Röyksopp with music from their new single “The Girl and the Robot” together with Robyn and the visuals from black&white science fiction classic Metropolis. Fritz Lang might have liked it.

Last year we pointed you to another animation (Leo’s Song) from Portland-based web site Impactist here’s a great new one called Parrallelostory.

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

“…Spend a couple minutes in the multiverse and you may find it comfortable enough to participate in your own Parallelostory, which is just hip meta-universe slang for “parallel love story”. But remember, this is only one of an infinite number renderings of the same story that your dimensional alternates will have already viewed, are viewing, or will view.

Or not at all…..”

More information:
Parallelostory page at the Impactist web site (includes Quicktime version of the video)

Listen to what RadioHead, Frank Zappa and many others have to say about an industry that so desperately wants to make us believe that the world will stop turning when they will not be able to continue to rake in Billions from other people’s creativity and work.

“…And then they chose to blame the Internet, the bottom line, the bottom line is that the share holders are greedy, the companies in themselves are poisoned and fxxxed up, and if they go down, bye-bye good rhythms…”

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

Today the German Parliament will vote on a new Censorship law to be put in place to block web content as decided by the German administration. Based on black listing web sites and blocking those at ISP level via DNS and the displaying of so-called Stop pages the planned law was originally been handed around and legislators were seeking public approval by false-flagging it as a solely preventive measure against child abuse / pornography.

While almost all experts heard on this matter (fighting such illegal material and use) have clearly demonstrated that the censoring of access is no way forward towards stopping such activities particularly as many of the web servers in question were even physically located in Germany and other means (take-down notice to providers) proofed that within shortest notice (often less than a day) the material was taken off the net, it became more and more clear that the German Government is seemingly following a completely different agenda. The latest text of the law not even contains a reference anymore to the previously so broadly used argument of fighting child abuse but provides the general right to block any Internet content as they see fit (for themselves).

While in other European countries and on EU level similar approaches are used or legalized / planned to be legalized soon mostly with the same false-flag arguments like child protection / IP rights etc. the case of Germany is special as due to the bad experiences with the Nazi regime in the 1930s the German constitution explicitly makes any type of censorship illegal. And today German and other historians are frequently blaming the last Weimar Republic’s government for their legislation creating such far reaching powers (for themselves and following governments) of being one of the key elements that made it possible for Hitler’s Nazi regime to immediately remove all civil-rights from anybody opposing their monstrous quest for totalitarian power, destroy opposition parties and putting their key members into concentration camps, and providing it with a pretense of legality that never would have been possible otherwise.

With Internet content today having a broader reach than most TV or printed publications it seems that such moves were the obvious next steps to get to a state of “Gleichschaltung” (alignment) of all media with the (political) powers / profiting parties within those societies. And with once highly reputable news sources like e.g. the BBC today more and more have become the sounding board for politically spin-doctored agendas and news, we can only fear what’s going to be the next step.

Not to be forgotten that on the back of such censorship most of the times moves towards adapted, changed content or even disinformation presented as if coming from trusted sources are becoming a common part of suppressing unwanted information. If the abilities to block content is provided it is often only a (very) small step to change other content before providing it to individual users - users that are left in the believe that this might be the original content. From a technical viewpoint - in a digital world - there is no major difference between changing or blocking content overall.

Keeping in consideration that most Internet users only visit around 10-20 web sites on a regular basis, it looks as if some forces are trying to turn the Internet into tomorrows TV. And how far this has already moved away from being an information source and has become an aligned “instrument” was recently shown to Germans when a “parody” of current German news shows was created in the format and “New-Speak” of the former autocratic (and communist) Eastern German News show “Aktuelle Kamera” on the so-called financial crisis. The difference between their “New-Speak” and current German news shows is vanishing.

1. Could someone please compile all the (European) political statements we had to listen to a few years ago condemning the Chinese Government for using the same means to censor Internet access.

2. It is certainly not astonishing anymore but very irritating that those people discussing the topic of censoring Internet content in more detail and pointing to some of the black lists created by Western countries have been recently arrested and their web sited taken off the Internet very quickly while the illegal content in question is still - with a few intermediate steps as experts explain - fully accessible.

More information:
A German web site gone on strike to protest against the censorship law (in German)
The parody on German news shows (in German)
Information on the V for Vendetta comics and movie
Wikipedia on Censorship

image created by combining images from Wikipedia visualizing today’s newspaper censorship in a Middle Eastern country and the censorship icon

Great animation by Ransom Riggs for Mental Floss.

“…Mental Floss’ step-by-step guide to destroying civilization with nanotechnology. 3D animation created with motion capture technology…”

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

More information:
Be Amazing … the movie at Mental Floss
Ransom Riggs’ web site

A new short film shot in Piccadilly Circus London.

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

“…On days like these, Shot in Piccadilly London featuring Philip Bloom in a cameo role. Sure he wants to be an actor!! He was shooting and testing some equipment that day, I came along and this is the result, a glorious day in sunshine and warm temperatures which everyone enjoyed. Set to the music of Matt Monro ‘On Days Like These’ a cool 1960’s track.

A Piccadilly is a stiff collar with scalloped edges and a board lace or perforated borders. Something gentlemen used to wear in the 17th century….”

More information:
Philip Bloom’s web site
Londonmark Films

Another fine example of an outstanding data visualization from the WSJ. We call it the beats of the financial crisis.

These diagrams perfectly demonstrate how many people are having a bad time now because of the greed, ruthlessness and high criminal energy levels of a few.

And this just seems to be the beginning or better to say the end of the beginning.

Click on the image below for the link

More information
Wall Street Journal data visualization

I‘ve once had a training with one of the most experienced guys from the RYA showing us how to react when the boat starts to overpower in Force 10 winds. It felt like going straight down into the water when changing over for a tack. If you like that experience watch this short video. This is extreme sailing.

Watch the guy on Playstation walking forward at full speed at 3:04.

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

Still hoping I will one day scratch together enough money to sail an Open 60 around the world.

An outstanding visualization by Jonathan Jarvis - the 101 guide to the credit crisis animated.

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

“…The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California…”

More information:
Crisis of Credit web site

video by: Jonathan Jarvis

Interesting Samurai short film by Raffi Asdourian.

“…A young woman, haunted by the memories of her parents being murdered, discovers the truth about herself and her sensei. Inspired by the great tradition of Japanese cinema, Ai is an exploration of themes that stem from the era of the fearless warriors, the samurai…”

Click on the image below for the link (multimedia)

More information:
Raffi Asdourian’s blog