Tom Friedman hones in on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill that passed in the House last week. He makes a good point: the bill is weak in terms of actual policy, but it does change the tide on the US position in regards to climate change. Ever so slowly, we're waking up to the need for a robust cap and trade system that strictly regulates carbon emissions. Yes, Waxman-Markey's passing is just a slight cognitive shift -- but first we change minds, then we change the use of resources.
Open-source software, digital piracy, Lawrence Lessig -- most of you has heard about this stuff for a decade (at least). It's 2009, remixing ain't new. There's a gaggle WIRED mag articles about this stuff (very cool indeed), but let's think about it from the perspective of an artist.
Here's a question that Lessig and his beloved cohorts occasionaly dodge: do over-bearing copyright laws inhibit art?
Abe Lincoln, a man that believed in the sanctity of the law, might agree with Lessig -- yes, the government inhibits creativity by suppressing the public domain. But in 2009, with a lot more laws than there used to be -- patriot acts, etc. -- we can't exactly apply the same standards that Abe had in his day. Breaking and bending the law -- especially by the use of technology -- might be closer to a heroic act than it is to treason.
It's that heroism that's led to some of the most characteristic art of the last fifty years. "If you live outside the law, you must be honest," Dylan said it years ago and he's still on-point: this type of "honesty" upholds art that superceeds law and corporate culture. Youtube mashup stars and your very own Greg Gillis, they're valuable and valued by society as they walk a path that was walked (and not copyrighted) by MANY artists before them.
Picasso with his masks, Dylan with his blues, DJs with their dub plates -- art will go on being created and copied. That Girltalk kitsch factor might evaporate, but art won't falter (hasn't necesarily faltered) because of copyright stricture. We've got more limits to defy, and more to work within.
On a tip from GLICKEN, I snagged a ticket to the second sold-out showing of House, part of the Japanese Film Festival in NYC. It was amazing, like Buñuell vs. the Brady Bunch with Japanese schoolgirls. Keep an eye out next year; if we're lucky, Criterion will release House from its cobwebs and press a proper DVD.
The house above can be heated by just one blow dryer. Impossible, you say? The secret is
in a windowpane made of a whole bunch of ridiculous shit I don’t know
about (triple thermal glass panes, three rubber gaskets, six insulating air
chambers and a protective Plexiglas laminate).
These super-special-secret-futuristic windowpanes
must accompany a super-special-secret-futuristic house. The house is constructed with energy efficient
walls and combined with the window panes; there's a potential to cut energy use by
90% per house.
This sustainable standard is aptly named German
Passivhaus and one of the first American houses (see above) to meet the new code can be found in Hood
River, Oregon. To become certified, you can barely use heating and cooling energy (less than 15
kilowatt-hours per square meter per year); you must use very little other
energy (less than 120 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year) and you must
build your shit airtight.
More science on Passivhaus standards from Wikipedia here.
By now you've probably seen the totally awesome "BANG" video getting put up all over the web. Here we've got the first of 3 remixes we'll be bringing you of Rye Rye's "BANG" featuring M.I.A. This one will suck you in if you let it, it
ain't one of dem short player remixes for sure. Here are a couple of
behind the scene shots from the Bang video shoot. Pictures by Benjamin
Bronfman. Remix by Futures from NYC.
Kingston native, Terri Lynn
put on solid gold set last night with our very own sweet Swede, Johan from The Very Best.
There was hotties, Red Stripe, Theophilus London - pure magic really.
My soul got a much needed dose of dance hall medicine. People, get on Twitter; you won't regret being where rad hits the fan. Stay up!
On a rainy summer day, there's nothing better than Gilberto Gil's 1968 masterpiece. It's an album -- like the extraordinary Gil e Jorge -- that separates the purists from the artists. Search the net and find reviews of Gilberto Gil that criticize its roughness, its lack of precision. But where this album succeeds -- and why it overwhelms -- is in its real-life majesty: sheets of rain against a window, cavaclades of teenagers in love with Sgt. Peppers. It's a tropicalia symphony and I wouldn't be surprised to see it re-rendered by a real symphony. Stream a track below, Luzia Luluza. Or head to the wonderland that is LORONIX and grab the whole album.
The most immediate solution to "unhealthy for everyone" air quality in LA is to go to the beach. But now there's another answer: California will soon impose a number of regulations on motor vehicle emissions. NPR reports that the act will require automakers to increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles by 40 percent over the next 7 years. The regulations are an interesting development as California will be the first state to implement its own stricter emissions laws. The Bush administration had repeatedly rejected the state's request to impose such a law. The new regulations are expected to pave the way for a national requirement to reduce emissions; 14 states have already said that they hope to soon follow California's lead.
