BigShinyThing

Uptown Downtown saw Horse Meat Disco and Rebel Rebel take over Vauxhall’s club Area on Saturday 29th September for a night of NYC-styled punk and disco. You can access our Uptown Downtown photos directly on Flickr, along with our other London club photography. Photo shows Ryan Styles and friend adding a little alt.chic out on the smoking terrace. [Image © Darrell Berry]

Here’s the official release:

100proof announce the release of Issue 3 of their urban culture PDF 100proofTRUTH.

The only publication that gives real props to those it’s due to, still repping all that’s good in the world with 145 pages of visual diversity;

Eclectic interviews, street art, graphics, and photography with a truly global urban youth perspective (uh, no not “urban youth” like pictures of 50 Cent posing with a cognac in Vibe magazine).
— Fallon NYC on 100proofTRUTH.

Featured Photographers are: Witold Krassowksi, Kent Baker, The Face Hunter, Faith 47, Paul Hartnett, Darrell Berry… <blush>

100proofTRUTH Issue 3 is all about the power of the photograph, with a few other talents thrown in for good measure, (like Sfaustina from San Francisco, Sun7 from Paris, Karan Rashad from Iran, Dzyla and Fani1 from Australia, and Laser 3.14 from Amsterdam.)

With big thanks to King Adz.

The BBC (along with everyone else) reports that Apple’s latest iPhone software update cripples not just phones hacked to work on ‘unapproved’ mobile networks, but ‘legit’ phones as well. Given Apple’s warning earlier in the week that hacked iPhones might at some point suffer permanent failure as a result of future updates, it’s unclear if (a) the update is designed to break hacked phones, or merely that (b) Apple was aware that it probably would, but went ahead and released it anyway. In either case, it looks from here that the new, consumer-product-focussed (we’re not a computer company anymore, no no) Apple — the one that has delayed the new release of its core Mac software for months to focus development resources on its phone — is in danger of losing some of the ‘ole magic loyalty. Which is surely only be a good thing for consumers: haven’t we really had enough of brand arrogance?

The games company is second only to Toyota in terms of market capitalisation. Shares in Nintendo closed up 3.1 per cent to ¥59,200 bringing its market value to ¥8,390bn ($73.2bn), surpassing Canon’s market cap of ¥8,120bn.

The Japanese games maker’s shares have more than quadrupled over the past two years as the family-friendly Wii console has trounced Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to become the best-selling next-generation games machine in the world.

The surge in Ninteno’s market cap comes as Microsoft eagerly awaits the results of the much-hyped launch of Halo 3, the latest version of its blockbuster video game. Microsoft last month cut the price of its most popular Xbox 360 model by $50, following a similar move by Sony, which had cut the price of its PS3 console in the US to boost sales.

Nintendo is now back at the top of the console market, a position it last held 17 years ago with the Nintendo and Super Nintendo consoles. Observers attribute Nintendo’s success to Satoru Iwata, the company’s president, who joined the games maker in 2002. Mr Iwata is credited with forcing Nintendo to revamp its strategy by not trying to compete directly with Sony or Microsoft. Instead, the games maker has created a market in so-called ‘casual gaming’ by trying to woo adults as well as children.

Nintendo’s reclaimed supremacy was underlined in July when it leapfrogged Sony, the consumer electronics group, in terms of market capitalisation for the first time.

Sony disappointed gamers last week when it said the launch of Home, its virtual reality world, would be delayed until the spring.

The Wii costs $249 compared with $300-$400 for the Xbox 360 and $599 for the PS3. Anlaysts say prices of all three consoles are expected to drop by the crucial holiday shopping season.

Source: Financial Times

It gets better. Courtney tells the Fashion Informer blog:

…I know a lot of people are doing lines (no sniggering at the back) but my first job, other than stripping, was on Mommie Dearest as an assistant in wardrobe. My first boyfriend, his mother was a third generation wardrobe lady so she ran the Paramount wardrobe department, which was three hangars like this [gestures to the Lexington Avenue Armory space]. And I was in charge, some of the time, of throwing stuff out. I mean, they had four tiers of Mae West’s clothes that went on for, like, six racks… they’d get rid of stuff like Frances Farmer’s clothes and lace that was made out of 24kt. gold that had a little rip in it – so I had the best wardrobe in LA in 1986 since I was in charge of throwing stuff out.

We wonder if Courtney will be reworking her infamous ‘kinderwhore’ look? Can’t wait.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

The shot, from the artist’s Thanksgiving series, was to be exhibited at the Baltic Modern Art gallery, Tyneside, this week along with some of her other work in a collection owned by Elton John (there’s the mainstream hook). But the day before it was due to be viewed by the public, police came and removed the image over fears that it might be breaking the law. It is thought that one of the assistant directors at the centre called in the authorities last Thursday after a private view as he was concerned that the picture could be offensive. The picture is now being examined by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service.

A Northumbria police spokesman said yesterday: “The circumstances around who may have been involved in the production of the image and who may have owned it or owns it forms part of the investigation.”

