Accept no substitutes

Category: Alumni and other friends (Page 25 of 38)

Occupation: Dreamland (Sept 17)

Going to coffee can result in getting a lot of work done quickly. Not just because I become caffine-charged. Because I meet folks that I need to talk with. Today as I was wondering how to get the mini-conference and discussions about the documentary Occupation: Dreamland going I ran into two of the people that are essential to making that a success.

Briefly about Occupation: Dreamland. It’s a soldier-focused documentary about men in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq.

The official word says:

Occupation: Dreamland is an unflinchingly candid portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraqi city of Falluja during the winter of 2004. A tense and grimly humorous study of the soldiers unfolds as they patrol an environment of low-intensity conflict creeping steadily towards catastrophe. Through the squad’s activities Occupation: Dreamland provides a vital glimpse into the last days of Falluja. The film documents the city’s waning stability before a final series of military assaults began in the spring of 2004 that effectively destroyed it.

Occupation: Dreamland chronicles the escalating tension between its two main characters: the squad and the city. Beholden as they are to differing languages and worldviews the two antagonists collide repeatedly. A distinct sense of unease grows as the chain of misunderstanding and distrust tightens. Daylight patrols on bustling downtown streets turn from casual conversation to brief, confusing firefights while nighttime raids reveal a local populace caught in the middle. The narrative follows a downward spiral of civil destabilization and personal frustration, borne by individuals trapped on both sides.

Filmmakers Garrett Scott and Ian Olds were given access to all operations of the Army’s 82nd Airborne. They lived with the unit 24/7, giving voice to soldiers held under a strict code of authority as they cope with an ambiguous, often lethal environment. The result is a revealing, sometimes surprising look at Army life, operations and the complexity of American war in the 21st century.

First, I ran into Bill Balthrop who is just done being Chairman of Communication Studies and is a specialist in rhetoric and cultural practice. Bill and I will be co-sponsors of the mini-conference. He knows more about all the issues than I ever will and others in his department like Cori Dauber (especially) will make a big difference in the quality of what we can set up. Full steam ahead here!

Next, I ran into Tom Rankin who is director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. We have a couple of Tom’s films online as part of the Folkstreams.net project. Tom’s Center was just involved in an NPR production called “Married to the Military.” Obviously we want to work together on the mini-conference.

Negativland does No Business

Ole friend and culture hacker Mark Hosler writes to promote his new anti-commercial Negativland project called “No Business.” Please buy it, he says.

The No Business promotion material reads:

“NO BUSINESS” is not only a term Negativland’s accountant can identify with, but also a tenaciously pure attempt to make new music out of old, or to make old music new, whatever the critics decide this dubious case may be. Critically acclaimed by those same critics in Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post, Urb, Spin, Blender, Rolling Stone, etc., and with their work now being taught in college courses nation wide, “NO BUSINESS” may be a race with Walt Dizzy to commit legal suicide, or it may be the most thoughtful novelty record you’ve ever heard. But either way, Negativland passes through your consciousness once again, this time with nothing original at all!

“NO BUSINESS” is all about stealing music, file-sharing, the supposed collapse of the music industry and a nice piece of pie. Taking famous and not so famous music from the whole array of show business, Negativland recomposes it all to make a project of thoroughly un-original music and dialog they hope to copyright themselves.

“NO BUSINESS” is in a deluxe 5 x 11 inch die cut sleeve that comes with a laff-a-minute CD tribute to stealing and jamming popular culture, and a 56 page essay about the cultural public domain which isn’t one bit funny, just for contrast. And then, just when you’re getting all serious, there’s a trademarked Copyright Whoopee Cushion included in every package, as well as a “Universally Computer Compatible Video Short~A.” This video, which uses one of Negativland’s old chestnuts of criminal music, “Gimme The Mermaid,” was made working with a now former Disney animator using Disney’s own computers to create it and render it after hours when they weren’t looking!

