Kids need to agree to 120+ pages of EULAs in order to watch BluRay Sleeping Beauty.
Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John notes that watching Sleeping Beauty on Blu-Ray requires that you accede to over 120 pages of legal garbage in various EULAs before you can start the movie.Disney has a sickness when it comes to abusive EULAs and contracts. I once had to cancel a speech at Imagineering because the legal department wanted me to sign something saying that I'd never use the word "Disney" in print again without permission. The Laugh Factory attraction at Disney World's Tomorrowland had a ridiculous EULA on a sign (you agreed to the terms by passing under the sign) (!) in which you promised that any jokes you suggested were your own and that you would indemnify Disney from any copyright suits arising from the telling of the jokes (the sign was not a joke). As though eight year olds can form contracts (they can't), by standing under signs (they can't), and as though most jokes people tell are original (they aren't).
People worry that Disney trains their kids to grow up to be princesses and whatnot, but that's nothing next to the risk that watching Sleeping Beauty on Blu-Ray will lead your kids to believe that it's normal to have to agree to hundreds of pages of garbage every time you want to experience culture. Imagine how awful their dinner-parties will be!Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray requires viewers to agree to 57 page EULADiscuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets
Dream Captcha for spam-free sleep. Jeff, an artist, created the Dream Captcha to mashup the traditional dream-catcher and anti-spam gunk -- as a result, his dreams are free of spam:
Dream Captcha(via Neatorama)Dream Captcha is a play on the idea of a traditional Ojibwa dreamcatcher and the technology of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart).
So the idea of the dreamcatcher is something Iâve been exposed to since I was a young kid. In elementary school we learned how to make them. When I went on school trips to historic Waterloo Village in New Jersey, we saw them on display. After reading the entry on dreamcatchers in Wikipedia, it was interesting to read that theyâve become somewhat âtacky and over-commercialized due to their acceptance in popular cultureâ. Iâm definitely from a generation that saw it as part of popular culture, kind of like it was the thing-to-do to wear a âholy rosaryâ as a necklace.
Then thereâs the idea of Captcha. Silly trivia: I went to Carnegie Mellon University where the Captcha technology was developed. Donât you love that? As Wikipedia defines it, a Captcha âis a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computerâ. Youâve probably encountered a Captcha before. Youâre at a website, about to fill in a comment, and then the website asks you to type the letters you see in a boxâthe letters are all squiggly and distorted. Basically, a robot canât read those letters, but a human can, so hurray, the site isnât overloaded with spam and porn and whatnot. However, the Captcha technology isnât limited to squiggly letters, and in fact, is readily deciphered by newer robots today.
Gaiman's Graveyard Book video tour finishes, book hits #1 on NYTimes YA bestseller list.
Last week, I wrote about Neil Gaiman's video book-tour for his new young adult novel, The Graveyard Book. Gaiman read a different chapter at each day's tour-stop, and videos of the readings were posted, in sequence, to a website, so that you could follow along and hear Gaiman (a virtuoso reader) perform the full text of this wonderful book.
Seems like it worked. The Graveyard Book is now number one on the New York Times's Young Adult bestseller list. And deservedly so: Gaiman's combination of The Jungle Book's elegant and sweet structure and style with a genuinely creepy setting and situation (Bod is abandoned in the graveyard as a baby after his parents are murdered by a serial killer; he is raised by the graveyard's ghosts, who go back to pre-Roman times, and who give him an eclectic education and rescue him when he goes astray) is utterly inspired, and beautifully executed.
This is a book that is especially fabulous when read aloud -- a perfect bedtime book for your little monsters.Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book -- video tour, The Graveyard Book on Amazon
Punks need socks in Indiana. D. T. Friedman of the nonprofit OxenFree in Indiana writes:
Help with sock donations(Thanks, Mary!)Iâm the Resource Coordinator for a non-profit organization that works with homeless and indigent teenagers, as well as teens who are in bad home situations. OxenFree is a really fantastic program that engages at-risk teens through punk rock music, and provides support in a drug-free and alcohol-free environment.
