The unchallenged monkeybread* maker known as Josh Begley hipped me to this dope new app that could change the face of the PLANET!!!!!! Well, maybe not the face, but at least the creative side of the world. The boootayy. Stickybits is a program that allows you to attach photos, words, videos, and music to any barcode. Imagine the possibilities! Scan a can of peas in the grocery store and get a free album that an aspiring artist threw on there earlier that day! Or a picture of a clown. A scary scary clown. I showed Stickybits to Dahlak just now and he looked at me like “why are you showing me such troubling things before I sleep?” Yeah, perhaps it’s a bit Orwellian. But everything carries memory and energy. Why not download it? Welcome to the future.
As you know, we at iLL-Lit have been developing digit.iLL.Funk, an Open Source method of music production. One of the main things people have asked me about when introducing this concept is, “If you don’t sell records, how will you make money?” And if you’re like us, or among the multitude of other artists who have hardly seen a dime from the current record industry model anyway, then asking a question like that is like asking, “If you don’t hunt unicorns, how will you heal your wounds?” Basically, it’s never been a factor, and with the way the industry is going, it might never have to be one.
I’ve been spending much time at The 99 Percentgetting my MIND BLOWN!! If Wired Magazine is my new Rolling Stone, then The 99 Percent Conference is my new SXSW. Too bad the thing’s like $700 to attend. I guess I’ll have to become a speaker there soon…
But in the meantime, Seth Godin speaks on the “lizard brain,” the infamous part of the human psyche that keeps us from from either initiating or finishing those projects that typically stay in the lab or in our heads (a.k.a. the reason why so many of our friends have vaults of recorded music but haven’t dropped a record yet). Watch this, get up, get out, and do something.
Yesterday I attended a brunch curated by MVMT, an organization facilitated by my friend and key inspiration, Rolando Brown. This wasn’t just any brunch…hosted in dozens of living rooms and engaging over 500 individuals throughout the United States, it was a national online exchange geared towards community-oriented goal-setting for the new year. A country full of fly ass people munching on waffles while discussing how to build the future? NOT. MAD. AT. ALL.
I don’t use the term movement lightly. And given that nowadays almost every rapper has the audacity to use the term to label their mixtapes, I have to admit that it has lost some weight in my mind. However, MVMT exhibits a rather selfless desire to empower people to free themselves of both internal and external obstacles, and much like digit.iLL.Funk, the information is FREE! The catch? Engage in community building and in doing so demonstrate that open-source living can be a lucrative way of existence. Ba-dow!
If you’re looking for a way to positively and effectively start your new decade off, look no further! Snap out of any short attention span for just a moment and check out these videos below. At the risk of sounding like I’ve just guzzled down a huge jug of kool-aid, let me say that these videos have completely rerouted my way of imagining my creative workspace, and you’ll be seeing these tactics implemented into iLL-Literacy very soon. Check them out…you won’t regret it!
30 Day Do It: A better way to make and keep your resolutions
6 Principles of TechnOrganizing: Never miss an email again!
umm sidenote, I used these principles to organize my gmail inbox which was about to explode at 98% (no joke) and NOW look at it!
GLORIOUS!!
The People’s Inauguration: 30,000 motivated
iLL-Lit has been associated with Rolando for a hot minute now, and I’m REALLY looking forward to building with MVMT more. Happy 2010!!
Ohhh I do hope by now you’ve checked out our running manifesto on digit.iLL Funk, our Open Source philosophy of music. I must admit that ever since building the language and doing a massive amount of research, I’ve fallen into a somewhat utopian tunnel vision of a world where people frolic with free music bursting out of their ears and ice cream bars from their fingertips. A bit different from the utopia I conjured when I was a fist-pumping earthtone rocking headwrap wearer in college, but really the only difference is that back then, the ice cream bars were made of soy.
Anyway, super computer engineer techy wizard Alan Cox in the above video shows me that I am not alone. The Open Source is in fact quite political, and at the risk of sounding heavy-handed, I might suggest that – after years of feeling demystified and convoluted – I might have found a revolution to believe in again.
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