Compared to the traditional paint-and-stencil graffiti, light graffiti (also known as light art, light writing and light painting), may seem minor to some of you if not entirely esoteric. Yet, this emerging concept, described by the Guardian as a new wave of ephemeral street art, is a most fascinating zeitgeist phenomena. Light graffiti can also be described as an organic, environment-friendly yet non-vandalistic channel for self expression in public. In most cases, no public space is being "liberated" for more than 30 seconds. Here, wall paint is replaced with flash lights and laser pointers, street walls - with megapixels. Naturally and as expected, where creativity, innovation and buzzy weather meet major companies (and their finest creative teams and branding divisions) can also be found. They are here because their job is to tag along the hype but with their corporate media power they also fuel the trend and make it stronger. The result: a new colorful scale of innovative human expressions such as the following selection of seven light art projects.
1. Lichtfaktor
The German collective Lichtfaktor has been well known for pioneering lightart photography since 2006 after, according to Wired.com, Marcel Panne - a video mixer with a background in photography - was approached to produce new material for an event themed "Energy in Motion". In the past two years major brands such as Absolut Vodka, Mark Ecko, Audi, Phillips and PlayStation have already paid Panne and his partners David Lüpschen and Tim Fehske to participate in a few innovative print campaigns. The above image, for example, is of a set recently shot in London and Brighton for British TV channel current.
In March this year the first ever Lichtfaktor TV commercial was released and included some of the most high-budget light art images ever created. The commercial was made for the BEKO ALL-STAR brand in Istanbul and includes music by Jingle Jungle. See selected snapshots above or just watch the whole clip here:
2. Illum
Conceived in summer of 2007 Illum is the brainchild of Sean Nelson and Chuck Grimmett - senior high school students from Amherst, Ohio, USA with a strong passion for photography art experimentation. Focusing on long exposures and different kinds of light art, light graffiti and light writing the Illum portfolio includes astonishing nature shots, self-brand signatures such as above, winter images and more.
Nature and Light Art shot
Circles
Winter shot
Urban shot
3. The Path of Light
Another creative two-man project started in Aalborg, Denmark in summer 2007 is The Path of Light. Using "the cityscape as a playground and flashlights as toys" Long Shutter and his (unanimous) are officially inspired by the works of Lichtfaktor. With pieces such as Satan's car, Turning on the lights (above) and Thoughts away (below) The Path of Light let their imagination "fill the streets with flowers and creatures" giving life to static environments.
The following is a recent stop-motion clip released by The Path of Light:
4. robokon_gt
Also with his own personal vision for car photography robokon_gt's "Getting chased..." and "The chaser becomes the chased..." (above) are excellent examples of how composition and motion vectors can be used cleverly within this medium. Other sets from this artist such as Gabe vs Gabe! and Feb light graffiti 010 (below) show a sense of humor is also on the checklist.
5. MRI
Ryan Warnberg and Michelle McSwain from Queens Brooklyn, USA turned their light art fascination into a local New York metro area business branded MRI, also known as M::R::I. Other than peculiar brand signatures such as the above ("m r i i n m n") the couple go with the slogan "Long exposures. Bright lights." and make unique kaleidoscopic portraits with original look and their own slightly sexy style. Version and Saint (below) are two excellent examples.
Above: items from the Version set. Below: Saint
If you happen to plan an odd drunken bachelor party or are otherwise interested in your own personal light session you are welcome to pick up your favorite email application and contact Ryan (the weird one) or Michelle (the pretty one). Worried about technical aspects of the production? There’. According to the MRI fellows Cameras, lights, cables and other must have accessories are all included. All you have to bring for a successful light event is yourself and your wildest ideas. See also the MRI Light Painting blog.
6. Luke Doyle
Luck Doyle from Oxford, UK uses acid purple lights to manipulate human figures into glowing super high-res light art photos. The above, titled Light people in bed, is in my humble opinion a true light art masterpiece. Click for image for a higher-resolution version or here for huge super high-res one. Another interesting set by Doyle that utilizes his branded purple is Glowing guitar. Super high-res version here.
