I was at the library last week, looking for books about writing, when I came across one published by my favourite newspaper, The Guardian. It was The Guardian stylebook, the sixth edition of the newspaper’s internal English style guide (but the first to be published for public consumption). Reading through the introduction, I found out that the book's contents were also available online as The Guardian Style Guide. Oh joy! The Style Guide is a supremely useful English writing resource, covering a range of topics from proper grammar to stylistic considerations to the spelling of foreign names and words, and I foresee myself referring to it often in the course of my writing.
Every year, Project Censored compiles a list of "25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."
This year's list:
#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media #2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran #3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger #4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US #5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo #6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy # 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq #8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act #9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall #10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians #11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed #12 Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines #13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup #14 Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US #15 Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner #16 Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court #17 Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda #18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story #19 Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever #20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem #21 Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers #22 $Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed #23 US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe #24 Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year #25 US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region
The October 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine comes with a fake cover flap for the neoconservative magazine The Weekly Standard (courtesy of writer/designer Andrew Hearst). As you can see, it's the sort of thing that would boil the blood of your average right-wing hawk. I hope someone actually pulls off the prank at a newstand and then videos people's reactions! That would be classic.
British artist/activist Arofish paints stencil graffiti art in combat zones- Baghdad, Palestine and most recently, Lebanon. While he was in Dahyeh, a badly-damaged area of Beirut, he was asked by locals to paint something happy to reflect the spirit of the community. He came up with these stencil graffiti works of children flying kites.
The arabic text reads: "When Ramallah, in Palestine, is put under curfew by the Israeli Army, nobody goes outside for days. The streets look completely deserted. But from a tall building, if you look out over the city, you can sometimes see hundreds of many-coloured kites, flown from the roof-terraces by the children of Ramallah. The children you can see here are flying kites to celebrate the spirit of the people of Dahyeh. Some kites you can see are flying away. These are for the children who are no longer here; they are no longer held down to the Earth".
One of the more interesting effects of Wikipedia's 'editable-by-anyone' nature is the occurrence of edit wars- where two or more authors keep editing and counter-editing a page over and over. This page lists the most egregious examples of said battles. It makes for quite a hilarious read.
A few of my favourites:
Devil's Lake (North Dakota) Shockingly, there are multiple locations in the United States with the name "Devil's Lake." A very heated war broke out here regarding which one should be featured, whether a disambig page was needed, even over the usage of the apostrophe- eventually literally degenerating into "my lake is better than yours!"
Wii Is this article about the Wii or the Nintendo Wii? Should it be Nintendo's Wii? Does it rhyme with "We" or "Wee"? Should "Wee" link to urine? Is "Wee" slang or a euphemism for urine? Is it a British or International word for urine? Should urine be mentioned in the article at all? Just some of the hard hitting issues that provoked in excess of 1500 edits in the space of two weeks. In addition to all of that, a massive war breaks out over "non-official external links" that leads to a huge strawpoll to end the issue.
Death Star Is it 120km or 160km in diameter? Who cares?
Cory Doctorow's new story I, Row-Boat (a "riff" on his earlier, Hugo-nominated short story I, Robot), about "the theological wars between an Asimov-cultist AI boat and an uplifted coral-reef," can be read online at Flurb Magazine (as part of the fledgling science-fiction magazine's first issue). It's a stellar short story- Cory is one of the few science-fiction writers who has the ability to take an unimaginably futuristic science-fiction concept (such as the post-Singularity future of I, Row-Boat) and craft a story with real, human emotion out of it. Very, very impressive stuff indeed.
Guerrilla artist extraordinaire Banksy has made the news again for his latest prank- replacing 500 copies of Paris Hilton's latest album with his own doctored versions, complete with all-new artwork (warning: slightly NSFW) and music- in the form of a 40-minute long track titled "That's Hot", mixed by DJ Danger Mouse (the same man who produced the infamous and brilliant Grey Album- get yourself a copy here if you haven't already- and, more recently, Gnarls Barkley). You can find the track here as well as here (though honestly you can hear all the good bits in the following video, where Banksy shows us exactly how he pulled off the stunt).
The video for "Weird Al" Yankovich's new song, Don't Download This Song, is directed by none other than the phenomenal Bill Plympton!
The song, a parody of your typical inspirational ballad (with lyrics that lampoon the RIAA's attempts to deal with music piracy by suing the heck out of music downloaders), is pretty funny. The video, a cautionary tale of a boy who illegally downloads music and is subsequently chased down by the police as a hardcore felon, is truly hilarious. If you'd like to see more cartoons by Bill Plympton, check out this blog entry by Shawn, which lists all the Bill Plympton videos that he found on Youtube (including the Oscar-nominated short Guard Dog). Thanks, Shawn!
