digitaldust

Stelarc is going to stick an ear on his arm. In the process becoming a cross between Kevin Warwick and a transgenic mouse.

A few of his quotes mesh nicely with the way I’ve always seen technology as an extension of the body and the future blurring the line between technological devices and the body/mind. There’s also a degree of synchronicity with reading similar things in McLuhan.

I see the body as an evolutionary architecture for operation and awareness in the world. Alter the architecture and you adjust the body’s operation and awareness.

And on a seemingly related note a robot arm in Australia creates art from Rat brain neurons in Atlanta.

Paul Darrow has brought the rights back for Blake’s 7 and is planning on creating a mini-series as a kick off and maybe some movies off the back of it.

BBC NEWS article

The new mini-series will pick up the story 25 years on, but Darrow will be the only original cast member to return.

Sad but true, all the other great characters will not be back. Still, Avon was always my favorite followed a close second by Villa. Probably not too uncommon I’m sure, everyone loved Avon for being a nasty vindictive machiavellian hacker.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about what I’ve read, mostly due to the fact that I’ve not read anything worth writing much about. I’ve also not been reading much what with moving and with the summer in full swing. But now that I’m in my new house and the rains have come again I’ve made a promise to myself to read through my large pile of “need to read” books. Not so much of a pile more of a box lying under my bed.

First up was Marshall McLuhan. He’s the godfather of soundbites and I’ve heard plenty of his terms and quotes before but not read anything all the way through. This book is an easy read and very much to the point. Nothing that new, but interesting to see exactly how much of his thought has become common media knowledge nowadays.

He’s also reintroduced me to Alfred North Whitehead, who I had till now only known as Bertrand Russell’s collaborator, but it seems that he has a whole other life outside of Principia Mathematica. Some interesting metaphysics called process philosophy… Also some interesting Whitehead quotes.

It is the business of the future to be dangerous.

The major advances in civilisation are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur.

I’m sure there will be more on Whitehead when I’ve read a bit more about him.

Do we consume less now and use more? Is the change to more complex and less linear forms of media mean we are now users and not consumers.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that we are all active users of new interactive media and not reactive consumers of linear media. I think there are modes of use which are quite passive. When I play most games I am doing them in a fairly passive way even though I am involved in the game play and making decisions. When I browse a web site I am not always task focused

Do we have the mental capacity to survive the onslaught of interactivity when all we want to do is sit back and passively consume media?

This made me laugh out loud. A fighting game of old world Helvetica versus M$ Arial.

Thus Arial has now overtaken Helvetica as the standard font in practically everything done by those who don’t know better

So get your lead lined gloves out and show arial that we don’t need it’s type around here.

I went to Banksy’s Turfwar exhibition over the weekend. Like everyone else I took a few pictures. Literally everyone there was doing it, I was quite surprised by all the camera action going on. It’s interesting, his work must be photographed continuously. It’s all around you, it deals with meaningful issues that you can relate to and it’s funny. I suppose that’s why he came up with his “this is not a photo opportunity” stencil.

After nearly three years of planning and prevaricating and a move later I’ve finally organised myself a window box. A quick trip to Columbia Road market and I am the proud owner of a couple of begonias and some very nice purple celosias.

A decorporealising piece of a shuggoth washed up on the beach in chile.

I was walking down Kingsway this morning and noticed that the Boots near the top of the road had been completely refurbished. It’s dragged itself out of the 80’s and firmly into the 90’s, only about 10 years too late. I’m sure that there have already been others and that more will follow suit. I think I will miss the grubby grey floors, the tile ceilings and the grungy metal racks. At least now they won’t get mistaken for a pound store anymore.

Then further down the road the Wimpy burger bar had closed down. More passing of an era. Although I didn’t grow up here in the UK there was one or two Wimpy’s in NZ before Maccers took over. They are like Tuataras, living fossils, a relic of a bygone age and it’s sad to see them forced into extinction by foreign species, even if the food is crap.

I really like the idea of being able to download ringtones based on the British Library’s stock of recorded animal noises. I want the mating call of the amazonian tree frog, or maybe a walrus. Via takeoneonion.