GenXers are fucked, and we deserve it— a Christmas message

Murray GM December 31, 2017

A recent study suggested that 50% of those (40–60) have hardened arteries — that’s a lot of cardiac arrests on the horizon for generation X. Of course that’s on top all the other woes we have. However it’s nothing compared to the future Millennials Gen Z might be facing, and that’s why I think genXers deserve everything they get (and yes I’m a genXer). It was on our watch that we let a progressive inclusive future be coerced and swallowed whole by the Baby boomers. For a while things seemed to be going in the right direction, but as with all good things, people got too fucking greedy. Suckered by seeing our wealth grow through property or shares we gleefully abandoned ideals and joined the boomers at the trough. Of course that was the bait, the way to push their share of the pie beyond anything the world has seen before, and at any cost. When the collapses came, those at the bottom got fucked, those at the top only saw fresh opportunities to increase their wealth even further. All thanks to ‘natural’ market forces.

“The free market is perfectly natural”. Do you think that I’m some kind of dummy? It’s the ideal way to order the world — “Fuck the morals, does it make any money?” — Jarvis Cocker

And now we are here. Inequality worse than ever before, climate catastrophe no longer just around the corner but in our neighborhoods, the systematic demolition of all social/political safety nets and a very bleak prognosis for the human race (well at least in the West).

Well, bullshit to that. I’m not giving up and if you want a better future, you Millennials Gen Zers are going to have take from these bastards. All these systems, laws, mechanisms of control are illusions. They are built on agreements and as such you can take them, screw them up and reinvent the world a new. The super rich, the super powerful are nothing in relation to your roar, your collective might. Together you can turn them into dust, redistribute wealth and power to make this a better world for everyone.

After all, most them are dying anyway. They are waiting on your genius and breakthroughs to keep them alive — well I say fuck that, turn your research towards other things. Say no to the longevity and anti-aging research, fuck the robot carers, make these bastards depend on you when their shitting themselves and unable eat solid food. If a corporation is not supporting the environment, not treating people fairly, tax the fucker, or shut it down — you’ll be the ones in government.

Don’t follow in the footsteps of todays arseholes, look at the world and decide to invent a better future for all. A future where you can put words like diversity, fetus, science-based, vulnerable, evidence-based, transgender, and entitlement in any document you fucking please.

Or better still listen to the great poets of your time, the voices of your generation and take action in 2018.

Update: given up on Millennials the only real hope is Gen Z

There's no better time to eat the rich

Murray GM June 10, 2017

I don't mean that figuratively, I mean it literally, it's a perfect time to nosh on the posh.

Just look at the quality of the meat! It's not the fat, bloated, inbred, unhealthy beast of the past, it's an all new, super lean, organically raised, chemical free (mostly), super food.

Just think about the improvement to your diet. You'll be able to ditch the cheap, highly processed, high in fat, high in salt, high in sugar muck that the mega food corps are serving you and eat organic, lean, well tendered, genetically controlled, beautifully seasoned food that's in tip-top condition. Just like they do.

Now you shouldn't over do it, after all it is quite rich. You'll want to mix a small amount of the protein with plenty of fresh vegetables - a good balanced meal. Now vegetables are expensive, but with the money you'll be saving you should be able to afford a few carrots. Alternatively you could grow your own or you might have a job picking said vegetables, and perhaps then a little gleaning would be in order. And of course if you hunt the rich in there dens and warrens, there should be plenty of high quality fresh vegetables stashed away with them.

I know what you're thinking; "there's not enough of them to go around" and you're probably right, after all the 8 richest guys are as wealthy as the poorest 3.5 billion people. But hey, if Jesus could feed 5000 with some crappy loaves and fishes I'm sure we'll be able to make them stretch.

Just imagine how it could improve your health. You'll probably live longer for a start. You'll have more energy, be more focused and better equipped to get things done. You'll be smarter too. Could be just what you need to turn your life around, to turn your neighbourhood around, to turn the world around.

Of course, as with any herd there's the odd exception, the "Mc Ds" of the super rich or as I like to call them; Donalds. But as long as you steer clear of those you too can eat well and stay healthy.

There's no better time to get out there and masticate on a millionaire, dine on a Duchess or banquet on a billionaire. So grab a place at the table as the rich have never tasted so good!

Need more convincing?

