Warren Ellis's Blog, page 182

Links for 2010-11-24

Deficit hit men target NASA's post-shuttle plans
"Spaceflight vendors stand to lose $1.2 billion in NASA funding in 2015 under a proposal by the co-chairmen of President Barack Obama's bipartisan deficit commission."
(tags:space )
New Body Printable Organic Body Armor is Twice as Strong as Kevlar
"scientists have just created a new super strong material based on the plaque found in Alzheimer?s patients? brains."
(tags:war sci tech )
Minus – Share simply.
"Minus helps you create and share galleries online."
(tags:web )
DropMocks
"DropMocks is the easiest way to create and share beautiful image galleries online."
(tags:web )
Marian Churchland: Spaceship
"Man, wouldn?t a cosy spaceship be the best thing ever? Hot damn, yes it would."
(tags:art )

STATION IDENT: EG Gauger

This week's Station Idents are provided by artist EG Gauger.

This piece of art, executed in Walnut inkwash on a piece of marble slab lifted from bulldozed junk piles in Berlin's St. Marien cemetery, is for sale. Find out more at this link.

A Happy Customer

Jack Crowder — which may be a pseudonym for a seasonal worker of note — appears pleased with his new shirt from IEU:

Links for 2010-11-24

German physicists create a 'super-photon'
"Physicists from the University of Bonn have developed a completely new source of light, a so-called Bose-Einstein condensate consisting of photons. Until recently, expert had thought this impossible. This method may potentially be suitable for designing novel light sources resembling lasers that work in the X-ray range."
(tags:sci )
ORC STAIN – Viva La Gronch!
finally, James Stokoe gets a blog up
(tags:comics )
Brandon Graham – Where Im at
the weekly glory of Brandon Graham
(tags:comics )
Exclusive Rotary Signal Emitter videos
"Watch exclusive videos of Sculpture's animated LP…"
(tags:music video )

GUEST INFORMANT: Moon Wiring Club

I sent a telegram to Moon Wiring Club, fine purveyors of (and coiners of the term) Confusing English Electronic Music, asking that they provide me a list of their six favourite new pieces of said music from the year. The following appeared on my laptop screen this afternoon in a puff of radiophonic phlogiston:

1. VHS HEAD ~ Trademark Ribbons of Gold

SKAM return from nothingness and release a spliced master-class in FUN electonica, fusing murky (yes) 80s VHS voiceovers/synth-action with a right weird ear, this must be light-years ahead of everyone else recycling Tangerine Dream. 2009's 'Video Club' EP was fine, but this is something else entirely, and the reason I've been saying 'Academy Award Winner ~ Academy Award Winner' everyday for the past 2 months. Perhaps not everyone's cuppa if you don't have an taste for the partly party frenetic, but this is deeply wonderful stuff. And from Blackpool.

2. D D Denham ~ Electronic Music in the Classroom

DDD his risen from the grave to throw us this archived artefact. Using period instruments, techniques and glue, the fictional entity know as 'Jon Brooks' flexes his audio-chops and shows us all how he gained 'Irrational Treasure' status.   No one else 'alive' has the skills to create this download-only nicely sliced delight. You can tell it isn't real because it's just too good.   So good, the British Museum want it for their fancy cabinet of 21st century curiosities.

3. Broadcast and the Focus Group ~ Familiar Shapes and Noises

The bestest so far in the charming Ghost Box Study Series Sevens sees 'Inside Out' sprawling breakbeats and synth across wonky bells, spooky clavichord and an owd Joanna. Trish seems to be singing whilst wandering around a different record alogether, and an unknown voice keeps saying 'Falling' (or summat) in your right ear. Oh! What ever-more do you want? It's Bob's full house.

4. The Bug ~ Skeng (Autechre Dub)

Given away FREE via FACT this grotty nugget bewitched me for several weeks of non-stop festering rotation. Sounding like something left out by the bins and growing like a Krynoid of FUNK, it fused two sound-worlds into a tip-top vortex of grot.

5. Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services ~ Black Mill Tapes Vol.1

PCATS confused everyone with a stunning fizzy fuzzbag of authentic tape-mangling and top-notch gloomy atmospherics. The catchely titled 'Electronic Rhythm Number Three' and 'Electronic Rhythm Number Eight' gave us some marvellously mildewed but propelling, euphoric moments, whilst the assortment of murky-tape drones on offer were clearly dredged from local canal using 'special techniques'.

