RIP JG Ballard 1930-2009

JG Ballard, the writer of such novels as Empire of the Sun and Crash succumbs to prostate cancer.

Ballard is a very big influence to culture. His novels and short stories help influence the post-Punk movement as well as Gary Numan and the Industrial movement. I’m movies, he was instrumental in the “Body Horror” genre started by David Cronenberg and Shinya Tsukamoto, both big fans of Ballard. In literature, both the Cyberpunk and Steampunk have it’s roots wrapped around his works.

The man was truly ahead of his time. It’s truly sad to see him go.

O pulls her Show.

You’re probably watching now, but if you’re not, Oprah dropped her Columbine show. She said the show was too “killer-centric” as the reason she dropped it. You would think she’d finally realize that she was part of the nation wide “Child Predator” epidemic, spreading hysteria for almost a year after the Massacre. Unfortunately…that’s not the case.

From Denver Westworld

The Winfrey comment suggests that there’s more to the story — and there is. Randy Brown, father of Brooks Brown, a friend of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who has worked indefatigably over the past ten years to make information about the killings public, says that he was among several members of the Columbine community, including relatives of victims he declines to name, who contacted producers to express concerns about the show, which was heavily promoted in recent days on Channel 4, Oprah‘s broadcast home in Denver. Brown and company were especially distressed by the presence as guests of Kate Battan, Jefferson County’s chief Columbine investigator, whom Brown believes was part of an information cover-up, as well as Dwayne Fuselier, an FBI profiler whose son actually helped Harris and Klebold make a video years before the attack.

Ah well. There’s always Cyber Predators.

The Monster I Am.

As we all know, this is the tenth anniversary of the Columbine Massacre and while I had a whole piece witten about this, I realize everyone and their mom has written about it today and that we’re remembering all those who died. So I decided to set my pages aside and remember some people who we’re not going to really remember today.

The ones ruined in the aftermath of Columbine.

I will remember the ones expelled from school and had their reputation ruined by their educational system simply for saying that they could see how one could crack under pressure.

I will remember the ones ruined by chicken fingers and scary stories.

I will remember those destroyed by local news and syndicated talk shows who used the blood of the thirteen to fuel they’re deviant spirals know only as “child predators”.

I will remember those fallen to quack science like this…

….that permeates our halls of Justice and Law Enforcement.

I morn for those destroyed by tax funded “Goth Gang” details

And I especially will remember those who fell victim of Big Pharm. who used this opportunity to push their agenda of social medication for profit on the kids, creating a generation of zombies while getting rich off the hysteria and moral panic of a nation.

We could have handled the situation better, but our better got worse.

A Good Example of What Social Media Expects From Oprah

This is an excerpt from a  blog post from Aerocles…

Arguably, the only excusable one-way broadcasting on twitter, IMHO is when it’s done by news outlets. That’s what people expect, and want, from them. Information. That’s not to say it isn’t awesome when journalists and reporters become active participants in the discussion, and many are, but people have come to accept and rely on actual outlets for simple headlines and breaking news. Wonderful.

Which brings us to celebrities. Shaq, as well as The Jet’s Kerry Rhodes, John Mayer, even Kim Kardashian, plus a few other celebrities, are known to utilize twitter as a means to converse with their fans. But Oprah & Ashton Kutcher – the recent poster children, spokespeople, sell-out twitter celebrities – the focal point of what must be half of all tweets in the last 24 hours – haven’t conversed. And my question is – “Will they?”

It’s nice to have an account with social media, but if you’re creating that account just to say that you’ve got an account yet do not socialize within that social sphere, no matter how big your name is, you’ll be looked down upon as a poser by those who actually use the tech. Not to mention the growing irrelevence in tech in general.

So please folks, if you’re going to create an account, do it because you want to interact wit people and not because a celebrity has done the same.

The Whole Twitter Affair.

I R A NOOB!!

So…In case you are living under a rock or were too busy with you lives to even notice, Oprah‘s on Twitter and to alert everyone about this “special” move, she did a whole large part of her show today all about Twitter. Of course, there is a big hullabaloo about the whole deal. Voices being raised from either end of the issue. From the very freverant Twitter elite who sees this as a sign of the Apocalypse to The acolytes from the Church of Oprah singing it’s new found super praise at the new toy they found. I’d thought I’d give my two bits on the issue while it’s still fresh.

