PIG FACE NOW REQUESTS YOUR CERVICAL ATTENTION

Raising funds for art, literature, philosophy group Modern Mythology

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:14:35 GMT

Our Story

Modern Mythology is seeking to crowdsource funding through IndieGoGo in order to keep publishing thought-provoking pieces on pop culture philosophy and social commentary, and to keep expanding our audience. There are tons of old, dead philosophers with books enshrined in the academic sphere. Modern Mythology takes a hammer and chisel to the "ivory tower" idea of academic research--the pantheon of philosophers of the past--and carves the voices of the new generation, sublime and ridiculous, into the side of that shrine, half graffiti, half sculpture, half literature, half philosophy, but in all cases necessary in order to truly explore the worlds we live in.

Help us keep this literary and mental machine going by contributing and get some perks as a thank you! Every little bit (including a share) helps.

http://igg.me/p/43250?a=36903&i=shlk

Solipsistic Nation: Karsh Kale, Ogre (Ohgr Skinny Puppy), Tim Skold (Manson KMFDM), Hoodoo Engine

Mon, 02 May 2011 20:03:33 GMT

From Solipsistic Nation:

In the last couple of weeks I learned that Karsh Kale, Tim Sköld, Nivek Ogre and HoodooEngine had released or were about to release new albums. I dig them all so I do what I do sent out the emails and made the phone calls. There were other musicians, labels and festivals I wanted to feature on the show as well but they didn’t happen due to availability and time constraints and before I knew it, this week’s show had been distilled into a gem of greatness.

I discovered Karsh Kale right about the same time I discovered the Asian Massive (or Asian Underground) scene. Over the years I watched the careers of Karsh Kale, Asian Dub Foundation and others grow over the years and it’s a wonder that I haven’t had someone like Karsh on the show earlier. Karsh has released six albums and recorded and performed with everyone from Zakir Hussain to Yoko Ono. Karsh’s latest album,Cinema, is his most ambitious album to date. It’s big, bold and melodramatic, and Karsh’s experience scoring films has had an impact on the scope of Cinema.

Tim Sköld was another surprise! Before I knew it, one night after work I found myself in front of a microphone talking to Tim about his long career, from his rock roots in bands like Kingpin and Shotgun Messiah and then later playing with the likes of KMFDM and Marilyn Manson. Tim also released a solo album back in 1996 and 15 years later he’s followed it up with Anomie, due out May 10th. Tim was great to talk with and I found that he’s as much an agent provocateur in person as he is in his music. I also had some great questions to ask him from folks like Jeremy and Royb0t from Twitter and Facebook.

Ogre’s is set to release a second album with ohGr called unDeveloped that also due to be released May 10th. Ogre and Skinny Puppy have scored the post apocalyptic soundtrack to our lives for nearly 30 years. While Skinny Puppy was my introduction into industrial music, there’s industrial music and then there’s Skinny Puppy. They’re in their own category and to call them industrial is kind of limiting. I was curious to see what directions Ogre would explore through ohGr and to be honest, I didn’t like unDeveloped at first. As Ogre mentions during our chat, people rarely give music full attention because they’re usually multitasking while they’re listening to music. I was doing the same thing with unDeveloped but one night while I was going out for a run I listened to unDeveloped and without being aware of it I found myself lost in the album and now I think it’s one of my favorite album of 2011.

Once I finally realized that Tim and Ogre were going to be guests on this week’s show I knew I had to include Hoodoo Engine. I’ve wanted to play tracks from their EgoWhore album since it was released in 2010 but it was just one of those scheduling things. Hoodoo Engine would be perfect for today’s show and to top it off, they’re gearing up to release their new album, Murder the World, and it’s more wretched and evil than EgoWhore, if such a thing is even possible. The core of Hoodoo Engine is Marz233, James Curcio and Johann Ess. Just to be above board, both James and I are on the Alterati Network, but I’ve known James long before Alterati when I interviewed him about his book, Join My Cult. While you anxiously wait for the release of Murder the World you can watch Clark, a gonzo mockumentary reality show art film surrounding the struggles of an independent artist in a capitalist world.

