There’s so much going on in the world that sometimes I feel like I’m living in a sci-fi novel. There’s Meth Lab Contaminated Houses a problem that is spreading fast across America, or there’s the Bride throwing bouquet causes plane to crash (though mostly it just reminds me why spending $50k on a wedding day is not a good plan). and then there’s this iPhone app Grindr which Stephen Fry recommended on Top Gear, for showing you the nearest gay guy with an iPhone (lets be honest, how many gay guys DON’T have iPhones?).

I sometimes wonder how i can NOT be writing a sci fi novel right now.

Yes i have a video log for you! I thought the iphone deserved a video log all it’s own. This is a review of the phone itself, positives and negatives, a bit about the different apps i’ve gotten, especially the music sequencer Beatmaker as well as my experience with Optus.

I failed to mention that the reason i got a white phone was because fingerprints are less visible on it, and my sock cover is used to wipe the screen every so often. Also the 16gb are very handy, already i’ve got 5gb on there and that’s with a small selection of music and only 4 or 5 new applications from the iTunes store.

For the curious, i’m on the $59 plan with $7 phone repayments for two years ($66 per month). This includes 500mb of data, $350 worth of calls (at 40c/30sec) each month, free access to Optus wifi hotspots (such as the State Library and Gloria Jeans *puke*). Also because i signed up before Aug 31st I should be eligible for the unlimited data the first month.

For the skeptical, yes i’m aware that this is basically a big massive ad for a commercial product. Essentially I believe in supporting Apple in the iPhone endeavour because the phones that Motorola and Nokia have been delivering to us for the last 8 years is pathetic. The technology developments are extremely slow and over priced. The iPhone is a MASSIVE leap in usability (which is my pet issue – phones should be EASY to use, not painful) though they too are now playing hte game of ‘trickling out the technology developments’ by not improving the camera, including video etc. But I cant wait two years, and if Apple drop the ball then, I’ll go to one of the competitors who will by then have caught on that mobile phones have evolved.

Already many of my friends will notice i’m contacting them more, smsing, emailing, sending pictures, becuse it is SO much easier now, it’s actually fun.

i’ve had a long frustrating day, so what better than to take it out on a topic that has been bugging me for years.

wtf.

i mean, it’s one thing for men to paint their panel vans with naked ladies, it’s another for illustrators to elevate themselves to the level of artist because now they’re painting naked women. Sure the Masters did it a few centuries ago. But feminine politics are a little different now, and SURELY if art has developed beyond the fruit bowl, it has developed beyond the boring nude beatification of the female.

i mean, if you want an interesting and critical analysis of nudity, why is it always women in demure/submissive/waifish poses? Where are the naked men? Where is the pubic hair and cellulite?

I’ll tell you where… in the real art. Not this popular shit.

It’d be alright if there were even allowed to be dialogue about this, but i remember subtly suggesting to an ‘artist’ that i preferred not to buy pictures of naked women and she got really upset and offended… like i’d hurt her artistic temperament.

It’d also be alright if these ‘artists’ ever showed any attempt to analyse their work beyond the materials chosen, or perhaps explore other types of subjects. But there’s no evidence of this. There’s no ‘art’ here, no context, or growth, or interest.

Women as eye candy. That’s all we are.

Artists as selfish pimps. That’s all they are.

for those that know me, look what i found Anarchist Librarians – the revolution will be catalogued blog!

also i was perusing the State Library vaults of journals the other day and there were HEAPS of political periodicals, it was hilarious, i was in heaven, but it wasn’t what i was looking for so i was trying to ignore them all – but one of them The Anarchist Age poked out at me and what i loved was this weekly Anarchist Q&A they have, stuff like:
“What is Anarchy?”
“What would an anarchist city look like?”
“What role does consumerism play in an anarchist society?”
and they’re just great answers, really simple, straight-forward, easy-to-read, unbiased informative answers that are designed to get you to think. I wish i could just get those Q&As in RSS feed to my blog each week… *pout*

(sorry for quick succession of posts… atleast it’s not one big long evil post!)

i’ve finally done my research and sorted out
how i’ll collect my feeds for reading each day.
i’m using the LJ friends list,
which can be divided – friends page/work page –
and aggregates all the latest feeds for me to peruse…
no clicking and squinting, just scroll thru
and read whatever takes my interest.

anyway because i’ve been putting this off for SO long,
i actually have lost a lot of the blogs in the midst of my messy bookmarks
that i had intended to keep up with and read.