To those singing the doomsday song while walking around in funeral garb with candles at hand, knock it off. Even though there will be some technical issues at first and there will be a shut down here or there,  I’m sure Twitter welcomes all the new users into the fold. You didn’t see this happen when she talked about facebook on her show. Oprah does have a strong and intelligent fanbase who I think will be able to hang even with the top twitterfolk. If they come by way of Oprah show, so be it. I also wholeheartedly welcome Oprah to the “Twitterverse” as well. She has just as much of an opportunity to use Twitter just like the rest of us. Sure, she started off clumsy, but didn’t we all. Just go lay down for a couple hours, get yourself some cookies and milk and figure out how to get the attention of a mass of new people to listen to your side of the story.

Too those who have joined Twitter through Oprah, Welcome! I hope you can add new texture and ideas to the Twitterverse. I must apologize for the comments of others. While their frustration is a bit overboard, they are rooted in real concerns. One is purely technical and pretty much treatable with time. The service tends to strain a bit and shut down once in a while due to huge chucks of new users. Not your fault really. Another little concern that everyone who uses social media has is that Oprah isn’t very sociable with it. Last month, she promoted Facebook to all of you and I have no doubt you joined Facebook because of her segment. I’ll also guess that you’ve personalized your FB account, join groups added friend, etc. That reflects your personality. You made your FB account you. This hasn’t happened with Oprah.

Imagine this if you will. A nice big building is just built in a bustling city. Now, the neighbors knows the owners of the building but hasn’t seen hide nor hair of them at all nor hasn’t heard from them. They don’t join group events, they don’t come over for tea. Nothing. Now, the building is open for public. Anyone can walk in. Anyone can leave a name and address to be contacted. The building is totally empty save for two things. A huge pile of names and addresses and a monitor detailing the owners’ day at their home (They also bitch and moan about nonexistent blight and crime in the city, but that’s another post.). This is what Oprah’s Facebook feels like. There is no reciprocal interaction between Oprah and the rest of Facebook. To those who use social media, that’s seems anti-social. Now you might be saying Oprah’s a busy woman, she has no time to fiddle around and conversing with people on Facebook. This is true. There is no doubt that she does have a very heavy lifestyle. On the other hand, minor details added to the account, maybe join a group or two or pick up a freeware application shows to people that Oprah (or her assistant(s)) still have an urge to learn the tech or have started to grasp the tech in order to take promotion to the next level.

Will this be the same way with Twitter? Probably. The difference between something like Facebook however is that Twitter is bilt more for promoting things. Things won’t be that bad. There is that fleeting hope that Oprah with interact with her fold, but it’s not preferred to hold your breath at this time unless you’re a huge public figure or publisher. Feel free to speak with everyone in the Twitterverse though. I’m pretty sure you will get to strike up many meaningful conversations. If I may, let me suggest some Twitter feeds that are followed by Twitterfolk today.

Stephen Fry ( http://twitter.com/stephenfry ) A major comedic actor in England as well as proponent of social media. While he’s not widely known in America save for several episodes of Bones, You may know his comedic sidekick Hugh Laurie. They were a duo who were very big in the 80′s.

Wil Weaton ( http://twitter.com/wilw ) You might know Wil as Wesley Crusher from the Star Trek franchise. After Trek, Wil built himself up as a techie and has somewhat become a geek icon. A goto guy if you have questions about Geek Culture.

Leo LaPorte ( http://twitter.com/LeoLaporte ) A widely known Techie journalist who had a huge following when he was on the defunct TechTV. After TechTV, Leo adopted and adapted social media to help keep in touch with his fanbase as well as keeping on reporting the daily happenings in technology.

Neil Gaiman ( http://twitter.com/neilhimself ) A pioneer in the field of comics and writer of modern fairy tales. If you have seen movies like Coraline and Stardust, you’ve seen theatrical adaptations of several of his stories.

Hope you have fun!