Malcom McLaren - punk provocateur

The death of Malcom Mclaren this week sees the passing of one of the great British iconic figures of the 70s. McLaren had an enormous influence on British culture through the King's Road shop he opened with Vivienne Westwood and also through the Sex Pistols. Together, the captured and embodied the zeitgiest - and the imagery of London Punk was born.

Alexis Petridis, of the Guardian writes:
Malcolm McLaren: Blood, spit and tears as the punk provocateur dies.
Malcolm McLaren stirred up chaos all his life – and even in death, punk's most inspired interloper will cause controversy.

You can, if you so desired, make a strong argument for the importance and originality of the largely forgotten albums Malcolm McLaren released under his own name in the 80s.

The first, Duck Rock, was a particularly innovative blending of hip hop and world music, while the video for the hit single Buffalo Gals offered most Britons their first glimpse of breakdancing. But it's as The Sex Pistols' manager that he will be remembered, which means the question of how successful he was in the role is likely to be debated for years to come.

McLaren certainly had an acute grasp of what was wrong with British rock music before The Sex Pistols' arrival.


He was a nonpareil orchestrator of outrage during their early career, but proved incapable of dealing with its consequences. McLaren knew exactly what buttons to press, but seemed to have no idea what to do once he'd pressed them: fatally so in the case of Sid Vicious, who was only too willing to play the monster role that McLaren wrote for him right up to a suitably grim conclusion.

You could argue that Vicious' death from a heroin overdose while on bail for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was the greatest disaster of McLaren's career, but it was a close-run thing.

Even before that, he had seemed at best unable to protect the band's members from the unprecedented public antipathy he had stirred up, at worst he seemed actively disinterested in doing so. Perhaps he had his mind on higher concepts than the day-to-day reality of life in a band so reviled that the tabloids stopped just short of actively advocating violence against them: PUNISH THE PUNKS demanded the Sunday Mirror in 1977.

Perhaps the whole Perhaps the whole situation had simply run out of his control. Either way, it wasn't Either way, it wasn't much fun being a Sex Pistol in the summer of the Jubilee they so brilliantly mocked on God Save The Queen: Johnny Rotten was attacked by a knife-wielding mob outside a Stoke Newington pub; later the same day, drummer Paul Cook was beaten with a metal bar in west London; three days later, Rotten was attacked again.

It wasn't until after the band split up that McLaren attempted to reassert his authority over the Sex Pistols: rewriting their story in the film The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle as a masterplan he had controlled all along, the band merely his stooges. It wasn't a terribly convincing argument, nor was it a terribly good film.

Understandably outraged, Johnny Rotten has spent the subsequent years airbrushing McLaren from the Sex Pistols story, pointing out that the music had nothing to do with him, reinventing the band as autodidacts who would have been even more successful without his interference.

But that seems reductive too: without McLaren's ideas, his art-school grounding in Situationism, without the clothes he and Vivienne Westwood designed for them, the Sex Pistols wouldn't have been the same band, nor would they have had the same impact. Neither party would ever admit it, but they needed each other.

Still, if nothing else, the ongoing argument meant Malcolm McLaren remained a controversial figure up to his death, and will remain a controversial figure beyond it – which is presumably just what he wanted.

Music journalist Jon Savage, who wrote "England's Dreaming," a history of the Sex Pistols and punk, said that "without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk." He's one of the rare individuals who had a huge impact on the cultural and social life of this nation."

John Lydon issued a tribute signed Johnny Rotten, the name he used in the Sex Pistols. "For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that," he said. "Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you."

2010 The Calcutta Cup or, the grudge match...

In this year's 6 Nations rugby union tournament two Countries with centuries of unprecedented rivalry, history and harmony commence battle at Murrayfield stadium. Top or bottom of the leader board... there is really only one game that matters - The Calcutta Cup.

Both England and Scotland are known to one another as ‘the old enemy’, and this March in the 6 Nations rugby union tournament they will compete, yet again, for the Calcutta cup in its 117th competitive fixture.

A Calcutta Creation
The competition originated from Calcutta, India in 1872, when a group of Englishmen took part in a rugby match, against a number of Scottish and Irishmen. As a result of the spectatorship following the game that day; the Calcutta rugby football club was formed a month later and rugby had reached India.

A year after the club joined the Rugby Football Union (RFU), but unfortunately had to disband as more cultured sports such as polo and tennis were introduced in India; suiting the Asian climate and subsequently being favoured over rugby. However in order to keep the club’s name inexistence; its members decided to make a cup out of the clubs melted silver rupees (money) and present it to the RFU, who decided to play the event annually.

