Wander

October 7th, 2009 | people I know, photography, researchmaterial

PLANETARY #27 comes out today in North America. So I think it’s probably wise for me to stay away from the internet for most of the day. Besides, I want to have put a stake in the episode breakdown of the WOLVERINE anime series by the end of today. So this is going to be just one long meandering blogpost that is mostly about me closing tabs.

Model Magdalene Veen and photographer Angel Ceballos have my ideal answer to any snark about PLANETARY this week:

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(I should also note that Angel has her own POD book available, the beautiful SEATTLEITES, at a very reasonable price for such a solid volume.)

I sent Agent Redhead into the Architecture Association bookshop for me the other day, to pick me up a copy of the first issue of MAP, the Manual of Architectural Possibilities. Yet another point at which fiction is leaking into design, and design linking into fiction (and also that it’s happening, perhaps needs to happen, on paper, like PEAR). Geoff did a post about MAP on BLDGBLOG recently that has all the links you need in it. I’ll point special attention here, where it shows you purchase points in the UK, Denmark and the US. It’s dead cheap.

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In living up to its name, it’s a map, a manual, and a wunderkammer of speculation about Antarctic architecture, fully tipping over to science fiction in the fullest definition of that term: social fiction, political fiction, speculative fiction and the muse of science. And it bears the official stamp of Sir Peter Cook, head of the Weird Shit International.

Apropos of nothing, this is what happens when Agent Redhead attempts to make Matt Jones explain his stream-of-mentalism cultural commentary after seven pints have been poured inside him during a brain-sintering session at the Reliance. There were scalpels involved.

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Speaking of Jones, there has been avant-tharging again of late. Part of a Thing by Max Gadney, for a Thing called THIS IS TOMORROW that we shall tell you about when we’re entirely sure what it actually is.

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When I showed Zoetica Ebb’s latest print in a flickrgeist yesterday, I neglected to mention that the old scrote is selling the print off her website. So here it is again, and a link to the relevant page for all you BLADE RUNNER fetishists.

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Sara Gries makes a homage object to COILHOUSE with hammers and fire:

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Templesmith’s in Brazil, sans luggage or chargers. Am waiting for his leg to fall off next.

Newspaper Club are getting closer to launch. And I’m getting closer, I think, to a broad set of thoughts that connect Newspaper Club, MagCloud and Zinepal. I think. Although it occured to me, while I was talking to Ariana (my Number One Mechanic, responsible for keeping this site going among many other things) last night, that the real application for Zinepal is in emailing "mini-magazines" to your phone…

And Disquiet have got one of the sound loops from the forthcoming Gristleism Machine, which I ordered immediately because I love my Buddha Machine.

And I’m out of time, says the screen, and I need to go back to work for an hour before heading out in search of steak and a pint. See you later.

11 Responses to “Wander”

  1. […] a comment » via […]

  2. From one old scrote to another - THANKS!

  3. I have just this second returned from the comic shop, mixed a martini, and read Planetary #27.

    Thank you.

    Anything else I could say would be bullshit, but booze provides a bullshit-license so I specifically thank you for the combination of ultrascience with the warm human aspect that makes the fact we do anything worthwhile. You turned the usual “Great big fight resolution with minor human element chaser” stereotype on it’s head. I may also love you, man.

  4. In my wife’s comic shop, I expect we will sell out of Planetary 27. First thing I grabbed and read while unpacking boxes this morning, and was delighted by it. Absolutely pitch-perfect ending to the series.

    -E

  5. Without his luggage? Oh my… Templesmite will surely be devoured by our urban stray jaguars.

  6. >>>And I’m getting closer, I think, to a broad set of thoughts that connect Newspaper Club, MagCloud and Zinepal.

    I hope you will. I’ve been tweeting links of your posts about that PrintNet (or wtf the name is, pardon me) you’ve been mentioning.

  7. Yeah, Planetary 27 came out today. Yeah, I bought it and read it. Yeah, it was as great as I expected. It may have come from a bad time in your life, but it is still a masterpiece. And I thank you for unleashing it upon the world.
    One humble request - never let anyone else write those characters. Authority was never the same once you left it. I won’t buy Planetary with anyone else at the helm.

  8. “We thought it’d be funnier if I waited.”

    That, sir, was great. Much thanks.

  9. Perfect ending to Planetary Ellis. Thank you. No funny quips. Just thank you.

  10. I just finished Planetary and it was amazing. The series holds a very special place in my heart because, through characters like Doc Brass, The Spider, and issues like #11 with John Stone and #15 with Ayers Rock, the series introcued me to Doc Savage, The Spider, gain an appreciation for the spy genre and learn more about Ayers Rock. It was a gateway to a broader world of fiction.

    That and every issue was different and I loved that.

    Everyone’s going to talk about it being a masterpiece or talk about the release dates. Me, I just enjoyed the hell out of it. It was something to look forward to.

  11. I for one will miss its smile. A big wonderous colourful thing that you could spot from the doorway of the store.It was that smile that attracted me to him in the first place. It was curious and emaculately drawn. After a long day of working we’d come home and drink beer and tell each other stories. His were always better.time passed. we went quite a while without seeing one another. his fault more than mine i think, but that’s neither here nor there. i saw him on wednesday, and i knew it’d be the last time ever.

    goodbye planetary.


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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.

Kodai

Jean Snow - 20 Nov 09

Kodai

Coming up at the Kakitsubata gallery in Nakameguro is the show “Kodai,” running from November 25 until December 6.

Kodai

Kap Bambino

jwz - 20 Nov 09