70% of the energy in the universe resides in empty space

I think I hate Richard Dawkins. His snarky face, mostly, but his snarky brand of atheism as well. He does, however, have some decent speakers on his youtube page, among them this lecture by Lawrence Krauss on the origins and nature of space. It's long, but he's got jokes. He suffers from the same snarkitude as Dawkins, but graciously just sticks to the science.

On nerds

To offset John's techno-enthusiasm I'm posting this three part webcomic. to clarify, I don't hate nerds, I just like to keep a balanced perspective on things.







Pictures for Sad Children

Breaking News: The Apocalypse is Irrelevant

No one likes a good apocalypse as much as me. that's what I thought, anyway, until I found out someone wrote an entire thesis on post-apocalyptic fiction. Her article, up at the much beloved io9 blog, is a pretty good summary of what and why apocalyptic literature means so much even when we have no idea how or why the world ended in the first place.

Disaster porn is no longer the point of the apocalypse. It doesn't matter how the world ends, just that it does. Making it to the End doesn't mean the story's finished; much of the time, it's only just gotten started. Stories of the End have never been about ending – they're about the beginning that comes after.

The bit about disaster porn is debatable, at least in the all powerful realm of the feature film, where the image, enhanced by calorie-induced popcorn euphoria, reigns supreme. The chance to watch every familiar feature of our modern world be destroyed is, I think one of the major drawing points for some of the most popular Armageddon stories, from Dawn of the Dead to 2012. But the also arguably recent tendency for global calamities to not be explained is fascinating and something I also noticed.

A video of Ms. Chanda Phelan presenting her thesis can be found at Vimeo here, and more random thought by her can be found at her blog.

Eric Yahker interview

Fecal Face has an interview up with Erik Yahnker, (not) famous for his graphite drawings of people with poop on their heads, the word "cocaine" spelled out in identical Morks, and apparently some line animation of Seinfeld segments. Hilarious and recommended.

Q: What do you think your collective body of work thus far says?

A: That I'm a great lover.

Totally Wreck

"Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimonies of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places, my friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?" *

Some nights, soaked in sadness and drunk with the lack of sleep which often precludes such revelations and reveries, I can sometimes stumble upon visions by prophets which crisply illuminates the edges of our bitter contemporary world. Thing is, these prophets are composed more of fictional memories and movie clips than anything "real". Luckily, there's artists such as those in the Austin, TX collective Totally Wreck.

I first came across this group via their YouTube channel, which features a collection of blurry and iridescent videos ranging from droney color studies of over saturated VHS tape to fabulously disorienting variety shows. Seemingly to do more with the past than the future, the video makes a strange, blissfully comfortable connection between the sedated psychedelic retro-futurism of the 1970's and the franticly connected, overstimulated present. No, this isn't new. Like so many others they seem to spring from the glittering entrails of the now mythical Rhode Island art scene. If nothing else, though, it provides yet another node in that seemingly endless chain of associations, and further proof that the mode is not yet dead.


The typically inflated exihibition blurb for the groups Berlin show, Totally Berlin, offers some thoughts and a quote by collective member Ciscneros:

"By pushing the limits of neon green screens and DIY costumes the group forces the everyday into a tense hyper-reality through their exploratory imaginations, which transcend time and space. Their zeal for hyper-infinities is manifested in futuristic narratives that portray fantastical characters striving to create alternate identities in the "digital age". Those characters are embodied by the collective’s overlapping realities. The work blurs the line between occult sub-culture and futuristic predictions. It draws upon references and inferred associations to archaic societies melded with technology to form a hybrid understanding of a world to come."

"Johnny Cisneros states: 'I believe in the unadulterated possibilities of the future and the development of a decisively post-20th century aesthetic and values. The belief in its ability to broaden man’s horizon of possibility of thought, to toss the notions implausibility and the laws of physics aside in an effort to break through barriers of mental, physical and spiritual human possibilities.'”

Though this just makes me think of a video I saw wherein MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden stutteringly pronounces the beginning a new psychedelic generation of love and colors everything is colors everything is beautiful -- right of course, whatever -- it mimics the symptoms of most other art world advertisements: good points stated in atrocious language. My favorite pictures and videos from this group embody a playful contemporary mysticism. Like PaperRad or Ryan Trecartin they revel in hysterical (both manic and hilarious) juxtaposition, donning post apocalyptic vestments composed of accumulated childhood toy bin trash


or portray more silent understated lapses into folksy homages to hex signs and visual poetry -- or baphometic rituals as embodied in this article's opening image.

Like other the technicolor prophets it's hard to tell whether these works foretell doom or paradise. The collection entitled "Economic Crisis 20012" perhaps puts it in proper perspective. Baffled in a world where the president of the United States opens for Lady Gaga, massive systems of finance and trade which barely anyone can fully understand casts its shadows over middle class comfort, and Wikipedia articles on Sonic the Hedgehog and Abu Graib are of comparable length, there is perhaps only one conclusion to draw.


Totally Wreck Blog