28may2013: ☉ in ♊: ☽ in ♒
“she is benediction, she is the essence of thee, she is the root connection.” patti smith, sing muse.
“and like it or not, we’re gonna build you a better civilization.” ending the nra.
“my my hey hey rock and roll is here to stay” neil young & devo do ‘(into the black)’. h/t boing²
SCIENCE!11!1!!!11! seeing an atom’s orbital structure.
“trampled under foot by the rise of the right” europe’s far-right is growing fat on austerity.
20may2013: ☉ in ♊: ☽ in ♎
faustus, faustus, why doth thou wrong me faustus. shem’s schoolbook, or the first draft with notes and ephemera of james joyce’s finnegans wake.
is good to be the king … of omelets.
see the problem inherent in privilege?
how is poverty produced? why does it persist? who profits from poverty?
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
run, don’t walk. this book is a love letter to the ecology that we live within and that exists within our bodies. probably the single best diy toolbox to fixing your diet, your health, and the life of this community we co-exist in called terra firma. his comments on death and decay in the final chapter are a wake-up call to change the way we have monetized and commodified even the process of grieving and burial. makes me want to help build the laboratory/farm/co-operative/csa and change this mess we have inherited from the lazy and cowardly, the bullies that hold us in thrall to greed and avarice. we need some fermentation up in here.
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
iain m. banks joins the ranks of an exalted pantheon of authors in my little black book, sitting beside such luminaries as m. moorcock, a. moore, g. morrison. if only his last name started with an m, they could have their own little club of anarchist authors.
this is the most powerful of the culture novels that i have read. largely because we actually see the work that s.c. does and the way in which they play societies off against one another. on the outside it appears that they strive towards a freer, less war-like society, but inspecting their practices a little closer one finds they use any means necessary to accomplish their goals of stabilizing other societies to their whim.
the familial drama in this is as much a tragedy in the grand scheme as any of the greek drama you may be familiar with. the character’s slow growth towards awareness through vignettes showcasing memories of the works he has accomplished as a s.c. operative build our connection with what appears to a warrior’s war hero, with elements of bushido seeping through, while bringing the true tragedy gradually to the surface like a half remembered truth desperately discarded.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
the hype is that e.c. is in the same rarefied air as sterling, stephenson, and gibson, that this is the decade’s neuromancer. at first i found his prose too easy, but we are living in a post-rowling world. by the second half of the story i was engrossed in the adventure. there are some great ideas in here, the depiction of online education in the middle of this century is worth the price of admission alone. so many great moments as it layers on the pop culture references of the 80’s (having lived them, i saw a few dropped balls, as it were), the music, the films, the television shows are all here. the stand-up arcade games of my youth are essential, as are many other obsessions of (mine &) the times. i suppose the highest compliment i can give it, it made me want to start a d & d game again, and get an emulator for my computer. i have neuromancer, islands in the net and snow crash if i want to really get lost in the “net”, but it is a good story and is recommended if any of the things mentioned above pique your interest.
true story: when i went to my local comic book store for the signing, who was giving eric words of encouragement (and likely came to see the delorean w/ flux capacitor) was none other than bruce sterling hissownself. welcome to the cyberpunk royalty mr. cline. i await your next adventure…
☉ in ♌: ☾ in ♊
O.O new garbage, haz a listen. (h/t 2 idolator)
pretty new tunes of heartbreak from the horror’s side show, cat’s eyes.
hmm. the o-man is trying to get a free ride for the banks? where there’s smoke there’s fire.
william gibson interviewed in sci amer. about cities. (h/t da boing)
next to the addams family, the munsters were two of my favs as a kido.
04january2011: ☉ in ♑: ⦁ in ♑
anne francis (r.i.p.) stars in deep throat aaaand forbidden planet
john s. hall of king missle fame recites a poem ode to a facebook friend request. (h/t 2 @JPBarlow)
big brother wants to jam (not with) you. darpa redies blade to jam wi-fi on the battlefield. (h/t 2 /.)
“standard english plural” english is a colonizing language, loan words become english…octopodes ftw! (h/t 2 boing²)
“give us some wood and we’ll build you a cabinet”… detroit thrives in the midst of “ruin p0rn”.
new björk ‘biophilia’ courtesy of the ipad app ‘solar system’ which looks beautiful from the vid. (h/t 2 da fork)
wormwold saga an online comic of exemplary beauty. (h/t 2 boing²)
micachu is wandering around collecting stuff for her diy instruments for cool hunting.
diy touch stylus for your tech touchpad gadgets. (h/t 2 makeymake)
so much for being secure in your persons…what did you think that democracy’s founding document was just a suggestion?
scalia thinks the equal protection clause ain’t about equality…i think he is a misogynist…but we already knew that.