Hoodoo Engine Primary Members

(Not pictured: Iron Will, Scott Landes, & The Illuminist)

Oh, special thanks to tricil for providing the incidental music during my interviews with Tim and Hoodoo Engine. While I was putting together today’s show I realized that I didn’t have any instrumental music from either of them and went on Twitter and asked if anyone had some tracks I could use for music beds. tricil stepped responded in minutes and generously let me use his tracks “rcc3″ and “conserve destroy.” There are links to download those two tracks below.

Listen to the Interview now!

(Direct download)

HoodooEngine interview with Dark Entries mag

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:47:24 GMT

Check out the 'english language version' of the interview HoodooEngine just completed with Dark Entries. It's "extreme like Neil Patrick Harris."

Christ, there is a lot of snow outside.

Sacred Christmas, and Disembowelment

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 08:41:21 GMT

I generally try to stay out of commentary about Holidays. But you know, I'm going to. Some thoughts, as creatures stir all throughout the house...

I think it's fair to say that, for most people who would frequent this blog anyway, there is an evident divorce between anything resembling the sacred, and the experience that we have of Christmas. Hopefully, many of us can incorporate the idea of intentional family - the people you live for and would likely die for, or togetherness, into whatever it is that we do. (Why this isn't part of our day to day experience rather than something we only intend on a few days of the year is beyond me, and also beyond the scope of a little rambling blog post.)

What is Christmas for many people that I know?

Swig as much alcohol as you imagine you can stomach, and waddle through an awkward mine-field of hazily recalled, distant relatives.

What else is it?

Being dragged to Sunday mass in the freezing cold. The service, aside from its rare moments of beauty -- usually provided by the music, if the choir isn't cringingly awful -- being something to be silently endured. (Personally, I usually find myself fantasizing about having sex on the pews as part of some sort of joyful, unintentionally sacrilegious orgy. Choir girls -- with ID -- angels, whatever. Hey, it passes the time.)

(full post)

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:13:43 GMT

(read part 1, part 2)

Maybe you've tried everything I've suggested so far, and you're disappointed to find that you're still not a great writer. Don't worry. Most of us aren't. But there are other tricks we can try.
There's a story that Hunter S. Thompson used to re-type the novels of the “greats” like Faulker, word-for-word, so he could hear the “music” behind the language. That sounds like some brilliant myth-making bullshit to me, but we'll go with it. Maybe we can find some common element behind the methods of now-famous authors. Model their methods, and you model their success.
If you take a hard look at the lives of Hemingway, Joyce, Poe, Hunter S. Thompson, Faulkner, Burroughs, Bukowski, and many other writers who have gained the mantle of post-mortem fame, we can see one commonality: they weren't teetotalers. That's a nice way of saying they were fucking drunks. (Many of them also had dead wives, but murder is right out.)
If nothing else has worked for you, you too should try drinking. I suggest a good single malt scotch. At least 15 years in the cask. Some writers prefer a finer scotch than that, but I think that your writing skills will improve regardless of the vintage. After all, Hunter wasn't so selective. He drank Wild Turkey like it was water, and he was a fcking genius.
You might still be staring at that blank screen with a feeling of horror. Spin the ice around in the glass. A firm, hefty glass. You want to feel the weight ofit in your hand. Stare through the ice to the source of your inner creativity as the ice slowly comes back to rest. For meThe sound of icee swirling brings on inspiration to unlock worls for your reader.
Dont take my word for itf you dont beleve me. By way of demonstgraintg to you the effectiveness of this technique I have been taking a slug myself with each couple sentences. It's like mehtod acting in motion. A smooth action motion like the bolt of a rifle or draught of godhood. Drink to success, not excess. Are you a genius yet? I am
If you still don't habve a grasp of your plot or characters, have another. Eventyally it'll work. Open up to the dfjf and moood enuff to wind the wyndlesssss. Tentacles. Plot twees.
Terrors of night awAIT--

More at Modern Mythology

ModernMythology

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:42:23 GMT

For those that care, I've been posting at least one article a day to http://www.modernmythology.net for the past month. (And before that, it was more haphazard but there's still a lot there.)

So if you feel like reading...

...I don't even think to login to LJ most of the time anymore. On the other hand, I've been contemplating deleting my FB and possibly Twitter with increasing regularity, so who knows- whether that means I frequent here more or delete this too and just give the entirety of "social media" the middle finger.

Honestly, if I thought that it might not cut off some potential new people from my work, I probably would've a long time ago. The illusion of contact, illusion of conversation, etc. that it provides isn't satisfying to me. Frankly, I find it kind of depressing. Especially in lieu of, you know. A real social life.

