Saturday, June 22, 2013

Update: VENTURE COMPOUND FUNDRAISER CRUSHING IT!

In addition to my wide variety of other shenanigans, I'm on the Board of Directors of the Venture Compound, a nonprofit arts collective where I have various duties, including running our current Indiegogo fundraiser.  And our fundraiser is KICKING ASS.  Following is current info on our status.  Please visit the fundraiser to kick in and earn some great premiums including our awesome t-shirts, membership privileges, and our epic PIZZA PARTY!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-venture-compound-evolution-quest/x/3073425

WE ARE KILLING THIS. Our fundraiser has hit $1,120 raised. What does that mean? Well LEMME TELL YOU:

Gallery Lighting: FUNDED. – We love art, but sometimes our gallery doesn’t. We will now have proper gallery lighting so we can showcase the greatness of our artists.
Remaining Fire Code Needs: FUNDED. – We can buy an emergency exit door, updated emergency lighting, and fire extinguishers. Yay for not dying!
Backyard Prettification: FUNDED. – We know you love our pallets and broken plastic chairs. But how about some hand-built wood benches, tables, and maybe even outdoor lighting? How about some garden boxes? How about a FUCKING JUNGLE GYM? NOW THEY'RE COMING. Well, we'll give the jungle gym a 'maybe.'
Venture Compound Sign Hanging Committee : FUNDED. – Now we can afford to hang the awesome sign Jim built!

WHAT WE'RE STILL SHOOTING FOR:
What We Can Do If We Hit $1400:
TV Mountain Historical Landmark Rescue Plan. 
TV Mountain needs to be rewired and engineered for endurance so we can all continue to enjoy 15-channel, quadruple-track old-movie marathons in shuddering monochrome. This would involve cleaning up the wiring and building new shelves so we don’t die when a 35” Samsung from 1989 falls from the top row.
Check out more info on TV Mountain HERE: 

What We Can Do If We Hit $2,000
Sound Enhancements: It might not cover our entire wishlist, but a couple hundred could let us make some real upgrades to what you hear. Believe it or not, The Venture Compound has been using BORROWED SPEAKERS for over a year.  We'd really love to have something to call our own.  We'd also like to get our hands on a recording unit for RECORDING LIVE BANDS - recordings that would be released to YOU, the public.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Audiogalaxy History

I've just discovered the blog of Tom Kleinpeter, a former founder and engineer at Audiogalaxy, a music sharing website where I cut my writing chops.  There were two very separate teams there, and I didn't know Tom well, so it's fascinating to read about what was going on on the other side of the wall, so to speak.

I owe a lot to my Audiogalaxy experience - it basically got me into grad school.  It's nice to know the founders are still plugging along.

There are three parts to the series:

http://www.tomkleinpeter.com/2008/03/11/always-refer-to-your-v1-as-a-prototype/

http://www.tomkleinpeter.com/2008/03/13/users-with-a-tattoo-of-your-logo-check/

http://www.tomkleinpeter.com/2008/03/14/the-lawsuit-shutdown-and-aftermath/


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Single Indian Tear - Remastered Catalog Now Online!

I post here a decent amount about my fun band from 2008-2010, Single Indian Tear.  Well now, thanks to my awesome partner in crime Craig Eley, you can buy both of our albums on Bandcamp.  Better yet, they've been remastered by Iowa City's awesome Sam Knutson.  Get caught up, because we're hoping to have our whole Tenebre project (including remixed visuals) available soon.

Enjoy!

http://singleindiantear.bandcamp.com/

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Re-Presenting: How I Invented Witch House (and Ghostface) . . . Full Version

Up until they take it down, here is the first half of the film edit and re-scoring I did in collaboration with Craig Eley back when we were in grad school together.  It predates much of the stuff that came in around 2010/2011 inspired by Italian horror movies . . . and now Ghostface Killah's 12 Reasons to Die.  Not that we were anywhere near that polished, but I'm still really proud of this.

Friday, May 24, 2013

I've been waiting to bring it to you . . . Scouts of the Pyre, Part 2, now live!

 Oh my many dears . . . it has been a LONG time coming, but Steampunk Magazine issue 9 is now live, and features part 2 of my campy pulp serial "The Scouts of the Pyre."  It's a lovely story about the struggle of the Union army about a horde of zombie slaves . . . enjoy, for free, in the online version, or order a beautiful hard copy!

http://www.steampunkmagazine.com/

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Why Rational People Buy Into (read: create) Conspiracy Theories

I haven't talked about it much here, but I spent last semester teaching the first edition of a class on the theme of distrust in communication, about half of which dealt with conspiracy theory.  One of the biggest misperceptions about conspiracy theory (including in some scholarly literature) is that it's the realm of deluded idiots.  In fact, it's more accurate to say conspiracy theory appeals mostly to people with a moderately sophisticated skepticism, but without either the training in citation and information management to find reliable alternative sources, or perhaps even without the basic faith that there is such a thing as 'the truth.'

The New York Times explores these issues in a new blog post from Maggie Koerth-Baker.  The comments section is well worth scanning - not a single one of the first dozen responses comes down on the side of information-based rationalism.  They all defend conspiracism as somehow a positive model for 'questions that need to be asked.'  Or they say that left-wing conspiracism are okay, it's right-wing conspiracies that are harming democracy.  It's really mind-boggling and scary that this is the audience for the New York Times.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Mysterious Rap Group Behind Korean Solidarity Demos in Japan

My pal Brent Fujioka recently sent me a hot tip.  There are currently significant anti-racist demonstrations being held in Tokyo to oppose the so-called Zaitokukai, an anti-Korean hate group.  Information about the demonstrations can be found here and here.  The group claiming affiliation with the demos is calling itself "Shit Back Crew," and there's little or no information on them here at their tumblr:

http://shitback.tumblr.com/about

It's strange that they feel compelled to cover their faces, but otherwise this is really encouraging and interesting.  Anyone who has further information, it would be appreciated.