That’s right: CLICK RIGHT HERE to download White Background 0.9.. That 450k-ish zipfile contains the code — to be pasted into the “custom template” field, in Tumblr’s customization controls. As dictated by the share-alike feature of its predecessor’s licensing, I’m releasing my contributions under the same terms.

SO: if you use it: a) you too must pony up your diffs; b) you can’t use it for business (although I would be hard-pressed to see how you could, really) nor can you resell it, and c) as does Raekwon the Chef, you must show love to all your sources: me, Alexander “Fish” Bohn, and also her, Heather Rivers. Those who fail to heed these stipulations will be summarily annihilated by the swift logic of Justice Herself — I am assured by my council that it’ll be like when they opened the ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This bit here is the straight-faced, legitimate word on all of that.

At the time of writing, I make no guarantees. This shit is Betamax… I wrote it for my own solipsistic thesis-related purposes, and while I would very much like to prioritize the unconditional satisfaction of whatever your slobbering tumblelog-related needs are, I am not going to, because I need to get some fucking sleep and, like, brush my teeth. So yes. No. You want me to wait until after school, trust me. Ok.

But otherwise yeah do have fun! And let me know how it goes. Fuck yes.

-fish

PS. Tumblr itself seems to be acting up when I use this new log… entries and template updates are infuriatingly reverting or otherwise disappearing, blech. So: I am going to refrain from new posts and template updates — only to whitebackground.tumblr.com — until it gets sorted. Check out Circular Logic (née “M is the letter”) to see what White Background does with real content in it.

The progenitor of the whole “white cube” / “white background” thing idea — which I keep coming back to, in both my thesis work and elsewhere — was Peter Bil’ak’s Graphic Design in the White Cube project. Mr. Bil’ak is an accomplished and prodigiously talented type designer, graphic designer, design critic, publsher… et al. The White Cube project includes an oft-cited essay on the subject as well as the exhibition itself (and its many subordinate projects).

The basis for my own eponymous projects is rooted in the fact that I take issue with a number of this essay’s fundamental assertions. That said, I want to point out that Mr. Bil’ak is totally awesome. All my friends — and pretty much anyone else who gets within earshot of me, these days — know of my admiration and respect for the man and his work. For reals, I mean, I paid 800 bucks for Greta Text, and that is a lot of food.

Anyway. Just to show my heart is in the right place, is all. I’m just sayin’.