Think of the well-meaning ecological designer at a green architecture firm, for instance. How can this person begin to think creatively outside the box, when he wakes each day to the digital pulse of an alarm clock, sits for eight hours a day in a cubicle, within a square building, staring into a squarish monitor? If there is music playing in the background of this scene, chances are it is in 4/4 time—yet another box. His body experiences nothing but the box, and in this box, it becomes very difficult for him to experience that flow of creativity and innovation which science itself has recognized to be the basis for evolution and change. We’ve known for decades that it isn’t hip to be square, now we must make sure that we design a way out of the box.

I really enjoyed NalaWalla’s “Reclaiming the Body: The Bodybased Arts as Center of the ‘New Village’” (PDF). Lots to think about here.

was posted by Mike on 23 December, around 10 AM. We welcome comments. (0)

“Sniff sniff,” she chirps in a singsong voice. “I made a stinky!”

Baby Dolls Raise a Stink In More Ways Than One - washingtonpost.com

was posted by Adam on 22 December, around 10 PM. We welcome comments. (0)

www.mnftiu.cc (David Rees) is blogging.

was posted by Adam on 21 November, around 11 PM. We welcome comments. (0)

After 2005, I thought, there’s just not a lot of good hip hop, but this mix is four years in the making and there’s a lot of great stuff in here. I searched for the least misogynistic tracks, but couldn’t resist putting in a few just for their innovative beats.

Dharma Arts profiles my favorite digital DJ, CPI. You can download all 195 minutes of City Hearts Aimed Skyward at thetastates.com.

was posted by Adam on 14 November, around 10 AM. We welcome comments. (0)

I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying. It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms.

Alan Moore Will Be ‘Spitting Venom All Over’ Watchmen | The Underwire from Wired.com

was posted by Adam on 13 November, around 11 PM. We welcome comments. (0)

A Proud India Launches Its First Mission To the Moon - washingtonpost.com The probe launched Wednesday will not land on the moon but will orbit it. The mission will create a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface, looking for traces of water, uranium and minerals. Government to Take Over Airline Passenger Vetting - washingtonpost.com The Department of Homeland Security will require travelers for the first time to provide their full name, birth date and gender as a condition for boarding commercial flights, U.S. officials said Wednesday. eMusic Q&A: Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes - eMusic Spotlight I really felt this freedom to take chances and go somewhere that would have been more insecure in the past, and let it all out there. Part of that is the soul influence, the freedom that people Sly and Prince had. People that are basically — I don’t even know if this is a term, but “freak-funk.” Bracing for a Storm - washingtonpost.com Several stalwarts of American business said their profits fell over the late summer months as the financial crisis heated up. Many are now bracing for the likelihood that the world is spinning into a prolonged recession.

was posted by Adam on 23 October, around 8 AM. We welcome comments. (0)

The idea of interacting with the world before my eyes through the mediating forces of a machine which disaggregates reality into a sterile digital code and reconstitutes a small and inferior electronic simulacrum of it inches from my face is distasteful to me.

Canon Powershot G9 Review

This post was posted by Adam on 23 October, around 5 AM. We welcome comments. (0)

The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your interests is to make friends. The more we are willing to do for each other on our own terms and for compensation that doesn’t necessarily involve the until-recently-almighty dollar, the less vulnerable we are to the movements of markets that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with us.

Douglas Rushkoff : Riding Out the Credit Crisis

This post was posted by Adam on 19 October, around 10 PM. We welcome comments. (0)

That strange, ghostly drifting through the haziest phrases, as if she were cruelly condemned to search endlessly for her linguistic home.

A Critic’s Notebook: Verbage: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

was posted by Adam on 17 October, around 2 PM. We welcome comments. (0)

As we know, lax composition practices since the advent of modernism led to irresponsible poets and irresponsible readers. Simply put, too many poets composed works they could not justify. We are seeing the impact on poetry, with a massive loss of confidence on the part of readers. What began as a subprime poetry problem on essentially unregulated poetry websites has spread to other, more stable, literary magazines and presses and contributed to excess poetry inventories that have pushed down the value of responsible poems.

Poet Charles Bernstein, speaking at an event marking the release of Best American Poetry 2008.

was posted by Mike on 30 September, around 10 AM. We welcome comments. (0)