The Worldwide Culture Gonzo Squad, Inc.

Photo

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:00:26 -0400

outlawscumfudge: Playing with my PS4 on Easter

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 08:00:21 -0400

outlawscumfudge:

Playing with my PS4 on Easter

mysterysquid: IRONY

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:41:08 -0400

mysterysquid:

IRONY

Photo

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:47:15 -0400

mutantdocuments: Indian Superman & Spider-man

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:00:24 -0500

mutantdocuments:

Indian Superman & Spider-man

Video

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:41:35 -0400

pedison: My god they are so cute.

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:02:56 -0400

pedison:

My god they are so cute.

"Detroit techno is architecture. This why there is no narrative progression, no chord changes, no..."

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:37:42 -0500

“

Detroit techno is architecture. This why there is no narrative progression, no chord changes, no unfolding of themes, no counterpoint. Sound spaces, not sound travelling through time. “So few people understand that” says Mills, talking about minimalism, “how to just let it play…”

The cars and buildings have dematerialised in response to the pull of the future. “We are almost out of the phase of the territorial” says Mills. Detroit, the first portable city. Its inhabitants virtualised it a long time ago. “This is what a lot of people used to do in Detroit. We would create a track just for the ambience, just for the location where you live, and let it run throughout the day. This is not music you’re eventually going to put on DAT and sell. It’s just for living in.”

”

- http://www.harikunzru.com/jeff-mills-techno-futurism-1998 (via thegrumpyowl)

somethingconstructed: Haus-Rucker-Co were a Viennese group...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:14:05 -0500

somethingconstructed:

Haus-Rucker-Co were a Viennese group founded in 1967 by Laurids Ortner, Günther Zamp Kelp and Klaus Pinter, later joined by Manfred Ortner. Their work explored the performative potential of architecture through installations and happenings using pneumatic structures or prosthetic devices that altered perceptions of space.

14-billion-years-later: Just a neat image of the microtubules...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:06:16 -0500

14-billion-years-later:

Just a neat image of the microtubules (green) and DNA (red) in a cancer cell. This image was the winning image in the 2011 IN Cell Analyzer Image Competition. The other entires can be viewed here.

Image: Geoffrey Grandjean, MD Anderson Cancer Center/GE Healthcare

Makes a lovely Valentines Day gift for that special lady...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:16:37 -0500

Makes a lovely Valentines Day gift for that special lady you’ve been following.

dump-deviantart:

79

scientificillustration: “The relative sizes of different...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:21:19 -0500

scientificillustration:

“The relative sizes of different sensory representations in naked mole-rats S1. The chart on the right shows the percentage of cortex devoted to different body parts. On the left the different body parts are illustrated according to their cortical proportions. This “mole-ratunculus” provides a graphic illustration of the cortical magnification of the incisors and head (illustration by Lana Finch).”

‘Somatosensory cortex dominated by the representation of teeth in the naked mole-rat brain’

new-aesthetic: “Olfactory training of bees has been used to...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:41:25 -0500

new-aesthetic:

“Olfactory training of bees has been used to locate mines and weapons of mass destruction. The Hybrid Insect Micro Electromechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program is aimed at developing technology to provide control over insect locomotion, just as reins are needed for effective control over horse locomotion.”

Hybrid Insect Micro Electromechanical Systems (HI-MEMS)

augre: After reading Paintwork I’m reminded of and sensitive to...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:38:34 -0500

augre:

After reading Paintwork I’m reminded of and sensitive to the fact that people respond to the mastery-of-the-thing inherent in analog, but damn, I would like to see this in AR.

tanjents: IP LIST in the event of a DNS takedown

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:17:28 -0500

tanjents: IP LIST in the event of a DNS takedown:

tanjents:

tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
wikipedia.org 208.80.152.201

# News
bbc.co.uk 212.58.241.131
aljazeera.com 198.78.201.252

# Social media
reddit.com 72.247.244.88
imgur.com 173.231.140.219
google.com 74.125.157.99
youtube.com 74.125.65.91
yahoo.com 98.137.149.56
hotmail.com 65.55.72.135
bing.com…

expose-the-light: Lost Rainbow Toad Found After 87...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:11:38 -0500

expose-the-light:

Lost Rainbow Toad Found After 87 Years

Herpetologists at Conservation International have rediscovered the exotic Sambas stream toad (aka Borneo rainbow toad, aka Ansonia latidisca) after 87 years of evasion, and released the first ever photographs of the brightly colored amphibian.

