Boing Boing's 60 Most Recent Videos

(Thanks, Jack, Fred McCord, Alberto Colin, Scott Rosenblum, Maddy , DJ Spiess, Sean Carton, Joel M, Peabody, Brian, Susannah Breslin)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 05:44:35 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Cory and DMZ's Brian Wood interviewed on iFanBoy

See also:
DMZ: graphic novel, a worthy successor to Transmetropolitan
Demo: Brian Woods's comic about teens with "powers"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 04:21:40 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Global melting: Russian expedition plants flag at North Pole sea floor

Over at the National Geographic All Terrain blog, Tom Zeller, Jr. (formerly of the New York Times) today posts about vanishing arctic ice, and recent news that "Russia took a submersible to an undersea ridge beneath the North Pole earlier this month and, yes, planted a titanium flag." Link to blog post, and Video Link to the clip about the Russian flag at the ocean floor.

Reader comment: Nick Crossland says,

Did you know it has since been found that some of the footage the Russians claimed to be at the Arctic was really stolen from the movie Titanic ? Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 03:49:07 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Creepy but awesome Finnish cover of "YMCA": video

Oh, there is much to love in this "dance and exercise" cover of the Village People's "YMCA" by '70s rokk ikkons Gregorious, who were once huge, huge I tell you, in Finland. But what I love most: well, you're lookin' at him. Video Link. Best YouTube comment so far: "It's like an American Apparel ad gone wrong." (Thanks, Kent!)

Reader comment: Matti Laakso says,

Original source for the NMKY video: Link. (DRM'd windooze player paid by Finnish tax euros, much like BBC's stuff these days.)

And yes, they actually took this stuff seriously. The background band consists of some serious jazz/progressive heavyweights such as Pekka Pohjola (Link). According to the YLE site, Gregorius failed to make it to the charts despite the overflowing Boy-powah!

Seems to me Lordi (Eurovision song contest 2006 winner) is only the latest iteration of painfully hilarious Finnish pop music to tickle that camp-funny bone! Check out this one: Link.

... on the other hand, eastern european, uh, superstar Zlad! doesn't fare much better: Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:00:24 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Cops in Quebec Accused Of Hiring Their Own As Provocateurs

David Topping from Torontoist blog says,

This is weird stuff: protesters are accusing police at the Montobello leaders summit (which includes George Bush, Stephen Harper, and Felipe Calderon) of using other police as riot provocateurs. The video of one such confrontation is really extraordinary to watch.

Reader comment: Duncan says,

This link is a photo of the boots they were wearing which also happens to be the same boots the police were wearing.

NY Police have also been arresting themselves to incite people. My cousin Jim Dwyer ( NY Times, Pulitzer Prize winner ) has a three part video blog ( includes helicopter rooftop surveillance of terroristic couples sucking face ). It goes well with the Quebec cops.

Link to Jim's page, and Link to first video.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:40:54 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Worst fake accents in film

keanu reeves - dracula
i was tempted not to even mention this one due to the fact that he’s not an actor. it’s just a given that he’ll never be able to imitate someone with an english accent because he can’t imitate anything unless it has no emotion, voice or physical presence. and to say yes to the part after finding out the gary oldman is gonna share scenes with you and make you look even worse is just acting suicide.

dick van dyke - mary poppins
there’s a reason why dick’s performance in mary poppins is always mentioned when the subject of shit movie accents is brought up: because it’s absolutely hilariously bad. if the director had said to him before the film, “listen dick, i want you to do a comedy cockney accent throughout filming. don’t take it seriously.” he still couldn’t have done a worse accent.

posted by David Pescovitz at 09:19:40 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Extreme pug skydiving: extreme cute animal video

What better way to end a day of blog posts about ball weights and severed limbs than with this cute video of a guy skydiving with his beloved pet pug, dropping out of the heavens at 10,000 feet. Fly, Bugsy, fly! Video Link. (Thanks, Susannah Breslin)

Reader comment: Jesse Thorn says,

That's not cute... THAT'S HORRIBLE! Doesn't this guy know that PUGS HATE SKYDIVING?