The reason Iâm invading blogs today? My job with OxenFree is to receive requests from the phenomenal people who run the program, and to figure out a way to fill them. My current assignment isâ¦SOCKS. And I have to admit, Iâm a bit at a loss. Socks are not a large-volume item at clothing centers (people usually just wear them out instead of donating them), and theyâre surprisingly expensive. Homeless teenagers, especially hitchhikers, go through socks like you wouldnât believe. My friend Margie can no longer afford to keep stocking her âfree socksâ drawer by herself, and asked me if I could try working my magic.
So, would you be willing to help me sock my punks?
New Zealand's copyright minister starts screaming when asked whether it's fair to cut people off from the Internet on the basis of three unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement. Mark sez, "Colin Jackson is a well-known IT consultant in New Zealand and former President of InternetNZ. Colin attended a meeting with the Minister in charge of copyright on Monday to talk about a proposal to kick people off the internet on the basis of three unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement, and she lost her temper and yelled at them."
The meeting was set down for 45 minutes from 3:45. When it opened, Judith Tizard spent 30 minutes telling us why the change had to be made. She began by strongly expressing her anger that we had complained to her at this stage in the proceedings. None of us, she said, had been to see her before this on this topic. When we protested that we had worked with the Select Committee, which had removed this provision - and balanced it with one which made licence holders liable for false accusations - she said that this was completely inappropriate of the Select Committee, because Cabinet had already decided this was going ahead. We should not have been surprised, we were told, that this provision was reinserted by the government at the last minute before the bill was passed. (Itâs worth noting here that Judith has been to the two New Zealand Foo Camps and was engaged roundly on copyright both times.)Of all the unreasonable and awful proposals to come out of the entertainment industry, none is so bad as the three-strikes rule, a rule that would leave everyday people vulnerable to having the connection that brings them freedom of speech, of assembly and the press, the link that connects them to family, school, work and government, terminated because someone, somewhere made three accusations of copyright infringement, without having to offer a shred of evidence.She set forth strong views about how the launch of Sioneâs Wedding had been ruined, about how studios in Auckland were running out of work, and about how artists were mortgaging their homes to make films and music and were not making any returns on their investments, all, she said, because of Internet piracy...
When we suggested that natural justice would imply that it was unreasonable to withdraw Internet access based on an accusation, she reiterated her position that something had to be done and that ISPs had to do it. ISPs, she said, need to negotiate with the licence holders to put in a regime to prevent copyright infringements. The licence holdersâ associations had assured her that they would not be unreasonable.
In response to being told that it is technically impossible for ISPs to tell what people are doing, Judith said that it had been done for child pornography and that ISPs need to apply the same standards. It was pointed out that the state defines objectionable material, possession of which is a crime, but thereâs no equivalent definition for copyright, infringement of which is a civil matter to be determined by courts.
I think there's an easy answer to this: a three-strikes rule that cuts both ways: so yes, we'll cut off anyone who's thrice-accused of copyright infringement, but we should also permanently terminate Internet access for any corporation that makes three improper or incorrect accusations: once Sony or Warners or what-have-you make three bogus accusations, they have to do all their sales, marketing, production and communication by phone and fax. Forever.Ministers: why we changed the Copyright Act(Thanks, Mark!)
Tim Biskup show in Paris, Oct. 11.
Tim Biskup has a new show in Paris and the paintings (and packaging!) look terrific.
O/S (Operating System)
New Paintings, Sculptures & Prints
October 11th - November 16th
Addict Galerie
14/16 rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris - France.
T: +33(0)1 48 87 05 04
T: +33(0) 971 41 45 39
info@addictgalerie.com
www.addictgalerie.com Opening reception: Saturday, October 11th (open to the public)With Tim Biskup's new collection of sculpture/painting combination pieces he presents the duality of his recent work in a neatly organized fashion. Each of the twelve pieces in the exhibition are self contained units which include an original painting packed into it's own shipping crate along with an elaborate pedestal that can be assembled using parts that come inside the crate as well as the crate itself. These "systems", as the artist calls them, constitute a fusion of Biskup's aesthetic style and his conceptual theories. The pieces are intended to represent the interconnection between art itself and the peripheral elements that allow it to exist. As a metaphor, the "systems" ask the question of weather the peripheral elements actually add to or distract from the the artwork being presented.