The spindly-legged species was last seen in 1924 and European explorers in Borneo only made monochrome illustrations of it. A decade or so later, the CI and the SSC Amphibian Specialist Group added the species to its World’s Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs campaign.

psydoctor8: “Brain’s connective cells are much more than...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:31:03 -0500

psydoctor8:

“Brain’s connective cells are much more than glue”

Glia cells, named for the Greek word for “glue,” hold the brain’s neurons together and protect the cells that determine our thoughts and behaviors, but scientists have long puzzled over their prominence in the activities of the brain dedicated to learning and memory. Now Tel Aviv University researchers say that glia cells are central to the brain’s plasticity — how the brain adapts, learns, and stores information.

We had a suspicion they were way more important than just “structural support” in our experiments with adult neurogenesis.

The brain is like a social network, says Prof. Ben-Jacob. Messages may originate with the neurons, which use the synapses as their delivery system, but the glia serve as an overall moderator, regulating which messages are sent on and when. These cells can either prompt the transfer of information, or slow activity if the synapses are becoming overactive. This makes the glia cells the guardians of our learning and memory processes, he notes, orchestrating the transmission of information for optimal brain function. (via)

Above: A pic of my glias, just hanging out, being awesome.

He-Man says, “Hey, What’s goin’ on?” You...

Tue, 18 May 2010 22:22:48 -0400

He-Man says, “Hey, What’s goin’ on?”

You may not believe me, but your brain actually needs this.

DARREN DEICIDE PLAYS ROCK N’ ROLL. MOTHER...

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:58:00 -0400

DARREN DEICIDE PLAYS ROCK N’ ROLL. MOTHER FUCKERS.

http://www.myspace.com/darrendeicide

Okay, roll call. Who are you? Where ya from? What is it you do? Why do you do it? Why didn’t you bring me gifts?

Darren Deicide. I was born in Chicago, but I reside in Jersey City,
NJ. I play rhythm, blues, and rock, and I do it stripped down to the
core. I do it because I really just can’t help myself. If I weren’t
able to rock, you’d probably have your next active shooter on your
hands. Why the hell do you want gifts?

Specific inspirations/heroes/substances-of-choice?

I don’t have any heroes. I draw inspiration from the music I was
steeped in as well as observing the human animal and being sure not to
take life too seriously. And a true professional doesn’t admit to
anything, so don’t ask me about substances.

If you could fight any historical figure, fictional or non, who would it be?

Jesus, because I know I’d win.

Personally, though I miss Mtv’s heyday, I’m pleased it died, along
with commercial radio. We’ve witnessed a swath of open ground for
indie musicians online in it’s wake, of course. There was a period
wherein many of us were lost on where to find new music, such was the
monopoly on music. You guys are a touch younger. Did that switch have
any impact on your digs, or am I just an old codger, still holding
onto yesteryear?

You’re probably an old codger still holding onto yesteryear. I’m also
glad MTV is gone. Yeah, the heyday was a very interesting time for
music. There are certainly some great musicians that were able to use
the music video medium in profoundly creative ways, but MTV stopped
playing music videos long ago and became a vehicle for “reality”
shows. I say good riddance. Besides, the internet is a vast,
uncontrolled terrain, so the possibility for something interesting to
sprout from it keeps me excited about what may come. I’ve been
playing shows for about 5 years now, and in all that time the internet
has been around. It’s business as usual in my world. Honestly, the
internet has only exposed my music to a wider audience. The question
is whether or not that is counterbalanced by the oversaturating effect
the internet has. The medium is flooded with so much tooling around
rather than artistry, so I do think the internet public is suffering
from a type of numbness.

