The Viola Organista is an instrument envisioned and designed over 500 years ago by the notorious hardware hacker Leonardo Da Vinci. It combines aspects of the piano, the viola and the harpsichord. History suggests that the Da Vinci's design never actually made its way out of his notebooks and onto the workshop floor.
Inspired in part by Alex's epic and successful quest to collect the full run of Alpha Flight comics and also by my participation in a successfully funded but ultimately stalled kickstarter project, I recently decided to collect the entire run of issues for Mondo 2000 magazine. For those of you unfamilar with Mondo it was an intermintently published magazine that ran from 1989 to 1998 and did a spectacular job of tying counterculture together with emerging and fringe technologies. In just 17 issues the mondoids of yore managed to bring together an astounding array of unique individuals including:
Episode 3, the art of sharing considers the issues, ethics and politics of file sharing and art. Hot Water Music bassist Jason Black reflects on coming to terms with the ethical boundaries of file sharing and how it in turn has affected the punk rock community. Author Kathleen Winter reflects on the social significance of art and shares her experience with finding her novel Annabel being distributed online. UK rapper Dan Bull provides perspective on responding to the legal consequences of file sharing and on coming up with new ways to create community with his fans.
High Alert’s first episode looks at the topic of “Living First, and working last”. According to the World Health Organization, in 2020 depression will be the second cause of disability, behind heart disease. Economic upheaval has removed or reduced financially security for millions of people world wide. This begs the question: what meaning and value does work bring to our daily lives?
