Now That’s A Business Card

February 2nd, 2010 | people I know

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Designed for Jamais Cascio by Chip Zdarsky.

WEIRD TALES/Molly Crabapple

February 1st, 2010 | people I know

Molly’s cover for a forthcoming issue of WEIRD TALES.

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Sticky Zo

January 28th, 2010 | people I know

Zoetica Ebb is offering limited runs of stickers at this link (you’ll need to scroll down a bit, past the bare arses and all):

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Emma Vieceli, Kelly Sue DeConnick On Whitechapel This Week

January 25th, 2010 | comics talk, people I know

This week on my message board, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and writer/artist/octopoid-multitasker Emma Vieceli will be answering questions and talking about their work in five-day residencies. Em writes, draws, teaches, publishes and organises, and Kel’s probably the only person I know who’s written more than eleven thousand pages of dialogue and still had a more interesting life than most of us.

Come and meet them.

* The Kelly Sue DeConnick Residency

* The Emma Vieceli Residency

Station Ident: COILHOUSE Broadcasting

January 18th, 2010 | people I know, station ident

This is warren ellis dot com. Today sees the editors of COILHOUSE begin a weeklong residency at my message board, which gives me an excuse to reproduce this exquisite illustration of the three of them by Kurt Komoda. Good morning, sinners. No, this isn’t your radio set on the blink again.

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Henry Disapproves Of Your Heathen Lifestyle

January 17th, 2010 | people I know

Henry, son of writer/scholar Jess Nevins, is not impressed by your pagan ways:

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(Ariana comments: "I knew offering toddler t-shirts was a good idea.")

Coming And Crying

January 17th, 2010 | people I know

Coming & Crying: real stories about sex from the other side of the bed. A Kickstarter-powered book project by Melissa Gira Grant and Meaghan O’Connell:

Meaghan and Melissa (or, "we") met because of the internet and writing, and writing about sex (and blogging about writing about sex). Almost since then, we’ve been talking about how we need to do a book like this: a collection of stories (and photographs) from the messy, awkward, hilarious, painful, and ultimately true side of sex.

As part of this project, all of the money we raise together will go towards producing the book and to paying its contributors. The more we bring in, the more we can put out — a prettier book, bigger take-home for our writers and photographers, and fancier packages for all those who pledge.

We want to produce this book because we want to read it; it’s something we’ve been looking for for a long time and haven’t found yet. Compelling writing that doesn’t skip over the interesting parts, writing that is willing to go there, to be brave and to dwell in it, the way few published authors have….

Thought For The Night

January 13th, 2010 | people I know

Via Sara Gries:

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Ghosts In A Burning City

January 12th, 2010 | music, people I know

My old friend Dr Joshua Ellis of Las Vegas, trading as Red State Soundsystem, has released his first album under that name, GHOSTS IN A BURNING CITY. And you can stream the whole thing for free at this link here. That page also features a (Buy) link that’ll let you purchase the album as a download at Amazon or iTunes. The album includes a new version of "Sleeping In Flame," which was very popular when I ran it in a podcast years ago.

Paul Duffield, Brandon Graham Resident On Whitechapel This Week

January 11th, 2010 | brainjuice, comics talk, people I know

FREAKANGELS illustrator Paul Duffield and KING CITY creator Brandon Graham have kindly agreed to do weeklong residencies at my message board Whitechapel starting today, where they will answer questions, show you stuff, and basically talk about anything they feel like talking about.

The Paul Duffield Residency.

The Brandon Graham Residency.

Newspaper Club: Pricing

January 8th, 2010 | people I know, researchmaterial

Aha. Newspaper-printing service, the Newspaper Club of London, has produced their price list.

The way it’s going to work is that you upload a PDF or use their online authoring tool, pay the whack, and within several days someone’s going to drop a pallet of your newspapers wherever you told them to.

A colour 12pp newspaper? Five hundred copies for five hundred quid to you squire.

Five thousand colour 12pp newspapers? A grand and a half.

I have a feeling that several friends and acquaintances of mine will be availing themselves of this.

Lex Machina

January 5th, 2010 | people I know, photography

Recent work:

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On Whitechapel This Week: Brian Wood, Katie West

January 4th, 2010 | brainjuice, comics talk, people I know

Whitechapel is, if you like, the "other half" of my general internet activity. It’s a message board, and it lets me do certain things that I can’t really do here. Like this.

In January, I’m inviting a few friends in to Whitechapel to run their own conversation threads for a week, where they can do Q&A, show off work, talk about what they’re interested in and generally sit down for a public chat. I’m starting off, this week, with comics writer Brian Wood and photographer/writer Katie West.

The Brian Wood residency thread is at this link.

The Katie West residency thread is at this link.

Feel free to send these links around.

Älymystö: 19:38:00

January 3rd, 2010 | music, people I know

Finnish beat-industrial mutants Älymystö have released their new EP, entitled 19:38:00 — and you can stream the whole thing for free on last.fm.

