Smart and Funny Ways to Get Your Message Across
This is almost what it says on the tin - smart and funny ads, but, you know, I haven’t a scooby what they’re selling.
Previously on Dangerous Minds
With thanks to Ken Cargill
This is almost what it says on the tin - smart and funny ads, but, you know, I haven’t a scooby what they’re selling.
Previously on Dangerous Minds
With thanks to Ken Cargill
This year’s winner Derry from Barney’s
And the 23rd High Times Cannabis Cup winner is:
Barney’s Coffeehouse Amsterdam for its strain ‘Tangerine Dream’.
I may just have to start smoking this stuff again. Beautiful aren’t they?
According to the dictionary, the definition of the word genius includes:
n., pl., -ius·es.
Extraordinary intellectual and creative power.
That’s good enough for me, for by this definition, digital animator John Butler is a genius.
If you don’t know John’s work, then here’s a good place to start - an article Richard Metzger wrote up for Dangerous Minds, taken from an interview carried out with Butler earlier this year.
John is that rare and distinct thing, a creative talent with a unique and powerful vision - one that informs his analysis of current events into original speculative fictions. Underpinning this, John uses the terms and language of the military and financial sector, subverting them to reveal their true meaning.
All of which can be seen in his latest presentation The Ethical Governor, described as:
This presentation demonstrates a prototype of the Ethical Governor, a key component in the ethical projection of unmanned autonomous force.
In an exclusive interview with Dangerous Minds John Butler talks about the ideas behind The Ethical Governor and how they reflect today’s political, corporate and military world.
“I’ve been very interested in all aspects of what is now branded as the Long War, which I see as a war between Finance and Humans, rather than East versus West, Capitalism versus Islam, or whatever.
A military invasion to secure resources and a financial austerity package to placate bondholders are all part of a unified process. It’s just that force is applied in a somewhat cruder manner in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Africa.
What I’ve done is transposed the action to the Homeland, where it will eventually arrive anyway. The Drones are Chamber of Commerce assets, part of the elite Milton Friedman Unit.”
What is the inspiration for the presentation?
“The piece is based on actual systems being developed in universities right now in anticipation of fully autonomous war fighting. What I’ve done is resynthesised an academic presentation to reveal it’s true intent.
The language comes from the Military Educational Complex, but has been rewritten by the Butler Brothers to fictionalize it, and therefore make it more effective.
Concepts like the “Ethical Adaptor” actually exist. I liked that aspect most of all, the calibration of guilt, and the option to override the Ethical Governor when convenient.
I think that says it all about battlefield ethics. I like the idea of robots being “in Harm’s Way”, one of my favourite phrases.
How does this relate to what’s happening just now in the world?
“The anti IMF riots in Greece and the protests in Ireland and here are attempts by Humans to react to the Process.
Young people in Britain have no access to home ownership now, which is a detail that might have been overlooked, so they seem to have less to lose that Thatcher’s generation.
What are you working on next?
“Thinking up a companion piece just now, provisionally called Triage. It would be great to project this somewhere soon, as part of a Forum for the Future.”
Update
John Butler has forwarded Dangerous Minds an article on War Machines: Recruiting Robots for Combat from the New York Times, which confirms much of The Ethical Governor‘s theory, including:
“A lot of people fear artificial intelligence,” said John Arquilla, executive director of the Information Operations Center at the Naval Postgraduate School. “I will stand my artificial intelligence against your human any day of the week and tell you that my A.I. will pay more attention to the rules of engagement and create fewer ethical lapses than a human force.”
Dr. Arquilla argues that weapons systems controlled by software will not act out of anger and malice and, in certain cases, can already make better decisions on the battlefield than humans.
Previously on Dangerous Minds
As far as I’m concerned you can never get enough Grinderman. Here’s a searing performance of the song ‘Grinderman’ at The Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, Nov. 19, 2010. Fucking A!
Excuse me while I go eat some peyote.
Via EOM
The master documentarian Les Blank turned 75 today, and there’s no shortage of his films to recommend, including The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Hot Pepper and Burden of Dreams.
But one of his most infamous pieces is the 1980 short Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. It follows the great German director in the San Francisco Bay Area as he makes good on the bet he made that filmmaker Errol Morris couldn’t make and publicly screen his film about pet cemeteries, Gates of Heaven. Morris succeeded, and the ever-charming and rather hilarious Herzog obliged, even stewing the footwear at Alice Waters’s recently opened post-hippie gourmet shack Chez Panisse.
