Another Philip K. Dick adaptation on the way. It's aA Scanner Darkly. I think I may have read it when I went through my PKD phase in highschool, but honestly, I can't remember. His novels all start to run together in my head when I think about them. He really didn't have that many original ideas. I think thats why he appeals to hollywood. He presents twist endings that don't really require that much intelligence and in fact become surprisingly predictable once you read enough of him. The digital cartoony effect in the trailer looks pretty neat but I still probably won't see it. Keanu Reeves is in it.

I have a message to Hollywood directors, Stop putting Keanu Reeves in movies! He is an amazingly terrible actor. Putting him in a film doesn't guarentee sales. He is not the reason the Matrix made cash. Special effects are the reason the Matrix was successful and they are the only reason anyone will go to see this film.

-Brandon

Wow, the Oscars really don't apply to me

http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2005/oscars
I browsed through the categories and saw 4 movies that I have seen out of the entire list: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Super Size Me; Collateral; and Spiderman 2.

The last two I'm surprised to even see on the list, although I can understand the sound nomination for Spiderman. I'm honestly not sure why Collateral made the list. Maybe editing makes sense, as it was a very pretty film, but other then that?

I would like to see Charlie Kaufman pick up an award for writing but since I haven't actually seen anything Eternal Sunshine is up against, I can't knowingly say he deserves it.

-Brandon

The Books are awesome

I've been listening to "Lemon of Pink" by The Books. This album is great. It's a really calming and mellow mixture of electronica and instruments. There are interspersed vocals that are more about the way the sound of the voice mixes with the music, then it is about the lyrics. Thats something I really like, too many musicians put the emphasis on voice and don't use the rest of the instruments to their full potential.

I recently read an interview with Prefuse 73 and he mentioned a planned collaboration with the Books. Sounds neat.

-Brandon

Update

Apparently the "Collage as Cultural Expression Conference" is part of a larger "Semester of Intelectual Property" which will feature speakers and debates discussing copyright law and art. In april there will be a Hip Hop week with musicians, as well as films. They'll end up showing the preview of "Copyright Criminals" that I linked before.
link

-Brandon

Copyright Criminals

My favorite copyleft promoters posted a link to a short film on sampling in music. It isn't incredibly informative, but it's cool seeing faces of artists I recognize. Prefuse 73, RJD2, and Qbert all give some commentary. Many more artists (mostly in hiphop) make an appearence as well. It was fun to watch, and it's not too long.

On the subject of illegal art (and once again linked from BoingBoing) there is going to be a conference here at the U of I on "Collage as a Cultural Practice." There are a few panels on copyright law and illegal art that I am very interested in checking out. I hope they don't interfere heavily with classes...
link

-Brandon

The Crackers

I'm sure by now most people have heard about the ridiculous 'Gates' in Central Park. Boing Boing made my day when they pointed out this silly little parody.

-Brandon

Sin City

When Violet first showed me the Sin City trailer, my first thought was "Looks pretty cool." I read some more about it and found that Frank Miller was heavily involved in the directing process, and my interests perked up. Then I found screen shots comparing comic panels to screen shots and I was amazed at the effort they were putting into staying true. I decided I was going to need to read the books.

Violet bought That Yellow Bastard and I sat down and read it straight through. It was awesome. Artwork was really cool, the atmosphere was dark, and the noir dialogue wasn't overdone. I rewatched the trailer, and I could pick out frames from the comic that had been adapted to the movie.

I got my hands on the rest of the comics, and I am now in the process of reading them. The more I read, the more I can't wait for the film.

-Brandon

Chaos Theory Soundtrack

A while back I mentioned that Amon Tobin was writing the soundtrack to the newest Splinter Cell Game. Well, apparently the soundtrack is out. You can listen to it at his site, but only one song is in mp3. The rest are Realmedia.

I wish I had the capability to listen to the 5.1 surround version of the soundtrack.

-Brandon

New Hitchikers trailer

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/104-8268415-7601517

There is finally a real Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy trailer out. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's definatly different then I imagined. It's hard to tell from just a trailer, but the humor seems far more sophmoric then I think of when I think about the book.

When I think back on it, the funniest parts of the book were generally told by the narrator. I liked the old BBC HHGG choice to make the narrator the actual guide. I wonder if they will do something similiar here, or if they fulfill my fear and cut out the narrator's voice all together.

-Brandon

Cancer Cure?

Obedient Virus

Apparently a group of scientists have altered a form of measles so that it only targets cancer cells. It seems to work on animals, but is still years from human testing. It's a very cool concept none the less.

