Baggett, Kerry Lemon and Sarah McMullan. When I watched the hours of footage I have of RWD, I became even more aware of time. RWD's concentration during ballet barre exercises requires patience, patience that women of their age gracefully embody. I am reminded of an interview with Maya Deren regarding the temporality of women. Here is a link to a youtube video that includes the interview as well as still shots of Deren's work.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhEOOpbJKEc

This silent video short (which by the way, will also be projected through a hand-cranked projector), will later have an accompanying commentary on my website.  The commentary will be taken from my interview of Juanita Finkenberg, founder of Real Women Dancing. Right now though, I'm going to publish this post, put up some laundry and then walk the dog around the block before getting ready for bed.  It's Christmas Eve and soon to be a day that I promised David that I'll refrain from working.

Antique Projectors - Digital Projectors

I'm turning these antique projectors into interactive digital projectors. First thing to do - find some mice and take them apart to see what I can do with them. More to come!

Inversions and the end of a quarter

Tonight I decided to work on inversions with a little help from David. I wanted to make sure that I give myself the opportunity to feel verticality. I have always had a problem with inversions, mainly with getting my pelvis in the right alignment over my head. What I felt when I was finally vertical was a lengthened feeling in my abdominal wall. Well, actually, engagement AND length at the same time. It was great! Also, I think I might need to consider that my back will feel a little arched at first because normally I want to round my back when my head is going to the floor.

It was a liberating experience tonight and one of many experiences from this quarter's yoga class that I will happily carry with me into other areas of my life.

Tomorrow is technically when yoga journals are due (in my case, my yoga blog). I suppose this could be my last post as it would have fulfilled my class assignment. I will, however, continue to post findings, revelations, etc once a week as my yoga practice is never-ending and always developing.

So... Thank you Michael Morris for your guidance and inspiration!

Till next week...

Revisiting

Today I popped in an old yoga DVD that I used to practice called Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga. It was wonderful to notice slight differences. Baptiste's language is different than Michael Morris's, however, I found myself translating Baptiste's words into what I have been exploring in Morris's class.

For example, when Baptiste would talk about breath, specifically "oceanic breathing," my ears heard ujjayi. When Baptiste spoke of drawing the belly in deep, I thought of muscle engagement and the Svadhistana Chakra.

The particular vinyasa yoga I practiced today was a thirty minute session that focused on core strength, so there were more "exercises" for the abdominal muscles, which I needed today. I found it interesting that it was next to impossible for me to maintain ujjayi breathing when I moved through more tradition abdominal exercises. It was if my mind kicked into "gym" mentality. The other thing I marveled at was how quickly 30 minutes passed. I have more patience and stamina in yoga then I did when I first bought that DVD. What a happy discovery!

Shift in Perception

This week's journal prompt comes from The Splendor of Recognition: An Exploration of the Pratyabhijña-hrdayam, a Text on the Ancient Science of the Soul by Swami Shantananda. I've decided to include two of the quotes and they're pretty long, but I think they're good to include in the post. My response will follow. (Feel free to read in any order you like.) In addressing Sutra 10 of the Pratyabhijña-hrdayam, Shantananda writes:

“The five acts [in the eternal play of Conscioussness], the pañca-krtya, which are a fundamental concept in the Saiva tradition, are outline in a passage from Svacchanda-tantra in which the Divine is venerated as the One who brings about emanation (srsti), dissolution (samhara), concealment (vilaya), maintenance (sthiti); and who dispenses grace (anugraha), which destroys the affliction of those who have bowed to him. With these five acts—creation, maintenance, dissolution, concealment, and the bestowal of grace—the Lord carries out everything that happens in the universe. If we pay attention, we can see the pañca-krtya, in the cycles of life that occur all around us: in taking birth, in living, in dying, as well as in the suffering that comes from ignorance of the Self and the delight that follows true knowledge. In the experience of humanity, there is the meeting of cells in reproduction, the maintenance of the tissues and physical functions, and their demise. There is also lack of awareness [concealment] that this vital organism we call ‘the body’ is a function of our thoughts, and the grace of experiencing the nature of our innermost being.

