podopolog

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So dearest art organisms, we’re still in fundraiser mode, so if you’re into keeping the XLterrestrials on the frontlines of fertile resistance, and busy seeding the higher intelligence upgrades, now’s the TIME! Contact us Here, and ask how you can help!

And Berlin is overflowing with incredible events to catch… But let’s not get tooooo lost in the art without the Praxis, party time without the solidarity, deep knowledge without the realspace experiences, the hardcore struggles without some victories, compassion without Action. The times are calling for us to take care and protect our seriously endangered planet and re-route our devolving society !

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So we’ll try a little different format of listing blurbs… providing the dates first, (non-chron)… and then more detailed info on selected events below…

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< 30.05 > XLt presents CiTiZEN KinO #25 + Fundraiser party at Panke

< 18.05 > Eric Drooker at Koepi ( Fb invite, or see below )

<18.05> Carnival of Subculture, Koepi

< 17-19.o5 > Karneval, Kreuzberg

< 18.05 > Kotti and Co. + MieteStopp Demo !

< MAY > MPA- Month Of Performing Arts festival

< 25.05 > March Against Monsanto, everywhere !

< 30.05-1.06 > Hedonist International

< 21.05 > Buchee Strassenfest, 10 years Buchhandlung Cafe ( for Fete de la Musique)

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tbc…

{ modern Re:publican Times }

Re:publica13 in industry loop mode ?!

< 06-08.05 > Re:Publica 13 – In/Side/Out , at Station Berlin

on twitter: #rp13

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Why re-rant? XLterrestrials + Charlie Chaplin ;) may have already assessed the crisis in 2012 and 1936, and since Re:publica13 – one of Germany’s largest digital culture conferences – seems to be in loop mode, last year’s analysis may be useful, if not sufficient…  http://xlterrestrials.org/plog/?p=8776

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But stand by, we’re working on some fresher analysis… and there were some good sessions on Tuesday w/ peeps like Trebor Scholz and Joel Dullroy regarding Digital Labor and Freelancer rights, respectively… Brigitta Jonsdottir on the state of creating Iceland’s constitution and its missed chances (?) for participatory democracy and a real revolution…  Tactical Tech Collective’s exceptional version of media self-defense ! … Penny Red on cybersexism… Cory Doctorow’s fascinating rally for cyber-utopians ( which could be considered THe Internetz version of Clint Eastwood debating an empty Evgeny Morozov chair ) … and many others who Are on the cutting edge of the battle for a better, free-er net… ( no laughing please, the situation is freakin dire ! ).

There definitely seems to be a lack of heavy-hitting overviews, and way too much schmoozing and tango-ing with corporate-capital-capture players ( Windows8 sponsor !??… f*ck did the short-attention span netizens already forget again their brief computer/empire/colonial history?? Daimler sponsor ??! After the meat industry, the auto industry is in a close 2nd or 3rd place for melting the ice caps !!!  )… What’s wrong with this picture ?!!!

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{ tennessee e.ford }

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a podinski RT: “ya load 16 gigs and whatya get, another day older and deeper interdebt” …. #rp13…

Have a listen to Tennessee Ernie Fords “16 tons” as a preface to Penny Red’s article below… particularly hilarious clip as the tables of businessMen snap their fingers… Ok, maybe a cheap shot, as your digital slavery certainly got it better in the days of laptops compared to coal mines. But it is not really so difficult to imagine many who will not be reading this, not accessing the warm n’ fuzzy wave of technotopia, those outside Fortress Europe who ARE still in the mines providing you with the materials for your gadgets… for example.

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But even for those on the digital insides – think in-the-belly of the i-beast – T.E.Ford’s 16 Tons song should still provide a quite eerie perspective to consider as a digital worker, an oh-so-savvy netizen, the myraid ways you may be going deeper into “Interdebt” … owing your soul to the company store ?!! Think about it!