-Brandon

Gannongate

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/2005/02/11.html#a1481

This entire scandal is hardly surprising. I would love for this to get dragged out and for Bush Administration higher ups to get implicated. I'm not sure how likely that will be though. I have a feeling this pseudo-journalist will take the fall and noone behind allowing him access will get seriously hurt by it. Ah well, at least Bush finally gets a -gate. Not that it's necessarily the worst thing he has done. I still wonder where our Iraq-gate is.

-Brandon

In an attempt to mimic Violet I tried to put together my life's soundtrack. This was actually pretty hard. I'm not sure how happy I'm gonna be with this tomorrow, but I've been switching around songs for a little while now.

Your Life: The Soundtrack
Created by aiko and taken 20165 times on bzoink!
Opening credits	Amon Tobin - Back From Space
Waking up	Raymond Scott - Toy Trumpet
Average day	Raymond Scott - Powerhouse (2nd portion of song)
First date	Raymond Scott - Powerhouse (1st or 3rd portion of song)
Falling in love	Supertramp - Oh Darling
Love scene	Mark Farina - Midnight Calli
Fight scene	Amon Tobin - Verbal
Breaking up	Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack
Getting back together	Herbie Hancock - Little One
Secret love	The Raymond Scott - Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner
Life's okay	Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man
Mental breakdown	They Might Be Giants - Absolutely Bill's Mood
Driving	Raymond Scott - The Girl at the Typewriter
Learning a lesson	Raymond Scott - Boy Scout in Switzerland
Deep thought	Cat Stevens - The Wind
Flashback	Mark Farina - Leaving SF
Partying	Jamiroquai - The Kids
Happy dance	Mr. Scruff - Sweet Smoke
Regreting	Johnny Cash - I still Miss Someone
Long night alone	Mark Farina w/ Sean Hayes - Dream Machine
Death scene	Johnny Cash - Green Green Grass of Home
Closing credits	Moldy Peaches - Jorge Regula
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The Raymond Scott songs I listed are actually songs from the tribute to Raymond Scott album. I just like the sound quality better and they seem to have done as good of a job with his music.

-Brandon

I have been aware of pro-anorexia blogs and webrings for a while now. It's disturbing and slightly frightening. When a few of them begin hotlinking to a picture of Paris Hilton off of a humor website as a method of "thinspiration," the owner took a unique approach to the problem. Another blog I was reading had linked to this article, and was followed by a string of comments with people saying that what this guy did was mean spirited towards anorexics because what they have is a disorder. A few others even went so far as to say that the mere act of linking to the "pro-ana" blogs was a bad idea as it might prompt someone to come across the site and somehow decide to become anorexic.

I would like to reply first by saying something I say and think a lot. People are fucking stupid. This applies both to the people bitching about this article, but also to the pro-ana morons who feel it is their duty to push an unhealthy lifestyle for the sake of image (and an image that isn't appealing in anyway).

First of all the replacement image the guy made was hardly what I would consider the harshest thing he could have done. It made a point that the creator felt that what these girls (all the blogs I looked at were female owned) were doing was unwise. It didn't directly insult them, or do anything that should make anyone extraordinarily defensive. Besides the girls at fault screwed up in the first place by breaking web ettiquitte and using bandwidth that wasn't theirs. They deserved whatever image came up, and could have had much worse then what they got.

What I found really surprising was that people were objecting to the act of linking to these blogs because it could prompt someone to turn to anorexia. First of all, I have trouble believing that it is likely that anyone coming via a site that obviously thinks that anorexia is terrible, is going to be that easily swayed. More importantly though, is the inherent wrongness of the idea that not linking them is going to fix or improve the problem. It's like saying a newspaper shouldn't report sex crimes because doing so might give others ideas. The problem exists, not acknowleding it merely creates a situation where it isn't believed, or taken seriously.

I have trouble feeling sorry for these girls. Honestly, I have trouble feeling compassion for a lot of people that others pity. I can't feel sorry for serious drug abusers, or people who cut themselves, or people who try to kill themselves. Especially if these people come from relatively comfortable lives. The sad middle class teen who slits his wrist is not a person destined to contribute to society. Anorexics don't seem much different to me. I understand that there are some emotional problems here. I understand that many of these people are coming from cultures and families that glorify the unrealistic but I have trouble feeling sorry for anyone who made all the choices that put them in their negative situation. These blogs are even worse though. These blogs aren't just journals by anorexics. They are by people condoning anorexia and attacking those who think anorexia is terrible.

If you aren't thin you aren't attractive.

2. Being thin is more important than being healthy.

3. You must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner.

4. Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty.

5. Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterwards.

6. Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly.

