FACEBOOK - the CIA conspiracy

READ HERE!

Google and the Patriot Act

How personal profiles can be used by devious governments!

READ ON!

Something To add a little touch to the wall posts....

Heres something to print out to go along with the walls. Maybe pictures can be glued in here?

Tried to get the fonts and all the crap right. I think it looks close enough. If it needs anything else, I can try and whip something up, but let me know soon.

I tried to make it the right (US letter) but I dont know how blogger uploads things... If not, let me know and Ill email it to you


Cheers,
Phil

Facebook wall template

Here's a quick wall template I whipped up if anyone wants to use it.

Anyone?

is anyone available before class on wednesday to help me De-virtualize facebook? I need a photographist.

Shiseido Culture Jam Update

We got blogged about.

The crazy thing is that somebody else did a culture jam on the same ad.

It's a small, frustrated world out there.

You've probably all seen this... it's pretty funny. Mass scale invisible theatre!

"Wafaa Bilal grabbed the attention of the media last year with his performance Domestic Tension. Bilal, born in Iraq and currently teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, installed his living quarter at Chicago's Flatfile Gallery. Viewers could peep in on him anonymously 24/7 over a live webcam, chat with him online 24/7 over a live webcam. But the twist was that the camera was affixed to a rifle-sized paintball gun-and online visitors could therefore fire the gun and shoot at the artist, or anything else in his room. 24/7."

If only we could do something like this for our 'unbeknownst' project... hours of fun! I like how he manages to turn a virtual experience into a real, physical one.

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/activism/

Call for help/ Invisible Theatre/ Fluxus and documentors

I need a squad of people thursday morning at 10:30 to cause De-virtualize Facebook. Actually one person with a camera will do. Also anyone photoshop a good "wall" printout that i can use?

Editable Signs are here

Through the wonder of technology, and hours and hours of toiling Editable signs are now available for consumption. I created editable versions of some common signs. There are 2 signs and a surgeon general's mark for now. More will come later. Write on em and print them. The two signs will each fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet, the surgeon generals marks are a couple to a page.

Each file contains the sign in 2 formats

• Editable PDF Form (open, type in and print) <- Easiest option!
• Vector File (Adobe Illustrator) <- more flexible for thoes who know it

THE SIGNS (Click to download)

Using the PDF's

The signs in PDF format need to be opened with Adobe Acrobat (or Acrobat Viewer) APPLE PREVIEW WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY preferably the newest version. Once opened, there are yellow bubbles which explain where to type. Click on them and instructions will pop up. These wont show up when you print. Type in the text fields and print them off, and enioy. EACH FILE HAS ITS OWN "PRINT FORM" button, this should be used, If not the programs print function will work. You need to have "comments and forms" to be set to "Document".

Required Typefaces

These files require the following typefaces, school computers and most macs should have them. If you have any trouble let me know.

• Helvetica Standard
• Univers
  

Selling Out

14 American Apparel Models Freed In Daring Midnight Raid

I don't boycott much. In my whole life I've boycotted only three places. And AA is one of them. It's like Peta - sure, there might be good stuff about your organization or company, but you've sold out women, and I can't forgive you.

There are a lot of movements, actually, that take advantage of another form of oppression in order to fight their own. For example, Mary Shelley Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest feminists, fought for women's rights by arguing indignantly that white women are being treated as though they are black people.

It's sad that American Apparel is building their brand like this. I'm bringing this up because it gets at a particular activist issue - the struggle to "sell" a cause without resorting to tried-and-true sexist, racist and otherwise oppressive media techniques. There's a certain creativity required for this job...which makes for a powerful argument, methinks, of integrating art into activism.

"Rascals": smarter than the average machine?

Closer and Closer that the machine will trick us to believe that they are 'real-life' ..

"Rascals" AI with potential to pass Turing Test..

EETimes.com version..

Red Lights are working too good..

Extending yellow-light interval to allow more people to beat the red-light? Rotate operative roles for cameras to take or not-take pictures? This would all seem that at some point that one end of extreme would eventually migrate towards another stream.

Dallas' red light cameras may face changes as revenue estimate drops

the lost connection.

We live in a world - where it seems like everything we discover within in the world is about what we perceive through the media and with the dependence on the internet (ie. Facebook, messenger,etc.) we rarely have any human connection. Robin Howe is a UK designer and artist exploring multiple themes of dialogue, space, boundaries, commercialization and communication. Howe takes photos and transform the public landscape into a conversation. The photo above is from her series called A Dialogue with Public Space (only some of the links actually work).

Re: Restricted Freedom

I thought this artwork by Banksy speaks volumes about what we are trying achieve with our project. I thought I would just share this with my group members and the rest of the class. Here - it changed the perspective of the rules and regulations that we follow everyday while driving on the road and how much restrictions we face and Banksy brings that to light with this artwork!

