Syd Mead was concept designer for movies like »Blade Runner«, »Aliens« and »Tron«, flicks that were groundbreaking in the visual portrayal of their universes. I came across the mini-documentary “2019: A Future Imagined” where he says something very clever that is applicable to all kinds of creative work:
“Here’s the core thing about creativity. You have to be three people: You have to be the person who’s creating the idea. You have to be the technician who can solve the problem technically in a format that’s useable. And you have to be a third person who’s off-stage, watching the other persons do what they do. If you can’t detach yourself from what you’re doing in a surveillance überperson mentality, you’re not going to do good work because you’re going to be too fascinated with what you’re doing. Hubris kills.”
Yesterday, there was news that a manga translator who had downloaded Japanese comics for use in his work was found guilty of possessing child pornography. His case will surely not be the last and the RIAA, IFPI et al are having a field day with it. Why? Because when you can’t get legislators to understand your stance, just use child pornography. It’s been like that since the dawn of the computer age. No really, it has. Here are some examples of the debate in Sweden during the early 90s, when teenagers traded warez with 14.4k modems on BBS:s and the parents were at a total loss of understanding the scene culture of the day. Read more
A robbery that didn’t turn out according to plan, a disturbed person reaching out for help – or a vampire hunt gone wrong? A couple of weeks ago there was a hold-up at a bank in downtown Stockholm, only the offender wasn’t your usual hoodlum. Dressed in some kind of robe and with a sharpened stick as only weapon, one must wonder what his business really was. Read more
A Swedish manga translator and expert of Japanese comics has been found guilty of possessing child pornography. Police found 51 drawings with nudity on the man’s harddrive following a raid, images the translator told the court was research for him to stay updated within his expert field. Read more
I’ve never been keen on 8-bit music as I hold the somewhat conservative view that 8-bit music was at its best when it was contemporary. The wizards of limited C64 and Amiga software took their trade to perfection back then and I somewhat feel it’s needless to revisit times past. Read more
