I was very disappointed with the recent Futurama ep Lethal Inspection, in which Bender learnt he was created without the online backup unit that made all other robots immortal. To me, this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to rip on mind-uploading; have Professor Farnsworth mocking Ray Kurzweil’s head-in-a-jar, asking him what happened to that Singularity of his.

So when this most recent episode of Futurama, The Prisoner of Benda, did some genuine SF for once, exploring the relationship between body and identity, I thought it deserved props. Also, because it was hilarious, and peaked with this insane scene (SPOILER):

This is what I want from my SF; crazy human, alien, robot body-swapping action. (Versus lame iPhone/Twitter satire.) See io9 for a more in-depth review.

In other Identity news, Orkut (the SNS that we are constantly told is “huge in India and Brazil”) are now letting you split your personality; or more accurately easily control what aspects of your life you share to different groups of ‘friends’.

Facebook have a clumsy implementation of this, but Orkut seems to be the first to tackle this big problem in Social Network design properly: do you want your boss, co-workers and friends getting the same information? More details over on Read Write Web.

Haven’t seen The Yes Men Fix The World? It’s “a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world’s most outrageous pranks.”

They’re being sued for impersonating the United States Chamber of Commerce. So, naturally, they made a special cut with that very footage at the start and have released it via peer-to-peer.

A very nice polish on the cyberpunk genre.. which is, what?, nearly 30 years old now, and still seems just a few years away from being realized.

To create Brilliant Noise, Semiconductor (aka Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt), went through hundreds of thousands of computer files to select some of the sun’s most spectacular and unseen moments and compose a video animation on the oscillations of the star. Taken by orbiting satellites, the images reveal the energetic particles and solar wind as a rain of white noise.

Through a process of audio data processing, Semiconductor used images to control the fluctuations of sound. The sound varies, crackles, buzzes and falters according to the brightness of the image, highlighting the hidden forces at play upon the solar surface.

Words and video from we-make-money-not-art.com.

We want HUDs, we love Iron Man.

(pic nicked from io9)

Here’s a neat viral video that will make more sense once you’ve seen Iron Man 2.

(viral vid via Tech Digest)

Gimme!

We’ve featured these architectural projections before. This latest one, an animation of an AC/DC song, at Rochester Castle, England is impressive. It is also a strange promo piece for the sequel to what I called Grinder Movie of the Year, Iron Man. Enjoy:

ACDC Vs Iron Man 2 – Architectural Projection Mapping on Rochester Castle from seeper on Vimeo.

As a part-time occultist with a love of pop culture, one of my guilty pleasures is The Vigilant Citizen.  The author of the blog in question has a keen eye for occult symbolisim and a mind that connects the dots on an not-so-invisible conspiracy within the music and other media industries in a way that sometimes rests firmly in the grey area between conspiracy theory and media studies.  Seriously, how can you not like a blog featuring the tagline: “Symbols Rule the World, Not Rules Nor Laws?”

A few weeks ago, he did a quick overview of the video for the Black Eyed Peas’ “Imma Be” which touched on transhumanism and the video’s over-all message.  Well now he’s back with a detailed breakdown of the Peas’ hidden H+ agenda, how transhumanism is eugenics in a fancy frock.  Oh, and how Lucifer is “the patron saint of transhumanism”.

***

“You know, they have a point.”

“What?  Balderdash!”

“Who was naked in the living room, tripping balls on Ayahuasca and praying for the divine light of Lucifer to pierce their soul, last weekend?”

“<mutter>”

“Right.  Which means, you are BY DEFINITION, a Lucifer Worshiping Transhumanist.”

“Whatever.  That’s totally not true.  I’m really barely a Transhumanist at all.”

***

Admittedly, I’m pretty sure the Peas are using psychological warfare in their albums – that’s the only rational explanation for why I  suffer nosebleeds and start quoting “Catcher in the Rye” compulsively after hearing only thirty-seconds of “My Humps” but our friends at the Citizen have a more nuanced theory of the Psyops that the Peas are bringing to bear in the name of a crypto-fascist, Satan-powered, H+ driven future.

[The Vigilant Citizen - Transhumanism, PsyWar and B.E.P.'s "Imma Be"]

Warning: SPOILERS

Guest-starring Buckaroo Banzai himself, Peter Weller, the latest episode of Fringe tells the tale of a grief-stricken astrophysicist that modifies his own body into a time machine.

Just look at him!

(borrowed from FringeFiles)

Best.ep.yet!

