Terra Extremitas: Light to Darkness Darkness To Light

As promised, following the release of the 2nd "Fear & Loathing On The Internet" installment, here is the full res (.wav) version of the installment of the audio installation I prepared for Foolish People's Terra Extremitas' event in Amsterdam. 

This is an acoustic journey into the Bardo, linking the narratives of my 2nd, mythically inspired novel, Fallen Nation Babylon Burning, and the upcoming film, Y. 

" First played with accompanying theatrics at the Foolish People's Terra Extremitasevent in Amsterdam, August 08. Includes original music by Scott Landes (Collide, Mankind is Obsolete), Jon Siren (Mankind is Obsolete, Hate Dept), James Curcio (Babalon, subQtaneous), andPeter Emerson Williams (Choronzon, Veil of Thorns)."

Listen or download now

Part two of the three part series Fear and Loathing on the Internet: Redux (Part one here) GPod Radio host Joseph Matheny moderates a roundtable discussion on the subject of Myth on the Modern World, with guests: Wes Unruh, James Curcio, John Harrigan, Lucy Allin, P. Emerson Williams and Anna Young. (Note: When I recorded the intros to part one and two, I forgot to mention Wes as a participant in the roundtable. He is however introduced in the actual roundtable piece and is a major contributor to the conversation. My omission was simply due to being overworked with too little time. Hopefully he will not hate me for this oversight. ) Also, the first installment of In Your Ear, some tidbits about the Y project and some ranting and raging in response to the mailbag. In part three we will introduce another regular segment to the GSpot, A Concise Guide To Setting Yourself On Fire with Kara Rae Garland. Part Three coming in about 2 weeks. 

Enjoy!

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/Plotlite 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 Cinma vrit 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: HYPERLINK "http://www.mythosmedia.net/"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: HYPERLINK "http://www.foolishpeople.org/"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.

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.com updates

Whew. Organizing content for this site has been much more time consuming than coding it was.

Enjoy.

Equinox Festival

Equinox Festival
equinoxfestival.org

Dates and Lineup announced!

June 12-14th London

More artists and speakers will be announced in the coming weeks!

ALL NEW WEBSITE with media links, artists/speaker bios, and ticket info.

The Equinox Festival, a 3 day media arts festival dedicated to
spiritual discovery and mystical tradition, will take place in London
June 12-14.

We are pleased to announce the following confirmed artists for this
years festival. Stay tuned for further development and surprise guests.



Music performance:

John Zorn
Æthenor A
di Newton's T.A.G.C
Z'EV
Dieter Muh
Pietro Riparbelli- K11
Pestrepeller
Hati
Kinit Her

MORE TO COME IN THE FOLLOWING WEEKS

Ritual Performance:

Arktau Eos
Barry William Hale's NOKO
Raymond Salvatore Harmon



Lecture/Presentations:

Ralph Metzner
Erik Davis
David Beth
Edwin Pouncey
Paola Igliori
Masamba Fall
James Curcio
Carl Abrahamsson
Kendall Geers
Philip Farber
Aaron Gach
Matt Wiley

MORE TO COME IN THE FOLLOWING WEEKS

Films -

Paola Igliori
American Magus & The Seed of Joy

Craig Baldwin
Mock Up On Mu

Harry Smith
Heaven and Earth Magic

Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Holy Mountain

Maya Deren
Ritual in Transfigured Time & Divine Horsemen: The Living
Gods of Haiti

Raymond Salvatore Harmon
YHVH & Tree of Knowledge/Tree of Life

MORE ARTISTS TO COME! SURPRISE GUESTS!

Tickets go on Sale March 20th via Wegottickets.com

JamesCurcio dot Net Live!

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 G-Spot 50

In this episode of the G-Spot, we bring you some Sleepchamber phone hijinx, an interview with Psuke about an upcoming podcasts of hers, some bedtime stories with the antichrist, and ranting dialogues with a group of criminals and scholars, including the always untoxicated Dr. Adventure. Enjoy!

