On Subscription Art
TurningArt has a cool . This is an essential service for any artist collective. Basically, a monthly subscription that funds the ongoing development of new art with a particular aesthetic/feel/ideal.
With the right software (we’re using some of this right now) anyone could contribute, and contributors could self-regulate what is released in the collective’s name. Alternatively, keep it a closed network.
Note, I use the term artist loosely. This includes those who design (or even just design specifications) for products or tools.
Topographies of Fear
How players interact with the physical environment shapes how Amnesia evokes fear and anxiety.
I want to do the same using a sensor/stage system in real life. It would be 10,000 times better than any of the fluff at Disneyland or Universal studios. An incredible environment to train in as well.
A Spattering of What I’ve Read
Along with a lot about Mondragon, I’ve read: The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris, Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis, and The Year’s Best SF 15, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. (I’ve been reading a lot more since getting a Kindle and you should too.)
A really cool ‘neo-noir’ (or whatever) survey of the American wasteland. Take most of what is perceived as the excesses of today (wealth, power, drugs, sexual promiscuity, etc) to the n’th degree. Call it the mainstream. That’s what Warren has done here. Also, its a very short book so quick and fun to read.
Very circular. However, if you make it through the overwrought, you’ll find some really haunting, poetic paragraphs that speak to the nature of love, distance, health, and family. One of those books that makes you appreciate those around you, and demands you raise yourself above the complacency born of being around them.
I don’t normally do compilations (rarely do I find myself aligned with the perspective of the editors), but this was fun. Bruce Sterling’s ‘Black Swan’ is great with hints of Inception, Peter Watts ‘The Island’ was simply stunning, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The Consciousness Problem” raises some interesting questions about love and clones.
