Wintervals

December 31st, 2008 | music

In at the end of the old year, Kemper Norton releases a new, free EP, entitled WINTERVALS.  Get it via this link here.

Cover Preview, DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #15

December 28th, 2008 | Work

We do the covers waaaaay in advance. #10 just came out, and I just wrote #12.

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COILHOUSE 2

December 28th, 2008 | people I know

The second print issue of the altculture blog is released today.

You want one. Issue 1 was really, really good. You want one a lot.

Links for 2008-12-27

December 28th, 2008 | brainjuice

Merry Christmas Yer Arse

December 25th, 2008 | brainjuice

Have a good one, folks. See you on the other side.

Unless I’ve managed to finally drink myself blind by that point. Because then, obviously, I’ll be too busy learning human echolocation to be here.

Thank You METRO

December 22nd, 2008 | Work, brainjuice

Thank you to Tom Phillips and METRO magazine for claiming that I am one of the ten best things on the internet.

(via about a million people who sent me the link)

BLACK SUMMER Makes NPR Best-Of List

December 19th, 2008 | Work, people I know

Right here.

And, for those who haven’t yet seen the book, NPR even provide a rather nice preview of it.

It remains the perfect holiday gift for the mental patient in your life.

I Am A Little Concerned

December 18th, 2008 | comics talk, people I know

I am a little concerned that I have turned into some kind of floating webcomics character/meme.

Wrote Another Book Blurb Recently

December 17th, 2008 | brainjuice, people I know

"GODMOTHER’s a book of heartbroken magic for anyone who stayed up past midnight and wondered where the fairy tale went. A beautiful, aching book."

For Carolyn Turgeon’s GODMOTHER, which is out March 2009.

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On New Books

December 17th, 2008 | brainjuice, people I know

I am reading two very good books right now. I am reading one of them on the laptop, and I am reading one of them… okay, I admit it, I’m reading it on the toilet. But anyway.

Catherynne M Valente’s PALIMPSEST just knocks me flat with her use of language: rich, cool, opiated language, language for stories of strange love and hallucinated cities of the mind. Here’s what it says about PALIMPSEST on its Amazon pre-order page:

Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers…

The first scene proper, discussing the trains of Heaven, just blew me away. It’s out in February 2009.

Cherie Priest’s BONESHAKER is an absolute riot. If anyone else had told me they were writing a steampunk zombie action thriller set in Seattle I would probably have looked for something heavy to stun them with and then made my escape. BONESHAKER dodges every single pitfall in the idea that you can think of, effortlessly, and entertains the fuck out of you while doing so. Also, there’s a man in it called Swakhammer. Which is possibly the best name ever. It’s just a hell of a good time, and I think it’s going to be a game-changer for Cherie (even though she’s already getting starred reviews from Publishers Weekly).

The book doesn’t come out until mid-2009, I think, but her most recent novel, released only a few weeks back, is getting brilliant reviews. It’s called FATHOM. You should look at it.

I have to write back cover blurbs for both of these books. Looking forward to it.

Oh My God

December 16th, 2008 | brainjuice

Someone on Twitter just sent me this.

I am not entirely sure what to say.

It is called "Warren Ellis: King Of The Internet."

Out This Week: DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #10

December 16th, 2008 | Work

Available in better comics stores from Wednesday in North America and from Thursday in the UK and elsewhere:

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Links for 2008-12-15

December 16th, 2008 | brainjuice

Derinkuyu

December 16th, 2008 | researchmaterial

The underground city of Derinkuyu is an amazing-looking thing. I don’t have a lot of time today, and the online sources I’m quickly skimming aren’t agreeing, so it was either scooped out by Hittites from 1400BC or by Phrygians from 8000 BC. It’s twenty floors deep, though only eight are currently accessible. But look at this:

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Conan! What Is Best In Life?

December 16th, 2008 | researchmaterial

"HUMAN CHEESE!"

Seriously:

My extensive experience in making Paneer (cheese) compelled me to try something different, that is, making Paneer out of my own breastmilk. Basically this is human cheese. Why would I do that? Well, basically, there are about twenty bags (each 150ml) of frozen breastmilk in the fridge.. also, I have googled about this. Although people contemplated and imagined about it, nobody ever actually attempted to make breast milk cheese…

Some of the comments to the post are priceless.

Hey there kinda guess its my first time reading so much info on breastmilk and i have done quite a bit of reading and yeah i wanted to know are there any woman out there that want to sell their breast milk on a regular basis ? ? Cause i need it for an experemint to see if it rejuvanates cells and if it would help my arthiritase and no i am not old i am 21 ! !

(via Siege)

@network 15dec08

December 16th, 2008 | people I know

This may get split into a couple of posts, as I’ve been buried in work for the last few days… let’s see what’s piled up:

* Eliza Gauger producing more work for UNHALLOWED METROPOLIS:

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* Matt Jones:

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* Sara Gries makes stuff:

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* Wonderful shot by D’Is from his recent visit to Thessaloniki:

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(Um, yeah — D’Is = comics artist D’Israeli, with whom I did LAZARUS CHURCHYARD = real name Matt Brooker.)