[ Might be fun to transpose the lyrics to these digital culture days, if anyone likes to work with us on a Dubstep-ish remix, get in touch ]

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A great piece for the XLterrestrials to DECONSTRUCT as a preface to analyzing Germany’s big digital culture meet-up,  while the XLterrestrials gather the data on the digi-hive mind(s), the various speakers + sessions…  is Penny Red’s latest Guardian article, which pretty much synchs with the problems we often find inherent in Re:publica conferences and other net industry gatherings …

Internet detox promotes the myth of web toxicity The fashion for communications fasting relies on a false distinction between the digital and real world

We usually admire her fiery analysis, but here’s our initial response:

We don’t think it’s possible to debunk the fact that there are numerous and severe forms of techno-toxicity, to be more general, in our culture 2day. Her concluding line is easy to take apart “Communications technology, though, can’t “corrupt your soul”…

To begin with the cartoon religions that the west ( increasingly secularized, instrumentalized and fundamentalized ) has stewed in over the years, certainly makes the idea of “soul” already an unsavory grease pit, and laughable. BUt more to the point of this article and where it’s off, technologies sure as hell can and do shape society and its citizens! And at the current rate of being gamed by corporate platforms, autonomy + liberation look further away thru the gadget lenses than ever !

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And we’ll try and come back to all those labor issues, precarity, surveillance state, corporate capture, etc. in the technosphere.

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So is anyone at #rp13 filling the muuuuuch needed Evgeny Morozov shoes ?!!! He unfortunately cancelled, and as yet we haven’t found anyone sufficiently breaking down the technotopian delusions.

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{ thx to Telekommunisten }

< TONITE 7.5 >  we:publica | wii:publica | de:re:publica :::: 2nite at telekommunisten stammtisch, at Buchhandlung Cafe …. dj/v/xj podinski after 22h… til 2? … pirates, xlterrestrials, hedonists, psychomedia analysts, quadratures, etc… come join the auseinandersetzung !

As TK’s Baruch G. says, “Has democracy ever been more elite? Has change ever been more status quo? Have ideas ever been more industrial? Has having ‘keine Ahnung’ ( no clue) ever been more ‘de rigueur’? Not at we:publica! Tuesday May 7th from 9pm at Buchhandlung Caffetteria Bar. Don’t miss it!”

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Note for Berliners: Buchhandlung Caffetteria Bar – a kiez culture kantina – one of the few community locales left in a highly gentrified area of Berlin Mitte – celebrating 10 years on June 1st – is now on Fedbook + Twitter, if yur on em… LIKE EM ! One of our sponsors : )

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Added: Cory Doctorow’s talk ( and many others ) are now popping up online, so we’re catching up on important things we missed. But for us Cory’s talk is the quintessential cyber-utopian position to analyze and deconstruct. In it he says EVERYTHING is going to be done with a computer, EVERYTHING will require a computer. The Internet is our central nervous system…

But XLterrestrials might ask, “NET as ‘cntrl nervous system’?! Is that an IT indstry prosthetic n.sys colonizing one humans/lifeforms already got?! #rp13

ANd speaking of ” (not) a fax machine connected to a waffle iron” (talk title) , there’s a point at the end of his talk in the Q+A, where in his deregulatory zeal, his euphoria for technological innovators, WAFFLES completely in regards to reigning in deadly drone technologies… So it seems there’s a lot here to go deeper than the pep rally for IT ‘rebels’, and ask some serious Global Citizen questions !!

So we are working on articulating these position, stand by for RP13 Industry Loop Mode v.2 : Lifeforms vs. Techforms

tbc…

XLterrestrials are FUNDRAISING > 1. so we can continue our arts+praxis coverage in Berlin and beyond 2. to produce more research + articles investigating the predatory media landscapes 3. produce more CiTiZEN KiNO shows, exploring new forms of tactical media 4. to pay our membership dues to our partners at Possible Worlds ( Diego de la Vega cooperative media conglomerate )… 5. and BIG surprises to come ! … SO dig into your pockets, and help us bring you the info+strategies to liberate !! Contact us here.

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XLt burbs, Spring is Sprung v.2

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< 05.05 > ReSource 005: The Medium of Treason – The Bradley Manning Case: Agency or Misconduct in a Digital Society? Opening night of Re:Publica 13 ( see more below )

An intervention @ Urban Spree Gallery (S/U Warschauer Straße, Revaler Straße 99, 10245 Berlin), 5 May 2013, starts at 17, free entry.
with: Birgitta Jónsdóttir (Iceland), Andy Müller Maguhn (Germany), John Goetz (USA) … Moderated by Diani Barreto (USA), Introduced by Tatiana Bazzichelli.

