Smart Phones, Dumb People

From the BehaviourWorks website - BehaviourWorks Australia is a leading behaviour change research enterprise within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute at Monash University. We bring leading behaviour change researchers and practitioners together to find behavioural solutions to social, environmental and organisational problems.

The only app I use on my phone is instagram. I use a browser for everything else. I don't use push notifications at all and I have been using third party apps to track my social media use and schedule posts for years. When I first started monitoring, my usage was around 30mins for fb on a heavy day and around 10 mins for instagram (I didn't really use it much then). For the last couple of years it floats around 10-15 mins a day for fb and about the same for instagram depending on messages. Of course, I have days when I blow it out but I certainly notice it when I do and will do my best to balance that for the rest of the week. It is difficult for those of us who use social media for work or promotion purposes but you would be surprised how beneficial scheduled posts can be to maintain a presents and the arms length distance can make all the difference to your sanity. I encourage everyone to turn off push for all apps and even if it is just for a week, install a monitor. Estimate how much you think you use social media then check to see how close you are. It's interesting how far off our biases can be.

The complete six part video series of Smart Phones, Dumb People is below. You can find more from BehaviourWorks here.

I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice.

I watched the 2013 documentary Salinger this morning. 2am is never a good time to start with such a venture but it is the nature of being lost and nothing is more comfortable for the lost than the lost. My lady brought me Catcher in the Rye during a trip to London not long after we got together, and I’ve treasured it ever since for that reason. You wouldn’t believe how many miles that copy has travelled, I’ve taken it with me everywhere. I’ve enjoyed the story many times, but I was distracted most of my first reading wondering why everyone was originally so upset about this book? Caulfield seemed a little weak and angry but also just lonely. Like a 2am doco I suppose. I never really figured that out but if you haven’t seen it and liked any of Salinger’s work, I would recommend it. It’s a tough watch at times and to be honest, I finished it not liking him very much, but it was nice to see him sitting in the car smiling at the end. I don’t know if that smile was peace or amusement, but I must hope even the loneliest of us find some sort of peace eventually.

I think that if you maintain more questions than opinions in life, you’ll probably do OK so in that regard, why do so many creatives wander so far from humanity. I understand chasing the work and I completely understand chasing the craft. The work so often feeds the work to the point where you really don’t need much else to produce but once you're there, what is the point? Is the work a distraction during life? Is it a habit? Fuck me, that sounds like smoking, not creativity. Anyway, if you are tasked in any way to finding perfection in your work then I wholly recommend this film. So...Fuck you Mr Salinger, I hope you’re doing OK man, wherever you are…

VHS Massacre

VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media

If, like me, you thought digital downloads or torrents were the steel used to slash and stab at the heart of soulless industry and fat (head or bellied) actors, teen pop-stars and commercial content in the hope of leaving it savaged and bleeding in the marbled foyer so your own brand of underground such and such triumphantly seized the thingamajig, this one's for you. If you are one of the elite VHS collectors sitting on your loot of hidden gems and straight-to-tape horrors, you may laugh now. You were right! P.S. got anything weird I can borrow?

My money's on you watching this on YouTube :-p

Sometimes it's a little better to travel...

Norton featherbed frame and Triumph engine.

“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive” ― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig.

I dig bikes. While the world was going mental in the early 2000s over the ridiculous rakes and obese rear tyres of American choppers I was building a Cafe Racer. In fact, back in 1995, my first bike, an 88 CBR almost got chopped so many times with the idea of building a Cafe from a new jap road bike. It was obviously far too good for something like that, it was mint but it could have happened in a moment's weakness.

Anyway, I like bike docos too and I've seen heaps of 'em. I've often wanted to post one here just for the fun of whacking a big dirty, greasy slab of engineering on an art blog. Unfortunately, Cafe racer docos tend to be the kind of thing you would expect on an art blog. Bearded hipsters in new old t-shirts put away two tools, close the garage door, which we are expected to believe has been open for weeks as they build their bikes from scratch and take a ride for twenty minuets on a groomed forest road before stopping at a gallery for wine with other bearded skinny people in brown. What a crock. I gotta say, it holds some truth, Cafes are style you'd expect from an art lover but it seems to me, this coupling is redundant and somewhat perverse. Maybe this post is too but fuck it.

Anyway, here's a short Board Track piece from Vimeo. The irony of the riding being filmed in a grave yard is not lost on me for many reasons, especially since he talks about art being pointless because you can't take it to friends to see and enjoy. His beast is obviously not road legal but no bike touched a gallery during the making of this video. That is good enough for me... :-D

I like when people who think they aren't creative become creative too.

Rolling Art - A Documentary from Josh Lopata on Vimeo.

TWAD top tip for the fashion savvy - as fuel prices rise I believe we'll see more mopeds on the road and street legal Board Tracks will be the must have, dig it! You can quote me...

An age of reason

Georgia Guidestones

I'm sure you've heard about the recently placed '20-14 Georgia Guidestone Block'. Well, on the 25th of September is was removed and destroyed by an official from Elberton under the watchful eye of the Elbert County Sheriffs Department. A video of the removal was posted online and gave everyone a good look at the block from all sides. I'm sure that was not the outcome or publicity they were hoping for but the result has so far been many 'End is nigh' sandwich boards and a bizarrely interesting video by MrCati. I've tried very hard to watch and follow the video but alas, Mr Cati is either leaping too fast for me or jumping at shadows. Nothing against the dude but I'm really not yet sure which it is. It seems to me some of the conclusions are based on far more than the 'block' itself. Things I just don't know about or just don't see. It also seems apparent that the conclusion was going to be reached even if the 'block' had the golden arches on one side and a cock and balls on another. Actually, I suspect that may in fact have made the matter worse. We all know what you're up to Ronald, you prick!

Joker McDonald by shinix01 d4lem3o

Anyway, hold on to your seats!!! The Georgia Guidestones Documantary Movie is coming to a screen near you! Yep, I'm sure you know how I feel about kickstarters but it seems Mr Mike Reser funded most of this project himself and is using kickstarter to finish up. I'm really looking forward to this. There are not enough Mystery docos made nor art ones for that matter, but Mysterious art! The last good one I watched was Resurrect Dead so Reser has his work cut out for him. I just really hope the Georgia Guidestone Documentary has something to say rather than the usual New World Order ranting and tired Denver Airport links. Don't get me wrong, DIA is bizarre and I've no doubt some rich knobs think they control the world but not all roads lead to Rome and unless this yet to be realised documentary sheds some new findings on things, to me, the Guidestones are just a paranoid day-one bible. My fingers will remain crossed...

 

 ZPG

Dive within.

David Lynch, Eagle Scout.

Cinephilia and Beyond has very kindly compiled a one stop shop of online Lynch documentaries. I'm a compulsive doco watcher so lists like this are great but should come with a warning: You'll feel the need to work after watching these. I recommend you have cheese and Ants at the ready. Click the picture to dive within.