7. Graffiti Research Lab: Night Writer
Another emerging method of using light to make your voice heard is using low-power led technology. Graffiti Research Lab, a division of the Eyebeam R&D OpenLab run by a couple of NYC-based artists who like projecting light beams onto buildings, had developed the LED Throwies as an inexpensive way to create a less temporary draw in light.
Consisting of a lithium battery, a 10mm diffused led and a rare-earth magnet taped together, The Throwie's functionality was recently extended by the Night Writer – a cheap easy way to make 12-inch glowing letters setup. With Night Writer letters are placed up on an iron or steel surface forming the coolest low-budget neon-style sign or a shockingly prominent activist electronic billboard - make your own choice. Just two important notes before you consider setting your Night Writer up:
The first one is that according to the GRL folks it's hard to conceal a 10-foot pole.
In addition: please note the NYPD vans are ferromagnetic. The GRL are also a prominent player in the fields of architectural light graffiti and projection bombing - another two forms of lightart utilizing more advanced yet still pretty simple accessories. Here the creation takes the form of realtime or pre-planned sequences of light, feed through high-powered digital projectors and projected on public buildings and walls. Check out WebUrbanist for more architectural graffiti and projection bombing on urban surfaces.
Shine in the Dark: From Light Graffiti and Light Writing to Bachelor Party Installations and Activist LED Signs
International Street Artists Add (More) Multicultural Sauce to Israeli Society
"The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within. Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart so individual freedom will naturally grow from self-determined activity." (Idiot The Wise)
It appears that the paintings of world's hottest British art star Banksy on the Palestinian side of the separation wall in the West Bank in summer 2005 were just the tip of the iceberg. Street art and graffiti scenes gain strong International momentum in Israel recently. Much of this trend is attributed to talented immigrants from former U.S.S.R. countries while there are also many active street artists in Israel who immigrated from European countries and North America.
As opposed to the Banksy case (above) and perhaps to what you may expect from street art in Israel, most of the street art messages are not related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but to internal society issues, while others refer to the conflict in a general, none-confronting approach. Some look at graffiti and street art as a form of vandalism. Others see it as a legitimate way of expression in a world where most public urban space belongs to commercial cooperates. This way or another, the new trend spices up the already heterogenic society in Israel with more multicultural sauce. Following are a few recent outstanding examples.
The Legal Action Gallery and Cosco Urban Lab
There are clear signs that Israeli street art is going mainstream. Take the 2nd Annual Inspiration Art Exhibition opened today (March 6, 2008) in the Legal Action gallery for example. Featuring the work of 100 street artists from around the globe, this spectacular exhibition curated by The Inspire Collective takes place next to the Casco Urban Lab in Florentine - at the heart of the "Soho" quarter in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Legal Action gallery was founded by artists Jamie Ame and Joy van Erven in October last year and features top street artists from Israel and other countries such as Klone, Know Hope, Zero Cents, Jove, Mi-Shee, Mimi the Clown, TigaPics, Azione, Booty, x10art, Sanko17, Sumone, Omino17, iamunknown and even the only street artist we know of in Iran (yes, Iran) who goes by the name of A1one. Check on this audio visual tour of the 1st annual Inspiration Art Exhibition that took place at Barbur Gallery in Jerusalem in the spring of 2007. Here are two "sneaky previews" from this year:
Ame (35) and van Erven are two living indications for the new trend. Ame, better known as Ame72, is a British origin street and graffiti artist who has been living in Israel in the past three years. He is known in Tel Aviv streets for his use of Lego stencils which "represent thought provoking and funny images of life in today's society". Ame's partner, Joy van Erven, is an experienced Dutch mixed media artist who initiated various crossover projects involving visual arts, architecture and urbanism. Before immigrating to Israel in 2004, he initiated a foundation for public space art in the Netherlands and was the curator of other art exhibitions and urban art projects.
van Erven is also the owner of the Casco Urban Lab in Tel Aviv (above), another alternative culture establishment that combines art, design and food. Casco (Dutch word for "undefined space") allows local artists, designers and performers representing their view of the city.
klone
Above: progress shots from a painting by klone (formerly known as street artist 'Make') made for a group exhibition opening next week March 10, 2008 at the Dweck gallery in Mishkanot Sheananim, Jerusalem. Below is a spectacular panoramic wall piece, collaborated by klone and jesus. Don't miss the click for the high-res on this one!