Compromise, communication, and boobies. That's pretty much it.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:42:12 GMT

Yet again it seems I'm going off the intended purpose of this blog. Since this is my personal blog, for all intents and purposes, so fuck it, right?
I was recently asked to give my perspective on polyamory, in a kind of general way. Several weeks prior, I was interviewed by a woman doing a dissertation on the subject. So I kind of free associated, and this is what came of it. I hope that it is interesting to you, and maybe spawns some discussion that avoids hate mongering. (Unless if it's funny hate mongering.)
So, with some embellishment after the fact, here is my undirected take on that subject.
But first, an image I found through google that has had me cracking up for a good twenty seconds straight. (And yes, I have had a night or two like this, if you really must ask. But no, that's not what "it's all about." Anyway, here's the fucking picture. It's funny.)

-----
The first rule is there are no rules. The second rule, if this is your first time, you have to fuck. Sorry, going with the Fight Club thing.

So I'll give you my thoughts on polyamory.

I think one of the biggest issues of social life is that we have this conceit about permanence. The words we use to represent things don't change. We pretend that the categories that we invent and use to represent things actually exist, like eternal Platonic forms. And we get really pissed off whenever that isn't proven true. Who knows how
many people we say "I love you to," and mean it, and want the process of time to stop there- it's hard to imagine that many times, if you speed up the clock 10 years, that person who was so central to your life at that point won't even be on your map.

If we say that those people, times, and places had no meaning, then we've done them a disservice. We've done ourselves a disservice. All relationships that get beneath your surface leave you forever changed. That's the beauty of them. That's a big part of why we have them.

The truth of life according to Heraclitus is everything is flux. He's some dead Greek guy, fuck him- but he was right. And the Taoists get on to the same simple, profound realization. Now it's like fortune cookie wisdom, but it's the truth. It's fortune cookie because it's true, and because we're afraid of it. We trivialize truths like this.

Nowhere is that more potentially painful than in relationships, but short of controlling another person - making them property of some sort - they aren't going to obey your needs and timetables in all circumstances. Nor is that an ideal I'd really aspire to. (Except you know. For short periods. With few clothes.)

My introduction to polyamory was pretty much all wrong. Painful, messy, and ill-conceived-- most people would use it as an example of why the "whole thing" doesn't work. I could level the same empty accusation at monogamy. It was the final compromise, a way to try to keep a sinking ship from gaining water quite so quickly. But it made me realize that the way I had been "doing" relationships prior was unbalanced. It helped me realize why I'm wired the way I am, and that we can choose to run from it, or adapt and embrace it.

I was primarily raised by my Mother. My Father was out of the picture by age four, and my mother identifies primarily as Lesbian. (Sexuality is more fluid than most would have us believe.) So, growing up, my experience was of my Mother, and her girlfriends. It's hard for me to deny, years later, that it is at least a little interesting that my preference is towards one partner, and other women, who serve the dual role of friend and lover.

There's a balancing act that occurs when you really connect with someone. I'm talking about what happens after the initial firework period has passed. If you love them, and you aren't an awful sub-human, the well being of that person is very high on your list of priorities. But on the other hand, if you're concerned with your own growth, and don't want to accept that the goal is to find someone you can tolerate, lock the door, and grow fat with them as one of you pops out babies, you're going to need to be open to one extent or another to meeting and connecting with new people. And the same goes for your partner(s) as well!

As I mentioned at the beginning, the alchemy that occurs between people leaves them changed. I'm not sure I can take a path in life that entirely blocks me off from that.

How we tread this path really depends on how we're wired. Some people aren't very sexual, and so there's no reason that these relationships need to involve anything sexual. But for those of us who are... Well, we can engage in serial monogamy, or cheating -- neither of those are for me, and they invariably lead to an excess of pain for one if not all involved parties.

There's something I learned in yoga that really seems to apply. You learn to identify the 'beneficial sensation' (pro tip: 'sensation' is yoga code for 'pain'), and the kind that can cause you damage or imbalance. The same is true in our relationships. And like with yoga, sometimes there will be a gradual increase of our flexibility, though there are also likely things that will ALWAYS cause the harmful kind of pain or jealousy. Know your boundaries. It can't be someone else's fault if you convince them that A, B, or C is fine and then quietly go through emotional hell. It doesn't make anyone "less poly" to actually have emotional boundaries and be vocal about them. People who say
otherwise are either looking for a philosophy to support being a slut -- which, really, why bother? just be a slut, it's ok to be so long as you're honest about it -- or are freaks of nature.

