Print, Gosh Darn It.

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2nd Not So Pirate Radio (going with soundcloud this time around)

http://twinsistermusic.com/

http://www.thieves-like-us.com/

http://neonindian.com/

http://www.toroymoi.com/

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Final podify!

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http://bornruffians.com/

http://www.surferblood.com/surfer-blood-pythons

http://wavves.net/

http://www.thetallestmanonearth.com/

Check these guys out! They're pretty rad! And I also embedded this from the archive.org site so I hope this still works.

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Prepare yourselves: Spring Break is coming. 

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"Copying"

The act of copying in regards to the study and practice of art enjoys a rather profound history in mediums of all sorts and it's pretty commonplace if you take a step back to think about it. As Letham's article suggests, the act of "copying" can take a variety of forms from drawing on inspiration from the great poets and writers of yesteryear in the case of Bob Dylan's lyrics to Disney's interpretations of fairy tales. In the grand scheme of things, we're all a little guilty of some sort of creative copying and I would like to believe that that's what Letham was trying to get at with his article: it's simply unavoidable.

Think of it this way: in a world of free thinkers, one would assume that doodling a picture of a pikachu would seem harmless. Heck, I'm sure we've all tried our hands at it and may have succeeded to some extent. I'd even go so far as to hazard that some of those pikachu doodles came out pretty good for some kids and have even inspired them to tackle greater projects like maybe a charizard or a degree in graphic design. The point I'm trying to get at is that at that time of the initial rendering of that yellow electric mouse, no one heard anything about Nintendo knocking on an eight-year-old's front door with their lawyers ready to sue them out of their allowance for copyright infringement or intellectual property violation or whatever the heck you want to call it. Sure if those appropriated pikachu led to maybe an unsolicited feature film or clothing line then the discussion would obviously take a different tone because now there's money involved that's not going to Nintendo. But when it comes to the fans and the kids at the heart of this community, these doodles, web comics, amv's, etc. ultimately enrich the culture, something that a company behind the reigns of one of world's greatest children's franchise supports and encourages.

Everyone's entitled to their fair share, but sometimes an idea or innovation can become so great it enters into the realm of our everyday lexicon and when it does it's hard to decide where copyrights begin and where they end. Copying is not only essential to artistry but it's something that simply can't be avoided consciously. What is originality but a constant reworking of existing tropes into something new? If two and two can make four, why can't Shakespeare and dragons make Game of Thrones? It all goes back to what we've been learning over the past week or so about copyright law: there's simply not enough legal resources available to control every single aspect of a creative property or original idea. In fact, I agree with Letham's notion that if someone is "copying" your work you should feel flattered to some extent because it would seem that your work has garnered such a powerful following that it has become the inspiration for more innovation and cultural growth in the community you were contributing to in the first place.        

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Woot! Honolulu Printmakers 85th Annual Exhibition! 

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Abbottabad to Become Abbottaprettycool: Amusement Park!

Since May 2011, Abbottabad has only been known to many as that sleepy suburban town in Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was hiding out for the longest time. Now let's be honest with ourselves: no one wants to live in a place that's most famous for harboring one of the most notorious terrorists in the world. So how do you get that dirty, evil villain smell out of your local community? It's simple really: spend $30 million to build an amusement park that turns Abbottabad into the tourist destination this side of the Himalayas!

I'm super serious. The project in development is called The Hazara Heritage Park and given its current goals it sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet. With over fifty activities and attractions, all built along a ridiculously scenic stretch of valley, an investment on this scale sounds like just the thing to help people remember Abbottabad for something positive, which is exactly what project manager Sheikh Kaleemuddin is hoping for. While Kaleemuddin insists that Hazara Heritage Park has nothing to do with Bin Laden, he is eager to "move forward from those incidents."

It's weird but I kinda sympathize with this kind of effort. Heck, right on the other side of town where this project is taking place is the site of Bin Laden's former hideout. Again, no one wants to live in a place where Osama Bin Laden was just chilling for God knows how long. At least I like to think so. Thus a project like this is kind of like turning over a new leaf, a step in the right direction, a fresh start so to speak. And really, can you blame them? In Abbottabad there's a wall with huge black letters that says, "Here is where the 'martyr' Osama was killed." Granted Hazara Heritage Park will undoubtedly prove be a drastic change to the surrounding environment but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures and it's hard to argue that Osama wasn't kind of a huge douche.     