Check pt. 2 after the jump…
If you or anyone you know insists that they know what Stanley Kubrick’s classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey is all about, they are of course, bluffing, because no one really knows what that film is all about. There was, of course, one exception, and that would be the auteur himself. So what did Kubrick have to say about the “plot” and meaning behind his iconic film?
From a 1969 interview with Kubrick by Joseph Gelmis:
You begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the man-apes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression. Then you have a second artifact buried deep on the lunar surface and programmed to signal word of man’s first baby steps into the universe—a kind of cosmic burglar alarm. And finally there’s a third artifact placed in orbit around Jupiter and waiting for the time when man has reached the outer rim of his own solar system.
When the surviving astronaut, Bowman, ultimately reaches Jupiter, this artifact sweeps him into a force field or star gate that hurls him on a journey through inner and outer space and finally transports him to another part of the galaxy, where he’s placed in a human zoo approximating a hospital terrestrial environment drawn out of his own dreams and imagination. In a timeless state, his life passes from middle age to senescence to death. He is reborn, an enhanced being, a star child, an angel, a superman, if you like, and returns to earth prepared for the next leap forward of man’s evolutionary destiny.
That is what happens on the film’s simplest level. Since an encounter with an advanced interstellar intelligence would be incomprehensible within our present earthbound frames of reference, reactions to it will have elements of philosophy and metaphysics that have nothing to do with the bare plot outline itself.
Via Kottke
A message of holiday cheer, questionable reasoning and spurious leaps in logic from William “The Tap” Tapley, self-proclaimed “Third Eagle of the Apocalypse” and “Co-prophet of the Endtimes.”
Who knows what Robert Downey jr. gets up to in his private life. Seriously, it’s none of our bees’ wax..but hell it won’t stop some people from fantasizing what he might get up to…
And these photoshopped images of the well-loved actor are certainly fantasies...
Created by Lisa René, who’s a college freshman, into “Graphic design. Science. Music. The 1940s. Vintage advertisements. Nerdfighters. LGBTQA. Nutella. Pita chips. The sound of heels clicking on a tile floor.”
The pix came from the site Pin-up RDJ which has sadly disappeared since this post first appeared….I wonder why?Anyhoo… Lisa also has the blog Who M.D. and co-runs Fuck Yeah Hotties in Glasses, which is, well, fuck, yeah, hotties in glasses. Of Pin-Up RDJ Lisa writes:
Vintage pinups are the pinnacle of art. Robert Downey jnr. is the pinnacle of sexy. It’s not rocket science.
No, not rocket science but rather jolly fun.
With thanks to Steve Duffy
More of Lisa’s hot pictures of RJD after the jump…
There are precious few clips of current Dangerous Minds Radio Hour featured heroine, the late Judee Sill available, but here are a couple of good ones. While not nearly as staggeringly heartbreaking as the studio versions contained in said podcast, these at least give a visual glimpse of the person behind the achingly gorgeous songs.
More Judee after the jump…
The Associated Press newswire reports that Willie Nelson was—once again—arrested for possession of marijuana. What’s the fucking point of this? Chances are that virtually anytime Willie is in that tour bus, he’s got a joint burning. Most Americans would not be surprised to hear this, either. He’s Willie Nelson. You expect him to smoke pot. He’s not shy about it and never was. So the officer smelled pot, it’s his job, blah, blah, blah… who cares? It’s stupid. Willie Nelson is 77-years-old. He had six ounces on him. Chances are this American icon doesn’t give a shit what the law of the land is, has NO INTENTION of stopping smoking and… why the hell can’t they just leave him alone? The guy is an American ICON. Can’t they just give him a doctor’s recommendation letter that works in all 50 states and be done with this harassment of a legend? He’s Willie Fucking Nelson and he just wants to get stoned. Have a little respect!
SIERRA BLANCA, Texas (AP)—A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman says country singer Willie Nelson was charged with marijuana possession after 6 ounces was found aboard his tour bus in Texas.
Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks says the bus pulled into the Sierra Blanca, Texas, checkpoint about 9 a.m. Friday. Brooks says an officer smelled pot when a door was opened and a search turned up marijuana.
Brooks says the Hudspeth County sheriff was contacted and Nelson was among three people arrested.
Sheriff Arvin West didn’t immediately return a phone message left at his home Friday, but he told the El Paso Times that Nelson claimed the marijuana was his. The singer was held briefly a $2,500 bond before being released.
