Friday, 23 Feb 2001

Unsung heroes can be found anywhere, but how about in the ranks of carnival/professional wrestlers in Mephis in the late 50’s? Sputnik Monroe, a colorful character by all accounts once shocked white Memphis wrestling fans by showing up to one match in 1957 with an arm around a black friend’s shoulder. When the white audience booed and shouted at him he turned to the friend and kissed him. Accounts say that the white audience was incensed and called him everything imaginable, but one white woman perhaps struggling for a name that would express her disgust at him called him the worst thing she could think of which due to the Russian launch of Sputnik two days prior was “Sputnik”. The name stuck. He as known to wander through parts of town which white people were restricted from until someone would arrest him for vagrancy. He once refused an invitation to ride on one of the non-violent protest buses heading to the state capital, saying something to the effect of “I want my black friends to know that I am NOT going to be passive. If someone shoots at a bus I am on, I am coming out of that bus with goddamn machine guns blazing”. Since as part of segregation black fans were restricted to the upper balconies at the theatre his wrestling events were held at, and the ticket taker at the door was under very strict orders from theatre management to only let in enough black fans to fill the balcony, Sputnik began bribing the man to let in more black fans. Once the balcony became full, the overflow from the balcony would spill out into the previously all white section on the main floor of the theater. A simple act perhaps, but he single-handledy integrated that theater in a time when local, state and national leaders were all struggling with the question of how to integrate public institutions. [small link] [link#2]

Friday, 23 Feb 2001

A really nifty use of technology to create shared art/experience is the silophone. Very interesting besides the 21 second echo - I find it slightly disconcerting though as the result of many individuals all making noises at the same times frequently sounds like mass media’s attempts to aurally portray madness/insanity. You can read the story or play the silophone yourself.

Friday, 16 Feb 2001

Think television stinks now? just wait. In a move that John Waters might be jealous of, Sandeep Jaidka last year applied for and was granted patent # 6,152,829 for producing smells synchronized with pre-recorded events on screen. If the arc of new technology adoption for past breakthroughs is similar in this case, I imagine we can expect to see this first in the porn related media.