Also included in the exhibition is a large scale serigraph, "Tree Of Life". This 30-color print depicts the artist's familiar Cyclops character, known as "Helper", perched among the branches of a lush tree, surrounded by flora and fauna and wielding an ax. Biskup has said that the character is a symbol of mankind corrupted by his own sense of spiritual knowledge. The image was originally created as the cover of "American Cyclops" a catalog of artwork from an exhibition of the same name that took place at Iguapop Gallery in Barcelona in July of 2006.
Cool photoblog: elders with style.
Ari Cohen says: "We have started a blog of our own that documents street style and fashion of the mature and wizened. Our aim is to take photos of elders with a unique sense of personal style that has developed with age. We noticed so many amazingly dressed older people in New York and are having a great time getting to know them, hearing their stories and capturing a bit of their style to share with others." Advanced Style
Open Everything event in London on Nov 6. Yishay sez, "On 6 November 2008, London will host an Open Everything event, a global conversation about the art, science and spirit of âopenâ. The conversation will cover, well, everything. Qualifier: the âthingâ in question is built using openness, participation and self-organisation. There are people coming to talk about open technology, media, education, workplace design, philanthropy, public policy and even politics. These people want to tell you what theyâre doing and find out what youâre up to. And theyâd like to have lunch with you. Thatâs why theyâre coming to Open Everything. "Open Everything London)(Thanks, Yishay!)
WalMart now says they'll keep the DRM servers on forever. After announcing that they'd be shutting off their DRM servers and nuking their customers' music collections, Wal*Mart has changed their mind. Now they've told their customers that they'll be keeping these servers online indefinitely -- which means that they'll be paying forever for their mistaken kowtowing to the entertainment industry's DRM mania.
All those companies (cough Amazon cough Apple cough) that say they're only doing DRM for now, until they can convince the stupid entertainment execs to ditch it, heed this lesson: you will spend the rest of your corporate life paying for this mistake, maintaining infrastructure whose sole purpose is to lock your customers into a technology restriction that no one really believes in. Welcome to the infinite cost of doing business with Hollywood.
Based on feedback from our customers, we have decided to maintain ourdigital rights management (DRM) servers for the present time. What thismeans to you is that our existing service continues and there is noaction required on your part. Our customer service team will continueto assist with DRM issues for protected windows media audio (WMA) filespurchased from Walmart.com.(Thanks to everyone who suggested this!)While our customer support team is available to assist you with anyissues, we continue to recommend that you back up your songs by burningthem to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you insureaccess to them from any personal computer at any time in the future.
We appreciate your support and patience as we work to provide the bestservice possible to you. As we move forward with our 100% MP3 store,we'll continue to update you with key decisions regarding our serviceand your account via email.
Thank you for using Walmart MP3 Music Downloads.
The Walmart Digital Music Team
Christopher Hitchens: America the Banana Republic.
I love the illustration for Christopher Hitchens' Vanity Fair story, "America the Banana Republic." It's based, of course, on the beautiful Jack Davis poster for Woody Allen's Bananas from 1971.Hitchens' piece is well worth reading, too.
I was very struck, as the liquefaction of a fantasy-based system proceeded, to read an observation by Professor Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, of the Yale School of Management. Referring to those who had demanded -â successfully -â to be indemnified by the customers and clients whose trust they had betrayed, the professor phrased it like this:America the Banana Republic (Thanks, Dale!)These are people who want to be rewarded as if they were entrepreneurs. But they arenât. They didnât have anything at risk.
Thatâs almost exactly right, except that they did have something at risk. What they put at risk, though, was other peopleâs money and other peopleâs property. How very agreeable it must be to sit at a table in a casino where nobody seems to lose, and to play with a big stack of chips furnished to you by other people, and to have the further assurance that, if anything should ever chance to go wrong, you yourself are guaranteed by the tax dollars of those whose money you are throwing about in the first place! Itâs enough to make a cat laugh.