Nelson spokeswoman Elaine Schock declined to comment when contacted via e-mail by The Associated Press.
Well. here’s my comment. Hands off Willie… and his stash! Who’s getting hurt when Willie Nelson sparks a joint? This is ridiculous.
AGGRO - That’s what Joe Hawkins and his mates were looking for, with their shaven heads, big boots and braces. Football matches, pub brawls, open-air pop concerts, hippies and Hell’s Angels all gave them chances to vent their sadistic violence. SKINHEAD is a story straight from today’s headlines - portraying with horrifying vividness all the terror and brutality that has become the trademark of these vicious teenage malcontents.
Richard Allen was a Canadian-born writer who could churn out pulp novels as regular as drunks take beer shits. In the early 1970’s, he got a gig writing novels about skinheads for New English Library. He eventually spewed out 17 of em. His first novel ‘Skinhead’ struck a chord with British skinheads and his teenage gangster novels became hugely popular. His stories of the biker, mod, teddy boy and Oi! culture of 70’s Britain became an essential, yet darker and less fashionable, part of London’s punk culture. While The Sex Pistols and The Clash were ultimately a bunch of hippie idealists, the skinhead scene was working and non-working class anger tied to racial resentment and a sense of destiny lost. The Two-Tone bands entered the scene and built a bridge between the cerebral revolution of the punkers and the racial paranoia of the skins. The baldies racist inclinations were defused by their love of reggae, ska, and rock steady. Skinhead moonstomp.
Update: Paul Gallagher reports that “in the 60s and 70s skinheads were black and white - though the movement was hijacked by some members of the National Front (extreme right Nazi organization). Trouble with Allen’s books was their painting skins in a sometimes negative light. Ska and Two Tone records reclaimed skinheads in the late 70s through The Specials and Madness, etc.”
Check out this solid documentary on Richard Allen and the legions of kids for whom he was the voice of their disenfranchisement and anger anguish.
Parts 2 - 7 after the jump…
The Brat mashes up David Bowie performing ‘Fame’ on Soul Train with Booker T’s ‘Potato Hole’ and I like it. That Hammond B3 adds some serious soul sauce to Bowie’s classic.
David’s performance of ‘Fame’ on Soul Train is not commercially available and that’s a drag.
I promised DM readers I was gonna dig up some cool international rock and roll and here’s something ultra-groovy: Rocka-hula-billy from German pop star Conny (Cornelia Froboess).
In the late 1950’s and early 60’s, Conny had a string of hit records and starred in the German equivalent of Beach Blanket Bingo style films. She’s still alive and working.
The stylized sets and eye-popping Technicolor in the following clips from Holiday in Honolulu and Blue Jean Boy recall the live action cartoons of Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can’t Help It).
Conny comes on like a female Eddie Cochran boppin’ in a teenage galaxy in some swingin’ universe all its own. Dig it!
Tom Waits has teamed up with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to record two tracks for a special fundraiser. Released November 19th, Preservation Hall Recordings pressed up a 504 piece limited edition, hand-numbered 78 rpm vinyl record, with a special edition that also includes a 78 rpm record player. Proceeds will benefit the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band and outreach program:
Mr. Waits traveled to New Orleans in 2009 to record two songs with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for the critically acclaimed project Preservation: An album to benefit Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program, “Tootie Ma Was A Big Fine Thing” , and “Corrine Died On The Battlefield”. Originally recorded by Danny Barker in 1947, these two selections are the earliest known recorded examples of Mardi Gras Indian chants.
The two tracks will now be packaged in a special limited edition 78 rpm format record, each signed and numbered by Preservation Hall Creative Director Ben Jaffe. The first one hundred records will be accompanied by a custom-made Preservation Hall 78rpm record player as part of a Deluxe Donation package. The remaining four hundred and four will be available as a standalone record for the Basic Donation package.
This special limited edition recording will be made available in two different tiers, based on the level of donation: Deluxe Donation Tier: $200 – Limited Edition 78rpm record featuring Tom Waits & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band AND a custom-made Preservation Hall 78 record players – and Basic Donation Tier: $50 – Limited Edition 78rpm record featuring Tom Waits & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
The items can be ordered here.
Via The End of Being
Forget Black Friday, get your 3-D glasses on and take a trip along the Bergensbanen, the railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, in Norway.
This is just an extract form an incredible seven-and-half hour TV documentary of the journey called, rather unimaginatively, Bergensbanen which, if you’re in the holiday mood or having a slow work day, can be viewed here.