Wikileaks as (Matrix) Breaker

Wikileaks as Matrix Breaker from jim on Vimeo.

Julian 'Breaker' Assange

In prison cell I sadly sit,
A d__d crest-fallen chappie!
And own to you I feel a bit-
A little bit - unhappy!


It really ain't the place nor time
To reel off rhyming diction -
But yet we'll write a final rhyme
Whilst waiting cru-ci-fixion!


No matter what "end" they decide -
Quick-lime or "b'iling ile," sir?
We'll do our best when crucified
To finish off in style, sir!

Butchered to make a Dutchman's Holiday by Harry Breaker Morant (1902)

There are Always Videos

Things have not been exactly hectic on this blog in recent months. Doing the final stages of a PhD thesis is cutting into my time to write about anything else. However, I have no intention of giving up blogging. In fact in recent weeks I have been reawakened to the amazing opportunities and learning experiences that blogging makes possible. At the same time, it is time that restricts my ability to produce content here. I have a lot of ideas (too many) but bringing them to form and fruition is not something I can invest in at the moment. This has resulted in an increased focus on my Vlog. Video blogging is not logocentric in the same way a written journal-type blog is. Blogging videos is quick and there is no end of inspirational films on the net. So, I urge any readers of this blog who have found some resonance with what I am concerned with and their own interests to check out Soul Vlog. Here is a taste of my taste in the moving image;



9 is a computer animated short film by Shane Acker released in 2005 as a student project. Tim Burton saw the film and was so impressed by its artistic vision that he went on to produce an almost feature-length adaptation called 9 (2009), directed by Acker and distributed by Focus Features.

A lot more is HERE

Jumpcut is Finished

Dear Jumpcut user,

After careful consideration, we will be officially closing the Jumpcut.com site on June 15, 2009. This was a difficult decision to make, but it's part of the ongoing prioritization efforts at Yahoo!

Very soon, we'll be releasing a software utility that will allow you to download the movies you created on Jumpcut to your computer. We'll send instructions to this email address when the download utility is available.

Once you download your movies, you may choose to upload them to another site such as Flickr, which now allows video uploads. You can find out more here: http://www.flickr.com/explore/video/

Thanks for your understanding and thanks for being a part of Jumpcut.

The Jumpcut Team

A shame when an inovative site dies. The video sharing and remix site jumpcut.com was more innovative than many of the dominant online video sharing sites:

If creating a video and publishing it to the web seems like a challenge, we think you'll find that Jumpcut makes it easy and fun. If you've been wondering what to do with the video you shoot with your snazzy new camera (or your phone), Jumpcut is the perfect place for you to be creative. If video isn't your thing just yet and you just want to make cool slideshows with your pictures, Jumpcut is still the best place.

Finally, a free online location where you can use all your media, create great looking movies and publish to anyone you choose. There's nothing else like it.
Community

Because everything is online, as soon as you sign in to Jumpcut, you'll instantly be part of an online creative community. This means you can look through all of the media that other people have made public and grab anything to use in your own movie. If you choose, you can share any of your stuff with the community as well. If you missed the shot of The Big Moment, chances are, someone else got it, so the more people that join the community and share their stuff, the better it gets for everyone. Think of the fun you could have making a movie with a group of friends, or even a group of people you've never met, but share an interest with. Imagine coming home from a concert and having everyone's footage to make your own music video with! This kind of creative collaboration is unique to Jumpcut.
Remixing

Most likely, you've seen the big "Remix" button by now. Remixing is another feature unique to Jumpcut. Basically, Remixing is creating your own version of someone else's movie, usually incorporating elements from the original, and adding more content or maybe just some of your own style and spicy goodness. It's an easy way to get started, and you can do it with the click of a button on any published movie. When you click "Remix", we'll pull back the curtain and show you what's behind the scenes. Then you can get busy being creative. Don't worry, you're not destroying someone else's work, you're just making your own copy. And if yours is better than the original, so be it. The community will tell you.

Two Videos I have on Jumpcut:

Virtual Worlds and baile funk.


My Life as Dream as Life

Wiretapping Sweden

Wiretapping Sweden (2008)
Documentary about the blogosphere reaction to surveillance laws passed earlier this year in Sweden. The documentary in English is a good introduction to the information economy of Sweden. A high quality copy of the video can be obtained by clicking here.