< 06-08.05 > Re:Publica 13 , at Station Berlin

Theme for RP13: In/Side/Out : with speakers we’ll be covering like Evgeny Morozov ( cancelled)  and Brigitta Jonsdottir, Anne Roth, Jillian York ( EFF),  Penny Red, Trebor Scholz, Jeremie Zimmerman, Cory Doctorow, etc…

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< May 1-31 > MPA- Month Of Performing Arts, all around Berlin…

Recommended bits at the MPA : Check the programs from Giraff Graff, 2.5 weeks of performances, workshops and on-site installation work, mostly at Kunstraum27 Galerie. Read more here at KoernerKomplizen ( auf Deutsch )

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And loads of great music… standby for more listings…

< 03.05 > Ziveli Orketsra & Suzana Djordjevic w/ DJ Jugotonka, SUPAMOLLY Berlin

< 04.05 > Ziveli Orketsra & Suzana Djordjevic w/ DJ Jugotonka + Tricky D, Kaffee Burger

< o7.05 > Vinyl Terror and Horror aka Greta Christensen and Camilla Sørensen as part of MPA + Crossing Context, Neukölln at Kunstraum t27

< 07.05 > Quimby at Cafe in CHB, Dorotheenstr. 12

< 11.05 > Herdelezi Roma Festival, Boddinstr. Neukoelln

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tbc

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Alternet, a progressive online journal that “aims to inspire action and advocacy on the environment, human rights and civil liberties, social justice, media, health care issues, and more.” posted a piece today that says…

Watch: Jon Stewart Nails Obama on Guantanamo (link at end of article)

But John Stewart doesn’t really nail anything ! He’ll often take extremely serious, volatile and utterly disturbing news and urgent matters and turn it into tv comedy … kinda like prozac, no?… And he does it for BIG dollars !

Consider this, if let’s say a US member of the govt. was taken prisoner or hostage and tortured by a foreign country, it would be absolutely off limits to make jokes about that situation. But war crimes in Guantanamo? ( Arab) Prisoners unjustly detained for 11 years caught up in a ’showtime terror dragnet’ and now in a life-threatening hunger strike ? Seems to be fair game!

“But he’s attacking Obama’s lame excuses for not closing Gitmo!” you’ll say. Yes, but laughing at this ( or any other) administration’s criminality like it’s a sitcom episode is a large part of how the US got where it is today.

Sure Stewart believes he’s engaging in some form of informing the public, freedom of expression and moral reproach, but it’s still a corporate TV pacifier, with all the limitations of media content produced with big advertising dollars. And so while covering a topic that should and must make you outraged, Stewart’s JOB is to keep you laughing…

If he were to propose any forms of action, civil disobedience, etc… he would be removed from his corporate channel immediately. So, nothing against Stewart as a comedian per se, and we can assume he knows well his limits… it’s more an analysis of the mass media and entertainment industry vortex, which bleeds into or replicates in the newer domain of the internet.

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{ Vieques in 2003 }

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In contrast to this story, the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico are celebrating today a 10-year anniversary of having kicked out the US military off their land, not just because of its offensive colonial imposition, but because they were endangering their lives via war games ( military exercises and bombing practice ) and dropping all sorts of hazardous waste including depleted uranium. The people of Puerto Rico weren’t laughing, they were furious and they got organized ! A massive and popular uprising ( in this case non-violently ) forced the situation to be too costly – publicly and monetarily – for the military to continue.

( report via Democracy Now … and re: the ongoing struggles to get the Navy to clean up the contaminated areas and the residual health effects.)

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Not to single out Alternet for posting Stewart, many activists and concerned citizens will reference his Daily Show, because he’s actually a skilled performer/comedian, and w/ some integrity to fight for social justice, to a degree (i.e. Democrat). And he will often bring a clever logic to certain complex situations and political mindfucks. And he does make us laugh, at a time when the daily news is continuously daunting, oppressive, maddening and unbearable. ( Perhaps his best effects are when countering other media propaganda such as Fox and looney tools like Glenn Beck. )

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Click here to get nowhere !

