Hacker 2/HACKER2.mdf/cud/cud528e.txt

Text File | 1995-01-03 | 8KB | 226 lines

Date: 16 Apr 93 22:00:39 EDT
From: Gordon Meyer <[e-mail]>
Subject: File 5--RU Sirius/Mondo interview (from GEnie)

The following is an edited transcript of a GEnie real-time
conference held
with R.U. Sirius of Mondo 2000.  The full transcript is available
for downloading on GEnie.  Reprinted with permission.

Copyright (C), 1993 Jack Smith, the Writers' RoundTable All rights
reserved.  No part of this file may be reproduced or copied by any
means
(graphic, electronic, magical or mechanical) without the written
permission
of Jack Smith (GEnie address = WRITERS.INK, snail mail = 401 North
Washington Street, Rockville, MD, 20850, MN3).

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*************
<[Jack] WRITERS.INK> Okay folks tonight's guest is R. U. Sirius of
the Mondo 2000 magazine and book.  I'll start off with the first
question... How did you come up with the name for the magazine?

<[R. U. Sirius]> We had a publication called Reality Hackers that
wasn't
doing that well.  We were moving in the direction of cyberpunk and
those
kinds of influences and wanted something that had more of an
overall pop
gestalt.

I was watching tv severely  wasted one night and there were all
these ads
for this and that "2000." and a whole show called Discovery 2000.
I
crawled into Queen Mu's bedroom and said  "Everybody's using 2000
to sell
shit.  Why not us?"  She immediately came up with MONDO 2000 cause
she knew
that all the 0's would make for a good  looking logo.

<[Barbara] B.PAUL> I keep reading cyberpunk is dead; is that why
you want a
more pop gestalt?

<[R. U.  Sirius]> Well, in a literal sense, cyberpunk was never
really
alive. It's all media mythology and as the culture complexities,
less  and
less people want to conform to any sort of tribal identity for a
long
period of time.  But basically we wanted to really be effective
communicators and succeed at what we're doing.  And part of doing
that
involves a bit of strategic thinking while at the same time working
within
whatever your obsessions and interests happen to be... It was
always
important to us that we published a very slick looking  magazine.
It's
like dressing up to get inside an establishment dinner. It's much
more
subversive, I think, than picketing outside with your fist in the
air.

<[Barbara] B.PAUL> Actually, I like the nonexistent cyberpunk
myself; the
word has attached itself to a certain style and pov that are
distinctive.
Do you mean you've lost interest in it?

<[R. U. Sirius]> I like the sort of tough post punk no bullshit
aesthetic
that was expressed through cyberpunk sci fi and the way that sort
of took
on a living breathing reality in hacker and in industrial
performance
culture. I just don't like to get caught up in movements or names
like
cyberpunk.  The sense of the thing continues.  I know very few
people who
actually want to call themselves "a Cyberpunk."

<HG> you seem to have an idea in mind in publishing MONDO 200o, do
you have
a succinct philosophy?

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22>
HA!!!!  The explanation for the meme changes every time I have to
answer
the question.  I'll put it in two ways, one of them politic and the
other
one vulgar
1)  MONDO is a magazine for the culture of cyberspace, for a
    generation that has grown up inside of media, inside of bits
and bytes
    and who can recognize the fact that this is the primary
territory in
    which our socio-political and economic lives are taking place.
It's
    about consciously occupying that space. In fact, it's possible
that a
    relatively democratic do-it-yourself "sub"culture has really
moved into
    cyberspace more completely than the power elites.
2:  MONDO 2000 is here to give the high tech culture of America in
the 90's
    the enema it so desperately needs!!!

<[Bryce] K.CAMPBELL14> What's your opinion on the
media/corporations
applying the 'cyber' label to everything (from Networks like GEnie
to
microprocessor controlled toasters).

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> It's good for MONDO and what's good for
MONDO is
good for Amerika!  Seriously though it's just another bit of
language
manipulation that everybody 'll soon  get sick of next everybody
from GE
to toasters will try to latch on to shamanism... like, Be all that
you can
be in the new shamanic army etcetera.

<[Danny] D.PERLMAN> I have limited contact with the mag, having
skimmed the
book and read issue 8 in the last 48 hours (my mind is cyber goo)
but, I
found it fascinating. However, I noted right off the bat that the
leadoff
article on Information America had some stuff that didn't quite sit
right
fact-wise, and with about 90 seconds of computer time determined
that, at
least according to the databases of the two newspapers cited, the
articles,
used as bibliographic reference don't exist.  What's the deal?  Are
your
articles intended to be "factual", or more for amusement?

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> I believe that article was intended to be
accurate
although employing hardcore fact checkers is not in our budget yet.
We've
gotten a number of letters on that piece going both ways,
challenging some
of the details or adding additional paranoid data to the brew.
We'd be
interested in any specific details that you care to refute.

<[John] J.BILICSKA> Do you foresee MONDO 2000 ever becoming a
victim of
its own success, a la ROLLING STONE (since mass culture absorbs
every
counterculture, eventually)?

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> If the magazine gets sold to somebody
else, it
might get wimp-ized.  But as long as Mu and I are at it, it'll
always be
wierd.  We can't help it.  SUre, we might sell it some day and
apply our
wierdness to something else.


<[John] J.BILICSKA> Are you contemplating a multimedia/interactive
version of MONDO 2000?  I think it would really blow the minds of
suburbanites buying those CD-ROM drives.

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> Yeah, I'm talking with somebody right now
about
doing a cd rom version of the  Guide. Also, might edit a cd rom
version
of Peter Stafford's Psychedelic's  Encyclopedia, a return to my
roots for
me...  hope CBS doesn't hear about it!

<[CuD] GRMEYER> I've been enjoying the book and mag for quite some
time
now, thanks.  I've wondered if you've ever run into any
'censorship' (at
whatever level).

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> We've had problems with printers, I
believe over
female breasts, though the current printer, who we've been with for
I
think 5 issues, hasn't given us any  problems.  We've had some
internal
wrangles, which I won't go into... guess I'll have to write an
autobiography some day.

<[Jack] WRITERS.INK> Since magazines tend to be business and
business means
money, I was curious if you have control of the magazine or if you
have
investors who profer opinions and advice.  Success doesn't always
bring
the best ... er help.

<[R. U. Sirius] PRESS22> To be honest, Queen Mu is the majority
owner and
has complete control over the magazine.  We do wrestle
occasionally...


                   ***end of conference excerpt***

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