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- Business Reply Mail pamphlet encourages office workers to revolt
- Improbable movie trading cards
- Gamer/anime mural
- WorldChanging's 70 best stories from the past six years
- XKCD on Linux users' faith
- Esoteric classics: a list of books
- San Francisco police officer arresting skateboarder: "I'll break your arm like a fckng twig."
- Mitch O'Connell's "Pre-engagement Ring" art show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in LA
- Proof that President Obama is a Borg
- Robin Cooper (aka Robert Popper) vs. Telemarketers
- Indian farmer's daughter is most bad-ass woman in the world
- Thoughts for Polanski apologists, by another woman raped at 13.
- Industrial robotic pancake production video
- Van Arno exhibition “A Change of Skin” at Corey Helford Gallery in LA
- HOWTO flout the flavored tobacco ban and make DIY homemade clove cigarettes
- New journal about electronic dance culture
- Kill Al-Qaeda in Three Easy Steps
- Banned Books Week and "most challenged titles" of 2008!
- Magic dots
- Fan Art Month at Monsters Cereal Blog
- Pakistani Ghazals, Aik Alif
- Nalo Hopkinson, writing mentor for hire
- Creative Commons Salon, San Francisco Oct 15
- Horror photos and notes on the creation thereof
- Tilt-shift video: a day at the Magic Kingdom
- Dutch public broadcaster goes Creative Commons with new documentaries
- HOWTO make scary guts out of expanding foam insulation
- Nerdbots: found-object junkbots
- Liar: YA suspense novel that elevates the unreliable narrator to a new level
| Business Reply Mail pamphlet encourages office workers to revolt Posted: 02 Oct 2009 04:27 AM PDT  Genius: "This small, sixteen-page pamphlet is produced to put inside the postage-paid, business-reply envelopes that come with junk mail offers. Every envelope collected is stuffed with the pamphlet and mailed back to its original company." The pamphlet depicts (in the style of an airplane emergency card) office workers snapping, destroying their workplace and turning into carnal, hunter-gatherer communards. |
| Improbable movie trading cards Posted: 02 Oct 2009 04:23 AM PDT  The Improbable Movie Trading Cards contain the answer to the question that's plagued us all for decades: "What would the kid's merchandising for Apocalypse Now look like?" I was addicted to movie trading cards as a kid, especially the stickers that came in the packs, so I'm glad to see that this collection contains a few of 'em. Improbable movie trading cards (Thanks, Danny!) |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2009 04:21 AM PDT  Roel sez, "We're a casual gaming company from the Netherlands and we just finished a very big wall painting (containing several game and anime characters) for our meeting room." Love this -- it's like one of those Sharpie pen murals crossed with the back of my Junior High notebook. Our awesome meeting room (Thanks, Roel!) |
| WorldChanging's 70 best stories from the past six years Posted: 02 Oct 2009 04:18 AM PDT Alex from Worldchanging sez, "It's our sixth anniversary today, so we're running the 70 of our most popular and enduring pieces, in the 7 categories - Cities, Shelter, Business, Politics, Planet, Community, Stuff - we cover. Some great stuff here, which leads on to other great stuff, over 10,500 pieces in all... if you want a quick reminder of the ideas Worldchanging's been exploring these last six years, you couldn't do better than this. It's sort of like How to Change the World, an Overview" Worldchanging 101: An Anniversary Collection (Thanks, Alex!) |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2009 04:31 AM PDT  Today's XKCD pays sweet homage to the GNU/Linux user's touching faith in his fellow users' industrious hackery. Previously:
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| Esoteric classics: a list of books Posted: 01 Oct 2009 10:20 PM PDT  Boing Boing guestblogger Mitch Horowitz is author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation and editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin publishers. Below is a rundown of books that were unique sources of inspiration to me as I was working on Occult America. Some of these authors are not esotericists at all; others cover topics that I fleetingly reference. But each work represents a carefully researched, keenly reasoned, and pioneering effort at comprehending occult topics and personas without lapsing into the kind of excessive credulity or a knee-jerk nay-saying that often