Thank God. La Pequeña is back, as LA PEQUEÃA HILARY HULK CLINTON.
Video Link, via DLISTED. Previously on BB: the original, and another, and another, y la ultima.
But a request: The world NEEDS a La Pequeña Sarah Palin. *Needs.* WHYYYYYY? WHYYYYY doesn't this episode exist yet? Por favor, Felipe Avello, te pido con toda mi corazon. (thanks Susannah!)
John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol II: "Wuthering Wire Transfers.".
Today on Boing Boing tv, we continue our SPAMasterpiece Theater series, featuring author, PC, and minor television personality John Hodgman, whose new book, MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE launches next week.
Hodgman himself describes this series as the dramatization of "true tale[s] of romance, adventure, infamy, and low-cost prescription drugs, all culled from the reams of actual, unsolicited emails, received here by us and people like you -- what we call SPAM."
Today's installment: Barrister Abbey and Diana Khan in "Wuthering Wire Transfers," a tempting tale of financial transactions and naked lust that requires your soonest response.
Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast, which you really ought to do. Direct MP4 link.
A note from our musical director: The adaptation of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" (1735) which opens today's episode was remixed in flagrante 8-bit by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson.
* Previously on Boing Boing tv: SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol. I
Kristin Baker's speedway racing-inspired paintings.
Kristin Baker is a hypertalented New York City-based artist who paints incredibly dynamic, energized abstractions influenced by her passion for Grand Prix auto racing. She uses acrylic to paint on mylar and PVC. If someone decides to make an animation of JG Ballard's novel Crash, I nominate Baker to be the art director. Seen above, Big Bang Vroom (acrylic on PVC cm, 243.8 x 304.8 cm).Kristin Baker (Thanks, Kelly Sparks!)
New MGMT video directed by Eric Wareheim.
My wife just ran into the office and excitedly told me about this new video that Eric Wareheim of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show -- Great Job!" fame directed and posted on his Facebook page this morning. "It's really trippy, dude. I think Boing Boing readers will love it." I think she might be right. Check out this amazing video for "The Youth." (Thanks Tara McGinley!)
Subterranea Britannica: underground explorers.
I was Googling to see how people used the word "subterranea" and I stumbled across the fantasitc Subterranea Britannica, the Web site for a 35-year-old society "devoted to the study and investigation of man-made and man-used underground places." Here are some of the categories of underground sites that interest them: Adits, Air Raid Shelters, Cave Dwellings, Chalk Wells, Control Cenres, Earth Houses, Fougous, Funicular Railway Tunnels, Mines, Mushroom growing, Priest Holes, Sallyports, Secret Hiding Places, Show Caves, Souterrains, Subways, Underground Railways, Wells. And that ain't the half of it. These folks dig deep into, er, underground culture. Their site is filled with site records, photos, and maps. The England-based society also has a zine, Subterranea, and hosts conferences and field trips in the UK and Europe. Subterranea Britannica
Take on Me: literal video version.
Leah of Current says: I thought you might get a kick out of this literal animated remake of Ahaâs "Take Me On." Take On Me: literal video version
Meet Sarah Palinâs radical right-wing pals.
(Video: Interview with former Alaskan Independence Party chairman Mark Chryson)Esther Kaplan, Investigative Editor for The Nation Institute, says:
While the McCain camp continues to hammer home Barack Obama's ties to a former '60s radical, the press corps has yet to report on how far-reaching Sarah Palin's ties are to contemporary radicals -- specifically, the paranoid anti-government figures behind the Alaskan Independence Party. Reporters Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert found that AIP activists played a critical role in Palin's election as Wasilla mayor and that Palin in turn sought to reward them with plum political appointments and appearances, as recently as this year, at AIP conventions.Meet Sarah Palinâs radical right-wing palsTheir story, "Meet Sarah Palin's Radical Right-Wing Pals," below, was supported by a research grant from the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute and appeared this morning at Salon.com.
