First One is in the Can!

We just put the first episode of the new season of Spark to bed. We've been working with Chris Kelly from CBC Radio 3, while Dan has been working elsewhere for a little bit.

It's amazing how much more exciting it is when you actually hear it as audio, rather than as a bunch of scripts. A kind of alchemy, really. Now only another 41 to make!

More Animals With Weapons

Following on my last post, Trendhunter points out these silhouette images of animals fused with weapons. It's a bit more ambiguous than Ludo's images. Is it making the point that humans are engaged in a kind of warfare on wildlife, or is it a more ambiguous and Ludo-esque evocation of wildlife's retaliation--kind of, wildlife-as-suicide-bomber?

File Under Weird Art

Lately, I've been thinking about cyborg chic. If we are inching towards a cyborg reality in medical innovations, perhaps we are also moving towards an aesthetic of obvious human/machine crossover. For instance, consider the cell phone ads featuring hands made up of cell phones, or the hot rising star, the deliberately cyborg-esque singer Janelle Monae. The weirdly bloated, waxy effect of today's injected and implanted cosmetic procedures dovetails nicely with this celebration of obvious artificiality.

An interesting spin on this is the work of Paris-based street artist Ludo, who has been making a series called Nature's Revenge. He creates images of plants appended with weapons or electronics, a symbol, I guess, of the other side of our war on nature. (via Design Boom) If there is such a thing as cyborg chic, what is it telling us about our relationship to nature?