To see the iPod as an agent of isolation rather than a symptom of, or a clever adaptation to, that isolation is to confuse cause and effect.

Kevin J. H. Dettmar
from Earbuds and Mosh Pits

Back in 2004, I wrote a rather rambling, free-form article about the role of the iPod in the promotion of social isolation ( available here: iPod Isolation ). I haphazardly thought out-loud about the power of the iPod to augment reality in an empowering way versus its traditionally conceived role in narrowing one’s reality in a socially awkward way.

Similarly, a new article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale professor Kevin J.H. Dettmar, entitled Earbuds and Mosh Pits, questions the role that iPod technology plays in promoting and/or suffocating social interaction and community building.

Most artist statements are bunk. With a few stellar and authentic exceptions, the art world seems awash with inauthentic pretentiousness, poppycock and piffle when it comes to artists’ statements of their own work.

Though many would argue the point and counterpoint to their grave (and do, and do, and do and do…), I think that it’s hard to disagree with a statement like Matt Linderman’s over on Signal vs. Noise (original post here):

The thriving art scene here in NYC has exposed me to a lot more art shows than I ever experienced before in my life. And I’ve gotta say, the art statements that I read generally make me a bit nauseous. Sure, they can sometimes be helpful. But all too often they have that grad-student-thesis-feel, full of impressive-sounding words and pretentious ideas but somehow there’s no there there.

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photo © 2002, John Freeman used with permission

Being a traveling artist myself, I have the opportunity to see many remarkable - and many more less-than-remarkable - performances in cities throughout the world. New York City, of course, presents a profoundly high incidence of these works of public and private art, being the cultural center that it is.

Street performance is one particularly colorful and active scene in NYC, and though I would be hard pressed to draw a comparison between the juggler on the corner and Andras Schiff at Carnegie Hall (unless that juggler is Michael Moschen), I do delight in some uniquely fun, witty and original shows - and I’m happy to show my support.

I met this gentleman a few years back in Baltimore and was intrigued with his setup - which involved a large, clear hemisphere - and his work with silicone balls. By sheer happenstance I came across a YouTube video of his and that was all it took to push me over the edge to share his work with you here.

Greg Kennedy is a two-time Gold Medal-winning IJA juggler with a particular interest in working with surfaces. From his website:

In an effort to redefine people’s preconceptions about juggling, Greg Kennedy fuses logic and creativity to synthesize new forms of juggling manipulation. In the early 1990’s, Greg spent several years working as a professional engineer, in addition to his juggling career. His fascination with the geometry and physics of object manipulation lead him to ground-breaking work with original apparatus, expanding the realm of juggling. “He is a visionary who can see the possibilities in props and movement that are obscure to the masses,” writes Bill Giduz, Jugglers World magazine.

Since the 60’s, Australian performance artist Stelarc has been publicly exploring the boundaries of the human body and human experience while simultaneously investigating means by which to extend and transform it. His latest exploration involves the implantation of an organic ear on his forearm.

Much has been written in the blogosphere about the ear implantation and the soon-to-be realized modifications of Bluetooth integration and subsequent ‘net broadcasting of heard sounds, with many writers questioning - through posts and comments - the utility of the ear, placement of the ear and choice of technology. As interesting as those particular “innovations” may be, however, they are secondary to the thread of significance that has connected all of Stelarc’s work from the beginning.

In late 2003 and 2004, comedian Bill Bailey toured a show entitled Part Troll, which featured a good deal of his brilliant musical humour. Among the gems of musical mash-up, satire and spoof was one piece in particular – an encore actually – which deserves mention here (they all deserve mention, actually). It is a tribute to the groundbreaking German electronic group Kraftwerk.

Of course, the clip is best if you watch the entirety of Bill’s show and - if you are not familiar with him - get to know him as a person, but it stands on its own quite well too.

I’m not going to give away the punch line, but after you watch the video, visit this site to read about how David Bamber (who passed away this week) of the Telegraph thinks that the original of this tune is a parody of the Catholic Church’s Latin Mass.

Monday, May 14th marks the deadline for all Internet providers - from dial-up to DSL, broadband and satellite providers - to be equipped with back-door surveillance technology allowing law enforcement agencies to more easily monitor and eavesdrop on all Internet communications.

An extension of 1994’s Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which applies to voice communications, the new “enhancement” and widening of scope is the result of a petition filed by the Department of Justice and the FBI and will allow law enforcement agencies (and as Boing Boing pointed out, criminals and corporate spies as well) access to all ‘net-based communications including “e-mail, instant messaging records, web-browsing information and other information sent or received through a user’s broadband connection, including on-line banking activity.”

Some universities will also be required to install these back-door access points, which promise to give law enforcement agencies with court approval access to data in less than a day. Just how long will it take to for illegal wiretaps?

Located on the main pedestrian thoroughfare in coffee-centric Burlington, VT, Uncommon Grounds offers some of the best and most fresh coffee in town.

With a very wide selection of beans from most of the coffee growing countries stored right in their burlap bags in bulk in the store, they regularly roast in-house to assure the freshest cup. For people who like to watch the roasting action, the roaster is located immediately inside the entrance (don’t touch!) and roasting occurs in the late-afternoon to evening hours, filling the store (and street) with the pleasant smell of fresh coffee.

They offer each day, in addition to a moderately dark house roast, four or five brewed selections from their wide array of beans. Usually comprised of a daily roast, a decaf and a flavored caffeinated and decaf coffee, each different. For those that can’t decide between a cup of the house or the daily roast, they display in large print a detailed description of the day’s roast, from body and acidity to more creatively descriptive elements that you’d fine in finer reviews.

My good friend Cliff over at spiralbound.net - who suddenly finds himself the center of two of my most recent posts - posted a great little critique of the Digg.com service today which I took to heart.

He cites the following three problems with Digg.com:

1) Digg is censorship:
The way Digg figures out which story to promote to the front page is not based as much on how many people have “Dugg” it as it is on which particular user “Dugg” the story to begin with.

2) Digg users are nasty:
When a story gets “Dugg” users have the ability to comment on it. Not only are these comments usually of little to no actual value, but they are often cruel and nasty as well.