(New) YouTube Full Screen

The YouTube Video full screen flash map seems to be a new thing. I have not seen it before today and I can't find much about it on the web. It opens after you have watched the video in fullscreen mode.
I have found interesting connections with other videos/artists that I did not know about it from my own few vids I have on YouTube. Such as this sitar session series, which for some reasons links to one of my videos on the new YouTube interface.

Update:
"a dynamic data visualization tool embedded in (almost all) YouTube movies that supports the discovery of related videos. how to see it? go watch a YouTube video such as this one. then select the full-screen option. then click on the 2nd button on the left, at the bottom of the screen, featuring the network icon." Information Aesthetics

Japanese Eye

If you are in Copenhagen this weekend, tomorrow night there will be a showing of the documentary Japanese Eye, on young Japanese video and film artists. Institute for Contemporary Art, Overgaden Neden Vandet 17.

Video Remix Getting Attention in Australian Election

A remix star has been unearthed in the Australian election:

Hugh Atkin, 23, a law student at Sydney University, has scored a big hit on the internet with his clip that depicts Kevin Rudd as a Chairman Mao figure in a video styled on Chinese propaganda films. SMH

Youtube is being used by all the major parties in the campaign for the election due on November 27th. An election was called yesterday in Denmark and Lisbeth Klastrup has blogged that she will posting on the use of video network sites in the election (only a few weeks away on November 13...the Danes are fast!!).

More from the Australia Remix Front at the Youtube site of Hugh.

Feel Good?

Do you Feel Good?

500 years of female portraits in western art

500 years of female portraits in western art

Humanist Offensive

Today I had no time to blog or read or write. Today was spent listening to the dean for my faculty outline the plan to bring the budget back into balance. It involves a 30% reduction in costs...not a fun subject. The whole faculty was supposed to be there (300 approx) but maybe 2/3 turned up. We saw the plan as it is at the moment. The admin is going to be cut, teaching is going to share the admin and research is going to be encouraged. From my perspective as a PhD it will be relatively painless (but somewhat chaotic as it will be implemented in one term: next term) but the chances of employment once I finish my thesis look very patchy.
So...it was nice to meet new people as we did group feedback and I was put into a group with people I had seen around a lot but had not spoken to so much. I can't help but think of the (marginal??) place the humanities take in contemporary society, how important critical thinking, langauge, history, literature and the economy of ideas are and how little they receive. Our suggestions were passed on to the higher orders. Not sure if they will ever see the light of day again. Rationalization makes me sad......
As a consolation: I told some of my group about the Best Online Documentaries, dozens (so far) of films online for free. My pick so far in the doco on Arundhati Roy.

John Perry Barlow on The Colbert Report

This video does not make a lot of sense really. It could be a parody but Colbert works for Viacom so who knows (they sort of discuss parody but not really). John Perry Barlow is looking well and seems relaxed. "Librarians are hiding something" comes up. The interview is over just as he managed to express an opinion in the face of Colbert's babble satire.

Jumpcut video of Virtual Worlds

I am still playing with jumpcut, an online video editing and social network site. Here is a video I made from images I imported from my flickr site. It is screenshots of two 3D worlds I made a few years ago. The music is 100% Rio Baile Funk.

Interactive Videos

Here is a collection of 'interactive video' student projects from Södertörns högskola outside Stockholm:

http://student.ktd.sh.se/~sh04hp2367/iota/handen/

http://student.ktd.sh.se/~sh04hp2367/iota/handen/

http://mt.sh.se/kurssidor/movies/india/index.swf

A nice way to end my first week back at university.

Riots in Copenhagen

This is a 1944 riot in Nørrebro, Copenhagen during the German occupation of Denmark

I have been watching the present situation in Nørrebro in Copenhagen with interest. For the past three days police and activists have been battling in the streets of the suburb around the 'Young Peoples House' that has been a thriving center for culture for over 20 years and is now being closed as the recently acquired property of a Christian sect. The new owner of the house decided to evict the young people when they used the word "Hell" in a banner they hung from the wall of the building.

