Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Leaked UK record industry memo sets out plans for breaking UK copyright

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 11:13 PM PST

In this leaked, six-page email, Richard Mollet, the Director of Public Affairs for the British Phonographic Institute (the UK's record-industry lobbyists), sets out the BPI's strategy for ramming through the Digital Economy Bill, a sweeping, backwards reform to UK copyright law that will further sacrifice privacy and due process in the name of preserving copyright, without actually preserving copyright.

Mollet's memo, entitled "Digital Economy Bill weekly update 11 March 2010," appears to be a weekly status report on the DEB's progress. On the CC list are executives from major record labels, staff at IFPI (the international record industry lobby), PR agents from The Open Road, and others I don't recognise (if you can identify others on the CC list, please post to the comments).

In the memo, Mollet identifies Britain's top spies as being a stumbling block to the bill's passage -- worried, apparently, that creating a Great Firewall of Britain will make it harder for spies to spy on naughty sites (someone should tell MI5 about Ipredator, the excellent proxy service from the Pirate Bay; after all, that's the same proxy that everyone else in Britain is likely to use to get at the blocked sites if the BPI gets its way).

Mollet also implies that Britain's spy agencies might have paid for a Talk Talk survey in which 71% of 18-34 year olds said that they would simply evade the DEB and go on infringing.

Mollet claims that Britain's ISPs have already caved into their duties to spy on and censor network connections, claiming that there is a sense of "settled will" in the "ISP community."

On the other hand, he identifies Members of Parliament as being "resigned" to the fact that they will not be allowed to debate the bill or give it "detailed scrutiny" (heck of a job, MPs!). He cites an expert on legislation as saying that the bill will likely die if MPs insist on their right and responsibility to examine this legislation in detail before voting on it.

BPI Digital Economy Bill weekly minutes (PDF)

Mirror

Previously:


Boba Fett accordion-busks the Zelda theme on a NYC subway platform

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:44 PM PST

Sweet busking pitch: Boba Fett costume, accordion, Zelda theme. This is what makes the NYC subway great. Boba Fett shows off his artistic side (via Digg)

Previously:


Luc Besson's steampunk movie

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:40 PM PST

Here's the latest trailer for Luc Besson's forthcoming steampunk movie, "Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec." That's some heady stuff.

Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec - 2nd teaser (Thanks, Xeni!)

Sci-fi: a Jesusfish raygun parody

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:31 PM PST

Looking for an automobile decor element that proudly proclaims your devotion to the earliest, persecuted science fiction fans who huddled in catacombs, scratching crude rayguns into the walls?

Look no further.

WHITE vinyl SCI-FI RAY GUN decal jesus fish parody 3x5 (Thanks, Travis!)

Previously:


Hugo nominating deadline looms

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:22 PM PST

Kate from Aussiecon, the upcoming World Science Fiction convention in Melbourne, sez, "The deadline for sending in your Hugo Awards nomination ballot is fast approaching! The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The nomination deadline is Saturday, March 13, 2010 23:59 PST. To submit a ballot you must either be a member of Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon, or have registered for Aussiecon 4, the 2010 Worldcon, by January 31st." For the record, my novel Makers is eligible for nomination.

US census infographics from 1870

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:21 PM PST


The census is one of America's great institutions, the way the country knows itself. Here then is the 1870 statistical atlas of the ninth census, scanned at high rez. Your one-stop shop for 1870's best infographics: "Presented here are all of the maps and charts from the first statistical atlas of the US Census, widely praised in its time and still a wonderful example of sophisticated graphics, the out-of-date racial/psychological nomenclature notwithstanding. The atlas is available page-by-page from the Library of Congress, but you can download it in bulk here."

STATISTICAL ATLAS OF THE NINTH CENSUS (1870) (Thanks, Marilyn!)

Previously:


Die Antwoord to sign with Interscope, Neill Blomkamp to direct next video

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:18 PM PST

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Photos: Xeni Jardin (top) and Sean Bonner

The South African rap-rave internet star known as The Ninja grabs my face by the cheeks. He leans forward and stares into my eyes, like a large savannah predator about to inhale a hamster.

"And that's what I did to Jimmy Iovine," he says. "He didn't seem to like it, but nobody told me it wasn't cool to do that. And then I kissed him on each cheek, because we were making a deal like you do with the mafia. Die Antwoord is in business with Interscope now."

