Born in 1982, Ed Atkins lives and works in London. The artist is well known for his immersive environments and association of high definition digital images and syncopated sound montages. A literature connoisseur, he writes his own scenarios, creating a world of digital illusions and fantasy sometimes verging on the grotesque.

Atkins subverts and exploits the conventions of high-definition moving image and text. Referred to as “part musical, part horror, and part melodrama,”. For Atkins, virtual space is liberating; “you can treat it as a surrogate world – a fantasy, or a hell, or more likely a purgatory”.​

The protagonist in his film Ribbons is a white male avatar called Dave, who moans, monologues, sings, smokes and drinks profusely. Dave is often referred to as an avatar, Atkins calls him a surrogate. In contradiction with his hyperreal resemblance, he sits there in place of a human body. His digital self reflects how with online communication we can be present remotely; the body is no longer the bastion of authenticity, our identities now constructed from information.

Both compelling and repulsive, with all the compulsion of a sweet love song, Dave does not so much tell us how he feels but rather goes through the motions, hopelessly performing the act of emotional outpouring on repeat.

Even Pricks (2013) comprises a series of hyperpolished digitally rendered vignettes that relate the idea of depression—both physical and psychological—to the immaterial surfaces of images.

“Ed combines a good, dexterous grasp of new technology and an ability to infuse it with profound feeling, and that’s rare,” Polly Staples, director of the Chisenhale Gallery

​When I first started writing someone asked me why bloggers feel every random event in their life is suddenly worth reading about. I’ve always bore that in mind somewhat so I try to keep things relevant, but at the same time I’m not being commissioned to write so the boundaries of the page are limited to my life and my personal experiences.
Lately I’ve been listening to this band quite a lot and this one song called ‘London Can Take It’ seemed particularly significant in the last few days, so I thought I would share. 

The following s a short review from The Guardian of the band called ‘Public Service Broadcasting’ written by Phil Mongredien

You can visit the band @  www.publicservicebroadcasting.net/
​
Pseudonymous London duo Public Service Broadcasting hit upon a winning combination of guitars, electronics and vintage public information films for their 2013 debut, Inform-Educate-Entertain. The follow-up focuses on the US-Soviet space race, between 1957 and 1972. It’s a smart move. Archive samples evoke the wonder and majesty of mankind’s most giant leap, and they’re complemented by finely judged soundscapes, from the mournful, static-soaked drone of Fire in the Cockpit (detailing the tragedy of Apollo 1) to the pulsing euphoria of Go! (the successful July 1969 moon landing). Even more powerful is the palpable suspense of The Other Side, as Apollo 8 orbits the moon and loses radio contact on the far side… before regaining it after an agonising wait.

​The following content is difficult to source despite the involvement of Rage Against The Machine front man Zack de la Rocha. The video accompanying the post has been removed from YouTube on several occasions.

In 2003, musician and anarchist activist Sherman Austin was sentenced to 12 months in jail for posting content on his website that could potentially inspire terrorist attacks. Many believe he was a wrongfully targeted political prisoner, among them Zack de la Rocha. The MC spoke on the case at a benefit show that took place just a few days before Austin pleaded guilty to avoid a Patriot Act clause that would enforce a 20-year minimum sentence.

Zack de la Rocha – On the Case of Sherman Austin

"It began nearly two years ago, January 24th 2002 to be exact, it was four in the afternoon. Sherman Austin was asleep. Seemed like a normal day until reason was suddenly stripped from reality. Twenty five fully armed special agents surrounded Sherman’s house. Two of the agents met him at the door, showed him a warrant, and drag him outside.

With shotguns and machine guns they entered his house and went straight to his room.
Once inside they began ripping through his belongings, seizing his books, his political posters, and finally dismantling his computer, which was taken immediately to federal trucks that were parked outside and had all his information downloaded to government servers and were confiscated, and then they left. His room torn apart and the life of his friends and his family turned upside down.

They left and he was charged with nothing.

It began almost two years ago but it was just the beginning.

A month later in February after his home was raided Sherman drove three thousand miles to New York to participate in a peaceful demonstration against the policies of the World Bank and the IMF. Standing in Columbus circle as the march was beginning he was again rushed, this time by twenty police officers and arrested. He was jailed and interrogated without the presence of a lawyer for thirty hours. While inside he was asked over and over again if he was a terrorist, and if he belonged to terrorist organisations.

He was released without being charged.

It was almost two years ago, but it was just the beginning.

While waiting for a ride thirty minutes after he was arrested without charge, thinking the worst was over; in the same court house where he was arrested and released, he was surrounded again. This time by six FBI agents and arrested. He was grabbed by his neck, thrown into a black SUV and taken to a federal building where he was placed in a maximum security jail and held for eleven days. He was then taken out of prison in New York and taken to Oklahoma, in a Federal jail for two more days.