For me, the real music scene is in dives. Clubs that pack in 5 or 6
bands a night, for a small entry fee. There’s a visceral connectivity
there, that you simply don’t find, via a screen. T.V. or computer
(Although, clearly, the net offers many pros > cons). This was
essential in my running into you lot. Do you think you’d ever go for
stadium shows, if that sort of “success” found you?

I agree wholeheartedly about the dives. Recently I went to see AC/DC
in Giants Stadium, and while I love that band, the show was just an
overly bloated spectacle where AC/DC was just a blip in my vision, and
the security clearly wasn’t going to allow too much fun to happen. It
was strange, and I may be writing a song about it.

Anyway, I don’t think my live show lends itself to the impersonal
spectator atmosphere created by stadium shows. So while it’s a funny
little fantasy to envision, I don’t think jocks, weekend warriors, and
others who like that sort of passive entertainment are ever going to
see eye to eye with what I’m doing. My shows are a chance for people
to dance like there’s nobody watching not sit on their asses and be
lame.

Speaking of, how has touring affected your life?

I love touring. I can’t do it too much because that lifestyle can be
physically and emotionally rigorous. I still need a place to call
home. Still, I tour many times a year, and love every second of it.
It’s especially great to go back to places where people remember the
last time you played there. If I go to your town, and it kicks ass,
I’ll probably be back again.

Are there any art forms outside of music, that you’re excited
about, currently?

Yes.

Name/link one site you think Gonzo Squad readers should check out?

No.

Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff? There is no wrong answer.

Definitely Bela Lugosi, but I’d take a good Peter Lorre psychodrama
over either of them any time.

So, Darren, There’s a healthy LaVeyan sense of humor throughout your work. Often times, Satanists miss the point and become uber serious caricatures of themselves. What keeps you honest?

I think you’re going to see Satanists apply the philosophy of Satanism to their lives in very unique ways, after all, Satanism makes individualism a sacrament. Authentic exceptionality is encouraged and embraced, whereas in the rest of society it’s only encouraged when it’s prepackaged and sold. The way an individual Satanist manifests their uniqueness may not resonate with you, but it doesn’t make them less honest.

I’ve always been attracted to great showmen who understood the paradigms they were working with and sought to shake their premises. Anton Lavey was one, but there are others. These brave people keep mass programming on its toes and galvanize the way people understand art and expression. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed the elements of punk culture that have been influenced by Situationism and Dadaism.

Within these philosophies, there is a conscious effort to damage the presumptions of any given scenario one finds themself in through the use of aesthetic terrorism or direct action. Situationists called this strategy “detournement”. I really like that idea. It opens up a whole other can of worms within iconoclasm.

But I’m not particularly interested in trying to save humanity from its own march towards entropy. I am only interested in being responsible for myself. In the context of art, that means being a terror to all the principles that I believe are holding responsible and productive people back from gifting society with their contributions and calling out all the useless people for what they are. And believe me, they are everywhere…from the highest social echelons to the lowest dregs. America is disordered in ways that often blows my mind. But like I said, I don’t consider my guiding principles some sort of noble mission that I have to bestow on the masses. Fuck the masses. Most of them ordain their servitude and wouldn’t even know what to do with freedom if it ran up and smacked them in the face. Such self-loathing is contemptible, and if no one is willing to say it then I will, if not for anything but to let fellow free-thinking individualists on the margins know that they are not alone. And if it’s funny, well then har har har motherfuckers.

I specifically speak of those who take a note from mall goths, in that they never allow themselves to smile unless they’re doing something “dark”. Hehe. It’s so rare that I encounter Satanists concretely on their feet, I forget the rest of your are out there. Apologies. Hail. You answered my next five questions with your one answer. And rather well, so moving on…

No apologies necessary. I know the type, and often the presumed Satanists are much different than those who actually study Satanism. They should spend less time on their makeup and more time on their brains. Anyway…

I’ve gone over your work repeatedly and the one artist who keeps coming around in the brainpan, is Screamin’ J. Hawkins. I, by no means, imply rip-off status or even homage, but you two seem to share the same fire, and well, fucking boogie. There’s a fair amount of his influence in Psychobilly, but not oft in punk/blues. Or maybe it’s just punk is rarely infused with humor, anymore. Is there a connection for you?

