Directed by Johannes Gamble and Federico Vitetta, this one-minute clip of Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, and Spike Jonze quickly captures the spirit of skateboarding with your friends. Its handful of brief vignettes illustrate how sessions out on the board are as much about clowning on each other and dorking around as they are trying to land genetically enhanced, “molecular” kickflips — even though the latter is what people will be talking about. Continue reading “Spike Jonze’s Twizzler Lakai Commercial”
Terminal Mediation: Two Recent Books
Since the telegraph’s advent separated the process of long distance communication from the means of transportation (Carey, 1988), communication technologies have covered the globe with an endless network of connectivity. Today, the web is host to nearly every type of information available via other forms of media (e.g., text, audio, video, etc.), the computer has become a staple technology in the homes of millions, and the average American is now a computer user (Nie & Erbring, 2000). You don’t need me to tell you all of this, but our capacity for producing information far exceeds our ability to process it. If you’ve read more than one thing on this site before, you know that this represents my main intellectual obsession. Here are two recent edited collections on the subject. Continue reading “Terminal Mediation: Two Recent Books”
Bringing the Attack to Your Network: Hacking 2.0
Hacking, as the term is generally (mis)understood, gets a bad rap. The longstanding attempts at distinguishing between hacking and cracking have yielded little results. If you self-identify as a hacker, most will still assume you illicitly break into computer systems to steal secret information or vast sums of money.
In Hacking (Polity, 2008), Tim Jordan puts great effort into developing a solid, working definition of the term. Not only is Jordan concerned with differentiating hacking from cracking, but also in not watering down the concept (as he claims McKenzie Wark, Pekka Himenan, and Sherry Turkle, among others, do). “A hack…” he writes, “is a material practice that produces differences in computer, network, and communication technologies” (p. 12). Grounding hacking as a material practice allows Jordan to explore what he considers the two major categories of hacking: information gathering (e.g., cracking) and creative hacks like the myriad tools and toys of the Linux operating system and the open source software movement, both of which push technology beyond its intended uses. Jordan’s book is a cogent, clear, and concise look at what is usually quite a muddy topic.*
Speaking of clear, if you know anything about computer books, you know that O’Reilly publishes the best of them. Hacking: The Next Generation (O’Reilly, 2009) by Nitesh Dhanjani, Billy Rios, and Brett Hardin (all of whom are security experts, engineers, or advisers at large companies with lots at stake) is about as good as these books get. Much like their sister imprint’s book by a similar name (Hacking: The Art of Exploitation on No Starch), this is a solid guide to how to break into things and how to keep someone from breaking into yours. Subtitled “Bringing the Attack to Your Network,” Hacking thoroughly covers everything from the usual corporate firewalls and email accounts to Facebook and Twitter with the hands-on depth you’ve come to expect from O’Reilly.
Bringing hacking to a much larger scale network, environmental futurist Jamais Cascio’s Hacking the Earth (Lulu, 2009) explores the consequences of geoengineering. If you can imagine the global climate as a system to be hacked, then Cascio is speaking your language. This collection of essays (culled from the past five years of his writings at World Changing and Open The Future) covers everything from techniques and terraforming to geoengineering and geoethics. It’s a lofty and enlightening look at hacking the very system of our planet.
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* Special thanks to John David Smith at Learning Alliances for recommending Tim Jordan’s book.
Follow for Now available at the UT Library
For my fellow University of Texas at Austin students who have yet to get a copy, Follow for Now is now available in the library. Check it out. Continue reading “Follow for Now available at the UT Library”
How To Do Stuff and Be Happy
For my recent guest lecture at UIC, I was tasked with three things. Mike Schandorf asked me to do a little motivating, do a little background, and answer some questions. For the first, I went back through some of the posts here, some things I used to handout at the end of the semester in my classes, and a few key essays by people who have motivated me. This is still rather diffuse, but since these are all just recommendations (i.e., you should only use what works for you and ignore the rest; they are suggested tactics, not steadfast rules), it would probably seem that way no matter. Continue reading “How To Do Stuff and Be Happy”
How Gene Simmons Made Me a Music Geek
Gene Simmons must be one of the most polarizing personalities on the planet. He co-founded one of the most controversial bands of the 70s, has allegedly had his way with thousands of women, has run magazines, written books, hosted talk and reality shows,* and has revolutionized merchandising. I’ve always had a soft spot for The God of Thunder, but I’m not surprised when I find someone who hates him.