At this point you might be asking what was his crime? Was he a murderer? Did he kill anybody? Or was it that he was a young black anarchist and an activist who refused to be silent.

The website that the government has attempted to shut down is called Raise The Fist .com

It was a website that Sherman ran from his bedroom. It posted information about all kinds of topics, covered all kinds of issues dealing with everything from challenging racism and police brutality to giving a voice to those engaged in a movement to challenge corporate globalisation. The site, raisethefist.com

R.A.I.S.E.
T.H.E.
F.I.S.T.com

One word, also functioned as a host server, providing links to the sites of others. One of those sites, not authored by Sherman, contained information about explosives. Yet it was Sherman after two years of harassment, upending the life of his family, who was finally charged with distribution of material related to explosives with the intent to use them. He was charged and sentenced for a year in Federal penitentiary for having a link to a site, who he himself did not author or personally endorse containing information that can be found anywhere. I mean anywhere. It can be found in libraries, it can be found in bookstores, it can be found on internet book distributors, you can find it on amazon.com

In fact, several years ago I found a little cartoon that I found interesting. The first Rage Against The Machine t-shirt that was ever put out had a cartoon with instructions in Spanish on how to make a Molotov cocktail.

Looking back it was somewhat of a silly provocation but the interesting thing about it was that it was authored by the CIA. These cartoons were used in the training of an unconstitutional illegal terrorist army known as the ‘Contras’ who are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, tens of thousands of innocent Nicaraguan civilians, as the US government in violation of the highest forms of international law attempted to seize control of the resources of a sovereign country, a country by the way which may never recover from the destruction imposed upon it.
I mention this only as a glaring example of the level of hypocrisy that not only runs right through Sherman’s case but is also weaving its way into the fabric of our everyday lives.

It’s an example of this vicious and repressive political climate set in to motion by the Bush administration in the aftermath of September 11th. A climate in which the right wing violence of the state, for example the illegal and unjust bombing and occupation of Iraq is sanctioned in the name of building democracy while simultaneously they destroy it right here. It is in this climate where blind obedience and buying things are equated with patriotism. When being Muslim is to be considered being a suspect, and being a young black free thinking, rebellious, righteous anarchist, is equated with being a violent criminal.

All of this of course doesn’t speak to the unjust suffering imposed upon this family. The fear, the harassment, the humiliation, the intimidation, the longing and the loss, the pain by which I’m sure that  no words can describe, but it brings up one of the reasons that brought us here, to give our support, our love, our solidarity. To help give them the strength and the courage to continue to fight and bring some justice home for Sherman.

The second and equally important reason is to let this fucking government know that they are not going to silence Sherman and keep his case in isolation. The government’s case against him is so weak that they thought they could railroad him so long as it was kept from public view. Well the fact that we’re here tonight is proof that they have failed.

Word travels fast, and with some diligence and some struggle, justice can’t be far behind.
​
(Sherman Austin was released one month early in July 2004 with 3 years of probation which prohibited him from having access to a computer or knowingly associating with individuals who "espouse violence for political change". Following his release from prison, he released “Silence is Defeat”)       

Little lad of the tricks,
Full well I know
That you have been in mischief:
Confess your fault truly.

I forgive you, child
Of the soft red mouth:
I will not condemn anyone
For a sin not understood.

Raise your comely head
Till I kiss your mouth:
If either of us is the better of that
I am the better of it.

There is a fragrance in your kiss
That I have not found yet
In the kisses of women
Or in the honey of their bodies.

Lad of the grey eyes,
That flush in thy cheek
Would be white with dread of me
Could you read my secrets.

He who has my secrets
Is not fit to touch you:
Is not that a pitiful thing,
Little lad of the tricks ?

Poem written by Padraig Pearse in 1909, one year after he set up the St Endas School for Boys in South Dublin. Picture Padraig Pearse as a young boy. 

Reflecting over the Repeal the 8th March in Dublin yesterday I think one of the stand out messages I came across on social media was this poem by Tasha Kerry called My Womb is a War Zone.

My womb is a war zone,
A battleground
Where children die;
My children,
Not by my hand,
By the cast of a die
In a rigged game,
The soft walls of my flesh
Turned into rock
And a hard place.
 
My womb is a time bomb,
A hot-button topic,
Where politicians scrap
To score points from
Chauffeur-driven cars.
They are protected
From the likes of me:
Woman
With no money, no love,
No choice.
 
My womb is a plane ride,
A last-minute deal
Where the unborn
Travel for free.
Above the clouds,
In no man’s land
My flesh is allowed
To breath, and it screams;
“Take me home,
I’m lost”.
 