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:28:43 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Icky but enjoyable Japanese doom metal video: Dir en grey

Here's a super trippy and disturbing music video from the Japanese band Dir en Grey. I guess they're somewhere between boy band and black metal? Contains robotic nudity, barf, some chick eating a baby's severed head, and chopped up ladylegs. Video Link. (Thanks, Susannah!)

Reader comment: Greg Lara says,

Dir en Grey are considered part of the genre called “Visual Kei” (Visual Syle). Dir en Grey received coverage in the US newspapers earlier this year because they sold out a concert tour with zero advance promotion/publicity.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:17:59 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Monday, August 20, 2007

Mexican lazer gun gangsters do battle with furries: video

Video Link.

What is it with furries, seriously? They're kind of creepy, and yet, they go great with just about everything on the internet. Even pretend narco gangster violencia.

As an aside, the video is hosted on (and was created by, I think?) holamun2, which is part of the Telemundo cable network. They're doing some really hip, forward-thinking stuff online with this site.

(Thanks, Jose Marquez!)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 04:34:44 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Giant Sof'Boy figurine by Presspop

Giant Robot sells Sof' Boy comics: Combo Reprint (Issue #01 & Issue #02), Issue #03

Presspop in Japan has just announced the release of a 24" tall (life size?) Sof' Boy figurine.

HEE HAW YIP YIP! After 2 years of designing, and re-designing, and testing, and re-designing, and with Archer finishing the Sea and Cake tour (more time to design), Sof'Boy has finally come to life! Because we can not predict for how many figures, the mold will be able to hold (in the case of Giant Pupshaw, it was for only around 100 pieces), we will divide the release into several parts. The first release is for 70 figures only. We think at most, we will be able to produce around 200 pieces but this is all up to the mold! So in order not to cause trouble to our customers, we will release the dolls as they are produced. As soon as the mold is broken, the production is finished. So if you wish to have Sof'Boy at your home, we suggest you place an order early. We will take orders on a first come first serve basis.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:57:43 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Sixties music videos

The Mamas and the Papas - Creeque Alley

The Mamas and the Papas - I Saw Her Again (1966)

13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me

The Atlantics - Come On (1967)

The Crazy Rockers - The Carioca (1963)

The Yardbirds - For Your Love

Zombies - She's Not There

The Hollies - Carrie Anne (1967)

The Hollies - On a Carousel (1968)

More Hollies videos at Bedazzled.

Spanky and Our Gang - Sunday Will Never Be the Same

Previously on Boing Boing:
• 9 great old punk videos
• 7 punk and post-punk female singer videos

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:16:00 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Video: The Association performs "Windy"

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:14:30 PM permalink | blogs' comments

1972 video of Karl Rove working for Nixon campaign

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:59:21 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Night at the Media Lab: video

Danish K points us to a cool video of eerie, robotic goings-on at MIT's Media Lab after dark. "The video stars, among others, the OLPC (one laptop per child) and Leonardo the robot," says Danish.

Update: Leonardo Bonanni made this lovely video.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:25:11 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Friday, August 17, 2007

Andrew Keen on Colbert Report: "Even the Nazis didn't put artists out of work."

(Slightly paraphrased transcript:)

Colbert: I thought the Internets was building our culture.

Keen: No, it's destroying our culture.

Colbert: I can go on the Internet and find pictures of any old art I want. That's culture, isn't it?

Keen: That's stealing our culture.

Colbert: But it's still culture. The Nazis stole culture, but it was still culture.

Keen: It's worse than that... Even the Nazis didn't put artists out of work.

Previously on Boing Boing:
• Andrew Keen compliments Boing Boing in WSJ
• The internet is impurifying our precious bodily fluids, Mandrake
• Shirky explains why Keen is a Luddite
• Clay Shirky defends the Internet
• Andrew Keen, luddite troll author, and now -- spammer

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 05:44:44 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Kasper Hauser (SkyMaul creators) are also very lulzworthy live

Fellow internet funnyhunter Jesse Thorn turned us on to the amazing "SkyMaul" publication by San Francisco-based comedy troupe Kasper Hauser some months ago. The group came to Los Angeles this week for a live show, and I went to check 'em out with Jesse and others.