Hussein Chalayan and Kristin Baker.
Earlier, I posted about artist Kristin Baker's paintings inspired by auto racing. My wife Kelly Sparks had turned me on to Baker a few months ago. But Kelly, a fashion designer, was reminded of the paintings again when she saw Hussein Chalayan's spring 2009 ready-to-wear collection. The abstract nature and colors of the prints align beautifully with Baker's paintings (example at left). And Chalaya's remarkable garment structures definitely convey the motion of a speedway. Hussein Chalayan spring 2009 collection (style.com)
Previously on BB:
⢠Kristin Baker's speedway racing-inspired paintings
Russian cops hassling bathtub chopper driver.
Russian biker busted for driving a non street legal bathtub. Shots from the life of Road police service from Russia and other post Soviet countries.
Instructables DIY Halloween Contest.
Halloween is decidedly a makers' holiday, ripe for DIY costumes, ghoulish gadgets, high-tech hauntings, and general mischief making. To celebrate, our pals at Instructables are holding a DIY Halloween Contest! To enter, just submit an Instructable, photos, or video in any of the following categories: Hack-o-Lantern, Costume, Gadgets and Gizmos, Decorations, Food, and Green Halloween. (For example, above left, Frankenberry mask. Above right, Creepy Cobweb Shooter made from a hot glue gun.) The prizes include gift certificates to the Maker Shed, vouchers for Ponoko, EL-wire from Cool Neon, Etsy shopping sprees, ThinkGeek zombie gift packs, a DNA kit, and a Singer swing machine. We at Boing Boing are honored to be part of the judging panel. The entry deadline is Novermber 9, so head over to your mad scientist's lair and get making! Instructables DIY Halloween Contest 2008
Video about Tarvusim.
Jesse Thorn says:This is the new project from the guys who invented "Look Around You," Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz. It's a religion/television program called Tarvu.Say 'Hebbo' to Tarvuism!They're working on an Adult Swim series right now.
Reimagining the US Capitol.
Harvard architecture student Bryan Boyer redesigned the US Capitol building for a grad school project. His motivation is that the US House of Representatives stopped growing in 1911 simply because the building couldn't hold any more seat. As a result, he says, "the US Capitol changed from monument to memorial." More interesting than the elevations and photo illustrations though are the souvenir plates and $50 bill that Boyer designed to support his big vision. Over at the Sceptical Futuryst, Stuart Candy digs into this example of "architectural time travel." From the Sceptical Futuryst:Architectural Time Capsule (Sceptical Futuryst), Our New Capitol (bryanboyer.com)It's not by the "direct" schematic and traditional design representations of the building that we get a feel for it. Instead, it's through the mediation of the new Capitol building's role as a cultural force -- one iconically reproduced on currency, commemorated in tacky souvenirs, and glimpsed through grubby windows from the backseats of cars -- that the presence of his future makes itself felt. In cinema and television, the artifacts of documentary (jerky camerawork, imperfect vantage points, bad sound fidelity) can sometimes lend a more nuanced and lifelike texture to the story than squeaky-clean realist cinema, with the camera always positioned just-so. Boyer has found his way to a sort of architectural equivalent of documentary, and I think it works.
Keith Loutit's time-lapse, tilt-shift films.
Sydney, Australia-based photographer Keith Loutit creates lovely tilt-shifted time-lapse short films. His aim, he says, "is to present Sydney as the Model City, and help people take a second look at places that are very familiar to them." You can see more of his films on the Keith Loutit Vimeo page.
Previously on BB:
⢠Cranford Rose Garden tilt-shift timelapse
Comprehensive reviews of jihadi video-games. Ars Technica's Frank Caron plunges into the stormy seas of terrorism recruitment video games, reviewing such modern classics as Night of Bush Capturing, Quest4Bush, War on Americas, and Rescue The Nuke Scientist ("the player is an Iranian soldier seeking to rescue two Iranian nuclear experts who were kidnapped by U.S. forces. The game was designed in response to an American-made game called Assault on Iran that featured almost exactly the same situation, but in reverse").