NatGeo - The New Face of Hunger
Stat - The Growing Diet Divide
NYT - Disparity in Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor Is Growing

A 5 point plan - seems legit

Murray GM February 6, 2017

Translation of scribbled note found on a fridge in the Kremlin earlier this year:

My 5 point plan for the making of Russia great again by Vlad Putin aged 64 1/2

Find a populist, despotic candidate for US presidential elections. One who can be easily manipulated through ego, greed, vanity or ideally all three. Must already have celebrity profile and Twitter account.
Actively discredit all viable and traditional political opposition through smear campaigns and disinformation. Ideally discredit entire political class and set up an ‘us and them’ platform for them to run upon. Set candidate up as a savior outsider.
Encourage candidate to be as divisive and populist as possible, ideally split country into two opposing groups of unreconcilable differences. Policy statements must be simplistic, contrary and deeply nationalistic. Reduce the debate to 140 characters or less.
Ensure success of candidate by manipulating electoral polls and voting. Candidate must win and it must be close, helping to seed suspicion and undermine their democratic system. Help candidate to build team of ‘trusted’ advisers and political outsiders, hell bent on fundamental change of established US institutions.
Sit back and watch US turn in upon itself, creating social unrest and alienating rest of diplomatic community. Stay aloof and indifferent during their collapse and build strong relationships with emerging powers. Drink vodka, laugh heartily and be embraced by the Russian people - Russia is great again!

Vlad

*This is an 'alternative facts' production, any fridges or reputations resembling those living or dead are purely accidental.

My Elvis Blackout

Murray GM June 17, 2015

My Elvis Blackout by Simon Crump.

I bought this book many years ago (pub. 2000) and recently rediscovered it whilst unpacking. It's a wonderful take on the Elvis myth, full of insanity and depravity. It's sort of a collection of alternative realities and situations that the quantum Elvis may have inhabited. Reminds me of Bill Drummond and Mark Manning's brilliant Bad Wisdom, which also has an underlying Elvis theme.

Love it, and due a rereading - soon.

Chocolate's arms race

Murray GM April 27, 2014

Once upon a time it was enough to state whether the chocolate was Milk or Dark. Then you needed to state the cocoa content, then where it came from.

But that's no longer enough. Now to be taken seriously you need micro details and infographics to prove you know your stuff.

I'm pretty geekish about many things but this encouragement to embrace the geek feels too fake.

All that said this chocolate from the Danish company Summerbird is darn good.

10 books that have inspired or influenced me

Murray GM February 14, 2014

My main blog (paperposts) is about paper, from the book to the package to the flyer, however it's books I love the most. It's mainly concerned with the 'object' not the content, it's the design of the thing. Like the character in Calvino's If on a Winters Night... who taught himself (the impossible) not to read, but only to 'see' the book as an object, a thing, with no meaning to be drawn from the glyphs on the pages. To make up for that absence of 'content' here's a list of 10 books, in no particular order, whose contents have influenced, inspired or otherwise resonated with me over the years. Some are purely visual, others a little deeper, but they all left their mark.

Design for the Real World - Victor Papanek

This was the first book to shake my world and help me understand my responsibilities as a designer. It planted the seed that became my design ethics and it awakened the politicised designer in me. At the time I was a naive young graphic designer student (fresh from school), and although he was tackling big design problems to help humanity, such as redesigning the plough, I saw how as any designer you have responsibilities. You make things that effect people, thus you must be aware of the implications of your work, it's not just about you and your client. Much later I discovered Milton Glaser's 12 steps to hell and the First Things First Manifesto, which cemented this notion for me. I think this book, more than any on the list set me on the path to where I am now.

The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan
and I Seem to be a Verb - R. Buckminster Fuller

These 60's paperbacks are classics and were introduced to me by my undergrad lecturer Ian Noble (sadly no longer with us). My love of these goes beyond the pop cultural theory and sits squarely with the brilliant graphic design of Quentin Fiore. So I'm counting these as 1 book.

Seeing how these great thinkers could work with a designer to enrich an idea opened up a new sense of the value graphic design could bring to a project. It helped me see beyond the surface to how design amplifies the idea or thought.

See here for more images from I Seem to be a Verb

Exercices de Style - Raymond Queneau

One of my favourite examples of OuLiPo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle) with the added design skills of the great french graphic designer Robert Massin. It's the same story told masterfully by Queneau in 99 different ways, with the added bonus of also being told through series of illustrations in different styles.

