This week we talk to one of my all time favourite writers and thinkers Douglas Rushkoff. In this episode we discuss, Obama's potential to tap into bottom-up politics, what happens if we stop believing in the economy, Conspiracy Cultre, hacking reality, what the next renaissance might look like, writing comics, why advertising doesn't work and Magick. I really hope you enjoy this special 20th episode of the show. I'm a HUGE fan of Mr Rushkoff making this a very special episode for me!     Joining me in the examiners chair this week is Media-Underground's George Mortimer and FINALLY our very own Claire Lumiere!    Daddytank hits in with another baby killingly (this will make sense if you listen) awesome 'Myspace Heroes', featuring:   Babies In A Woodchipper Klam Made For Chickens By Robots The Battery Davis  Zano Bathroom Enjoy!   Douglas Rushkoff Bio (pinched from Wired.com) Douglas Rushkoff is an author, professor, media theorist, journalist, as well as a keyboardist for the industrial band PsychicTV. His books include Media Virus, Coercion, Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism (a book which opened up the question of Open Source Judaism), Exit Strategy (an online collaborative novel), and a monthly comic book, Testament. He founded the Narrative Lab at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, a space which seeks to explore the relationship of narrative ...

Daddytank joins the team of CounterComic fans, this time reviewing the amazing 'From Hell'.  From Hell - Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell  In my heyday of comic reading, graphic novels were a pricey proposition. I used to gaze at these amazing tomes in Forbidden Planet or Games Workshop and wish that I had the patience to save up for them but I needed my weekly fix of Judge Dredd, Nemesis, Rogue Trooper, Slaine etc. I needed 2000 AD. And it was through 2000 AD that I came to be familiar with the name Alan Moore.       “Watchmen” is considered by many a comic nerd to be the ultimate graphic novel, but that honour is given by other comic nerds to another of Moore’s works, “From Hell”. And up until six months ago I had read neither. Now I realize that at this point anyone reading this will be thinking “…what’s this twat doing a review on graphic novels for when he’s only just read Watchmen, released in 1986/7.” Well, that’s why I wrote the first part. It was sort of an excuse. Anyway, on with the review.   “From Hell” is a gothic nightmare. Eddie Campbell must have gone through litres of black ink creating his ...

A Turkish inmate in Western Germany escaped from prison recently by hiding in a cardboard box that was promptly mailed off. The drug dealer made his escape by cutting a hole as soon as it made it out of the premises and has still not been found.   A geek couple has divorced over the computer game Second Life after wife Amy caught her husband David cheating on her- digitally! In the game, people lead alternative existences with self-created personas - or avatars – which are generally a more suave and sophisticated or attractive version of themselves. When Amy caught her husband making love to a pixelized prostitute, she hired an online private investigator to check on David’s digital infidelity. So it went, David had been “seeing” an American virtual girl for two weeks. The couple divorced for “unreasonable behavior.” flying lemur species have been found! Due to a split in the species, which is actually the species of an acrobatic primate- these “lemurs” have evolved to glide!   In El Paso, Texas, the parents of students on a dance team laced the contents of a baked goods basket for a rival team with bleach and rat poison! Though the food was ...

  Scott Carelli loves comics and other geek-related stuff. He talks about it weekly on his podcasts Two Geeks a Mic and a Podcast and True Believers on Geekshow.us. He also created and produces an audio series called Geek by Night also on Geekshow.us. Check them out!   After two comic reviews for series heavy in supernatural elements (Preacher, Lucifer), I thought the best choice would be to review a comic that’s much more realistic and profound. The kind of story filled with thought provoking social commentary that causes you to question the very fabric that makes up our society. Something that is so somber and disheartening that you’ll never look at humanity the same way again. Naturally, only one subject immediately came to mind: Zombies.   Yes, you read that right. Zombies, when used correctly, should make you see humanity in a different light. It might not be pretty, but it’s real and it’s honest. The best zombie stories aren’t about the living dead, but instead use that as the setting for a story about people and how they live and deal with an impossible situation. Not since Romero have zombies been used this well. Not until The Walking Dead.   Created by Robert Kirkman ...

This week we chat once again to the amazing Lon Milo Duquette! In this weeks episode we discuss the interesting topic of John Dee and Edward Kelly's Enochian Magick, the controlled-schizophrenia of Magick, how angels give you Ferrari's and 'why Magick?'...quite simply..   Joining me in the co-host dungeon this week is our newest initiate in the mystery-school that is SittingNow, Adrian Dobbie, who you may remember has written some great articles and reviews for the site. Once again, Mort of the fabulous Media Underground returns to aid us in our endeavours.   Claire provides yet another great Weekly Weird News, in which she bemoans the loss of the worlds ugliest dog, and DaddyTank's amazing  'Myspace Heroes' returns for its second week, you can check the featured artists here: Vicsid -  http://www.myspace.com/vicsid Kramer V Kramer V Godzilla - http://www.myspace.com/kvkvg Twiggy and the K-Mesons - http://www.myspace.com/twiggyandthekmesons   Next week we interview the Social Philosopher and Media Theorist Douglas Rushkoff, a personal hero of mine, about all things open-source, so keep em peeled for that!   Enjoy!

