Documentarian Adam Curtis is essential viewing for anyone who wants to know what the hell is going on. I don't have time to write about it all now, but check out his BBC produced documentaries below:
The discussion on slashdot.org was more than usually entertaining this week when NASA announced serious talks would be held on issues involved in long term space missions, such as who should and shouldn't have sex with each other in space.
1 May 2007
AND BEFORE WE GO..
Did you Houstonians see the outro Dave Ward delivered at the end of the 10pm news on channel 13 last night?
It went something like this:
"Rockets owner Nancy Alexander operates a vegetarian restaurant in Florida where they sell steak made of <disgust>
tofu</disgust> and <stronger disgust> soy protein</disgust> (hardee-har-har). Though the restraurant has been open for two
years, they have yet to make a <mocking>profit</mocking>.....[the black woman on there, I forget her name, chimes in at this
moment to add 'I guess not!' ]... but she says if she ever does she'll give all of the money to animal rights groups. " This
was followed by some comments about how weird it was, I forget precisely.
Well fuck you, Dave Ward. I guess you don't know about the half dozen or so soy-protein-vending places in Houston that do actually make a profit, thanks much.. but hey it's always fun to piss off about 3% of your viewers. I guess the jew mocking will be next, they're about 3% of the population too. and hey, those black Hebrews are way out there, I think those guys cook with TVP too!
Obnoxious. Channel 26 is better anyway. They've got that Lenny guy, and that other guy in the morning who has been there forever and is always a touch befuddled. I genuinely like him. And it's not like animal issues are new and exotic. (1988)
30 April 2007
understand, observe, visualize, evaluate and refine, implement
Ah yes, spring is in the air, which in Houston is hot and vaguely sticky. Hey, it sounds a bit erotic if you put it that way. Anyway, spring is in the air and all that sort of thing, and actually I'm pretty indifferent to my own impetuousness this time around and would rather talk about links- weird links.
So I do actually rather try to live by that old rule that says you should treat people the way you'd want to be treated, if you were them. Well, I'd actually like it for people to send me links they come across that they know I'd be interested in, but nobody does much. Why do I constantly come across pages, photos, videos, how-tos, &etc that I suspect other specific people I specifically know might be specifically interested in? Am I the only one? Well Natalie sends me some things from time to time when she's not at work. Maybe everybody else is actually working and doesn't have time to delve into the web deeper.. and deeper.. hang on, there's that springtime thing again, sorry. Then there's this guy at work who sends me some cool stuff. But no, I won't let this save me from victimhood; I think I'm just about the only one who wants to watch those really really odd videos, find culturally tell-tale images, or read things from strange sources. Maybe I am burdening my friends with all these weird links and they are just too nice to tell me. Hey friends, you're the only people still reading this probably due to all the self-involvement in this post, so here's a message for you: being deceptive to be kind isn't actually nice. I can't read your subtle signs, or maybe I don't care to. Tell me explictly what you think. If I have body odour a true friend would say to me 'Hey Patrick, I can smell your body odour today.'- so I can take action. If I am flooding your inbox with inanity and it turns out you don't like inanity I'd like to hear 'Hey Patrick, quit sending me this shite.' Or 'You know, I'm really only interested in Teletubbie related content, I don't need the rest.' Don't drop hints. I won't get it. You have been warned.
Ok, so maybe I should post the odd links here. That way you can opt in by visiting the site. Maybe all the people who like odd links are out there somewhere and will find this place and visit again and again and email me and be my friend forever and I'll find out that my current friends are cool but were born without the odd link gene and I'll say to them, 'Hello friend, it would appear from my standing-place that your genome is perhaps lacking in the critical factor that endows you with a sensitivity to value of the odd link'.. and you will say, 'Yes, friend, this is in fact the case.'... and I will say 'Ah, then do not visit any of these green places among the wasteland of the world wide web. You will not find refreshment there. Go instead to thine TV and meditate upon Friends or Girlfriends as is your wont.'
Yes.
