Some interesting ideas for discussion raised by Douglas Rushkoff, relating to computers, technology, programming, psychedelics, art and artists:
Tag Archives | Pop Culture
Can Porn Be Feminist?
Maura Kelly, reporting on the Feminist Porn awards, from the Daily Beast:
To kick off the annual Feminist Porn Awards on Wednesday night, adult filmmaker Buck Angel screened his documentary Sexing the Transman XXX to a cheering crowd at a University of Toronto lecture hall. In the movie, Angel talks to female-to-male transsexuals, like himself, about their sex-change experiences. Then he films them masturbating, with and without dildos.
Welcome to feminist pornography, a genre of sex films designed to appeal to people who feel put off by mainstream porn. In the world of feminist porn, women come in all shapes, sizes, and sexual orientations. The actresses don’t necessarily conform to the typical big-boobed, tiny-waisted ideal; some sport armpit hair. They look more like the average woman walking down the street or standing in line at Whole Foods than “porn stars.”
Angel’s documentary is one of 41 films from eight countries being celebrated at the annual awards event, which features several days of screenings and presentations, including an awards ceremony, held last night.
Grant Morrison: “Gayness is Built into Batman”
Interesting takes on Grant Morrison’s own creations and the mainstream mythology he has worked in this interview in Playboy:
Grant Morrison is the leading writer of superhero comic books in this universe—and possibly some others. At DC Comics he rebooted Justice League of America into a best-seller. At Marvel he did the same for X-Men. When his magnum opus, The Invisibles—a series about voodoo, time travel and the Marquis de Sade—was in danger of being canceled, he mobilized his fans in an unusual way: He exhorted them to participate in a worldwide magic spell by masturbating on Thanksgiving Day. Yes, he held a “wankathon.” It worked—or at least sales of The Invisibles improved.
If Morrison’s personal history includes magic, wild experiments with consciousness-tweaking substances and reported alien visitations, why does he keep writing about square-jawed guys with capes? “We’re running out of visions of the future except dystopias,” Morrison says.
Did A Secret Music Industry Meeting Invent “Gangsta Rap” Music?
If you believe that the CIA pushed crack cocaine into poor black neighborhoods in the inner cities, then you might wanna take a look at this. Ivan posts on Hip Hop Is Read:
This anonymous letter landed in my inbox about a minute ago:
Hello,
After more than 20 years, I’ve finally decided to tell the world what I witnessed in 1991, which I believe was one of the biggest turning point in popular music, and ultimately American society. I have struggled for a long time weighing the pros and cons of making this story public as I was reluctant to implicate the individuals who were present that day. So I’ve simply decided to leave out names and all the details that may risk my personal well being and that of those who were, like me, dragged into something they weren’t ready for.
Between the late 80′s and early 90’s, I was what you may call a “decision maker” with one of the more established company in the music industry.
Anarchism and Steampunk
Exploring the radical roots of a popular science fiction genre. Via Airships, Anarchists, & Anachronisms:
Steampunk began as a radical satirical form of fiction, but today it encompasses much more. What precisely is steampunk? As the editors of Steampunk Magazine explain, steampunk is “a vibrant culture of DIY crafters, writers, artists, and other creative types, each with their own slightly different answer to that question.” By its diverse nature, steampunk resists definition. Furthermore, in the ever evolving nature of steampunk, “as each new iteration of the idea becomes more ambitious, the mutations are delightfully limitless and unpredictable.”
This definition seems in line with Rachel A. Bowser and Brian Croxall’s statement that, “Steampunk is more about instability than any other single characteristic. It resists fixedness by unsettling the categories from which it cribs.” Yet, the authors do provide a definition for those looking for the quintessential steampunk. They write:
That being said, one common element arguably shared by all steampunk texts, objects, or performances is the one on which this journal is predicated: the invocation of Victorianism.
On Why We Love Sociopaths
What does the ascendance of the sociopath as a pop culture figure mean? The New Inquiry on our ever-growing fascination with “disconnected” characters:
My greatest regret is that I’m not a sociopath. I suspect I’m not alone. I have written before that we live in the age of awkwardness, a strong case could be made that we live in the age of the sociopath. They are dominant figures on television, for example, and within essentially every television genre. Cartoon shows have been fascinated by sociopathic fathers (with varying degrees of sanity) ever since the writers of The Simpsons realized that Homer was a better central character than Bart. On the other end of the spectrum, the flagships of high-brow cable drama have almost all been sociopaths of varying stripes: the mafioso Tony Soprano of The Sopranos, the gangsters Stringer Bell and Marlo of The Wire, the seductive imposter Don Draper of Mad Men, and even the serial-killer title character of Dexter.
Matt Groening Reveals the Location of the Real Springfield
Claudia De La Roca reveals this life-changer in a lengthy interview with the creator of “The Simpsons,” in the Smithsonian magazine:
OK, why do the Simpsons live in a town called Springfield? Isn’t that a little generic?
Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show “Father Knows Best” took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown. When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, “This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.” And they do.
Katy Perry’s Military Industrial Complex Propaganda
Photo: Manfred Werner (CC)
Via InfoWars:
The globalist empire needs you — especially if you are young and naïve and think you’ll meet a girl like Katy Perry in the next war zone.
“Part of Me,” Perry’s latest music video, is straight up psychological propaganda designed to make being a Marine sexy and fashionable when it is in fact a living hell of multiple tours of duty in far-away war zones in countries of strategic interest to the globalists.
The video also reveals how desperate the military is to attract new recruits. Fewer people are interested in “serving” the bankers in their foreign wars of conquest now that we have a vibrant and thriving alternative media …
The Hunger Games Map Of Panem
Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is the latest megaselling book to get the Hollywood treatment, ensuring that there will be few people who are unaware of the future nation of Panem. It is a nation located in a post-Apocalypse North America, leading to much speculation as to the exact location of the thirteen districts described in the book. The aimmyarrowshigh blog has developed a map using the phi spiral based on the sacred geometrical golden ratio.
It’s a bit of fun based on YA fiction, no need to pick it apart unduly, but if you have other ideas…… Read the rest
The Church of Rebecca Black
You notice fake people
acting out fake lives.
You start to believe your reality is a CIA experiment so you can reconcile the utter phoniness of everything and everyone around you. You think about all the odd discrepancies you’ve noticed over the years in your environment and people’s behavior to confirm your paranoia. You concoct elaborate conspiracy theories about ethereal machines from another dimension. You call it entertainment. You don’t care what happens. You can’t help but get sucked back in cause there’s no such thing as death. You learn to love the lie cause you can use it against itself. You start to laugh. You start a religion about partying. You smear body paint and glitter all over yourself. You’re a god on a mission to tell everyone they too are gods. You blow the fuuuuuudge up.