More from Klone at http://www.flickr.com/photos/klone
Inspire - Idiot the Wise
After finding himself alone and homeless in the cold streets of Chicago when he was just 16, Inspire (31) grew himself up to become an International known artist. He immigrated to Israel 5 years ago and his works are well known in Tel Aviv streets.
Other than being the curator of the 2nd Annual Inspiration Art Exhibition mentioned above, Idiot the Wise has been documenting public art and activism in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the last five years. Being an active cyberspace artist, though, his connections and collaborations go way beyond the borders of Israel. Idiot the Wise (aka SEVEN, INSPIRE, Exodus and TRY) is a "writer of divine names, painter of flowers, public artist and curator" who argues we have been force fed with "false hope and ideals" through "branded advertising that invades our private lives until the two become one".
His Flickr group ArtAttack "urges you to react to your environment" and "talk back" yet emphasizing this is not an act of "war on advertising" but more of an "inside joke" meant to "rattle things a bit" so that people can "start noticing things for themselves again". Idiot the Wise is also the founder of many other popular Flickr groups such as the INSPIRE Collective ("What inspires YOU?" 2,147 Members) and MiddleEastStreetArt (Middle Eastern Graffiti, Street Art, and Public Activism, 942 members).
For more about Inspire check on this interview by Mr. Z or any of the following:
http://www.flickr.com/people/idiotthewise
http://inspirecollective.blogspot.com
http://telavivstreetart.blogspot.com
http://poeticchemistry.blogspot.com
Zero Cents
This 22 years old dude immigrated to Israel from New Jersey, USA a few years ago and is already a prominent figure in Israel's street art scene.
Above: "Old woman feeding birds", one of 10 wood cutout installations in 2nd Annual Inspiration Art Exhibition. Below: "Face"
Above: Safta (Hebrew for "grandmother"), portrait of Zero Cent's grandmother (photo by nush). Below: banso: detail of a wall by Zero Cents, produced mid 2007. For more walls as well as installations, paintings stickers and paper pain art go to http://flickr.com/photos/zerocents
This is Limbo
Above: "Haven been overcome by tongue-tied times, minor orchestras mend together the tune and in a clumsy accent play: please believe", Cardboard and gauze bandages on cement, Bethlehem Separation Wall 2007. More from This is Limbo at http://www.flickr.com/people/thisislimbo
aifo2
A wall
More street art from aifo2 at http://flickr.com/people/aifo. For more information and articles about urban street art and graffiti around the world see WebUrbanist - the ultimate source for International urban culture.
PROGRESS: Obama screenprints by Shepard Fairey
Frank Shepard Fairey who usually goes under his middle and last name Shepard Fairey, is a contemporary artist, graphic designer and illustrator who believes that Barack Obama should be the next President of the United States. Starting next Wednesday, January 30th, Fairey's screenprints titled PROGRESS will be put on sale online to support a larger statewide poster campaign. The screenprints are edition of 350 sized 24" x 36".
http://obeygiant.com
Concern in Jerusalem
It was on November 6, 2001 when Fox Network launched their later to be Emmy and Golden Globe award-winner TV series 24 and the idea of an Afro-American president to the USA was still a futuristic "what if" Hollywood experiment. Dennis Haysbert looked convincing and promising as David Palmer, commander of the world's most powerful armed forces. But it was just a TV series.
In just a few hours from now Air Force 1 will be landing in Ben Gurion airport and I wonder if it might has anything to do with the fact that today, six years and two months of George W Bush later, Israel's second popular daily newspaper Maariv had the front page of its print version covered with one of the most amazingly ridicules titles any Israeli daily ever came up with.