{$sSF* CONNECT 1200
MEME DUMP FOLLOWS
understand, observe, visualize, evaluate and refine, implement
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mock Up Everything
It is possible to create models not only of products but also of services such as health care and spaces such as museum lobbies.
Use Videography Make short movies to depict the consumer experience.
Go Fast Build mock-ups quickly and cheaply. Never waste time on complicated concepts.
No Frills Make prototypes that demonstrate a design idea without sweating over the details.
Create Scenarios Show how a variety of people use a service in different ways and how various designs can meet their individual needs.
Bodystorm Delineate different types of consumers and act out their roles.
Chapter 1
Discussion and bed.
Up at the League, says a friend, there had been one night a brisk conversational discussion, as to what might happen on the Morrow of the Revolution, - finally shading off into a vigorous statement by various friends of their views on the future of the fully developed new society.
Says our friend: Considering the subject, the discussion was good-tempered; for those present, being used to public meetings and after-lecture debates, if they did not listen to each other's opinions (which could be scarcely be expected of them), at all events did not always attempt to speak all together, as is the custum of people in ordinary polite society when conversing on a subject which interests them....
CLICK HERE TO READ: News from Nowhere, Or, An Epoch of Rest: Being Some Chapters from a Utopian Romance (1891)
[I guess these guys are actually religious, I figure ours would be sort of agnostic or atheist on the existence of divine will and just focus on being nice to animals. What's so radical about being nice to animals?]
questions: Is quirky originality original? Is it infectious? Is it a response to nihlism?
It seems that, even though all I seem to see when I look around are nicaraguan drug gangs and assholes blasting their tejano and rap.. that there are some neat and creative people living in close proximity to our abode. This was sort of the initial object in moving willingly into the transitional edge of the class war zone just as partisans of the permanently non-working working class army were shedding their free-of-maintenance bungalow incampments and giving the inevitable ground to the alkie yuppie big-screen-TV-and-a-job crew. There was always some hope that between the cracks a few flowers of originality might bloom. Allegedly this had happened in the heights, although the evidence of such events is not readily apparent in the year 2007.
So of course this being the 21st century and not the 19th, the way that I would find out about my nearly-neighbours would be via the global internet. Well, to be truthful I had an inkling that a few art car builders were lurking around, which provided a starting point. Scrap Daddy piles his junk, and presumably works, just around the corner. If you watch this video you'll realize that this guy is pretty damn good.. exceptional, in fact. The neat thing about art cars is that they are egalitarian. Anyone can do some odd thing to their car and it's an art car. If the average art car rates a 50/100 for complexity and vision, Mr. Daddy never scores lower than an extra credit 120, and does this again and again. Ok, so you'd think someone so gifted, creative, etc, etc would be an interesting guy to meet. No, I've never seen the man to be less than standoffish. Can someone stand outside society enough to go beyond normal and still be able and willing to talk to others? I'd like to think so but then, what is being friendly but an exercise in following the rules (assuming you're not in macho culture, then maybe it's not). Or is that the nihlism talking?
One of the more irritating things to come out of the 20th century was the common assertion that truth doesn't exist, or if it does it is at least vague enough so as to not be worth giving up stimulants for. One response to nihlism is to more or less give up on lofty ambitions and instead generally fuck around. You can fuck around in a short term, self-destructive sort of way. This is a popular choice. Give your own purposeless or random or quietly self-serving impulses every opportunity to assert themselves in the form of nasty arguments, personal betrayals, &etc. Or, simply mope around and blame others whenever possible, which of course is pretty much all of the time. Alternatively, you could fuck around in a positively-intentioned sort of way.. give crackheads money, talk to people in elevators, let anybody cut in front of you who wants to when you are on the freeway, that sort of thing. The big advantage of the poorly planned and vaguely executed happy-happy approach is that it fits right in with 'go along, get along' as a philosophy of life. It doesn't commit to much, but it avoids the sort of conflict that us socially-wired monkeys find unpleasant.
So my question, my wondering, centers on this question. Are these quirky/creative/artsy/but-surprisingly-unfriendly types on to something? Do they have a philosophy of life that, under rational analysis could stand their own against the strength of competing alternatives? And in the context of that question, why hell are they so unfriendly? Perhaps we need more data.
