28/12/2021 Arizona Senate candidate brings NFTs to politics

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Blake Masters, co-author of tech pioneer Peter Thiel's blockbuster "Zero to One," and now a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona, is offering NFTs with a limit of 99 copies.

Why it matters:Masters, 35, told Axios the plan is to attract support "from folks who are less conventional political donors and more founders and builders who want to see new thinking and new energy in our politics."

What's happening:Masters is leaning into his Silicon Valley ties with an "Origins NFT" that shows a rotating rendition of the early cover art he used to help persuade Thiel, his former Stanford Law professor, to collaborate on "Zero to One," published in 2014.

  • The NFTs will go to donors who give the maximum of $5,800 — half for the primary, and half for the general election if he wins.

Zoom out:Masters, who lives in his native Tucson, helps run Thiel Capital, a multibillion-dollar firm that invests in tech startups, and is president of the Thiel Foundation.

  • The Republican primary also includes Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Both aim to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.
  • Masters—who was agueston Tucker Carlson's show last week — held a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that included former President Trump as a speaker. That gives Masters' camp hope for an endorsement.

Between the lines:The idea is to give donors a sense of ownership. Real-life events are planned for the virtual club.

  • Masters said: "The best NFT projects aren't just random 'art on the blockchain,'" but instead "create or support certain communities where people share an excitement about something in particular."
Arts

https://www.axios.com/blake-masters-nft-senate-arizona-998f683e-65cd-4115-9e79-86b1f48eb2b7.html

Interesting NFTs
Alex in Wonderland
A figure, Alex, stands mostly naked in the midst of a physical and psychological maelstrom. He is clad only in nostalgic 80’s era socks, on a tenuous island between active waters and a variety of shark denizens. Sharks on the right side of the image are all beached, including a shark with a quartz crystal snout, an orange shark wrapped in a life buoy, and a shark further in the distance wearing an 80’s style shirt with the number “88”. On the left side is the largest shark, wearing bright glossy red lipstick and brandishing prominent teeth with braces. She is cordoned off from the figure by a roped float divider, and within her thought bubble is a warning symbol. Behind the figure, hovering in the air, are Grey aliens emerging from the distance, out of a series of elliptical UFO shaped interdimensional membranes. The Greys take on the visual form of spermazoa ostensibly impregnating the interdimensional thresholds. As is typical, these Greys inhabit a zone just behind the unconscious topology of Alex’s dissociative mind. Though Alex’s bottom half is representative, his top half mutates into a psychological cornucopia. In a manner akin to “Auto-Erotic Sphinx”, a predecessor work, the figure has self suctioned—an act of sensual infatuation, enjoyment, and exploration. Upward exists the figure’s primary conscious eye, adorned with a revolutionary beret emblazoned with a Bitcoin badge. The figure’s summit features the nose of a fighter jet facing off against video game Bullet Bills, one of whom is marked by a communist North Korean star. A cropped section of a UFO observes the contest. Alex’s mind branches both left and right. To the left is more singular embodied consciousness, manifesting two eyes and a Ganesh trunk grasping crayons. The right branch dissociates upward diagonally, emerging into an array of eyes, faces, teeth, tail, a unicorn horn, and much more—all of which participate in expressing his unconscious being; a democracy of psychic factions representing thought impressions and associations. All illumination and darkness– fernal, infernal, high consciousness and corporeal underbelly–reside in this realm. In the distance are relatively languid, light clouds, and against the firmament hovers a colossal distant eye peering over the scene and far beyond. This painting possesses underlying genetic traits with previous works such as “Auto-Erotic Sphinx with Toys”, “Dionysus”, and “Fuku-Shiva”. The work serves also as a nod to an earlier period of art inspiration during late teens and early twenties— born out of the nakedness, vulnerability, curiosity, and wonder inherent to coming of age and all subsequent psychedelic revelation.
Bored Ape Yacht Club #7090
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs— unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits, the first of which is access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board. Future areas and perks can be unlocked by the community through roadmap activation.
Lim Hedra #1/20
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The only Daffodil Selkirk!
Ugh! I'm The only Daffodil Selkirk!. All you need to know about me is I hate steak with a passion. My secret indulgence is salad. I think you'll love me beclaws I have cattitude.
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