The first film in a four part series–”Fear in Media”–was screened last night: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2001 tingler, Pulse. This Japan-o-horror flick was viewed by about 15 buffs in the safe confines of the Critical Media Lab’s Mobile Screening Lounge (the mobility is derived from the wheeled furniture, which allows theatre-goers to register surprise, delight, nervousness, and so forth by rolling, spinning, or gently surging away from the screen and its emotionally-attractive or repellent contents–another CrimeLab first!).

Pulse explores the social anomie and alienation of the urban environment as media technologies render us ever more isolated even as they open up new avenues for contact. One avenue opened up is, unfortunately, the road to hell–or at least some amorphous holding zone for dead souls. These phantoms start popping up on computer screens and cell phones and, not unexpectedly, start clamoring to get into our world. They also have the annoying habit of causing living people to become so depressed or enamored with death that they off themselves in vast numbers, leaving behind only an oily residue. In fact, by the end of the movie, the ghosts have pretty much managed to empty the world of the living. Thanks a bunch!

Post-film discussion ranged from the meaning of life to the meaning of death. Next month: Videodrome.

This week, renegade farmer Michael Schmidt from Durham, Ontario won his high-profile court battle to sell raw milk to people through a clever (though common) co-op arrangement.
http://news.therecord.com/article/659841

The safety of raw milk for consumption has been debated widely. The main issue is the health of the cow that’s producing the milk. I’m not going to weigh in too heavily here, except to say that on the multiple trips to “robotic” dairy farms during production of “Dairy Diary,” we saw thousands of litres of delicious looking raw milk that we weren’t allowed to try. Keep fighting, Michael. I see a niche market coming.

On Tuesday night, Kwartzlab hosted its first 5+5 lightning talk event at its headquarters on Duke Street. This was a chance for folks to find out what Kwartzlab is all about, and it’s obvious that they’re all about making cool stuff–with passion. The 5 min. per speaker venue featured 10 artists and hobbyists who make everything from cement casts of fern leaves to open-source RFID security entry systems and robotic insects. Darin White of Kwartzlab expects to showcase his “animeyes” project (see below) at the CML this winter. The work creates an uncanny humanoid blinking effect with the use of very simple materials, including origami eyelids and drinking straws, which Darin uses to construct his “strawlenoid” blinking system. Brilliant. But what does it all mean? Hope we get a chance to figure that out as CrimeLab and Kwartzlab engage in an ongoing collaboration.

Kevin, a MAME cabinet builder, susses a robotic crawler

Darin White's "Animeyes" grid

Speaking of “making cool stuff,” last week Darin Wershler gave a talk at UW about his next book project, on the topic of “The Gizmo.” Wershler paid special attention to Rube Goldberg machines, explaining that the rhetorical, political, and aesthetic value of such devices is precisely their uselessness. Not everything being made at Kwartzlab is particularly useless, but maybe it should be, as a mode of resistance against the pressures of efficiency and commercial value that characterize digital media production, leaving little room for creative experimentation.

Photos by Ed and Darin at Kwartzlab.

Wow, I really got schooled for that last post. “sdf”, I think you’re correct in pointing out that my analysis does polarize the debate in such a way that ignores the highly-informed, well-reasoned voices of the middle ground. I’ll admit, coming from a non-science background, I, myself know relatively little about the field of genetics or its many subfields. Perhaps I would’ve taken a better route in my post to, instead, observe that articles in the popular press reporting on “Science and Technology,” such as the ones I linked to, provide such a vague understanding of the scientific discoveries upon which they report that it makes it quite easy for the general public to jump to uninformed conclusions about where science is headed. Extreme points of view are bound to arise in any situation in which the parties involved are ill-informed. As you mention, of course, this is not necessarily the fault of the press, but of those who fail to seek out the “thousands of publicly available articles on publicly funded research” to give substance to their opinions.

What I perhaps should have referenced in my final paragraph was the power of a well-trained, discerning scientific community to keep scientific pursuits in line with ethical practice. Partly, the issue that I was attempting to represent was that these ethical lines are not so self-evident. Now, I know we’re talking about different genetic investigations and manipulations when we compare cancer research aimed at ending a life-threatening diseases to prenatal screening focused on identifying potential genetic disorders in fetuses. But the practice, itself, of studying human life in these ways results in particular implications for the way we perceive the human body and value human life. I certainly didn’t mean to say that the way we augment our bodies is always, necessarily done in a negative way; instead, in a cultural climate where particular ideals of human perfection decide the importance we place on certain lives, it’s prudent to think critically about the ramifications of explorations into the biological, genetic composition of the human being.

A quick post to draw some attention to an anti-materialist comedy for the shopping season. Visioneers (2008) opened on no screens, drew no media attention, and made no money when it came out a year and a half ago. Now that Zach Galifianakis is a big star, the DVD has been having some success.

In this dystopian film Galifianakis stars as George Washington Winsterhammerman, a mid-level office drone working for the largest company in history. A string spontaneous human explosions has George on edge, and productivity, gadgets, and pop-psychology fail to give him relief.

The film takes aim at the false promise of happiness through consumerism, the myth of progress, and the deadening of real experience. Available at fine retail establishments here and there. Rent it for a laugh, buy it to fill the void.