So, if you are a copyright lawyer, you’ll want to hear this, see this and read this as soon as possible. If you have no respect for music or the music industry, this will confirm your suspicions. Whether you’re going to a party or appearing in court for stealing music, take NO BUSINESS along for the laughs and stitches that will keep them staring at the speakers till it’s over.


Mark is interviewed at the Onion A/V club
and will be in NYC celebrating 25 years of Negativland September 9 through October 22 at the Giagantic Art Space

200 mile run “In Memory of Jay Clark”

My collegue and co-worker Scott Adams is planning a 200 mile run along the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway starting at Mile Post 0 and running over the course of four days (July 27-30) to Mile Post 200.

Scott and Les Chaffin, who will be supporting Scott by biking beside him, chose this way of honoring the memory of their friend Jay Clark who passed away this May. Jay was diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer in 2000.

To find out more and to donate to the American Cancer Society or National Hospice and Palliative Care Organizations in memory of Jay Clark and in support of the run, visit Scott’s website, Run to Live … Run to Endure.

4th at the Eno

Sally, Tucker and I went out to the Fourth of July at the Eno early hoping to beat the heat. Most of the day was cooler, in the 80s, and a little overcast. None of the promised or threatened thunder storms scattered themselves our way luckily. Mostly we wandered round the booths. We did catch the last of the Malpass Family and all of the Polecat Creek session on the Meadow Stage. The Cats sing old school country — Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, etc and sound pretty good. It was getting hot by then.
We had a diverse lunch. Tucker eating a Polish sausage. Sally having fried veggies and dip. And I had Jamacian jerk chicken.
Representative David Price read the Declaration of Independence and the crowd responded with applause at appropriate phrases.
For an election year, the selection of local politicians on stage was sparse. Sally was the sole member of the Chapel Hill Town Council to appear. Everyone from Carrboro must have been celebrating there. Hillsborough was represented by Mike Gering who is I believe up for election this fall.

ibib alum puts pants on rockers

BusinessWeek has discovered ibiblio alum Marisa Brickman and her great ability to be at cool places and amongst cool people. In this article dated July 11 (which shows that Marisa is alway a little ahead of us all), Jon Fine notices that Marisa has the ability to get rock stars to wear Levis and to drink bright orange liquids. Of course, that is only the beginning of Marisa’s abilities as those of us who have followed her Sup Magazine know.
Congratulations Marisa.

Hubo at NextFest

Move over Asimo, Hubo is more human and less of a puppet and more of a robot. The developer, Dr. Jun-ho Oh of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, says that Hubo has three big advantages over other robots.
First Hubo is Korean.
Second Hubo has five fingers that can work independently.
Third Hubo has no backpack or other restrictions.
My fourth would be that Hubo is motivated by “artistic rather than purely engineering concerns.”

There are other differences. Hubo took only 2 years to complete while Asimo took nearly 15. Hubo cost about $1 million (US$) to build while Asimo cost over $15 million. The Hubo team was a small quick team of only about 5 developers (says Oh).

When we were at the NextFest preview, Hubo was locked up in customs in Anchorage. So we went back specifically to see him in “person” Hubo has very fluid movements and does an amusing version of Korean Tai Chi. He does have trouble walking on soft surfaces tho.

The most promising and delightful development at NextFest was the interchange between David Hanson and Dr. Oh. David is already conspiring with Oh to add a Philip K Dick like pliable face and AI to Hubo. Since, according to Hanson, the PKDA (Philip K Dick Andriod) only requires some AA batteries to power it, the face and brain could drop right on Hubo with not too much reengineering.

