OPENSOURCE LONDON

Lets stop the share croppers, HOW MUCH AM i WORTH FACEBOOK?

Simple idea here so I won't try to be too complex about it. Social networking sites are essentially made by the people that use them. Hence its pretty obvious that by participating in the network we are creating value for the network. hence the we are essentially the product and the consumer at the same time. So a social networking site is like a rock band....the fans make the band and if the band forget this they soon find themselves on the train back to where ever they come from. Fans make demands on bands, songs, musical direction and can sometimes limit creativity and even cause the band to break up. I digress! My point is this, we are the business, modern day social employees. Facebook is essentially us, without us the company would not exist. Hence my point being....Instead of demanding a share of the profits from our percieved value to the company. We should hold the company to ransom until it agrees to make charitable gestures i.e getting involved in good cause one which we decide upon.

BENEVOLENT PROFIT SHARING

HENCE THE IDEAS IS THIS - WE COULD HOLD A COMPANY LIKE FACEBOOK TO "RANSOM", WE ARE STAKEHOLDERS IN THE COMPANY AND IF WE GET TOGETHER WE COULD ASK THEM TO POSSIBLY GET INVOVLED IN THE HUNDRED DOLLAR LAPTOP SCHEME - OR SOMETHING ELSE WORTHWHILE. MICROSOFT JUST DROPPED A BILLION ON THEM - SHARE THE LOVE IF NOT WITH US THEN SOMEONE ELSE WHO REALLY NEEDS IT.

I mean we could down tools right....Just find a social networking site that gives 50% of profits to charity!

if you are a member of Facebook - Please join the group here and spread the word

FACEBOOK USERS UNION (FU2)

Rich

eMbraCe uNceRtaiNty

Well Everything is looking good so I thought I would try to sell a couple of T-shirts in a Blatant way to raise some funds for the payment of various things we have going on....So if you fancy supporting just buy this t-shirt. Thanks so much.... You can buy it by clicking here. It come in all sizes. So take your pick!!! thanking yoU!

Interesting Collage

IMG00057, originally uploaded by replayzero.

I found this fascinating. Don't know why....I guess its just my taste.

So who actually owns our culture?

Here is an interesting presentation on the ideas that structured the commodification of our history and the ideas that will shape the "ownership" of our cultural future - This is part one - part two can be found on here

OPENSOURCE GENERAL UPDATE>

Okay a quick update on exactly whats been happening in the world of opensource.

1) The next issue is currently in production and will be out soon. I have been in the process of setting up a distribution network for the magazine. No body wants to have a great magazine but nowhere to put it. This has taken slightly longer than I first anticipated....but its looking good. So you should be able to pick up the next issue from various places in West central, East and of course South east London. I have been getting lots of input from various sources and would like to say thanks for all the content. It seems to be coming together.....I am also looking to revamp the design of the web page so anyone out there who knows CSS, PHP, MYSQL.....I would love to have a chat.

2) Communitape is also nearly at completion. This project has been 5 months in the making and I am very excited about how its going to pan out, fingers crossed. The developers should be uploading the first incarnation this week....Which is for testing only. I will be sending out invites to people very soon....

3) The Rank Deluxes album, and this is the main reason I haven't been blogging. Recording has been pushed back to April. We were supposed to go into the studio in Feb, but we weren't ready. Typical rock band.......: ) But everything is looking sweet for April. We will be going into the studio for a full two weeks and  intend to learn as much as humanly possible about the whole recording/production process from our very talented producer. So fingers crossed everything will be cool on that front.

It seems that there is alot of finger crossing going on here. N.b the exploding skull is representative of mind expansion!!

Jasper Johns "0 through 9" : Opensource style!

I work everyday with numbers!!!

HOUSE OF M

I have to confess, I read comic books on and off.....I really enjoy them...One I am reading at the moment and can highly recommend is "The house of M". The story is amazing and the art, well look at the picture on the left.....I was talking to a friend the other day and he mentioned that a thought that comic/graphic novels have better narratives than most major motion pictures. hmmm. Well I think the obvious problem with dipping into a world everynow and then is that alot changes, especially in the comic book world. Its not the ideal solution for the die hard. But Wikipedia, apart from being the ideal resource for everything factual also seems provide Comic book character backstory, Which is I find a significant barrier to entry. For the partial observer/weekend driver it great to get an idea fo whats going on and with whom! Well, if you want to learn more about comic book narratives read Understanding comics: The invisible art, by Scott McCloud. Fragmented Narratives and alternate realities rock......Enjoy!

The perry bible fellowship

I first heard about Nicholas Gurewich when my friend Ben drew my attention to a piece he had read in G2. The first strip I saw was the whales in which Barry the whale is told to "shut the fuck up!". I was hooked, but in a nice way! I don't think anyone has a bad word to say about these dark humoured universes. Well, I just found the Perry bible fellowship website on Zefrank so thought I would direct some of the unconverted to it. Well get into it man! You can check it out here or http://www.pbfcomics.com/. El primo comic lust!

ISOMETRIC EYE CANDY

If you, like me, like graphics then you have to give kudos to the pixel by pixel artist. This method of working is labour intensive and only for the die hard. I really love pixel work, I am a geek for it. I don't know what it is about it that I love so much but I know that pixel joint enables me to get my fix anytime I like. So pixel joint is like a hub for point by point artists. I don't want to "dance about architecture", so you can go look for yourself, Here is a great example to start your heart skipping.

I recognise that of late ISO ART has had a bit of a resurgence. Personally it never went away. Isometric art is, i find, one of the hardest but rewarding forms of computer art. Innovation is paramount. It's amazing what people can do with a limited pallette and a few hundred squares. ISO's have been used in print advertising and various other promotions. One prominent is the honda branded ISO CITY, which is not in your face but just a nice thing. It is vibrant and full of amazing colour. Just as it should I could look at this stuff all day....I mean all day! What a geek I am! Check out pixel joints graphic loving community here! Thanks to Elliot Tai for the Delorian you can see some of his other stuff here

Its always been done like that!

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the bananas. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – again all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. This continues until pretty soon whenever another monkey tries to climb the stairs all the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now put away the cold water. Remove one of the monkeys from the cage and replace it with a NEW one. The NEW monkey will see the banana will attempt to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror all the of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt, and attack, he knows that if he climbs the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with new one. The newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Like wise replace third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth and a fifth. Every time a new monkey takes to the stairs it is attacked. The monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the bananas. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way we’ve always done it around here.

For further info check out Ian jukes article here. What a brilliant thing!