Lamp Life

Sitting in the airport on Houston, I see a story on CNN about the closing of Virgin Megastore and I think… Who cares?

Really?

The story bemoans the lack of personal interaction online, the loss of a hub for information on concerts and events, and the lack of tactile interaction with… well… product.

The kicker is that they report the store is still profittable, but they can make more renting it. Shouldn’t this be the clue that this isn’t a tragedy?

If Ameoba or Waterloo Records closed then I’d care, like when Cactus closef in Housyon, but not Virgin. If your coorporate history is diversified through music and airlines I’m not convinced you were in it for the music. It is like crying about the closing of a border’s by invoking the name of Dutton’s or another now gone independent book seller.

I don’t appreciate the culture of record shopping being exploited in this way to generate human interest. I don’t think of Virgin as the place that I go for the passionate clerks. I expect marketing.

And I’m fine with that, but let’s call a spade a spade. The different between a CD and a good MP3? Plastic.

1. Persistence. What you say sticks around. This is great for asynchronicity, not so great when everything you’ve ever said has gone down on your permanent record. The bits-wise nature of social media means that a great deal of content produced through social media is persistent by default.

2. Replicability. You can copy and paste a conversation from one medium to another, adding to the persistent nature of it. This is great for being able to share information, but it is also at the crux of rumor-spreading. Worse: while you can replicate a conversation, it’s much easier to alter what’s been said than to confirm that it’s an accurate portrayal of the original conversation.

3. Searchability. My mother would’ve loved to scream search into the air and figure out where I’d run off with friends. She couldn’t; I’m quite thankful. But with social media, it’s quite easy to track someone down or to find someone as a result of searching for content. Search changes the landscape, making information available at our fingertips. This is great in some circumstances, but when trying to avoid those who hold power over you, it may be less than ideal.

4. Scalability. Social media scales things in new ways. Conversations that were intended for just a friend or two might spiral out of control and scale to the entire school or, if it is especially embarrassing, the whole world. Of course, just because something can scale doesn’t mean that it will. Politicians and marketers have learned this one the hard way.

5. delocatability. With the mobile, you are dislocated from any particular point in space, but at the same time, location-based technologies make location much more relevant. This paradox means that we are simultaneously more and less connected to physical space.

via Failures of social media | Marginal Utility | PopMatters.

Rogue Artists Ensemble is now looking for actors, puppeteers and movement-based performers for a staged workshop version of their upcoming original Hyper-theatrical work, Gogol Project, based on three tales by

Russian author Nikolai Gogol. The script been adapted for the stage by Kitty Felde with music and songs by Ego Plum.

The workshop will begin rehearsals the 2nd week of April and the workshop performs Tuesday April 28-Wednesday April 29th at Bootleg Theater on Beverly Blvd. Rehearsals will be Mon-Thurs with select

rehearsals on weekends leading up to the performance. There is a one-night mandatory technical rehearsal on Monday April 27th from 6pm – 11pm.

For more information including the character breakdown, click “read more.”

There is no pay for the workshop, but it will be a rewarding and inspiring experience for all involved The full production of Gogol Project will take place from September through October at Bootleg Theater, and

auditions will be held in July. Participation in this preliminary workshop does not guarantee a role in the full production. The workshop performance will be open to the public and pay-what-you-can/free.

The cast size for the workshop will be twelve actors, some of which will be performing as the silent characters and puppet based characters in the piece. Gogol Project will require an ensemble of actors to together create

the over twenty characters which populate the world of Nevsky Prospect. The workshop will feature some projected elements, puppets, set and costumes in order to help approximate the feel of the full production.

Interested artists should submit by March 20th to scawelti@rogueartists.org, including their resume and headshot if available.

Cast will be contacted by March 27th and auditions/readings may be scheduled if needed.

via Rogue Artists Ensemble – AUDITION: Gogol Project Workshop.

Super Mario vs NYC — street art – Boing Boing .

home .

So before you sign up for those dance classes, or file that 501c3 to start your organization you need to be honest with yourself . . . are you really ready to compete with the monsters?

If not, then dont try to make a living at it.

Dont even start.

Because this thing we do is serious business and the penalty for not understanding that can be very high.

via The Mission Paradox Blog: Monsters.

YouTube – indy convergence sustainability.

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.