They were great live! This particular show incorporated much SkyMaul material, and videos they've uploaded to YouTube and elsewhere.

I bugged Jesse for links to more of their online material, so here it is (thanks Jesse!): Link to their collected YouTubery.

Also don't miss their hilarious audio podcast episode Phone Call to the 14th Century, and more recent KH podcasts are here.

My two favorite videos are probably the one where the 14th century monk Jacobus sings a song about LonelyGirl15 being a witch, and the one about MCT (male camel toe) treatments from SkyMaul.

The act that followed their show at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles was the sketch comedy group Hendershaw, and they were terrific.

Previously:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:42:00 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Beijing stadium designer gives Olympics -and Spielberg- the finger

Last week here on BoingBoing, we watched Tibetan independence activist Lhadon Tethong (president of Students for a Free Tibet) liveblog her way through Beijing. At one point, she and others were arrested in an investigation around who unfurled a "Free Tibet" banner on the Great Wall of China. Ms. Tethong has since been released, and she's continuing to blog about human rights issues involving ethnic minorities in China, and related controversy around the 2008 Olympics:

The most amazing development since my last post is that Ai Wei Wei, one of China’s most celebrated artists and the designer of the [Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the] Bird’s Nest, has come out against Beijing’s Olympics.

In this unbelievably damning report from Al Jazeera posted on YouTube, Ai Wei Wei says that the Olympics don’t represent the true face of China and he wants nothing more to do with them anymore.

I guess it’s not suprising that Ai Wei Wei has spoken out. Not only is he a brilliant independent artist, but he grew up watching his father - the famous modern Chinese poet, Ai Qin - and family suffering in a labor camp in East Turkestan (Xinjiang) after his father was exiled there during the Anti-Rightist Movement under Mao.

Snip from a related story in the UK Guardian, "Olympic artist attacks China’s pomp and propaganda" -- in which Ai lambasts director Steven Spielberg, Zhang Yimou, and other A-listers tapped to design the opening ceremonies:

“All the shitty directors in the world are involved. It’s disgusting,” said Ai. “I don’t like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment. It is mindless.”

Below, a snapshot of that Tibetan sovereignty protest on the Great Wall, captured by phonecams and blogged around the world.

Previously on BoingBoing:

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:16:53 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Moment of Red Pandas are Excellent Joe Cocker Ballad Zen Video

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:49:58 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Brazilian newspaper's linkbait: Bloggers are monkeys!

It is obvious that Estadão’s marketing strategy was counting on the noise bloggers would make over the ads in order to achieve its goals, and the blogging crowd was surely among those who prompted a visit to Estadão’s new website. On the other side, some bloggers guesstimate that inflaming the dispute between blogs and traditional media at this time may turn out to be a bad idea, while others find it better to follow the joke.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:18:26 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Video and photos of rocketbelt conference

Well, the convention was, of course, totally fun. I drove up from Brooklyn for research for the jetpacks book I'm writing. My friends Jofie and Paul and my three-year-old daughter, Oona, went with me. Paul took some great photos, I'm attaching three of my favorites here: the first is Eric Scott flying for GoFast!; the second shows the work of Minneapolis Rocketman Ky Michaelson and the last, as you probably guessed, is Oona trying on a mini 'pack.

The second annual Rocketbelt Convention was held this past weekend as part of the Thunder of Niagara air show on the Air Force’s reserves base in Niagara Falls. So when GoFast! pilot Eric Scott blasted off for a 15-second, 110-decibel rocketbelt demonstration, he flew in the same air space where F-16s were wowing the crowd with gravity-defying stunts and turns at mind-bending angles—like practically perpendicular to the ground.

In addition to Scott’s daily demos, jetpack and rocketbelt enthusiasts (read: obsessives), could check out Gerard Martowlis ground testing the rocketbelt he’s built from scratch in his New Jersey basement. (And he has the hydrogen peroxide fuel burns to prove it).

The self-proclaimed Rocketman, Ky Michaelson, drove 15 hours from Minneapolis to show off his shiny rocket-powered chair, scooter and a kid-sized ‘pack that my daughter Oona was lucky enough to try on. (In case anyone doubts how serious Ky is about all this, consider the fact that his son's middle name is legally "Rocketman").

