The new batch of Compass Box’s lovely Spice Tree is out.
Compass Box have lost that fight though, and this will be the last batch ever made.
Thought you’d like to know.
American Legislation To Remove Public Access to Social Networks
Here’s a .pdf of a proposed amendment to American law the “Deleting Online Predators Act 2006”. The broad effect of this bill will be “to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.”
Let’s be clear: “protect” in this instance means “remove access to”. Social networking sites are defined as “allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.” This definition encompasses Myspace, Livejournal, Flickr, Blogger, and loads of others.
The act, in fairness, says thing like “prohibits access by minors without parental authorization” rather than outright “ban”. However the act is aimed at schools and public libraries, and the only reliable and efficient means these institutions have to achieve that end is a to simply prevent access to these sites.
The problem with this legislation is that it will foster the already widening digital gulf between the rich and poor, and it’s the poorest families, for whom access is primarily through public terminals like schools and libraries, that benefit most from the increased opportunities available on the internet.
While I’m thinking of it: have I bored you all rigid on the subject of network neutrality, and why you should give a shit yet?
Swear to god, 2006 is starting to look like it’s going to be the year when the internet went away.
London Art Stuff
One more, before I duck out for a walk in the sun:
The Dreams That Money Can Buy is on at the Tate Modern on the 27th of May.
I saw it at the NFT last year. This is a brilliant bit of surrealist cinema, set to some bloody good music, and you should book tickets and go see it if you’re free.
A little dose of the future
I should have mentioned this on here before now, and the more switched-on of you have probably seen it on BoingBoing by now anyway, but still:
Bloodspell is a feature-length serialised machinima fantasy film. Machinima, in case you’ve been under a rock, or just don’t care about the future, is the art of making 3-d animated films using computer game engines. The product doesn’t look as slick as Toy Story, or Shrek, or anything else, but it can be made by anyone with a little dedication in their bedrooms for an outlay of a few hundred quid for a decent computer and an appropriate game. It is punk animation, and if you can’t see why that’s important, or get past the slightly clunky visuals to see what it will one day be able to do, then you are probably quite stupid.
Bloodspell is pretty much the most ambitious project yet made with machinima, and deserves your attention precisely because it is ambitious. It’s pushing the boundaries of what has done in its field. If people do not pay attention when others do this sort of thing, we stagnate as a culture. This is bad. And also, rather more importantly, because it is a cracking, fast paced action-fantasy film that is bloody good free entertainment.
And as if all that weren’t enough, it’s available on a creative commons license. Check the site for the full info, but basically, you can distribute and remix it however you’d like, for free, so long as you don’t make money off it. There are lots of reasons why that’s good.
Pay attention: this is the future of cinema, starting here. Even if Bloodspell itself isn’t to your personal taste, these are some very sharp people, working out how entertainment media will be made and distributed in the future. Tell your friends, because it’ll make you look clever if you do.
Full disclosure: My mate cairmen is the mad bastard behind this, and I’m listed as a creative consultant on the project. This mostly meant I sat about, got drunk, and talked rubbish, and said “why don’t you try this…” on a couple of occasions.
Penkiln-burn
It occurs that there are several gentlemen of this parish who might thank me for this link to a load of Bill Drummond’s writings over the last few years. Drummond remains, for me, one of the few art critics worth listening to, one who is both very sharp, and extremely engaging.
London Pop Moment
Reminded by barrysarll‘s post on the same topic, I’ve been meaning to suggest that everyone give Lily Allen’s storming ska-pop single “LDN” a listen.
It’s helpfully available free here: http://hifipopcorn.blogspot.com/2006/05/nun-allen.html
It’ll probably be overplayed and deeply annoying by the end of the summer, but right now, the sun is shining and I’m about to take a walk in Battersea Park, and I can’t think of a better soundtrack.
Shorn
I said I'd do it, and indeed, I have. My hair, it is gone, and fuck me, it's very bastard weird. Anyway, here's a suitably posy and shadowed shot of me, just to prove I've done it.
Just to remind you:
http://www.justgiving.com/get_a_haircut_hippy
Is the link you'll want, in order to donate money, those that said you would, or even if you didn't say you would, but would like to help me raise money for cancer research anyway.
Ta.
Heh.
Via tyrell, an excerpt from this post on a teacher’s blog, because it made me laugh:
“Arriving at the car park, I performed a quick Goth count. Forget ‘percentage of free school meals’ or the school’s behaviour policy, the best way to gauge behaviour is to do a Goth count. The number of moody teenagers dressed in black and wearing studded bracelets is in inverse proportion to the amount of bad behaviour in a school.
Though usually silent and aloof in class, Goths work reasonably hard, they have outside interests that extend beyond Lambrini and sportswear and, by their very disdain, they don’t disrupt.
OK, the condescension can get irritating but, overall, I like a healthy scattering of Goths in a school.”
Scalping [slight return]
So, the plan to get rid of my all hair is still going ahead, almost certainly this weekend. However, the British Heart Foundation are being fucking useless, not getting in touch when they say they will, and generally making it needlessly hard for me to give them money. So, I’m reverting to my default position, and raising money for Cancer Research UK instead.
You can sponsor me on-line here: http://www.justgiving.com/get_a_haircut_hippy
I’ll post a photo once I’m suitably shorn, if you’d prefer to wait – the page will remain available for you to donate through for the next month.
(If anyone who said they’d sponsor me when it was the the BHF I was raising for wants to pull out/change the amount, then they should feel free – I feel bad about moving the goalposts, but they really have been fucking useless.)
Alright, enough.
I know I am prone to colds, unless I am being basically nauseatingly healthy – exercise, healthy food, no smoking, minimal drinking and etc.
What I am not prone to, however, is headaches, fevers and nausea. I would like them to end please.
This has been a pointless whinge. Go back to what you were doing. I’m going back to bed.