From then on, to this day, a number of stadiums have hosted the fixture in both England and Scotland, since departing from Calcutta in 1878. The venue changes every 6 Nations tournament; this year it will be held at Murrayfield, Scotland, next year at Twickenham stadium, England.

Battle of 2009
Last year’s game, at Twickenham, had seen both side’s tournament campaigns been disappointing leading into the game, but there was still plenty to play for in London, as England were hoping to win back the cup that they lost at Murrayfield in 2008, with Scotland trying to retain it.

Battle of 2010
This Saturday, Scotland gets the chance to reclaim the trophy on their own home turf, Murrayfield. Aarty and I are heading up to Edinburgh to watch the match and hang out in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Wooo hoooo!

I, Avatar ~ the culture and consequences of having a second life

With so much hype about Avatar the Movie, (which I have to say I thought was one of the worst films I have ever seen, although I have to admit to a moment of excited recognition when the main character "logs in" ...but I digress) I thought I'd post the on-line descripton of I, Avatar, a book recommended to me some time ago by my wonderful friend and fellow Avatar extraordinare, Trex Renfold *swoon*.

Most of the books written about Second Life concentrate on the technology and practilicaties of SL and this is very useful but for those of us who are interested in the psychological aspects of Second Life, this book is a great expansion of the SL experience. What are we all doing out there in virtual reality? What is really going on? What is this personality, this character, I am creating? Why does it feel so meaningful?

"An Avatar is an interative social representation of a user ~ a self portrait."

"What is an Avatar? Why are there nearly a billion of them and who is using them? Do avatars imapct our real lives, or are they just video game conceits? Is an avatar an inspired rendering of its creator's inner self. or is it just one amongst millions of annonymous vechiles clogging the online freeways? Can we use our avatars to really connect with people. or do they just isolate us? And as we become more like our avatars do they become more like us?

"Shared experiences create a sense of reality. Psychologically, you are your Avatar."

In I, Avatar, Mark Stephens Meadows answers some of these questions but more imortantly, he raises many others in his exploration of avatars and the fascinating possibilties they hold. His examination of avatars, through the lens of sociology, psychology, politics, history and art will change they way you look at even a simple online profile and revolutionize the idea of avatars as part of our lives, whether first or second."

"Avatars are dorky, Avatars are divine. Avatars can give us an alternative, a break from daily hardships and a space to practice for another try."

Charles Babbage

Steampunk is a hugh phenomenon in Second Life, associated with, amongst others. the British mathematician, industrialist, inventor and scientist, Charles Babbage.

Charles Babbage 1791 - 1871
Charles Babbage was one of the key figures of a great era of British history.
Born as the industrial revolution was getting into its swing, by the time
Babbage died Britain was by far the most industrialized country the world had
ever seen. Babbage played a crucial rôle in the scientific and technical
development of the period.

Although born in London, Babbage came from an old Totnes family, and retained close links with the region all his life. The West Country, with its mining and engineering was particularly important in the early stages of the industrial revolution, and from the extraordinarily wealthy Totnes region, with its port at Dartmouth, came also Newcomen and Savery, pioneers of the steam engine.

Babbage went up to Cambridge in 1810 and with some friends effected the crucial introduction of the Leibnitz notation for the calculus, which transformed mathematics in Cambridge and thus throughout Britain.

In 1814 Babbage married Georgiana Whitmore,from a landowning Shropshire family. Her half brother, Wolryche Whitmore, was the M.P. who rose year after year in the House of Commons to move the repeal of the Corn Laws. He was also a leading member of the Political Economy Club, and played an important part in Babbage's life.

Babbage's greatest achievement was his detailed plans for Calculating Engines, both the table-making Difference Engines and the far more ambitious Analytical Engines, which were flexible and powerful, punched-card controlled general purpose calculaters, embodying many features which later reappeared in the modern stored program computer. These features included: punched card control; separate store and mill; a set of internal registers (the table axes); fast multiplier/divider; a range of peripherals; even array processing.

It has often been asked whether Babbage's Engines would have worked if they had been built. This may not be an entirely meaningful question: much can go wrong during such a project, while on the other hand new solutions may be found to any problems which might appear during construction. However the question can be put slightly differently: would it have been technically feasible for, say, Babbage and Whitworth to construct an Analytical Engine during the 1850s?

Twenty five years ago, after a careful investigation, Anthony Hyman and the late Maurice Trask formed the opinion that construction of Babbage's Engines would have been quite possible. The problems were financial and organizational, but technically the project in itself was perfectly feasible. They proposed a plan. :first construct DE2 (the Second Difference Engine; then, if wished DE1, or a version of DE2with `travelling platforms'; and finally a complete Analytical Engine, probably following plan 28A.