clouds our ability to evaluate fringe movements. Each is a triumph of that rarest of traits: clear thought. Al-Kemi by Andre VandenBroeck Hidden Wisdom by Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney The Tarot by Robert M. Place The Rosicrucian Enlightenment and The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age by Frances A. Yates The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall Alchemy by Titus Burckhardt Edgar Cayce by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick Edgar Cayce in Context by K. Paul Johnson The Dawning of the Theosophical Movement by Michael Gomes Each Mind a Kingdom by Beryl Satter Marcus Garvey: Life and Lessons edited by Robert A. Hill and Barbara Bair Pioneer Prophetess by Herbert A. Wisbey. Jr. Spiritual Merchants by Carolyn Morrow Long The American Soul by Jacob Needleman Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn Women of the Golden Dawn by Mary K. Greer They Have Found a Faith by Marcus Bach |
| San Francisco police officer arresting skateboarder: "I'll break your arm like a fckng twig." Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:54 PM PDT In the video above, which is making the viral rounds: a San Francisco police officer who IDs himself as "Officer Schwab, (badge number) 2099" arrests a skateboarder identified as Zach Stow, after Stow calls the officer a "fckng dck." Over at metblogs SF, Richard Ault says the officer's understanding of SF skateboarding codes is wrong. An article about the incident is here at the SF Chronicle. My two cents, as someone who is neither a lawyer, nor a skateboarder: taunting a police officer by calling him a "fckng dck" is about as dumb as it gets, but that does not give the officer the right to threaten to break the guy's arms, or arrest him for -- what was it, in the end, failing to carry identification? In any case: viva la video camera. (thanks, Jacob Appelbaum) |
| Mitch O'Connell's "Pre-engagement Ring" art show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in LA Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:10 PM PDT  My old high school buddy Mitch O'Connell has a new show opening at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in LA. It runs from October 2 - November 1, 2009. Incredible stuff. Mitch O'Connell's imaginative, vividly colorful, smart and well executed artwork is undeniably and unabashedly old-school low-brow. As one of Chicago's most well-known and busiest illustrators, O'Connell's works have been featured in magazines from Newsweek to Playboy. His tattoo designs are also a fixture on the walls of tattoo shops around the word. His distinctive style fuses cartoony and iconic imagery plus an innate sense of humor to create pop-kitsch masterpieces. Mitch O'Connell's "Pre-engagement Ring" art show Previously:
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| Proof that President Obama is a Borg Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:09 PM PDT Eric Spiegelman made this funny video from more than a hundred still photographs of Barack Obama with various visiting dignitaries. Obama's smile is exactly the same in every photo! It's more fun if you watch large size here or on Vimeo. |
| Robin Cooper (aka Robert Popper) vs. Telemarketers Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:06 PM PDT "Robin Cooper" (whom I know to be the brilliant UK comedy writer Robert Popper of the Timewaster Podcasts) says, Telemarketers are constantly calling me at home, so a few months ago I decided to get my own back. When a guy called from some satellite TV sort of company thingy (it's always so vague) I had a bit of fun. |
| Indian farmer's daughter is most bad-ass woman in the world Posted: 01 Oct 2009 07:57 PM PDT  A quick-thinking farmer's daughter disarmed a man who broke into her home in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In a phenomenally bad-ass series of moves worthy of a Tarantino screenplay, 21-year-old Rukhsana Kausar attacked him with an axe, then shot him dead with his own gun. The civilians' residence is 20 miles away from the ceasefire line between Indian and Pakistani forces. The intruder was reported to have been a combatant from the other side of the border. Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. "I couldn't bear my father's humiliation. If I'd failed to kill him, they would have killed us," she said."Farmer's daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47" (Telegraph, via Maggie Koerth-Baker) Video after the jump.