It's been just over a month since a friend emailed me a link to their music, and I blogged here on Boing Boing. They had fans before, but what exploded in these past four weeks is the stuff labels and artists dream of: Die Antwoord became a living meme of unprecedented velocity, propelled into global megawebstardom faster than any act I've ever seen. Ninja tells me that in addition to shaking hands with Interscope, District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp plans to direct Antwoord's next music video, they'll likely be performing at the Coachella festival, and a film is in the works.


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I'm in a diner in Hollywood with my friend Sean Bonner early Friday morning, and we're eating breakfast with the Ninja. Between bursts of rapid-fire recollections, he stares at his granola for meditative pause: an Afrikaans astronaut hit by vertigo; a recently broke and obscure artist punched in the face by the the full force of fame.


"I'm not skinny like this by choice," he says, huddled over the table in a Ren and Stimpy hoodie adorned with John Kricfalusi doodles. "We had no money forever. Now, we're flying business class to America, and look at me, I'm eating berries and granola in Hollywood."


He says Die Antwoord is in LA for the first time. He's joined by his creative partner Yolandi Visser (who's sleeping in this morning, upstairs in the hotel), and their "consigliere" Jay.


"When we did the big meeting with Interscope, Jimmy Iovine was telling me all about how badly their business has been harmed by the internet," Ninja says, sipping black coffee. " I can understand that but I said, 'Jimmy, I want to give you a piece of samurai advice: Become the enemy."


The band's forthcoming debut album $O$, streaming in entirety on their website for free, is the first of 5 albums they plan to release. A sort of documentary film is in the works, too. "It's like an hour-long introduction to a music video, like Thriller, only you can eat popcorn while you watch it at the cinema," he says.


After breakfast, they're off to meet one of their creative heroes, director and high weirdness curator David Lynch.


"I used to smoke a lot of weed," Ninja says. "Then I got my hands on a David Lynch Twin Peaks box set, and I watched the whole thing in one sitting, and it blew my mind. Special Agent Dale Cooper said something about pot being bad for you, and that convinced me that maybe I shouldn't smoke pot anymore. All of this now might be a little harder to take if I were."


ant2.jpg


Die Antwoord have been eagerly courted by many in the Hollywood power elite during this first brief trip to LA.

"I don't understand how it happened any more than they do, but I understand how rare it is," he says. And he's right: labels spend millions of dollars trying to create what happened to them.


Fans have swarmed at every turn during their LA trip: this in a town where more conventional celebrity spottings are commonplace. A brief club appearance—"just me busting out one long rap-rave rhyme," says Ninja—turned into full-on moshpit hysteria, with underground music blogs describing the event as Antwoord's debut US performance, a carefully planned secret show. "It wasn't, this is all crazy," he says.

"The funniest thing has been the people on the internet angry that we were 'fake.' The only people who thought we were some kind of hoax were from the US and the EU. This is just real, it's who we are."

Ninja and Yolandi have long been fans of photographer (and onetime geology student) Roger Ballen, best known for his disturbing black and white portraits of South African mining town residents. When fame hit, they emailed their idol, and he agreed to shoot the $O$ album cover.


"The art you see in our videos, on the clothing, the tattoos, everything -- a lot of that is also inspired by the art of children, and the criminally insane," says Ninja. "They don't have that hard barrier between their conscious and subconscious minds, the creativity and fluid consciousness inspires me."

He cites other influences as diverse as William Gibson's novel Neuromancer, the rapper Eminem, science fiction movies, and the toy company Friends With You.

I ask about Leon Botha, an enigmatic figure who appears in some of the band's videos—Botha is 24, and has Progeria, a disease that often takes the lives of its victims at a far earlier age.


"We met at a DJ Qbert concert in South Africa and Leon was in the front, rocking out," Ninja recalls. They became friends and creative kindred spirits.

"When you're hanging around him, it's like you're hearing the voice of God, he's so present and immediate," he says.

"He's a beautiful soul," I say. We've swapped a few emails, and I was mesmerized by Botha's YouTube video monologues.


"We all are," says Ninja, "It's just that he's right there on the surface. He, more than anyone else I know, lives in the moment, because he know he could die the next. I mean, we all could die. You could, Xeni, I could take you out right now—BAM!"


His hand becomes a pretend-gun, and he shoots me pretend-dead.


"Haha! Just kidding. But he is aware of death, and of the preciousness of the present. And that's where the creative power is."

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I remind him of the day Die Antwoord burst into dominance on Google Trends: February 3rd, 2010, some 48 hours after that first Boing Boing post.

"February 3rd was already a date I remembered," he replies. "My younger brother, his nickname was 'Boo,' he committed suicide 7 years ago on that day."