Odd Moves in the Cosmos (Club)

Staying in the Cosmos Club during our trip to DC for the Computerworld Awards was a kind of special (and perhaps out-of-time) experience for us. But it was something else for Republican conman Jack Abramoff. During the Senate hearings into his defrauding of various Indian tribes (and others), email between Abramoff and a conservative religious leader turned to awards and to the Cosmos Club as the Washington Post reports:

“I hate to ask you for your help with something so silly but I’ve been nominated for membership in the Cosmos Club, which is a very distinguished club in Washington, DC, comprised of Nobel Prize winners, etc.,” Abramoff wrote. “Problem for me is that most prospective members have received awards and I have received none. I was wondering if you thought it possible that I could put that I have received an award from Toward Tradition with a sufficiently academic title, perhaps something like Scholar of Talmudic Studies?”

There were titters in the audience as Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) read aloud the e-mail, then outright laughter as he continued reading: “Indeed, it would be even better if it were possible that I received these in years past, if you know what I mean.”

The rabbi, conservative radio host Daniel Lapin, gave his blessing. “I just need to know what needs to be produced,” he wrote. “Letters? Plaques?”

“The point of all of this,” Dorgan said, “is there’s a lot of deception going on.”

Sadly Abramoff sounds like the three friends — lion, scarecrow and tinman — who visit the Wizard of Oz and leave changed forever by their awards — medal, certificate and heart. The difference is of course that the three friends had shown that they were brave, intelligent and compassionate during their trials and adventures. Abramoff does not.

A follow-up email from Abramoff (not in the Post but from Seattle Post Intelligence) shows a more desperate and more resourceful Abramoff:

The next day, Abramoff to Lapin: “Probably just a few clever titles of awards, dates and that’s it. As long as you can be the person to verify them (or we can have someone else verify one and you the other), we should be set. Do you have any creative titles or should I dip into my bag of tricks?”

No one has reported whether Abramoff was admitted to the Cosmos Club or not.

Domesticating Chicago

Last night we took in a great Second City etc show “From Fear to Eternity” (thanks for the great suggestion Fred). This and the note from WillR on the post below reminded me of some of the oddities that I saw on Navy Pier on Thursday.

The early Second City folks did a diner skit about a Chicago eatery called the Billy Goat Tavern (or locally BGT). The BGT still exists was WillR describes it, but there is also a BGT out on Navy Pier that is tamed down and living off its notoriety. The awning reads “cheezeborger. cheezeborger. chips … no fries” It’s hardly the greasy burger burner that Belushi and Aykroyd visited while working at Second City. There are now two other BGTs in Chicagi besides the original and the Navy Pier versions.

A similar fate has struck what was once Chicago’s best jazz club. I heard Dizzy Gillespie play Joe Segal’s in the Blackstone Hotel some years back. A few years later, I made it a point to stay at the Blackstone and to go to Joe’s smokey and authentic and acousticly wonderful room again. Since then the Blackstone was bought by the Transcendental Meditation folks who kicked out smoking, drinking and jazz as they remodeled the hotel. Joe went looking for a home and found one up on Rush Ave (a name that would surely have been appreciated by some of the talent that played the original Joe’s). But there is also a tamed Joe’s called Joe’s Bebop Cafe and Jazz Emporium — out on Navy Pier.

But the domestication of the Hog Butcher to the World is even more easily seen when you take a walk down the Miracle Mile. Yes, it’s a friendly shopping district full of the best stores — the best stores found in any upscale mall. Try looking for something unique to Chicago and you’ll see what I mean. The restaurants are even parts of chains. We did find some local places tucked away and with the help of you folks who gave us some great suggestions — like last night’s late dinner at Vong’s Thai Kitchen (thanks for that suggestion Scott).

Faces of Chicago

Chicago knows how to put on good faces. I’ve been impressed about how faces are used by art and technology working together at least three times in the past 24 hours.

First, the great and somewhat eerie Philip K Dick robot whose facial movements were incredibly real. But wait there’s more. Dick also scanned to room for faces and locked in on each one until he could recognize the person speaking to him.