Here are two short, but very sweet films to keep you amused while we wait for those damn scientists to build our upgrades:

via Planet Damage

Augmented Sculpture by GROSSE8 & LICHTFRONT / Passagen 2010 from Lichtfront on Vimeo.

augmented sculpture is an art installation that combines three-dimensional sculpture and 2-D projections by lichtfront and grosse8. the project was recently presented at imm cologne 2010 where viewers could see the piece in action. the project consists of an abstract geometric form that is spiky and jagged all over. the sculpture itself is white making it the perfect canvas for colourful light projections. an array of digital projectors is beamed onto the form in accordance to the specific shape of the sculpture. the projection can illuminate each facet of the form individually making the sculpture appear to be illuminating from within.

Via designboom.com.

From technabob.com.

From we-make-money-not-art.com’s coverage of the Japan Media Arts Festival – The Arts Division.

The artist Wada Ei talks about the Band:

One day, a spectacular picture popped up in my brain. It was an image of abandoned electrical appliances being played as musical instruments on a street in a town. Using this image as a starting point, I set up the same number of tube televisions and PC-controlled video decks correspond to the number of notes in a musical scale to create a set of gamelan percussion instruments. Tapping TV tubes produces primitive and cosmic electrical music.

A short little movie showcasing Tokyo, from pinktentacle.com:

Via core77.com.

Via spaceandculture.

A fun way to browse through your music:

You can play music videos, access information on the artist, song, album, etcetera, and using such information control the flow of the songs. Meta data like popularity and genres control the way the music is displayed, with popular songs in the center, rarer songs emanating outward.

Activating one song or video will reveal a list of possible paths you might take toward other recommended songs, and then there’s the objects.

The objects are what control the music and video. The circle pieces are the speakers (really nice speakers it seems from the video) – wherever you place them on the board, that’s what song plays.

The Rectangle with antenna are the ones that activate the music videos. You can place them both, or just one at a time. There’s a plus object that shows textual information, and a dome that controls the view of the whole situation, allowing you to zoom in or out.

Link and video via yankodesign.com.

Created by Tessa Farmer, fairies barely a centimeter tall massacre insects and use their carcass as adornment.

Link via environmentalgraffiti.com.

Criminally under-appreciated Canadian director Vincenzo Natali (Cube) is making a welcome return to the big screen, with Splice.

This clip seems to be the online footage at the moment. 

In fact, the film’s yet to be picked up for distribution – so keep an eye out at your local film festival, it might be your only chance to see it.

You can, however, watch this interview with Natali, where he talks not only Splice, but also his plans to adapt JG Ballard’s High Rise:

Outlaw Biology, present by the UCLA Center for Society and Genetics and Art/Sci, presented a symposium, workshop and exhibition this weekend.

A symposium exploring new forms of public participation in biological research, raising questions and cultivating ideas about how life could and should be studied. Panelists will address issues including do-it-yourself biology, open source science, at home medical genetics, bio-art, and novel ethical engagements with science at the cutting edge. Event schedule includes: Friday, a panelist discussion with artists, scientists and normal people; Saturday, workshops and an open-house exhibition throughout.

A tentative list of workshops and exhibitions included:

1. Bioweathermap, Jason Bobe. With field-trips to the UCLA Arboretum and Hammer Museum (in cooperation with Machine Project

2. Learn to Design a DNA-based nanostructure using cadnano software, Philip Lukeman

3. Paint colorful microbes – luminescent, fluorescent, and pigmented – on do-it-yourself solid media. With a little time and luck, we’ll preserve the painted results in epoxy, like microbiological paintings in amber, Mackenzie Cowell

4. SKDB: Learn to use software tools for open source manufacturing and bioengineering, Bryan Bishop and Ben Lipkowitz

5. Use of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus strain ADP1 as a DIY bioengineering platform, David Metzgar

6. Ars Synthetica: Have an informed, ethical, and open dialogue on the emerging field of synthetic biology, Gaymon Bennett

7. Extract DNA from Strawberries, CSG Staff

8. Lactobacillus Plasmid Recovery and Visualization for fun and profit, Meredith L. Patterson

9. DIY Webcam Microscopy. Join us for a worldwide webcam hacking event and make your own 100x USB microscope for less than $10. We’ll provide the webcams and a live internet feed from other workshop locations across the world, from Bangalore to Australia. Find out more at diybio.org/ucam

10. Velolab, See the first Bicyclized Mobile Biology lab, Sam Starr

Rock, paper scissors for the next generation:

This month’s issue of tee-magazine T-post is maybe the weirdest shirt I’ve ever seen. It looks normal (and pretty nice, actually) in real life, but when worn in front of a webcam hooked up to T-post’s special web app, a ghostly, green hand emerges from it and challenges you to a game of Rochambeau.

Via core77.com.