iPatriot Act Ready and Waiting for i911; and, About the Cloud . . . .

Too impt. not to re-blog. Transcript from starting around 4:30 min.:

Lawrence Lessig: "There's going to be an i-911 event . . . I had dinner once with Richard Clark at the table and I said, 'is there an equivalent to the Patriot Act -- an iPatriot Act -- just sitting waiting for some substantial event . . . for them to come have the excuse for radically changing the way the Internet works?' And he said, 'Of course there is' -- and I swear this is what he said, and quote -- 'and Vint Cerf is not going to like it very much.'"

I wish more people were aware that this is what's been going on; but to quote some useful cliches, nature abhors a vacuum, and the unconscious does not hear the negative. So, it's not enough for us to just point this out and say, we can't let that happen. We need to have our OWN counter-iPatriot proposal sitting on the shelf. Theirs is ready; we'd better catch up fast.

And how about us having a few initiatives of our own that are actually in advance of theirs, instead of merely trying to catch up all the time?

About the Cloud, here's a recent article showing how one of the risks I've discussed has materialized:

"Can you trust your data to the cloud? For users of an online storage service called The Linkup, formerly known as MediaMax, the answer turned out to be a resounding 'no.'

"The Linkup shut down on Aug. 8 after losing access to unspecified amounts of customer data . . . ."

The Linkup says 55% of the data is safe, but they're not sure about the other 45%.

Here's my related, 2007 post.

Honeycomb Skyscraper Has No Internal Support

To open in Beijing in 2012. Cool interiors, too; see Gizmodo (thanks, Ben!)

Michinori Saigo "Flocks II" Video for Collections of Colonies of Bees

Bradly Brown, an artist whose work I admire and own, does visuals for record co., Table of the Elements. He sent me a link to a new music video for a CD they've released by Collections of Colonies of Bees. Nice work by both the Bees and Flocks II video director Michinori Saigo.

See the video at stereogum, which looks like a great music site.

Our Glorified Selves

When I was a child, I asked my mom about heaven. She was raised as a Christian Scientist -- I think they believe if the Lord wants you to live, He'll heal you -- and she married a doctor. She told me she'd been taught that in heaven we'd be our "glorified" selves.

I assume our "best" selves would mainly concern what we do rather than how we look. But looking good never hurts; and why wait for heaven?

Here's a pic of our puppy. IN our earthly reality, she has a wound over her left eye from playing with other dogs; not sure if her hair will ever grow back; but she is a chunk of heaven here today; and Photoshop brings us the appearance to match.

(Thanks, Julie, for the raincoat -- as I understand, whippet-types might really appreciate it!)

Unless Obama Turn-Out is GIGANTIC,

. . . one statistician projects he'll lose to election fraud. Statistical analysis here.

So pls f'ing VOTE.

Tom Moody Interviews Paul Slocum Re-

his "sampler remixer," used by Paul in his performance at the opening nite of The Program -- interview here.

Surprise!

UPDATE on THE PROGRAM: Week Two Opening

Another full house. If you missed it, the work will as usual remain available for viewing at Conduit through noon this Thur. during the gallery's normal hours, Tues.-Sat. 10am-5pm, except there are a couple of pieces that will remain installed longer, and ALSO except that Nathalie Djurberg's Once Removed on My Mother's Side will be available for viewing only on Tuesday and Thursday, and Dumstrut will be available for viewing only on Wednesday (in order to comply with the artist's exhibition requirements and our own installation schedule).

After-party at Bolsa, a lovely, laid-back wine bar in Oak Cliff (recommended! -- 614 W. Davis west of the Bishop Arts District, 214-367-9367). Pics from the opening and after-party here.

I and my co-curator Charles Dee Mitchell are, briefly, on tv, on KERA's Think program. If I got it right, the remaining broadcasts are 8/4 at 11:30 am, and Wed. 8/6 in the wee hours, at 1:30 am. I think it's also supposed to be available online and/or by podcast for a week or two. (Thanks again to everyone at KERA, as well as Lisa Taylor for setting it up!)

Upcoming highlights: on Sat., August 9, we'll open Ryan Trecartin's A Family Finds Entertainment (42 jam-packed minutes, installed -- be sure to make the time to see it; it will be up through the remainder of THE PROGRAM), Tryptych TV (a compilation from a vlog by jimpunk, Mr. Tamale, and Rick Silva a.k.a. Abe Linkoln), and Michael Bell-Smith's Battleship Potemkin Dance Edit (120 BPM). The popular ShiftSpace installations will also remain up. The seated screenings will include another Trecartin plus works by Andrea Fraser, Kalup Linzy, Shana Moulton, and Anthony Goicolea, among others.

If you'd like to see Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 13 (27 min.), it runs through noon on Thursday, August 14, Tues.-Sat 10am-5pm.

ALSO, there will be a panel discussion at the Dallas Museum of Art, with the three co-curators and Paul Slocum and moderated by Suzanne Weaver, the Nancy and Tim Hanley Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, on Sun., Aug. 10 at 1:30, featuring three additional works as well as clips from those shown at Conduit.

Details including the most up-to-date version of the schedule here.

IF YOU HAVE DONATED at the Kilobyter ($100) level or above, you are entitled to one or more reserved seats at the seated programs (number depending on the level of donation). To reserve your seat(s), please e-mail the Video Association's Exec. Dir., AC Abbott, at ac(a)videofest.org with your name, the number of seats you'd like to reserve, and the programs for which you'd like to reserve them. And thank you for your support!