After much work by many people, and particularly by Dr. Allan Bromley, a team at the Science Museum led by Doron Swade built a complete version of DE2. It was a triumphant success, vindicating Babbage's technical work. However, the far more ambitious task of constructing an Analytical Engine remains to be undertaken.

Besides the Calculating Engines Babbage has an extraordinary range of achievements to his cr: he wrote a consumer guide to life assurance; pioneered lighthouse signalling; scattered technical ideas and inventions in magnificent profusion; developed mathematical codebreaking (Prof. Franksen has plausibly suggested that Babbage ran a private Bletchley Park for the British government in the middle of the +19th century).

Babbage was also an important political economist. Where Adam Smith thought agriculture was the foundation of a nation's wealth; where Ricardo's ideas were focused on corn: Babbage for the first time authoritatively placed the factory on centre stage. Babbage gave a highly original discussion of the division of labour, which was followed by John Stuart Mill. Babbage's discussion of the effect of the development of production technology on the size of factories was taken up by Marx, and was fundamental to Marxist theory of capitalist socio-economic development. A case can also be made that Babbage had an influence on William Stanley Jevons, and was thus also a pioneer of marginal value theory. However, the latter remains to be proved.

For twenty five years Charles Babbage was a leading figure in London society, and his glorious Saturday evening soirées, attended by two or three hundred people, were a meeting place for Europe's liberal intelligencia.

So, what is so compelling about a British inventor, dead for almost 160 years, that makes avatars all over Second Life act out Victorian roleplay and replicate his inventions?

I Belong to Glasgow...

Inspired by the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns, Homecoming Scotland 2009 extended an invitation to Scotland's people, at home and abroad to celebrate this great country. Nearly 400 events were held to showcase Scotland's wealth of talent.... including one here in Second Life, at the Stormy Nights Arts Centre. For nine months we displayed a random set of images from artists and friends. The aim was not to promote individual artists but to show, without pomp or circumstance, a selection of homegrown talent.

Homecoming Scotland 2009 may be over but I am not quite ready to pack everything away just yet. The new display at Stormy Nights is a random selction of images, video clips and objects, reminiscent of a Glasgow childhood in the 40s and 50s, with the exception of the "Glasgow Blues" who came much later in the 60s and 70s.

Some of the paintings from the original Homecoming Scotland display have been moved upstairs to the second floor.

If you are a Second Life member and would like to vist-just check my picks for a teleport link. If you are not a Second Life member you are probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about, LOL.

The images displayed are personally owned, open source or source unknown. The objects displayed have been created and collected throughout second life and customised for purpose. If any image creator recognises an open source or unknown source image as their own work and would like it removed, I will be very happy to do so on proof of copyright ownership:)

Aart On My Sleeve - Pol Arida

Astonished to find myself here, blogging, with the divine Ruby Quality, of all people :) Ruby, thank you for the opportunity; my pile of rejection letters from other publishers is so high I use it to stand on when I change light bulbs.

Having seen lots of blogs I know that the secret to success is to pretend that you are simply talking to yourself (you are) and to either indulge in fond memories or apply a a jolt to the synapses with the shock of the new.

Pol Arida was an SL discovery with a vast RL hinterland. The first in-world experience which made the hairs on the back of my neck put their hands in their wallets ;). As someone who is still makes the effort to attendo live music performances in small venues, I had naturally checked out the SL live scene ... mostly disappointing MOR-AOR-DoDgYcOvErVeRsIoNs, it must be said. There is however a group and a scene known as The ORIGINALS, committed to performing live and, duurr, original music and I was fortunate in being introduced to this by the lovely Jeannine Mathilde, for which I remain ever in her debt.

Pol is an Edinburgh based, Scottish musician with a unique percussive guitar style. He writes challenging lyrics which span the Peter Hammill, Nick Cave, Robert Wyatt spectrum and he's the kind of guy that can get one of my personal Goddesses, Tilda Swinton, to appear in his video so obviously a person I should be sucking up to. Strangely, and as a totally separate and secret quirk, Ruby has a huge thing for Mr Swinton, John Byrne ... we live safe in the knowledge that in the quantum SLuniverse we've shared breakfast with Tilda and John, seperately, jointly and in every combination you can imagine ... we weren't disappointed ;)

Did ya like that?

Here's some more; enjoy. And if you want to catch him live In-World, join his group or keep an eye on his calendar or his website at http://www.cultx.com/

Our Right to Reply...

News for everyone who responded to "Our Right to Reply Post". Sasun Steinbeck of Second Life Galleries has removed her posts about us. Job done!
As a mutual gesture of seasonal goodwill I have permanently removed our postings on the topic.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to contribute and good luck with your second life activities. Happy New Year:)