Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

The dead walk, ghosts shuffle from doorway to doorway. Witches and warlocks roam the night, and glowing lamps dot the path every few feet. Your eyes cannot be trusted, and your mind can be trusted even less. Nightmares are given shape and substance, and spirits rise to claim your mind and soul.

I am speaking, of course, of National Novel Writing Month. Why? What did you think I was talking about?

Well, shatter-bones, you seem like a joker. Playing
pranks is funny to you of course. You like to
fool around with others and be, well, annoying.
Haha. Egg-throwing and smashing windows on
Halloween must be entertaining. If you’re
having fun, then good for you. Just don’t take
it too far or get caught. Happy Halloween,
Mr./Ms. Funny Bones.


)/”> What Halloween Figure Are You?
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At 5:55 PM today, Radio Free ArtMachine officially went dark.

That’s the time that Live365 confirmed the cancellation of the account behind the radio station. Originally intended as an extension of the music end of the ArtMachine, RFA was plagued by irregular update schedules and a clunky interface. In the end, the station was too difficult to maintain properly and too expensive to keep up for a site that brings in little to no money.

In the coming week, I’m going to be testing out Rogue Amoeba’s Nicecast as a new delivery system that might allow Radio Free ArtMachine to continue broadcasting. So far, the price is right ($30 dollar one-time fee, no monthly cost), and the interface makes it insanely easy to update the playlist (it runs off of iTunes). And that’s not to mention that it’s easy to broadcast live voice-overs, making live broadcast – once a financial and technological impossibility for yours truly – a very real option.

Until I figure out exactly what’s going on, however, Radio Free ArtMachine is officially off the air. It’s been a long, strange trip. Thanks for coming along.

With my insatiable appetite for self-promotion, you would think that I would never be able to miss a story like this appearing on the Creative Commons website.

Evan Lawrence’s mix was a nice reinterpretation of the song and DBF’s inventive and humorous mix featured a synthesized voice of a woman leaving an answering machine for an IBM typewriter, which was also a staff favorite.

Yes, yes. For those of you in the know, you realize that DBF is, in fact, my acid funk alterego Deep Blue Funk. And the mix they’re referring to is the one that I mentioned here. I’m working hard to keep my ego in check. It’s wonderful praise, considering that I didn’t quite make the cut for their new CD. But I’m working hard to keep my ego in check.

Deutsche Welle reports that German politicians are up in arms over a Union ad campaign that shows teenagers killing themselves because they can’t get jobs and apprenticeships.

To a soundtrack of hard-core music, the one-minute ad shows teens preparing to commit various forms of suicide. One girl slings a rope over a rafter, another presses a razor blade into her wrist —the camera then shifts to the sink full of water as a drop of blood trickles down. In another scene, a boy pulls a gun out of a desk and puts it in his mouth.

The screen goes black at the end and a second later white writing informs viewers that the country is lacking more than 150,000 trainee positions, leaving hundreds of thousands of school graduates without a job.

“Youth need a future, youth need prospects,” is the tag line on the ad, and the union bosses are very happy with it.

Wow. That’s not just an ad, that’s an EX-treeeeeme ad!

What I find interesting is psychologist Franz-Josef Kimmig’s response to the ad.

“What I find especially bad is that the video clearly shows how to commit suicide” said Kimmig. “You can almost imitate the techniques.”

Um.

Y’know, there are plenty of other ways to find out how to commit suicide. There have even been books published on the subject. He makes a valid point elsewhere in the article – that teens who have contemplated suicide and are no the edge may see these spots as a final straw. But, honestly, anything can be a final straw. It really doesn’t matter if it’s “Gloomy Sunday” or “The Happy-Happy Joy-Joy” song if you’re looking for a last straw.

Is the ad extreme? Yes. It is. But I don’t know that you can honestly state that it’s going to cause the suicide rates to skyrocket. It’s an extreme ad that draws attention to what the Unions see as a major problem.

If there’s a real objection to be made to such an ad, it’s one that applies to some American campaigns, as well. If you want to talk over-the-top, there’s the new MPAA ads (“Stop pirating our movies or we’ll fire the lighting guy and his family will starve!!!”). And there’s the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s 9/11 ads (“Dirty, pot-smoking druggies are responsible for the deaths of millions of patriotic Americans!). And that’s not to mention the corporate-sponsored shows like Disney’s “look-how-multicultural-we-are” animated entry, “The Proud Family” (which devoted an entire episode to the idea that p2p file swapping bankrupts multi-million dollar artists and starves their families).

They may not be as horrifying as the German Unions’ new suicide ad, but there’s a common thread. Do you see it? Teen suicide, two sets of starving families, and terrorist murders.

They’re all guilt trips! Yaaay!

Yes, it’s the new millennium. If you can’t make a point with facts, make a point with guilt. Make people feel bad enough, and they’ll change their behavior. Whether it’s stopping mp3 trading, selling bootleg flicks on DVD, or setting up apprenticeships for teenagers.

At long last, we have an anti-spam plugin installed! Many thanks to Thud, who is not only a gracious host, but a fast installer, as well. I’m glad we’re related.

Now, if I could just get Palm Desktop to install properly on my new installation of OS X, I’d be set.

I come home from a trip to Arlington, and what do I find?

238 spam comments.

I’m in the middle of deleting them. Right now.

Needless to say, my current mood is… less than stellar.