"This the only thing I can do, I can't do anything else," he continues. "It is what I love, and all I have ever wanted to do in my life. Now that all of this—" (he gestures toward Hollywood Boulevard, as a truck carrying leftover Academy Awards props cruises by) "—now that this is happening to us, it's overwhelming because you also realize that it could disappear right away. "

"I don't know what that's going to mean. But for now, I just know that we have a film to make, and albums to record, and shows to play."

"It's not bad."

# # #

Previously:


Marque Cornblatt retrospective art opening in Baltimore

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 02:48 PM PST


Harbor East is hosting an art opening called "Tools, Trash and Technology - A 25-year retrospective of the Art and Design of Marque Cornblatt." Marque's whimsical, clever creations have been featured on BB and MAKE.

The event runs March 10-April 4, 2010 and is open Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Opening reception for the artist Friday March 12, 5-8 PM

Cornblatt will personally be in the gallery each afternoon, offering hands-on demos and opportunities to operate the robots.

San Francisco-based and Baltimore native artist Marque Cornblatt will be presenting a 25-year retrospective of his work in Harbor East in Retail Suite 102 of The Legg Mason Tower. The exhibition will include self portraits, interactive sculptures, web-based robots, and video, as well as examples of Cornblatt furniture and interior design. This 25-year retrospective represents Cornblatt's return to exhibiting on the East Coast and his first major exhibition in Baltimore.

From the very first Sony Watchman to portable DVD players, no technology is off-limits to Cornblatt's creative eye. Using found objects, broken toys and re-purposed electronics, Cornblatt creates sculptures that challenge ideas about technology and the self. His recent use of videogames and virtual reality to create self-portraits offers a glimpse into the future of digital identity.

Cornblatt's will also be presenting the Sparky project, his pioneering interactive videochat robot. First shown in 1996, Sparky has evolved from an assemblage of mixed parts into a worldwide network of telepresence robots capable of connecting people face-to-face in real time over the internet.

The gallery will be furnished with examples of Cornblatt's handmade design and housewares, including cardboard furniture, metal and glass tables, candleholders, chess sets and object d'art made from scrap metal and other recycled materials.

Tools, Trash and Technology - A 25-year retrospective of the Art and Design of Marque Cornblatt

Previously:


Collect whale snot using a remote control helicopter

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 11:59 AM PST

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Scientists want to study whale diseases, but collecting blood is difficult and dangerous to the scientists and the whales. But whale snot is also good for analyzing whale health, and whales shoot it out of their blowholes freely and frequently. The trick is in collecting it.

Dr. Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse of the Zoological Society of London things remote control helicopters are the answer.

Her recent paper in Animal Conservation (abstract), irresistibly entitled "A novel non-invasive tool for disease surveillance of free-ranging whales and its relevance to conservation programs," introduces the ground-breaking methodology of strapping a petri dish to a toy RC helicopter and flying it into the spout.
Collect whale snot using an RC helicopter (Via Make: Online)

Previously:


Just look at this awesome steampunk bananagun.

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 11:34 AM PST

Just look at it.

It Shoots Monkeys (Thanks, Jessemoya!)

Previously:


An alternative to the atomic bomb?

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:32 AM PST

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A geologist proposed bombing Japan's volcanoes to win the war in a January 1944 issue of Popular Science. [via Google Books via Pink Tentacle]

Thanks, advertising, for ruining another cherished movie cliché

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:41 AM PST

(Today's post inspired by the ghost of Andy Rooney.)

Don't we get to have our cheap movie clichés anymore? The well-shod feet walking away in the rain... the lonely figure in silhouette, illuminated by headlights at the mouth of a dark alley... the mirrored medicine cabinet that swings shut to reveal the knife-wielding maniac? These are movie inventions, and every one carries with it the emotional aura of a thousand iterations in a thousand films, and all those images add up to a part of cultural memory. Which is where they should stay. Who needs them here in the real world with us, where it's raining and the neighbors are blasting death metal and I really don't like the looks of that mole on my shoulder? What I'm saying is, do we really need a calendar in which the pages automatically sever themselves and fall to the ground? This is, of course, a venerable movie device to signal the passage of time. Here in the actual world, however, it's an advertising gimmick cooked up by a German agency. Parenthetically, it seems worth noting that the pages don't fall as much as they do plummet, which sends a subliminal message that is perhaps even more dark than intended. (Message: Time is passing, and it is passing really really fast.) Also, the connection to the advertised product (leaf blowers?) is tenuous at best. So here's a plea to advertisers: Let our movie clichés stay in the cineplex where they belong. On the big screen they're iconography, weighted with memory and meaning. Out here in the everyday world, they're just weird.