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/19/172396568/amusement-park-planned-in-the-town-where-bin-laden-hid-out

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Drat! Oh well. To Ektopia!

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Not Cool, Olympics

Wrestling is to the Olympics as meatballs are to spaghetti. It was one of the original games that were a part of the same Olympic program practiced by the ancient Greeks. And yet, the International Olympic Committee has reached the decision to cut wrestling from the 2020 games due to lack of attendance and low ratings based on the results gathered from the 2012 games in London. It's simply ridiculous.

What's even more devastating is the effect it's having on student athlete wrestlers. Coaches on the high school level have long used the Olympics as a motivator to help inspire student athletes to pursue higher goals, such as pursuing higher education by wrestling at the college level and then hopefully working hard enough to make it on the Olympic team. Sadly however, the International Olympic Committee would rather fill the new program with sports that will theoretically yield a greater audience. Like golf.

I have to admit, I'm a little biased. Wrestling was a huge part of my high school experience. I was dreadfully terrible at it but I can say from experience that it's one of the most physically demanding sports out there. It taught me a lot of hard lessons and most importantly how to suck it up. That's why it's especially heartbreaking for me to learn that wrestling is also one of the most dropped sports by NCAA schools. Wrestling, just like any sport really, teaches you a lot about yourself. It's just a shame to see a sport with such a history like wrestling's end at the high school level. 

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/17/172223253/loss-of-olympic-prospects-a-blow-to-high-school-wrestlers

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Daniel Pink: The Science of Motivation

Daniel Pink's theories on motivation were interesting in the sense that they didn't encourage systems that are based on rewarding an individual upon the completion of a task or objective. Quite the contrary, Pink's views on intrinsic motivation nurture a sense of personal growth that's tailored to the worker. In other words, the more a worker is engaged in their work, the greater their quality of work. It goes back to the old saying of taking pride in your work. For example, the more meaningful the work is to a person, the more the worker will be invested in its outcome.

While reward-based learning can work in some instances, more often than not individuals are faced with its other half: a system based on consequences. Like when your boss says he's going to fire you if you don't finish this paperwork on time for example. Pink sums it up nicely by saying that being threatened by a spear or being led by a carrot on a stick isn't helping anyone get any work done or something like that.

There's this great documentary out that's based on the book Freakonomics that has a segment that goes along well with Pink's argument. It tells the story of how the University of Chicago did a study to see if they could bribe high school students with money if they did well in school. The criteria was simple: each month, if a student had no more than 1 unexcused absence, no all day suspensions, and grades above a C, then he or she would be rewarded with $50 and be entered in a lottery where the student could win $500. The goal was to see if slacking students could be bribed to do better. The results were interesting. You would think that kids would jump at the chance at being paid to do decent in school but as it turned out the students who were already doing well were rewarded but the money still wasn't enough to get slacking students to get it together. Sure there was one or two kids that were motivated by this reward-based system but all in all, it's apparently going to take more than money to get kids to buckle down and read a book. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MElbRKprs8

Anyhoo, it was just interesting to see a different approach to motivation. One that rewards personal growth rather than a simple going through the motions kind of performance. 

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State of the Union

The President’s latest State of the Union was basically nothing new to those familiar with the statements he made during his re-election campaign. It was the usual strengthening of the middle class, clean energy alternatives,infrastructure, immigration reform, “Throw me a bone here, Republicans” etc. It was basically a rehash of what he’s been trying to accomplish since his first year in office. And while it was indeed another attempt by Obama to get the GOP to work with him instead of against him, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida’s response on behalf of the Republican Party made it clear that there’s going to be some headbutting on the road ahead, especially when it comes to taxes and the size of government.

Clearly the most emotional segment of the State of Union address was Obama’s call to Congress to vote on measures for new gun control laws. In attendance of Obama’s speech were the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl who was gunned down in Chicago recently. Other friends and families of gun violence victims from across the country were also in attendance. There was no doubt a lot of posturing from both sides of the aisle of course, but that’s to be expected when so much of our legislative process is broadcast through television and the internet. Ted Nugent was there. I don’t why he was there but there he was in all his Nugent-ness.

I’m not one to comment on politics so I tried to keep it to just a summary of events. Heck, it’s the State of the Union. It’s just one of those things that are worth watching. But if I had to input any sort of political leaning into this, well, HOLY CRAP! OBAMA WANTS CONGRESS TO RAISE THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE TO $9 AN HOUR! YES! LET’S DO THAT!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/07/171410659/live-blog-president-obamas-state-of-the-union-address

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My first podcast with me reading a passage from Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Read the book! It's really neat! 