Bottom line seems to be that jihadis can manage to produce workmanlike first person shooters, but fall flat when it comes to using humor, sarcasm, and novel game-mechanics to drive the point home. Of course, the same can be said for the producers of America's Army -- a recruiting tool produced by the US military tool to fight people recruited by these video games.
Osama bin Fragged: a review of terrorist propaganda games
NBOC's final boss fight is by far the most disappointing part of the game. The game's central encounter âthe final showdown with George W. Bushâsimply falls flat on its face. Though the boss's character model bears the likeness of Bush and stands about three feet tall, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish him from any other enemy in terms of both his AI routines and his in-game demeanor.The developers started down the right path: Bush's evil lair is hidden underneath an abandoned port-a-potty out in the middle of the desert. Within this lair are a variety of pictures depicting a distinguished-looking Bush in the company of various world leaders and diplomats, so it has all the makings of a dramatic final encounter. But the developers, for whatever reason, completely passed up the opportunity to stoke their target audience's anger at the American president as a way of motivating them to defeat the final boss. For instance, they could have had him spout random Bushisms as he attacks (might we suggest, "Bring it on!"), but there's nothing so creative about this fight. Bush simply attacks you with no apparent master plan, shooting away with his M16.
Kids who photograph themselves naked are child pornographers and sex offenders in Ohio. A fifteen year old girl in Newark, OH faces being labelled a "sex offender" for sending naked cellphone photos of herself (a minor) to other minors. If convicted, she'll spend the next ten years on public registries, classed as a producer of child pornography. No word on what compensation she (as the victim of the crime) will be able to get from herself (as the perp).
According to Ohio law, 2907.323(A)(3) states anyone possessing material that shows a minor in a state of nudity is guilty of a fifth-degree felony. The violation also might qualify the juvenile as a Tier I sexual offender, which requires annual registration for a decade.Law didn't anticipate cell phone photo caseThe section of the law the girl, who is a foster child, was charged with allows parents or guardians to take photos of their unclothed children for a list of acceptable purposes but does not provide an exemption for the child themselves.
Entertainment industry made up $250 billion/750,000 jobs losses due to piracy. Ars Technica's Julian Sanchez takes a long, investigative look at the entertainment industry's claim that piracy costs the American economy 750,000 jobs and $250 billion and discovers the truth: they made it up and repeated it until they forgot they had made it up.
With Customs a dead end, we dove into press archives, hoping to find the earliest public mention of the elusive 750,000 jobs number. And we found it inâthis is not a typoâ1986. Yes, back in the days when "Papa Don't Preach" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" topped the charts, The Christian Science Monitor quoted then-Commerce Secretary Malcom Baldridge, trumpeting Ronald Reagan's own precursor to the recently passed PRO-IP bill. Baldridge estimated the number of jobs lost to the counterfeiting of U.S. goods at "anywhere from 130,000 to 750,000."750,000 lost jobs? The dodgy digits behind the war on piracyWhere did that preposterously broad range come from? As with the number of licks needed to denude a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Ars submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Commerce this summer, hoping to uncover the basis of Baldridge's claimâor any other Commerce Department estimates of job losses to piracyâbut came up empty. So whatever marvelous proof the late secretary discovered was not to be found in the margins of any document in the government's vaults. But no matter: By 1987, that Brobdignagian statistical span had been reduced, as far as the press were concerned, to "as many as 750,000" jobs. Subsequent reportage dropped the qualifier. The 750,000 figure was still being bandied about this summer in support of the aforementioned PRO-IP bill...
The number the ITC actually came up with, based on a survey of several hundred business selected for their likely reliance on IP for revenue, was $23.8 billionâthe estimated losses to their respondents. That number was based on industry estimates that the authors of the study noted "could admittedly be biased and self-serving," since the firms had every incentive to paint the situation in the most dire terms as a means of spurring government action. But the figures at least appeared to be consistent and reasonable, both internally and across sectors.