According to the obviously really well researched article, “Goldin, 54, is well known for her shots of young, semi-clothed girls.” Strange — the Nan Goldin we know and love is famed for her images of people on the edges of society, drug addicts and AIDS patients. The work concerned is also readily viewable on this art auction site as well as on various blogs (where it has been well before this particular storm).

UPDATE: The case has been dropped, but not before causing the gallery to close the show after only nine days. It was due to run until January 2008 …

In a bid to turn the Facebook trend into something useful, the club in London (which holds events such as the recent Banksy/Warhol face-off) has launched a social networking site. The difference between the Hospital Club Online and the likes of Facebook is that the former is what the club’s CEO, Will Turner, terms “a walled garden”: in order to join up you either have to be a member of the club (at a cost of £600 a year), or you have to be signed in by a member, each of whom is allowed up to four invitees.

We want to ensure that people who join are the right people, that they are in the creative industries and that they are truly creative. This is not about adding hundreds of thousands of people each day, it’s about adding tens of people who we have checked out”

The site, he says, will allow media people the “opportunity to promote yourself and your services to a community of your peers”.

However, there is a philathropic element to their plans. The ethos of the Hospital is to encourage its members to also put something back into the creative industries, particularly by mentoring Britain’s up-and-coming talent. So the social networking site, which will also be home to some 30 blogs divulging gossip on all sectors of the creative industries, is designed to allow members under 30 (who get half-price subscription) and other young invitees to target the more well-known and successful in their sector and to seek from them “insight and intelligence”.

Turner says:

We don’t want to be for people who are sitting there smugly having made their fortune. We want people who are actively engaged, who are excited about hanging out and interacting with people who have yet to make it, and who are younger, frankly.

And they really mean it. This week is one of the biggest in the Hospital Club calendar, when it distributes its annual awards to those deemed to have made the biggest contributions in television, publishing, journalism, interactive media, advertising, film, art, design, theatre and fashion. Turner says: “We say to the winners, ‘If you are going to say “yes” to winning this award, then you have to commit to spend some time mentoring during the year.’ I have been pleasantly surprised that everyone so far has agreed.”

Source: The Independent.

[Thanks to Helen]

UNDERCONSTRUCTION is a season of alternative cabaret and other innovative new works, every Tuesday evening at the rather wonderful Bistrotheque space in Hackney (or is it Bethnal Green? WHATEVER). Check details of future events in the season on the Bistrotheque site. More of our photos from UNDERCONSTRUCTION are on Flickr. [Image © Darrell Berry]

[Thanks to Lisa Lee]

The World Health Organisation estimates that some 3m young girls are subjected to female circumcision each year and that, in total, between 100m and 140m women have undergone it. Surgery to reopen the vagina and mitigate the medical complications of genital cutting have long been available. But in Burkina Faso, where as many as 75% of women have thought to have their clitorises cut, a relatively new procedure is being offered.

Clitoral reconstruction surgery aims to restore sexual sensation to women who have been mutilated. The technique is possible because most of the clitoris resides inside the body. Surgeons can pull out this remaining tissue and stitch it the external skin. Unfortunately the technique used does not restore sexual sensation completely if the pressure-sensitive tip of the clitoris has been removed.

A year after it was first introduced, more than 100 women have elected to undergo the procedure, according to Michel Akotionga of the Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital in Ouagdougou.

However, unlike surgery to reopen the vagina, which is free in Burkina Faso, clitoris reconstruction costs about $150 in a public hospital and up to $400 in a private clinic.

Pierre Foldes, who started pioneering the reconstruction method some 25 years ago (it’s apparently taken ’till now to popularise it …) has now trained 15 surgeons to use the technique in France.

As The Economist rightly points out:

While a partial cure is better than nothing, prevention would be best of all.

An article on Page 46 of The Times Magazine today about Rachel Zoe, a stylist who works with many film and TV stars, misstated the location of the premiere of the Nicole Kidman film Fur, for which Ms. Kidman requested a travel budget of more than $100,000 for her stylist and other assistants. It was the Rome Film Festival, not the Venice Film Festival.

BTW: big congrats to the NYT for going free online today: welcome to the 21st Century. WSJ and FT — please take note. UPDATE: apparently the Rupert Murdoch has …

His last words, to his trainer Irene Pepperberg (link contains links to video of Alex) of Brandeis University? “You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow.”

Alex was an African grey parrot that Pepperberg bought in a pet store 30 years ago. By the time of his death last Friday, he had a confirmed vocabulary of more than 100 English words that he could apparently understand and use correctly, rather than merely ‘parroting’ them. Pepperberg has published dozens of scientific papers about Alex’s verbal, mathematical and cognitive abilities, and the two have appeared on a wide variety of television programmes and popular press stories. In the process, they have transformed people’s understanding of the mental abilities of non-human animals.

