(Source: penandink)

5:25 pm  •  7 June 2013  •  2,630 notes

believermag:

An Excerpt from Man of the Future, Alex Mar’s essay on FM-2030 and the transhumanist movement, currently featured in the June Issue:

“I am no longer my body,” FM wrote. “This body is simply a physical extension of me. The organs in my body the flesh the liquid the waste the limbs and bones—all these are becoming incidental to my existence.” Our flesh is on the verge of becoming the cast-off of our primitive self, less and less necessary for survival, the part of us that functions like “a bad robot.” He put it even more bluntly: “What is so sacrosanct about this so-called natural body that we should leave it untouched? What is so beautiful about our animal liver or kidney—or any blob of flesh or piece of skin? A horse’s ass is also skin. What is so romantic about defecating?”

FM believed that nothing was “artificial,” that anything we can conjure up on Earth is “natural” enough. What we make of ourselves, being human-made, will be more human than what we are today. In this way, the post-human is ultra-human.

“We did not choose our body. We had nothing to say about it. It has been imposed on us by evolution itself influenced by the hostile environment.

But we can now remake the human body into something beautiful varied fluid durable. Into something expressing our new visions.”

1:54 pm  •  7 June 2013  •  27 notes

I-90 E near Ashtabula

11:27 am  •  26 May 2013

emilyheller:

It’s International Women’s Day! That means shut up, men, you suck!!! LOL

jk!!! It’s a day when we talk about who’s cool and who’s NOT COOL in the world of women! So I made you this handy list of the top ten women of ALL TIME!!!! So everyone can SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT!!!

10. Rosa Parks

9. Bea Arthur

8. Beyonce

7. Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie

6. Me

5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

4. Those twins from that beer commercial

3. Chelsea Clinton

2. My mom

1. CLEOPATRA!!!!!!!

THE END

2:01 pm  •  8 March 2013  •  41 notes

believermag:

The new Howling Hex record, The Best of the Howling Hex, is not a greatest-hits compilation; it just happens to be the best set of songs that Neil Michael Hagerty has recorded with his post–Royal Trux outfit. The album comes out out this week from Drag City, and The Believer Logger is proud to premiere this video for the album’s first single, “Primetime Clown.” Yesterday Hagerty answered a few questions about the video over email.

—Andrew Leland

What does George W. Bush have against Kurt Cobain? What’s at stake in their bout?

Bush and Cobain bear no personal malice towards one another—they are merely gladiators forced to fight in order to maintain the balance of energy in the engine room of the cosmos, to perpetuate what the French call “Destin des Fous,” or Fools’ Destiny.

Who is the Primetime Clown?

Well, we’ve all been there—it just refers to that phase in a person’s life when they feel that their issues are so intense and interesting that they would be worthy of a partially scripted reality show.

I wonder if the intentionally painful and messy vibe of this video comes from some anger you have toward digital culture. Do you hate the internet? Is TV still worth fighting against? How can we strike a meaningful blow against the cheese we ought to resist?

First, let me say that I disagree with the characterization of the video as “painful”—in my defense I think you have to understand that my techniques sit on an historical visual continuum running from Méliès through my own father’s video work, most notably “Easter Egg Hunt/Nova Scotia Trip” from 1989. That being said, I hate the internet because my connection is always too slow. I feel like somewhere there are people with much faster connections who will always have an advantage over me. “Media culture” is always worth fighting but resistance isn’t the way to go, we need to embrace, consume and process everything we’re allowed to access. But it is a bit futile as long as internet speed and quality are unevenly distributed.

Why is this choppy, grainy imagery better than the moist and glossy narrative shorts that most bands produce for their music videos? What does a good music video do to its viewer?

I think this kind of video is better since it can inspire the technically or financially deficient to now finally and completely give up the dream of hanging on to the last shred of that ghost of a thought about pursuing their creative impulses. It’s better than those slick videos which just put off that inevitable soul-crushing. To understand what a good music video is, imagine a “buy button” clicking on a human face—forever.

(Source: believermag)

5:05 pm  •  21 February 2013  •  12 notes

believermag:

We’re throwing ourselves a party on March 7th at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York. Readings, multimedia presentations on Borgesian principles in children’s lit, live interviews, and full dance sets by (respectively, and in a different order) Nick Hornby, Dawn of Midi, Sheila Heti, Gabrielle Bell, Amanda Filipacchi, and Ed Park. Hosted by Believer editor Heidi Julavits. Get tickets now and receive a copy of our tenth anniversary issue at the door!

Relatedly, our tenth anniversary pledge drive continues through next Tuesday! Subscribe/renew yourself and a friend and we’ll send you a free and amazing tote bag.

(Our new favorite / extremely celebratory photo courtesy of “NorthDelaWhere Happening” mag. Cheers!)

(Source: believermag)

11:31 am  •  20 February 2013  •  8 notes

believermag:

John Stamos took the words right out of our respective mouths when he said, “Joining ER, I felt like that kid who got the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Do you want to feel like John Stamos feeling like that kid? Then use this occasion—our tenth anniversary!—to join…

(Source: believermag)

1:51 pm  •  19 February 2013  •  13 notes

believermag:

This is an excerpt from an interview with the artist Ben Jones (Paper Rad, Problem Solverz) conducted via IM sometime in early 2010. The entire interview along with about 100 images representing the last five years of Ben Jones’ visual output, is published in Men’s Group: The Video,…

(Source: believermag)

1:50 pm  •  19 February 2013  •  22 notes

99percentinvisible:

There comes a time in the life of a modern city where it begins to grow up—literally. Santiago, the capital of Chile, has been going through a tremendous growth spurt since its economic boom of the mid 1990s. It happened fast. In just a few years, single family homes all over the city…

3:05 pm  •  18 February 2013  •  17 notes

vilejellyradio:

Relive the wild ride of Vile Jelly’s 8-episode run by following the following links. Thank you for your interest!

Episode 0

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Thanks for listening.

(Here is a fun new podcast you may find interesting!)

9:06 pm  •  13 February 2013  •  1 note