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- Dr Seuss in Yiddish -- vey iz mir!
- Cityscape made of staples
- XKCD on HDTV
- Stephen Hawking warns of intergalactic "Stranger Danger"
- Nina Paley passes Netflix DRM and thousands of dollars
- Robotagami in the Boing Boing Bazaar
| Dr Seuss in Yiddish -- vey iz mir! Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:13 AM PDT  Yiddish House press has translated several classic kids' books into Yiddish, a curious and wonderfully expressive language spoken mostly by Jews of Eastern European descent. I just picked up their Eyn Fish Tsvey Fish Royter Fish Bloyer Fish, a translation of Dr Seuss's classic One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Sholem Berger. Dr Seuss works improbably well in Yiddish. Yiddish's strength is its onomatopoeic expressiveness; and it contains a lot of Germanic words that are cognates for their English equivalents (such as "bloyer," which means "blue;" and "fish," which means "fish!"), but they're pitch-bent enough to make them sound a little off-kilter, which makes them perfect for a Seussian rhyme. Berger's translation is funny and tight, his rhymes are as sweet as Seuss's originals. The text is written in both Hebrew script and Latin-alphabet transliterations (which is good, since I read Hebrew at the rate of about three words per hour). I grew up speaking Yiddish, having learned it at the Workman's Circle center in Toronto in after-school classes. It was my father's first language, and the language spoken by my grandparents and their friends. I love its eye-rolling irony and humor, and can't think of a better text to appear in Yiddish translation. You don't have to speak Yiddish to enjoy the sheer poetry of Seuss rendered in it, either. I read bits out to my wife (who speaks some Welsh, but no Yiddish), and she concurred. Eyn Fish Tsvey Fish Royter Fish Bloyer Fish Previously:
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| Posted: 25 Apr 2010 10:47 PM PDT  Artist Peter Root's Ephemicropolis is a wonderful cityscape composed of stacks of staples of varying heights. Be sure to watch the "making of" video. The artist has done several mixed-media cityscapes worth your attention, including the gooey Honey and Almonds and the starchy Wasteland. (Thanks, Francesco!) Previously:
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| Posted: 25 Apr 2010 10:50 PM PDT  Today's XKCD, HDTV, hits it right out of the park for me. HDTV is such a goddamned yawn for me -- a giant screen with only one window on it? Friends in HD, so you can see all the duct-tape holding the set together and the makeup caked over the actors' pores? Be sure to click through and read the very trenchant tooltip when you hover your mouse over the original cartoon. Previously: |
| Stephen Hawking warns of intergalactic "Stranger Danger" Posted: 25 Apr 2010 10:19 AM PDT Stephen Hawking on attempts to contact alien life: For the love of god, everybody just stay quiet. If we're lucky, they won't notice we're here. |
| Nina Paley passes Netflix DRM and thousands of dollars Posted: 25 Apr 2010 08:47 AM PDT Nina Paley was approached by Netflix to offer her amazing animated feature Sita Sings the Blues on their streaming service. Sita retells the saga of Rama and incorporates some vintage jazz, to marvellous effect. In order to clear this old jazz music, Paley had to go through an enormous rigamarole, and this experience has turned her into an advocate for a more liberal copyright. So Nina asked if Netflix would stream her movie without DRM. Netflix refused. Then Nina asked if she could add some pre-roll to the film advising viewers of places they could get it for free and without DRM. Netflix refused. This mirrors my experience with Audible and the Kindle, where I, as the copyright holder and creator, was not allowed to offer my work without DRM and/or a restrictive license-agreement -- I wasn't even allowed to add something to the text or audio saying, "I release you from the license agreement you've clicked through." Nina's done what I did. She's refused to license her works for a platform that restricts her audience against her wishes, and she's told the world what she's done and why. It cost her thousands of dollars, but she stuck to her principles, and set an example for other creators, as well as making sure that her viewers got a fair deal. Bravo! I've been the "change I want to see" in regards to copyright monopolies. People told me I'd lose everything by copylefting Sita, including all hope of professional distribution. But in fact, some professional distributors became willing to distribute Sita without claiming monopolies over it, and we're all fine.What Nina said. I love Audible's convenience and selection. I love ebooks. I dream of the day when I, as a copyright holder and creator, can partner with the iTunes Store, Amazon and Audible to offer digital versions of my works on simple terms like, "Respect copyright law" and "You bought it, you own it." Turning down Netflix (via The Command Line) Previously: |
| Robotagami in the Boing Boing Bazaar Posted: 23 Apr 2010 02:40 PM PDT   Dustin Wallace creates what he calls Robotagami, defined as "foldable, poseable, robotic figure cut from a flat sheet of metal then bent like Origami to become a collectible piece of artwork." He's now selling the metallic monsters, like the Chimera Mini seen above, at our Boing Boing Bazaar in the Makers Market. This particular beastie is $35. Also worth considering is Wallace's threatening but friendly Bottle Opener Ring. |
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