Column-based cutups with speech synthesis
Based on descriptions of David Bowie's "verbasizer" script, which he used in generating the lyrics for Outside.
Verbasizer reads text from stdin, and cuts it into n columns (by default, 5; the first arg to the script overrides this). It then reorders the contents of each column randomly and pastes the columns back together.
The verbalizer script is a helper for picking a speech synthesizer (out of several common ones for unix-like systems). The verbasizer-verbalizer script composes these two programs.
Sample usage:
$ echo "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone." | ./verbasizer
and of had shut conditions
eighty steadily might continued upright
walked itself sanely larks to
long absolute even under stood
eighty met the were for
darkness more can hills whatever
bricks doors its some silence
by to alone wood for
No there House continue and
dream Hill sensibly stand for
of within by sane and
katydids live walls stood firm
stone are not and holding
lay years floors
$ echo "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone." | ./verbasizer 3
dream by are
continue whatever and
No silence there
sane absolute can
larks for years
neatly might firm
walked of even
darkness more holding
stood stood steadily
supposed alone met
against sanely not
of Hill walls
and and to
exist upright House
and doors conditions
continued within itself
against live sensibly
shut floors for
and for to
stone its had
eighty the