Since everyone is different, and we are all changing all the time-- the only way to work with this is to communicate. Tell your partners where you are at. Don't be afraid to express your fears and needs- and if they are good people let alone good lovers, they'll put those things in mind. If on a rare occasion, Jaz is telling me that she's feeling really hormonal and insecure, that might not be the night for me to go on a bender with a bunch of beautiful women. (Not that I get the opportunity to do that nearly as often these days...) At least, I wouldn't do it without explicit reassurance from her- even then I'd listen to my gut and my heart first. Sometimes -- often -- it means compromise. Compromise, communication, and boobies. That's pretty much it.

Does that answer your questions?

thoughts on marriage

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:51:58 GMT

As some of you may know, I'm getting married next autumn. Immediately, all sorts of things spring to mind, people have so many presuppositions about marriage that it makes me want to call it something else entirely. The word is fine, what it actually stands for is fine, but all the baggage drives me insane.

On its face, marriage is a partnership contract between two people. That's it. The nature of that partnership is as much up to those people as anything else about our lives: what we choose to wear in the morning, eat, how we want to spend our lives, etc. It means that two people are choosing to be partners in the ongoing drama of life. Though there's no good reason that it can't be more than two people, that's how the law paints it. And there is some precedent to the diad as a strong bond- just look at chemistry. On the other hand, we'd be pretty fucked without some of those three pair bonds, like say H 2 O.

Regardless, this is the law as it presently stands, and as it so happens I presently have one partner, not two. We are fed a bill of sale along with this basic agreement that does not necessarily follow. It may, if you choose for it to, but your marriage is ultimately what you make it to be. It does not mean you will take no other lovers, it does not mean that you will have children, or own a home together, or that you need to buy a diamond ring to seal the deal. It doesn't mean the bride will wear white, or that there even needs to be a grand expensive to-do where everyone you can think of is invited. (In our case, this is true except #2, which is undecided for the foreseeable future, and #3, until we can amass enough money to rectify the situation and have our library recording studio art studio king sized bed giant bathroom lovenest with kitties and maybe chickens if Jaz gets her way.)

Everyone is unique in genetics, upbringing, and that essential, indefinable quality that makes a person who they are and no other- so the same is true in the partnerships we forge. Compromise, communication, and individuality make strange bedfellows at times but they're the essential elements of any marriage. The specifics are unique- but we're given a one-size-fits-all image of what marriage is, what it means. There is no need. Make it as unique as you are. Love your partners for their uniqueness, why should we bend it to fit a mold?

A friend of mine had a costume wedding. He was an astronaut. If you knew him you'd understand why this was such a great expression of their wonderful peculiarity. And if your ideas and your partners ideas about marriage are irreconcilable, that may be worth looking at.

My take on marriage is this: Take in life together, and love, and lovers if you so choose, put the pleasure of your partner on an equal level with your own (that's where compromise comes in), and try to enjoy the ride.

This also leads into a push-button topic these days, that of gay marriage. I think what I've already said should very clearly demonstrate where I stand on this issue. (The fact that my mother has identified as lesbian for some time makes this even more pressing, and there is no good reason whatsoever that she shouldn't be able to engage in a partnership with whomever she chooses.) The government sanctions a partnership as a legal contract. It has no right to stipulate the gender or particulars of that contract, any more than it has the right to dictate the one and only way I can engage in business with a publisher. Further, marriage is not only a contract, but anything beyond that simple agreement - to engage in the process of living as a unit - rests outside the boundaries of governmental and cultural critique.

Too funny

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:55:07 GMT

From FB:

Sean Marsden - You have been attacked by the "Scene" ! You Recived +5 Frost Damage... ;p

James Curcio- "I rolled a 13. But I have a raven cloak of drama displacement."
"How the hell did you get one of those?"
" It was lying in some dragons cave. Dont even fucking ask me what a dragon does with a faggy raven cloak. Don't ask don't tell.)"
"OK. Well Bood Rice crawls out of the sewer. Your cloak is useless."
"Yeah. But I'm also wearing jackboots of retardation."
"Thats it. I'm not playing this game anymore."
Yesterday at 7:49pm · Delete

William Clark - When you guys are done, I still wanna role up stats for my triple-breasted, transsexual alien Girlfriend. But first... Oooh a Natural 20! I just breached Rachel's cloak of Asperger's and am going at her with the +15 pike of retard strength.