SO PLEASE SUGGEST SOME FOR ME! i like:
good illustrator/crafter blog
ideas/inspiration, political/technological/art
melbourne events/gallery openings stuff
library/web 2.0/geek innovations (for school)

ones i’m subscribed to are:
Post Secret – http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
William Gibson – http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/blog.asp
Drawn.ca – http://drawn.ca/
Loobylu – http://loobylu.com/
Lotte Klaver – http://www.lotteklaver.nl/
Platform Artists – http://platformartistsgroup.blogspot.com/
Shelbyville – http://shelbyville.typepad.com/shelbyville/
Top Gear – http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planettopgear/

any more suggestions would be appreciated!
if you are on LJ and want a feed syndicated ask me
cos i’m again a paid LJ, in order to be able to do this.

Okay so i’ll go thru pros and cons of each:

GoogleReader, is really popular because it combines with Gmail, which i’ve never been a fan of, i find it creepy really using this big company that is coming to rival Microsoft to organise all my info – they follow your searches, collate the info, create a profile… do i really want them to know what i’m reading AND what i’m searching? plus i hate the layout (see below)

Other webreaders: they all collect your info, but also they all just make a list of bookmarks on the left that you still have to click one by one to read the latest content, they also give you all the old content you didn’t really need to look at again. Worse yet, it’s bleeding ugly. the format is crowded and messy…. look how pretty my LJ Feeds are!

Firefox addons: NewsFox, Sage, Wizz – again only Sage gives you CSS control of how it looks, the rest are ugly, and they take the same bookmark format that the above use.

LJ Feeds page pro’s and cons: PROS: okay, it’s pretty, it combines smoothly with my LJ Friends which i will be commenting on most, so it’s ONE PAGE to look at each day yes it’s called TRUE AGGREGATION you numbnut programmers… (this is a big deal, i already have facebook/hotmail/home email/lj friends to look at each day, i dont need another whole application to mess around in), you can categorise them so all my blythe friends are one page, my library boring shit is another page etc… one click and you’re there. CONS: you can’t add new syn feeds to livejournal unless you’re a paid member, so you have to hope the feed you want is already popular with some paid user on LJ, or pay the $20 a year. Since i already like this place, it’s not a big deal, i could use the extra icons! There’s no “you have new stuff!” notification so i’m checking it compulsively. OTHER THINGS ALL READERS FAIL AT:You can’t reply to the blogs from the feed page, you have to go to the real entry to do that and most ofthem require logging in! Some feeds spit out all their entries for the last three months a bit randomly fucking up my page a bit but that’s due to poor coding in the bloggers rss i guess..

GO! Amazon! Now!!

i haven’t done this for a while, i’m testing out my new icon for The Doctor. i couldn’t help it, i fell in love with the doctor again this year and i’ve been trying to hold it in ever since!

There’s lots of fun things you can do to Doctorise your mobile phone. Most of which can be found on the bbc website. Can you imagine? your mobile phone sounding like the TARDIS? Or even anything generally moog-ey!

But i have a request… Does anyone know of LiveJournal communities that trade/create mobile phone wallpapers? for 3G phones the typical wallpaper screen size is 176×220px here’s what i have on mine now…

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enjoying the new face shape and eyes, i’m really not being studious about drawing at the moment, but i’m finding ways of enjoying it, following what i like… pencil seems to be the tool of the moment, leaves room for more experimentation.

i’m over the post-it for now, but i did find an amazing post-it community it’s worth going back through old entries there’s alot of great things in there!

just a quick note about my site. you may be interested to know i have been tweaking my blog a little.

so the right hand columns include a listing of recently played tracks as seen in these posts AND a new section of links that revolve every time you reload so you always get something new.
here’s a brief smattering of examples:

POCOYO is a new tv series on ABC at 4pm, and it’s so delightful! Narrated by Stephen Fry, these gorgeous little CGI characters run around having fun, alot like the old stop animation shows like Pingu. it’s just so CUTE! like a 3D version of Yoshitomo Nara’s character come to life.

‘Star Trek’ never had a robot in a prom dress

It’s like the Old West, but with cool upgrades like video games, legal prostitution and a sex robot wearing a prom dress. River’s a 17-year-old psychic with a major head trip, along with her brother Simon (Sean Maher), who stole her away from the Alliance hospital where doctors were monkeying with her brain. The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is after her. He’s making people fall on his samurai sword and telling them, “This is a good death, there is no shame in this.” (Well, not for HIM, I guess.) Then there’s the Reavers, these mutated humans that rape and eat whoever they get their hands on, usually at the same time. Meanwhile something triggers River’s brain and turns her into a kung fu fighter who might kill them all. Others in the crew include the big dumb muscle, Jayne, and Inara who runs around in a harem outfit straight out of “I Dream of Jeannie.”. Captain of Serenity is Mal who says things like “Let’s have no undue fuss” and “I aim to misbehave.” It’s kinda quaint, and when Kaylee complains about not having anything “twixt my nethers” for months, it takes you a minute to realize she’s talking pure filth.

