Crosseyed & Painless

"Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds."

Wait, what? Those are writer Joe Keohane's words, from his article "How Facts Backfire" which is worth a read.

And on a completely unrelated note, steampunk -- which has been chugging along just fine for a few decades now -- may have finally reached critical mass. The literary/fashion/cultural/art movement is explained in full via The Economist. Dude, your grandpa reads The Economist.

Does coverage in mainstream media signal the death of a subculture? Or is that question as dated as the idea of broad exposure ruining such things?


[Tip of the dunce cap to Arts & Letters Daily]

The Roar of the Greasepaint

Daniel Cronin's ICP Parking Lot photos have already circumnavigated the Web world a few times. Don't feel bad if they passed you by, but do take a look. Cronin simply documented, and the result is pure journalism -- information that the audience is trusted to process however it will.

Many audience members will respond with laughter. And that's okay. The Juggalos probably derive as much nourishment from mockery as they do from their omnipresent bottles of Faygo.

Cronin's text introducing ICP Parking Lot gets at something about Juggalo culture that's generally overlooked: "They have built an entire lifestyle and genre of music with little to no main-stream backing over the last 15+ years."

It's a detail mentioned early on in this 17-minute long infomercial advertising The 2010 Gathering -- a four-day long multi-media festival and the only sponsor is Insane Clown Posse's own media company, Psychopathic. Chew on that for a minute. Four days of music, film, and other entertainments all done without outside corporate sponsorship.

Does Burning Man have corporate backing? Did Dischord ever put together anything this big? Counter-culture, punk, DIY ... whatever. Be impressed or be afraid, but do pay attention.

C'mon Let's Go

While taking a coffee break this morning, and enjoying a Three Stooges short in which Moe portrays Hitler [synergy!] we came across the news item about the discovery of an early Charlie Chaplin film.

That's terrific news really, but the real take-away here is that Slapsticon exists.

Slapsticon!

[Photo courtesy of Slapsticon.org]

Heart of (Chocolate) Darkness

In the not-too-distant future, chocolate will be currency. Don't believe us? Then why is this man buying -- and storing -- 15% of the world's cocoa?

Stock up on the good stuff.

Where You Been At?

The Typing Monkey is back, and we mean it this time. Nobody was worried really, and you didn't ask, but we moved the TMI headquarters to a location we are contractually obligated to call URB, or for the black-ops division, "The Beach." And no, it wasn't easy. Out: the forest lair. (We'll miss you.) In: sub-basements and fiscal year 2011.

Now then, we'll spread some words around shortly. But it's a holiday weekend and inbetween racing personnel-transporters down the empty TMI corridors and rotating the canned chili, we've been watching this video re-edit of The Beatles cartoon synched to Leftside Wobble's remix of "Tomorrow Never Knows."


[courtesy LeftsideJM]

Tasty freedom.