Rant Media

I created this poster after listening to Afternow for the first time. I am a node of server! You can order it through Zazzle and all proceeds will be donated to Sean Kennedy and Rant Media. Here is the original which is easy to print off on 8.5x11" or larger printers and there's a light version to save printer ink.

Novel List

 

Cyberpunk | The Electric Church -- Jeff Somers

 

The rich and the poor are about as distinct as possible. The story follows a hired gunman and his troubles with the law and the Electric Church. The Church is a group of cyborgs who preach salvation through immortality and mechanization.

 

Science Fiction | Off Armageddon Reef -- David Weber

 

Mankind is attacked and completely outmatched by an aggressive alien race. The final safeguard against extinction is to send a colony of people with their memories wiped to a far distant world to begin anew. Their society is designed to prevent all innovation since the aliens would otherwise be able to detect electrical and radio emissions and other such things. The plan does not work exactly as expected.

 

Science Fiction | The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress -- Robert Heinlein

 

The descendants of prisoners sent to the moon are still being treated like second class citizens. I don't want to spoil anything, just read the book.

 

Science Fantasy | The  Book Of The New Sun -- Gene Wolfe

 

Severian, a man who claims to have perfect memory recounts the story of his life. He is an apprentice of the Seekers For Truth And Penitence (The Guild Of Torturers), until his expelled for commiting the cardinal sin of giving mercy. He is sentenced to traveling to bumfuck nowhere as a punishment. The first part of the story is mainly about how he gets horribly sidetracked.

Western Fantasy | A Game Of Thrones (A Song Of Ice And Fire) -- George R. R. Martin

One of the single greatest works of fantasy fiction I've ever read. It focuses less on magic and strange creatures than it does on humanity. It's all about the political and personal motivations of each character. I don't like all the characters equally, but there's plenty to choose from.

 

Comics

 

Postcyberpunk | Transmetropolitan -- Warren Ellis

 

I refuse to spoil this. Just think of it as sort of like Hunter S. Thompson in the FUTURE!!

 

Western Fantasy | Berserk -- Kentaro Miura

 

Guts was once a mercenary but is now plagued by demons. He is constantly hunted because of a brand on his neck. Berserk is delightfully violent and it has a great story.

 

Psychological Thriller | Death Note -- Tsugumi Ohba

 

What happens when you give the power to instantly grant death to an overachieving yet mentally disturbed student.

 

Eastern Fantasy | Blade Of The Immortal

 

Manji, a wandering swordsman, is given the "gift" of immortality. In order to finally die himself he must rid the world of a thousand evil men.

 

Super Hero | Batman : The Long Halloween -- Jeph Loeb

 

The story of Harvey Dent and his descent into insanity. Think of it as sort of like The Godfather Meets Batman.

 

?????????? | Preacher -- Garth Ennis

 

Umm... just read this one.

Alex Peak was driving through my state recently when he stopped for food and some wifi. After asking him a question on Instant Messenger we came to the realization we were in the same state and not far apart. We met at a bookstore and talked about all sorts of awesome things. Music creation, the Empowerment iPhone app, ideas for the site. All in all a great impromptu meeting

"When does somebody become a wog? Your a wog when you say you are..."
:Sean Kennedy

What is a Wog you might ask? Well Chances are that if your reading
this your a Wog and just don't know it yet.
See here's the thing about being a Wog. In order to become a wog all
you have to do is give up the lie. The lie that the world is a happy
place, that loves and caresses all the creatures in it. This is
bullshit. The world is a beautiful place, rife with constant struggle
for survival. Every animal, plant, insect, fungus, and bacteria on
this rock we call home, is fighting day in and day out for just one
more day in this world.

Humans are no different. Except we've been fooled into thinking we're
better, grander, than the rest of the creepy crawlies on this planet.
Being fooled by this lie, we've let ourselves become weak. There was a
time when a human, lost in the woods, would not only survive, but
would thrive. Where do you think all the different tribes came from?
People went into the unknown and lived there, making it home, until it
no longer supported their numbers and then they moved on.

Try that today: in 3 day's you'd be dead from lack of water because
you didn't know to dig at the base of curtain plants. Or maybe you'd
find a stream, so you'd live for a couple of more days until you
starved to death. If you got lucky maybe the weather would be halfway
decent and you'd last 14-16 days.

Well we plan on changing that.

No longer is mankind going to exist as a slave to it's own creations.
Today's society has made us weak, vulnerable, and depressed. We
weren't meant to live as slaves to jobs that serve no purpose other
than making sure money is exchanged for services that don't matter and
goods that will be thrown away after a couple of days.

That is the ultimate goal of this single Wog.

Your goal is probably different.

That's good. Diversity means success.

Some wogs want the complete remapping of society into a organized
secure communial state.

Some Wogs just want complete anarchy, with no leaders and no goals and no rule.

That's perfect. That's the Point! We all share the common goal: CHANGE!!!!

