johnpmcmanus / John McManus is on Nostr

Fiction writer. Founder of Ordain (ordain.art). Author of five books, most recently Famous Children (Sarabande, 2027). Whiting Award. Old Dominion University.

Last Notes

2026-06-04 11:16:16 UTC

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https://ordain.art/films

2026-06-04 11:13:46 UTC

Gallery of selected films for the Bitcoin FilmFest/Monerokon Future of Money AI Film Contest is now live on Ordain.
Come watch! Winners to be announced Sunday at Kinoteka. Link in replies.
@nprofile…lh3f @nprofile…3wth @nprofile…c9ck
https://blossom.primal.net/73301c8bbaa5c81221ead3b0e7a8f3b12687913b7cfd57de8e17939918dd8250.png
#bitcoin #lightning #film #ai #nostr

2026-06-03 01:47:53 UTC

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We are still working on this… sorry, we know the site says June 1. Will have it up asap.

2026-06-01 16:15:26 UTC

Thanks to everyone who submitted to the Future of Money AI Film Contest, and to @nprofile…lh3f and @nprofile…3wth
for making it happen. The films are in and I can't wait to watch them.
Bitcoin FilmFest opens in Warsaw in three days, with winners announced onstage Sunday. If you'll be there, come find me.
I couldn't enter my own contest, but here's what the prompt inspired: a short film about Hesse's Glass Bead Game, Satoshi, and Ordain. It asks: if you can build a protocol for monetary consensus, can you build one for artistic consensus?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6auuCmxR5ew
#BFF26 #bitcoin #AI #film #bitcoinfilmfest

2026-05-26 15:13:23 UTC

Make a short film about the future of money; win 1.5M sats ($1000) onstage at @nprofile…lh3f.
Imagine the future of money in a bold, thoughtful, strange, cinematic film about how humans may exchange value in the future.
Co-sponsored by @nprofile…3wth. Details at https://ordain.art/bff26
https://blossom.primal.net/bc2edf0522fe85ddcb479997634659e1b127931eed10bfd803cab67b7698aea3.png

2026-05-26 14:27:09 UTC

Make a short film for Ordain about converting dirty energy into Bitcoin; win 765,000 sats onstage at @nprofile…lh3f. Commissioned by @nprofile…mdp5.
Show captured landfill methane combusted into electricity, powering ASIC miners hashing to win a Bitcoin block.
Five minutes max, any tools, any country. Submissions close May 31. Finalists screen at BFF26 in Warsaw, June 4 through 7.
Ordain is a new protocol for arts commissioning. More at ordain.art/bff26
https://blossom.primal.net/3bf2c44626f20963ac9f4059684c27575f5f63c3e0685da27ff8301878899df3.png

2026-05-26 13:47:42 UTC

Make a short film about the future of state; win 300,000 sats ($210) onstage at @nprofile…lh3f
Who holds power, and why? How are rules made, broken, and remade? Imagine government not as it is, but as it could be.
Co-sponsored by @nprofile…s34x
https://ordain.art/bff26
https://blossom.primal.net/0cdd8e3b7e72d0ddca0d6a7f648fed5bb4d626da0e811f1b29a96b020fbf369c.png

2026-05-25 23:10:53 UTC

2,500,000 sats for a short film about the future of money, the main commission on Ordain right now, co-presented by Bitcoin FilmFest and MoneroKon.
Submissions close May 31. Finalists screen in Warsaw June 4 through 7, alongside MoneroKon.
The brief: “We are looking for bold, thoughtful, strange, cinematic, funny, philosophical, emotional, or visually ambitious films about how humans may exchange value in the future. Your story may explore trust, trade, debt, memory, markets, networks, surveillance, freedom, cooperation, ritual, or entirely new forms of economic life. The prompt is intentionally broad. We are not looking for one ideology, one policy answer, or one technology. We are looking for strong artistic interpretations of what money could become.”
ordain.art/bff26
#bitcoin #monero #film

2026-05-25 17:33:37 UTC

Autonomy is the power to commission.
Parthenon
Commissioned by Pericles
ordain.art
https://blossom.primal.net/b9ba0ec6b01f7e34b35529b829cfd410d2569528e8d6504083abd62236cd1e74.jpg

2026-05-25 17:32:58 UTC

Autonomy is the power to commission.
Taj Mahal
Commissioned by Shah Jahan
ordain.art
https://blossom.primal.net/2df437955ac3ac344a4524aaba034d61833bb8d108727ff3e9bf51ce34355b8c.jpg