Direct link to the audio

jamescurcio.net mockup

jamescurcio.net mockup
Originally uploaded by agent139

A long day of design at the TLA office, now a long night of design working on my portfolio. As it's still in progress, input is always appreciated. (Even if I take license to decide to ignore it.)

Jason Stackhouse & I

Jason & James
Originally uploaded by Blue Maiya

"We are authors. Feed us." Some amusing pics of the chaos of the past couple days during Anna's visit here in Philly... http://flickr.com/photos/maiya/

"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." While fictional, there are plenty of advertisements nowadays that use essentially the same fear-based marketing to reach a demographic that ignores more typical advertising." (In fact, here's a recent example of Terror Marketing copywriting, done by Wes.)

New Years / Christmas Presents from Mythos Media

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

Including: Lives of Ilya with Tara Vanflower, and the audiobook chapter read by Jarboe, Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, a full, some re-issued re-masters of early Choronzon and Veil of Thorns material as well as some more recent releases, free 256 kbps release of subQtaneous: Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation, the Art of Memetics, and sneak peeks at many up and coming projects.

This Is Your Brain On Anime (Paprika review for TLAblog)

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.)

Blagojevich Blog-o-bitch

Many have commented that Blagojevich's $4500 bail is something of an outrage, amidst so much financial corruption. However, this misses what I think is really going on here. Society pays lip service to certain moral codes, but often rewards something more akin to barbarism. The fact that we need a government at all is ample proof of that- if any of you are familiar with Hobbes' Leviathan, you know where I'm going with that.

The "oversight" provided by government creates an infinite regress when corruption sets in, as it always does. That is, you have people overseeing that something is done properly, but then you need people to oversee them, and people to oversee those people. You have different groups within the same government listening in on each other, and an inordinate amount of money and energy wasted on these different agencies - all rife with varying amounts of corruption - trying to get a leg up on the other.

From time to time, however, a whipping boy is necessary in the name of those morals that we pay lip service to. This is nothing new- in fact many Pagan societies ritualize this "whipping boy" in various literal ways, or translate it directly into the bloody sacrifice. (Though in most of those cases the sacrifice has to be pure / virginal, not an exemplar of the corruption that embodies business-as-usual within the society.) At the moment, it happens to be that guy whose name I find really painful to pronounce, or even type out. Blog-o-whatever. But if, after eight years under Bush, you think the buck stops there.

Think again.

And if you are thinking to yourself, well that's interesting James, but this has little-or-nothing to do with independent media... well, you're right.
Fuck it.

Homeland Security : Profiling Through Behavioral Sniffing

Yet again, I discover that elements of the hypothetical future that we dreamed up for Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning are bleeding into reality.

"Keep your shoes and belts on: Waiting in long airport security lines to pass through metal detectors may soon be a thing of the past.

Security experts say focus is shifting from analyzing the content of carry-ons to analyzing the content of passengers' intentions and emotions.

"We are seeing a needed paradigm shift when it comes to security," says Omer Laviv, CEO of ATHENA GS3, an Israeli-based security company.

"This 'brain-fingerprinting,' or technology which checks for behavioral intent, is much more developed than we think."

Nowhere is the need for cutting-edge security more acute than Israel, which faces constant security threats. For this reason, Israel has become a leader in developing security technology.

Several Israeli-based technology companies are developing detection systems that pick up signs of emotional strain, a psychological red flag that a passenger may intend to commit an act of terror. Speedier and less intrusive than metal detectors, these systems may eventually restore some efficiency to the airplane boarding process.

One firm, WeCU (pronounced "We See You") Technologies, employs a combination of infra-red technology, remote sensors and imagers, and flashing of subliminal images, such as a photo of Osama bin Laden. Developers say the combination of these technologies can detect a person's reaction to certain stimuli by reading body temperature, heart rate and respiration, signals a terrorist unwittingly emits before he plans to commit an attack.

With these technologies, the emphasis is on speed and seamlessness. Ehud Givon, CEO of WeCU, envisions a day when a passenger can breeze through a security checkpoint in 20 to 30 seconds.

Although traditional security profiling can discriminate by race and religion, security experts say behavioral profiling is more fair, more effective and less expensive.