Axe vs. AK47s in Kashmir (NDTV) |
| Thoughts for Polanski apologists, by another woman raped at 13. Posted: 01 Oct 2009 10:36 PM PDT  On "Getting Over It," by Lauren over at Feministe: What does rape do to you? Afterward? It changed me; there is before and after. Before, a child, playing with Barbies, looking sideways at boys, wondering. After, confusion. Depression. A litany of fuck-ups and fuck-its, whatevers, mistakes, trusting no one, least of all myself. Before, sex was mysterious; after, miasma. I was tarred as a Lolita. I was called jail bait.Related: This Smoking Gun archive contains the entire "1977 grand jury testimony of the 13-year-old California girl with whom the director had sex after plying her with Champagne and a Quaalude at the Los Angeles home of Jack Nicholson." A rape is a rape by any other name. See also: Polanski's Victim and Me, by the celebrated novelist Robert Goolrick, who is also a survivor of child rape. Finally, Polanski in his own words in 1979, an unrepentant abuser: "If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But... f--ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f-- young girls. Juries want to f-- young girls. Everyone wants to f-- young girls!" |
| Industrial robotic pancake production video Posted: 01 Oct 2009 03:53 PM PDT I don't know about you, but I only watch videos about industrial robotic pancake production if they have an energetic techno soundtrack like this one does. (Via Cynical-C) |
| Van Arno exhibition “A Change of Skin” at Corey Helford Gallery in LA Posted: 01 Oct 2009 03:02 PM PDT  "When the Nest's Beset By Pests, the Babysitters Swift Undressed" - (oil on canvas) 48x36 - 2009 A new exhibition by Van Arno will be unveiled at Corey Helford Gallery. Los Angeles artist Van Arno joins Corey Helford for his second solo show at the gallery entitled "A Change of Skin." The process of transformation and evolution is no easy task, and Arno skillfully narrates a dynamic collection of Darwinian daydreams in his latest series of oil paintings. Werewolves, centaurs and women shed their original skin, emerging as new breeds of enchanted beings and barbaric beasts. Joining them in the fray are representations of transformation by means of natural selection, cross-species parenting, Black Arts, and even the car crash that altered Montgomery Clift's famous face. Larger and more ambitious than before, "A Change of Skin" marks a new direction for the artist as Arno introduces multiple characters and a looser, more gestural format to his work. The exhibition will also feature 100 limited-edition silk screen show prints that will be available only at the gallery.Van Arno Opening Reception Saturday, October 3, 2009 from 7‑10pm On View October 3 – October 24, 2009 |
| HOWTO flout the flavored tobacco ban and make DIY homemade clove cigarettes Posted: 01 Oct 2009 07:10 PM PDT  Boing Boing reader/commenter catastrophegirl, commenting in a thread about an enraged hillbilly user of flavored chewing tobacco, points to her Flickr photoset documenting her quest to make DIY kretek (clove cigarettes). These lung-rotting treats are much beloved by goths, and by my inner 14-year-old punk girl. Both catastrophegirl and "skoalrebel," each in their own ways, were upset about the Obama administration's recent ban on flavored tobaccos. The new FDA kibosh makes it illegal to sell stuff like clove cigs, and skoalrebel's beloved Copenhagen whiskey deeyup. I heard about [the ban] the day it was signed. Now i am back to smoking a pipe at home and smoking homemade clove cigarettes when i drive. Besides the difficulty involved in driving and lighting a pipe, cops for some reason cannot fathom a caucasian woman smoking a briar pipe that doesn't have weed in it.I remember the taste of cloves well. In my memory, it is inextricably linked with certain songs by Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned, and other bands from the last great days of leather, studs, and black vinyl. I've long since become a nonsmoker, and believe that smoking and chewing are horrible habits -- but on this point, I can even agree with skoalrebel: the ban is total bullsheyut. Consenting adults ought to be able to purchase and smoke/chew the stuff if they want. The ban is a reacharound for Big Tobacco. "Making Kretek" (Flickr) |
| New journal about electronic dance culture Posted: 01 Oct 2009 12:29 PM PDT  Dancecult is a new "academic"-style journal about "electronic dance music culture." It reminds me of the kinds of books about technology and postmodernism that I'd impulse buy in the early 1990s. Of course, I'd only make it through three pages before cracking open the new issue of Hate or Eightball. But at least the covers and titles were fascinating! Here are the featured articles in the first issue of Dancecult: IDM as a "Minor" Literature: The Treatment of Cultural and Musical Norms by "Intelligent Dance Music"Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture (Thanks, Vann Hall!) |
