culture
The Media Is The Mongoloid
By putting our physical bodies inside our extended nervous systems, by means of electric media, we set up a dynamic by which all previous technologies that are mere extensions of hands and feet and teeth and bodily heat-controls—all such extensions of our bodies, including cities—will be translated into information systems. Electromagnetic technology requires utter human docility and quiescence of meditation such as benefits an organism that now wears its brain outside its skull and its nerves outside its hide. (McLuhan, Marshall, Understanding Media, 1964, p68)
This was one of many obscurantist passages I read this morning as my Sydney bus (an extension of both the foot and the armpit) drew me towards my work (an extension of some other unprintable bodily part). McLuhan might have been on to something, but isn’t it all just a fancy way of describing human devolution into electronica?
And is this post not just a fancy if kinda-pretentious excuse for a linkdump of DEVO covers? McLuhan would have shaken his head and despaired at our narcissistic fixation on content over context.
Balls to that. Here’s a bunch of early 80s electronica reflecting itself back onto itself, with a few catchy riffs.
Uncontrollable Urge,
The (Italian) Girl U Want,
It’s Not Right,
It’s A Beautiful World,
Whip It,
Metal Mongoloid,
And last but not least, the cover band satisfactorily covering Head Like A Hole.
Urban Renewal II (The Arab Revolt)
Taking further cues from the last reel of the Blues Brothers (“Use of unnecessary violence has been approved”), I’d like to spend a little bit of time laying out a bit more of my own urban renewal plans for the city I love. The target of opportunity this time is the sleepy suburb of Camden in Sydney’s South-West.
It’s connected to the metropolis of Sydney only by the tenuous links of an electrified train line, a motorway, and the shame the father of the Prodigal Son must have felt halfway through the parable. There can be no instructive resolution here, though; I say we ought, like its more belligerent residents, to take matters into our own hands, and like the Chinese over Taiwan, keep the renegade province as isolated from the rest of the planet as is possible.
Some locals are threatening to take matters into their own hands if the 1,200-student school in Camden is approved by either the council or via appeal to the Land and Environment Court.
Meet You At The Town Hall Steps
Guy from Polemica has wrapped up the Danish Solution to Sydney’s CBD ‘problems’.
Seeing how other countries have managed their urban areas has provided quite a bit of insight into what we do well in Australia, and what we don’t do so well.
I'm a bad person, such a very bad person
There are some worthwhile thoughts on the patterns of people arguing with each other on the internet here at unfogged.
…What I really want out of an argument is clarity: I want people to know exactly what I mean, and to know exactly what they mean, and to be able to state clearly in which regards we agree and in which we disagree. I don’t like unexamined comity.
I think this attitude freaks people out on a lot of issues, particularly but not exclusively gender issues. There are areas where people think that your position on a set of issues defines you as a “Good Person” or a “Bad Person” (there are, of course, areas where that’s really true – I’m mostly thinking in this argument that people are being fuzzy in how they think about it), and they want to be on the “Good Person” side of the argument. And they see people standing roughly on the “Good Person” side of the argument (say, opposing torture), and really want to come out of any discussion affiliated with the “Good Person” side of the discussion.
Now I know that I have a terrible fixation for endless internet arguments with other people, up to and including a bit of mutual abuse. Maybe that appetite for perversity itself makes me a Bad Person, I don’t know. The pattern of internet argument that’s always infuriated me most isn’t that participants assert individual moral qualities to their opponents, Good or Bad, because that’s really only an enjoyable way of collapsing an argument that’s probably gone on too long. No, the most frustrating act of internet bastardry is the act of attributing individual goodness or badness to somebody’s willingness to keep arguing.
I mean, it’s a joyful thing to dispute. I hold that truth to be self-evident—and if you’re one of stoush.net’s rather small group of frequent readers, I think you do too. If you think like me (and if you don’t, of course, you’re a useless fucking arse-clown) you’ll agree that it’s not a moral failure to despise consensus and want to thrash out particular arguments fully, even if it means feelings get hurt. To restrain conversations to protect the egos of participants is to infantilise them.