* Photo of Meredith Yayanos and Amanda Palmer nicked from Coilhouse, to dress up news that Mer & Ms Palmer are playing Bimbo’s in San Francisco tonight.

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REMAKE/REMODEL This Week: Spacehawk

December 15th, 2008 | brainjuice

People have been asking me to post updates when I launch a new REMAKE/REMODEL on Whitechapel, so here you go: this week, Basil Wolverton’s SPACEHAWK.

Conversations With My Daughter

December 15th, 2008 | brainjuice

"Ellis, I need new HOUSE DVDs."

"Why do you like HOUSE, Lili? He’s just a grumpy old man, and you always tell me I’m a grumpy old man."

"Yes, but you’re not a doctor… (pauses, sees something she distrusts in my eyes, continues slowly)… you’re not legally a doctor, Ellis."

"…shit."

This, However, Is Just Fucking Strange

December 14th, 2008 | Work

Though I must admit, I kinda love it - the German edition, apparently:

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REMAKE/REMODEL: Domino Lady

December 13th, 2008 | brainjuice

Selections from this past week’s REMAKE/REMODEL thread on Whitechapel, this time featuring pulp character Domino Lady:

This week, Ryan Kelly, illustrator of LOCAL, came in:

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* Paul Sizer, creator of the recently-released graphic novel BPM:

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(obviously you’ll find all these at full size in the thread)

* Hana:

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* Amanda Penrose:

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* Jorge Munoz:

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* Felipe Sobreiro:

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* Miranda Pole:

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* DisContent:

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And the last REMAKE/REMODEL of the year goes up at Whitechapel on Monday.

FREAKANGELS 0038

December 12th, 2008 | Work

In which something explodes. Free to air, you can still read all the other episodes for free, and the first 24 have been collected into a lovely book you can go out and buy for someone for Xmas today please oh god don’t make me beg

WIRED UK

December 12th, 2008 | Work

Next spring brings the launch of WIRED UK, a new stab at providing a "local" WIRED Magazine for God’s own country. This attempt involves the services of Ben Hammersley, whose CV is twice as long as mine or yours and eighteen times as mad.

And Ben Hammersley has engaged me as a monthly columnist for WIRED UK, with an editorial mandate of, well, writing about anything I feel like writing about.

This will be massive amounts of fun.

@network 11dec08: Pictures

December 12th, 2008 | people I know

Emma Rios:

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* Bethalynne Bajema:

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* Ben Templesmith:

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* Molly Crabapple:

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* Nikki Cook (from a forthcoming issue of Brian Wood’s DMZ, I believe):

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DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #10: Warning Sign Cover

December 12th, 2008 | Work

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I’m wrapping up the script to #12 right now, and wrote a 1300-word piece for the back of #11 the night before last.

@network 11dec08

December 12th, 2008 | people I know

* Just in time for bloody Xmas, Jean Snow lets me know that his fine co-authored book ARCADE MANIA is now available from Amazons US and UK.

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* Via Melissa, who I believed helped organise it:

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* Morgan Murphy: still alive, it turns out.

* Free EP from Sideb0ard & Moore, following hauntological lodgings in the Curfew Tower as mentioned passim.

Positive Reinforcement Therapy

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

This one goes out to Nadya, Zo, and especially Courtney Riot, our beloved creative director. Hang in there, babies.


Post tags: Coilhouse, Serious Business

?I?m bad? I?m a man? I HATE my penis.?

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

Well hello there!

PrimalScreeeeeamEEEEEAAYYYAAGH

Do you lack healthy boundaries? Are you guilty of the compulsive overshare? All-too-eager to share gory, palpating details with complete strangers that no one besides your own mother and/or proctologist would ever want to know?

Non-consensual rape anecdote telling. Tactical uterus hurling in lieu of real intimate contact. The “I wasn’t breast fed enough so now I need to publicly air my personal anguish to feel properly nurtured and validated” power point presentation. “Cry For Help” cutting (across the street, not down the road). Cloaking references to life-shattering trauma in Obfuscating Yet Ominous Faerie Singsong? (patented by Tori Amos).  “Fuck You Daddy, I’m a Suicide Girl Now!” blog posts. Spontaneous primal scream therapy in the supermarket. If you have ever attempted one or more of these maneuvers, chance are, you’re a TMI Avenger.

Relax. You’re among friends. And you’re gonna loooove Body Memories. A squirm-inducing, low budget indie film directed by the same fella who brought us one of the most fabulous independent documentaries of the decade, Body Memories is…

…one man’s journey inward to find meaning in his life. He becomes an archeologist of the soul, digging through the layers of his past. Evocative images blend with a riveting performance that uncovers family secrets and buried traumas.