6. The Hardy Tree ~ The Fields Lie Sleeping Underneath.

Oh! This charmingly picturesque puzzle-box is a lovely hand-crafted jewel of a thing. Very wistful and calming, this was this my soundtrack to stuffing large cardboard envelopes with more cardboard and I enjoyed every bloomin' moment. The cd itself really is the most beautiful thing I've bought all year. An exceedingly complete delight!

On a non-CEEM TIP (?), I would be reet wrong to not mention AMAZING music from oOoOO, LA Vampires, Umberto, Washed Out, Madlib and Zola Jesus & totally tons of others. And from last year Fever Ray cast a rather large shadow. AND finally, for next year can we have some proper UK electro-murky-female-goth-hop-weird music PLEASE.

Moon Wiring Club's new long player is the gloriously mental "A Spare Tabby At The Cat's Wedding," and you can learn more about that at this link here.

Related articles

Moon Wiring Club: music for children, by children (guardian.co.uk)

STATION IDENT: EG Gauger

This week's Station Idents are provided by artist EG Gauger.

This piece of art, executed in Walnut inkwash on a piece of marble slab lifted from bulldozed junk piles in Berlin's St. Marien cemetery, is for sale. Find out more at this link.

Headline Of The Day

Early Universe was a liquid

Links for 2010-11-22

Not by the Direct Method., A female hoplite?

"Think not the less of me if this is the first time I?ve run across something in a history book which admits the possibility of Greek female warriors."

(tags:history )
DAMIR DOMA SINGLE – WILD EYES

another Former Ghosts collab

(tags:music )
Found Objects: Robinson's Return

"Patrick Keiller has a new film on release, 'Robinson in Ruins', and this is a cause for some celebration. Those already familiar with his earlier works 'London' (1994) and 'Robinson in Space' (1997) will appreciate another adventure for his itinerant alter ego Robinson as he dispenses wisdom and wishful thinking on a diverse range of topics including psychogeography, occult references, English revolutionaries, politics, the environment and social commentary in the manner of Ian Sinclair, Ian Nairn and George Orwell, Baudelair's flâneur and Situationist dérives. There is perhaps a further dose of hauntology thrown into the mix, as the promotional material suggests Robinson now attempts to communicate with 'non-human intelligences', returning from time in prison like a ghost in search of somewhere to haunt…"

(tags:film )
Research carries cautionary warning for future stem cell applications

"The research indicates a possible danger of cancerous tissue development in the use of such cells."

(tags:med )
Breakthrough could lead to disposable e-readers

"A breakthrough in a University of Cincinnati engineering lab that could clear the way for a low-cost, even disposable, e-reader is gaining considerable attention."

(tags:tech )
Researchers kick-start ancient DNA

"Binghamton University researchers recently revived ancient bacteria trapped for thousands of years in water droplets embedded in salt crystals."

(tags:sci )
Learning Without Frontiers – Immersive Theatre

"we are developing a show entitled Professor Scopps' Travelling Library, where the children are asked to help the Professor and his assistants to fill the library with facts, thoughts, feelings and ideas. The live show is supported by an interactive website, where the children's contributions to the library, in whatever media they choose to create them, are stored and can be shared with other schools participating in the project."

(tags:performance comms net )

Conan! What Is Best In Life?

"Cutting off your own thumbs. Because, you know, fuck evolution."

notebook 23nov10

In which I grab mostly visual posts and pieces off Tumblr and other places and stuff them in my online notebook. All text below is by the linked authors.

* paperbits:

Z Axis Extender Kit for Makerbot Cupcake by Zydac – Thingiverse

Here we have a hardware upgrade that significantly modifies the capabilities of an open-source robotic 3D printer. Which is designed to be printed on that printer. And is uploaded to a social-software site for sharing fabricatable designs, forking them, and resubmitting improvements.

Let's say that again: this is a downloadable hardware upgrade for an affordable robot that can fabricate its own components.Which I am linking to, because it's been shared on a kind of Flickr for fabricatable objects.

* kateoplis:

The Hindenburg flying over Manhattan in 1936 or 1937. It burned and crashed in May 1937 at Lakehurst, NJ.

NYT: Streetscapes: The Empire State Building=