My womb is an old tomb
Cloaked by heavy lids
Where low murmurs
Debate my future,
Ignoring my pleas
For what’s fair;
My chance to bloom,
My choice, my voice,
My right to my life
And my graceful death.
 
My womb is the last-born,
A trail-blazer
Where Irish sisters unite
To call the nation
To rise and repeal,
Call the ghosts out
From under the carpet,
Call the unknowns back
From the runway,
Call our truths home.
 
 
Tasha Kerry is a writer @xsbabble (http://xsbabble.com/)Picture by @CiaraMPSI

Bobby Sands: 66 Days has achieved the highest opening weekend ever at the Irish box office for an Irish made documentary, taking in €50,933, over its opening weekend including previews.

The film, which was released in Irish cinemas by Wildcard Distribution, is now the second highest (non-concert) documentary opening in Ireland, after Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. The film pushed last year’s record holder, Amy, into 3rd place and surpassed previous Irish record holderThe Queen of Ireland.
Brendan J. Byrne’s critically acclaimed and controversial documentary which is a portrait of the Irish Republican’s 66-day hunger strike has garnered much publicity and debate on both sides of the border. The film played in a total of 16 cinemas in the Republic and 9 cinemas in Northern Ireland and despite the good weather, the opening of the Olympics, and the GAA football quarter-finals, and GAA Hurling semi-final, the film attracted a significant audience, with many cinemas reporting sold out screenings.

At 17, Bobby Sands was interested in girls, soccer and music. Ten years later he led a prison protest against the conditions in Northern Ireland’s infamous H-Blocks that grabbed the attention of the whole world. Seeing himself as a soldier in a conflict, Bobby Sands starved for the right to be recognised as a political prisoner. The film’s narrative is comprised of Sands’ own words, drawn from his hunger strike diary, which gives a powerful and personal insight into the man and his beliefs as he embarked on his final journey.

​Article by Niall Murphy in Irish Film

This is my first time featuring music on the website, mostly because I found this really interesting, politically motivated and haunting. 

The song is called 'Afraid Of Women' created by Olivia Louvel, and as I first heard it, the song comes with the following introduction;

'There are over 7000 women fighters on the border of Northern Syria. These women are collectively known as the YPJ or the Women's Protection Unit, an all-women unit. They are fighting on the front line against IS / Daesh. To build a new society in Rojava, they are forced to defend themselves.'

​https://soundcloud.com/olivialouvel/afraid-of-women
 
Olivia Louvel

French-born, British composer, producer and performer, Olivia Louvel works on the frontier of art and electronic music, often blurring the boundary between the two.
​
Her innovative songwriting brought her to perform alongside artists such as Planningtorock at the Earsthetic Festival, Brighton Dome and also Recoil (aka Alan Wilder) for various concerts on the European 'Selected' tour.
 
In 2011, she won the album of the year at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards for 'Doll Divider', her third album. 'Doll Divider' was originally inspired by A4 paintings which she made using pages from fashion magazines and repainting on top of the photos of the models. Collectively these paintings are called 'Processed Dolls'. The same year, she received the composition prize from SACD, Society of Dramatic Authors & Composers in France.
 
In 2014, she was awarded a grant by The Arts Council for her sound-art project 'Beauty Sleep'. Subsequently, she released 'Beauty Sleep', 11 songs complemented by a series of experimental short films shot in West Sussex, reinventing herself as a bird-woman.

In December 2014, she produced an exclusive mix for Electronic Beats , "odd and fantastic", which features an extended version of 'O Don’t Worry' from 'Doll Divider', edits of tunes from her latest release, 'Beauty Sleep', and a remix of AGF’s 'Poemproducer'.

https://soundcloud.com/olivialouvel/afraid-of-women

This is an article from beautifuldecay.com titled James Bullough Paints Realistic Potraits With A Fractured Edge. The article is written by Christina Nafziger

Artist James Bullough channels the spirit of graffiti and street art in his incredible figure paintings. He combines realistic style with a geometric twist that breaks his paintings into fractured imagery, creating an additional element of line and shape. Each image is close to Realism, as his figures look like they are out of a photograph. However, Bullough creates a disruption in the rhythm, like a glitch in the painting that alters its shape. He dissects his figures into different segments, dramatically cutting right through the composition in carefully placed segments. If the artist does not slice across the painting with shifting fragments and splashes of paint, then he creates patterns from the missing pieces. In several of his paintings, Bullough leaves out pieces of the figure’s body. These precise chunks of the composition that he leaves out create different patterns and shapes sprawling across his work.

Although Bullough’s paintings are created in oil paint, the artist is also known for his skills with spray paint. He is not only a talented painter, but also an unbelievable muralist with works all over the world. Originally from Washington D.C., Bullough now resides in Berlin, Germany, home of a plethora of talented street artists. In a city filled with amazing murals, Bullough’s work stands out, as his combination of hyperrealism mixed with elements of fractured imagery certainly demands your attention. Influenced by urban graffiti, the artist creates work that embodies the flavor of the streets while still harnessing incredible technical skill.