Enjoy.

(More clips under the cut.)


Read the rest of “I’m bad… I’m a man… I HATE my penis.”


Post tags: Crackpot Visionary, Culture, Film, Gender, Sexuality, Silly-looking types, Surreal, Testing your faith

Miss Piggy?s Teaches of Peaches

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

Every time an issue of the magazine goes to print, things somehow turn Highly Inappropriate here at Coilhouse. This is apparent to anyone who was there on Twitter during the hours of our final revision deadline last night. And it’s only going to get worse before Issue 04’s out. So to celebrate, a video of Miss Piggy singing “Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches. It’s that kind of day.

[via Shannon]


Post tags: Madness, Music, Puppetry

claytoncubitt: Will Blanche, ?The Newly Constructed Towers of...

Brian Wood - 20 Nov 09



claytoncubitt:

Will Blanche, ?The Newly Constructed Towers of the World Trade Center Seen From the South Side on West Street, May, 1973? (via These Americans)

See also: Mitch Epstein, ?West Side Highway, New York City? [looking towards World Trade Center] 1977

Percy Jackson trailer

Kung Fu Monkey - 20 Nov 09

Seriously, if I were 12, this would have melted my brain. I love this trailer.

JOURNAL: How to Break and Open Source Insurgency

John Robb - 20 Nov 09

Short Answer:  divide it.

It's long been my contention that Iraq was stabilized at an acceptable level of controlled chaos due to a happy accident by al Qaeda (in an attempt to expand/lead the loose insurgency in a new direction).  What did they do?   They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samara in 2006.  This act of symbolic terrorism did indeed disrupt social networks as anticipated, however the consequences were ultimately disastrous for the Iraqi open source insurgency.  

Baghdad_Ethnic_2007_late_smThe reason for this is it broke the dynamics of the open source insurgency in ways the US and Iraqi government's COIN efforts could not.  First, it created a permanent split between Sunni and Shiite insurgent groups/militias.  Coopetition ended.  Second, it motivated large Shiite militias to start an ethnic cleansing of Sunni areas.  This put acute pressure on Sunni guerrilla groups who were too small (by design to avoid US counter-pressure) to defend themselves against large militias operating in the open.  The result was an opening, very close to the one I described in my 2005 NYTimes OpEd, that allowed the US to convert Sunni guerrilla groups into militias that were not loyal to the central government (in direct contradiction to its COIN manual).   

It's a nice example of the dynamics of many to many conflict, social network disruption, and the development open source counterinsurgency.

See this excellent description at the blog, "Musings on Iraq" for more detail on the ethnic cleansing operations.  It also includes this money quote: "the majority of the Sunni insurgency gave up and switched sides to align with the Americans rather than face annihilation at the hands of the Shiite militias, Al Qaeda in Iraq, or the United States."

NOTE:  it's pretty clear from the above that social network disruption (either through attacks on symbolic targets or blood and guts terrorism) is like playing horseshoes with live hand grenades.  It's ultimately a losing strategy for advancing an open source insurgency.  Social network disruption is very likely to break standing order 6:  don't fork the insurgency.

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-20

Girl Farts - 20 Nov 09

LINKS: 20 NOV 09

John Robb - 20 Nov 09

Some random items of interest:

  • Vigilante militias in Rio are displacing the drug gangs -- favelas under the control of militias has grown from 108 in 2005 to 400 in 2008 (out of 965).  Why?  They have a better (albeit parasitic) conflict/business model than the drug gangs since they act as a substitute for missing public goods/services normally supplied by the government.  First, they provide a minimal level of security and conflict adjudication.  Second, they make more money than the drug gangs by "taxing" everything from propane to cable TV to the gray market.  
  • US gray economy estimated at $1 Trillion (not including criminal, outside of the evasion of taxes and regulation, activities) and growing faster than the "legal" economy.  
  • Proposal and wiki for an open source fabrication lab.
  • Somali pirates are expanding operations into the Indian ocean.  The combination of positive feedback loops (maritime insurance + rapid payoffs by crisis negotiators) and legal ambiguity (the biggest fear of a western navy and governments is that they might arrest a pirate -- prompting a massive/expensive legal tussle with few certain penalties and the forced extension of a visa to the former pirate once he is released from his short incarceration).  Is a franchise model for other locales possible?
  • Yes-we-can-secede
  • A business group in Ciudad Juarez asks for UN peacekeepers.  Hilarious. "Ciudad Juarez, population 1.5 million, has an average of seven homicides a day, with the total at 1,986 for this year through mid-October."
  • Seccession.net.  County based secession effort.  

Untitled Post

blissblog - 20 Nov 09

Yume no Byouin Project

Jean Snow - 20 Nov 09

Yume no Byouin Project

Beautiful (and simple) site design featuring the illustrative work of Yorifuji Bunpei. Via Paul Baron.