UP FOR AUCTION. COMPLETE SET OF COILHOUSE MAGAZINE ISSUES 01-05.

We know there’s a lot of demand for all of the out-of-print issues of Coilhouse Magazine. Unfortunately, there’s just no way we can financially swing reprinting 01-04 at this point in time. We are looking into revamping past issues for various e-reader formats –which, obviously, we know isn’t quite the same– but it’s something. If anybody would like to give us some constructive feedback regarding that idea or other viable alternatives to make our previous editions available, please give ‘em here in comments.

Meanwhile, some of you may be interested to know that I’ve just put a full run of Coilhouse Magazine 01-05  up for auction on Ebay –donated from my own limited personal stash– to help out a cherished friend with mounting medical bills. Her name’s Whitney Moses; I met her several years ago via our mutual chum Amanda Palmer. Over the years, Whittles’ given me tons of links to cool/kooky/brilliant stuff that often becomes instant Coilhouse blog fodder. She’s a healer, a mover, a shaker and a peach. I love her very much.

Two months back, a freak trampoline accident left Whit’s knee in shreds. She’s had to have a fuckton of intensive, expensive surgery. And, wouldn’t ya know, right now she’s without insurance, despite working long hours at a local hospital, and making the bulk of her bread as a licensed massage therapist. ARGH. Sarah Dopp (who you may remember me gushing about), and who had this to say about our dear Whitney, explains why our community is working overtime on her behalf:

It?s true she?s probably facing $30,000 in medical bills and 6 months worth of lost wages, but there are also hundreds (maybe thousands) of people who are committed to helping her out.  The crowds are already organizing a central calendar to plan visits, transportation, and meals for her, and schemes for several fundraisers are already in the works.

She doesn?t have that kind of safety net because she?s a nice person. She has that safety net because she has spent her entire life listening to and supporting the people around her, pursuing her dreams as honestly as possible, and including as many people as she can in them.

Photo by Tanya Anguita

So please check out my Coilhouse auction listing. Bid knowing that all proceeds will go toward helping a truly exemplary and luminous young woman to get back on her feet, literally and financially. Also! Be apprised that there are two big fund raising parties for Whitney happening in Oakland– one tomorrow night (July 29th) and another on September 12th.  The organizers understand that lots of Whitney’s supporters are out of town, or otherwise can’t make it to either show, so they’ve put together an e-raffle as well. Prizes include signed books and collectibles from Neil Gaiman, handmade hair flowers, one-of-a-kind paintings, matted limited edition photographs, unique jewelry and accessories, and much more. Purchase e-raffle tickets here via GiveForward for $5 each. The winners will be selected tomorrow in a separate drawing, and prizes mailed out.

Best of luck to Whittles, best of luck to all who bid on the auction, and thanks as always for reading.

Post tags: Activism, Coilhouse, DIY, Events, Grrrl, Magazines

From the production company, Onesize:

Inspired by the music we had the idea of making a decaying world. One single camera movement from left to right, showing a landscape, looping 9 times. Day becomes night and even the seasons go by. After we finished the production, we decided to reverse the whole video. This gives you a seemingly happy end, but you know what’s going to happen. There are no lyrics and we did not pay attention to the title of the song, we just felt this was the right thing to do.

A beautiful video from circa 2008, a lifetime ago on the internet. The song is from the album A Memory Stream which can be purchased here, among other places.

Via Ticklebooth

Post tags: Art, Film, Music

Now’s the time when I usually post a reminder that the next PauseTalk is coming up, and that’s in fact what I’m doing now, but it’s also to point out that next week’s Vol. 43 (Monday, August 2, at Cafe Pause) is a bit of a special one, as it will also act as the launch party for the SNOW Magazine Cafe. I’ll do things a bit differently by keeping the official PT session a bit short, since I want to spend more time celebrating and chatting with everyone about the topic at hand (that would be magazines). The official session will still start at 20:00, but the reception kicks off at 19:00.

Really hope to see lots of you there, and I promise comfortably cool air conditioning — how’s that for a selling point?

I’m pretty sure I hate Craig Mod, and the reason is because he keeps writing awesome essays and is doing plenty of things — like starting a “publishing think tank” called PRE/POST — that make me jealous. You really do need to go read his latest journal entry, “Kickstartup,” which tells the story of how he used Kickstarter to successfully fund the new edition of Art Space Tokyo, sharing everything he learned from the process. And even though it’s long, don’t Instapaper it, because you’ll miss out on the beautiful layout.

Pictured, Art Space Tokyo covers drying, after they’ve been hand-printed.

Episode 23 of Radio OK Fred is now up, and as you can probably tell by the photo, I unfortunately couldn’t make the recording because of scheduling issues. But it’s a terrific show, featuring special guest — and our good friend — Missla Libsekal, founder of Another Africa. All selections on the show are by her. The link to the episode is below along with the setlist, and you can subscribe to a feed as well.