James Curcio - +15? Christ you guys must have been giving your previous dungeon master handjobs under the rule screen. OK...

Your absurd weapon pierces her defenses, but barely catches skin. Haywire's down to 90 hp.

Your turn.

Rachel Haywire - [Would you like to fight back?]
-Rachel Haywire runs over Bood Rice with giant panzer tank
[Would you like to take his money?}
[Pockets are empty]
-Rachel Haywire launches witch hung against scene
[You have been banned from the internet]
[Would you like to fight back?]
-Rachel Haywire adds machineKUNT propaganda to giant panzer tank
-Rachel Haywire runs over scene with giant panzer tank
[The scene has ruined your musical career]
[Would you like to fight back?]
-Rachel Haywire just ignores them
[The new holocaust has now begun]
-Bood Rice has hacked your account

Jazmin Lee - I love all of you.

Rachel Haywire - This is almost as much fun as real life. You guys are the best.

James Curcio - Fuck real life. They don't have platinum dragons or pikes of retard strength or those elf bitches.

By the way, guys. There's something really important I need to tell you all.

I'm truly a silver dragon... trapped in a human body. I've finally come to terms with this and want to come out to you all because you're my friends. I have found MY PEOPLE : http://main.otherkinalliance.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=100&Itemid=34

Of course- You must accept my new way of life or you are all fucking dead to me.

Another Fallen Nation concept piece

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:07:49 GMT

Bacchante 2 by ~agent139 on deviantART

Lilith Piece

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:13:27 GMT

Lilith Y by ~agent139 on deviantART

Making some prints available through deviantart for now. Lilith first. Click the buy button for options.

Keeping up with me--

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:52:18 GMT

I haven't been using livejournal much, despite my intentions to start using it as a dumping grounds for my random thoughts. In theory I'd like to return to that, but based on my available time these days my twitter has become a better format for stuff like that. (It also keeps the incessant rambling down.)

I've been keeping my musing on the subject of media/myth to Notes From The Underground. (RSS).

Right what I'm posting most frequently to the Fallen Nation blog are new episodes of the Join My Cult! audiobook. You can also find the previous Fallen Nation audiobook episodes there.

Keep in touch!

Join My Cult audiobook

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:38:40 GMT

The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. First brought to the public by New Falcon press, now, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), here is an installment of the book in audio form.

Why? Because people kept asking for it. Granted, many of you wanted me to do this as a crazy elaborate thing with different voices for each character. Not that I think that's a bad idea, but the amount of time and effort that would go into that-- let's just say, until one of you bankrolls a project like that, you'll take me reading the book and you will like it, goddamnit. Feel free to share and spread these, they're all creative commons.

So, here are the first two episodes:
Episode 1 Share link - http://bit.ly/ALXQ (approx 12 min)
Episode 2 Episode 2 Share link - http://bit.ly/92sp (approx 14 min)

More will be running on Mythos Media. Or just follow my twitter feed.

The free ebook is here if you'd rather read it & don't want to order the book off Amazon. (PDF)

(Soundtrack includes the work of P. Emerson Williams, Scott Landes, Babalon, Venoma feat Agent 222 RIP, & many more to come I'm sure.)

The Medicine Show

Wed, 06 May 2009 03:11:50 GMT

A Mythical Tale Of Frontier Life Told In Words & Pictures

They who suffer tribulation and pain need suffer never more again!

Dr. Chak Votan's patented elixir combines a variety of robust, natural ingredients to provide a wonderful remedy. It cures most ills, including (but not limited to): Aches, Coughs, Constipation, Incontinence, Neurosis, Nervousness, Stammers, Eruptions, Night Terrors, Cannibalism, Somnambulism, and Complacency.

Accept no substitute. It's the Primordial Libation that effects proper cures where other remedies and treatments fail!

Interview with the author/illustrator about the process of creating a myth, Reality Hackers, working on Dragon Magazine & Magic The Gathering and the I Ching (Alterati.com).

Pick up the early release edition.