The first record I ever bought with my own money was Gene Simmons’ KISS solo record. In 1978, the four masked men each released solo records. Gene’s wasn’t the best corner of the square (everyone knows Ace Frehley’s opus lay claim to that spot), but it was probably a solid second, even if a distant one. KISS was my first favorite band and Gene was my first favorite member.
KISS is a band that invited investigation from its young fans. From their comic-book personae, super powers, and devilish face paint to their catchy, cheesy songs, they had a lock on the imagination of preteen boys for over a decade. We had to dig deeper and, thanks to a massive merchandising arm, there was always more to find.
I saw them live in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1979 on what was to be their last tour in the makeup (until the reunions, of course), and KISS remained my favorite band until almost sixth grade, at which time my friend Keith Vanderberg introduced me to Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo was the first band whose lyrics actually made me think about things. Bands like KISS were soon on their way off the playlist, and bands like Talking Heads and The Clash were on, eventually giving way to hardcore, Hip-hop, and indie rock.
Gene reemerged somewhere in here, impressing me with his indie rock knowledge. In some music magazine in the early 1990s, Gene waxed geeky about the lineage of Teenage Fanclub, including BMX Bandits and his love of Eugenius. This seemed not only out-of-character for him, but also oddly too well researched not to be genuine. It was impressive.
Fast-forward a few years, I was working as the editor of Pandemonium! Magazine in Tacoma, Washington, and KISS had reunited for what would be the first of several top-grossing tours in the old makeup. In a fit of nostalgia, we were planning to put them on the cover. Our staffer Dave Liljengren was handling the interview, and when Gene called him to chat, Dave was on his way out the door to something he absolutely could not miss.
Dave: “Sorry, Gene. I’m walking out the door. Can you call me back at the same time tomorrow?”
Gene: “Not a problem.”
Now, you’d think that this on-and-off freelance writer for this little regional rag in Tacoma, Washington had just blown his one chance for calling Dr. Love (that’s certainly what I thought), but I’ll be damned if Gene didn’t call Dave back the next day and do the interview. We didn’t end up using it, but the point is that Gene Simmons could be bothered to call back the next day.**
In a questionable move on the other end of the spectrum, Gene donated a $5,000 KISS casket to Dimebag Darrell Abbott‘s funeral. Apparently that’s what Dime would’ve wanted, so it can be seen as a good look. On the other hand, it could be seen as the most tastelessly lame marketing move in the history of tastelessly lame marketing moves.
So, say what you will about Gene Simmons, he is slimy, brilliant, shameless, hokey, flamboyant, cheesy, innovative, and a butterfly flapping his wings in my distant past.
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* Is it just me, or does Gene’s son look like Paul Stanley?
** Finding out before we went to press that the October, 1996 issue was going to be our last, I put another of my all-time favorite bands on the cover: the mighty Godflesh.
Tim’s Top Ten-est Rap Records
My friend and fellow Hip-hop nerd Tim Baker (a.k.a. Alaska of the legendary Hangar 18) has busy been compiling the Top Ten-est Rap records ever over at Philaflava’s Steady Bloggin’. I don’t agree with all of them (agreeing wholesale would be more of a problem, wouldn’t it?), but we’re in accord for a lot of it.
They’re a good read regardless, and here’s Number 3: Continue reading “Tim’s Top Ten-est Rap Records”
Context-Removal Machine: SXSW 2010
Having never been and having skipped the bedlam of SXSW last year (the first since I moved to Austin), I decided I’d jump in with both feet this year. I registered for the Interactive side and just hoped my music friends could take care of me on the Music side. Nine days straight of exhausting good times: I was not disappointed.
At early registration on Thursday, I finally met Bruce Sterling IRL. More on him in a minute. On day two, I had a brief but great chat with Doug Rushkoff on his way out of the building and the conference. I hadn’t seen him in about seven years, and he’s still fighting the good fight on all fronts. Inspiration is found on the fringes. Continue reading “Context-Removal Machine: SXSW 2010”
Into the Lens: Yes, Roger Dean, and Avatar
Strange synchronicities abound lately, and this past week a few of them broke through the veil and showed themselves in all of their geeky glory. As Charles Eames once said, “Eventually everything connects.” Continue reading “Into the Lens: Yes, Roger Dean, and Avatar”
Guest Lecture at UIC
Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a guest lecture in Mike Schandorf’s “Writing for New Media” class at the University of Illinos at Chicago. I’ll be talking about Follow for Now, the philosophy behind the book, and how it all came together. If you’re around, come check it out. I’ll be speaking from 3:30 to 4:45 on Thursday, February 18th. It should be a hoot.