WeCU has received grants from the Transportation Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which hopes to implement a system to pinpoint internal threats such as airline employees intending terrorist acts.

Once these technologies are in place, a passenger may pass through a security screening without realizing it. For example, passengers could use an automated check-in system or gaze at a screen with departures information without realizing they've just been exposed to the words "Islamic jihad" written in Arabic.

These stimuli, explains Givon, will intrinsically elicit some sort of biometric response -- whether the passenger knows it or not -- that can be picked up by WeCU's strategically placed sensors.

"I believe that we introduce a new layer in security," Givon says. "This is something that couldn't be done in the past: finding the connection between a certain individual and the intent to harm."

The Orwellian-sounding startup has gone further to develop a system that detects a passenger's behavioral intentions by scanning their every step, literally. While walking around certain parts of the airport terminal, a passenger may not realize he has stepped on a "smart carpet" filled with hidden biometric sensors.

The technology is still under development, says Givon, who believes it will be strong enough to pick up biometric information from a footstep. If a passenger is wearing heavy hiking boots, for example, WeCU will rely on biometric sensors combined with video and thermal biometric imaging to detect malicious intent.

Another option from WeCU is a "smart seat," or cushion full of hidden biometric sensors that could provide a more detailed read on someone sitting in an airport waiting area, Givon says.

While the technology sound like something from a James Bond flick or even "A Clockwork Orange," Givon insists that passengers will not find the techniques intrusive. "We don't want you to feel that you are being interrogated," he says.

Givon is negotiating contracts with airports worldwide and believes his company's technology may be implemented as soon as 2010.

Nemesysco, another Israeli-based technology company, believes the key to a person's emotions and intentions lies in their voice. The company's patented LVA, or Layered Voice Analysis, technology can pick up verbal cues from a passenger who may pose a threat.

Unlike a polygraph test, which checks for lies, Nemesysco's systems work as an "emotion detector," says Nemesysco CEO Amir Liberman. In other words, it's not what passengers say, but how they say it.

Nemesysco's devices use a series of patented signal-processing algorithms that can differentiate between a "normal" voice and a"'stressed" voice. If emotional stress is detected, officials can determine if the passenger should be taken aside for further questioning.

The system works on the premise that all voices have a certain frequency, and any deviation of that baseline frequency can indicate stress.

Liberman says it takes approximately five to 10 seconds for their system to capture a "normal" voice in casual conversation, which establishes a baseline. Their system then measures changes from the baseline voice that signify an increase in stress, excitement, anticipation, hesitation or other emotions that can indicate a potential terrorism threat.

A computer processes the voice patterns and then flashes words such as "high risk," "medium risk," "excited" and "highly stressed." Through his system, Liberman says, he "can see what's going on in your brain."

Versions of Nemesysco's system already have been successfully tested at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, where officials used it to target criminals and drug traffickers. A version was recently implemented at another major international airport which Liberman declined to identify.

Layered Voice Analysis also has been used to test for insurance fraud and on the TV program "Big Brother Australia."

Layered Voice Analysis has limitations, including the inability to trace the vocal patterns of a person with a speech impediment. But the system is more effective than current security measures, claims Liberman, who believes a terrorist currently can pass through airport security with explosive material "that can take down any plane."

In fact, many experts express little confidence in the current state of airport security.

Philip Baum, London-based editor of Aviation Security International magazine, says would-be terrorists could easily slip through security checkpoints, even with new regulations that check for liquids.

"The archaic system of an X-ray machine and metal detector cannot pick up other potential threats posed by passengers," Baum says. "I can have a ceramic weapon or chemical weapons and walk through an archway metal detector and it won't be picked up. Yet we have huge faith in these metal detectors that can only pick up one substance."

Laviv, whose consulting firm focuses on securing mass transportation systems, is equally skeptical.

"It is possible today to hijack an aircraft using only five or six able-bodied passengers who are well-trained in Kung Fu fighting," he says. "There is no technology in place in airports to detect a threat like that.

"The question is, should our desire be to look for each and every threat agent, rather than focus our efforts on identifying the [violent] intention of the passenger?"
"

--from CNN