Well, it looks like "Weird Al" has recruited some truly awesome animators to work on the videos for his new album (for which Don't Download This Song is the lead single). John Kricfalusi, creator of the famed Ren & Stimpy cartoons, is working on one of them (along with the talented illustrator Katie Rice)! I can't wait to see it.
EDIT: Replaced another broken Youtube video with one that works.
I discovered Tomek Baginski through the excellent animation blog The Progressive Animation Review, which highlighted his short film Fallen Art. I was highly impressed by the piece (which is winning awards everywhere), a stylish black comedy that builds up to the most hilarious yet disturbing climax I've seen in any film this year. It's definitely a must-watch for animation aficionados.
Naturally, I google'd Tomek Baginski to see what I could find. Turns out that Fallen Art was just his second released animation! His first film, Cathedral, tells a highly abstract science fiction tale about a pilgrim who visits a cathedral (what else?). One thing is clear from watching the two shorts- Baginski is not a man who likes to repeat himself. The two shorts are very different in both style and content. You can see how his directing and animation skills have improved from the first to the second. This really bodes well for his future, methinks. I look forward to seeing his future works.
Both shorts were animated and rendered in 3D Studio Max and were produced by Polish animation studio Platige Image. To learn more about Tomek Baginski and his works, check out these interviews:
Steve Irwin was perhaps the best-known conservationist and wildlife expert in the world. His death is tragic and oddly unexpected- even though he put his life on the line time and time again for the sake of educating and entertaining people, his larger-than-life nature made him seem invulnerable. That he was killed by a stingray, an animal that is apparently mostly harmless, just goes to show the unpredictable nature of his line of work and of wild animals in general.
Still, one would think that Steve would be satisfied with his legacy- the Australian Zoo run by him and his wife, his television shows that have been (and will be for many more years) watched by countless people who hopefully were as educated by the shows as they were entertained and his passionate conservation efforts. Plus, he died doing what he loved best; filming a new nature documentary.
So goodbye, Steve Irwin- Wildlife Warrior. You'll be sorely missed.
EDIT: Removed two embedded Youtube videos that have been removed from Youtube... a disturbing trend.
Animator, director, producer, writer, musician and teacher- the late, greatDerek Lamb was all of these. He created works for the National Film Board of Canada, Sesame Street and UNICEF, amongst others, leaving a legacy of great animations. Here's a few that've made their way onto Youtube:
Every Child (1979)- produced by Derek Lamb, directed by Eugene Fedorenko.
(This video is no longer available on Youtube, but can be viewed at the National Film Board of Canada's Focus on Animation website)
This Academy Award-winning short film was created in celebration of UNICEF's Declaration of Children's Rights and the International Year of the Child. It illustrates one of the ten principles of the Declaration- that every child is entitled to a name and a nationality. It's a brilliant piece- the animation is visually dynamic, the A capella sound effects are wonderful and the story is both touching and wryly comic.
Special Delivery (1978)- produced by Derek Lamb, directed by John Weldon and Eunice Macaulay.
(This video is no longer available on Youtube, and unfortunately does not appear to be available anywhere else either, though you can view part of the animation in Realplayer format at the National Film Board of Canada website.)
Another Oscar-winning short, this one is a hilariously twisted tale of a man whose life changes completely after he makes the simple mistake of forgetting to to clear the snow off his porch.
Mystery! title sequence(1980)- directed by Derek Smart.
Oh what joy! Derek Smart brings the darkly humourous drawings of Edward Gorey to life in this fantastic opening sequence for the classic PBS TV series "Mystery!".
Finally, here's two animations Derek Lamb made for Sesame Street in the 1970s.
I Get Mad- designed and directed by Derek Lamb, animated by John Canemaker.
"It aint baaad to get maaaad!" This cracks me up every time I see it. An adorably gruff goat sings a song about how it's ok to let off steam when people act like asses toward you.
Simple Simon and the re-arranged animals- directed by Derek Lamb.
A short yet really funny absurdist piece about a group of animals whose limbs have been re-arranged. Good stuff, especially the character of the snake- the way he says "Something is wrong... but this is great!" with a huge grin on his face is just classic!
I took photos of the cooler illustrations at the Israeli children's book illustraton exhibition down at the National Library. Unfortunately my phone's camera couldn't quite capture the illustrator's names at the bottom of each poster, so they'll have to remain anonymous for now.
I submit the following songs as proof of the above statement:
Ted Leo's acoustic cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone." The perfect trash-pop song, covered by my favourite rocker. He even one-ups the original by smoothly segueing into the chorus of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Maps about halfway through.
Speaking of which, here's the Arcade Fire's cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Maps". It's a pretty good take on what I consider one of the best rock songs in recent years.
I've saved the best for last. An absolutely gorgeous acoustic cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy by American folk singer Ray Lamontague. Not knowing who the man was, I didn't expect anything from the cover so I was floored when I heard this gorgeous, husky voice singing with raw, emotive passion. I'm actually going to buy his debut album on the strength of this song!