We all know it, society is spinning down the drain. We can feel it.
Like the bees can when the hive is melting due to heavy due high winds
and heavy rains. But like the bees we feel like we can't do anything
about it. After all bees can't fly in the rain. And we can't fight the
system right?

Wrong! (to keep the bee analogy going) Bees create the hive from
chemicals secreted by their own bodies, and can and in fact DO rebuild
the hive constantly, from the inside. They actually do not feel like
they can't do anything about the destruction of the hive, because they
know for a fact that they have the power to recover from anything.

We can do the same thing, theres no need to let society rot. We can
rebuild it, we can make it better, stronger...faster?(that sounds
familiar). We have the technology, we have the drive, all we lack is
the knowledge that We can fix this.

That is what being a Wog is all about. It's about Fixing this place
before we lose it.
It's about bettering ourselves so we can better society. It's about
maintaining personal discipline so when public discipline fails we can
step in and prevent suffering.

That's the only goal of Wog: to reduce and prevent suffering on every level.

Don't agree with me? Great! Thats what we look for in a Wog, someone
who's not going to stand their and agree with everything put forth to
them. If they did that they wouldn't be a Wog, they'd be a sheep.
Sheep are animals that are grown and tended because of what they can
provide for the farmer, including food.

"Wogs are not food!"- Sean Kennedy

We are not the mindless masses that the TV generation was hoping for.
We do not expect life to come easy. We don't expect people to agree
with us. Hell we don't expect to agree with each other over every
detail.

But we change, we adapt. And when we can't adapt to our surroundings,
we adapt our surroundings to us.

That is what a Wog is.
or at least that is what I think a wog is. What do you think a Wog is?

There will be an Empowerment Rant Camp at Burning Man 2008 this year in Apokiliptika's Terminal City.

If you are interested or planning on attending Burning Man 2008 this year and want to be part of our camp or meet up with us, post comments here!

There is already a Ranters discussion of Burning Man and Ranters are invited to join us!

Rant will be renting a theatre in Vancouver BC Canada for Rant's 10 Year anniversary and everyone is invited!!

We'll be showing a compilation of classic Rant videos on the big screen and also premiering some special new Rant videos/movies. Lots of unique giveaways and contests including ONE copy of sold-out-never-to-printed-again signed copy of 'The Bloodstained Rabbit'. We'll be gathering all the old crew from WhatTheHell?!? days and hosting a Q&A.

Full info on Rant Forums

The VTAC RUSH72 and RUSH24 backpacks were designed by Kyle Lamb, a guy who has certainly tread his share of miles with loads of gear. Ruggedly constructed from water-resistant, 1,050-denier nylon, the backpacks feature flexible main storage compartments with internal dividers and compression straps. Side pockets and front organizer compartments are common to both backpacks. Other common features include hydration pockets, eyewear pockets, sternum straps and YKK® zippers throughout.

The RUSH24 features fleece-lined pockets along the front top, sized to hold a cell phone, PDA or mp3 player. It makes extensive use of molle-compatible webbing on the front and sides as well as name tape and flag holders.

My only real gripe with the Rush 24 bag is the lack of a space for a laptop. In this day and age that should be standard. Sure I can shove one in the hidden back pocket but it's right next to the frame and crammed in there. Not something I'd want to stick a laptop in. 

More Info at LAPoliceGear.com

 

Nine Inch Nails just released a new album called The Slip and it is free as in freedom to download and share under Creative Commons licensing! Download it now free. It rocks.

Since releasing Year Zero, Nine Inch Nails has been making music that takes a stand for political and creative freedom and I believe in supporting this. I've noticed when playing Year Zero at our local Infoshop that it is a hit amongst all my activist friends, many of whom would never consider themselves industrial or electronica fans. The music rocks and it has a MESSAGE that resonates.

I felt inspired to create a sign in Second Life to spread the word about The Slip.

The cool thing is that I don't have to worry about getting sued for modifying NIN's artwork or spreading their album - they ENCOURAGE me and others to do so!

You can get it for free at this SL URL: Click and you will be transported into Second Life. The sign is located at EmpowerThyself.com and RantRadio's Second Life HQs next to the Activist Memorial.

Using The Sign: Anyone can click the sign to get the album and it plays a 10 second clip of the song Discipline.

Spreading The Sign: You can take a copy of the sign and put up the sign anywhere in Second Life for others to see.

UPDATE: People have been showing up to get the new NIN and every time I hear the Discipline clip play in the distance I know that freedom has won another little victory.

Use these materials to create a decent looking cd case for your droplifting. On the back you can place the track listings and more. The front pamphlet has a short bio of rantmedia. On the back a copy of the creative commons license letting people know it's free. Make hundreds, is you can shrink wrap them and drop them off in your local large music/consumer whore shop. Become the media!

So there's this great Newsreal flyer in PDF format made by Epex promoting Newsreal, which is pretty much the greatest thing going on Rant and in counterculture media in general these days. Download it, print a million out and learn to use the flyering medium to spread these materials far and wide. When you've given some flyers out, post a communication to report your success.