A scan is here on the left but as you probably can't read Hebrew I'll freely translate it. It says "Concern in Jerusalem: Obama Gets Closer to Presidency". Concern in Jerusalem??! I know for some, perhaps most, Israelis saying goodbye to George and his - how shall I put it - "approach" towards the Palestinian issue, Middle East and conflicts in general must be sad. I know Obama is Afro-American. I know he is a democrat. But concern? It sounds a bit dangerous when Israel is "concerned" over something, isn't it?
My guess is that someone at Maariv came up with an idea to use this half-threat half-complaint and convince Americans they just have to make this minor adjustment to their constitution and have George elected for just four more years. Otherwise we'll all be far more concerned soon. We might all have a Palmer-Obama as our next commander of armed forces and he might just not like using them as much as we want him to.
That would be horrible. It might end up with a little peace in the Middle East.
Two-edged Media Sword: 10 Examples of Counteradvertising, Commerce Jamming and Propaganda Remixes
A plan to allow "domestic view" of data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can "see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers" has been recently approved by the USA government. For the good and bad of it, Information age enhances the ability of states to control citizens and of business corporations to enlarge leverage our privacy into profit: better security means more information in corporate hands and less privacy. Furthermore, Information age allows business corporations and states to deliver their message more efficiently than ever before. This means more products, more advertisements and less free public space. Yet, Information age also allows activist groups and their counter messages to be heard by millions. Following is a fresh collection of popular and particularly interesting strategies, case studies and resources demonstrating the two-edged sword face of new media - where counteradvertising, commerce jamming and propaganda remixes make a stand.
1. The Blackspot Sneaker: Cutting Through the Hype of Mediated Reality
According to AdBusters Media Foundation, publishers of the most popular subvertising magazine in the world and a leading activist group based in Vancouver Canada, well made subvertisments need to efficiently "mimic the look and feel of the targeted ad, promoting the classic 'double-take' as viewers suddenly realize they have been duped". With a list successful media projects such as the TV Turnoff Week which was aired on CNN, the Buy Nothing Day videos of 2006 and 2007 and a series of viral TV subvertisments titled The Product Is You, AdBusters continue to demonstrate how TV commercial language can be altered and manipulated to "cut through the hype and glitz of our mediated reality" and reveal "a deeper truth within."
The Blackspot sneaker, designed by John Fluevog, is Adbusters' recent Commerce Jamming project, a first Anti-Brand and your chance to "unswoosh Nike's tired old swoosh and own one of the most Earth-friendly shoes in the world": 100% organic hemp upper, recycled tire sole, made by Vegetarian Shoes in a European union shop including a hand drawn (!) logo plus.
2. Busting Phillip Morris: Why are you buying your food from a tobacco company?
In fact, some culture jamming ads carry indisputable facts about their targets making some disturbing unfamiliar truths to be a little more familiar to the public. "Why are you buying your food from a tobacco company?" showcased a list of popular food products owned by Phillip Morris, the world's largest cigarette company: "...Chances are that you've been helping to promote Marlboro cigarettes without even knowing it. You can withdraw that support by personally boycotting these products" the ad said. "It's like giving money to a health organization that is working to find a cure for cancer - but in this case you are taking money from a corporation that causes it. So next time you go buy food- try it. You'll like it."
3. The Reality of War: Vertigo vs. Australia's Department of Defence
In March 2003 Australia's Department of Defence has withdrawn advertising from all student media across the continent in response to a controversial full-page parody of Defence recruitment advertising published on Vertigo, a student newspaper at the University of Technology, Sydney. The spoof ad satirically portrayed the Department of Defence as "a political tool of an Australian government intent on participating in an unsanctioned invasion of Iraq" and was followed up and reprinted by other student publications.