A couple of the rocketbelt scene’s biggest stars were on hand: the Mexican rocket wizard, Juan Lozano, who has affixed high-octane propulsion to just about anything you can think of, including four rocketbelts; and the man some call Mr. Jetpack, Bill Suitor.

If you witnessed the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, have seen Thunderball or certain episodes of Lost in Space, or ever searched “jetpack” on YouTube, you’ve seen Suitor’s work—the former Bell Aerospace pilot has taken some 1,200 rocketbelt flights in his lifetime.

The convention’s technology was so inspiring Oona appeared to be just as happy trying on the mini rocketbelt as she was ripping down the giant inflatable slide in the kiddie zone. Perhaps the best way to sum up this year’s convention is by paraphrasing the words of the great Stephen Colbert: For years we’ve been promised little wrist-sized televisions, a meal in a pill and jetpacks —- let’s hope this year that promise finally becomes a reality. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:13:35 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Dan Rather reports on defective touchscreen voting machines

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:05:57 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Season 2 of the IT Crowd announced

Boy, that's dumb. I thought that it was dumb to region-lock the web-previews of the show last season, but they supposedly had to do this due to their territorial deals -- but surely there's no territorial deal on Graham talking about the show. Someone put this on the Pirate Bay, please. Link (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

(Disclosure: I was an unpaid consultant to Season One of The IT Crowd, and I live with a Channel 4 commissioner)

See also: The IT Crowd -- the geek comedy I've been waiting for all my life

Update: Thanks to Michael, we now have a 58-second WMV rip of the stream.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:53:33 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 16

Comics Journal readers pick their favorite lurid covers. (some NSFW) Link

NYT on the "simulation argument": "if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation." Link

Reason's Hit & Run blog on the trend of banning plastic bags and bottles as a way to conserve oil: "The US currently uses 20 million barrels of oil per day. First we’re going to ban plastic bags, slicing away a giant 0.16% of that consumption. Now, bring on the plastic bottle ban, slashing a full 0.02% from the oil guzzling. Take that, global warming!"(numbers updated) Link

Video: Yogic "flying" Link

Photo gallery shows what happens to bacon and egg sealed into plastic boxes for a year. Link

Excellent casemod: "I've modified an old newspaper vending box to deliver the latest headlines to my living room each morning, and I don't even have to fumble around for quarters. The digital newsstand is powered by a Mac Mini 1.42 GHz G4, connected to a 17" LG Flatron monitor. It runs an AppleScript that generates a slideshow of newspaper front page images using PhotoPresenter." Link (Thanks, Josh!)

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:43:24 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Sally Cruikshank's amazing '70s and '80s animation: video

BoingBoing reader Clifton says,

Most of Sally Cruikshank's fabulous animated works from the 1970s on are available at YouTube: Link.

She's uploaded them there herself. Very cool stuff, including a number of animations she did for Sesame Street. Her work is wonderfully surreal, constantly-changing and flowing animation.

The piece I totally go wild for, in particular, is "Face Like A Frog" (1987): Video link. It's kind of Halloween-spooky themed, with music by Danny Elfman and the Mystic Knights (the original persona of Oingo Boingo.) I first saw it on 'Alive From Off Center' on PBS in the '80s. "Don't go in the basement!"

Link to Ms. Cruikshank's website, where you can purchase more recent original art. Hey, she has a blog now, too! And posts her paintings to Flickr. Image above: "Casting Session," one of her wonderfully weird expressionist paintings.

UPDATE: Oh, excellent! All of these Cruikshank videos, including "Face Like a Frog," are available in far better quality on Brightcove: Link.

Reader comment: Aaron B says,

The Sally Cruikshank post reminded me of the great sequence she did for the 1983 Twilight Zone movie: Video Link.

