Advertising space being sold on our foreheads notwithstanding, we still live in a multimedia world where attention is the currency in trade. A couple of years ago, Doug Rushkoff sat down with John Brockman for a discussion about media, branding, choices, and what the “self” means among them. Seemingly mundane but paramount to our musing here, the question comes up as to what kind of shoes represent The Thing That Doug Calls “Doug.” Continue reading “The Thing That I Call “RoyC.””
Disinformation Mention
The following blurb was in the Disinformation newsletter today (Thanks, Alex):
Last week the talented frontwheeldrive.com editor Roy Christopher joined the Disinformation blogs community. RoyC’s specialty is underground Hip-hop culture and techno-politics, and his site features a growing collection of interviews and reviews. His latest interview with Aesop Rock proves his skills are very much intact, and his first blog entry is a worthy meditation on the possibilities of free choice in American corporate media. If you want an intriguing angle on what’s cool and what today’s creative artists are really thinking, check out RoyC’s work.
I Get on the Mix Late in the Night
Well, last night I finally got out of my bedroom and subjected the public to my loud, noisy tastes in vinyl. Yep, my first live set in several years. I hauled a crate down to the Rosary Room (in downtown San Diego) and played a brief, but fun blend of noise.
The set list looked something like this:
- Unwound — first minute and a half of “We Invent You” (it’s just guitar feedback, if you haven’t heard it)
- Mogwai “Secret Pint”
- My Bloody Valentine “Soon”
- Camera Obscura “Cinemateque”
- Brian Eno “Deep Blue Monday”
- Hood “Branches Bare”
- Bare Minimum “Luchuk”
- Mogwai “Fear Satan (My Bloody Valentine Remix)”
I’ll probably try and do this every first and third Thursday of the month, so if you’re into the loud, rythmic drone of what you see above, come check it out.
February 20, 2004: “I get on the mix late in the night…” — Chuck D
Last night at the Rosary Room, my early morning (1am) setlist looked like this:
- DJ Spooky “You Are Now About to Witness…”
- Hair and Skin Trading Company “Conscious Uncons:..?*U12/Knife Fright”
- Hovercraft “De-Orbit Burn (Scanner Remix)”
- Mogwai “Sine Wave”
- Still “Anodyne”
- Techno Animal “Megaton (dälek Remix)”
- My Bloody Valentine “Soon”
- Main “Rail”
The B-Boys had all gone home by the time I was on, so it was probably best that I was on so late. I do bring the noise, but a little too literally for the body rock, knaw’mean?
Design Science
I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Man’s
I will not Reason and Compare; my business is to Create.
— William Blake
Bucky Fuller used the name “Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science” for his field of holistic, generalized engineering. In this endeavor, he tried to include every possible angle and scenario in designing his wares. I’ve been attempting to merge this sentiment with Richard Saul Wurman’s idea that the most important design project one can undertake is the design of one’s life. I adore the phrase “design science,” and I think applying it to one’s existence is challenging and ultimately rewarding. Continue reading “Design Science”
Manufacturing Dissent
I’m not much of a painter, but I found this canvas by a dumpster on my way home from campus one day here in San Diego. I had a tube of black and a tube of white acrylic paint left from my last stint attempting to paint, so I decided to try a new one. This piece was inspired by Kate Hayles’ book Writing Machines, code poetry, and (obviously) Noam Chomsky. Continue reading “Manufacturing Dissent”
Why Bother?
When time like the pyramids has worn away
All the mountains and the valleys of the words we say
We have got to make sure that something remains
If we lose each other, we’ve got no one to blame
— Oingo Boingo
Sitting at the computer on a Sunday night (as I have been most of the weekend), I was just thinking about why I do this and my other websites. I remember an essay by Andy Jenkins from an old issue of his Bend zine where he pondered the same thing. He finally came to the conclusion that if he counted all the amazing people he’d met from doing Bend, he had a pretty good idea of why he did it in the first place. Continue reading “Why Bother?”
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”
Relative Ways
The New does not emerge. It erupts, then fades away. It always begins with brief moments of undefinedness. — Geert Lovink
Our post-dotcom, post-unfortunate attack era is desperately seeking understanding. Internet criticism and Network theory (both hereafter referred to as ‘Net Theory’) are reeling from the subsiding of dotcom madness and the decentralized organization of terrorists. Net Theory seeks to understand, analyze, and critique a moving target. Indeed more than a moving target — a moving target made up of moving targets. Continue reading “Relative Ways”
Deep Shift
I have often been asked how I came to be interested in science and media after so many years as a BMX/skateboard/indie-rock/zine kid. It’s kind of a long story that I will do my damnedest to shorten here. Continue reading “Deep Shift”