The Situationist International - A user's guide

I've just started reading this book which provides a historical background, examining situationist tactics, but also map's the legacy of subsequent activist movements which I think may be quite interesting.

Fanzine - Teal Triggs

(Below) Tom Vague's name has become closely associated with London history and psychogeography (Situationists). His publication Vague is a forum for discussions of Situationism, anarcho-punk and the 'decay of the spectacle'. Cover by Jamie Reid and Joe Ewart.

Loserdom - articles and cartoons punk, cycling, anti war and politics

Subterranean pop 1980's

Dadaism

The Situationist International described Dadaism as a heavy influence influences on their work, seeking to apply critical theories based on these concepts to all areas of art and culture. The abstract cut and paste techniques popularised by this movement, namely Kurt Schwitters, bares a strong resemblance to some of the work I've been studying, e.g punk, Guy Debord etc.

Manifesto:

Dada is a new tendency in art. One can tell this from the fact that until now nobody knew anything about it, and tomorrow everyone in Zurich will be talking about it. Dada comes from the dictionary. It is terribly simple. In French it means "hobby horse". In German it means "good-bye", "Get off my back", "Be seeing you sometime". In Romanian: "Yes, indeed, you are right, that's it. But of course, yes, definitely, right". And so forth.

An International word. Just a word, and the word a movement. Very easy to understand. Quite terribly simple. To make of it an artistic tendency must mean that one is anticipating complications. Dada psychology, dada Germany cum indigestion and fog paroxysm, dada literature, dada bourgeoisie, and yourselves, honoured poets, who are always writing with words but never writing the word itself, who are always writing around the actual point. Dada world war without end, dada revolution without beginning, dada, you friends and also-poets, esteemed sirs, manufacturers, and evangelists. Dada Tzara, dada Huelsenbeck, dada m'dada, dada m'dada dada mhm, dada dera dada, dada Hue, dada Tza.

How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks of journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada. Dada is the world soul, dada is the pawnshop. Dada is the world's best lily-milk soap. Dada Mr Rubiner, dada Mr Korrodi. Dada Mr Anastasius Lilienstein. In plain language: the hospitality of the Swiss is something to be profoundly appreciated. And in questions of aesthetics the key is quality.

I shall be reading poems that are meant to dispense with conventional language, no less, and to have done with it. Dada Johann Fuchsgang Goethe. Dada Stendhal. Dada Dalai Lama, Buddha, Bible, and Nietzsche. Dada m'dada. Dada mhm dada da. It's a question of connections, and of loosening them up a bit to start with. I don't want words that other people have invented. All the words are other people's inventions. I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and consonants too, matching the rhythm and all my own. If this pulsation is seven yards long, I want words for it that are seven yards long. Mr Schulz's words are only two and a half centimetres long.

It will serve to show how articulated language comes into being. I let the vowels fool around. I let the vowels quite simply occur, as a cat meows . . . Words emerge, shoulders of words, legs, arms, hands of words. Au, oi, uh. One shouldn't let too many words out. A line of poetry is a chance to get rid of all the filth that clings to this accursed language, as if put there by stockbrokers' hands, hands worn smooth by coins. I want the word where it ends and begins. Dada is the heart of words.

Each thing has its word, but the word has become a thing by itself. Why shouldn't I find it? Why can't a tree be called Pluplusch, and Pluplubasch when it has been raining? The word, the word, the word outside your domain, your stuffiness, this laughable impotence, your stupendous smugness, outside all the parrotry of your self-evident limitedness. The word, gentlemen, is a public concern of the first importance.

Internet Meme: Is it a Potential Advertising Goldmine?

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This article provides an insight into how memes, in their many forms, are starting to become a subtle form of modern advertising. As with any type of viral marketing, links, videos, photos are shared constantly in mass groups, through social networks, email etc. It's starting to get to the point where memes are repeated endlessly to the point where the viewer instantly recognises certain subjects...

2012 election through internet memes

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Some of the caption based memes (quick memes) I have discussed regarding the latest election.
These generally consist of using an untimely photograph and juxtaposing text (impact font) to present a new meaning. For example, below is Jim Lehrer, moderator of the first debate who struggled to tame the two presidential candidates, who often ignored the docile host and constantly cut him off. The painful interaction among the three men prompted the fusion of Lehrer and Gotye’s face to create a spin on the signature “You didn’t have to cut me off” meme'

Rebecca Black - Friday

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 'Rebecca Black is the epitome of ‘Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all’. Her video ‘Friday’ on YouTube has 3.1 million dislikes (or 87.1% of the total ratings). Despite that, she has amassed 167 million views and hundreds of parodies. It is the 22nd most viewed video on YouTube of all time, before it was taken down on June 16 as per Black’s request'.





From the original upload (Below)

'If you take a look at her ‘Friday’ video, you’ll see that the song lyrics are terrible, and the video just mediocre and the use of auto-tune was heavily criticized as well.She’s now a millionaire because of her publicity (albeit negative). ‘Friday’ was hated by the public, but proved to be a commercial success: in a matter of days, iTunes received 2 million downloads and with an iTunes payout of $0.70 per download, earning the singer about US $1.4 million in just a few days. Not bad for a thirteen-year-old'.

The American department store Kohls, took advantage of the song's hilarity by mocking the song and it's video in a commercial, persuading audiences to shop on Black Friday.

The Science behind the Power of Internet Memes

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