Second, the two 50 foot Crown Fountains (and on a day like today the Crown Wading Pool and Shower). These are constructed of glass blocks with a metal structure inside. Water runs down the blocks on three sides (most of the time). The side of the towers that face each other are screens for internally projected videos. These videos are the faces of various Chicagoans who cast their 50 foot tall visage toward each other across the small splashing bathers. They blink occassionally. The move their lips a bit. Then they both suck in a little and suddenly a stream of water sprays out of their mouths on to the waders. Suddenly the blocks go blank and water cascades down from the top of the towers.

Third, at the Art Institute of Chicago down in the Children’s section near the wonderful miniature the Thorne Rooms (thanks to telling us about them Max). Adobe Aftereffects are put to good use. They run a series of morphs across over 100+ images of faces in all styles from the Art Institutes collection. You see a Mayan head morph into an early American portrait into a Cubist face study into an African mask into a Walker Evans photograph into … What a great way to see who the various visions of artists related to the subject of the human face! The entire run is about 15 minutes

Our visit with Philip K Dick

Last night Sally and I sat down for a chat with Philip K Dick. Whilst it was no a seance, it was closer to that than to say Mark Twain Tonight. The Philip K Dick robot from Hanson Robotics (and others) features a very flexible and eeriely realistic face which seeks out people in the room (using facial recognition) to establish eye contact with them. He shutters and blinks as he thinks about how to answer your questions. Behind that blinking and shuttering is a program using latent symantic analysis (and indexing) to mine the entire works of Dick. [more after I get back]

In Chicago – day 1

We’ve been in Chicago since about 10 am CDT. So far we checked in sorta — our room wasn’t ready yet. We checked out the neighborhood which is the begining of Michigan Ave and the Miracle Mile as well as State Street going down to the Chicago River. Sally and folks who care deeply about architecture have strong opinions about most of this area often building by building. I wasn’t that upset that the Disney Store hails back to a time that doesn’t really exist so I’ll stay out of that one.
We did have deep dish Chicago pizza for our first meal here at lunch at Pizza Due which is still using the airconditioning installed by Bret’s grandfather (thanks for the suggestion, Bret).
We took the bus down to the Museum of Science and Industry, the building there are from the World Columbian Exposition of the 1890s. From there we strolled through the park and through the University of Chicago area until we reached the Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the midst of restoration. We took the tour and learned how every family that tried to live there met with some misfortune — bankruptcy and divorce, sudden unexpected death, premature death — until the house ended up in the hands of the University of Chicago who is leasing it to the National Preservation Trust while a Frank Lloyd Wright group restores it.
We have tickets for Second City tomorrow night (thanks Fred for that suggestion) and tonight we’ll be off to a reception for Wired’s NextFest.

ibiblio-mania WCHL edition

Just back from recording about an hour interview with DG Martin out at WCHL. We talked about ibiblio (what else?) and I think covered a good number of topics — internet radio (at some length), Project Gutenberg (one of DG’s favorite sites on the net), folkstreams.net, Documenting the American South, even World Tibet Day (July 3) and ibiblio in general.

The show will run at 6 pm and at 10 pm (tonight?). WCHL is 1360 AM and not streamed on the internet so unless DG adds it to his archive, you’ll have to catch it as it’s aired (so will I).

When I walked in the building, I was met by a placard saying “Welcome to VilCom Center – Paul Jones” That was a nice surprise. Then in leaving, I ran into my old friend, Jane Tyndall, and at coffee before the interview into Melva Okun who works with NC Prevention Partners in the same building.

Dr Fun Book and Middlesex

Dave Farley’s Dr Fun book is now on sale from Plan 9 Publishing in Greensboro. Dave has been doing Dr Fun, a single frame daily color comic (hosted at ibiblio), for over a decade now. Now you (and I) can own a whole big bound collection of Dr Fun.

Less than two chapters from finishing Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize winning Middlesex. This has to be one of the smartest and best written and most sweeping books that I’ve read in a long while.

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