This act of solidarity was like a golden medal to the Vertigo activists who saw the fact "students are no longer being inundated with inaccurate representations of the Defence Force" as a great victory. Vertigo spokesperson, Jano Gibson argued that "the 'exciting', 'inspiring' and 'feel good' Army ads that appear in uni diaries, on billboards and television differs extremely from the reality of participating in a war" and that Vertigo's parody "simply corrects the omissions of the Department of Defence." Click any of the above pictures for a larger version or download the pdf here.
4. Volkswagen vs. a Sick Joke: The Suicide Bomber Polo Driver
Sometimes facts are not the issue neither is the spoofer's opinion and the busted ad is made either "for" a non-existent product, or with a real one simply as parody of advertisements. Rarely, a familiar brand language is mimicked so well that the entire world is successfully fooled. In January 2005, managers at German car manufacturer Volkswagen found themselves in the center of a global row after a meme hack sick video joke featuring a Palestinian suicide bomber in a Polo car was virally distributed across the world via the internet.
The spoof TV advert showed an "oriental" looking man stepping into a Polo car wearing a keffiyeh scarf, known as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. After driving around the city for a while the driver stops near a resonant populated with lots of innocent civilians and detonates, yet leaving the car intact.
The video was punched-lined with the familiar style slogan announcing "Polo: small but tough". Check it out and see for yourself: Even though it is not very clear which "deeper truth" is actually being revealed here, this culture jammer was mimicking the familiar Volkswagen language so well it simply got people to believe it’s a real one.
5. Excuse me - Is that blood in your gas tank? Dave Ward vs. Hammer
"Please download the large version and pass it along to forums, websites and other people who might appreciate it. Spread the meme!" – Those were the words of Dave Ward, a professional photographer who in 2005 created two anti-Hummer spoof ad campaigns. Suggesting the real reason behind the ongoing blood shed in Iraq is to support America's oil demand fueled by manly Tofu hater ego-driven cars of the Hammer type, Ward's anti-war eco-friendly spoof ad became almost as popular as the originals and were massively and virally distributed on Internet.
In July 2006 the second Hummer ad titled "Excuse me - Is that blood in your gas tank?" showed up on Ads of the World, a commercial advertising archive for the best and most interesting creative work worldwide. I bet they didn't like this so much at Hammer's headquarters but in light of recent developments in America's approach to international global climate responsibility you might say this culture jamming attempt might have had some part in making a change.
6. The Madeleine Spoof: Extremely Hurtful and Not Funny
Not all ad spoofs are made with humanitarian causes in mind and some are made for profit or publicity and leave a very bad taste behind. An 'advertising' spoof published in a German satirical magazine named The Titanic included an allegedly double-spread ad for a supermarket, depicting a number of products promoted with the image and name of Madeleine McCann's. This poor-taste parody was later described by Madeleine's parent's spokesman as "extremely hurtful". Not much to say about this one. Perhaps just that it's a good example for a 'not very funny' spoof.
7. Doctors Ought to Care: I smoke for smell
Other spoofs can be very funny and can hardly defined as unjustified by anyone, that is unless you are a lung cancer tycoon. The idea to sabotage the interest of cigarette corporations using their own media weapons is far from being new and came up almost 30 years ago when the Doctors Ought to Care (DOC) organization was pioneered countered development and jamming tobacco ads. In a 1980 paper published in JAMA, DOC founder Alan Blum, MD, wrote that "humor can be an effective tool" in this war. Thus, in one of its poster series, the DOC parodies the classic I smoke for taste advertisement with a picture of a similarly defiant, macho character with a cigarette dangling from one nostril and the caption I smoke for smell.
8. Constitutions Matter: Billboard Liberation Campaign
A very popular form of adbusting, sometimes referred to as Billboard Modification or Billboard Liberation, takes the form of alternation of public space commercials and billboards to make a spoof or parody of the original corporate or political message. Usually it is the company that pays for the advertisement that is being under the attack. In some cases, however, the target can be the medium itself.
