Filed under: Culture / Featured / Pop-culture / Theory
March 8, 2010A brief excursion into the muddy waters of Urban Exploration, where actions have no consequences and chronic community-driven denial somehow managed to both kill the curiosity of the audience – as well as the cat.
According to URLai, a rather amusing web service, I am 66-100 years old (see it here). Amusing indeed.
The revenge of rural politics, some dead wolves and a whole lot of explaining covered in an unsavoury, layered cake of lies, mistrust, disinformation and sheer nationwide hatred make up the ingredients for this pretty, modern little fairytale of how the hunter set out for the kill of his life.
Filed under: Culture / Featured / Pop-culture / Theory
January 19, 2010What happens when the denizens of the internet confuse learning with the fast-paced, picnoleptic state of browsing for real learning? These are some notes and thoughts on why tribal learning is indeed a poor idea for advancing a modern society.
It is truly remarkable, and a sign of the progression of ages, that whenever we speak of rock music we see it as a profound expression of western thinking and culture. Remarkable in the sense that rock music (and its derivatives) owes its roots to Africa, and is in structure essentially a form of noise – where truly western, in the sense of European, music strives to eliminate as much noise as possible in both instrument and lyrics. It amuses me no end that some cultures see rock music as the pinnacle threat set upon them by the west.
A discussion regarding any new technology, including the subject of e-book readers, is incomplete without what Neil Postman once brought into the theory of evolving societies: What is apparent yet overlooked whenever we bring new technology into play is that the one-eyed prophets of technological invention rush into things with their aim set on what the new toy can do – while completely forgetting what it may undo.
Not that long ago I stumbled onto a blogpost by one of the leading (not my words) Swedish authorities on… Well. Everything digital really. He published a quick number on the future of readingpads, like Amazon’s Kindle, say. He prophecied that it would surely make the most wanted christmas gift of the 2010. But. What to expect from a tech savvy blog but evangelism, right?
Filed under: Crowdfunding / Culture / Featured / Theory
November 18, 2009Crowdsourcing, or crowding, is the popular term for creating things together, usually with the net as hub. The process is mediated by the vast amount of collaborate, sociodynamically instituted tools available to the general public. Of late, we’re being led to believe that this process is the panaceum for all of those pesky creative ills we’ve all been waiting for.
It strikes me that the more talent someone has, the more likely they are to doubt and question it.
Filed under: Art / Culture / Featured / Pop-culture / Theory
November 13, 2009Given the modern trends in media, and for intents and purposes, academia (much the same thing, really) – the modern art critic has turned into the obedient soldier of whatever politically correct trend currently prevails. These advance patrols of unreason will typically establish all art as a function of gender, race and class.
Scanning recently published books, and in particular those written by debutant authors is usually a discomforting task. Thin storylines, vague characterisation or downright abuse of language (and not in any creative sense) is par. Will time iconise these works just like they did with the works of the Beat generation? Ginsberg, Burroughs.
Video of Esbjörn Svensson Trio, “From Gagarins point of view”.
This will make no sense to you unless you also happen to be able to read Swedish.
“Men go crazy in congregations, but they only get better one by one”.
Succinct and sharp take on Tarantino, provided by Andres Lokko (Swedish media).