Radio OK Fred 23 (46MB)

1. The Very Best (feat. Ezra Koenig) – “Warm Heart of Africa”
2. Malcolm Mclaren – “Double Dutch”
3. Miriam Makeba – “Pata Pata”
4. Madou & Mariam – “Sabali”
5. South African Gazelle – “Chic Afrique”
6. DJ Mujava – “Mugwanti”
7. MC Afrikan Boy – “Lagos Town”
8. Pasto Mbhobho – “Ayobaness”
9. Dirty Parraffin – “Aha – Mind Over Matter”
10. Schlachthofbronx (feat. MC Spoek Mathambo) – “Too High”
11. Spoek Mathambo – “Mshini Wam”

At least that’s what my dog was thinking. I was out just for a bit this morning to run a few errands in the neighborhood, only to get back and find the door in the shape you see above, and a missing dog. He not only broke through the door, but then managed to climb the walls around the garden, which are about a meter and a half high (the gate was still locked). Luckily he didn’t get too far, and someone grabbed him and then called the police. As soon as I got home I headed to the closest koban (police box), and they said they already had him and that they were going to bring him, which they did, in a van.

So yeah, this means I won’t be able to go to PechaKucha Night tonight (Vol. 75), but you should.

Update: Well, wife says she’ll try and get home from work early enough so I can still head out to PKN, so hopefully see many of you there.

Felix Meyer and Pascal Monaco present 35mm, an animated short featuring minimalist representations of 35 films in 2 minutes. Think of it as an animated film quiz to perk up your afternoon.

Via DRAWN!

Post tags: Animation, Film

The vast majority of the calories (70%) we consume on a daily basis are derived from grains (wheat, rice, maize).  However, these crops are input intensive (capital, energy, and physical labor) and very vulnerable to shortages/disruption of those same inputs (mostly because they are annual crops that need to be replanted every year).  In order to make them appropriate for integration into resilient communities, a new approach is needed: one that allows us to avoid, reduce, or obviate the hard inputs required for grain production through the adoption of a methodology that enables rapid cycles of decentralized innovation.  

One potential approach to grains production that meets this hurdle is being pioneered by Jerry Glover at the Land Institute of Kansas (I had the pleasure to meet Jerry yesterday in Aspen).  He's working on breeding perennial versions of common grain crops.  This provides the benefit of not only increasing the resilience of these plants, the process being used to achieve these perennials is something that would work extremely well within an open source, decentralized tinkering network.  

The Lifesize Mousetrap is exactly what it sounds like: an astoundingly cool, “big kid” version of the classic board game. Created by Mark Perez, constructed from leftover metal/nuts/bolts/spare wood over the course of thirteen years, and operated and maintained by a small, scrappy collective of bay-area based engineers, artists and performers, it’s “a colorful assemblage of kinetic sculptures fantastically handcrafted into a giant, 25 TON Rube Goldberg machine.”

The mechanical spectacle is enhanced by a vaudevillian style road show featuring tap-dancing mouse women, live music, and several dapper “clown engineers” who endeavor to “achieve a chain reaction using Newtonian physics and bowling balls! The action culminates with the spectacular dropping of a 2 TON bank safe from a 30-foot crane.”

This 50,000 pound contraption and its stage show must be seen to be believed. Preferably in person, not on a computer screen– which is why they need our help getting to Maker Faire Detroit and Maker Faire World in New York City. They’ve setup a Kickstarter project to help raise funds for the labor-intensive, rather expensive cross-country trip. There are 10 days left on the clock, and they’ve still got a ways to go before they reach their goal of $6,600 — a buck for every mile they travel.  If you’re inspired by small, indie, gloriously strange community art and outreach, here’s a chance to express it. You guys know how this works: a buck here, a fiver there, and spread the word. It adds up so quickly.

Best of luck, you guys!

Post tags: Architecture, Art, Crackpot Visionary, DIY, Events, Faboo, Technology, Travel

In 1977, a Boston Globe article revealed an interesting tidbit about Edward Gorey’s television watching habits:

Edward Gorey watched television for the first time this summer, or so he claims, and in the process, the 52-year-old artist became a Star Trek fan. He watched the science-fiction program re-runs twice a day, five times a week, and once on the sixth day, and despite the faithful viewing has yet to see the show’s most famous episode, ‘The Trouble With Tribbles,’ which is about these little furry creatures in outer space, or so he says.

Having discovered this information in 2007, cartoonist/writer Shaenon K. Garrity ran with it, imagining what could’ve been had the beloved macabre illustrator taken his fandom one step further. The full result is after the jump, and can be seen at a larger size here. [via Grey_Area]

Read the rest of The Trouble With Tribbles. By Edward Gorey.

Post tags: Comics, Cryptohistory, Geekdom, Sci-fi