Greetings Chris,
Thanks for sharing.... though you do realise that riv::: is longer than river don't you!
As for retrofuturist, I think the name came about in the midst of a whole lot of good underground synth-pop releases on record labels like Ninthwave, A Different Drum, Cohaagen and so on circa 2000-04. Basically the bands on these labels used a lot of old-school sounding keyboard styles to make futuristic sounding synthpop that would have felt nearly just as at home in 2004 as it would have in the 1980's. This movement ran parallel to the more popular 'electroclash' movement that used old school synths and post-punk/new-wave styles and fashions to revitalise dance music during the same period.
Couple with that a big pre-Buddhist interest in reading lots and lots of science fiction... generally old school science fiction of the ilk of Arthur C Clarke, AE Van Vogt, Olaf Stapledon etc. Again, retro texts, with futuristic leanings.
Retrofuturist became Retro. when someone called me that out of laziness, and out of laziness I stopped writing Retrofuturist. In a strange way, it's also come to embody my approach to Buddhism... using the most retro of texts, but learning and discussing them through a futuristic medium.
Metta,
Retro.
