Censorship On The Web aka Who hasn’t read the anarchist cookbook when they were 12?

I find this blog post (found randomly on the front page!) very interesting. It’s about censorship on the internet, in particular a plan to block certain websites if you’re accessing the net in Canada. The blog is here and I recommend reading it, though it is quite subjective and anti-censorship.

The comments after it are also read-worthy because they offer differing opinions but I got the impression that the general consensus was that censorship = bad. In my humble, mostly misinformed, opinion I think that the term “internet censorship” is a bit of an oxymoron; the very thing that draws me to the internet is the fact that I can find and readabout anything I want. If a website is breaking laws in it’s country it should be shut down and the owners should be prosecuted, they shouldn’t just block it cos I bet there’s people who can find their way round systems like that.

I think a mostly agree with this comment that was left on that blog:

Any form of censorship other than self-censorship is contrary to the very foundation of freedom. Keep your hands off my Internet connection.

If something is on the internet, I want to be able to see it EVEN if I don’t want to see it. In other words, I’m pro arresting web paedophiles, but anti internet censorship.

GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR! I’LL BROOM YOU, JEFF! I’M BROOMING YOU!

I can’t believe I missed The Mitchell and Webb tour coming to Bournemouth. That is so so shit, Peepshow is undoubtedly one of the most amusing TV programs of recent time and I’m sure the two people would create chaos and a live sow full of good wry humour. So tempted to go to the Southend date, pretty sure I’ll miss something important at Uni though.. hmm…

http://www.mitchellandwebblive.com/

Work In Progress

So, thought I’d upload some work in progress. This is one of my images, not yet finished but the basic concept is there.

- Manmade forms (technology) representing natural forms. In this case forks make up grass, and the lights are meant to be trees, hence the colour change. I feel I need to add one more form, but can’t think what. Perhaps an Aibo or I-Cybie or something…

- It’s not meant to look real, it’s not to scale, and it’s not believable. Like the montages shown in one of our lectures. I guess it’s beyond real (or something).

- The text is a play on words, because he’s walking in some woods (or a park..) and also because alot of technology supposedly makes our lives easier. In one or two of the images I’m going to put in some technological threats to my little character to put this anchoring text into question, but leave it open to interpretation (mainly because in a nature vs technology debate I am sitting on the fence…).

- Blah blah blah blah.

- The way the text is integrated will definately change, so might a few other things. I need to crack on…

Buzzzzzzzzz

I am the drama queen.

The Lion, The Blog, and The Wardrobe

I guess that the very nature of a blog means that when writing a blog with more than one topic you can easily split it into various posts for ease of clarity; I, however, currently like the idea of keeping it as a stream of consciousness so that’s how it’s going to stay. For now.

First off I want to moan about how long it is taking me to type anything without mistakes – I am still not used to this sodding laptop keyboard. Or I’m just a crap typist I dunno.

Second off I want to moan about how I’m ill. I missed everything on Monday and Tuesday because upon leaving the house on Monday morning I was shivering whilst wearing many layers and coats and gloves and hats etc, I had a headache from the moment of waking up, and was coughing severely. On top of that every time I opened my mouth I could only speak three or so words before find myself almost retching. This has been the case since saturday, and no it’s not a fucking bad hangover. Thrown up every day since Sunday, woo. Not had more than two hours of constant sleep before waking up in that horrible cold clammy sweat, woo. I think there’s blood in my phlegm too, …

Going to try and find the Uni Doctor tomorrow I think, guess sleep and rest doesn’t cure everything eh. I am feeling a bit better though other than The Throat.
Watched Requiem For A Dream for the first time the other day and wow is that a good film – both in the terms of it’s direction/editing and narrative. I didn’t know it was going to end with the guy losing his arm. Love films with happy endings, I do. I also watched all the bonus footage, interesting to hear the director waxing lyrical during the ‘making of’ which somebody else shot – it sounded like he hadn’t seen the footage before doing it!

Recently I’ve been trying to read William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch because someone recommended it to me in the summer but it is such heavy reading I’m a few chapters in and don’t really understand if there’s a plot or story at all. He’s built up a good atmosphere and image in my mind of some total hell, though. Anyway, today I remembered why the book got recommended to me – it’s because they said the film was good – so I go over to the IMDB and give it a little look over and find it’s called David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch and it is based upon the book but has elements of the author’s live involved and some other stuff which I forget. Oh, a typewriter that turns into a cockroach. Ordered it from Play for like £6.99 or something, win! Maybe it’ll encourage me to put more effort into reading the book…

Learnt stuff about Mr Burroughs too, much like his depictions in Naked Lunch of other people he himself was gay, and was drug dependant (“addict” sounds so descriminatory, doesn’t it?), yet was Harvard educated and could live of his writing due to having a fund for him due to a, I guess, successful family business. He also killed his wife trying to show people a party trick (it wasn’t actually their party trick, he was just ‘drunk’) which was from William Tell – shooting an apple (or I think it was a drink in this case) off his wife’s head from a certain distance. It ended badly, he only served 12 days in a Mexican jail.

Moving on…

This is an essay now isn’t it?

Started to think about ideology and all I can remember from college was that, I think, Karl Marx said it was like “a colourless, odourless gas” in the way that you can’t see it but it is there and it effects everybody. Anyway off to wiki it. Could ‘wiki’ be a verb now?