It’s the kind of movie you have to pay attention to, but it pays you back with cool things like excellent fight scenes, outer-space chases and, yeah, a sex robot in a prom dress.

One of the funnest reviews of the movie , it really gives you an idea of how much stuff is going on and how many layers there are to this film’s world. I’m recommending this film. Do you get that? I tend not to recommend much. But this is worthy. Go see it.

I can’t help it, i just do… it’s an LJ affliction….
this isn’t even all of them, just a few misc,
& lots of my favourites old and new.

work of admired british stencillist ‘banksy’

this stencil art is amazing, really very strong messages and cool imagery.

why is it a prank, not a work of art?

.. to write an inane entry about my day, which includes turning on the telly to find “Titan A.E.” which is an animated film i’ve discovered is alot like Firefly… possibly cos the same guy wrote it! so I guess this is Channel 7’s way of both entertaining the kids while daddies watch the AFL grand final on the other tv AND piquing the thirst of audiences for some good grungey scifi in preparation for that movie i keep mentioning… yes… i’m gonna do it again… Serenity.

then i dropped my entire can of coke onto the floor… you know when you’re totally enjoying the can and just ..yeah, it’s hitting the spot, then it comes plummeting off the top of the tv (uh… it seemed like a good spot at the time) and spilling onto the floor giving my dog angus a dose of caffeine that should keep him up most of the night.

Oh and the cold that has been keeping me utterly miserable for quite a while now has finally receded. I feel almost human again… so i’ve been playing the Sims 2.. that’s me… yes i’ve lost weight… but i still spend most of my time on the computer.

Next Tuesday in Glen Waverley I am going to meet Joss Whedon in a Q+A session alongside an advanced screening of his new film Serenity. He is the creator of Buffy and Firefly and is a self proclaimed feminist who has written the sci-fi film of the decade. Kicketh Asseth!

You may like to see a weird scary viral campaign of Rivers slow decline into insanity.

From the people who brought you Grand Theft Auto

Of course this game may actually be my only course for safe retribution. but do i really want mindless 12 year old boys playing it?

In the meantime i’m downloading for free the full version of the original GTA… wanton voilence in 2d pixel form — yay!

The once serene and plentiful landscape that was eBay has since become a fairly nasty neighbourhood… such lowly tenants as AuctionSnipers were allowed to move in, and sellers have consilidated friend networks in which they buy and push prices for eachother and eBay has no way to protect it’s honest customers.

At least if you catch a cab and he takes you the long way round, when you call him on it, usually he’ll admit he was wrong by cutting the price. On eBay however, sellers feel justified in doing what they like as long as you have no electronic evidence to prove they’re wrong… this is the price of electronic anonymity.

We see the same behaviour on message boards online. people make the most offensive comments they can think up, insulting eachother in the most racist/sexist/hurtful manner they can think of, because they feel protected and hidden by the anonymity of this electronic medium.

Of course there are plusses from this same anonymity, people have a new freedom to experiment artistically without fear of reprisal from unappreciative friends, eavesdrop on their opposition under another guise, speak more plainly about their personal politics.

But in the same way that i’ll never buy a house under auction because you never know how many of the owners friends are there to push the price. I will never again pay for an auction on eBay, because whatever i want it isn’t worth the heartbreak of some rich kid sniping it up by a thousand dollars in the last millisecond, nor having the price pushed up tenfold by some new kid with 1 purchase to his name.

It’s just like real life isn’t it? those with networks and those with money take the advantage every time.

Watch the kickass new Serenity trailer

Now on to a film i really care about. Serenity has a new and far more fantastic trailer out and i found this beautiful image of River! I really cannot wait for this. My heart has been aching for something I could pour my heart and soul into, and since I haven’t seen any worthy men around….

The Seattle Times: “Clonus” director says he’s seen this clone story before

The new blockbuster due for release any day now is The Island, but atleast a third of the script, many of the shots, the costumes are all ripped off the 1979 movie The Clonus Horror.

I can’t believe the cheek of Hollywood! Apparently even Speilberg read the script and thought it was a sure hit. How did it get all the way to one month before release before anyone realised, and how come the producers haven’t pulled it? Are they really more worried about the money than their credibility?