But what this points out is that the medium itself is a part of what is transforming us into social net poodles, where atrocities can be normalized by this low-level grappling with dire situations and the challenges we face. And when we follow the medium’s “laugh track”, and we get comfortable on the couch with its safe handling of extremely difficult news…  when we follow its frames, its agendas… and especially its LACK of agenda, we get nowhere!

… A theme we will continue to analyze.

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[ And to give Alternet some credit, this post from Noam Chomsky, also today, was a little more on top of it : Chomsky: The Boston Bombings Gave Americans a Taste of the Terrorism the U.S. Inflicts Abroad Every Day "It's rare for privileged Westerners to see, graphically, what many others experience daily" ]

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{ The Stewart clip via Alternet }

Is it not an extremely grotesque phenomenon that a media program, even one that claims that it is just a comedy show ( though it is no doubt viewed by many in the US as a primary news resource and an editorial format )  can make humor of strapping prisoners on a hunger strike to a chair and force feeding them !?? … something that has been described in even the New York Times as excruciating torture on a daily basis !

{ found via Anarchist Memes }

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There’s ALOT that happened last week, and the Boston Marathon tragedy is just one of MANY disconcerting events and news items. Our condolences go out to all the victims in West Texas and Massachusetts, Baghdad and … Pakistan, etc… there was no shortage of explosive news and numerous bombs that went off (around the world) last week.

[ Cispa, Guantanamo meltdown / hunger strike, Monsanto Protection Act... just a few other bits going down lately.]

XLterrestrials have been pouring over the media treatments re: the two suspects in the Boston incident , and before launching into a deep analysis there, we should mention that we are in the midst of reading Evgeny Morozov’s “Click Here To Save Everything: Technology, solutionism and the urge to fix problems that don’t exist”. These themes ( i.e. solutionism, or let’s take it further and call it “Netizen Poodledom” ) transposes incredibly well to the problems inherent in the raging and incoherent war on terror.

Where Morozov describes in compelling and profound detail the social problems we are currently generating ( or obfuscating) in the “Internet-centrism” which shapes our media/communications environments, one can also see “Terror-centrism” of media and governments ( and an enthralled public ) causing similar delusional states and overall precarity. And where one has corporate agendas behind it, the other is frequently driven by geo-political strategies.

And one may even conclude from following the Boston tale and the ensuing mega- spin, that there’s a merger afoot between these two ‘hard’ drives…

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“Manhunt narratives ( re-runs ) are really no longer the content, they are the advertising for the war on terror and the surveillance state…” XLt analyst.

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{ from Jailhouses by Felipe Luchi }

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If a device (i.e. an i-phone as above, or anything linking you to the e-info flows ) is where you’re getting your information regarding any of the news items we’ll discuss below, consider yourself trying to read the situation of ants scrambling to put out a fire on a hill from your view of a hot-air balloon adrift in the corporate clouds… and technology has empowered you to stay aloft indefinitely, and the view is either intoxicating or toxic… or both. No one really knows when or where you will eventually land. You are a grand explorer / experiment! Meanwhile the ants under the microscope of an unattended, inflamed and earth-based reality are burning out of control…

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The Boston Scenario(s)

So to begin, while it is entirely possible that suspect #2 Dzohkar Tsarnaev, a 19 year-old college student, may be proven guilty of perpetrating the bombing of a crowd at the Boston Marathon ( in collaboration w/ his older 26-year-old brother – more complex, see below.)  the surfing lynch mob that has formed on sites all over the internet – before any trial has occurred – is thoroughly nauseating ! And potentially far more dangerous than individual acts of war and terror.

One might best describe the new phenomenon as a network of rabid Net Poodles fully intoxicated, wired and running amok in their data-fed pens… and spectacularly useless in developing real solutions, real community responses and/or understanding the origins of where this kind of violence originates.

Are we being shaped by a variety of ill-agendas in this new participatory terror-centric media ?!! So, how many of you, followed (and played) the latest manhunt game ?!!

