Here's to an iconoclast who made the world more extraordinary.

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Moving Day

Since spring of 2000, Burnlab.net has been everything from a platform for experimentation, a place to showcase work of friends and artists I admire, a travel log and notebook, and in 2002 became a full-fledged group blog often updated several times a day by myself and a diverse group of conspirators with unique perspectives and weird and wonderful things to share.

As you've noticed over the past two or three years, updates have been thin here. I mainly attribute it to being spread out over a range social media platforms that provide more instant (albeit more ephemeral) publishing options.

In an effort to consolidate various outlets, my Google+ feed had become the official successor to this blog you're reading now. Google+ combines the instant publishing ease and community benefits of social networks with the ability to do the more thoughtful long-form writing and formatting Blogger is well suited for. Since Blogger is also owned by Google, I hope the two will be integrated at a future date.

We're still unpacking and painting the walls, and might even still put some special posts up here, but head on over to the new digs for all future Burnlab bloggery.

Thanks for eleven great years, and here's to eleven more.
-Mike

Maker Faire Detroit: Interview with Bethany Shorb of Cyberoptix Tie Lab

MAKE magazine interviews the most bad-ass entrepreneur [also, my fiancé and muse] in the city of the future.

This is my my new favorite band.

I need to be less lazy and blog more. Here's a recent tweet.

Believing Democrats and Republicans represent poles of political thought is like McDonald's & Burger King representing the spectrum of food.

Brainwashed.com 2010 Readers Poll + my top five singles of 2010

I didn't know they were missing, but I think I found my bat wings this year, based on the music here.

The venerable Brainwashed.com has pretty much the choice list of awesome musick in 2010. If you're into this sort of thing. Lots [lots!] of the usual suspects, but also a ton of names I'm now anxious to check out: Brainwashed.com 2010 Readers Poll

The legendary Legendary Pink Dots seemed to come out of nowhere with perhaps their best album in a decade. [Not "nowhere" exactly, as they've been continually making music for thirty years now.] Russian Roulette is as captivating and brilliantly constructed as the best of anything you've heard all year:



Very nice to see one of the most exciting new artists, Zola Jesus take three of the top five single spots. Night wasn't one, but it's on my top five:

ZOLA JESUS "NIGHT" MUSIC VIDEO from FUTURE PRIMITIVE FILMS on Vimeo.

I didn't see one of my other favorites of 2010, Matthew Dear's Black City or the murderously great single You Put a Smell on Me make the Brainwashed readership crossover, but it was right near the top my list, so here it is:



Yet another track on my personal top five that didn't make the cut [probably because it just came out] is Ms. Lauren Flax & Lauren Dillard's first single from their CREEP project, Days. Here's a great clip of our friend Thalia Marvos talking to Warren Fischer about the video for The Creators Project:



Last but certainly not least, Marc Houle put out a wicked album in 2010 that inspired the neologism/my current made-up genre of choice "warlockhaüs". Fair to say that I haven't been thrilled with Minus' direction over the past few years, but they've been blowing my mind lately and I'm loving it. Sweet might be my favorite track of the year:



Happy 2011 everyone!

I told a nice man named Josh in New Orleans I would blog more this year. We'll see how it goes.

Werner Herzog turns "Twas The Night Before Christmas" into a tale of existential terror

Via teh awesome io9:

The Journeyman Project

Dirty Jobs photographer and cameraman Troy Paff's The Journeyman Project is a beautifully documented survey of the tradespeople and DIYers of the new century.

"In the five years since Dirty Jobs‘ premiere, its small crew has experienced an unprecedented number of vocations. With nearly 300 jobs and 50 states under their belt, Dirty Jobs has investigated – and celebrated – those occupations which, while often unsavory, keep the country running. A common thread which runs through these occupations is a particular character required to do them. It is a fundamental commitment to do a job and do it well, where glamour takes a back seat to service, and where pride in a job done well is its own reward. It is this sense of character that Troy will explore, shining a light on the individual behind the job, and expressing the personality and the motivations of the worker.

"The route Troy takes will be an evolving one directed by the subjects of the project. Some of the subjects Troy knows, or has wanted to meet. While many of the Dirty Jobs alumni will be revisited, referrals from this ‘family’ will further lead him to individuals who exemplify that same through-line of character: the tradesmen and skilled labor who are driven to succeed in spite of the challenges of their vocations and the hardships of the economy, if not because of them.

"The Journeyman Project shall be a celebration of the individual, and over time and the course of a growing compendium of subjects, it will express the collective character of the skilled worker in contemporary America. In an environment where ‘The American Dream’ has been outmoded, themes to explore include the trending decline of the trades and the growing demand for skilled workers, the loss of manufacturing and the effect of trade agreements with Asia and Central America, the decline of infrastructure, high unemployment rates, the housing and mortgage crisis, continued war and national security, ecological catastrophes, and just what ‘recovery’ means in the 21st century."

I love this for a lot of reasons. One of them is the project's focus on truly 21st Century lifestyles. Another is Paff's "celebration of the individual," because we aren't a "we" in the abstract, but a collection of heroes - every last one of us, in our own unique way - who make the choice to work together for greater things. And, of course, because our dear friend Jeff Sturges and our very own Bethany Shorb are featured!

update: It was just pointed out that our pal & MAKE editor Gareth Branwyn posted about The Journeyman Project this afternoon: clickity-click!