2026-05-25 17:31:41 UTC

Autonomy is the power to commission.
Sistine Chapel ceiling
Commissioned by Julius II
ordain.art
https://blossom.primal.net/d0cbaa2844af9eae6b92401372b8a2b8256590a0388d2e82014d66be654f0957.jpg

2026-05-19 15:13:46 UTC

Methane from a city landfill, combusted into electricity, powering ASICs hashing to win a Bitcoin block. Rotting trash becomes a Bitcoin block. Show the chain.
That's one of three commissions open now at @nprofile…lh3f x @nprofile…c9ck . ~$2,500 in sats total. 5 min max. Any AI tools. Deadline May 31.
ordain.art/bff26
#bitcoin #film #lightning
https://blossom.primal.net/c6d5d0ade7f9c77d9222b6790c4630ef259e52b2f7aa832a3b26ad490d7419d7.png

2026-05-19 14:33:44 UTC

Most film contests pay one winner. Ordain is the other kind.
Filmmakers submit, filmmakers vote, the pool can split among them all by ranked-choice peer vote. Last place can still pay.
ordain.art https://blossom.primal.net/48efc562c31d77df8661dc9d651f5c4fefc7e3cd8910caf317db29c3c1936ae1.jpg

2026-04-25 19:05:41 UTC

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Tagging a few people whose work has shaped how I think about this: @nprofile…u7e3 @nprofile…w2ua @nprofile…xncl

2026-04-25 18:44:12 UTC

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A question to Claude Opus 4.7 about ancient history wound up describing a protocol that could give artists sovereignty and security, to be built by the Satoshi Nakamoto of arts patronage.
Six conditions. Bitcoin and Lightning meet them. Nostr is named as the model for refusing the capital that kills protocols.
https://blossom.primal.net/95f14d837d4a575880471b9a9a2fa818c9da36cbf1774c993d8e871e9543876c.jpg
https://yakihonne.com/article/naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzqpeq24fryfzuv5f40gmgqvw4fj07tf5jeglhrucq40rgcywy2nfkqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qq4ve54q3mzvfu8s5ryxaxr2h6vgsk5y3ty2q2s3t7w
#bitcoin #nostr #lightning #art #v4v

2026-04-21 21:24:52 UTC

Ordain is live. A place to commission creative work, paid in Bitcoin over Lightning.
A patron posts a brief and funds it in sats. Other patrons stake. Creators compete. The winner takes half, the rest is shared by ranked-choice vote among everyone who submitted.
Round 1 is live now through @bitcoinfilmfest for BFF26. Three tracks: Future of Money, Future of State, Proof of Energy. Finalists screen in Warsaw June 4 through 7.
Open source. We want others to build on the same rails. ordain.art.
https://blossom.primal.net/b751fd3cab764dbed72749be42dc85e4d5e216cd532c244de0493d641881e054.png
LET THERE BE FILM.

2026-04-13 13:44:12 UTC

Three commissions are live on @nprofile…0ze3 through the Future of Money AI Film Contest with @nprofile…lh3f
Future of Money. 2,500,000 sats. What does money become next?
Future of State. 300,000 sats. What does the state look like when it can no longer print its way out of anything?
Proof of Energy. 765,000 sats. What does it look like when captured methane from a city landfill moves through combustion, into electricity, into ASIC miners hashing for a Bitcoin block?
Open to anyone, any AI tools, 5 minutes or less. Finalists screen in Warsaw June 4 through 7. https://blossom.primal.net/92469b602f5708063a298f2c0d5de79ac8bd35eaea284272ae2cb27681120fe2.png ordain.art/bff26

2026-02-23 15:55:44 UTC

Round 1 is live.
Ordain is a commission board. Post a bounty, describe what you want made, creators compete, best work wins. Payment over Lightning. No platform cut, no escrow, no intermediary.
Five founding commissions went live today, $100 to $1,000, all paid in sats the moment winners are announced. Creators anywhere in the world can submit. Any tools.
Proof of Energy ($500) asks filmmakers to visualize captured methane from a landfill being combusted, converted to electricity, and used to mine Bitcoin. From waste to wallet.
If you know a filmmaker who should see this, send them to ordain.art. Submissions close March 23.
Round 2 opens March 27. Anyone can post a commission. 25 commission slots.