hal tweets ·11:28 AM
Ghostbuster zines from the Canzine Hollywood Piracy Zine Challenge are now online! http://t.co/RoAMEQTU
2008,
15:05 GMT
Omar Khadr's Moment in Peep
Posted by: Hal
It’s almost embarrassing to put the plight of Omar Khadr into a Peep culture context, but nevertheless, the release yesterday of video surveillance tapes showing his interrogation have made him part of Peep. The tapes remind us that secret video made public can be a powerful force.
As with the Rodney King beating caught on video by happenstance or the video of 3 year old James Bulger being led out of a Liverpool shopping mall by two ten year-old boys who later took his life, secret video cameras have produced some of the most searing imagery of 21st century life. Not only are we drawn to these videos — drawn, inexorably, to the allure of real (unperformed) life actually happening — but the videos themselves operate in a moral grey zone between the necessity (or impossibility) of intervention, and the allure of Peep which turns everything, from the mundane to the horrifying, into consumable spectacle.
In the case of Khadr, as with all the examples above and so many others, the video tape doesn’t solve anything. While some see a tortured teenager, others, such as Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno, see “a freak of terrorism in Omar Khadr, groomed to kill” and a “a teenager blubbering for pity…A man-child mewling: ‘Nobody cares about me.’ “
DiManno’s column on Khadr makes many excellent points – he was a pawn used by his family, he was a child soldier accused of throwing a grenade in the course of fighting a war (not a terrorist). But at the end of it all she seems to be seduced by the video, drawn into interpreting the image. In so doing she gives the image more power than the known facts about the “man-child” and his circumstances. This is the danger of the Peep tradition of releasing secret videotape for all to see. We can rarely agree on what we see, and the videotape makes even more murky what, it seems, should be so clear.
For the record: Canada’s complicity in Khadr’s interrogation is an international embarrassment, read my complete take on it at here at allvoices.com.
2008,
12:50 GMT
Interview with the National Post
Posted by: Hal
Did my first official Peep Culture interview yesterday with a reporter from the National Post. The subject was the upcoming Hal Needs New Friends gathering tomorrow. We talked about why I’m inviting all the people I don’t know who read this blog or are my friends on Facebook and Twitter to hang out with me. The reporter also asked me an interesting question about the relationship between my work at Broken Pencil and Peep. I told him that since my first nonfiction book We Want Some Too I’d been arguing that what most people want is a way in, not a way out. We want to be more connected, more observed, more part of the electronic mediated world we steep in everyday. Much of what we think of as underground or alternative has less to do with challenging the prevailing norms and more to do with wanting to merge product and person and pop culture into one symbiotic techno-person-performer. The ‘system’ promises access, and we want in. I think that the almost 10 years since that book has come out have shown that to be the case: we still want some too, and we’re still willing to do just about anything for access and attention.
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2008,
18:43 GMT
Stunt Week Day Two: Net Detective
Posted by: Hal
Hey out there, it’s your resident snoop hal here. I just wasted several hours of my day signing up for Net Detective, which lets me do searches on people and generates reports about their whereabouts, income, marital status, criminal record, and so on. It cost me $39.99 for 3 years (I’m thinking I’m gonna get what I pay for….) A lot of people don’t come up on the database, but those that do (like my dad, for instance) are pretty well documented down to whether or not they are “auto buffs” and receive any exercise magazines. It’s addictive though not particularly surprising or useful information. Peep culture baby! I also dropped another $40 ordering a background search on yours truly from detective.com. It hasn’t come in yet, but I’m looking forward to sharing the results with you as soon as it does. Detective.com offers a wide variety of services, including video surveillance starting at $579. I sooo wish I had the money to get myself surveilled! Maybe I should start a fund or something: help Hal get stalked.
