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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blissblog - 09 Feb 10

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blissblog - 09 Feb 10

Not Even A Secret One

Kieron Gillen - 09 Feb 10

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.