Archaeologists have recently discovered a vulture-bone flute in a German cave that is, as of now, the world's oldest recognizable musical instrument. Full story and streaming flute tone via NYTIMES here. The flute displays an early tradition of music that probably helped our ancestors communicate and "form social bonds". Someone please sample that shit.
Before the Very Best summer tour in July, our man Johan (1/2 Radioclit, 1/3 The Very Best) gets it poppin with Jamaican superstar, Terry Lynn. They hooked up with Red Stripe and Fader Mag for a digital EP that you can download free here. Perfect for summertime simmerin.
Leif's MySpace was the first thing to catch my eye -- the way he took West Africa ideas and laced them with new retro style. Yesterday he and I connected via email for this Mugshot Monday exclusive: Leif talks Vikings, griots and ballet. T I M B S streams below.
What's the cross between your music and your other art? My
background in the arts is really in dance, not music nor visual arts.
In high school I had the
privilege of studying with a postmodern dance company and I fully
realized how much a choreographer could use mixed media skills to
create a world. What's the strangest thing you've ever smelled? A dry fish market in Hong Kong.
What are your politics? I'm
a fan of the Nordic & Folkhemmet models, which are social
democracies; reformed socialist with more progressive government
programs and flexicurity. But I think those systems only work with the
prerequisites of access to infrastructure, community, and equality,
which is why the only nations that implent social democracy are
homogeneous first world nations.
How do you transcend? With a Sun Salutation.
Where are you on the brink of something new? I'm a gay black cherokee from manhattan. i'm influenced by rap and experimental. if that's good, bad, or ugly... i don't know, but i'm sure it's new.
What's your African story? How does it relate to New York? African story: I'm half African, I've never been to Africa. Relation to NY: Slavery → Jim Crow → Great Migration
← Greencard.
Tell us a story about your name. My name is not Leif, it's Khalif. Kah-leif. Caliph is the English translation from Arabic. Leif / Leaf was just what some friends in middle school called me. I chose Leif
because I had a childhood obsession with Vikings.
Where do you see yourself in fifty years? The life expectancy for a Senegalese man is 50. The life expectancy for an African-American man is 70. I'm 20... it's easy math.
Who would you like to collaborate with that is far from your own style
+ environment? Sade. Edu K.
What are the most pressing environmental concerns facing our planet? I
think climate change and globalization are rather inevitable, therefore
migration, adaptation and consumption very well may be be too. I think
there needs to be more investment in renewable energy and sustainable
materials now, instead of another war of resources later. What traditions do you wish to inherit? I
want all the ancestral storytelling powers that both Gullah and Wolof
emphasize. I know both of my family histories dating back to
pre-colonial days and I wanna be the family griot, even if I'm from the
wrong caste.
When saltwater is saturated with carbon dioxide it will often grow algae. Through photosynthesis, algae can convert the carbon dioxide and water into ethanol. Dow Chemicals and Algenol Biofuels will attempt to utilize this simple chemistry and create a large amount of ethanol (100,000 gallons a year) in a relatively small demonstration plant. Using algae as a source of ethanol has recently captured the attention of energy companies because it is renewable source of fuel and doesn't require a lot of farmland or space. The only exhaust from the demonstration plant will be carbon dioxide, which could be put to work spawning more algae.
Enticing algae to produce commercially profitable amounts of ethanol, however, has proved difficult so far. Ethanol would potentially be sold as vehicle fuel, but, if the technology is cooperative, it will replace natural gas as an ingredient in plastics.
Gentrification is creeping up to collect another casualty. What once served as a home, studio, creative space, store and employer is
now closed, ready to be sold and polished up into a swanky martini bar
or clothing store for dogs with three legs. There is a quaint little place in Portland, Oregon that attempts to reincarnate the Claes Oldenburg we have in all of us. Store for a Monthis a creative niche where curator, John Brodie, and others can indulge in their artist endeavors with the chance of making a buck and a few friends. Store for a Month allows artist to create on-site and sell their projects to the public. Over 70 artists participate and a couple shack up in the space. However, due to the market and "financial global meltdown" the space can no longer sustain itself. It is so disheartening to know that something as important as community, art and togetherness is overshadowed and bullied by our credit compulsions and consumer consequences.
Who needs mortar and bricks? Denver's AIR FORREST makes the most out of the wind. This sculpture / tent -structure fills itself with wind and stays inflated. It's an art piece, it's a shelter, and it's transportable. More on the AIR FORREST from our buds at InHabitat here.