Hallmark began reproducing the paintings and designs of contemporary artists on its Christmas cards in the late 1940s, an initiative that was led by company founder Joyce Clyde Hall. The art of Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O’Keeffe all took a turn on Hallmark’s Christmas cards. 

Hall’s mission was noble: Sharing artistic masterpieces with average Americans. “So, through the ‘unsophisticated art’ of greeting cards, the world’s greatest masters were shown to millions of people who might otherwise not have been exposed to them,” Hall wrote in his autobiography. By 1959, Dali had agreed to join the fold, with several stipulations. He asked for $15,000 in cash in advance for 10 greeting card designs, with no suggestions from Hallmark for the subject or medium, no deadline and no royalties.

Dali submitted 10 images to Hallmark, mostly Surrealist renditions of the Christmas tree and the Holy Family. While the images are striking and beautiful, they show that Surrealism and Christmas cards are strange bedfellows. Some of the images are vaguely unsettling – for example, this headless angel playing a lute:

With Christmas fast approaching, television stations have started playing their “Christmas Classics”.  One such classic, and one of our absolute favorites, is ‘Groundhog Day’ starring Bill Murray and Andy MacDowell.

In case you didn’t know, February 2nd is Groundhog Day, but the TV peeps don’t seem to care too much with details as Groundhog Day is one of the most frequently played movies of all time during the Christmas holidays (Editor’s note: we have no evidence to support this… it’s just a hunch).  If you’ve watched Groundhog Day before (and let’s face it, who hasn’t?), you’ve likely pondered the eternal question - one of the most asked questions in cinematic history…

Just how many days does Phil Connors actually spend trapped in the perpetual loop of Groundhog Day?

How many days did Phil Connors spend in Punxsutawney? According to Harold Ramis, on the Groundhog Day DVD commentary, Bill Murray spent 10 years trapped in his own little corner of hell. This seemed like a bit of an arbitrary number to us, which in turn brought out our inner OCD-cinematic-geek.  It seems that similar reactions have been felt by several others on the interwebs. The guys at Wolfgnards seem to have come up with the most considered answer, and we’re sticking with it.

So here it goes:

There are, at least, 36 separate days shown in the movie including his multiple death scenes. There could be more, but it’s hard to verify if some moments are simply later in the same day or an entirely different day. Additionally, in the scene where Bill Murray reveals he is a god, he states, “I have been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned.” Of those the movie only showed electrocution, so that brings it to a base line of 42 accountable days. However, there were many days not shown. We know from the scene when Billy Murray and Andy MacDowell are throwing playing cards into a top hat that it would take, “Six months. Four to five hours a day, and you’d be an expert.” So, we have a bare minimum of six months.


But we can do better than this. In the first half of the movie, the only other truly time consuming event was the the robbery. Let’s give him at least a month to plan a proper bank robbery and memorize when the wind gusts. This brings us to roughly 256 days by the time he decides he wants to be a better man.


However, becoming a better man is the most time consuming part of Phil’s journey. He needs to become an expert pianist, an ice sculptor, and learn French. The tough part about this is that is that no one learns these things at the same rate. He could be a very old piano wunderkind after all. Or it could take him 600 years to become a decent ice sculptor.

For the sake of argument let’s say it takes an average person 3 years to learn to play the piano. It also would take an average person 3 years to become a professional ice sculptor. However, we don’t know how good Phil was at either… maybe, he just learned one song, or just how to sculpt Andy MacDowell’s face. But for the sake of argument, let’s say three years apiece. And he cannot do both at the same time because an ice sculpture is 8 hours of work, and he only has a small window each day to get a piano lesson. Learning French? Who knows. It’s safe to say it would take him at least 2 years to learn enough French to read French poetry.


So here comes the maths (eek!):

256 (bank robbery) + 1095 (expert pianist) + 1095 (an ice sculptor) + 730 (learn French) = 3176 (Editor’s note: editor cannot count)

Which puts us at the grand total of 3176 repeated Groundhog days, or 453 weeks, or 105 months, or 8.7 years. Precisely, 8 years, 8 months, and 16 days.

So in the end, Harold Ramis was right and we wasted a Bill Murray length of time trying to work it our ourselves.  We will never be able to get this time back. Ever.

Others have attempted to count the days, and various mathematical formulas and algorithms have been used in order to answer the question. We even saw an abacus.  But we like our conclusion, and are sticking with it.  You heard it right folks, Bill Murray spent a total of 8 years, 8 months, and 16 days stuck in Punxsutawney.  Phew for that. You can thanks us later…

(Article from www.artfido.com/blog)