Pontificating, Teaching, Subverting or just Whacking Off?

[Cramulus]

Thanks for the feedback! I think I was incorrectly expecting something finished, rather than a draft.

In that case, maybe we could create several 4-6 page pamphlets and circulate those over a period of time (one pamphlet a month/week/biweekly?
). Then we take from the best of those with new material and existing Kopyleft material and have that be BIP 2.0 or whatever...

Thoughts?

Also, has anyone seen the "Float, Don't Float" pamphlets or was that only some local scoundrel?

No, what are the Float Don't Float pamphlets?

I like the idea of smaller, regularly published pamphlets.

I think they'd be easier to populate if we didn't focus them on trying to make a point or enlighten people - like we could dump some of the funny threads into them.

the PD used rubber stamps and random art to create that crazy cutup vibe
the internet definitely has its share of analogues.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Float, Don't Float pamphlets appears in Columbus about 3 years ago in random "Free Newspaper" boxes downtown and on the OSU campus.

Basically the front of the pamphlet said "Float" and then under that it said "Don't Float"
The first page had the word "Float" at the top and pictures of various objects that apparently float.
The second page had the words "Don't Float" at the top and pictures of various objects that apparently do not float.

The items in the series got more and more bizarre with each issue and then they just stopped after about 4 months.
<i>Rat, it has become obvious that if you want anything to happen, to do it yourself, with little expectation of help from others.</i>

Yeah, I agree... thats why I thought that short pamphlets might be the best way to start, any ONE person who wants to can develop a small couple pages of material, post it here (or at bip or wherever) and then people that wish to can distribute it. After we have a collection of pamphlets we can use it as the source material for a larger production. I've already started my first one

[LMNO]

I like that Float don't Float gag.


I'm currently on a "Notice of Compulsory Illumination" trip, myself.

[Darth Cupcake]

Float/doesn't float is getting thrown into my hopper. I have a great text file going at work, some word documents at home, plus a whole file of images and LOADS of post-it notes over my computer.

I am incredibly excited about this.

I feel like my brain has already begun to stagnate in my month and a half out of college (I've been reading grad school bulletins not unlike a fiending drug addict) and this project is giving me something positive and mentally stimulating to work on. I am nerding out with delight over here.

[LMNO]

I've found that since I started posting here, my intellectuial/creative spirits have been much improved.

[AFK]

Ditto.  Especially back in the Retail Hell days.  It even got me recording music again, albeit somewhat sporadically, but it's better than zilch. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Discordianism exists in the acts, not the words

See Also: http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/brochure-template-trifold-fun.html

Hrmmmmm.......

[That One Guy]

Some very interesting, quality critique there. I came in to the BIP project around the beginning of this year, so it had some time to percolate and get (slightly) edited and grouped. I made my own contribution (which got tossed up on the Wiki page) and I'm very interested in expanding that particular metaphor as are many of us around these parts.

As far as the pamphlets idea goes, it might be possible to combine all the various semi-related ideas that have bubbled up in the last few months (the Aftermath Magazine, BIP 2.0, the pamphlets) into one, more inclusive format. One pamphlet a month (we've already got the Aftermath name for it - might as well carry that over) that can be both posted/printed and put up on the WorldPress blog site already in place, and every 6 months (or a year or whenever) we can combine things into a more organized format as a slightly slicker compilation.

I never looked at the BIP stuff as a static work - if it was, why have a forum dedicated to expanding/discussing/working on/contributing to it after all. Hell, even the PD gets stuff tacked on to it (sometimes in a bad-touch way *coughSJGamescough*) with new editions. This IS all about change and chaos after all 

I've found that since I started posting here, my intellectuial/creative spirits have been much improved.

I've definitely found that my writing and my philosophical musings have gotten the proverbial kick in the ass from all of this, and that is definitely a good thing. However, I've always been creative, and my music is where I most fully express all of this stuff. Words are nice and all, but to me music is how I most effectively communicate this - the interplay of chaos (improvising a bass line on the fly or just adding fills where I feel them) and order (the more rigid aspects of song form) over time is what I strive to portray in my playing. Too much chaos and you get Free Jazz. Too much order and you get the 3-minute pop single. Balancing the two is - to me at least - what makes it all so much fun. That's what I took to heart in the PD, and that's what I've most readily grasped in regards to the BIP stuff.

Because of this place, I've gotten much better at writing down the concepts I have trouble articulating outside of music. Hopefully I'll keep improving, and maybe we can even get things moving with the next phase of the BIP/Aftermath ideas to spread it to whoever might get something out of it in the rest of the web and the world at large.

[Darth Cupcake]

Discordianism exists in the acts, not the words

See Also: http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/brochure-template-trifold-fun.html

Hrmmmmm.......

That brochure maker is an amazing army of lollerskates. I see infinite potential in their pre-designed templates with the pictures of smiling people and the suchlike

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Discordianism exists in the acts, not the words

See Also: http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/brochure-template-trifold-fun.html

Hrmmmmm.......