The New York Times reports that Clark and Lieberman are skipping Iowa.

Lieberman has apparently decided that he’s going to win the nomination by skipping any place that doesn’t like him. Which, honestly, might not be such a good idea. When many voting Americans see you as a passionless cold fish of a candidate, the last thing you want to do is walk away from a state because it might be difficult to win.

And that’s not to mention the message that it sends to the voters in Iowa. If Lieberman goes on to win the Democratic nomination, he will have sent a message to Iowans that he considers them a low priority. Having played the “You never liked me, anyway” card in Iowa, he’ll have a hard time convincing voters that he’ll make a good President. How can you trust a President when he feels your state isn’t worth the effort?

Lieberman’s already having a difficult time convincing the voters that he’ll go the distance against the financial and propoganda juggernaut. Perhaps Iowa is a battle he won’t win – but he won’t prove that he can win America by giving up without a fight.

Clark, on the other hand, has a different reason for leaving.

General Clark’s advisers said they concluded last week that his late-starting candidacy had left him unable to assemble the intricate organization needed to win the Iowa race, which puts a premium on drawing voters to some 2,000 precinct caucuses. Most of the state’s experienced organizers have signed with other candidates.

“What we’ll do is what I call the General MacArthur strategy,” a senior Clark adviser said. “General MacArthur was very successful in World War II because he skipped over the Japanese strongholds, where they were more organized, and instead picked islands that were favorable or neutral terrain. Which means we would choose not to focus resources on Iowa and instead focus them on New Hampshire and on Feb. 3,” when there are Democratic contests in seven states.

I’m certain the Democratic party appreciates being compared to Japan in World War II. To follow Clark’s tendency to think in military terms, I doubt that he has Little Boy and Fat Man hiding in reserve – or that he would know where to drop them if he did.

I’ve likened General Clark to a latecomer at a pot-luck picnic who shows up to the tables hauling a massive tupperware full o’ chicken soup after everybody’s already finished off their banana pudding and pulled out their bingo cards. He’s bringing not much more to the table than his name and military credentials, and any time people point out his lack of substance, he responds by saying that he hasn’t been in the race long enough.

Perhaps it made sense when he spent the entirety of his first debate complaining that he had only been in the race for eight days, but by now he has to have more to offer than excuses and promises. We can’t hang our hopes on somebody who offers a bright smile and a big name instead of firm positions or a plan of action – that’s how we wound up with Schwarzenegger running a state.

As I’ve said before, we need a fighter to go up against Bush. Bush may have a record of bad stumbles and big messes, but he’s also got massive sponsorship, a giant propaganda machine, and one of the biggest and most experienced dirty tricks squadrons ever assembled.

Dean has already cast down the gauntlet by campaigning in Texas – a state expected to be a Bush stronghold in the next election. It’s a daring move that shows he’s committed to winning a true mandate from the people, and not just a Supreme Court decision. The question now is who’s going to follow suit, and who’s going to pull out old military tactics and advance… to the rear.

I have to admit, the Thai know how to protest – witness their decision to steal Bush’s spirit, trap it in a clay vessel, and sink it to the bottom of a river.

“This is a traditional northern Thai ceremony aimed at keeping his spirit down on the riverbed so he could not come and exploit our natural resources or suppress our (farming) brothers with his superior influence,” Weerasak Wan-ubol, an executive of the Northern Farmers Alliance, said today.

It’s a funny enough story, but you know what? It couldn’t hurt.

Here’s one type of stunt. A man straps himself into a rocket-powered car at the foot of a huge ramp that peaks at the edge of a massive canyon. If he’s off by a few inches or not going the proper speed, he’ll either overshoot the other side and be killed on impact as his car goes up in a nice, smokey fireball, or he’ll undershoot the other side and die on impact as his car smashes headfirst into the opposite canyon wall (again, producing a nice, smokey fireball).

Here’s another stunt. You can be an internationally-proclaimed hero for doing the kind of stuff David Blaine does and putting up with this (as reported by The Sunday Mirror):

HOW HIS BODY HAS BEEN HIT

BREATH: Will smell because of ketone bodies – the body’s emergency fuel source – expiring through his lungs.

LIPS: Likely to be cracked because of a lack of B group vitamins.

BONES: Loss of calcium and collagens will make bones more brittle. The inactivity will put him at risk of getting severe osteoporosis later in life.

LIVER: May have shrunk by as much as a quarter because of the loss of proteins and the lack of food passing through his system.

KIDNEYS: Will have wasted and reduced in size. Shouldn’t be too damaged – it is possible to survive on one third of one kidney.

MUSCLES: Wastage will be high as the body starves them of proteins to boost his immune system. and his arms, legs and chest will be most affected. It will be difficult for him to walk or stand.

BRAIN: Likely to have swollen by up to six per cent as salt is pulled elsewhere. Extra pressure may cause him delusions and disorientation.

EYES: Will have blurred vision through low blood pressure and the swelling of his brain may have put stress on optic nerves.

HEART: Will have shrunk by five-10 per cent as the body begins to “eat” itself to hunt for vital proteins. Irregular heartbeat too.

STOMACH: Will have shrunk, and he’ll feel full on much less food more quickly. But it is elastic and should stretch again.

INTESTINES: No digestive juices will have been produced so enzymes in gut wall will have disappeared. Diarrhoea and food poisoning are likely.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll take the rocket-powered car, any day.