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Gadzooks, Asteroid Due to JUST Miss Earth!

According to NASA, there's an asteroid about 150 feet across that's due to JUST miss Earth by about 17,200 miles. Now that seems like a pretty generous distance at first, but keep in mind that's actually a little closer to our planet than some of our own communications satellites that orbit the Earth. On February 15, the asteroid (known officially as 2012 DA14) will whiz past our planet at a speed of around five miles a second, and while experts have stated repeatedly that it's very unlikely that it'll actually hit anything, they are not shy about speculating on the potential damage it could cause and for good reason. While 2012 DA14 is certainly not the Texas-sized planet-killer from Armageddon, if it does hit the Earth it will have the destructive force of 2.4 million tons of TNT according to NASA official Donald Yeomans. 

As scary as all of this may seem, scientists are actually kind of excited about this and for good reason I guess. Events like this don't happen everyday and the opportunity for astronomers to observe space objects so lethally close to the surface of our planet will most certainly send the scientific community into a frenzy. As much as we would like to believe that space is pretty empty, the fact of the matter is that there's an insane amount of space debris out there that's been circling our planet ever since the Big Bang, and a lot of it is really, really, really big.  

Now, I wasn't particularly fond of the End of the World hullabaloo that the Aztecs conjured up for 2012 so needless to say news like this doesn't bode well for someone who possesses the same caliber of overactive imagination of myself. Still, you can't help but be fascinated by it all. It's like observing Halley's Comet only with less majesty and more "holy crap, it's coming right at us!" So if you find yourself trying to recover from the heartbreak and depression caused by post-Valentines Day stress on February 15, take a step back for a second and look up at the sky and try to keep in mind that things could be a lot worse. Like hit with an asteroid worse.   

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/08/171412450/close-shave-asteroid-to-buzz-earth-next-week

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Hawaiian Island Creations: Don't Call it "hick", it's HIC.

I started working at HIC a week after I left my old job at Borders. At that point in time things were rather grim: Borders was closing, my coworkers and I would soon be out of the job, and to top it all off the liquidation sales simply brought out the worst in our customers. Those were dark times indeed. Thankfully my friend was able to hook me up with a job at the HIC in the Mililani Town Center. Sure it was back to minimum wage but the opportunity to work for a local company really appealed to me. After getting hired, I found soon found out that I really liked it here. It was refreshing to get to work with people my own age and it's just generally a super-cruise atmosphere.

AND THE PERKS! Companies like GoPro and Skull Candy throw product knowledge events for stores like mine all the time and we almost always walk away with free stuff afterwards (in addition to getting really blitzed at their open bars). I also got to sleep over at the Volcom House at Pipeline for a weekend! AND THE EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT! I seriously can't wait until tax returns come in because I need a new Nixon watch.

Still, the job can get pretty stressful at times. It's still retail unfortunately and customers can be pretty douchey sometimes. Despite working here for over a year I still can't make heads or tails of women's fashion. There's always random pockets that nothing really fits in, random tassels, and I cannot for the life of me figure out just what the heck a bandeau does. I just say it's kind of a bra but also kind of not. Seriously, that's the best way I can explain it.

I'm currently a supervisor and it's been smooth sailing so far. HIC has really treated me well and that's why I'm asking everyone to shop there and support your local skate and surf shop! Help fund my college education!

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Animal Crossing: All Paidea?

The Animal Crossing series has always been near and dear to my heart ever since it popped up on the Nintendo Gamecube back in the day. Since then the series has continued through installments on the DS and the Wii. Obviously I was pretty stoked to learn that Animal Crossing: New Leaf is set to pop up on the 3DS sometime in the near future.

It's easy enough to describe the Animal Crossing series. You basically play as this new guy (or girl) in a town full of anthropomorphic animals and...that's it really. There's really no story line in any of the games because Animal Crossing is a game where your typical day to day routine is the story. It sounds mundane but there's actually a lot to do in Animal Crossing. You can explore your town, visit your friends' towns, fish, plant trees, talk to your animal neighbors, collect fossils for the local museum, decorate your house, or just chase butterflies. What's also neat about the game is that it bases itself off of your console's internal clock so that when it's Thursday night in real life (or even Monday, Christmas, New Year's, etc.) it's Thursday night in the game.