That brochure maker is an amazing army of lollerskates. I see infinite potential in their pre-designed templates with the pictures of smiling people and the suchlike

Ah yes... and they let you upload your own pics as well.... which for my first shot may involve downloading their pics and editing them just slightly

[Darth Cupcake]

Discordianism exists in the acts, not the words

See Also: http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/brochure-template-trifold-fun.html

Hrmmmmm.......

That brochure maker is an amazing army of lollerskates. I see infinite potential in their pre-designed templates with the pictures of smiling people and the suchlike

Ah yes... and they let you upload your own pics as well.... which for my first shot may involve downloading their pics and editing them just slightly

I salute this plan!

[Cain]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm trying to spread, think about and improve ideas for subversion.  Everything else is just a bonus.

[Triple Zero]

i had written this reply just before the board crashed, so it's a bit of a latecomer, but i feel i still have some things to say that haven't been said: (and below it is a new reply to what came after that)

Observation: In the 1960's when Omar and Mal were working on the PD, the written word was the best form of communication (for the sort of communication they were forming). They used guerrilla publishing and distribution to push their ideas out. In such, they utilized Burroughs's Cut Up method to make their writing very different than the normal writing (for comparison, check out some of the pamphlets being pushed by Chomsky and others during that time). This, I think, was very important. In several of Bob's books and the PD (and a lot of other stuff written by the early proto-discordians), the writing style intentionally breaks from the 'normal' writing style. This makes the read more 'discordant', it makes the read more memorable (I will never forget the telegram to Jehova) and (most important in my opinion), the cut up method plays tricks in the synapses. When the brain doesn't get what it expects, it gets surprised. Surprise information tends to stick in the brain more effectively than expected information. Further, assuming that Leary's theories were, in any way, shocks can also induce meta-programming opportunities. This seems to have been the goal of Mal, Omar and the gang and I've found that it does seem to work (in some sense) in many cases.

holy fuk

that's a way of looking at the PD i hadn't considered yet.

it does make me feel we might have kinda missed the target with the BIP pamphlet in that perspective
(btw i don't want to dismiss the original BIP pamphlet here, it has its own definite value in its own right)

ok considering this, we are facing some interesting challenges:

- there's hundreds of different forms of communication out there and indeed, print form might not be the most effective one anymore.
- we have the talent among us to make some interesting new use out of these communication channels, something that hits people from an unexpected angle, and shake them up.
- on the downside, new memes are being created every day over the entire internet, and interest stuff is short-lived
- on the upside, somebody discovering a year-old meme for the first time, often still enjoys it
- uh

interesting and different ways of communication this board has produced so far:

- Silly's upsidedown faces
- Cram's newspaper articles
- the Wrath of MSPaint Cabal's work
- TROLLING other messageboards
- LMNO/Earfatigue voice rants and POEEcasts (though IMO those could be *immensely* improved if Silly were to slap *any* sort of video or whatever behind those and publish on Youtube, for great instant exposure)
- some HIMEOBS tech (RSVP)
- ..

one thing, i think augmenting the LMNO/POEEcasts with a simple sort of video (talking head with appropriate background, whatever) and putting it up on youtube, would increase their audience a LOT. for starters, the sound quality is already a lot better than the average thing you find on youtube, so having a simplistic video going along with it is probably easiest. people want something moving to look at while listening to talking, otherwise their attention is gone like that. anything that moves. srsly.

--- - - -- - - -- ----->8---- cut here ----8<------- - - - - - - - - - - -

to DC and other editor-peoples: i've got some editing skills as well, at least i've got some good experience with Adobe Indesign 2.0 and have layouted and "designed" a simple paper magazine for my old students association a few times. what i can offer is: if you guys will also be using Indesign, we can probably send the .indd document over a few times, and i can help out with the shifting and putting-things-into-place and adjusting until the page looks right and inserting more functional whitespace kind of stuff.
(the thing is, i am kind of lazy and very bad at "just getting around and do it", so i need to organize close collaboration with others for myself in order to get things done)

[LMNO]

one thing, i think augmenting the LMNO/POEEcasts with a simple sort of video (talking head with appropriate background, whatever) and putting it up on youtube, would increase their audience a LOT. for starters, the sound quality is already a lot better than the average thing you find on youtube, so having a simplistic video going along with it is probably easiest. people want something moving to look at while listening to talking, otherwise their attention is gone like that. anything that moves. srsly.

Shit, I've been trying to get someone to attach images to those rants ever since I started them.  I agree 100000000% with this.

Don't make me open iMovie.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I'm up for doing it but I need a hook. So far I've listened to a few of the audio clips and drawn a blank.

I think my video skills may be like the old songwriting dilema - which comes first the music or the lyrics. Usually I seem to come up with the visual first and then teh words come after and I'm getting a mental block trying to think of something that would work with the poeecasts, possibly for this reason.

If anyone else does, however, then let me know and I'll jump right on it.