Numerous and Belligerent

A definite social media presence, but just too little time and connectivity to do anything about it at the moment. I will soon BECOME media, like Robert Scoble, who apparently IS media…although I don’t believe that, he haunts the facets that are open to him like a geek plague, lost touch with the common man, did he ever have it?

Anyway, I’ll soon be out of the pit I currently call home, I’ll soon have the net, I’ll soon blah blah blah, a few more weeks and hopefully everything will be sorted, but for the mean time posts will be few, my writing will be sporadic at best and my attitude will remain snappy.

SOON!! MONSTERS…in the mean time keep up with me via the micro blog on the right

Class divide on the internet

Just who are the glitterati of the internet? The geeks? The bands? Who are the aristocrats? Mass owners of land in second life? A high-level dwarf in World of Warcraft? Hard to tell at this juncture, and I have little time to think about it at the moment.

Suffice to say, is danah boyd, a PhD student in the School of Information at Berkeley, has been looking into this realm for the last four years, and just the other day, one of her recent papers kicked up a right stink across the net…getting down to brass tacks and saying Facebook is for the wealthy, educated, middle-classes and Myspace is for every other deviant subculture under the sun. HAH, how I laughed.

I wouldn’t care to agree or disagree just at the moment, I wish I had more time to read her blog, it’s terribly interesting, and actually makes me quite jealous of her insight an the respect she commands. I’ll broach this subject again once I’m in possession of all the facts and can really hit it hard, in the time being I thought any readers might be interested in the argument itself, and the fuss it’s caused online.

On a side note, there are changes ahead, namely a re-design, it was always in the pipeline, as I don’t like these generic blogger templates, and now my designer friend has a bit of time on his hands he’s getting cracking. So things will go missing, stuff will appear, problems may strike, we’ll see how it goes.

More soon.

MTV generation 2.0

Ye Gods! I can wait until the mainstream press picks up on the likes of this malarkey, the coined phrase, at the beginning of its evolution I’m guessing, is ‘The Attention Crash,’ and by god, it’s pretty accurate right at this infantile level.

It revolves around the human capacity to absorb information, and those of us who work in the social media, with computers, marketing, PR, this ethereal environment where so much money flys around, so little gets done, but so much is accomplished. Steve Rubel kicked things off by simply saying;

“We are reaching a point where the number of inputs we have as individuals is beginning to exceed what we are capable as humans of managing. The demands for our attention are becoming so great, and the problem so widespread, that it will cause people to crash and curtail these drains. Human attention does not obey Moore's Law.”

Steve Rubel, 11/06/07

The one thing that always stuck out in my mind about the MTV Gernation, which I’m gladly a part of, was our lack of any sort of decent attention span. Well, fuck me, as I’ve grown and my inputs have kept up, my attention span has drifted to what I think is around 3 or 4 seconds. That’s generally how long I’ll stay looking at one thing, email, blog, twitter, jaiku, facebook, myspace, last.fm, imdb, plazes…the infinite list of social tools. Terrible.

Hugh Macleod obviously had his own succinct opinion on the matter in hand, which as usual also hit the nail on the head.

“Of course, this web-enabled, stressed-out success model isn't anything new. Since the dawn of time, to get anything interesting done in this world pretty much requires one kissing normal life good-bye. This sudden mass overload of input we're constantly witnessing is just one more example of it. One of many. Same as it ever was.”

Hugh Macleod, 12/06/07

I think I’m in an interesting position though, as Hugh says, “to get anything interesting done in this world pretty much requires one kissing normal life good-bye,” I’ve pretty much always know the life I’m leading now, although now I’m getting paid for it. Blogging, jumping into technology and the social media, I grew up with it, this fast paced, action packed ride of geekery and hedonism, it is what I do, and have over the last decade (since I was about 13), so it’s no different.

I love it, every minute, apart from my increasingly apparent lack of attention that is, HAH…it’s the future-boyo. So where am I? I work 60 hours a week, I play 50 hours a week and sleep the rest, it’s brilliant, give me more, I want to absorb everything. What are your thoughts? Lunacy or progression? I can't seem to agree with this '4-Hour Workweek' stuff, what the hell am I going to do with the rest of my time if i'm not absorbing information that I like? Play golf? Go fucking swimming with dolphins? FUCK THAT, GIVE ME EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE. I'll chew it up and ask for seconds, some might that’s young naivety, but I’m fine with that, when the hell else am I going to have the chance to balls up what I’m saying? So there it is.

