Awaiting change. 09 December 2003.

Spirals are very interesting forms, and when they come from fractal pictures, they are even better. As I have heard, they’ve been related to the humanities (I wonder if science went out with the circle or square). Anyway, human existence is full of such symbolisms nobody is aware of nowadays, but meanings and/or interpretations tend to change from culture to culture. I’m also expecting some change, so who knows if I drop spirals for another motif next time…

Award-free site. 01 November 2003.

This is an award-free site (somebody should come up with a banner for that). Why? Because they say nothing about the author(s), the site or its content; they only speak of the giver’s tastes (good or bad) at best. They’re kind of silly too. There are a lot of web sites giving every imaginable kind of award: best this, best that, best of the best, the best of this and that, today’s something… you name it. And there are a lot of sites out there as well with pages and pages of such bandwidth trash. The worst part is that you’re not really picked up, and they aren’t even contest-oriented: you’re only going to do someone a favor by driving visitors to their sites (didn’t you know that?), and they even convince you to apply. How “funny” that is. Fractovia has received only one award worth it in its five-and-a-half-years existence. It is the only one worth it simply because I got it without knowing, expecting, applying, or even without the need to breath. Barbara Tampieri, from Italy, merely visited Fractovia some time back and decided she liked it so much that she sent a little graphic-award to my e-mail address that same day. And more surprisingly, she asked for nothing in return, not even a link back to her web site. I thought she didn’t know how the awards scheme worked; now I guess she really knew. // Don’t miss the CURRENT IMAGE down below.

A thing of the past. 14 September 2003.

Am I dead? Did I die (and I don’t know it yet)? Somehow I feel like I’m being deleted from the cyberworld, and for no apparent reason, that I know of. Fractovia is no longer part of some sites that used to include it (OK, nice to meet you); people that once had links to it have decided to erase them completely (OK, have some fun)… Have I become a rebel of some sort that no one risks to be associated with? I doubt it. Or the contrary: have I become too rotten, crappy, lousy, stinky, or any other possible adjectival form with a negative implication that everyone wants to part with? Well, I don’t know. Is this some kind of [political, social, intellectual, etc.] deserved isolation? At least, let me know what’s going on… // And talking about death… Did I say my computer died last July? No, I didn’t. Well, it did: a simple and quiet death it was. As a result, Fractovia is no longer powered by Debian. A new computer is already replacing the dead one, and through its circuits lingers XP Pro. Bad or good, it will remain so while I get used to it. Anyway, enjoy the CURRENT IMAGE below. It reminds me of Coldplay’s song called “Yellow”… There’s also a new wallpaper, in case you need something “cool” or a little change to your desktop.

So what? 02 September 2003.

We’ve been under Mars attack since early this year, so it has given me a lot of “doings” in my other hobby. As a result, this one has fallen behind (what a surprise, no?). But as I get tired of the Red Planet (yes, that happens sometimes), health problems and a lot of work to be done in the real world, fractals are always there to relief me. A new CURRENT IMAGE is in its usual spot (look down under). It’s been done in Fractal Explorer 2.0, and colors have been fine-tuned in Paint Shop Pro. More pictures to come soon…

Surviving of the Muse. 13 May 2003.

“What Muse?”, you would ask (wouldn’t you?). Well, I don’t know (and would you want to know anyway?). It seems I’ve “gone” lazy for awhile, but it’s not true (is it?). It’s just pure relativity in action: I may look slower in fractal land, but have accelerated almost to lightspeed in some other alternate time-[cyber]-space reality (what is real anyway?). And today, I have uploaded another gallery (Aetherea II), and have posted a new CURRENT IMAGE way below. Follow this (sometimes) white link.

Some galleries reloaded. 15 April 2003.

I’m still trying to pick the pace of 2003, but it seems I’ll be left behind; meanwhile my time runs out… (except for the IRS). The new CURRENT PICTURE reminds me of Spring… à la Edgar Allan Poe.

Heavy Rotation. 10 March 2003.

I thought it was a good time to “clean” the house and revamp the whole site some more. Besides the CSS rewriting thing I started some time ago, now I decided to “play” with the galleries. So they are under a heavy rotation: some images will be taken out, some others a long time not seen will come back, some new ones will begin to show up, and a little bit of extra information will be added to each of them, for those of you who keep asking me what fractal generator I used for a particular picture. // I also added a brief biographical note about Gaston Julia (yes, the guy “behind” Julia fractals), and did some more coding, so now the site is once again even. // Ohhh… I almost forgot: there’s a new CURRENT PICTURE below. [A little secret: some of the old galleries you cannot access from the PASSAGEWAY anymore are still “reachable”—if you find a way to get in, that is. There are some clues along fractovia, so go and find them out].

Starting a year… late. 17 February 2003.

My 2003 has started in a very different “mood” this time, so my usually slow pace has become almost to a stall. Yet, even though there’s almost nothing new in here right now—except for a fantastic and beautiful CURRENT IMAGE update way below (please: excuse me this vaunt, but I like the pic very much), and some changes in the SOFTWARE section—at least there are a few good news to spread out: Phil Thompson’s Organised Chaos, home of some of the most praised and sought-after freeware fractal music composition tools (GINGERBREAD and VENHARIS), and of an incredible and inspirational fractal music original collection, is coming “back to life” (in Phil’s own words), with a new design and a lot of new content. If you really want to experience what fractal music is capable of, don’t stop by my MUSIC section (it only contains some “sporadic” and amateurish tunes), but head straight to Organised Chaos instead. Believe me: it is worth it. Then, come back here and enjoy the rest of the show…