The Blast Shack

If you read only one essay on Wikileaks, Cablegate, Private Bradley Manning, Mr. Assange and cypherpunk culture, this is the most erudite and eloquent I think you'll find: "The Blast Shack" by Bruce Sterling.

I'd quote a couple paragraphs here, but you should just read it straight through. It would be like disrupting a meal - a meal filled with melancholy, humor and enlightenment. [I don't think it's quite as melancholy as Bruce says it is. Then again, "optimistic" is one of the two words in my current made-up political alignment.]

If you do read two articles on the subject, perhaps the second best I've seen is this morning's piece by Zeynep Tufekci in The Atlantic: "Wikileaks Exposes Internet's Dissent Tax, not Nerd Supremacy".

Oh, and a Canadian poet prophetically explains exactly why an Australian hacker would target the USA [spoiler alert: optimism.]

You might think an industrial cover of a Fleetwood Mac song wouldn't be awesome...

But you'd be mistaken!

Our newest synth couple BFFs, //TENSE//:

//TENSE// The Chain from tommy boy on Vimeo.

Also see:

//TENSE// - Turn It Off from tommy boy on Vimeo.

Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts from Michigan Daily on Vimeo.

A short video showcasing the work and process of paper engineer and U of M lecturer [and Cranbrook grad and totally awesome guy] Matt Shlian.

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog. Big thanks to our editors who've kept it alive.

I missed posting major Burnlab news like the Detroit Lives premiere [starring T0ybreaker], updates about our hackerspace OmniCorpDetroit and our Satanic techno arm Dethlab opening for Gary freaking Numan last week [and Nitzer freaking Ebb in November!]

Thinking about switching over to Tumblr. Thoughts on that, loyal readers and contributors?

Red Tide

Don't worry. This won't change anything. We all voted for a Muslim Socialist Antichrist just 2 years ago and effectively got George Bush III. Elections are overrated. It assumes millionaire sociopaths will solve your problems. If you want to make a difference, start a community workshop, an ethical business, teach. Ignore authority & don't wait for a savior. You are the one you've been waiting for.

VITALIC San Francisco

A few shots from VITALIC in San Francsico. His set included wo enormous LED walls mounted behind mirrored panels, with everything choreographed to his mindblowing music performed live. Hit the Flickr link for a few videos.

Early 20th century gags from 1929:

Are you an aficionado of various post-Victorian but definitely Vaudevillian pranks and other such contrivance? Look no further. Yes. I certainly would like to peruse this most bully catalog reproduction of vintage parlour tricks:

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/demoulin/

Aaron Draplin in Detroit Thursday

AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit Present: Tall Tales From a Large Man

Born in Traverse City, Michigan, Aaron Draplin is the sole proprietor of Draplin Design Company and created Field Notes Brand. Located in the mighty Pacific Northwest, the freedom fighters of the Draplin Design Co. proudly roll up their sleeves on a handful of projects related to the Print, Identity, Web, Illustration and Gocco Muscle categories.

Hunkered down in his “36th year” the DDC has shipped the goods for Coal Headwear, Union Binding Company, Snowboard Magazine, Grenade Gloves, Gnu Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, Forum Snowboards, Giro Helmets, Richmond Fontaine, Chunklet Magazine, Exit Real World, Timberline, Snowboarder Magazine, Wired Magazine, Chuck Prophet, Nike, Cobra Dogs, Uncle Buck, and the Obama Administration.

Draplin promises to tell his story, show some work, talk some smack, and hawk a mountain of merch. Gonna’ be fun as hell. Be there, or be added to his ever-growing shit list. In Gary we Trust.

Thursday, August 26, 2010 — August 26, 2010 7:00pm - 8:30pm 1515 Broadway
1515 Broadway
Detroit, Michigan

*Less than 20 tickets left!

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

For those of us who dare to imagine a stateless, completely free and transparent future for humanity, that rejects vain attempts by both Bush and Obama to restore the neoliberal glory days of the 1990s [which were in retrospect perhaps morally worse than 1950s nostalgia & Reaganomics combined,] your new charismatic civil libertarian posterboy doesn't make soap. Our 21st Century Tyler Durden is a hacker and talks to TED: TED Talks: Julian Assange

Malaria!

Malaria! - Geld/Money [1983]

Speaking of the great Gudrun Gut, see this new Quietus interview, Women At Work: Greie Gut Fraktion Interviewed

Detroit Lives trailer

VBS.TV and Palladium Boots presents Detroit Lives

Once the fourth-largest metropolis in America—some have called it the Death of the American Dream. Today, the young people of the Motor City are making it their own DIY paradise where rules are second to passion and creativity. They are creating the new Detroit on their own terms, against real adversity. We put our boots on and went exploring.

The full VBS.TV documentary debuts on August 30th. Look for lots of familiar faces!

I have a man crush on Julian Assange. There, I said it.
He is to civil libertarians what Palin is to inbreds.