Category: Announcements

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New Steve Aylett Stuff

Our man Steve Aylett has been busy. Not only is the Lint movie set for release next year, but he has a new collection of short stories out, and an anthology of the “Accomplice” novels, as well as a new edition of The Inflatable Volunteer, all of which would make excellent Christmas presents. There’s also this nifty item right here, but here’s the news as received from the man himself:

Smithereens collects 19 Steve Aylett stories including ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded‘, ‘The Burnished Adventures of Injury Mouse’, ‘Voyage of the Iguana’, the last ever Beerlight story ‘Specter’s Way’, ‘Horoscope’, the prophetic ‘Download Syndrome’ and the closest thing Aylett has ever written to a traditional SF story, ‘Bossanova’ (featuring a robot and two spaceships!) There are also animal-attack-while-writing reminiscences in ‘Evernemesi’ and top-of-the-line declarative bitterness in ‘On Reading New Books’. Snails, whales and cortical drills. Aylett’s last collection. Steve Aylett has been described as “utterly original” (SFX), “the most original voice in the literary scene” (Michael Moorcock), “an unstoppable master of space and time” (Asimov’s) and “the coolest writer alive today” (Starburst).

All four of Aylett’s “Accomplice” books in one volume. Revised. With introduction by Michael Moorcock. New preface. Weird graphics.

Starburst Magazine has called the books “a hugely impressive example of outrageous literary wit and uncommon good sense, demonstrating once more that Aylett is the coolest writer alive today”. SFX has called them “Bizarre, innovative and utterly original”. Collecting the titles Only an Alligator, The Velocity Gospel, Dummyland, and Karloff’s Circus, The Complete Accomplice follows the simple Barny and his friends through the intertwisted power manipulations of Accomplice, a zone where hell’s defected demons discover they can never match or out-do humanity when it comes to spectacular dishonesty and evasion. “Something this rapid shouldn’t be so intoxicating or so dense with ideas. It’s a roaring, groaning perpetual motion machine decked out as a fun fair attraction. Read it and you’ll need resuscitating” – 3:AM

There’s also a new edition of The Inflatable Volunteer out now from Raw Dog Screaming — the first publication of the book in the US, a new book called Rebel at the End of Time out soon from PS (UK), Novahead (follow-up to Slaughtermatic) out early 2011, and the aforementioned Lint Movie. For all the latest, check out Aylett’s website.

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Geekend Notes by Raise Small Business Marketing

Hilton Head, South Carolina’s own Raise Small Business Marketing did a brief summary and write-up of my “How to Do Stuff and Be Happy” talk from Geekend 2010. Here’s the run-down:

I was excited for this session, mainly because doing stuff and being happy are two major challenges!  Roy Christopher gave a laid back presentation that basically went through some ideas on how to keep your focus and try and stay happy while actually getting things done.

Roy covers a lot of the information that was in his presentation on his own blog right here so we won’t go over all of that however some of the things we really took away from the session:

  1. Roy was a competitive Rubik’s Cube Player (established geek cred for sure!)
  2. Find people who have done what you want to do and emulate them
  3. Feed and water your mentors- let people know you respect them and why
  4. Save your own story
  5. Keep a journal
  6. Keep a promise file
  7. Get organized
  8. Trust your curiosity

You can read the post here.

Many thanks to the folks at Raise and Geekend 2010.

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R.I.P. Peter Christopherson

With the passing of Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson today, we lost a prolifically creative soul.

Christopherson is probably best known as a pioneer of industrial music. He explored confrontation and sound with such germinal outfits as Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and Coil. He directed commercials and music videos (including most of Rage Against the Machine’s best ones, a few for Ministry, Van Halen, and Yes‘s chart-topping “Owner of a Lonely Heart”) and was also the designer of some of the most memorable album covers in music history. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and Peter Gabriel’s early solo records, among many others.

With the help of Cynthia Usery and Jessy Helms, I even attempted to replicate one of his designs.

Peter Christopherson was a truly creative spirit. He and his work will be sorely missed.

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21C Magazine: This is Your Brain Online

I compiled my thoughts on a bunch of recent books about the internet, social concerns, and brain matters into a piece called “This is Your Brain Online: Recent Books on Cognition and Connection” for 21C Magazine, many of which have been hashed out right here on this site.

Here’s an excerpt:

Regarding public cell phone use, comedian Bill Maher once quipped that if he wanted to be so privy to one’s most intimate thoughts, he’d read his or her blog. Nancy Baym addresses this technologically enabled collusion of public and private, as well as the more traditionally debated clashes, in Personal Connections in the Digital Age (Polity, 2010). Baym’s is by turns all-encompassing, in that she covers nearly every epistemological viewpoint on so-called social media expressed thus far, and all-purpose, in that anyone can read this book and see how these structures of knowledge apply to their own use of technology. In her study of technology’s influence on social connections, she breaks it down into seven key concepts: interactivity, temporal structure, social cues, storage, replicability, reach, and mobility. Sure, any time one attempts to slice up such a malleable and ever-changing landscape into discrete pieces one runs the risk of missing something. This process, one of closing off an open system in order to study it, is necessary if we are ever to learn anything about that system. Nancy Baym has collected, synthesized, and added to the legacy of digital media and indeed technology studies at large. This book is a great leap forward.

Many thanks to Ashley Crawford for the opportunity to contribute to 21C. Read the full piece here.