Consider exhibit B, SuperHappyFunLand. This Heights area community center sports music out the wazoo and a cast of hangers-on. Stuff is generally free there. They have weird art on the walls. They give things a chance to shine, even if those thing don't shine as brightly in practice as you might hope. The point is people can try stuff out there, and some of it is pretty cool. But to the point, are these beyond-hipsters friendly? Well, I feel guilty saying they aren't. They try sometimes, they really do. But it's the sort of place where it's better to strap a huge piece of styrofoam to your head or something and not care what anybody thinks if you want to be accepted.. or happily ignored. Yes, come to think of it, the impression I seem to get is that the cast of the living performance called Super Happy Fun Land is just happily ignoring everyone- in other words, basically fucking around. But the place is vegetarian; meat is not real welcome there, so maybe I'm wrong. Still, it's not a place many people would feel comfortable dropping in and hanging out, even if they were weird themselves.
I like to apply the weird-friendly test. I send people photos that are not exactly random, but their meaning is not particularly explicit either. Then, we see what we get back. Well, while I've been contemplating this question, by chance, I came across a photo on Flickr labeled 'super happy fun deer'. I sent it in with little explanation.. what do you know, Mr. Super Happy Fun himself wrote back. But, hey, one sentence in response is at least weird-friendly. [UPDATE: Ok, I spoke too soon. They passed the weird test and were actually fairly friendly. Well hey, it's impractical to be too friendly when everybody wants to be your friend I guess. ]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Super Happy Fun Land"
> To: "Patrick Hoyt"
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 12:53 PM
> Subject: Re: super happy fun...... deer?????????????
>
>
>> Maybe the deer is happy about the mushroom?
>>
>> Peace,
>> Brian
>> http://www.superhappyfunland.com
>>
>> "Super Happy Fun Land - Anything Can Happen!"
>> For complete venue information & answers to most booking questions
>> click here:
>> http://www.superhappyfunland.com/super_happy_booking_information.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> Quoting Patrick Hoyt :
>>
>> > ????????
>> >
>> > http://flickr.com/photos/spycore/196891409/in/photostream/
>>
So let's consider another hub of the outsider scene in Houston Texas: KPFT. I've been hanging around that scene for 10 years and I'd rate it at 12% friendly. That is, you might not be dismissed and run out immediately, but few people have a real shot at being welcome. That's sort of sad for a community radio station, where all of the shows are programmed by volunteers. Ok, so there is a mission here, and the mission is to put out a radio show. Some programmers even try to put out good radio shows. If you are useful to that mission you're welcome. If you happen to talk to one of the truly egalitarian people who is not busier than Jesus then you will get a warm reception. Lately the station has been seized by Republican-level paranoia and has been excluding people at night who aren't already signed up for the mission. So, that's my 12% number. Almost by definition here in Houston the lefty radio hosts speak with the voices of the outsider. Some of them are even quirkily original. Scooter has got to be the definitive personage this random-but-connected article seeks to concern itself with. He's been putting weird shit on the radio for longer than I've had the patience to listen. So, the first big question is- is he friendly? Well actually he is! It's a miracle, though it throws a monkey wrench in my flow. Thanks a lot for being such a nice guy dude.
Scooter's associated with another friendly person who helps organise the art car parade, and that's my link to carry on. Lots of nearby art car builders and local yokels seem to have MySpace pages and websites. Myspace questions are answered cleverly, web pages are unconventional and snappy, persons seem thoughtful yet not whiny or self-involved. It's a breath of fresh air. But hey, I like candy too. Is this all just an act? Are these unconventional outsiders following some plan they picked up implicitly by attending burning man?? Or are they just fucking around???
I can't decide right now, I've got some web surfingto do.
DJ VIRTO MUSICAL THEATRE.
WOLFSHEIM - "WIR SIND WIR" (WIR STEHN HIER)
STEREOLAB -
EBN - "GET DOWN" (SONS OF BITCHES KEEP YOUR MOUTHS SHUT)
thanks to 