Keep in mind that the inept ( corrupt, devious and instrumentalized? … may also apply ) institutions – from media to law enforcement, which have already failed miserably to inform us about current war zones, vested interests and the multiple threats to public safety produced by their policies, and which have utterly failed to prevent this particular horror show (among others), cannot be expected to give us the complete details of what has occurred. Nor should they be trusted to handle the matter responsibly, nor with the social well-being in mind !

Any trial is already a kangaroo stampede… riddled w/ a.) face-savings b.) show of unflinching control and power c.) psy ops and mass deception d.) all of the above. We may never know the full story… ( including motivations)…

But more importantly, as citizens we should start to build up some resistance to the new media ‘threadings’… and understand its techniques. Its a territory we can have real power to act and intervene … in these predatory times. Or as Michael Moore once said at the onset of the horrific B-movie Bush administration, “We live in Fictitious times ! “

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Added:

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ANd in case you’re still seriously questioning whose responsible for the tragedy in Boston … and especially if you’re Not… this might help ^…

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Added: Resources…

Following the writings of Glenn Greenwald (Tw) always keeps things into sharp focus… Here he asks :
Why is Boston ‘terrorism’ but not Aurora, Sandy Hook, Tucson and Columbine?  Can an act of violence be called ‘terrorism’ if the motive is unknown?

and GG again here: The same motive for anti-US ‘terrorism’ is cited over and over  Ignoring the role played by US actions is dangerously self-flattering and self-delusional

And while one can get lost in all the distracting and endless details ( much of which is created to purposely sow confusion ) in such a case, learning about Chechnya and Dagestan from FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds (Tw) is indeed an EYE-Opener!! And her hypotheses are not wild speculation, nor does she claim to have all the answers to yet another multi-layered tragedy, which will, in all likelihood, remain unresolved so long as the intelligence bizness is involved! Her website here: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/

And her interview w/ the Corbett Report here. ( no, that’s not Colbert :)

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to be cont… ?

{ foto by Peikwen Cheng, Nevada c. 2009 }

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Workers Of The World, All Aboard! … Larry Harvey, Fred Turner, Google and The Zuck all have one wild , one-way, and long lost Epochalism weekend for you !

( an extensive article coming soon, below. )

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Related events, and XLterrestrials recommend :

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{ from The Whole Earth Catalogue, c. 1970 }

< 26.04 – 01.07 > The Whole Earth, Kalifornien und das Verschwinden des Außen ( the disappearance of the outside ), at HKW, Berlin

In the framework of The Anthropocene Project, HKW will take a (light?) ride through California Ideology deconstructions. XLterrestrials will send a few of their own deconstruction analysts to report back.

( opening is <25.04> )

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< 06-08.05 > Re:Publica 13 , Berlin

“Re:publica will be turning the digital society IN/SIDE/OUT for the seventh time with the help of a wide range of speakers and perspectives. At the same time, it invites all guests to turn their output into input and vice-versa.”

Sound ambiguous enough for you ??!

added: OH! RP2013 is shaping up to be quite a hot brawler…  morozov (canceled), doctorow, cypherpunks, wleaks, brigitta jonsdottir, jillian york, penny red, greens + pirates + cyborgs ; ) … stay tune for more XLt perspex….

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< MAY > MPA- Month Of Performing Arts, all around Berlin

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<30.05-02.06> 4. Welt Kongress Der Hedonistischen Internationalen, north of Berlin

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work-in-progress…tbc…

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upcoming events / XLT recommends

< 12.04 > L.U.C. feat. Kosmostumostów at Sendesaal des Rundfunks Berlin Branndenburg (RBB) , Berlin

Tix and details HERE

Never heard of L.U.C !?? Probably cause the music industry, which dominates the distribution channels, generally Sucks boiled eggs !! And broadcast radio was killed by Execs, and most djs anyway seem to have a DEAFspot for languages they don’t speak! And the abundant pioneering scenes outta Poland seem to be in some kinda bizarre cultural quarantine! WTF !?  Well, THx to Club der Polnischen Versager, Luc’s bringing his massive hiphop spectrum (and Kosmostumostów comix mix) to Btown, and it’s bound to be one of the best concert events you’ll catch this year !!!