George T. Mortimer is the editor and webmaster of the amazing Media Underground, as well as being the author of The Probationer's Handbook, and The Key of it All. Each week Mort will be teaching you ways of keeping 'The Man' on his toes, and all from the comfort of your home.   Fun With Finances     A few weeks ago the fixed rate on my mortgage ran out resulting in a rather alarming increase in my monthly repayments to the Halifax Bank Of Scotland (soon to be laughably called Lloyds Trustees Savings Halifax Bank Of Scotland - or something as equally ludicrous due to recent bailout plans). Being the ever-vigilant little investor that I am – and realising the implications that the current economic crisis will have on mortgage rates - I decided to schedule an appointment with the bank to negotiate another fix rate mortgage for a few more years.   The offer they presented to me was reasonable, I thought, until I asked if there were any additional charges.   “It’s £999,” remarked the mortgage advisor as calm as you like, “for transferring from a variable rate to a fixed rate for 5 years.”   “A grand!” I exclaimed. “But I’m not transferring to anywhere, I’m already a goddamned existing ...

In case you haven't heard yet, Mercury Rev are back. Best known for 1998's critically acclaimed Deserter's Songs, the pop-minded proggy psychedelicists have been ploughing their own wonky furrow for twenty years now.  Seeming to lose their way a little in the past couple of years, their new album, Snowflake Midnight, is by most accounts pretty good. Does it translate well live? Hell yes.     Before the band appear, we are shown a lovingly crafted intro video on the huge screen on stage, accompanied by the otherworldly babbling of the Cocteau Twins. An image of a Ken Wilber book flashes up, but before I can make out which of the bald brainiac's works it is, the image changes to a young and wild-eyed Iggy Pop. Next comes John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, then a shot of Phil Hine's book Condensed Chaos. Seeing the chaos magick classic up blown up super-big makes me grin, and it's a grin that doesn't really fade for the next one and half hours.   Frontman Jonathon Donahue is still an intriguing elf/goblin combination, with wide eyes and a bottle of red wine that he takes slugs from throughout the show- presumably fuel for his Dionysian revels. We're not just ...

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Pop Culture Magick, Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy, Multi-Media Magic and Kink Magic (co-written with Lupa). Taylor is also the managing non-fiction editor for Immanion Press and a Teacher of experimental magic at the Growing Edge Institute. For more information about Taylor, please visit The Green Wolf or Magical Experiments   The Evolution of Magic   When I get the occasional interview from a podcast or magazine, one misperception I often need to correct is the association people make with my work and chaos magic. I suppose because chaos magic used to be the latest current of magic and one that seemingly represented avant garde magic, people find it easier to lump my work into chaos magic. Admittedly, at one time I briefly identified as a chaote, but in the last five or so years, I came to recognize that Chaos Magic wasn't quite the apt descriptor of what I do. While some of the practices I utilize are derived from Chaos Magic, I also draw much more extensively on Ceremonial and Hermetic practices as well as Far Eastern techniques. Even more importantly, much of my magical practice is now derived from disciplines that have little if any overt ...

Each week we send our Queen of the Weird, Claire Lumiere, into the wilderness of the Internets to find the weirdest reports from the Underground, CounterCulture and the Paranormal mileau! If you have news that you feel demands the attention of the SittingNow community then drop us an email at wwn@sittingnow.co.uk   I’m going to give Kim a shout out for finding this one: A jogger named Michelle in Arizona last Thursday jogged for a mile with a rabid fox clamped to her arm! She said she knew something was immediately wrong when she saw it make eye contact and walked toward her. The brave Michelle managed to pry the fox off her arm and throw it into the trunk before driving to the hospital.   In name changing news, a 19 year old English fellow, originally George from Glastonbury, has decided that Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined is more fitting. Captain FFTSSBWHATFC says he changed it online for a $20 fee and as a result, his grandmother is so outraged she refuses to speak to him.   Wired.com reports that in the first analysis of genetic diversity in a modern agricultural commodity has shown results ...

This week we chat to the amazing Jonathan Downes, the director of the Centre of Fortean Zoology. Jonathan is a real-life monster hunter and has uncovered many mysteries surrounding bizarre and weird sightings of unknown and unidentified creatures. In this weeks episode we discuss The Owlman and the decline of education, The Chupacabra and tiny goats, Hitler's Koi Carp and many other weird and wonderful topics.    My new co-host is George Mortimer of the amazing Media Underground, who's been adding the great new 'Armchair Anarchy' feature to the site. As is usual, Claire brings us this weeks Weekly Weird news.   Our new music feature comes from DaddyTanks 'MySpace Heroes' music picks:   Pang - http://www.myspace.com/pangmusic Disolved - http://www.myspace.com/dissolvedamberrooms Raleigh St. Clair - http://www.myspace.com/raleighstclair   Background music comes courtesy of the amazing Martin Denny, and even Mark Snow (if you listen to the interview closely).    We'll be back next week with Lon Milo Duquette, who you'll remember from episode 5 of the show.   Jonathan Downes Biog (from Wikipedia):     Jonathan Downes is a cryptozoologist, author, film-maker, journalist, composer and singer-songwriter, with a background in radical politics and mental health care. His father, the explorer and Colonial Service Officer J. T. Downes, authored several books on wide range of subjects, such as African history, theology and Devonshire dialect. His mother ...