Big Table #3 C O N T E N T
Hello!
It has happened again -- the newsletter known as Big Table takes another step, emails become plural, links are linked! No introductions this time, no theme! Getting right down to it. If you forget what this is all about, go here.
Haha I lied, the theme is Content.
Content
Content is what creators make. Is everything content? Maybe not? Should it be? No.
In the shadow of all this content creation, Martha has forwarded a theory of content destruction. There is no manifesto, nor will there be one, because that would be content. I'm kind of breaking the rules even talking about it.†
Sometimes you can only think of content via content destruction. Sometimes content, though it was created, becomes its own form of content destruction. If you'd like to explore more, why not peruse the content-destruction channel on Rollerblade.
Rollerblading the infobahn
What's Rollerblade?? Rollerblade is what came after I did some major content destruction of my own by shutting down paddleboat.online
At the start of the pandemic, some of you will recall, perhaps fondly, that I spun up a self-hosted forum called Paddleboat, which was named after the hummingbirds that grew up in the courtyard of the apartment Martha and I were living in at the time. Hosting that got a little expensive, and people stopped using it, so we moved to Discord and called it Rollerblade.
A lot of you know this already, and some of you actively post there! I love that. This is just a Rollerblade appreciation post, and another invite to any and all of you to join. Click here to do that!
Some favs you can see if you join:
We have a
#good-cupschannel where you can find things like this manatee mug or this good mug commemorating a giant coffee pot which turns out to very much still be there.Of course we have
#content-destructionfor this and this and this and especially this.And it's the first place I heard about the amazing Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge post
Time ⏰ Confetti 🎉 -- Short Kings
In this fast-paced modern world, who's got time for long URLs anymore?
Here are some websites with stingy URLS that go very hard on whatever it is they're trying to do.
horg.com goes almost unsettlingly-deep. However, I am sad and confused that they didn't pick horg.org
rei.org is extremely not under the control of REI dot com , which amuses me.
itis.gov is where "you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world." So, if you see something and you want to know what "it" "is", you go to ITIS. Thanks to Jon for this one.
Reader Submitted Content!
My dear friend Jane Zemel took me up on my invitation in the first issue to send in recommendations or items of note, and she really delivered!
JZ's book recommendations -- Akwaeke Emezi for adults, and for kids: Mac. B. Kid Spy. Illustrator Elise Gravel is definitely for anyone who wants to hear from worms and head lice.
She also shared this piece by artist Erin Payne:
And this thoughtful essay about the Hamsa flag
Finally, enjoy these soft necklaces she made because "I've realized traditional jewelry is not cozy or comforting or nurturing"
Thanks Jane! You get the gold star!
Some Conceptual Labor Content
Some of you may remember me talking, for years, about a book about work that I was working on. Maybe you remember I finished it. Some of you have already cited it in your own work, which I love!
So much L I F E happened almost as soon as I finished the Theory and printed advance copies, I really haven't done much to get the work out there, but I did get inspired / interviewed to produce a few pieces of actual content relating to the book and theory. Here begins "getting it out there."
The quick version
One of them was The Theory of Conceptual Labor - the Quick Version. I have been told this might be more accurately called the not-as-long version.
Interview on XRAY FM
I had the pleasure of talking about conceptual labor with Kai for his excellent show on XRAY FM, Everyone is Interesting. I really appreciated Kai's interviewing skills for how he could channel my explanations away from galaxy-brain abstractness and towards something more radio-friendly.
Viral Math
I got stoked when this video by Hank Green got algo'd to me because he was basically talking about Conceptual Labor. I thought "If I made YouTubes I would totally make content about this." And then Vi Hart responded, and I thought, dang, maybe I have to make a content. I've been a fan of Vi Hart for about forever, and I had been almost completely unaware of the vastness of the Green brother's YouTube empire, but no longer!
I "borrowed" Vi's watch-me-draw video format, and using Amber's content-creator lamp, I took two dang months to make this here video. It was my first post on Mastodon and Vi even responded! (ps follow me on mastodon)
My blog post goes into a little more detail.
Nik on work
My good buddy Nik Wise has been doing some good writing about work and the nature of, like, doin stuff that I've really enjoyed, not just because he references conceptual labor sometimes. A selection of my favs:
and a recipe for some serious Nog
Martha's music videos
Martha's been on a music-video-making tear lately. She collaborated with Aaron for two new s.e.c.r.e.t.s. videos. The whole vibe and most of the art is hers, and Aaron put it all together. I love that they match the art website we made -- athousandcirclets.garden. Also did I mention they're really good songs? Good job s.e.c.r.e.t.s.
Sunflowers
Panopticon
Cracks
Around the same time, she filmed and produced a whole heckin video for Like St Joan, and it's really good! I must stress that there are no digital VHS-style effects here -- this was actually shot on analog video and used analog video effects.
Bonus plug again for Martha's newsletter -- she just put out another issue and it's really good.
Cat Content
Frankie's Portrait
A few years back, I was at Carl's house, which is always a fun time, and I noticed his son, Wolf, had drawn all these motivational posters for their cat and hung them over the cat's food bowl. It was a great scene. I thought, man, if I had a cat, I'd want that for them.
Once I been fully indoctrinated into being a Cat Person by Martha and Frankenstein, we commissioned a portrait of Frankie from Wolf. Here it is in all its glory.
Sitting on the big table
Finally: We got another cat! There's a new cat at the table
Her name is Elvira Blu-ray. Here's Frankie's review. (Note that our cats' handle has changed on Instagram from @frankensteinminidisc to @frankensteinandelvira)
Note that in Frankie's portrait, Wolf included three other cats (Camo Cat is hard to spot.) We interpreted these as aspects of Frankie's deep personality, but now that we've gotten Elvira it's clear that at the very least Stabbing Cat was a portent of the cat to come. I don't think we will get more cats, let alone two more, but I guess it's nice to know that we have room.
xoxoxoxo
ním
† No. Not in a Fight Club kinda way. Stop it. Put that away, we don't need it.