7. What the scale says is the most important thing.

8. Losing weight is good/gaining weight is bad.

9. You can never be too thin.

10. Being thin and not eating are signs of true will power and success

This is terrible. This isn't just stupid, or cruel. It's evil. Evil is not a word I use lightly. As an atheist who believes firmly in the subjectivity of morals, it's a word that feels wierd for my to throw around. But in this case, it feels appropriate. This is a group of people who are telling people to treat their bodies like shit because it's better to try for an unrealistic and unhealthy body image then to live a healthy lifestyle. I cannot feel sorry for these people. I have trouble feeling pity just because their entire problem is self inflicted, but to try to convince others to do the same is downright wicked.

-Brandon

I saw Yes Men last Saturday with Violet and it was awesome. Funny, and interesting. One of the directors, Sarah Price, talked aftwerwards about this film, the Yes Men, and some of her past films.

I learned quite a few interesting things. In the game Sim Coptor there would be times when scantilay clad muscle men would run around on the ground and hug and kiss each other, or as close to hugging and kissing as such poor graphics could mimic. I remember it myself, and thought it was funny, but I wasn't aware it was in fact an act of cultural terrorism. A maxis employee had been paid by an organization called RTMark to put this into the game as a way to mock and criticize restrictive social norms and gain media attention doing so.

"My job was to make the little people with a body and animation editor," says Servin. "The artist who used my editor to make the bodies ... was aggressively heterosexual, and made several 'bimbos,' which was my boss's term," recalls Servin, who is gay. "At a certain point I wondered, 'Bimbos - why not studs?'"

I have since become curious about RTMark, an anti-corporate group that finances the Yes Men, as well as many other projects. So I started browsing the RTMark site trying to find out exactly what they were and what they did. Apparently, what RTMark is is a corporation that takes money from "investors" who invest in general areas of interest so you are not necessarily aware of what is done with the money when RTMark redistributes it to activists working in that area. It leaves the investor liability free and the activists are unaware of who is funding their projects. They provide a sort of legal protection. Reading through their suggested projects was interesting, some are fairly simple things I could probably accomplish with enough man power. Others are high risk/high cost projects. These risks and costs are supported by donations from investors, and directed via RTMark. So higher risk jobs get higher money benefits. Some of these ideas are really cool. They range widely, from public protests, to cyber crime, to ad campaigns, to education projects. Very neat ideas. What is really cool is that RTMark as an organization is protected by the same corporate protection laws they are fighting against.

-Brandon

Magical Adventures... IN SPACE

Well, Jeff Rowland has begun his new comic, Magical Adventures in Space. I'm actually a little bit dissapointed. After he finished Wigu he began a new strip that was basically a television program with a new show each week. I though this was a pretty awesome idea. It gave him the ability to experiment and if he wanted, he would always return to a past story he enjoyed. Magical Adventures in Space was a bizzaare children's television show in the WIGU universe. So it was kind of expected that this would appear as a show within his television strip, but it appears that the television idea was merely a diversion until he got the regular MAIS strip ready. I'm sure it will be great, I have complete faith in Rowland's ability to amuse me, I already enjoy the first strip. I just though the other idea was really neat, and I'm a little disappointed to learn it wasn't permanent.

Ah well, MAIS and Overcompensating will keep me amused.

-Brandon

I found this message on soulseek.


(18:33) [COPPERHEAD] BANNED, fucker, john irving is a terrible writer
(18:33) [COPPERHEAD] and garp is his worst
(18:33) [COPPERHEAD] god damn you

That's all there was.

He had an album that I can't find to buy anywhere locally and so far, not to download either. Some people don't understand that in order for a p2p community to work, someone has to share.

I like the claim that I deserve to be banned because of my TSGarp callsign. Pity I wasn't here to recieve the message. Not that I could have gotten any sense out of him.

In totally unrelated news, I smell like cigerrettes. A sideffect of hanging out with smokers.

-Brandon

Um...

http://www.nmr.nl/deins815.htm

This is a picture of the first recorded case of a gay necrophiliac duck. Wow...

And on a lighter duck related note, check out this bitchin' flash. Vocals are supposedly done by a 1980's Alan Moore of Watchmen fame.

-Brandon

Well fuck...

Want to hear some terrible news? There is a Family Guy video game in the works. I hate merchandising. I suppose it was inevitable, with FG's recent post-mortem rise in popularity. That is why they are bringing it back as well. Unfortunatly, along with the new series will be shitloads of merchandise thought up by suits who have never seen the show. Look at this list of planned merchandise, it's fucking disgusting. Candy? Plushies?! INFLATABLE FURNITURE?! and a god damned video game. How do you make a family guy video game? It's fucking rediculous.

-Brandon

I came across an interesting article today online, once again thanks to Mr. Shepherd. I already showed this to Violet, and she being half of the people who actually read this, this is probably pretty silly to post, but I will anyway.

Anything look strange? Look at the picture of the "soldier" in question. Look anything like this? I'm honestly surprised this thing hasn't been pulled down yet. It's amazing how stupid these "journalists" can be.

-Brandon