… and ONLY 7 EUROS… it’s an ffff’in STEAL !

[ btw, Citizen Kino will be giving you a glimpse of his cutting-edge fury of video outputs...  An astounding Komponist, Musiker, Autor, Filmemacher, Visionär ... and Jurist ; ) ... Come get yur head unscrewed tight ! < 2nite at Panke > ! More HERE!

( For a taste of the video works check LUC’s vimeo channel. Or this intense – and terrifying – animation Tribute to Stefan Starzynski, the president of Warsaw ( read his Wiki-p) before and during the devastation in WW2.

And where can you find LUC cds in Berlin?? … Pigasus Shop, that’s where!! Thanks to them we’ve been turned on to numerous great projects from Poland and all over eastern Europe…

Listen at LUC’s official site!

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< 09.04 > BERLIN’S MEDIA ART COMMUNITY: A Female Perspective at Supermarkt, Berlin

Mit Beiträgen von Tatiana Bazzichelli, Valie Djordjevic, Andrea Goetzke, Kathy Rae Huffman, Claudia Kefer, Julia Kloiber, Lisa Lang, Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen, Diana McCarty & Michelle Thorne. Moderiert von Ela Kagel & Michelle O’Brien.

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< 11.04- 17.04 > Globale Festival at Kino Eiszeit and Regenbogen Kino, Kberg

Full 2013 program here

We already watched a fantastic film on the Kollektivs Miles de Viviendas (Tausende von Häusern / 1000s of houses ) called “Squat – La ville est à nous” (2011) … standby for reports and reviews …

And a few quick recommendations: Rosia Montana: Dorf am Abgrund  (DE 2012) + + Ecumenopolis: City without limits  (TR 2011) + + Der Prozess ( AT 2012)

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< 06-07.04 > Deportation Cast by Little Black Fish Collective in Bethanien, Berlin

Powerful theater on the lives of Roma and ( Kosovo) Refugees in Germany, Deportation and ‘Fortress Europe’ scenarios. Exceptional execution of a complex script by Bjorn Bicker, delivered with a rhythmic fury, breaking free in a kind of post-hiphop realism. Go See it !! ( last 2 days )

< 07.04 > and Monday is International Roma Day !

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more coming soon !

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{ United Artist Theater in Detroit, remixed for Berlin. More below* }

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<04.04 > CiTiZEN KiNO #24 : “Crises and Crumbs or Reclaimed Cake” at Panke, Berlin

What?: Cinema + Voku ( community kitchen ) …

How Much?: Donate/Spende

When?: April 4th, 20:00h

fedbook invite

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On The Menu:

Sorry, Not vegan this time… stir-fry, brown reis and mixed veggies ( and tasty sauces ) and schoko-kuchen by the adorable Panke Crew and XLt ( … of course any + all volunteers welcome, come early ) – a bit of egg in both.

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XLterrestrial analysts will navigate a variety of juicy media bits, including The Crisis Of Civilization by Dean Puckett and Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed … based on the book- A Users Guide to the Crisis Of Civilzation: And How To Save It

Shorts include: a test clip from Neill Blomkamp’s (District9) new film, a brand new Anonymous clip on techno dystopia, some special trailers…  and more !

+ come ready for some deep + heated dialogue!!

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On Crisis of Civilization (and Dean Puckett’s + Nafeez Ahmed’s website):

Hitcham Yezza, editor of Ceasefire Magazine writes, “an artful concoction of clips from 40s commercials, B-movies, quirky animation… this film is necessary viewing, not just for activists but for anyone who’s planning to hang around this planet for the foreseeable future. Yes, I’m looking at YOU.”

Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute said of the film, “a really fantastic overview of the global situation. I don’t think I’ve seen a more comprehensive ‘welcome to the 21st century’”.

DON’T MISS !

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*Note: foto+poster, remixed from Marchand & Meffre’s Detroit Ruins fotos. XLT & CiTiZEN KiNO coming to Detroit?! We’re building a funding base for a future Americas tour. If interested to support, host, and/or be involved, contact us !