It was August 1, 2007, when the deadline for all billboards in the city of Tacoma, Washington to comply with a (ten years old) law requiring the removal of all (well defined) disruptive billboards. Three days later Pranks, a popular blog by Joey Skaggs dedicated to culture jamming and reality hacking published this follow up about hundreds of billboards in Tacoma which "have sprouted a scary blue and red message reading "Constitutions Matter". All adbusted billboards were left carrying the name "Clear Channel Outdoor", a company of Clear Channel Communications and one of the world's largest outdoor advertising corporations. Photos are taken by Pranks from a local city blog named exit133.com.
9. The Li Peng Story: Step Down to Appease the People’s Anger!
Politics, anti-war and freedom fighting were always of the most inviting countermessage battlefields for artists and writers. The story of the Li Peng poem is an extraordinary example of how mass media can be hacked to deliver political counter-messages even under extreme media control standards as practiced by Chinese government. In March of 1991 the overseas edition of the People’s Daily - China’s Communist Party newspaper - featured the following patriotic homesick poem, written by a graduate student from Los Angeles aliased Zhu Haihong. Apparently the poem was a brilliant "qianzi shi" also known as "inlaid-character" poem. Thus, when read diagonally from upper right to lower left the words "Li Peng must step down to appease the people’s anger!" could be interpreted. Li Peng, for those who don't know, was the Premier of China between 1987 and 1998 and the "chief architect" of the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre.
10. The Propaganda Remix Project: YOU Back The Attack! WE'LL Bomb Who We Want!
Lastly, and with no intentions of getting into any blue-red American politics, here is another great example for political counter messages targeting war propaganda: Micah Ian Wright is an American author who works in film and television and also the person behind YOU Back The Attack! WE'LL Bomb Who We Want!, a compilation of his Remixed War Propaganda with introductions by Howard Zinn and Kurt Vonnegut.
Other books from Wright include If You’re Not a Terrorist... Then Stop Asking Questions! and Surveillance Means Security! and hundreds of posters are available on his site The Propaganda Remix Project. When you are there, make sure you don't miss Wright's amazing collection of Hate Mail. All typos, errors, odd word choices, logic leaps, ad hominem attacks, homophobia, and delusions are claimed to be "quoted verbatim". I've found myself spending some time reading there. It's nice to see some folks know how to take some criticism :-)
Shot or Not? New Bhutto's Assassination Video released on Channel 4
Slate magazine says "Bloggers are turning into ballistics experts" after the British Channel 4 released a new footage of Benazir Bhutto's last moments. The new video, according to Slate, is now compared to the Zapruder JFK assassination film and "further calls into question the Pakistani government's assertion that Bhutto died from hitting her head on the sunroof handle" as it clearly shows Ms. Bhutto was shot. Watch Channel 4's new Bhutto's assassination footage.
Top Ten Signs Your Country May Be Going Fascist
Protests are restricted? Leaders profit from war? Citizens closely monitored? Country might be tuning into a fascist entity? Check the above vid by Dayjob Orchestra for the Top Ten Signs Your Country May Be Going Fascist, submitted by cgt2099 picked up in the Anti War group at Mixx.
Access Denied: Twitter joins blocked site list in the United Arab Emirates
If you made a reactionary old fashioned stuck in the past bad guy angry you must have done some good. Thus, my congratulations go to Twitter this morning for joining the lauded halls of the sites banned for speaking too freely. As reported by mashable.com, the United Arab Emirates has just decided that its residents shall corrupt their souls no more and avoid tweeting with each other as much as they probably have until now. Anyone attempting to access Twitter's website from the UAE gets the above message, translated as follows:
"We apologize, the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates. If you think this site should not be blocked, please visit the Feedback Form available on our website."
Other than newly added Twitter, mashable also mentions some other members of this respected list including MySpace, Facebook and of course devilish YouTube that got himself banned from Beijing, Thailand, Morocco, Australia, and others. Should we be surprised? Not necessarily. Apparently there are even some American folks struggling to block MySpace in schools and libraries. I wonder if that's due to their ability to spread ideas freely, having such a horrible interface or simply the number of female silicon body parts one must observe every time he opens his MySpace inbox.
