Those Awful Hats (1909)

A gentleman with a top hat, and a series of women with ever more ludicrous hats enter a movie theatre. They refuse to remove them, until a giant bucket forcibly removes one hat. All but one woman then remove their hats, and the bucket returns to remove the woman.

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The Intention Economy

Another basket of inspiration from Doc Searls:

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don’t need advertising to make them.

The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don’t need marketing to make Intention Markets.

The Intention Economy is built around truly open markets, not a collection of silos. In The Intention Economy, customers don’t have to fly from silo to silo, like a bees from flower to flower, collecting deal info (and unavoidable hype) like so much pollen. In The Intention Economy, the buyer notifies the market of the intent to buy, and sellers compete for the buyer’s purchase. Simple as that.

The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just “branded” by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle.

The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or “capturing”) buyers. (linux journal)

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Popol Vuh – Improvisation (1971)

The Popol Vuh (K’iche’ for “Council Book” or “Book of the Community”; Popol Wuj in modern spelling; IPA: [popol wuχ]) is a book written in the Classical Quiché language containing mythological narratives and a genealogy of the rulers of the post classic Quiché Maya kingdom of highland Guatemala. (Wikipedia – Popol Vuh)

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Documentary Protocols I

Documentary Protocols I: Emulation of the Administrative Ethos in Artistic Practices of the 1960s and 1970s in Canada may not have the catchiest title, but this unusual show at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University in Montreal, engagingly and hilariously lays out a rarely seen element of Conceptual art history. During the late 60s and early 70s a group of Canadian artists, simultaneously deflated and inspired by the tedious administration of Canada’s culture industry reimagined themselves through the lens of the bureaucrat. Conceptual artists Iain and Ingrid Baxter formed the highly influential N.E.Thing Co., Vincent Trasov and Michael Morris started The Image Bank, an enormous international databank of images and contact information that grew out of mail art activities of the time, and Joyce Wieland appropriated governmental publications on Northern flora and fauna to question ideas of personal and national identity. Simultaneously questioning and promoting their own roles as ‘culture workers,’ their ironic use of public relations tools and ‘documentary protocols’ (in the form of seals, stamps, official letterhead, etc) was a means to turn the day to day business of being an artist in Canada into a viable and engaging practice in its own right. Correspondence, logos, currency, annual reports and other documents are on view both as original documents (in vitrines) and as photocopies (in accessible binders), emulating elements of institutional bureaucracy within in the exhibition design itself and providing evidence of vast artists’ communication networks long before the web. (rhizome.org)

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Los Angeles 2106

As the second phase of The City of the Future challenge, IBM and The History Channel, in partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), challenged engineering students in NYC, Chicago and LA to propose innovative engineering solutions that will sustain our great cities in the 22nd century.

The students had 5 weeks to develop their solutions before presenting their proposals to the panels of esteemed jurors at IBM offices in each city. Each team exhibited extraordinary vision and innovation but only one team in each city was named winner. The jurors voted and the IBM Engineers of the Future are… (history.com)

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Fantoche (2007)

Blu is refining his very own technique of wall animation, and with seemingly good results. (megunica)

See also: blublu.org

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Alcatraz: America’s Toughest Prison (1977)

Alcatraz: America’s Toughest Prison unfolds the fascinating history of this legendary federal prison established to house the nation’s most notorious criminals. Situated on an island surrounded by the shark-infested waters of the San Francisco Bay, the facility incarcerated 1,545 men from 1934 to its closing in 1963. This documentary looks at some of the celebrity criminals who were housed at Alcatraz, including gang leader Al Capone. Capone spent more than four years in Alcatraz cells. Another famous resident, Machine Gun Kelly, remained at Alcatraz for 17 years. Inmate Robert Franklin Stroud, known as “The Birdman” of Alcatraz, developed an international reputation while imprisoned. The violent Stroud received his nickname for his devotion to his hobby, the study of birds. The film also features interviews with ex-cons and actual footage of the 1960s takeover of Alcatraz by Native Americans. ~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide (movies.nytimes.com)

See also: Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

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David Bowie – Five Years Live (1972)

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A Trip Down Memory Lane (1965)

In 1965 Lipsett filmed a series of psychology lectures at McGill University in Montreal (25) and directed A Trip Down Memory Lane (1965). A surrealist time capsule combining fifty years of newsreel footage, A Trip Down Memory Lane was Lipsett’s first pure collage film, composed exclusively from stock image and sound. Continuing his process of excavation, mediation and transformation, the film constitutes a brief audiovisual tour of the post-war technocracy. In his notes “for [producer] Donald Brittain in order to communicate to him some basic thinking” on the film, Lipsett writes “As science grows, religious belief seems to have diminished”, adding that, “The new machines (of every description) are now invested with spiritual qualities. They have become ritualistic implements.” (26) Working from a by-then familiar repertoire of images, A Trip Down Memory Lane pieces together footage of a beauty contest and a religious procession; failed airflight, automotive and science experiments; callous animal testing; skyscraper construction; military paraphernalia; John D. Rockefeller and scenes of leisure; Richard Nixon and scenes of war; blimps, hot air balloons, a sword swallower. (Senses of Cinema)

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GRL Laser Graffiti

Defense contractors say that within the next 10 years they’ll have a solid state laser mounted on a Hummer that can put a hole in sheet of metal from several miles away. Well Dutch graffiti writers can pretty much do that now with this Hymermobil rocking a GRL L.A.S.E.R. Tagging System.

Find out from Agent Watson how this big fucking laser works and download the open source code (built in C++ using Open Frameworks).

When the Pentagon finally does get those hand-held lasers I know a few writers in Holland who will be the first to rack them: F. Lady, BIC, Dask, Walk, NW, WLC (Berlin), Oles, Lastplak, Baschz, Evas, El Pussycat, EVK, Losers, TM, Curry, Ros, Raid, Guilty, LRK, VEV, GPS and ERAS. Thanks to everyone and all our love to Rotterdam (bring an umbrella).

A production of the GRL, Agent Watson, Bennett4Senate, and Huib Van Der Werf. This Weapon of Mass Defacement brought to you by the rouge nation of the Netherlands and the Atelier Rijksbouwmeester. (Graffiti Research Lab)

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