Don't forget the Sally Cruikshank post we have on Ukulelia. R. Crumb Cheap Suit Serenaders Bob Armstrong and Al Dodge did music for at least two of her animated classics! Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:52:01 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Monday, August 13, 2007

Leary and Burroughs advertisements

posted by David Pescovitz at 08:17:15 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 15

The metamorphosis of Sabrina Sabrok. (NSFW) Link (Via Otomano)

I'm With Stupid. Link

Comic book scan: Patsy Walker vs. Commies. Link

"Scientists are trying a plumber’s approach to rid the brain of the amyloid buildup that plagues Alzheimer’s patients: Simply drain the toxic protein away." Link

This is not an iPhone. It's a non-working replica, made from metal and wood. Link

Proof of God. His/Her/Its name spelled out in eggplant seeds. Link

Mr. Bali Hai writes about the underrated gem of a movie, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Link

Douglas Rushkoff's column about the zombie fiction genre. "Deep down, these schlocky horror flicks are asking some of the most profound questions: What is life? Why does it depend on killing and consuming other life? Does this cruel reality of survival have any intrinsic meaning?" Link

Video: Stoned people take a video of lots of stoned people under an umbrella running from a cop. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:25:47 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Grocery store/ride puts shoppers on rails

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:53:36 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Tibetan Endangered Music Project

Tibetan music first went on the decline during the Cultural Revolution, a campaign between 1966 and 1976 during which the Chinese government sought to wipe out all "feudal" practices and "make art serve politics..." (Twenty-year-old student Dawa Drolma) said another problem has been the influx of modern Chinese pop music.

"People hear this music all the time on the radio, on [video CDs], and cassette tapes," she said. "It comes in and basically takes over."

Mechanization has also had an impact, she added.

"Butter-churning songs are disappearing, because there are now electric machines to do this and so no need to have a song to provide rhythm."

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:31:27 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Friday, August 10, 2007

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 14

Comics Journal: "Here’s 'A Tale of Two Planets,' an Al Hartley parable in which we learn that good people are better than bad people. (Above: can you guess which are which? Sequence from the Spire comic Archie’s Parables, 1973 Archie Comics.)" Link

Reader comment:

DaveX says:

I held off as long as I could, but Boing Boing seems hot on the weird-o Archie comic scans these days. I respectfully throw my scans in the ring for consideration. Be sure to at least scroll down far enough to see Legion, the hippie stereotype, and his fantastic array of drugs!

Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky, says terrorists need to attack the U.S. again in order to "quell the chattering of [anti-war] chipmunks and to restore America's righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail." Link

Old Super-8 movie teaches people how to shoot home movies (information still useful!). Link

Video game uses sensors on partners' undergarments to encourage couples-friendly play. Link

More issues of The Realist have been archived at Ethan Persoff's site. Highlights: 1963 FUCK COMMUNISM! Poster, Norman Mailer (1965), Lenny Bruce (1961), Paul Krassner's First LSD Trip (1965). Impolite Interview: Lincoln Rockwell (1961) Head of the American Nazi Party and Confident Presidential Hopeful. Link

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) earmarked $150,000 of taxes to pay retired cops to surf for porn on their computers and report on anything they deem obscene. Link

Kevin Kelly's three favorite podcasts (In Our Time, Radio Lab, This American Life). Link

Freakonomics on the pick-up artist's technique of "negging," (jargon for insulting a woman during initial meeting) designed to “lower her self-esteem, thus making her more vulnerable to your advances.” (This subculture was explored in the entertaining book, The Game: Penetrating the Secrect Society of Pickup Artists.) Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:08:58 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Video: "In Heaven" from Eraserhead

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:49:43 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Richard Branson dumps mug of water on Colbert and vice versa - UPDATED

Two of the coolest guys in the world, Sir Richard Branson and Stephen Colbert, apparently poured water on each other's heads in an unfriendly manner during a television segment taping that will likely never air.

BoingBoing reader George W. says,

Ian Bogost appeared on the Colbert Report on Tuesday, August 7 to discuss his [book and website] Persuasive Games. He mentions in his post, paragraph 7, that there was a segment filmed with another guest that went not exactly as expected. This guest was Richard Branson, presumably on to discuss one of his Virgin America planes being named in honor Stephen, the "Air Colbert." [Editors's note: Hey, I saw this plane chillin' on the SFO tarmac on on August 8! So cool.]

Apparently Branson got upset he wasn't able to advertise as much, and poured his mug of water on Stephen.