More Facebook...

The line between consumer and businessperson is getting increasingly smaller... http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20561.aspx

Re: War On Photography

Here is an example of our "terrorists" at work...


http://flash.popphoto.com/blog/2007/11/the-crime-of-ph.html

and another one here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7200000/newsid_7203500/7203568.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&nol_storyid=7203568&bbcws=2

I find it interesting that with the technologies in building small cameras, it is always those using professional cameras getting targeted. If you are planning a massive attack, why not just go with something less suspicious like a cell phone?

But beware guys. If you see anybody taking pictures on campus, report it to security immediately...

(lil') Green Patch

Offer a friend a low resolution make believe plant (mushroom plant!?) so that they can grow it in their green patch and save the environment. If they ask how explain that by sending plant gifts to friends new plants will be unlocked for them to use and advertisers will pay for rainforest land to be saved. Corporations exploit and destroy the environment thus, logically, they must also be able to purchase the rainforest land to preserve it. Place vibrant green astro turf anywhere in the world and arrange the pictures of make believe plants upon it.

Join a Cause

Ask a friend to join your cause that is also a contest. Explain your Position. A sample cause: Take Action Against Hedonism. For Take Action Against Hedomism this is the Position:
1. Soften your heart and open your mind.
2. Puppy mill dogs often have health and behavior problems.
3. Using the best available science to solve complex conservation challenges
4. One hug can change someones life
List the amount of people joined and the money donated. If your friend joins encourage them to ask other people and donate money. Explain that top donators and contributors will be listed, so it's like a fun contest.

De-virtualize Facebook Directions

Add me!

Ask a complete stranger if they will be your friend. If they agree give them a copy of your personal information, list of interests, photo album, transcripts of conversations you had with friends and an address book of all your friends (feel free to share completely bogus information). Perhaps play a game with them by following another direction.


Friends for sale.

Ask a close friend, relative or complete stranger (first play add me as a friend) if they want to play a game called Friends for Sale. If they agree, tell them how much you think they are worth if they were on the slave market. Base this completely on appearance. Explain that people that are not purchased are "orphans" to encourage their participation. Then give them a low resolution picture of a gift like a gorilla or a coconut.


Wall Post

Tape a large piece of paper on any wall with your name (or alias), small photo, the current time and a message to one of your friends.

Shots and Drinks! For St. Patricks Day and more!

Offer your friend a shot or drink like Quick Fck, Love Potion no. 9, or Frozen Lips then give them a low res picture of it instead.

all about Anonymous

ABC news story

re. what we were talking about last class re. privacy, exemplified by this quote:

"Don't write anything in an e-mail or post anything on a website that you would not like to see on the front pages or in the broadcasts of the country's major media one day. "

The author might have added "...or in bathrooms across campuses."

The other main point of the article : "We know who you are and we can find you".

War on Photography: Bad news for Bird-watchers

If it looks odd, it's a terrorist..

Counter-Terrorism Ad-Campaign: War on Photography

why not have a nationhood watch?

err.. Message Tape?

I stumbled across this so called: 'Message Tape' .. looks like some spiffy duct tape with 2 decorated flavors, digits and dots.. add sharpie and there you have it.. Thought I brought this up for those interested in applying some use for your project or method..

Message Tape from Uncrate..

Restricted Freedom

Hey group members... lets start a post here. It will be easier to communicate with eachother.

Facebook and your friendly academic freedom officers

Thinking of starting that Facebook study group?

Think again!

blog groups

If you want to have a discussion via the blog for projects and presentations - which is a good idea - all you have to do is initiate with one posting - that posting then is assigned its own URL - discussion can ensue via comments - that will enable us to keep monitoring each other's groups at the same time.

ex the "restricted freedom" page:

http://tacticalcells.blogspot.com/2008/02/restricted-freedom.html

a proliferation of hoaxes

Found this in the "business" section (!):

abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4387116&page=1

these things seem to be increasing in frequency for some reason - perhaps an increasing inability on the part of editors to distinguish between the real and the hyperreal?

There's Orson Welles' War of the Worlds, and the Autobiography of Howard Hughes by Clifford Irving - check out Orson Welles "F is for Fake" as well...

Out of Order

I have finally arrived! Late coming is better then never showing up. Sorry for the delay. My project's concept is out of order where simple paper and text signs will be posted in order to stop normal functionality of everday lives. These signs thus far have been envisioned at VIVA ticket booths, bathroom stalls, computer stations and vending/ATM machines. More suggestions are welcomed. The signs should be dispersed equally and in discrete numbers so as not to reveal its own disguise.

Facebook advertising

It's worth checking out the http://www.facebook.com/ads/ process. Pretty interesting. And, as with the example I whipped up here...problematic.