More tomorrow.

Terrorism? No fun to be had here.

Problems and problems, freedom vs protection, being the main of them really, I wrote on this issue a few years back when I was travelling America, but in a different light all-together, here’s a snippet.


“It’s unlikely the rent-a-cop security employed to search and scan everyone getting onto Greyhound busses, for example, really know they’re infringing on the natural civil rights of all of these people, the 4th Amendment:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

‘Probable cause’ I think is the phrase that comes into discussion at this point, “Our intent is to root out and discover possible terrorists and to protect the greater good”, indeed, that seems to give these rent-a-cops the right to search anyone, well, where are the individuals these days…?”

Jack Rawstone - Circa 2003

More and more of us I guess, and that’s just the problem as the internet opens up with the social media, I wrote just the other day that my entire life is basically online, and I’m fine with that, I don’t mind, it’s my ‘15mb of fame’ (just call me the next Andy Warhol). But the guys at read/write web wrote an interesting article the other day on naivety in the social media, essentially technology and terrorism. Am I being naive?

Will the openness that we’re experiencing now come and bite us on our rosy red arses? Will the governments come in and close us all down for our protection? “Sorry, you’re not allowed to upload your images online son, you took that picture in front of the White House / it proves you’re a dissident for some commie faction”. No doubt some madness will ensue, there’s already talk of the CIA and likes tracking everything online, EVERYTHING. But at the same time they’re partly relying on that, to keep track, to categorise, I guess it would do more harm than good for these fascist agency types to kill the social media than to keep it going.

Really though, it is great for me, I can find out what I want, when I want, where I want, however I want though a few key clicks, and it’s going to get simpler, as search engines become more intelligent (no Skynet please), I’ll soon just click and have. And I’m not scared, it’s a bright future as far as I’m concerned, no ‘the glass is half empty’ for me thank you very much.

Your thoughts?

More tomorrow.

The spotlight on Jack: Connected in the 21st century

HA, my alter ego Jack Rawstone has been reborn over at the site that launched a thousand pale white boobies, that’s right, Suicide Girls. He was / is a peculiar beast that Jack Rawstone, a man of might and panache; he turns heads, strides with a purpose and is never undone, not by any fucker.

I’ve been looking over the old blog posts I made on there - I'll transfer them over to hear when I have the bandwidth - a couple are tragically funny, case in point below:

"Whenever I go down to London there are bad crazies on the streets. We found a club where it was 70p a drink, I went in with £35 which would have given me the opportunity to buy 50 drinks. This was a mammoth task as I'd already hit the Wild Turkey hard, having 6 doubles in a pub around the corner from the club before hand. But I persevered and almost made it, I only drink doubles so about 20 drinks later, on the most foul of whiskey, I got kicked out of the club. I lost my t-shirt, split my head open on a wall and continued to stomp around in my Punisher vest like a wild animal pissing off the most of London."

- Jack Rawstone MARCH 11, 2005 @ 06:49 AM

And some are fairly serious:

"For the first time I became an actuated self facilitating media node. This bascially meant my laptop came in time for the trip and I wrote up the Hatebreed article on the train down, which I thoroughly enjoyed."

- Jack Rawstone MARCH 2, 2005 @ 04:05 PM

I make the point in the above statement that I’m ‘a self-facilitating media node’ which comes straight out of the Nathan Barely book of quotes for cunts. At the time I had a vague idea of what it meant I guess, but today, I’m more and more that person, but in the least possible cuntish sort of way, and I’m fairly proud, in fact I fucking love it.

Whilst I rock along between countries or just home and the office, business or pleasure, I stay constantly connected, constantly in the loop, uploading, writing, never miss a thing.

It’s brilliant, my Nseries N95, almost everything I need, the only thing holding it back is the physical screen size, and that’s because it’s a mobile device anyway, it’s meant to be fucking small. But it’s ace, I was recently in Paris, had no idea how to get around, but once I slid my N95 open, turned the GPS on, I found my way around no problem at all, it even got be back from Mont Martre to my hotel one late boozy night. So, it’s my connection, it’s my GPS, digital camera, podcast recorder and downloader, MP3 player, and a whole host of other things that keep me in the loop. Combined with my N800 for travel, it’s even more awesome as the screen on the N800 is big enough and with a decent enough resolution to do pretty much whatever I need on and offline.