(This just in: Apparently Andy Rooney is still alive.)

Laptop sleeve made out of recycled wetsuits

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 10:03 AM PST

white camo 15 inch.jpg As a relative newcomer to the craft of sewing, I just recently started to realize the value of fabric scraps. That's why I was intrigued when I heard of Looptworks, a new apparel company — started by three guys who worked together on product design and management at Adidas — that claims to make all their products out of excess materials. This MacBook laptop sleeve, for example, is made from scrap neoprene found in wetsuit factories in China and Thailand. I love the simple design; it also has two exterior pockets that fit a power adapter and a couple of thumb drives perfectly. Because their materials aren't mass-produced, most of their designs are available for a limited time only. Looptworks rolls out new items every month on their web site and in selected specialty apparel stores in most major cities.

Product page

Taste Test: Kumquat

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 09:06 AM PST

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Kumquat marmalade
Thinly slice 24 kumquats and 2 oranges. Measure how many cups they add up to, then put them in a large pot. Add 3 cups of water for each cup of fruit, and let it sit overnight. The next morning, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer until the rind is tender. Measure the cooked fruit. Add 1 cup of sugar for every cup of fruit mix. Add the juice of 2 lemons, and boil again, stirring occasionally. The mix should eventually turn into gel at about 220F; when it does, remove it from the heat and take the foam off of the surface. You're done! Just put the mixture into jars, seal, refrigerate, and enjoy.

Source: AllRecipes.com

A kumquat is one of those things that I always admire at the produce section of the supermarket but never buy. I love the burst of sweet-and-sour-with-a-spicy-kick goodness that this tiny citrus fruit with the beautiful shiny orange skin adds to almost anything. But a part of me doesn't want to cook with it — maybe I'm afraid the novelty will wear off.

If you do decide to bring kumquats into your kitchen, you'll find that they're pretty versatile. You can eat them raw, cooked, candied, pickled, or as a marmalade. Even just tossing a few peels of the rind can add a ton of flavor to anything. They also last a few weeks in the fridge, so you'll have some time to contemplate and experiment — but you better get them quick because they're a mid-winter fruit, and spring is just around the corner. My favorite rendition of kumquat was on white fish, sea bass it might have been, at some fancy restaurant in San Francisco. So tasty.

Kumquats are full of vitamin C and potassium; in Japan, it is called kinkan, also the name of a popular over-the-counter drug brand that makes remedies for sore muscles, sore throat, and mosquito bites.

Kumquats were originally found in China, but have made their way to Japan, Europe, and North America; Dade City, Florida even has a Kumquat Festival every winter to celebrate its harvest.

Image via Miss Meister's Flickr

Previously:


Mini-documentary on the British war on public photos and videos

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 08:42 AM PST

WorldBytes, a charity that trains people to make their own journalism got sick and tired of British policemen, bureaucrats and officials telling them that they don't have the right to shoot motion pictures in public places. There's no law against making movies or taking pictures in public in Britain -- and indeed, you can hardly turn around without a CCTV recording you -- but officials and cops enforce this imaginary no-camera law as though it were the law of the land. Saleha from WorldBytes adds, "In this film, we investigate what the public think and let people have their say on issues of the day. Sick of being stopped,our volunteer film-makers made a stand against the arbitrary interference suffered by photographers and film makers and achieved a one day victory for citizen journalism."

Freedom to film (Thanks, Saleha!)

Previously:


Cosmos on Hulu

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 08:14 AM PST

All of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. All for free. Enjoy.



Beyond Books: University library collections for Happy Mutants

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 07:52 AM PST

UCLA collects ads for patent medicine. Princeton has piles of 17th-century porn. UNLV? Showgirls and Dean Martin, of course. Mental_Floss presents a guide to some of the best weird library collections at American universities.

Americans: Test your broadband speed, help the FCC keep ISPs honest

Posted: 12 Mar 2010 06:14 AM PST

James from the New America foundation sez, "The FCC launched a consumer broadband test on their blog broadband.gov yesterday. Internet speeds in the US are often 50% to 80% lower than advertised and its vital consumers have reliable information on the actual performance of their connections. One of the two tools the FCC is using is the Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT), an open source tool hosted on MeasurementLab.net (M-Lab). The validity of NDT can be independently verified, and all data is publicly released. M-Lab hosts other test as wells, such as a test to see if bit torrent is being throttled, or how much bandwidth is available."

Consumer Broadband Test (Thanks, James!)

Previously:


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