Falcon, Falcon, burning bright

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:25:15 GMT

Joseph Matheny talks to Nick Thacher and Linda Miller about Falcon Press and why there appears to be two Falcon's selling virtually the same catalogs since the death of Dr. Hyatt.

Also in this episode:

A new In Your Ear with Psuke, and a special bonus track at the end: James Curcio presents the first installment of the Join My Cult audiobook, and releases Join My Cult as a Creative Commons PDF that you may download at Original Falcon. Also, as a side note, we were contacted after this show was recorded by an organization calling itself the New EII. Keep an eye open for an interview with them in the future.

Listen to podcast on this page

DEAR FAITHLESS SWINE

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:07:37 GMT

It has come to my attention that just because my Micio Productions website is presently down for renovations (which is to say we haven't bothered to put it up in the first place), and that none of my films are likely to be available, well, just about anywhere, that you don't believe I'm producing the movie adaptation of Join My Cult!

Frankly, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Since I can't just force choke you all at a distance like Darth Vader, I'll do the next best thing: show you the aforementioned (and soon to be in-famous) Virgin Mary, Lao Tzu & Buddha gang-bang scene.

(Well, not show it to you, since we're still rounding up funding and haven't even started casting yet. But you can get the idea. Use your imagination. After all 90% of sex happens in the mind, right? I guess the other 10% happens on someone's face or tits. I'm not sure how they came at these questionable figures. Honestly, I don't care.)

FULL ARTICLE on POPPORN.com

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:03:33 GMT

People who follow me directly- I'm looking for a couple artists to lend sketch work and their brains to the concept part of production design. (Other, more involved parts come later but we're not getting to recruitment for that yet.)

Talk to me if you're interested and have "mad skillz".

DPRGRM, PILOTLITE, MYTHOS MEDIA & FOOLISHPEOPLE PRESENT Y

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:36:39 GMT

http://www.mythosmedia.net/blog/post/77-dprgrm-pilotlite-mythos-media-foolishpeople-present-y

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DPRGRM, PILOTLITE, MYTHOS MEDIA & FOOLISHPEOPLE PRESENT

Y

In a post-apocalyptic world, Y is a documentary-style reality show where the grand prize is the future of our species on planet Earth. Mythos Media and FoolishPeople will join with DPRGRM/Pilotlite to create 'Y', a feature film that starts shooting in Los Angeles July 2009.

LOS ANGELES, CA 02/27/09 – DPRGRM/Pilotlite announced a project today that forges a new path in independent cinema by bringing together real world experience and film in a unique way. 'Y' brings an audience inside the creation of a modern myth. The audience will become actual cast members, and be immersed in the story in real time. The film crew will also be part of the story as well as part of the cast, therefore creating a total immersive experience that bridges the traditional proscenium of audience/performer.

The ambitious staging and shooting technique is enhanced by the premise that in the future, government facilities, such the as one depicted in this film, will have to turn to unorthodox means of funding, such as contracting the facility out as the subject of a reality based TV show. The actual crew will be made up of news, reality and documentary style cinematographers and the production will be filmed entirely in the Cinema verite style.

Written by John Harrigan and James Curcio, and directed by Joseph Matheny, Y is a unique production fusing characters from Curcios second published novel, Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning and Harrigans screenplay GraveLand, currently in pre production.

DPRGRM will finance and distribute the film, working alongside online media corporation Pilotlite, a joint venture between Joseph Matheny and Michael Mailer Films.

Joseph Matheny, founder of DPRGRM and Pilotlite co-founder says: We will be employing cutting edge production, post production and distribution techniques that have been gestating for several years while the technology caught up to the vision. We chose this project and this team specifically because the project lends itself to the medium and the people can keep up.

James Curcio, Creative Director of Mythos Media, says: Mythos Media was founded specifically to work on projects like this, and modern myths have been my life passion. I am eager to dive in and create this world, both as production designer and producer of the soundtrack. However, even more, I am eager to collaborate with all of the creatives that are already lining up to become a part of this truly one-of-a-kind project.

John Harrigan, Artistic Director of FoolishPeople comments: Members of FP and I are extremely excited to be working on a project with such a talented and unique team. 'Y' will redefine what is possible in film production and I'm looking forward to taking on the role of Performance Director.

About Y: Civilization has fallen. In the rubble, we at the Y Corporation have developed the ultimate solution to save society: the Y Show. We encourage all good citizens to sign up for the Show.

