My friend and colleague Paul D. Miller a.k.a DJ Spooky is going to Antarctica for the holidays. Well, he’ll be there for the holidays, but the trip is not exactly holiday-related. He’s going there to make a film. Continue reading “DJ Spooky: Holiday in Antarctica”
frontwheeldrive.com: 1997-2007
Yes, after ten years online, frontwheeldrive.com has come to an end. The following is the explanation I posted over there: Continue reading “frontwheeldrive.com: 1997-2007”
Charles Mudede mini-documentary
Steven Shaviro posted a link to this on Twitter. It’s a mini-documentary about Seattle writer, artist, theorist, and filmmaker Charles Mudede by Kindred Media. It’s an interesting glimpse into the world of an unsung thinker. Continue reading “Charles Mudede mini-documentary”
New Technology: Exploration versus Utility (Microblogging and Its Discontents)
As much as I think it’s cool that I can update a tiny piece of text on my website from my phone (that little speech bubble on the right side), I’m still wondering and exploring what kind of utility Twitter and its ilk are really offering. I often find my friends’ posts mildly interesting — especially when viewed over time — but “mildly interesting” does not a useful communication tool make. Continue reading “New Technology: Exploration versus Utility (Microblogging and Its Discontents)”
Extreme Mediation
These are two images depicting extreme technological mediation that I’m hoping to include in the final book on this topic. Continue reading “Extreme Mediation”
Jean Baudrillard: 1929 – 2007
I just found out that Jean Baudrillard died last week. As much as his work has been loved, debated, and dismissed, I feel a great loss. As Steven Shaviro once put it, “The success of a work of theory should be measured by its capacity to provoke diversities of response, and not by its ability to compel unanimous acceptance.” I have a great many of Baudrillard’s books and, for what it’s worth, he had the diversity of response down.
Peace to Baudrillard and his family. He will be missed.
Robert A. Moog: In Memorium by Hans Fjellestad
As I’m sure you all know by now, Bob Moog passed away this past Sunday afternoon at the age of 71. This morning I returned home from Asheville, North Carolina, where I was honored to attend the funeral services for Dr. Robert Moog on Tuesday, and a public memorial the following day. Speeches and memories were shared by Bob’s son, daughters, and wife, Ileana… as well as Wendy Carlos, Herb Deutsch, Steven Martin, David Borden, Tom Rhea, John Eaton, Wayne Kirby, Keiichi Goto, David Van Koevering, Joel Chadabe, David Mash, Mike Adams, and many others. Letters and emails poured in from all over the planet. It seems like Dr. Moog’s passing was felt in every corner of the world this week. Continue reading “Robert A. Moog: In Memorium by Hans Fjellestad”
Bad Comedians = Bad Drivers
Last week my girl and I were headed out to get some lunch. We were driving through back roads in San Diego, and we got stuck behind this big, honking SUV in which the driver was talking on the phone: nothing out of the ordinary, but frustrating nonetheless. Anyway, this monstrosity-on-wheels kept creeping along, veering from one side of the road to the other. Just as I was about to lose it and lay on the horn, the SUV took a slow, un-signaled left and crawled out of the way.
As we finally got past it, I noticed the vanity tag:
“DAT PHAN”
So, based on this experience, I’m trying to formulate a propositional theory wherein the comedic ability on stage is directly proportional to the driving ability, but I need more data in order to make sure this isn’t a spurious correlation.
For the record, Doug Stahope‘s driving is good, but it’s kinda edgy (i.e., “It’s not for everybody”), just like his act.
Safety in Numbers Art Show
Though I’m admittedly not much of a painter, I have five pieces in the “Safety in Numbers” art show starting September 13th at The Ritz and Café Mundi in Austin, TX. Continue reading “Safety in Numbers Art Show”
Black Box Roundtable Discussion
Black Box is a Danish culture magazine. My friend Alex Burns does stuff for them, and this is a response to a roundtable discussion he was conducting. The question was
What genes and memes would you like (hypothetically) to have replaced, altered, removed or radically upgraded, and why?
My answer was as follows: Continue reading “Black Box Roundtable Discussion”