“Sutra 10 invites us to contemplate that we, too, carry out Siva’s dance, performing the pañca-krtya, just as he does. We can verify this by observing ourselves. Consider what’s happening for you right now. The words you are reading at this moment are your creation, srsti. I might have written them, but they exist for you only through your own perception. In that sense, you are creating them anew at this moment. As these words continue being present in your perception, you maintain them, sthiti. They exist and are meaningful to you because you, as a conscious being, make them real. As you continue reading, the words that you perceived earlier disappear; you dissolve them, samhara. If you were to close your eyes, the entire book would disappear, together with everything you might have been seeing up to that moment. These are aspects of everyday life. Now come the two most crucial actions. Do you realize that there is no essential difference between you and what you perceive? In other words, are you experiencing everything as Self in this moment? If the answer is no, that means you are engaging in the act of concealment, vilaya. However, if you are experiencing the essential identity between your I-consciousness and the objects of your perception, then you have accomplished the act of grace, anugraha. (204-205)”

I started a new ritual after Monday's post. I had to. I have resolved to take a hot shower every night, drink some hot tea, engage in restorative stretching, meditate, and then go to sleep - no matter if it is after midnight. My meditation has been more of a review for myself of the day - of the times during when I smiled or discovered something new.

This is what I have discovered and why I feel this added commitment is necessary: I have to do more for myself in order to understand the enormous amount of new information and all the revelations that I am experiencing on a daily basis. Or else, I'm not sure I am fully appreciating all this. I am learning that graduate school is, of course, a wonderful opportunity for personal growth, but it is also a process of breaking down things I thought I knew of myself - sort of shattering my ego and shifting my idea of reality. At first, this is disconcerting and hard to handle. I am quick to judge myself harshly, so it is easy to hold onto what might seem like the negative aspects of this process. However, it doesn't have to be about the negative and I am finding (and am hungry for) the positive result of finding myself new in each day - of finding a reality where I am opening to grace. My practice can no longer consist of showing up to yoga class twice a week, making a couple of posts in this blog and then thinking that alone will sustain me; that reality has shown itself to be one of instability. I need the time to let certain concepts and acknowledgements sink in and this is something I have to do for myself.

One last note on "letting go." After a long hot shower to clean the dirt of the day off, hot tea to wash everything down, some stretching to release tension and a review of the the positive things (whether it's a smile or a hard lesson), I am free to sleep easy and start a new day the following morning. I've only done this for two nights in a row, but it has already been tremendously helpful. In two more hours, I'll perform this ritual again. Hopefully I've started a good trend for myself. I'll keep you "posted."

Existence and Perception

The journal prompt for the week of October 7th is taken from The Splendor of Recognition: An Exploration of the Pratyabhijña-hrdayam, a Text on the Ancient Science of the Soul by Swami Shantananda. Below are two quotes that Shantananda offers. One is from Baba Muktananda's book Mukteshwari and the other is a quote from Abhinavagupta:

"Because of your existence

Creation exists.

If you do not exist,

Nothing exists.

Muktananda, first know your Self.

What are you looking for

East and west,

North and south,

Above and below?
Muktananda, the whole universe

You alone are, you alone are,

You alone are. (38-39)” - Baba Muktananda

“Nothing perceived is independent of perception, and perception differs not from the perceiver; therefore the [perceived] universe is nothing but the perceiver. (45)” - Abhinavagupta

My response:
"First know your Self." I am struck by that sentiment. My own perception or knowledge of the universe would not exist if I did not exist. My experiences would not exist if I did not exist. That seems obvious, but it's odd to consider. I am part of this universe and everything in it, but the perception of it starts from within myself. I own my reality.

Most recent application of perception and embodiment:
Eight forty-five a.m. rolled around early October seventh. At the beginning of yoga practice I noticed that my breathing was shallow, my balance a little shaky. It took a while to slow my breathing down and release the urge to listen to my inner dialogue about weight and muscle tone. Sometime in my adult life, I recorded a soundtrack of unhelpful criticisms that chooses to play when it is least helpful. About halfway through class I was able to reacquaint myself with my center and quiet the unnecessary dialogue though connecting with my breath - not just hearing my breath, but moving with and being a part of the inhalations and exhalations. The function of my breath, an everyday act of existence, at last informed my movement in class. During savasana, my breath was not the only thing to which I connected. Next to me was another student, breathing deeply. And next to him another and another. I kept my own breathing steady while aware that we were all a community breathing life into our own practice.