Writers, Cartoonists, Poets, Illustrators, Photographers- SUBMIT NOW!

The submission deadline is January 15th for issue #3 of OBSOLETE!

The loose theme of this issue is "Feral Technology"- what happens when technology runs wild? Or escapes from captivity? Can it be a good thing? Does information really want to be free?  The topic is wide open- we are still looking for fiction, essays, poetry and artwork to make this our biggest issue yet.

Want to pitch an idea? drop us a line at obmag@feral-tech.com

 

E-xquisite Corpse: You are invited to play.

OBSOLETE! invites you to participate in an electronic version of “exquisite corpse”. We will use this old surrealist parlor game to write a story which will be published on this blog and in a future issue of OBSOLETE!.

Here's how it's going to work:

1. To participate, send an email with “E-xquisite Corpse” in the subject line to obmag@feral-tech.com. In the body of the message, write how many turns you would like to play (up to 5) and if you would like to be listed as a player or remain anonymous (your email will remain private). You will receive a confirmation email.
   
2. When your turn comes, you will receive an email message title E-xquisite Corpse: Your Turn". In the body will be one line of text. This line will be the first line of your paragraph. You may not change the line.
   
3. You will complete the paragraph. The length, theme, style and subject are up to you, but there should be a narrative element. It's a story, after all. 
   
4. After you finish your paragraph, you will write the first line of the next paragraph.
   
5. You will email your completed turn back to obmag@feral-tech.com within 24 hours. If you don't send in your turn within 24 hours, you will “lose a turn” and it will be sent to the next player- you will get another chance on your next turn. You can also choose to pass by replying to the email with the word “pass” in the subject line. DO NOT share your submission with anyone but ObMag.
   
6. We will forward your last sentence to the next player, who will complete the paragraph, start the next and return. 
   
7. The process will repeat until all players have played their turns. The last player will be informed that they are writing the closing paragraph.

Why I blame Rush (the Band, not Limbaugh) for the Tea Party.

By Rich Dana

I read an article this summer that the Canadian rock band Rush was filing a lawsuit against Kentucky senatorial candidate and Tea Party love-child Rand Paul. The power trio's lawyers alleged that the Paul campaign's use of their song "Spirit of the Radio" constituted copyright infringement.

"Oh, the irony," I thought. The band, who have openly promoted libertarian philosophy through their music, credited Rand Paul's namesake- polemical sci-fi writer Ayn Rand - for the inspiration of several of their records.....

READ MORE

EDITORS NOTE:Check it out exclusively in the December issue of Little Village...pick up a paper copy if you are in the Iowa City area....

New Contest: The Julian Assange obsolete pool

With the most recent “dump” of classified government documents, the future of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange becomes more and more tenuous. In an attempt to paint the egotistical and misanthropic freedom-fighter as an evil genius/super-villain, Interpol has added Assange to it's “Most Wanted” list, and serial grand-stander Senator Peter King of Long Island has called the Wikileaks release “worse than a military attack.” Really Pete? Exposing the moronic and unprofessional behavior of our government is worse than a military attack? I'm guessing that there are a lot of fatherless children of dead G.I.s in this country who would take umbrage with that statement... but I digress.

With the U.S. Government squirming under the bucket-load of cold, embarrassing reality and Assange already threatening to release more documents (this time including info on banks) one has to wonder how long Assange can keep it up. We here at the OBSOLETE! office have speculated that there might be a plane crash or car accident in Mr. Assange's not-too-distant future.

It is in that spirit of extreme cynicism that we announce the “Julian Assange obsolete pool”- a contest in which participants send us the method of obsolescence that they think Mr. Assange will experience, and the date on which it will happen. We will compile these entries, and in the unfortunate event that Mr. Assange IS made obsolete, winners will receive a bevy of special prizes- while the rest of the world loses.

Don't wait to enter- this contest itself could become obsolete any day. Send your entry to: obmag@feral-tech.com