Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman Knopf (1 June 1993) Amazon First published in 1992, Technopoly is an essential text on media, describing a society in which technology is deified. That is, "the culture seeks its authorisation in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology." Prior … Continue reading Technopoly
Author: Lawrence Deveney
See You on the Other Side
Korn at the MTV Asia Awards in Bangkok, Thailand 2006. Image from Wikipedia. "Getting into action generates inspiration. Don't cop out waiting for inspiration to get you back into action. It won't! … I leave you with one thought: It's not a compliment when someone tells you you're a survivor. It's bullshit. We're all survivors … Continue reading See You on the Other Side
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Penguin (27 December 2005) Amazon Amusing Ourselves to Death is Neil Postman's 1985 text on media ecology, and the ways different mediums of communication shape human thought. Echoing Marshall McLuhan's theory on "the medium is the message," it details Postman's … Continue reading Amusing Ourselves to Death
The Rising Tied
The Rising Tied album cover. Image from Machine Shop and Warner Bros. Records. "In order to achieve 'flow,' 'magic,' 'the zone,' we start by being common and ordinary and workmanlike." -Steven Pressfield The Rising Tied is the first and only studio album of Fort Minor, the hip-hop project of Linkin Park emcee Mike Shinoda. It … Continue reading The Rising Tied
Believe Me
Mike Shinoda and Tak performing in the music video for "Believe Me." Image from Machine Shop and Warner Bros. Records. "Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends." -Tom Cruise The second (or third?) single from Fort Minor's The Rising Tied was "Believe Me." The track features not only Ryu and Tak from Styles of Beyond, … Continue reading Believe Me
Goodbye for Now
Katy Perry performing with P.O.D. onstage. Image from YouTube. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." -Seneca "Goodbye for Now" was the lead single off P.O.D.'s underrated gem of an album, Testify. Released in late 2005, it received some decent airplay, and was the band's most successful single since "Youth of the Nation." … Continue reading Goodbye for Now
On Limp Bizkit and Fred Durst
Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland. Image from Nielson Barnard, Getty Images. I'm not sure where to start on this, so I'm just going to make it up as I go along. The image of Limp Bizkit and Fred Durst in their heyday didn't really do the band or the man justice, that Durst was just … Continue reading On Limp Bizkit and Fred Durst
On the Deftones
Deftones, from left to right: Abe Cunningham, Fred Sablan, Chino Moreno, Frank Delgado, and Stephen Carpenter. Image from LiveNation. I was probably twelve years old and discovering music on my own when I found the Deftones in 1999. They were featured on the Matrix soundtrack, which I was listening to on CD. The track was … Continue reading On the Deftones
Falling
Staind, from left to right: Mike Mushok, Jon Wysocki, Aaron Lewis, and Johnny April. Image from MusicRadar. "Not to feel exasperated, or defeated or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human -- however imperfectly -- and fully … Continue reading Falling
The Filter Bubble
The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser Penguin (16 April 2012) Amazon The Filter Bubble explores how personalisation algorithms shape what information we see online. All the major tech companies do this -- Google, Facebook, Amazon. Author Eli Pariser argues that while personalisation can make user experiences more convenient, … Continue reading The Filter Bubble
Lawrence Deveney 