For more information and a detailed list of other Internet destinations being "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values" of additional bad guys check on Access Denied Map: Mapping Web 2.0 Censorship from globalvoicesonline.org, who also offer the following show your support badge.
Annapolis Conference: all eyes are on, but also the doubts
Could it be that this time, the who know which time, some real good will grow out of the current global penguin politicians parade? Looking at what is still going on in the West Bank and listening to what the Israeli settlers and right-wingers have to say, watching the way the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are divided over the meeting, allow your humble servant to share his skeptic doubts with you on the subject.
This said, lack of vision has always been one of the worst problems of my country so, with everyone spilling his skeptic doubts all over I know I should do the opposite: According to a statement published at the Annapolis conference today Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed on launching a new round of peace talks with the goal of "reaching an agreement by the end of next year." I think that is very good. lets all cross our fingers see where this is heading to.
Meanwhile, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli TV that the "Annapolis conference is a continuation of one-sided concessions by Israel" the Associated Press reported, and earlier today Israeli officials said they will "begin reducing electric power to Gaza next week in response to rocket attacks launched against Israel from Gaza".
"Begin reducing electric power to Gaza"...? Providing the Israeli government has serious intentions towards Annapolis, this must be a way to educate the Palestinian people for something but I am not sure for what. Perhaps for how to continue manufacturing bombs using less electricity and lower carbon footprint. Perhaps this is why baltimoresun.com says all eyes are on the Annapolis summit. Low-power consumption manufacturing is a hot subject nowadays.
Images courtesy of baltimoresun.com
From Columbine to Kaarst: the new nihilistic terror wave
We, the real people who send our children to school don't have any ECHELONs, CTUs, SD-6s or 8200s units to inform us when a new type of threat emerges, but we still have to realize the sad news: As if we didn't have enough of them already, a new form of anomic or nihilistic terror came into our world. It is very different from the common political / religious / military ones we know, it uses common Internet communication platforms as YouTube channels and Chat rooms. And its targeting our children when they are in school.
According The Guardian, following a tip-off from the Finnish police still investigating the murder of eight people at a school in Tuusula, Finland by an 18-year-old on November 7, 2007, German authorities closed a secondary school in Kaarst, Düsseldorf yesterday after being warned about:
"evidence on a closed internet chatroom conversation between several parties which pointed to plans for an attack in Germany [...] a plan to carry out a massacre, in the latest of a string of violent plots believed to have been hatched by students in internet chat rooms."
No evidenced link between the Finland case and the plot in Germany was reported but it does clear that both attacks appear to be "inspired by the 1999 Columbine shooting in Colorado". Now I don't know if you happen to watch Michael Moore's excellent documentary Bowling for Columbine (if you haven't I suggest you should), but to me, it becomes pretty much clear that we are dealing with a phenomena which will only become stronger over time.
The Internet as we know it was at its early stages when the Columbine terrorists, seen in the above security camera picture (source: movies.lovetoknow.com), had done their did but the message was still strong enough to get through. Pekka-Eric Auvinen could already post his plans on the web before going on a rampage at his school. Under the YouTube pseudonym Sturmgeist89, he posted a video entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007" in which he pretty much informed us all about his plans. In addition to a YouTube channel, Sturmgeist89 was also posting to a MySpace page prior to his fatal attack. It should not be so hard to believe that if such an Internet platform was already active, it would obviously might have changed a lot for many Finnish families that don't feel safe anymore.
They say there is some good and bad in just about everything and at least in Germany, where - for the good and the bad - they always have been a model for efficiency, a new Internet platform is now reported to be in planning process, aiming to allow the public sharing information about possible attacks of the new nihilistic terror wave type. I am not sure how much would this system really be a transparent user data sharing / collaboration platform, or just a new way for people to deliver information to police authorities. I hope it's the first, rather than the later, but anyway I am glad its happening and hope this would turn into a global effort, not just a German one. If you are not convinced yet, perhaps you should spend 5 minutes watching the above video posted by YouTube user phoenixgenesis.