I love Screamin’ J Hawkins, but he’s sort of an anomaly that transcends any easy box. Maybe that’s the connection between him and me. Really though that’s just rock n roll at work. Rock n roll, more than anything else, has become more like an artistic philosophy than a sound. The only commonality one could find throughout rock n roll is that there is always a relationship between rhythm and blues and an urge to push the boundaries of propriety. Aside from that, one generation’s rock n roll may not have much of anything in common with another generation’s. I think that’s why rock n roll always seems to evolve.

And punk has lost its sense of humor. I blame activists and pop-punkers. They’ve hijacked a great deal of punk. The activist lot lost their sense of humor a long time ago when the politically correct took over. If you’re not willing to offend anyone, you’ve resigned yourself to a sort of bland impotence that is the mark of the hopelessly irrelevant. On the other hand, the pop-punkers found a way to sterilize and package the image. Safe punk is an oxymoron and should be cast into obsolescence along with “soft rock”, “christian metal”, and other laughable art forms.

Speaking of fighting back, you’ve been at Ever-Reviled Records since 98. Any sign of winning/losing? I mean in a general sense. From the perspective of a musician in trenches, what’s the battle field looking like at the moment/since 98?

I generally don’t pay much attention to mainstream trends of music anymore. I got bored with that a long time ago. Perhaps when I was younger and more idealistic I’d pay close attention to it. At the time, I thought I was sort of studying an enemy to try and find vulnerable openings, but as time goes on, it’s become clear to me that some precepts are immovable. Mainstream music will mostly be a lame attempt to pander to the pacified, and the industry will always be defined by who you know. That’s become even more so with the advent of digital production.

Now that is certainly an observable difference. Nowadays, you don’t have to be a virtuosic musician to play music. Hell, you don’t even have to be a musician! We now have programs for that. So one way that music has clearly changed is that, in general, the human herd is even more disconnected from the values that once made music a magical experience. The innovative geniuses have been buried in a sea of plastic. The average person is easier to please than ever. Give them a simple hook that they could sing along to and some beat programmed by a computer, and they’re happy. Lace it with some meaningless and horribly superficial lyrics, and you definitely have yourself a hit. It also helps to tie it to some public soap opera that mass media can latch on to. That gives something for the pathetic to vicariously live through.

It’s hard to say whether this phenomenon is a win or a loss for music. I suppose someone may come along and use the digital palette in such a way that an undeniable level of achievement will be acknowledged, but the burden of proof is higher given the easily attainable possibilities of the medium, and I wonder, considering the values of the mainstream, would anybody even care? My sense is that most music of value is far too sophisticated or unpretentious for the average person and would have the effect of a tree falling in the woods. In order for there to be some massive change in this department, there would have to be a shift in social conditions that would make people fed up with this contrived nonsense. You would think the current state of the world, from global warming to religious warfare, would be fuel enough to drive people away from trite pop music. Such is not the case. It will have to get worse.

No doubt, apathy is truly *the* ultimate modern pop song. No need for notes, really, as the masses who consume said “music” don’t even care for music. Or art of any sort, so far as I can tell. The bad guys are winning. But, I can’t help but foster a shred of hope, given that the same digital age that’s bastardized music, is also a breeding ground for folks like yourself. Our meeting was pure chance, but chances are someone would’ve sent me a link to your stuff after your performance. That ever-useful MySpace profile, eh? Love it or hate it, it’s a bloody handy tool, if utilized properly. The bleeting throngs aside, there are those of us out there, fighting against the stampede, who adore music that moves us…instead of the variety that just barks at us about buying space-age toothpaste, personal winnebago-tanks and edible underwear. I just went off to nowhere, didn’t I..? I guess that was about hope. I am new at this interviewy biz.