The thing I find most inspiring about this is the sense of mediation, how a message can be influenced by the way it is communicated. It's way more than an academic exercise, but yet falls neatly within Queneau's description of Oulipians as 'rats who create the mazes from which we plan to escape'.

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quixote is special on so many levels. From the giddying postmodernist self reference - referencing the first book (and alternative book) in the second, through to the suspicions cast on the translator in the opening pages. It's over 400 years old, but the story of someone consciously escaping the banality and emptiness of their time through fantasy is still prevalent today.

Whilst studying I used the text to explore many ideas. I read 'versions' and 'reimaginations' of the story such as Kathy Ackers Don Quixote. The idea of 'tilting at windmills' struck a deep cord with me, and became a key metaphor for my postgrad years. It was even the title for my masters thesis.

A Void - Georges Perec

This was the first OuLiPo book I read, and it's a masterpiece. It's a full novel without the use of the letter e. What's so amazing about this book is that although at first the flow and rhythm of the text is a little strange and awkward, you quickly adapt to it. I read the translation to English by Gilbert Adair which is possibly an even greater feat than the original by Perec.

What's so wonderful is how the 'constraint', the banned letter e is actually the catalyst for the creativity. It highlights how constraints can have a hugely positive impact on a creative endeavour. This idea is something that fits with every design brief I've ever had and should be embraced. Constraints focus you and instil discipline, they encourage creative thought. If there are no constraints upon a project, make up your own, it will be better with them than without them.

Species of Spaces and Other Pieces - Georges Perec

Early in my career I worked at Penguin Books. I'd just left college and was full of the oulipian ideas I'd just spent two years obsessing over. At Penguin I could hardly believe my luck when they published Species of Spaces as a 20th Century Classic.

I was their web designer and had to create a promotional site for the book. It was still early days for website design and I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted. I had a lot of fun, playing with knights tour for the navigation and peculiar layout. Total indulgence and barely usable - more art project than information design, it was truly in the spirit of OuLiPo.

I've reread the book many times and love it, so many ideas crammed into the pages. Wonderful.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller... - Italo Calvino

This is the never ending book. It's the story of a reader and their quest to read the next chapter of the book they start, thus every next chapter extends this book. It opened my eyes to how context can stitch together seemingly separate things, albeit with the guiding hand of an expert storyteller.

I think it also awakened a tendency for apophenia in me that I've never shook off. That sense that there are connecting patterns everywhere and by simply changing the way you approach something you can uncover whole new ways of understanding it.

Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges

This book is an explosion of ideas. So many of the pieces it contains are conceptual kick starters for thinking about the digital world. The ideas maybe big but the writing is accessible and eloquent, grounded by perfectly formed narratives and expert storytelling. If you have anything to do with information design or UX and haven't read this, go get a copy now. It's worth it for these 3 pieces alone:

The Garden of Forking Paths
The Library of Babel
Kafka and his Precurors

An Endless Adventure - Iwona Blazwick

Great catalogue of Situationist artefacts, but it's the sandpaper cover that nails it for me as it violates the other books on the shelf - perfect design for subject. This is from my more politicised student days when I was experimenting heavily with how design and far left ideas could work together. It's a great catalogue from the ICA exhibition and covers the movements early days through to the influences it had on Punk and beyond.

The L’Internationale situationniste are full of challenging ideas and fabulously disruptive and unapologetic, just what an angry young man needed. Their are two ideas that have stuck with me and are still relevant today. Firstly, dérive (more here), this is closely linked to psychogeography and is about resisting the physical flow of a city to follow the different 'ambiances', thus forcing new possibilities - similar to Baudelaire's flaneur but way more edgy. Secondly there's détournement (more here), this is the extremely fun game of taking an existing piece of media and subverting it with subtle changes, to say something else, generally something opposing.

In Praise of Shadows - Junichiro Tanizaki

It's a deep exploration of the Japanese traditional aesthetic. If you've read wabi sabi for designers, you'll love this. It's essentially about subtlety, and the richness, beauty and depth of partially hidden things. How by understanding the counterparts (light and darkness) and how they work together, you can create deeper experiences.

It's a beautifully poetical book, far more than just another tool for designers arsenal.

There you are, 10 (or 11) books that left their mark on me. Of course there are more than this, and far more that I've simply enjoyed. I'm not saying go out and read these books, rather that each of them found me at the right time. For one reason or another I was open and receptive to them. The context was right. My experience of them is exactly that, mine. Yours will be different, after all... what comes to be read is awakened in the moment of reading.