Kieron Gillen’s Tracks Of The Year 2009

January 2nd, 2010 | music, people I know

I’ve actually come to look forward to this. Every year, games journo/music journo/comics writer Kieron Gillen does his "top 40" tracks from the previous. Every year, it’s just a completely bloody fascinating bit of writing. It’s also always completely wrong, and I usually spend a few weeks roundly insulting him and the terrible mental debilitation he rode in on. This year, I am simply going to recommend it to your attention, as something fine and interesting to read on a cold Saturday night.

Kieron Gillen’s Tracks Of The Year 2009.

And here’s a bit I actually agree with (though he picked the wrong track. See?):

…Ida Maria is always the sound of a drunk twenty-something girl falling down the stairs and mumbling to herself and banging her head against the wall, at which point she’s surprised to discover the noise is actually spangly and shiny. A sing-along hands-in-the-air Nervous Breakdown. The best kind!

Mag+

December 17th, 2009 | people I know

A new project from BERG:

We’ve been working with our friends at Bonnier R&D exploring the future of digital magazines. Bonnier publish Popular Science and many other titles.

Magazines have articles you can curl up with and lose yourself in, and luscious photography that draws the eye. And they’re so easy and enjoyable to read. Can we marry what’s best about magazines with the always connected, portable tablet e-readers sure to arrive in 2010?

This video prototype shows the take of the Mag+ project…

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Annie Wu

December 13th, 2009 | people I know

Poster designs.

Wouldn’t you love to see her do comics? I know I would.

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They Be We

December 9th, 2009 | people I know

A book by Katelan Foisy:

Fifteen women.
Three portraits each.

They Be We provides an intimate look at the lives of fifteen different women. From mothers, to Voodoo doctors, to those in the limelight, each woman has a story to tell.

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Go to this link here for a set of discount codes to use.

Comic Book Signature

December 8th, 2009 | comics talk, people I know

Emma Vieceli’s been up to something:

I…(was) asked to provide some images that would work in a sketchbook style artbook… The clever bit is that you get to browse the full range of images available and then pick and choose a customised art book!

Some of the images I chose are illustrations you’ll have seen prints of before, some are reproduced with special permission from publishers and would certainly not be available any other way (including in progress shots of Much Ado and my Phonogram back-up story) and some are brand new, never before seen! (if you go for a customisable option, there may also be one of my – erm – naughtier pictures in there, hahaha).

Emma’s Signature page is here.

flickrgeist 7dec09

December 7th, 2009 | people I know, photography

A snapshot of what friends and acquaintances have been doing and looking at, via their Flickr accounts:

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1. League of Extraordinary Steampunks, 2. Crane, 3. All Good Mermaids Have Jazz Hands, 4. super suit.jpg, 5. About to fly home., 6. Private pod

flickrgeist 4dec09

December 4th, 2009 | people I know, photography

A snapshot of what friends and acquaintances have been doing and looking at, via their Flickr accounts:

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1. The Stilton Terrahawks, 2. buttons’ packaging, 3. Pill Lights, 4. , 5. P1010487, 6. The Seine at 4am

SLINGERS

December 3rd, 2009 | people I know

I have here the sizzle reel for your new favourite TV show. It’s OCEAN’S ELEVEN. The Sixties original. In space. With Sean fucking Pertwee. Devised by old crony Mike Sizemore, directed by Steve Barron. It’s called SLINGERS.

This is the link to the sizzle reel. Go and watch it now.

(The bit with the gun cracks me up.)

And this is the SLINGERS category on Mike’s blog. All kinds of interesting stuff there.

Induced Epidemics

December 1st, 2009 | people I know

I have a couple of friends in this one, if you’re in the LA area:

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Laurenn McCubbin: Speaking to Las Vegas in the Language of Las Vegas

December 1st, 2009 | people I know

Laurenn’s new art project, a massive thing:

In February, I’ll be presenting a gallery show that I’m calling Speaking to Las Vegas in the Language of Las Vegas. This is going to be an art installation that combines sculptural elements, performance, audio, video, photo documentation, and illustrated portraits of Las Vegas sex workers. The purpose of this show is to investigate the connections between the Las Vegas economy & the legal & illegal sex work that happens there….

Laurenn McCubbin

To Buy Templesmith’s New Comic CHOKER

November 29th, 2009 | comics talk, people I know

Print, fill out and deliver to your local comics shop: 4142597384_2eb5e7aca1_o

November 28th, 2009 | people I know

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Complete Plan B Archive

Kieron Gillen - 09 Feb 10

The whole run of Plan B magazine has been released as a single 670Mb PDF. That’s 46 issues of some of the finest music writing of the decade. And a lot of posturing pretentiousness too. It’s like two of my favourite things for the price of one. Or none, as it’s a free PDF.

If you’ve any interest in music in the 00s, or music full stop, this is a great thing to just have on file. You’ll discover a new band every time you browse it.

Hell, it’s even worth getting if you’re one of the games journalist sorts. For the first 10-20 issues or so, I was doing games stuff for it. And Quinns and Mathew Kumar too, who I bullied into contributing. Very much written for the non-gamer about games which get pretty much no coverage, we had fun trying to decode the concept of Outsider Games.

