Expect a full review of the new book here at SittingNow (spolier alert: it’s excellent). 

Ken Eakins

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Dangerously interesting!

After departing his child project ‘The Disinformation Company‘, Richard Metzger, kind of vanished. This was a real shame for me personally, as I list Metzger as a huge influence on my formative years as a fan of the alternative, counterculture and the occulture. 

Luckily for us, however, Metzger reappeared recently as a guest blogger on the excellent BoingBoing, as a guest on episode 23 of our show (and the upcoming epiode 27), and now hosting his own new Internet TV show ‘Dangerous Minds’.

Metzger has always been at the forefront of Internet media, most notably the excellent ‘Infinity Factory’ back in the late 90′s. 

So far Dangerous Minds has seen conversations with the very cool Charles Hugh Smith and most recently, RWYASN favourite Doug Rushkoff. 

In this 5 part YouTube interview, the dangerous-duo cover some really interesting topics, drawn mostly from Rushkoff’s fantastic new book Life Incorporated: How the World Became a Corporation and How To Take It Back (review coming soon). Give it a watch, and then check back here next week for an interview with both on subject ‘CounterCulture Ain’t What it Used to Be’.

Ken Eakins

ofcom

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Just  a quickie: Those that listened to our Doug Rushkoff interview a few weeks back might remember his reference to coming to the UK to speak to regulatory types  OFCOM. Well, the video of his talk is now online here.

(EDIT: I found the embed code for it, watch from the saftey of Sitting Now):

It’s a great lecture, as always, and he builds on some of the topics we discussed in our interview, go check it out!

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 to media in an age of interactive technology.

Hey, so I just interviewed the Rev. Ivan Stang of the Church of the Subgenius and even though ‘the conspiracy’ tried its best to stop us (by interfering with our connection at key moments), the interview went really well! SO! as mentioned in episode 3, the next show WILL be an interview with Rev. Stang and will be available on wednesday via the site, iTunes and all good podcatchers.

We have secured an interview with the amazing Douglas Rushkoff, but we are holding that one back until August for various reasons, the main one being a new book that we’ll hopefully get to discuss with him. 

Now some of you have emailed us demanding some Aleister Crowley/occult-centric episodes, and don’t worry we are listening! We are readying our experts and episode 5 should be riddled with hidden history and Crowleyanity, so keep listening! 

Anyway, thanks for all your emails and offers of help, we’ll be rolling out the new Myspace profile which is being put together by our “agent in the field” Paul ‘StuntCock’, noise-master and social networking insurgent. Paul will also hopefully be providing us with some of the coolest new crazy noise bands in his own segment in the show. 

Albert Hoffman

WOW! 102!! Thats good news for acidheads the world over!

Hoffman was best known for creating lysergic acid diethylamide back in 1938, a few years later, when examing the substance further, Hoffman accidentally absorbed a small amount through his finger and essentially had the first ‘trip’. Hoffman continued to study the substance by administering steadily higher doses to himself (up to 250 milligrams) and his colleagues. Hoffman went on to study various hallucinogenic substances and has written many articles and books on the subject.

Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff comments:

I met him in the 90’s in LA, back during the psychedelic “revival.” Maybe now there will be another one.

Hoffman was a soft-spoken and friendly fellow, always ready to answer a query without making you feel stupid for asking. That’s the kind of scientist I like.

Read Albert Hoffmans Wikipeda article here