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Gang of Four Kinect Commercial

I guess it’s logical that the older you get, the more the music you grew up listening to is likely to end up in the last place you’d expect. Gang of Four’s “Natural’s Not In It” in Microsoft’s official Xbox Kinect televison campaign. Good friend and ex-bass player Dave Allen seems summarily nonplussed. [runtime: 0:32]

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Sandy Carson: Paradise Has Relocated

Longtime BMX homie and amazing photographer Sandy Carson has a show on display here in Austin at Okay Mountain Gallery. The opening on October 23rd was a bicycle scene reunion. We all gawked at Sandy’s photos, and geeked out on bikes, parks, and trails. A good time was had by all.

Here’s what the Okay Mountain site says about the show:

“Paradise Has Relocated” attempts to capture the lifeless remains and emptiness of a once thriving and historic island devastated by Hurricane Ike in September of 2008. Ike was the third most destructive and costliest hurricane to make landfall in the United States, destroying and flooding 75% of homes and landmass. The project deals with the physical dead space and ghostliness of Galveston- post hurricane. Each image whispers of an ordinary past lost to the ravages of Mother Nature. The everyday objects left behind in haste suggest former human inhabitation. The unoccupied landscapes, fractured structures and mundane interiors I have carefully composed compel the viewer to look beyond cultural stature and financial complexities, and question geographical location.

The geographic anonymity of my photographs prove that such devastation is not reserved for the third world but stand right on our doorstep. This is important to remember given the current state of world climate change. Unfortunately some believe that this may be the final blow for Galveston. With an already anemic economy and population decline that predates Ike by 50 years, survivors who are re-building or relocating, feel that their mythical land never fully recovered from the first Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

Sandy’s book Paradise Has Relocated is available from Blurb (where there’s also a full preview!). A percentage of the sales will go directly towards Hurricane IKE relief, so do good and buy a copy.

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Aesop Rock’s 900 Bats

Aesop Rock, who previously wrote here about breakfast, just launched a new website called 900 Bats — a creative resource for arts, information, and oddities.  It shows the breadth of his interest in art (i.e., video, audio, art, photos, etc.) and as an artist. It’s not his own artist site (try as I might to get him to do one), it goes way beyond something like that.

Aesop’s first post describes the concept:

In an effort to supply a sandbox for what I hope proves to be a multifarious and growing mix of contributors, I, with the help of Alex Tarrant and Justin Metros,  have created 900bats.com.  Original writing, photography, artwork, audio, and video content from varying sources will be posted regularly.

Contributors for the site so far include: Aesop Rock, Alex Pardee, Alexander Tarrant, Chrissy Piper, Colin Evoy Sebestyen, Coro, DJ Big Wiz, Jeremy Fish, Justin Metros, Kimya Dawson, Nick Flanagan, and Rob Sonic. Jeremy Fish did the illustrations for the site, and Alex Pardee supplied the logo. The site was named for the 900 bats that were killed by renovation workers at Bala Fort in Alwar district who put them on fire to avoid disruption in work.

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SXSW 2011: My Panel/Talks

Voting has begun for South by Southwest 2011. I have proposed two talks and one panel. I am hereby requesting your support. Click on the links below and vote for these ones:

INTERACTIVE: Disconnecting the Dots: How Our Devices are Divisive:
We drive cars to the gym to run miles on a treadmill. Inclement weather notwithstanding, why don’t we just run down the street? The activities are disconnected. We sit in close physical proximity with each other and text others far away. The activities are disconnected. Technological mediation creates a disconnection between physical goals and technology’s “help” in easing our workload. There are at least two types of disconnection enveloping our days: one between ourselves and our environment (e.g., pumping water vs. pumping iron) and one between ourselves and each other (e.g., individual distraction vs. global connection) with technology wedged in between in both cases. If our culture is essentially technology-driven, then what kind of culture emerges from such disconnections between our physical goals and our technologically enabled activities?

FILM: Building a Mystery: Taxonomies for Creativity:
There is a limit — a rule of the grammar, if you will — of the number of elements that the average story can carry. There’s a point at which too many elements cause one story to fall apart, a line across which something else (e.g., a sequel) is needed. This limit is qualitative to be sure, but it’s not hard to tell when it’s been exceeded. While building a theory and weaving a narrative are very different enterprises, one can see parallels in the amount of elements each will carry. It’s less like the chronological restrictions we place on certain activities (e.g., you must be 18 to vote, 21 to drink, etc.) and more like having enough cream and sugar in your coffee. It’s a difference like the one between hair and fur. So, how many elements make a good story?

MUSIC: Finding Success and Thriving on Chaos:
If you need help finding your way into the current music milieu or your way from a rut to a groove, this is the talk for you. Helmed by musicians with lengthy and successful yet unconventional careers and unconventional takes on the upended music industry (e.g., Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky, Dave Allen of Gang of Four/Shriekback, Aesop Rock, Rebecca Gates of The Spinanes, et al.), this panel will be stoked and stocked with helpful information, insight, and inspiration for the aspiring as well as the veteran artist. From punk rock to Hip-hop, all genres are welcome. The unserious need not apply.

Okay, so there are a million other awesome-looking panels and talks, but I must implore you all to vote for these. Voting closes on August 27th, so vote early and everyday until then. Please and thank you.