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{ illustration by the incredible Mark S Fisher }

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Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Silicon Valley Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask…

As the crazy month of March flew by XLterrestrial analysts collected so many new perspectives on the (predatory) media landscapes, it was hard to leave a coherent trail…

But by far, it seems like Evgeny Morozov’s new article for The Baffler best dovetails with so much of our distrust of the whole technological beast, which still rides the killer waves of the California Technotopia… And we are indeed baffled at how a New American Foundation fellow ( Eric ‘google-eyed’ Schmidt being its chairman of the board ) can wield such a wild axe to the myths, delusions and chicanery of the bizness platforms that Silicon Valley built.

But here ya go… “The Meme Hustler” by our man Morozov !

It’s a long essay, so here’s some choice quotes to get you to take the full dive:

“Our language, much like everything these days, has been hacked. Fuzzy, contentious, and complex ideas have been stripped of their subversive connotations and replaced by cleaner, shinier, and emptier alternatives; long-running debates about politics, rights, and freedoms have been recast in the seemingly natural language of economics, innovation, and efficiency. Complexity, as it turns out, is not particularly viral.”

“While free software was meant to force developers to lose sleep over ethical dilemmas, open source software was meant to end their insomnia.”

“No one has done more to turn important debates about technology—debates that used to be about rights, ethics, and politics—into kumbaya celebrations of the entrepreneurial spirit while making it seem as if the language of economics was, in fact, the only reasonable way to talk about the subject. As [Tim] O’Reilly discovered a long time ago, memes are for losers; the real money is in epistemes.”

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Other stuff we need to throw into the mix on ‘predatory landscapes’ … and coming soon:

-insights from Tatiana Bazzichelli’s adeptly researched look into “Networked Disruption”… scroll down to previous posts for a link.

- Daniel Pinchbeck’s latest postings on Technology + Consciousness and his discussion/debate w/ Jason Silva ( singularity salesman ?)…  just this weekend.

- Digital Dogme 13, from the XLterrestrials’ Media Self-defense workshop…

- Baruch Gottlieb’s posting of this astounding investigation of the Harlem Shake meme at the Telekommunisten Stammtisch group.

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tbc

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< 22.o3 > CiTiZEN KiNO #23 : Predatory Net + analyzing the Visual Media Environments, Tschechisches Zentrum, Berlin, 20:00h

CiTiZEN KiNO is a hybrid of film, internet, theater and happening. An interventionist and interactive performance which allows the spectator/participant to enter the hacker and artivist domains, and transforms the over-mediated “screen-culture” into a full-bodied, solutions-oriented and liberatory activity.

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< 23.03 > WORKSHOP: Media Self-Defense with XLterrestrials. 14.00-17.00h

XLterrestrials are an international arts and praxis group which formed in San Francisco during the 1st dotcom boom and the 1st dotcom crash. One of the members, Dr. Podinski ( based in Berlin), will talk about re-use and re-contextualization of visual material as a “culture jammer”, VJ and co-founder of a tactical arts cinema (i.e. hacked), giving examples of this practice and an introduction to VJ software Modul8, a tool for realtime video mixing and compositing.
You can also participate in the ongoing XLt project called Digital Dogme 2013, whereby we create our own rules to re-set the parameters of digital culture + media production to better serve community + citizens…  over the corporate data-monkeys.

Space for the workshop is LIMITED, so if you would like to join us for
that, please register ( quickly ) at: ccberlin (at) czech (com) cz

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the fedbook invite: Here !

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Reading Materials:

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Of course there’s only 1 week before the workshop, So to begin we’d recommend reading at least ONe of The Introductions from the following books…

Download links below ( much thx to Monoskop and for Tatiana Bazzicheli choosing a Peer Production License… quite possibly the very first book to be released under a license developed from Copy -Far- Left concepts. Historic ! )

http://disruptiv.biz/networked-disruption-the-book/

http://monoskop.org/log/?p=7496

http://monoskop.org/log/?p=6652

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And exciting New news:

< 26.03 > Network Disruption Book Launch w/ Tati Bazichelli, XLterrestrial dj/vjs and the Telekommunisten – at C-Base, Berlin…

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