| Kill Al-Qaeda in Three Easy Steps Posted: 01 Oct 2009 12:18 PM PDT Aman Ali, a BoingBoing guest blogger, is the co-author of 30 Mosques, a Ramadan adventure taking him to a different mosque in New York City every day for a month. It sounds like an infomercial. I can already imagine the voice of Billy Mays (RIP) booming through my television set. "Sick of fighting terrorists the old fashioned way with asymmetrical warfare? Hi, Billy Mays here, to talk to you about the one and only, Mullah Remover!" I just got done reading Howard Clark's new book "How You Can Kill Al-Qaeda (in Three Easy Steps). He's an ex-Marine and former Homeland Security adviser who says the way to win the war on terrorism is to help empower the mainstream Muslim community, who in recent years has been overshadowed in the public spotlight by fringe Al-Qaeda extremists. The whole idea of fighting terrorism with ideas and not weapons is definitely nothing new, but Clark's populist tone and foreign policy street cred was a refreshing perspective to have in the discussion. "Click on the link below in the next 30 minutes and I'll throw in this egg slicer absolutely free! Here's how to order!" Book's official site. |
| Banned Books Week and "most challenged titles" of 2008! Posted: 01 Oct 2009 12:01 PM PDT  This week is Banned Books Week in the United States. Sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), American Booksellers Association, and a variety of other organizations, the week of events around the country celebrates intellectual freedom and spotlights books that have been targets of attempting bannings. According to the ALA, there were more than 500 "challenges" to specific books in schools, stores, and libraries reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2008. And probably many, many more that went unreported. And Tango Makes Three was apparently the biggest target. It's a true story about a same-sex penguin couple in New York's Central Park Zoo who were given an egg to raise. Without further ado, here are the top ten "most challenged titles" of last year. I linked to the Amazon page for each so you can collect them all or buy copies for your local library or school! 1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter ParnellFor more, see the Banned Books Week site and the ALA's Banned Books Week pages. |
| Posted: 01 Oct 2009 11:14 AM PDT  Fun flash app doesn't do anything but shrink and multiply the dots you pass over with your mouse cursor. Magic Dots (Via Neatorama) |
| Fan Art Month at Monsters Cereal Blog Posted: 01 Oct 2009 11:44 AM PDT Bassam Tariq is a Boing Boing guestblogger who is the co-author of 30 Mosques. A blog that celebrated the NYC mosques during the Islamic month of Ramadan. He lives in Harlem, NY.  The good folks at the Monster's Cereal blog are having Fan Art Month counting down the days to Halloween. I'm going to submit a Tin Tin inspired Count Chocula. Monster's Cereal Blog - Fan Art Month - or email submissions to choculafan@gmail.com |
| Posted: 01 Oct 2009 10:54 AM PDT Bassam Tariq is a Boing Boing guestblogger who is the co-author of 30 Mosques. A blog that celebrated the NYC mosques during the Islamic month of Ramadan. He lives in Harlem, NY. Ghazals are traditional Sufi poems that contemplate life, the meaning of our existence and the countenance of God. Some renowned writers of such poetry are Jalal-uddin Rumi, Bulleh Shah, Mirza Ghaleb, etc. It's important to understand that many of these mystics (i.e. Rumi) were deeply rooted within the Islamic tradition and didn't separate themselves from it. There have been many movements, primarily in the West, trying to separate Sufism from Islam. But I'll leave that rant for another post. I am happy to share with you two renditions of a very famous ghazal, Aik Alif (translated One Alif). Alif is the first letter in the Arabic alphabet. A very fitting title for a poem that talks about how difficult we make our life and forget to look within ourselves and see where we all come from. The ghazal was written by Bulleh Shah. The video above is a traditional ghazal performed by Abeda Parveen. Abeda is one of Pakistan's most respected and prized performers. The second performance is a more dynamic one. Noori, a Pakistani rock band, collaborates with Saioon Zahoor, a simple darweesh who spent most of his life performing in durghas (mausoleums). Both renditions are nothing short of brilliant. |
| Nalo Hopkinson, writing mentor for hire Posted: 01 Oct 2009 10:18 AM PDT Award-winning sf writer and teacher Nalo Hopkinson has an interesting new authorial business-model: she's offering $2,000 intensive, one-on-one mentorships to budding writers, via email. She's got some health problems so she's only taking on a few students, and will work personally with them to improve their work and their skills. It's basically an audience-funded writer-in-residency; I benefited immensely from writers in residence, especially Judith Merril. This model looks good, but it'd be even better if some charitable foundation would give Nalo and a few other writers rotating grants to do this. I'd certainly kick in $500 towards a scholarship fund for a budding writer to get the kind of instruction I got, as part of paying it forward. Nalo is a wonderful writer: accomplished, smart, wildly imaginative. This is a hell of an opportunity. Your joy in the art of creating fiction is important to me. I cannot predict whether you will be a successful writer. I can't even reliably tell you whether you have talent or not; those are puddings that are very hard to prove. But I love it when a light goes on behind a student's eyes because they've perceived something new about the craft of writing that they can't wait to try out. My goals are: to help you write the story you want to write, not the one I would write; to help you develop an intuitive, body-based sense of the rhythm, structure and movement of a story. (I've discovered that when it comes to art, content and container are the same thing.) At the same time, I'm committed to challenging your skills and your understanding of what fiction does and how it works. I won't dish out empty flattery. I will be honest with you about what I perceive the strengths and weaknesses of your writing to be, and I aim to do so as one peer addressing another.Interested in being mentored by me? (via IO9) |