The worst school attack in Germany's history took the lives of eighteen people - fourteen teachers, two students and a policeman - in Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, eastern Germany Friday April 26, 2002, but it seems that what this attack didn't do, the recent events do.
The "Not for Public Use" photos above courtesy of nancarrow-webdesk.com
Redmond, fasten your seat belts: Firefox 3 Beta 1 now available for download
The Microsoft IE7 folks at Redmond must be fastening their seat belts at these moments, getting ready for their largest challenge ever as the world's most superior Internet communication software has just been released as a public Beta. Firefox 3 Beta 1, AKLA 3.0b1 is now available for download with 3 operating systems and more than 20 languages already in supported list.
The rumors about Firefox 3 have been with us for a long time and a lot has been written about the third version. This Internet tool is not going to be just another crappy recycled version of the previous engine with additional bells and whistles and a few "new exciting features" stolen from others and implemented badly (have you seen the exciting new tabs on IE7? how exciting). Firefox 3 is developed as a completely new software, with much of its core re-designed from scratch. The Beta 1 is the ninth developer milestone and includes many new core functionality features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3 (see 3.0b1 release notes).
New Firefox 3 Beta 1 features:
- Improved security features such as: Better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, and version checking for insecure plugins.
- Improved ease of use through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
- Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
- Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
- Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 300 memory leak fixes, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks.
Important notes:
The Mozilla folks say they do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release as it is intended for testing purposes only. In addition, If you blog this new further (you should!) please do not link directly to the download site but to this Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone announcement so that everyone will know what this milestone is, what they should expect, and who should be downloading to participate in testing at this stage of development.
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3
Detonate on Sarah Silverman. We love you too.
Leaving very few overdensed minded folks unannoyed, this lady absolutely my favorite female star at the moment. Shooting rounds in automatic, having mercy for none, Sarah Silverman makes previously known female comedians as Sandra Bernhard look like good girls just came back from church.
"She detonates verbal WMD's about everything from Jesus's nailing to the holocaust to 9-11" wrote Village Voice critic Michael Musto who in his article Sarah Silverman Is My Kind of Cunt took the effort to explain this lovely lady for those who just don't get it:
"No, she's not really racist, she's actually commenting on racism, and even white people seem to get it. In fact, in sneakily subverting biases in between trumpeting some of her own progressive thoughts ("Nazis are a-holes," she grins, bravely), Silverman probably is politically correct—and that's the scariest thing this fudgepacking wop has heard in a coon's age."
This said, Silverman is still havening attitude problems with a quite a few folks thinking of her as a "f--king bitch". Some of them even very famous. Editing the Sarah Silverman article in Wikipedia by unregistered members or newbies, for example, is "currently disabled until November 15, 2007 (UTC) due to vandalism." I guess some people just don't read the Village Voice.
Smartly utilizing the success of Jesus is Magic, a full-length film of her one-woman show taken in front of live crowd in Los Angeles in 2004, episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program - a new hot Silverman's television show - are now running on Comedy Central and were recently known to be signed for second season. Sadly, I still didn't have the pleasure of watching any of it but I intend to do so very soon. According to Silverman's MySpace page the show is about "a detached and eccentric woman with no discernible goals whose tale will be told through an array of comedic scenes".
In the meantime, and only if you have a sense of humor, I recommend the following clip for an hilariously funny, great Saturday morning entertainment time. Thanks go to my FaceBook friend Roi for the I Love You More clip. Keep on doing the good work, Sarah. We love you too.
I Love You More
Sarah Silverman
I love you more than bears love honey
I love you more than jews love money
I love you more than asians are good at math
I love you even if it's not hip
I love you more than black ppl don't tip
I love you then portericans need baths
I love you more than girls love dolls
I love you more than dogs love balls
I love you more than the white stuff in a zit
I love you Like Gary Busey
I love you more than dikes love pussy
I love you more than my aftershow monster bong hit