In regards to Frasca's views on ludus and paidea in video games, Animal Crossing is interesting to try and categorize. First off it's difficult to find any sort of structure or rules in any of the Animal Crossing games. The draw of the series is that it gives you the freedom to do what you want when you want. There is no game over screen or lives or high score for that matter in Animal Crossing. Sure there's a certain degree of responsibility in maintaining your town by pulling weeds and planting flowers but even if you were to let your town fall to pieces you don't "fail" necessarily. Sure your animal neighbors will leave for cleaner, greener towns, but it doesn't stop the game.

I would like to think there are still some sort of ludus elements in Animal Crossing because you do have  objections of sorts that you can complete and certain rules that are encouraged to be followed. The most obvious objective in any Animal Crossing installment is paying off your house loan to the local shop keeper Tom Nook and this could take months because it truly is a ridiculous sum. There's an economy in Animal Crossing where players use bells as a form of currency, thus one could catch a sea bass, sell it to Tom Nook (or give it to Blathers to display in the museum), and earn bells to purchase items like furniture for your house or a new shovel. The game also encourages that you do not reset your game as you're playing or else the angry mole Mr. Resetti will pay you a visit the next time you turn on the game and lecture you on the importance of saving your game and keeping in tune with the real-world progression of time and space the game tries to mirror.

Again, you can completely ignore these objectives and rules and still enjoy the game. The paidea is so prominent in Animal Crossing and that's what makes the series so unique and so universally appealing. You have this extremely colorful and charming virtual sandbox that you help shape and maintain and that's something that's missing in a lot of triple-A titles nowadays. For what it's worth, I extremely suggest picking it up if you're looking for something casual and fun.

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86: The Honolulu Printmakers 85th Annual Exhibition Rejects Show!

From February 21 to March 15, Ektopia is putting on a show for all the rejected prints that didn't make it into the Honolulu Printmakers 85th annual juried exhibition. This style of gallery show is called a Salon des Refuses, an exhibition where work that necessarily doesn't fit the bill of one opinion (say the tastes of a particular committee or audience) is given the opportunity to totally shine in another setting. The 86 show is inspired by the 1863 Exhibition in Paris where artists such as Edouard Manet and Camille Pissario were initially rejected from the show but decided to put up their work up anyway.

It's a grand gesture really, especially given how small the art community is here in Hawai'i, and it's super cool of Ektopia for them to put on this show for free.  They're located at 3167 Waialae Avenue and they're open from 11-4 Thurs-Sun if you want to check them out for other stuff. The 86 show is going to run at the same time as the Printmakers exhibition so it's going to give the public a great opportunity to see two different perspectives of curating going on simultaneously. So get hyped, everyone! 

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Goodreads: Cool Story, Bro

In his book, Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins cites Pierre Levy's definition of collective intelligence as "the ability of virtual communities to leverage the knowledge and expertise of their members, often through large-scale collaboration and deliberation (321). In this tradition, many review sites are very much in-tune with Levy's interpretation in the sense that the experiences and knowledge of their respective users coalesce in one place so that other members can gain a better understanding of foreign phenomena, like new movies or must-play video games.

Goodreads.com is one such website where members can offer their insight on various forms of literature (mostly novels). Here members can discuss a number of topics such as plot, symbolism, characters, and ultimately if a particular book is worth anyone's time of day. The site is structured as a sort of social network and can also integrate activity from your Facebook account into your goodreads account. You make a friends list, compile a library of the books you read, read their reviews, start a book club, and can even recommend books to your friends. The entire experience is geared towards promoting literature through both contemporary media and good ol' fashioned word of mouth. There's even a goodreads app out there too so you can take the whole site with you on the go. Because of this level of accessibility and general ease of use, the site is fairly successful in its goals. Since its launch in December of 2007, the site has grown to over 12 million members and continues to reach new ones everyday through its ever-expanding library of titles.

Additionally, it now features an authors program where published (or soon to be published) writers can start a blog and connect with their fans. Authors can also recommend other books that they've enjoyed with their fans as well so that they can share their sources of inspiration to their followers. 

Goodreads is a great resource for book lovers such as myself. I used to work at a Borders before things went terribly, terribly wrong there, so I was used to being on the forefront of book news. But now that those days are gone and I no longer have access to that kind of information, goodreads has proven to be a healthy substitute. Not just in the sense that I have a better idea of what kind of book I want to read next, but in the sense that there are now new ways for people to interact with literature given the changing times and the question of the cultural relevancy of the institution that is your neighborhood bookstore.