Here is a recount from a member of the studio audience that night. He posted this comment on a Stephen Colbert fan site under the name Rocktimus Prime (Link):

"I haven’t posted a recap anywhere else, but I’ll spill it here first. Branson was apparently upset that he wasn’t able to give a direct plug to the new Virgin service and doused Colbert with his guest mug of water. Stephen was DRENCHED. He took a beat, then signalled for his own “ammunition” for about twenty seconds until Alison (Silverman) ran and gave him her bottle of water, and Stephen retaliated. The two of them sat for a VERY uncomfortable second looking like two wet cats. Then Stephen thanked him for coming. I really don’t think it was planned, since Stephen had another bit to introduce (the American Samoa Better Know a Protectorate) and a full interview left to do. They had to get him a new jacket and even broke out a blowdryer. Everyone in the crew had a “WTF?” reaction."

Also of note, during the interview with Ian Bogost, there is a visible crushed poland spring water bottle sitting on the mantle. After approximately 1 minute the cameraman on Bogost adjusted to a different odd angle so the bottle was out of shot. There is a screenshot of Bogost with the bottle behind him in his blog posting, the first link.

I realize since this segment hasn't aired, and may never air, it might not something you would all normally post, but it is a very interesting turn of events.

And in shameless self-promotion news, hey look everyone! Colbert cited this BoingBoing post in last night's show, during a bit about Harry Potter and piracy! Here it is: Video Link ah, YouTube's pulled it, bummer. Can't find it on comedycentral.com. #%&*$^%*. (Thanks, Patricio López)

Previously on BoingBoing:

Reader comment: Ben Slater says,

weirdly enough this isn't the first time Branson has poured water over a talk-show host, about ten years ago he did the same thing to Clive Anderson on Channel 4 in the UK, when Anderson was mocking him on the bad rep of Virgin Airlines... Anderson's quick response was something like - "So this is what the service is like on your planes"... can't find that on youtube sadly.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:35:13 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Patrick O'Brien's ALS documentary and fundraiser

Underground Filmmaker Patrick Sean O'Brien was looking for a story about the disabled, until a disability found him. O'Brien, seen by millions worldwide on TV and the internet, is known for his darkly humorous, controversial and sometimes disturbing films, animations and photographs. Now, for the first time on DVD, follow "The Notorious POB" on an odyssey from the short films that brought him so much notoriety, to the humbling search for truth in excerpts from his first feature length film.

posted by David Pescovitz at 10:29:59 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Steampunk maker Datamancer video

Here bee one miffion steampunque linques

posted by Cory Doctorow at 01:44:03 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 13

What's inside Laughing Squid's Scott Beale's bag? Link

(HOAX -- see here.) Man undergoes surgery to make thumb pointier, and therefore easier to use iPhone. "[T]he procedure involved making a small incision into both thumbs and shaving down the bones, followed by careful muscular alteration and modification of the fingernails." Link

Video -- Happy 3rd Birthday, PCL Linkdump! Link

Video -- "For the last several years, a Washington D.C. area local cable access station has run the hippest kids show on earth: Pancake Mountain." Link

Dateline, Utah: "A widow and grandma spent the morning in jail, arrested for refusing to give a policeman her name when he tried writing her a ticket for failing to water her yard." Link

The art of Disney animator Ward Kimball. Link

Video -- National Geographic investigates coulrophobia: "an overwhelming fear of clowns." Link

Chinese dentist will put your extracted teeth in an amber necklace charm. Link

"A Chinese man has reportedly found flowers growing from a steel pipe in his vegetable garden. Grandpa Ding told Sohu News: 'I was cleaning the pipes, then my hand touched something fluffy.'" Link

Reader comment:

Michele says:

As an entomologist, I couldn't help but notice that the white "flowers" growing on the steel pipe are actually the eggs of a green lacewing. Each egg is placed at the end of a long stalk to prevent the larvae from eating each other. Since lacewings are predators of aphids and other garden pests I have no doubt they will bring the Chinese man who found them luck anyway.