You will be housed within a wonderful Haze Treatment Facility and undergo unique psychological treatment, which will clear away the illness of individuality. This reprogramming will be broadcast to the eyes and ears of Citizens in our New World, populated with previous contestants and patients. This is a reality show unlike any other!

There is a secret that haunts Haze01, the original treatment facility. Two patients, locked deep within its walls, contain archetypes that reject all reprogramming. They channel portents and omens of another future, a world where myth and divinity remake reality, manifesting a planet fit for Gods. In this season of the Y show, the doctors of the facility make their final attempt to process these two patients, before they break free and unleash total anarchy. Tune in.

###

Notes to editors:

About DPRGRM/Pilotlite: DPRGRM was founded by auteur Joseph Matheny to meet the new age of media convergence head-on with cutting edge media projects like Y and Pilotlite, which Matheny co-founded with Michael Mailer of Michael Mailer Films. For more information visit: jmatheny.wordpress.com

About Mythos Media: Mythos Media was founded by James Curcio, Peter Emerson Williams, Michael Szul and Tovarich Pizor in 2006 to produce modern myths. In the past, these have taken the form of comics, novels, and albums. For more information, please visit: www.mythosmedia.net

About FoolishPeople: FoolishPeople was founded by John Harrigan in 1989, taking its name from one of the major arcana of the tarot, card 0: The Fool. FoolishPeople create weaponized art, ritual theatre, collaborative events, books & film to raise a numinous experience within the witness. FP engineer immersive, open source experiences that become a catalyst for positive change. For more information, please visit: www.foolishpeople.org

Press Contact: Joseph Matheny DPRGRM jmatheny@dprgrm.com 310.928.6959 http://citizen-y.com

The life of an independent director is not an easy one.

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:38:59 GMT

Micio will be making Join My Cult! into a movie- that is if he can raise the funds as he claims. I have no idea how a novel, which occurs primarily inside the head of a variety of narrators, all re-presented by a meta-narrator to his psychologists, could possibly make a decent movie. But then again, Naked Lunch came out alright. He might just be crazy enough to pull it off. ---

"The life of an independent director is not an easy one. You can be led astray by the glitz and glam fantasy, thinking your pot of gold is just one more blowjob or can of tuna away. Even when it is, chances are you'll be so fucked out of your gourd you won't even realize it. The truth is generally pretty disgusting, and not in the way that'll likely get you hard. (Well, except for Stanko.) Case in point: Slash would often get so drunk that he'd piss himself in his sleep. When he'd pass out, they'd often drag him into the garage and toss him on a mattress that was to be used for this express purpose. (I wonder if that mattress ever got sold on eBay?) There are also legends of him puking mid solo during the Appetite sessions. Think that's cool? You're not the one who had to clean off his Les Paul afterwards. You see my point: the myth often outstrips the reality, even if reality is far too weird to have been invented. Let me share just a couple of the unpleasant and simply weird experiences that I've endured during my spectacular ascent to complete debauchery and general obscurity: READ ARTICLE ON POPPORN.COM.

jamescurcio dot net, relaunch

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:01:37 GMT

On weeknights when I'm not working on freelance client work, or the script for the sekret project I keep alluding to, or when I'm not being (pleasantly) accosted by cute naked women and convinced (I put up such a fight) to dye my body hair purple-- I'm working on my portfolio website. Well, it isn't done yet but it is now far enough along that I feel comfortable pointing you towards the URL. It is now live at http://www.jamescurcio.net ...

I'll post large updates as they happen. This is all hand-coded (I've been using notepad, just because), and uses all of the things I've been learning about semantic code and presentation managed entirely in CSS. I know I did a huge no-no by using the italic tag in one or two places, which I'll get back to, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how damn clean it is working this way. (And now, looking at nested tables or messy code makes me- and baby Jesus- cry. Tears of blood.) Over the next couple weeks I will be filling out the music, podcast and design areas, and hopefully setting up a flash player for media and a lightbox app of some sort to present images. Setting up styles that denote the type of file associated with a link, and other nifty things like that. For now, it's a good start. I hope you like.