A necropsy performed over the weekend found no apparent cause of death. Alex had seemed in fine health the day before, and no problems were found in a checkup less than two weeks earlier.

Read more at Nature’s website. Image nicked from the New York Times report on Alex’s death.

See also recently published research on the cognitive abilities of crows from New Caledonia.

UPDATE: Alex may well be the first bird to get an obit in The Economist.

Dansistor runs monthly. You can access our Dansistor photos directly on Flickr, along with our other London club photography. [Image © Darrell Berry]

Funny how the US blogs often get the scoop on news happening just round the corner. Or maybe it’s just that the Haringey Independent doesn’t think Spy Planes Over Haringey is lurid enough to rate a headline. Anyway. The ever-excellent BLDGBLOG reports that the Borough has employed top-notch spook gear to create a street-by-street map of energy squanderers:

An aircraft, fitted with a military-style thermal imager, flew over the borough 17 times to take pictures of almost every house in the area. Footage of heat loss was converted into stills, then laid over a map of the area, before each house was given colour-coded ratings. Homes that were losing the most heat were represented as bright red on the map. The least wasteful households were shown in deep blue. Shades of paler blues and reds were used to show grades of heat loss.

Evidently, the process is called hot-mapping, which has a suitably CSI-meets-24 milspeak ring to it.

The maps are available online.

Call us suspicious, but the last time we heard tell of government using such technologies on their unsuspecting citizens, it was to track the infrared footprint of the local indoor dope farms. But I’m sure that doesn’t go on in Haringey. Ever. Especially in those oh-so hot terraces on Cecile Park (see above).

The Web has — inarguably — come a long way since the early 90s. As online has become increasingly integrated into the lives of ‘ordinary people’, so has the nature of web design changed. From the realm of ramshackle amateur production, through the work of a generation of Flash-obsessed ‘web designers’, to today’s world where back-end content management and a slew of themes and templates enable instant production of everything from blogs to online enterprises. These transformations of form and content are generally viewed as progress.

Right then. Forget about all that ‘progress’ for a bit, and settle down with a nice slow dialup connection to view Olia Lialina’s illustrated online essay Vernacular Web 2: a celebration of animated GIFs, MIDI soundfiles and glitter! glitter! glitter!

[...] Everything that became a subject of mockery by the end of the last century when professional designers arrived, everything that fell out of use and turns up every now and again as the elements of “retro” look in site design or in the works of artists exploring the theme of “digital folklore”: the “Under Construction” signs, outer space backgrounds, MIDI-files, collections of animated web graphics and so on.

Lialina nails her intent with a quote from Henry Jenkins’ 2002 article Blog This!:

“We learned in the history books about Samuel Morse’s invention of the telegraph, but not about the thousands of operators who shaped the circulation of messages.”

To rephrase him, I’d say we’ve studied the history of hypertext, but not the history of Metallica fan web rings or web rings in general.

This is all good stuff. From the historical archives of dancing hamsters and animated cursors, Lialina brings us up-to-date with the vernacular design cultures of MySpace, Facebook and the rest. Essential, entertaining reading (if somewhat hard on the eyes).

[Via Nettime].

Normally, any combination of the words ‘colourful balloons’ and ‘public art’ would have BigShinyThing running for the first bus out of Hackney. But the good people at Haque have converted us: their project for the opening of London Fashion Week — Burble, which will lift-off Sunday September 16, 2007, 20:00 in Holland Park — is monumental in scale, intimate in engagement, and looks fun for all. Commissioned by Moët & Chandon, Burble is comprised of around a thousand helium-filled balloons, LED lighting and more electronic microcontrollers than you could shake a geek-stick at.

Members of the public come together to compose, assemble and control an immense rippling, glowing, bustling ‘Burble’ that sways in the evening sky, in response to the crowd interacting below. This massive structure, the form of which the public has themselves designed, exists at such a large scale that it is able to compete visually in an urban context with the skyscrapers that surround it.

Burble was premiered last year at the Singapore Biennale (see picture above). Haque have more photos from that event on their site. See you there!

In case you’re not in the know:

iDesign: Design for Life, is a one day event which provides the main digital focus for the London Design Festival. The conference and accompanying exhibition examines the impact of digital interactive media on all of our lives, and showcases some of the capital’s most innnovative and exciting digital work. Bringing together some of the foremost practitioners and thinkers from online, mobile, film, games music and TV, the delegation will discuss how our collective digital future will pan out, and the importance of good design principles and practices for both social and economic benefit. iDesign: Design for Life is presented by Dynamo London in association with NMK, AIG and cybersalon, with support from the LDA.

iDesign will take place at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, on Tuesday 18th September 2007, 09.00-18.00. Tickets are £55 each. More detail on the iDesign website.

Mouth-watering.

The competition is now CLOSED. Our lucky winners are: James Bridle and Fran Hazeldine. We’ll be in touch shortly, guys!

Big thanks to Lisa for sorting out this giveaway for BigShinyThing.

More Broadway Market graffiti on Flickr.