Oh yes, that is certainly true. The digital age has brought the internet, and the internet has allowed many outlets for niches to find each other. That is great news for music aficianados. Never before has music been more readily accessible as it is now. Of course, with that leveled playing field comes a wellspring of nonsense, so even that has its positive and negative.

If you could use your music as a collaborative tool in another medium, which would it be? Anything else tickling your fancy. Film, theatre, street performance, etc?

I approach collaboration very organically and don’t have any specific aspirations. One area of expression that I really enjoy is writing. I was a columnist for The Aquarian Weekly but was cut from the fray when they downsized. In general, print mediums are collapsing under the weight of the internet. But I’d like to compile those articles into a publication, and that’s an idea that I have on the burner. I also made a cameo in the movie “Clown Dad”, which will be released on Troma Entertainment and even has Lloyd Kaufman in it. There’s nothing like a sanctioned and recorded pie fight. That was fun, and I always enjoy acting. I’ve been in theatre and other things like it. When possible, I like to dabble in that realm.

As far as what is tickling my fancy goes, I’m really enthralled by the surge of neo-blues that is coming out of labels like Alive Records, Fat Possum Records, and our own label, Ever Reviled Records. Jersey City has an excellent crop of people exploring this terrain. My own tastes are quite fringe and diverse. I draw quite a bit of creative expression from these sources. There are so many that it would be absurd to list them all here, but generally speaking, I tend to find value in art that has been lost in the memory hole. I really enjoy finding those gems in the cultural dustbin, blowing them off, and giving them a spin. I’m being literal about that too. Vinyl is definitely a medium that has my attention, and I’m often sifting through records at shops and swaps.

Final query: If no one reads this article, do I get immunity?

Shut up you old codger!

5-4-3-2-1....lift off!

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:49:54 -0500

Miss Pattern and I just booked our hotel room in Flordia for Sept 15/16…. We’ve talked a lot about making this trip, and now it’s gonna happen. You see, the Space Shuttle fleet is being retired by NASA this year, and the 16th of Sept is the final launch day scheduled. I’m super excited to get to see the final shuttle launch, as I’e seen 2 shuttle launches live when I was a kid. Though the feeling is a little bittersweet….

Prez. Obama has cut funding to NASA due to financial woes (understandable)… but this means that the Constellation program is being scrapped. The Orion capsule was to be the next generation of manned space craft as part of this program sort of like a giant Apollo capsule, the Orion (and it’s giant Ares rockets) were to ferry larger crews to orbit, to the international space station, and then onto the moon again. But all that is done.

Instead, for the foreseeable future, American Astronauts will be hitching rides on the Soviet Soyuz capsules to the space station. And Obama seems to be lending his verbal support to priate sector “space” travel such as Virgin Galactic.

All of this is very bittersweet for me. In my lifetime “manned space exploration” has been nothing more than flying around the Earth or cargo ferrying to the space station, and while I understand that this work is crucial to understanding life in space, I feel let down. When I was a kid I envisioned man not only going back to the moon, but onward to Mars and perhaps other places in our solar system. And now that vision is relegated to the realm of science fiction. One of the central tennants of many sci-fi works is that man belongs in space, man is destined to extend his reach outward to the universe. And I believe that. Otherwise we’re just fish in a bowl. A very large bowl, but a bowl nonetheless.

Some say the future of space exploration is in advanced robotics; that it’s safer, and more hard science can be accomplished. This may be true, but playing it safe isn’t going to help us grow and extend our reach beyond our own planet. Yes space travel is risky, we’ve witnessed many people sacrifice their lives for it. But if you ask any astronaut they’ll say it’s a risk worth taking, and I agree.

So for me, on Sept 16th I’ll be there to send off the last of the shuttle fleet as it roars skyward, but I’ll also be saying goodbye, not just to the era of the space shuttle, but to the dreams of space exploration I had as a child.