| Creative Commons Salon, San Francisco Oct 15 Posted: 01 Oct 2009 10:17 AM PDT  Allison sez, "Creative Commons, KALW, and Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions present Chicago Tribune music critic and author Greg Kot in conversation with music journalist David Downs on October 15 in San Francisco. Kot's new book, Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, explores the changing face of the music industry. Downs and Kot will discuss the book, as well as how digital sharing and participatory culture are shaping how music is created and consumed. Audience questions and discussion will follow the conversation." Announcing October's ccSalon SF! (10/15/09) (Thanks, Allison!) |
| Horror photos and notes on the creation thereof Posted: 01 Oct 2009 09:42 AM PDT  Ethan sez, "I met Joshua Hoffine in Toronto at Fan Expo. He creates stunning horror photography and blogs about the process of creating the photohraphs here." I guess the test of a good horror photo is whether it makes you scared and uncomfortable without resorting to pure gore. Hoffine's photos qualify. Joshua Hoffine Horror Blog (Thanks, Ethan!) |
| Tilt-shift video: a day at the Magic Kingdom Posted: 01 Oct 2009 09:26 AM PDT John sez, "It's Walt Disney World's 38th anniversary today and the park has released this great tilt-shift video of a day in the lift of the Magic Kingdom. From up here we all look like little toys." A Model Day At Disney Parks - Exclusive Tilt-Shift Video Featuring Magic Kingdom (Thanks, John!) Previously:
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| Dutch public broadcaster goes Creative Commons with new documentaries Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:50 AM PDT Paul sez, VPRO Eeuw van de stad (Thanks, Paul!) |
| HOWTO make scary guts out of expanding foam insulation Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:04 AM PDT  Here's a great tutorial (amongst many great tutorials) for making haunted house guts out of expanding foam insulation, paint and various bits and pieces. Realistic Guts (via Craft) |
| Nerdbots: found-object junkbots Posted: 01 Oct 2009 07:46 AM PDT  Kansas City's Nicholas and Angela make and sell sweet found-object junkbots that they call Nerdbots. Nerdbots: Found object robot sculptures for your inner nerd (Thanks, James!) Previously: |
| Liar: YA suspense novel that elevates the unreliable narrator to a new level Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:51 AM PDT  I just finished listening to the unabridged audiobook of Justine Larbalestier's new YA novel, Liar, read by Channie Waites, and I'm here to tell you that it's Larbalestier's best book (and that's saying something). Here's a sample of the audio:
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Micah -- the unreliable narrator of this tale -- is a compulsive liar from a fraught background. Poor and biracial, she attends a posh New York alternative school through a scholarship. Her mother is a runaway, her father is from a reclusive back-woods family of illiterate survivalists, and so it's no surprise that Micah's identity is a little messed up. But Micah isn't just confused: she's deliberately confusing, a compulsive liar who fools everyone around her over and over (she is mistaken for a boy on her first day of school and so she undertakes to live as a boy, lasting days before she is found out). But Micah's lies start to unravel when the boy she is secretly dating -- he is publicly involved with the most popular girl in school -- is murdered. As the school panics and the social order turns upside down, as Micah grieves, she is also found out, scapegoated, and suspected. That's the setup. So far, it's your basic YA fare: complicated relationships, complicated identity, fraught situation. But Micah's circumstances grow progressively odder, as Larbalestier twists and turns the story in ways that are decidedly science fictional (or possibly fantastic) and that make this into one of the most original, oddest, and ultimately satisfying YA books I've had the pleasure of reading. I wish I could say more. There are so many surprises in this book, and they serve to tell such a complex and delicious story of love, identity, authenticity, revenge, justice, class and race, that I don't want to give anything away. Indeed, if this book has a failing, it's that it's nearly impossible to explain what's so great about it without risking some important spoilers. So you'll just have to trust me -- this is worth the price of admission and then some. Liar (MP3 CD unabridged audiobook) Free sample of the first 20 minutes of the audiobook Previously: |
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