Video -- Man sports a tail (sadly, not prehensile). Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:17:50 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Rollerblade suit vs motorcycle downhill race

posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:23:52 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Commercial for 1970s game: "Ball Buster"

Soundtrack is a screwball version of "The Entertainer. The game must've come out at the same time as The Sting. Link

Reader comment:

Ninatuned says:

This was actually featured (or contained really) in a song entitled "Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management" by James Lavelle and DJ Shadow - known at the time as UNKLE

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:05:43 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 12

Man sneaks monkey onto plane by hiding it under his hat. "On a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to New York's LaGuardia airport, people around the man noticed that a marmoset - a fist-sized animal which normally lives in forest and eats fruit and insects - had emerged from underneath his hat and was perching on his ponytail, according to Alison Russell, a Spirit Airlines spokeswoman. 'Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him,' Russell said. The monkey spent the remainder of the flight in the man's seat and behaved well." (Photo of example marmoset by digiyesica) Link

Economist profiles Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist. "His idea is that the human brain is the anthropoid equivalent of the peacock's tail. In other words, it is an organ designed to attract the opposite sex." Link

Somebody needs to tell Rep. Bob Allen that in Houston, you can get out of a traffic ticket by giving the cop a blow job. "Houston Assistant Police Chief claims that trading oral sex in exchange for avoiding arrest for traffic warrants was a mutual agreement involving 'consent' by the motorist." Link

$90 gadget sniffs for tainted meat. Link

Video -- "probably one of the best TV series on psychology and neuroscience ever produced, the BBC's Brain Story, is available on public bittorrent servers for download." Link

Kevin Kelly explains how he saved 2% when he bought a house using Redfin. Link

Local news: four galaxies collide, five billion light-years from Earth. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:40:53 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Great Happiness Space: doc film on Japan's "host bars."

My friend Eduardo Sciammarella, who spends a lot of time in Japan and recently pointed me to the film, says: "People look for love and will pay anything for it, even when they know they are being deceived and in turn deceiving. If you could capture the business model documented in this film into an online social network, you'd have something worth easily 10 times the projected value of Facebook."

Director Jake Clennel describes how he came to make this film, after spending time in Osaka on another project:

I eventually met some hosts. And after I had been to a few clubs I became very struck by just how charming these people were, it was always very nice to sit down and have a drink with them.

There is a raw charisma that through a sort of natural selection tends to be present in a successful host. The hosts experience reminded me of my experience when working with astronauts at N.A.S.A. They were a special and talented group of people who could be counted on to handle intense, prolonged, interpersonal contact and be friendly and cool despite the stress and being in a noisy space ship. Which is a little like being in a host club where the hosts only make money if they can maintain their charm and be engaging while selling champagne at $500 a bottle.

As the scene became clear, it became apparent that their customers were also professionals in the charm business. The situation in the club was a new phenomenon. Gender roles are constantly changing around the World and here it was happening in the extreme.

Reader comment: Greg Conley says,

The host club is likely familiar to people outside of Japan through an anime that aired fairly recently (and the source material manga that's already published in America), called Ouran High Host Club. Here's a wikipedia entry: Link. It alters the situation a little; a club in a high school forms their own club on the grounds, but it works on the same premise, that charming young men entertain ladies. There's a sample of the manga online here: Link (requires flash)

For another interesting look at host bars in Japan, check out Shinjuku Boys. There are a number of host bars in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo that are staffed exclusively by FTM transsexuals. Shinjuku Boys is a documentary about those bars.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 01:37:18 PM permalink | blogs' comments

1979 Bronx street gangs documentary: 80 Blocks from Tiffany's

Members of the Puerto Rican gangs (aka "clubs") Savage Nomads and Savage Skulls are interviewed. Great opening song! Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 01:28:44 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 11

Merlin Mann discovers awesome movies at Archive.org. Link

Writer for Money magazine knocks on rich peoples' doors and asks them how they got rich. Link

1977 ad for Apple computer. Note turtleneck on man. Link

Video -- Headstone for woman's beloved pet dog, named Shithead, upsets other pet cemetary plot owners. Link

Nifty electronic art -- the Touch Box. "When left on its own the display randomly displays patterns and alphanumeric characters that dissolve by way of some random shenanigans. It also picks colors randomly from a set that I have deemed aesthetically pleasing." Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:56:24 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Monday, August 6, 2007

Jay Kinney reviews Zeitgeist, the Movie

For the last couple of months, Boing Boing readers have been emailing me about a two-hour documentary available on Google Video called Zeitgeist, the Movie. I finally got around to viewing it.

