This things I believe

So I've been inspired by some things lately, that I'm hoping will translate into some kinda action, somehow.

Reading the Shock Doctrine, a bit shocking and depressing really. I find some of Klein's arguments a bit weak and unoriginal, but she puts it all together quite well. It reminds me a bit of John Pilger, but not as harrowing and more journalistic (whatever that means). Anyway, it's still a mostly compelling read.

By the way, Pilger's compilation Tell Me No Lies is really required reading for anyone interested in, well, stuff.

I'm also reading Worldchanging, which is a coffee table book, but also a fantastic and inspiring compilation of good ideas, grouped under headings such as community, politics and business. Unlike the Shock Doctrine, it's not depressing. It contains stacks of information but does a good job in showing how it can easily be translated into action. Here's their website.

I have several awesome coffee table books, including Homework and Heaven & Earth. When we have guests, these books entertain and inform them, and reflect positively on me, their owner and displayer.

Finally, I went along to a couple of events from the TINA festival at Newcastle on the weekend. One was about post-paper publishing (omg, so self-referential!) and the other was about art and politics. We do not need to make political art. We need to make art politically! A chap in the audience commented that we need to stop talking about art and start talking about how to communicate effectively. When I pressed him afterwards for examples of effective communication, he gesticulated wildly and shouted that he was not here to deliver a doctrine, adding that personal communication beyond the bounds of corporate media was essential, a good example being F*CK APEC being written on a wall. Very direct and simple.

Came across some interesting folk at the post-paper publishing session, and I will soon be checking out litmusphere, the new critic and engagemedia.