The $60 billion number comes from a two-page appendix, in which the authors note that it's impossible to extrapolate from a self-selecting group of IP-heavy respondents to the economy as a whole. But taking a wild stab and assuming that firms outside their sample experienced losses totaling a quarter to half those of their respondents, the ITC guessed that the aggregate losses to the economy might be on the order of "$43 billion to $61 billion."
Gaiman's Graveyard Book -- spooky, magical retelling of The Jungle Book in a graveyard.
Coincidentally, I also finished listening to the HarperCollins audio edition of Neil reading The Graveyard Book yesterday, and was overwhelmed with delight at what a wonderful, magical, sweet story this is when it's all done. The Graveyard Book retells the Jungle Book, but instead of an orphan boy lost in the jungle, raised and tormented by animals, the Graveyard Book's orphan, Bod, is orphaned by a serial killer and raised in the graveyard by ghosts (thousands of years' worth -- from pre-Roman to Victorian).
Like the Jungle Book, the Graveyard Book's story takes the form of a series of loosely linked scenarios describing the childhood and coming of age of the orphan boy, in which his mischief and adventures teach him about the world he lives in and what his place in it must be. It's filled with compassion, mystery, wonder, humor (lots and lots and lots of humor), mythology, and a rich, dark, velvety spookiness that makes it especially lovely when read aloud.
Gaiman's reading is, of course, superb. He's part of a very small group of writers who really bring their work to life when they read it aloud (you can hear this for yourself in the videos from the tour). The spooky hurdy-gurdy music on the chapter breaks is also a nice flourish. This is fine work, from beginning to end, and the best bedtime story read-aloud material I've encountered in a long time. Can't wait until my daughter's old enough to read this to.The Graveyard Book audiobook on AmazonThe Graveyard Book on Amazon
Serialization of The Deal, Chapter 19.
My friend Joe Hutsko contacted with the intriguing offer to serialize his novel, The Deal, on Boing Boing. I jumped at the chance. I read The Deal when it first came out in 1999 and loved the thrilling story about a Apple-like company's undertaking to create an iPhone-like device.
Here's a link to Chapter 19 as a PDF or a text file. (Here's chapter 1 and an introduction to the book, and here are the previous chapters)
To buy a paperback copy of the book, visit JOEyGADGET or purchase directly from Amazon.
Panel finds Palin abused power; Judge orders email from her private accounts be preserved.
(Image by Kate Black). In Alaska, a legislative panel investigating vice-presidential Sarah Palin has issued a report finding the governor unlawfully abused her authority by firing the stateâs public safety commissioner. Also, remember that hacked Yahoo Mail account she used to hide correspondence from subpoenas? Snip from NYT:
In another setback for Ms. Palin, a judge on Friday ordered the state of Alaska to preserve any government-related e-mail messages that Gov. Sarah Palin sent from private accounts. The ruling, by Craig Stowers of Anchorage superior court, came as the result of a lawsuit brought by a resident, Andree McLeod, against Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Ms. Palin has occasionally used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, and her Yahoo accounts were hacked last month. The judge ordered the attorney general to contact Yahoo and other private carriers to preserve any e-mail messages sent and received on those accounts. An assistant attorney general told the court that the governor was no longer using here private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.Legislative Panel: Palin Abused Authority (New York Times)Related: Wired reported earlier this week:
David Kernell, the student indicted this week for gaining unauthorized access to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo account, was allegedly involved in computer intrusion about eight years ago when he was in middle school. He and another student guessed the password of a school server while attending Eastern Hills Middle School in Texas, and gained access to some lesson plans, according to one of Kernell's former teachers.. Palin Hacker Allegedly Involved in Another Computer Intrusion (Threat Level/WIRED)
Tweethearts: blogger proposes to nerd girlfriend over Twitter, she tweets back acceptance..
A nice way to end the week. Congratulations to Boing Boing pals Sean Bonner and Tara Brown. (Some related tales of love and photons in this cute WIRED item.)
Refresh.