It seems this is not the first time Nørrebro has seen civil insurrection on a mass scale. In 1944 the Danish people resisted the Nazi occupation on the same spot. A large collection of videos on the 2007 riot are being amassed on YouTube. As I write several thousand activists have assembled at Rådhuspladsen and it seems there will be another night of action in Copenhagen tonight. With the G8 coming up in Berlin in June this year we could be in for a European summer of anti-fascist street actions.

News at Seven

Machinima news complete with voice simulation is News at Seven:

News at Seven gives you the news you want, the way you want it. Each day, News
at Seven automatically generates a virtual newscast pulled from stories, images,
videos and blogs all linked by a common news topic. News at Seven presents news,
point/counterpoint, opinion, celebrity gossip and the occasional foray into the
world of 3D gaming. News at Seven isn't just the future, it's the future of the
future.

I first caught News at Seven last week where I saw the "Now from the Blogosphere" in the current main news segment. An avatar speaks straight to camera in a street filled with dark figures moving away from us as a faceless crowd. It struck me as a stunning piece of visual poetry. Mashup news video are looped in the background as the avatar news reader presents a story. News at Seven is created and hosted by Infolab at Northwestern University.

My Life of Dreams on Jumpcut

This is a mashup video I made on Jumpcut, a new online video editing site. It is in beta (isn't everything) and is pretty shaky at times. It took 4 attempts to get this video together. But it is a good start, has lots of remix and networking features on the website. I recomend Jumpcut (the remix button on every video is cool) but be gentle with it. Perfect for a day stuck at home looking after one sick child with another child who is at home due to me looking after the first one......

Fox Attacks

In my following of the new media content for the 2008 presidential election in the USA it seems a major particle has entered the field:



This is video is produced by Brave New Films which "made the documentaries Iraq for Sale, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed and Uncovered." Now in Fox Attacks they take on the treatment of Barack Obama by the conservative Fox Media Network. In three days it has been viewed 205,967 on YouTube.

Micheal Franti and Spearhead

In 1993 I saw The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy on their last tour before splitting. It was obvious that Micheal Franti was gifted. I saw him again in 1995 in a spoken word performance which was held in an abandoned strip club in Sydney. This shows where he is at now. The embedded player comes from Fabchannel which archives and streams online performances from the Melkweg and Paradiso in Amsterdam. Dozens of full length concerts are available for streaming, free. I can hear the Youtube bubble slowly splitting, making millions of tiny bubbles that grow slowly.

The Spirit of Giving

To keep the gift economy going beyond the hype of christmas I list some great free things online at the moment:

Instal Live
Download muic and stream vidoes from October's Instal festival in Glasgow. Musicians may be new to many people but if you are intersted in hearing interesting music click to.

NPR (National Public Radio) Live Concert Archive
A little bit more mainstream than the Instal stuff. A broad selection of full length concerts including music from the dearly departed James Brown.....

EngageMedia
Whilst not the same as the music downloads, in that it breeches serious and often painful topics, the free videos from engage media may expand your world view a little:
"EngageMedia is a website for video about social justice and environmental issues in
Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific."

UBUWEB
The mighty UBUWEB continues to define excellence in online archives. A few weeks ago, in the depths of a short cold spell (winter this year is very "mild" as the TV news keeps saying) I watched a video of Terry Riley milking a goat on his farm in 1975 as he spoke about his music and teachers. The sunny meadow and Terry's calm way about things was like a journey for me. Two nights ago I stayed up late watching Peter Whitehead's film Wholly Communion: A Few Poets Trying to Be Natural from 1965. I witnessed something of the beautiful chaos of the Albert Hall poetry reading featuring Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Harry Fainlight, Adrian Mitchell, Michael Horovitz, Ernst Jaridl, Christopher Logue, John Esam, Pete Brown, Anselm Hollo, George Macbeth, Simon Vinkenoog, Paulo Leonni, Daniel Richter, Spike Hawkins, and Tom McGrath, as well as the playing of tapes of, and by, William Burroughs. I wonder where the women poets were that night??

onliness 1.0 onliness v1.0.1 is an beat-based exposition of 4 years in
The Life of demon doc in NYC. The entire album is
available for free download, no questions asked.

Famous for 15mb
A lot of Mp3s for download by people you may have never heard of but are often very pleasing to the ears. Tracks are uploaded and removed all the time so check back often.

Internet Archive
Even if you lived to be 300 years old you would not have time for all the interesting stuff on the Internet Archive. Overwhelming!