(the) Micio, bio

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:16:59 GMT

Micio is a self-described “antinomian crypto-Dionysian” film director who has dedicated the past decade of his life to exploring “esoteric, erotic art” through the rampant exploitation of unpaid, impressionable young women. (In the biz we call this “film credit” and “method acting.”) His films are known for being “…tangled, incoherent nightmares only redeemed by the fact that breasts might appear at any moment.” That is, to the thirty people who have seen them.

It is truly baffling that Micio finds would-be starlets to fill his demanding roles. This can only be explained by how persuasive his female producers can be—enough that they offset the inherent creepiness of him speaking exclusively in third person and blogging in his underwear while receiving head. Like right now.

He has agreed to be the designer for Popporn, at least when he can find time to fit it into his busy “production schedule.” His contract stipulated payment in blowjobs, but not by whom. (This might be a minor oversight that could require renegotiation in the future.)

He is presently working on a shooting script for the film adaptation of the novel “Join My Cult!”, and hunting for financiers. He calls the movie “a family film, if your family happens to have the last name ‘Manson.’” Casting for the gangbang scene with transvestite Jesus, Lao Tzu, and the “Virgin” Mary is still open, if you’re interested.

Finally, Micio has a refined ability to break the fourth wall. It comes along with being a talented director. The LSD lollipops also don’t hurt.

Follow at-
http://twitter.com/themicio

Terror marketing

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:22:35 GMT

"Terror marketing, or toxic marketing, is one area of negative psychological triggering that works when the target demographic has developed resistance to mass-marketing techniques. In some sense, all black metal relies on toxic marketing. Most horror films use toxic marketing, and a great example comes from the 1990 film Crazy People, in which an advertising executive places an ad for a film called The Freak with a tagline that states "This film won't just scare you, this film will fuck you up for life."

http://www.publicindividual.com/memetics/page59.html

Solstice and New Years Presents from Mythos Media

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:30:07 GMT

A New Year For Us All - From the www.MythosMedia.net team.

Amidst all of the turmoil that has occurred both in the US and abroad in 2008, many of the media giants are stomping around blindly. There is no better time for truly independent groups of artists, musicians and myth makers to band together to collaborate, share and grow their myths. This is why Mythos Media formed in 2006-2007, and it remains our singular goal. The time is ripe now, but we need to meet each other halfway.

The purpose of this message is to alert you to what we have been doing over this past year, and what we look to create in 2009. The days of purely passive media are through. Sure, everyone likes to unwind and watch a movie from time to time, but always existing in that state of consumption leaves people shut-down, and isolated. This is why social media is exploding, even if major corporations are trying to turn the Internet into an ad-laden, vapid wasteland.

We all need stories that we can participate in, and a framework for us to collaborate and create work together. This is our goal moving forward- not only building our own myths but creating a sandbox for you to build your own as well. We believe static media like books and DVDs are merely entrance points into interactivity, collaboration, and the creation of new myths in the future, using technologies that are still being refined even as we speak. We hope you join us.

--James Curcio, Christmas Eve, 2008.

See the full, unabridged State of the Union, with tons of free books, music and more, go here: http://www.mythosmedia.net/content/2008/mm-12-08.html

Free music, books- mailer

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:37:25 GMT

New Years / Christmas presents coming soon from www.MythosMedia.net: free releases of almost everything we've put out. How's that? Sign up. (Newsletter, bottom of page.)

This is your brain on anime: Paprika

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:45:15 GMT

There is a story of the Chinese sage Zhuangzi that goes:

"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things."

Though on its face this may seem an almost childish idea to most, if you have ever experienced a lucid dream, or if you really pay any attention at all to your inner life, you may come to realize that there is truth to it. What is more, there is a real terror that can accompany realizing that the ground we stand on, at least figuratively speaking, is not solid. All experience is simply experience, whether it involves balancing your checkbook or talking to the monk levitating above a colossal, marching procession of cymbal-crashing frog men.

Many movies have dealt with this idea. (The Science of Sleep and Vanilla Sky are the first two that come to mind that do it any justice, but there are many more.) However, few have done it with such a brilliant flare for the surreal as Satoshi Kon's Paprika. Like his previous film, Perfect Blue (review here), the animation is top notch, and the script solid, though even the best animes tend to be a little stilted in translation. He also utilizes many of the same techniques in both movies, including breaking that fourth wall nearly every scene. In the case of Paprika, these techniques are being applied for a different purpose, and I would say they are done somewhat more gracefully.

(Read full article on TLA Attacks The Movies.)