The point I’m trying to make ladies and gentlemen, is that as the likes of Intel introduce the thinnest laptop in the history of the world, those of us in the loop, rushing forward with the devices and technology to back us up, can do whatever we want whenever we want. Geotagged content, a 3G net connection tethered via Bluetooth to your UMPC, and you’re rocking for whatever you want, and it’s consumer based, not yellow pages, not some bullshit advert or a list read out by some fucking tool at the other end of a 118118 call.

It’s from someone who has been there, done it, taken the picture, geotagged it, written the review, put the address in and recommended it to the social web, to us, well to me at least anyway.

Hedonism is deriving pleasure from the things around you, and if you are a ‘self facilitating media node’ you can do that, I know I do, instantly, without bother, and in perfect style.

The visible man is also a big story today, he’s put his entire life online because he thinks the FBI are following him, it just goes back to what I was saying about being open, and the social media, let everyone see, and the government is double fucked because not only have they got no excuse to fuck you over, but everyone else can see that’s the case. BINGO.

More tomorrow.

I enjoy zombies, they make me rich

Just a very short post tonight, after the match and a skin-full of cider I’m in no particular mood for anything but water and sleep (even though sleep is only for sleepy people).

The posting that I call into question tonight, is that by Gizmodo - they’re not in any place to comment, they’re a bunch of geeks in a drawing cupboard somewhere reporting on the gadgets of the world - but they do raise the fact that now there’s an attractive attachment to one’s glasses, yes the Teleglass T3-F glasses. A little thing that lets you watch TV all the time, where ever you are, whatever you may be doing - hedonism, technology? quite possibly, although...


Well fuck done, bourgeoisie, you’re trying to keep up, you fill the airwaves with regular bullshit, you’ve tried to implement it into people’s mobile phones, and now finally you’ve got it directly in font of their eyes, literally.

HEY, keep them down, that’s what I say, as long as they’re preoccupied with whatever bullshit is being broadcast, they’re working the chicken lines that gets me my tasty spiced bucket on my weekend hangover, and lets you pass any bullshit laws you like. Just please make sure you’ve got the reality TV, world record braking, adverts and other generic cock that’ll keep the dogs down.

OH, but should I be touting, shouldn't I be trying to make sure that everyone wakes up, isn’t that what blogging, web2.0, the social media is all about? Well perhaps, but let me make take my stake first, and then, when everyone else catches up, I should be in some sort of position to start it all over again…

SHIT DID I JUST SAY THAT? Fuck, no I meant everyone wake up, read books, vote, stop reading the mass media, consume the social media...arh fuck, I've been trying to tell them for years, fuck them if 'they' are happy, it'll be fun to watch 'them' wake up.

Too many questions, too little time

I wish I could say the last few weeks were marred by entirely unprecedented events, however, they were not. Again, far too much excess in the form of alcohol and pain, bad crazies and liquid weirdness that was highlighted randomly with bouts of technological deliberations and a few beautiful women, neither however did I manage to fully satisfy; oh the tragedy.

Time to get a grip, take hold and make haste, Gordon Gekko had it right, taking the 80’s apart the only way he knew how, lust, power, greed, technology.

“Got to monitor my blood pressure, so
whatever you do, don't upset me…
Within 45 seconds, a microprocessor
computes your systolic and
diastolic pressure. Has an LCD
readout, and it's cost effective --
less than one visit to the doctor”

Gordon Gekko, Wallstreet, 1987

I’ve been trying to balance things with only a modicum of success; extremes in the wrong departments have, however, been detrimental to fulfilment and the good old adage of ‘self-actualization’. On the whole I’ve been entirely consumed with my work, the new job, chasing the dream…I’m getting close to figuring out what it is, and I believe it lies within the recesses of the internet. The ugly brute is changing, a shape-shifting beast that is becoming all consuming, empowering the people and emasculating the companies. ‘Taking the power back’ one might say…fucking wait a minute, slow right down…generations have been saying that since the land before time, regaining the power from the bad, giving to the good, what the fuck do we have now? Robin Hood living in his mother’s basement, making a difference whilst all the while sat calmly in a room held steadily between 70 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