Whole thing here. Go gets!

Coilhouse is Hiring! Apply Here.

Coilhouse - 08 Feb 10

Back around the time of Issue 03, we launched the Small Business Advertising Program to create affordable ad space for indie companies in the print version of Coilhouse. By the time Issue 04 rolled around, the number of advertisers had grown significantly – by this time, we had record labels, jewelry and clothing designers, sculptors, other magazines, web hosts, toy makers and graphic designers advertising in our pages. Click here to see them all. With editorial duties taking up more and more of our time as the weeks go by, the moment has come for us to seek help with the advertising side of running the magazine. We’re looking to hire an Ad Manager for our Small Business Advertising Program, starting with Coilhouse Magazine #05… and possibly subsequent issues.

Full details after the jump!


Read the rest of Coilhouse is Hiring! Apply Here.


Post tags: Coilhouse

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blissblog - 08 Feb 10

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blissblog - 08 Feb 10

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blissblog - 08 Feb 10

State of South Carolina Secretary of State Subversive Agent Form

jwz - 08 Feb 10

Check the appropriate box. Do you or your organization directly or indirectly advocate, advise, teach or practice the duty or necessity of controlling, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, the state of South Carolina or any political division thereof?
[ ] YES [ ] NO

If yes, please outline the fundamental beliefs. If applicable, attach a copy of the bylaws or minutes of meetings from the last year.

"Inflection Points" Presentation

Open The Future - 08 Feb 10

For those folks who are interested, here's the Slideshare version of the presentation I gave last week at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute annual meeting. I was asked to talk about foresight thinking, as the event theme was "The Big One of 2056: What Went Right?" a look at a fictional 7.8 quake in the SF region that was handled as well as they could imagine possible.

My goal was to offer a bit of reassurance to the audience that there is some real utility to thinking about the future, and to spell out (in a cursory way) the kinds of big picture issues they should keep in mind while looking ahead forty-six years.

By and large, it was a successful talk. The post-talk questions were engaged, with little push-back, and I'm told that the overall response from the audience was quite positive.

The talk was video recorded, and I'm told will eventually be available to the public. I'll link when that happens.

CAN GIFTING ECONOMIES SCALE?

John Robb - 08 Feb 10

A gifting economy is different from a barter or market economy in that valuable items are given away to those that need them, without any quid pro quo, exchange, or payment.  Gifting economics (lots of great papers on this topic) were/are the economic heartbeat of hunter-gatherer tribal cultures, the social organization where we spent 99% of our time as homo sapiens sapiens.  Barter was, in contrast, a mechanism for economic interactions between tribes.  

This gifting economic system wasn't based on pure altruism.  It did have an enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance with the system over the longer term.  On the positive side, there was an intangible increase in the social status (using personal or societal metrics) of a tribal member that gifted an item.  On the negative, a failure to offer hospitality or gifts to those in need was considered a mortal slight that could incite violence or expulsion from the tribe.

There were also a considerable number of drivers for gifting at the tribal level.  Here are some:

  • The survival of the tribe, as a group, was more important than the survival of any individual.  However, the loss of any individual could put the tribe at risk.
  • The generation of surplus and innovation was highly uncertain.  Sharing reduced that uncertainty to manageable levels.
  • Sharing reduced internal friction that could put the tribe at risk.

Scalability

It's pretty clear that the societal drivers of tribal gifting economics and the mechanisms of enforcement didn't survive the transition to a global social system composed of billions of members.   Simply, the connections between any two individuals (outside of immediate familial relationships) are too abstract for these drivers and enforcement mechanisms to be relevant.   As a result, market based mechanisms for economic interaction have gained dominance.

However, the ongoing shift of the global market-based economy from a trade in rival goods (tangible items that invoke zero sum economics) to digital non-rival goods (items that can be copied at no expense or diminishment, endlessly) provides a window of opportunity.  It may be possible to revive gifting economics for non-rival goods to amazing beneficial effect.   Some ideas on how this could scale:

  • Automated reputation metrics that enhance social status based on contributions.
  • Mechanisms built using MMO gaming as a way to tie successful gifting to status improvement (leveling) or an ability to attract investment.
  • The creation of an inside/outside barrier that separates a gifting economy from the global economic mainstream.   Automated mutual interdependence (see my friend Bruce Sterling's absolutely brilliant story on this:  "Maneki Neko").

Latest on SNOW

Jean Snow - 08 Feb 10

Latest on SNOW

So what’s the latest on SNOW? I guess two new developments art that I added a dedicated Twitter feed, and also created a Facebook fan page. The Twitter feed is mostly just automated with new articles from the site — because some people actually prefer that over RSS feeds these days — but I do keep an eye on it, and will reply to questions and comments. The Facebook page is just another way of putting the site out there, and should be a good way of informing members of SNOW-related events as they happen.

Regular content updates have also continued over the past week, with a few new guest columns and my regular news items. Here’s a list of what you may have missed over the past few days.

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blissblog - 08 Feb 10