Let’s all spend a little bit of time in the next week or two of the Federal election really getting to know the people we’re arguing with, and doing a bit of arguing with people and positions we’d probably ordinarily agree with, by sincerely and truthfully calling them arse-clowns.
In Rainbows - being downloaded tonight
Not since I was a pimply long-haired teenager have I been so excited at the prospect of getting a new album. I was 16 then, and the subject of my greatly, amazingly misplaced anticipation was Live’s album Lakini’s Juice.
Mmmm... Political.
Against hotel warlords who ru(i)n this town
The truth is that Melbourne has nothing to attract international tourists. Having liberal liquor licensing isn’t going to do much since a lot of tourists can get that in their home countries – although it undoubtedly does help Melbourne attract holidayers from New South Wales. People I know seem to go to Melbourne all the time and come back and rave about how great it was in some slightly indefinable way, that always seems to involve drinking. Within Australia, Melbourne, with its trams and youth culture and boutique boozers is something special. Internationally, it’s nothing, unlike Sydney, which has a climate and geography that make it internationally exceptional – one should probably also mention the food, and then that Melbourne is stealing the march on Sydney there. Sydney doesn’t compete with Melbourne for international tourists; the only competition Melbourne has is the Neighbours set, which is, mysteriously, more popular among British backpackers than Sydney’s equivalent, Palm Beach. Rather, Sydney competes for international travelers with Cairns and the Gold Coast domestically, and Rome and Bangkok internationally. Importing positive elements of Melbourne like culture and fun and trams would only help Sydney in such competition, and it would also allow Sydney to perform better in domestic tourism. Of course none of that is any obvious inducement to the NSW political class who are mainly interested in political donations and pokie revenues, but there is some hope that the obvious popularity of licensing liberalisation will pique their interest.
Most Inappropriate Use of Email Ever
My partner and I are turning seven this year, and I’ve been hunting around trying to find something particularly ace as a token of longevity. Apparently the seventh anniversary is all about gifts of wool and copper, both of which bear very little relevance to our polyester’n’stainless steel type of modern fantasy relationship, so I’ve been a bit stumped. I have, however, found one gift that I certainly won’t be giving:
It’s hard to put the ideal words on paper to your loved one, but not any longer.
Let us take the hard work out of the romance, by working with you to craft an unforgettable letter of love. This service is suitable for any occasion, whether it be falling in love, a proposal, love at first sight, an anniversary, making up or a a pledge of your love and devotion. We’ll find a way to express your emotions.
To craft the perfect romantic letter, we’ll ask you to complete and return an information form that we will send to you. Once we receive the information, we’ll write and email you a letter that you can forward to your loved one.
The price to commit this terrible this crime against your relationship? $79. You can also buy a Romantic Letter By Post, which seems to be similarly horrendous but, fittingly, slightly more expensive. To sum up: don’t.
Social Networking Sites?
Most of the popular left blogs have now migrated, more or less, to Facebook, including a few Stoush.net warriors.
I’ve even found a few people on LinkedIn, a “facebook” for professionals.
Tim Dunlop has a bit to say:
I’ve had a while in which to experiment with the system and must say it’s a pretty good way of chatting, keeping in contact with people, and even of making appointments etc. If you’ve got a site of your own and want to add me to your “friends” list, I’m sure you’ll find me in there somewhere via the previous link.
Mark at LP also says:
I’ve found it fun for similar reasons to Dr Cat, and also had the very pleasing experience of catching up with a couple of old friends I’d lost track of, one of whom is visiting ‘Vegas soon. The particular interface of Facebook, I think, facilitates both reviving old ties and wasting time with friends really well, and its ease of use probably substitutes for email or phone contacts, and prompts in turn more personal interaction.
So if we built an LP group on Facebook, would anyone come?
What is the view of Stoush regulars? Facebook - a force for good, or evil?