No, wait, there are two parts to this story, to what I’m trying to say. Lets stick with one for now, attempt a short exercise at exploration, to reiterate; chasing the dream...Now, my personal goals have generally always lay at polar opposites, on one hand wanting to be the avant-garde sort, all floaty, wearing black, writing stories, capturing minds, raising hell, being a deviant, having the muse, the woman alongside and just riding life in the tormented yet classy fashion we’ve all become accustomed to seeing outlaws and rebels doing. However, I have in many ways always wanted to captain a nuclear trident submarine, or a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier, with clenched fists, cigar-in-mouth and pure white hair commanding fleets of men, becoming a warrior and one with humanity. I would never have said either were truly out of my reach, my natural short sightedness may have hindered me entering the Navy, but otherwise I believe I was always more than capable. Then there is the all-capturing, all-in-one bonanza dream where all wants become reality, the power, the notoriety, the infamy, the money, the women, the material possessions, everything, pure 80’s, Patrick Bateman crossed with Gordon Gekko crossed with Commander John Martix.




These parts of my personality have always played off against each other though, and one has seemingly always had the upper hand, believe it or not, this was the ‘artist’. I personally think this is the easy way out, the copout and as my sometimes awkward leapfrogging thoughts go, I begin to want to chase the money, the power, anger and might standing forth.

There is perhaps a way I can do it all, capture my dream and make it reality. With no-holds-bared relentlessness still manage to capture the hearts of writers, whilst inspiring, being looked upon in awe and commanding fleets of more than willing personnel. Now, the concept is ludicrous, the paradigm through which it can happen is beyond idiocy, but with a little bit of perseverance, some sound knowledge and learning, and a few years behind me, I think I can crack it, ladies and gentlemen, within Web2.0.

The fucking internet, it’s bigger than the biggest thing on the planet. Celebrity bloggers, vloggers, podcasters and general morons are quickly becoming a new breed of hero. Our western world is being assimilated one by one, the east is no better, constantly connected, in touch, if you’re not online you’re out of the loop pal, take notice of what’s going on if you don’t you’ll dry up and die, just like the rest of them.

The bloggers, the social-media, the social-sphere, it’s developing and I can only hope that it’s here to stay. Birthing from people’s insatiable lust for gossip and trash, it has, with the help of some people who have always been around but have how just decided to start embracing this side of the wonderful medium, become a tool for good. ‘You fucking geek,’ my friend cried, then I put together a short tale, it was called, ‘The prick who shrivled up and died’ it went something like this.

“There once was a boy who enjoyed his whiskey, he enjoyed it so much he’d go to the pub every night and get entirely wasted on whatever the landlord had to offer. Each night after ‘getting wasted’ and ‘being a deviant’ and ‘being a fucking hedonist’ he’d go back home, perhaps smoke some marijuana and fall asleep.

His friend then once told him about the new social-media and how he thought some form of revolution was taking place. ‘Bullshit’ answered the boy and carried on about his ways. His friend then went about setting up a blog concerning whiskey, he started social networking throughout the internet with other ike minded people and soon gained a reputation. After perhaps a year he had gained quite a bit of notoriety and was receiving many millions of visitors a day. He began a quest against his old friends favourite type of whiskey and soon the recipe was changed. Then he went up to the boy and told him to go fuck himself.

The boy was stood on the outside looking in, but his friend was in the loop, he’d embraced what was happening and took a piece for himself.”

Errr, Me, right now.

The point is ladies and gentlemen, that although there has been many social revolutions though-out history, there is now one happening right in the middle of the communications age. People have the ability to connect where-ever, when-ever they want on multiple plains across numerous platforms and if you are willing to embrace this, open your eyes to a movement that will continue to mushroom in a way that was never or could never have been seen with the likes of the hippies and the punks, then you’re in for a good time.

Now, we’re drifting slightly, the dream is the concern and it’s my dream… to be the jilted artist, to be the power hungry hedonist and to be the commanding warrior. Some may think it’s a copout, doing it from behind a screen, sat down, occasionally drifting off to examine my Phrenology skull or to eat some toast, and I’d agree in many respects, but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment, and it’s how I believe technology will ultimately bring me my dream.

Combing perseverance, the ethereal like social-media, my net connection whether by HSDPA, 3G, broadband or anything else, my 64x2 Turion AMD fully kitted laptop or my Core 2 Extreme X6800 desktop, my mobile multimedia computer or internet tablet and winning. Pricking at the shrouded light that is my dream, until finally there’s no material left to prick.