mbf tod@y

DJ Spooky's Sound Unbound!

"[My new] book is called Sound Unbound and it's a manifesto about sound art, digital media, and what I like to call contemporary composition. It has essays and interviews from people as diverse as Brian Eno, Pierre Boulez, Moby, Chuck D, Saul Williams, Jaron Lanier, Pauline Oliveros, Naeem Mohaiemen, and others. The audio companion to the book has super rare material from Sub Rosa Records, one of my favorite indie labels. I got rare material from Allen Ginsberg, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Iggy Pop, Jean Cocteau, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and lots other others. I guess you can think of the book as a kind of literary mashup." (DJ Spooky)

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MixTape 2.0

"Music compilations are more popular than ever, in part because of the ease of getting the songs you want to the people you care about. On your own or with sites such as Muxtape.com, you can click a mouse 20 or 30 times and create and share your audio files with whomever you want. But as the process gets easier, the gesture becomes emptier as well. Music compilations forwarded by e-mail are only slightly less personal than that Hillary Clinton joke you forwarded to 50 friends. ("Gee, thanks. You spent three minutes on me.") By the sheer effort that went into each one, every cassette mix tape was a big declaration - of love, friendship or even anger. A mix tape was an event." (Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle)

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Scott McQuire's The Media City

Scott McQuire's new book, The Media City, is now in print, thanks to Sage. I am attaching a flyer. This is going to be extremely interesting because...

"Scott's research explores the social effects of media technologies, with particular attention to their impact on the social relations of space and time and the formation of identity. His current research concerns the spatial impact of media technologies. He has produced two major research reports concerning the effects of technological change on the Australian film industry, both commissioned by the Communications Law Centre, and jointly published by the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, and the Australian Film Commission. Crossing the Digital Threshold (1997) examined the impact of digital technology on film production, focusing on sound, picture editing and special effects, as well as the impact on skills and training, independent production and the emerging digital 'studio without walls'. Maximum Vision: Large Format and Special Venue Cinema (1999) explored the growing popularity of cinematic forms such as IMAX and theme park 'film rides'." (Spatial Aesthetics)

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Gorgòn Gamma: chiamata alle arti

"Gorgòn Gamma "DEL SANGUE E DEL DESIDERIO"

Dai vampirismi alle culture dark

Schiatta di dannati, genealogia di reietti; divina e ferina, al confine tra la morte e la vita. La stirpe dei vampiri cova nelle viscere del mito, agita il cuore del fantastico, tormenta l'abisso umano. Amanti delle tenebre o demoni del meriggio, predatori fatali o decadenti ribelli, incarnazioni di sovrumane bellezze o terrificanti animalità, le creature della notte sono figure estetiche ed estatiche, rituali, erotiche, metaforiche, patologiche, feticistiche che incarnano il sangue, la morte, il sesso, il diabolico. Gorgòn muove una chiamata alle Arti per affrontarle giù nel profondo, lontano dal recinto angusto delle troppe banalizzazioni, alla ricerca dei transiti tra i miti di ieri a quelli di oggi e delle trasformazioni nell'immaginario, tra il lato oscuro e la moda. Dai succubi alle empuse; da Lilith alla femme fatale; dal mito alla letteratura; dal romantico all'erotico, dal titanico al decadente; dagli stili di vita estremi al fenomeno di costume; dal gioco di ruolo ai margini delle società; dalla sopravvivenza animale all'ematofagia rituale; dalla distinzione tra notte e giorno al confronto tra luce e oscurità; dalle grandi madri diaboliche ai sex symbol di massa.

Il testo completo della Chiamata è disponibile qui" (Marco Beenoit Carbone, Gorgon)

Wu Ming 1 e l'allegoritmo

"Potrebbe essere interessante, sempre per vedere le radici 'sociali' delle scelte 'artistiche', suggerire come l'invasione delle ucronie sia probabilmente un prodotto dell'invasione di gioco e simulazione (videogiochi, modelli scientifici, mappe digitali...). Dove per 'gioco' si intende la capacità di sperimentare con l'ambiente come forma di problem-solving, mentre per 'simulazione' l'abilità di interpretare e costruire modelli di processi reali."

"Videogame. Ogni gioco ha un algoritmo e il giocatore deve apprenderlo, sevuole risolvere i problemi, affinare le proprie capacità e salire i livelli della pagoda come Bruce Lee in Game of Death. Ma ogni gioco è un'allegoria: è composto di immagini in movimento che rappresentano qualcos'altro (procedure matematiche, codice binario, il linguaggio che la macchina parla a se stessa). Il giocatore può apprendere l'algoritmo del gioco soltanto interagendo con le immagini, cioè con l'allegoria. Al fine di trovare l'algoritmo e seguirlo passo dopo passo, deve comprendere e padroneggiare l'allegoritmo. Decrittare l'allegoria, scoprirne i segreti." (Wu Ming 1)

Wu Ming 1 descrive la logica e le origini dell'allegoritmo. Ho tagliato e impasto le parti che mi stimolano il velupendulo, ma tutto il pezzo ("New Italian Epic") e' fottutamente brillante.

Leggi

And now back to our regular broadcasting

Life is funny.

Coffee Culture Thrives in Moscow

"Starbucks, the Seattle-based corporation with almost 9,000 company-operated stores around the world, opened its first Russian venue last fall in a suburban shopping mall in Khimki. The largest coffee shop brand in Britain, Costa Coffee, opened the chain's 1,000th shop last month on Pushkinskaya Square, ambitiously planning on 200 more locations in Russia over the next five years. To these seemingly late newcomers, Moscow's ratio of one coffeehouse for every 3,187 people is an opportunity for growth. Although arriving in an already established coffeehouse scene in Moscow, Western chains are banking on their brand familiarity, the attractiveness of quick counter service and Russians' growing incomes. "Moscow, with its vibrant economy and cosmopolitan culture, is the right place to start in Russia. For a market with a quickly emerging and upwardly mobile middle class, Moscow has a low concentration of cafes," said Mojtaba Akhbari of Starbucks, which opened two more locations in March at the Moskva-City business center and at the Belaya Dacha Mega Mall." (Mario Antonova, The Moscow Times)

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Moscow, the Model City

A marvelous miniature Moscow that is being stored in the local city town-hall, courtesy of English Russia

See it here in all its gloty.

Championship Gaming Series on Eurosport!

From the press release: "The Eurosport Group and Championship Gaming Series (CGS) announced today that Eurosport has signed a deal with BSkyB (Sky) that grants Eurosport the exclusive continental European broadcast rights for Championship Gaming Series, the only worldwide professional video gaming league. Highlights from the inaugural 2007 series will be broadcast in primetime on Eurosport 2 April 28 – May 3, followed by the highly anticipated 2008 season later this year, bringing CGS programming to 41 nations in continental Europe for the first time, including France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Eurosport 2's broadcast footprint for CGS will complement Sky’s coverage in the UK and Ireland, DIRECTV’s coverage in the Americas, and STAR and ESPN STAR Sports broadcasts in Asia and Australia. The addition of Eurosport 2 coverage will expand the overall reach of televised CGS programming to more than 400 million potential viewers across five continents."

Portishead - Third - Last FM

Full tracks