Other stunt week news: GPS Snitch is operational, but W. worked from home today. No point tracking her whereabouts when I’m upstairs and she’s downstairs. Tomorrow, though, I’ll keep a keen digital eye on her. Also spent three hours yesterday installing my back alley surveillance camera. My buddy Adam came over and we drank beer and drilled holes in my garage (W. didn’t seem to care that much, much to my surprise). We finally managed to get the thing in at a decent angle but the glitch is that for whatever reason the way it’s installed is not good for its broadcast range – I can pretty much only get an image from the wireless camera when I’m in the garage with my laptop. Not much point to that. I’m looking at figuring out how to boost the reception or possibly putting a desktop in the garage that will capture video which I can then watch after the fact. So it maybe be a few days yet before operation back alley becomes a reality.
Speaking of days, we’re only 2 days away from the Hal Needs New Friends Event at the Rhino in Toronto. If you read my blog and want to meet me in person, Thursday night is your chance.
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2008,
19:32 GMT
Stunt Week Update: Monday: Snitch is Live!
Posted by: Hal
The GPS Snitch is live and tomorrow I’ll start tracking W.‘s every move with it. Speaking of W., she’s forgiven me for being an a-hole after I behaved myself the entire weekend (read about it here). We went to her friend’s cottage for the weekend and it was fun. Basically my job was not to say anything horribly insulting or obnoxious. I succeeded and W. likes me again. E. also had a great time, playing with the other kids on the beach. The other 2 couples both have 3 kids. I’m definitely not going in that direction. In fact, I’m not even sure I want to have another, though W. seems to be warming to the idea. The more I think about it the less enthusiasm I have for #2.
Anyway, back to the Snitch, on loan to me courtesy of Blackline GPS and SpyTech. Basically it’s a little gizmo a bit larger than a cell phone. The company that sells it runs a website where you log in and you set it up. You track in real time and when you click on track it produces a google map of where you are. The map is pretty accurate – right now it’s tracking me only a block away from where I actually am. You probably couldn’t locate someone exactly with the device, but you could certainly narrow down the general area within a block or two.
So, this is an exciting week. Snitch goes to work with W. tomorrow. Tonight my friend Adam is coming over and helping me install my wireless surveillance cam, which will overlook the back alley behind my house. And Thursday, I’ve got my Hal Need’s New Friends event (info here…if you read my blog or are connected to me via social media like my Facebook page and we’ve never met, now is your chance to hang out with me).
I’ll be updating daily as things progress.
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2008,
21:09 GMT
Operation Back Alley update, Fight with W., and media interest in Hal Needs Friends Night
Posted by: Hal
So after three trips to SpyTech, the last one just now to pick up a very crucial missing antenna, I've finally got the equipment to establish surveillance over my back alley. Very exciting. I haven't had time to figure out how to record otherwise I'd be showing you video. Anyway, we're away this weekend at a cottage, so it looks like the official surveillance will start Monday evening when my friend comes over and helps me drill a hole in the garage. The picture is grainy and flickers quite a bit, but overall it's not bad at all considering the whole operation is wireless.
In the meantime, all this running around not having enough time to get anything done has caused me to be a bit of an asshole to W. who got mad at me when I snapped at her this afternoon. She called to remind me to pick up apple juice for E. (who is addicted to juice) and I said something like, "quit bugging me, I already said I'd get juice, how many times are you going to ask me, blah blah blah I'm very important and busy and you keep me bugging me about this and that and blah blah blah..." She was unimpressed and informed me that over the last few days I'd been pretty much a self absorbed misanthrope. Which is probably true. I will apologize and lavish her with attention over the weekend. Also while getting juice (yes I remembered) I bought her 2 cases of Perrier, her favourite beverage.
Final bit of news: a reporter wants to do a story on Hal Needs New Friends night. I'm thinking it's a good idea since it will generate more interest in the Peep Hal project and hopefully get more people peeping me. I would have written him back, but there's something wrong with the Sympatico email service, it won't let me send out emails. It's been like that all day. Anyway, reporter guy, if you're reading this, let's do it. What does everyone else think about the idea? Don't forget, the night in question is coming up this Thursday, so put it on your calendar. Have a great weekend everyone.
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The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
Ghostbuster zines from the Canzine Hollywood Piracy Zine Challenge are now online! http://t.co/RoAMEQTU
EXPOZINE 2011, Montreal’s 10th Annual Small Press, Comic and Zine Fair—http://t.co/3ISW3Ovx http://t.co/FlLfB6hk
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