May 2011
52 posts
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April 2011
72 posts
“Never send Reason to do Poetry’s work.”
—
Chaos Marxism: Commodification ain't all bad →
chaosmarxism.blogspot.com
So that’s what’s behind “vintage culture”, steampunk, Goth, SCA, whatever - the attempt to create a culture of objects which are totally individual and therefore meaningful, even sacred.
Thought provoking meditation on value and material goods.
Friday Confession
Last week I biffed pretty bad socially. More than once. No shock. But this one was full of extra suck since it was right in front of— hell, it was right AT— a major crush who I had managed to play it cool with before.
I over think this shit, get a little cocky with the slightest success, and then blow it in the clutch.
Am I being vague? Hell yeah. At least one of you knows her IRL.
“
To maintain order, the Emperor would generally need a MASSIVE, MASSIVE bureaucracy. The Old Republic built up a serviceable one over thousands of years, but that took a lot of time, money and effort, and in the end it was bloated, ineffective, and ultimately subverted against the Old Republic.
The more you spend on bureaucracy, the less control you have directly over your Empire. The less you spend on bureaucracy, the more you have to tighten your grip, and the more star systems slip through your fingers.
” —Overthinking Star Wars | The Economics of Death Star Planet Destruction | Overthinking ItOf all the...
… possible moments they had to have a photo of it HAD to be that one.
Dangerous Minds | Houdini: Art and Magic →
dangerousminds.net
I was really hoping that amazing looking Houdini show from The Jewish Museum in NYC, Houdini: Art and Magic would make it out to Los Angeles and before I could even say “Abracadabra,” poof it shows up at the Skirball Cultural Center, opening tomorrow, April 28th. Featuring Houdini memorabilia galore, the show also has a number of pieces by contemporary artsts like Joe Coleman, Raymond Pettibon and Matthew Barney that attest to the enduring cultural fascination with the legendary magician and escape artist who is still a household name nearly a century after his death.
T.H.I.S.
Seriously. We’re going.
If you told me yesterday...
Who I would be talking to and what I’d be talking about today I would’ve recommended a reliable mood stabilizer.
What Planet Is This?
It’s the damnedest thing.
Ever since I moved to LA I’ve gotten more positive comments about my geeky T-Shirt collection— often from total strangers— than I ever did in the Bay Area. Perhaps this is just a function of the Bay being over geeks in a way that the Southland is not. Or it could be that the Bay is more self-consciously cool than it would like to admit.
Today it was a random dude giving me props for my Red Lantern “T”. Just a lanky hipster grabbing some Chipotle before he hit the Trader Joe’s in Glendale.
Last week it was the most freakish occurrence possible: a eye-blindingly cute young lady in my [redacted] class who complemented me on my Halo UNSC shirt (pictured above) before engaging me in a conversation about card games. By card games I do not mean blackjack or baccarat, but the deeply nerdy kind that you have to buy from a speciality store. The kind of store I worked at for one Christmas season, forever souring me on my fellow gamer geeks as a sub-sub-culture.
I had to squint to make sure that her skin wasn’t a blocky, chalky white. That I hadn’t been transported to Bizarro World.
The strangest part: this happens every time I pick up one of these T’s and tell myself it’s time to start wearing grown-up clothes again.
Age Of Access →
areyouthatguy.wordpress.com
Not too long ago I was spending time with a friend at the LA arboretum. While strolling the grounds she told me that once she’s made it she’s going to have an estate as big as the park is. I quickly challenged the notion.
“Why would you want to pay the upkeep on all that land? Just build a house on the edge of a forest. Same effect-lower cost.”
Welcome to the end of ownership and the age at access. For generations now we’ve been sold on the dream that ownership is everything. Without property a man is nothing. It is how we measure worth. Keep score. Determine one’s place in the pecking order.
[More at Imperfect Periodical]
Robots, Monsters, Comedy: Rob Schrab Can’t Do Anything Else →
turnstylenews.com
Rob Schrab: “At the time, Independence Day was out andX-Files was doing lots of UFO stuff. And I was thinking, you know, the next big thing- they’re doing UFOs and dinosaurs I think the next big thing is going to be giant insects, cuz we’re going through, like, these 50’s nouveau themes with new effects. So I was like, ‘we should do like a comedic take on THEM’, and we called it Big Ant Movie. BAM for short.”
Of all the interviews I’ve conducted so far, this one is my favorite. A long read for the weekend, with the full audio posted so you can hear Rob unedited.
Most things suck.
What are we doing to fix that today?
