The Occupy movement has garnered plenty of support from the arts community over the past few months, with musicians ranging from Jeff Mangum to Third Eye Blind serenading protesters and petition sites like Occupy Writers and Occupy Musicians popping up. Now, cartoonists are also declaring themselves, via Occupy Comics. The project is a refreshing alternative for comics fans who weren’t thrilled with Sin City author Frank Miller’s anti-Occupy rant last month, and the list of participating artists already includes such big names as Alan Moore, David Lloyd (designer of the Occupy-appropriated Guy Fawkes mask), Molly Crabapple, Douglas Rushkoff, Charlie Adlard, and Shannon Wheeler. Occupy Comics’ aim is to compile a book-length anthology “intended to be a time capsule of the passions and emotions driving the movement” and has already raised over $21,000 on Kickstarter to fund the project. All proceeds will, of course, go to the occupiers. If you’re interested in donating, make sure you do it soon — the Kickstarter clock runs out in about two days.
After our recent roundup of 25 great parties on film, it occurred to us that movies aren’t the only medium to have depicted fantastic fêtes. So, to help you gear up for a celebratory July 4th weekend, we reached out to Flavorpill staff and readers alike to get their nominations for liteature’s best bash. With their help, we’ve come up with a list of ten great gatherings we would love to have attended. Keep the party going by adding your favorites in the comments.
We live a corporate world, and the evidence flashes in front of our eyes 5,000 times a day. Though there isn’t anything inherently wrong with this kind of business, and it can be used to further laudable common goals, our current corporatism, and the laws that enable it, have had disastrous results for our economy, government, environment, and bodies. The relaxing of anti-trust laws and the establishment of corporate personhood are largely responsible for the domination of our society by these inhuman giants. Thankfully, this trend in its many facets is well documented. A significant percentage of popular documentary films take big business as their subject matter, as do many popular nonfiction books, television shows and radio programs. These works are crucial in educating us and providing a view of the forest that can be hard to see from within our consumerist trees. We’ve rounded up a few of the most important and well done documentaries about our corporate society. They range from satirical to heartbreaking, but at their core they are all deadly serious.
Back in June, our friend Douglas Rushkoff stopped by Flavorpill to promote his new book Life Inc.; it’s an interesting read about how corporations have come to dominate all aspects of our lives and what we can realistically do to even the playing field. One of the things he mentioned: local currencies. At the time, we thought he was nuts. And then we found out about the Brooklyn Torch Project, a North Brooklyn initiative “aimed at providing Brooklynites with a tangible medium of exchange that will circulate and support the resident community.” If you’re interested in getting involved, they’re looking for someone to help design the paper currency that will be used. After the jump, some of our favorite world currencies to help get your juices flowing. Read More »
Flavorpill’s friend Douglas Rushkoff stopped by The Colbert Report last night for an amusing segment pegged to his new book, Life Inc. He presents what might be the most depressing stimulus package imaginable, points out the flaws in a consumer-based society, and explains why today’s currency is essentially valueless. Colbert compares him to G. Gordon Liddy. It’s fascinating stuff, and a good teaser for the book if you haven’t read it yet.
Our friend Douglas Rushkoff‘s new book Life Inc. is about how corporations have come to dominate all aspects of our lives (it goes back to the Renaissance, folks) and what we can realistically do to even the playing field. After the jump, he talks with Flavorpill about how to settle a neighborhood without destroying it, what you can do to regain control over corporatism, why there’s no such thing as a “cultural consumer.” Read More »