In three parts, Zeitgeist (which has no credits) attempts to show that 1) Christianity is rehashed pagan sun-worship and is used by the rich and powerful to control people, 2) the 9/11 tragedies were part of an elite conspiracy, and 3) ever since World War I, the ultra-rich have been secretly manufacturing wars and financial collapses to control the populace and to get richer and more powerful.

I don't know enough about politics, history, or religion to have a valid opinion of Zeitgeist, but I was interested in getting a well-informed person's assessment of the documentary. I could think of no one better suited than Jay Kinney. He was the publisher of the late, great Gnosis Magazine, the author of several books on Western esoteric and occult traditions, and the author of The Masonic Enigma, "a journey of discovery into the real facts (and mysteries) of Masonry's history and symbols." He's also an amazingly talented cartoonist, and contributed to The Whole Earth Review which is how I first learned about him. (His 1987 article, "If Software Companies Ran the Country," where he compares Al Capp's Shmoos to infinitely-copyable software, remains as fresh and powerful today as it did 20 years ago).

At my request, Jay watched the movie, and kindly wrote the following review for Boing Boing:

Zeiting the Geist

The latest bit of guerrilla media to take the online universe by storm is “Zeitgeist, the Movie.” Clocking in at close to two hours’ length, and with over a million views on Google Video since its June 26th “official” release, Zeitgeist is a grabby, cranky, can’t-stop-watching-it documentary that purports to tell the real truth about Christianity, 9/11, and the International Bankers.

Exactly who is behind the video is unclear, although someone with the moniker of “Peter J.” has posted an online letter claiming credit and explaining Zeitgeist’s message to those who may have somehow failed to grasp the worldview that the video hammers home.

And what is that worldview, pray tell? Religions in general, and Christianity in particular, are primarily systems of social control. 9/11 was an inside job and the destruction of the WTC twin towers and building 7 were aided by controlled demolition. And finally, International Bankers, through the Federal Reserve and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), control our money and our future, leading to, ta da, the coming One World Government and the microchipping of everyone.

Exactly how all this fits together is left to the viewer’s imagination or, presumably, the film-maker’s hash pipe. Are those who manipulate Christianity for control purposes in cahoots with the Bankers, and were the Bankers in on the 9/11 caper? Zeitgeist sidesteps such logical questions through the use of the all-purpose term, “the elite,” a shadowy group of rich and powerful men who want nothing more than to enslave humanity and reap block-buster profits through the promotion of wars and financial crises.

For conspiracy buffs, this is all pretty standard fare, and, indeed, aficionados of the genre will find little new in “Zeitgeist.” The notions that most religions were originally a kind of solar worship, and that the Jesus Christ story recapitulated the mythos of numerous other “dying gods,” were floating around in the late 1700s. Fittingly, the video features a quote from Thomas Paine reducing Christianity to warmed-over sun worship, which was a daring bit of religion-baiting 200 years ago, albeit not so earth-shattering today.

The nefarious International Bankers meme has been propagating itself since at least the mid-1800s and has long been a mainstay of radical right-wing circles where it has often overlapped with mutterings about Jewish cabals.

The 9/11 truth segment of the video is, of course, of much more recent vintage, but, here too, it mostly repeats accusations that have gotten widespread play in the uber-skeptic milieu.

Breaking new factual ground is not what Zeitgeist is about, however. Rather, the video is a powerful and fast-acting dose of agitprop, hawking its conclusions as givens. Unfortunately, like most propaganda, it doesn’t play fair with its intended audience. At times, while watching it, I felt like I was getting Malcolm McDowell’s treatment in Clockwork Orange: eyes pried wide open while getting bombarded with quick-cut atrocity photos.

At other times, Zeitgeist engages in willful confusion by showing TV screen shots of network or cable news with voice-overs from unidentified people not associated with the news programs. If one weren’t paying close attention, the effect would be to confer the status and authority of TV news upon the words being spoken. Even when quotes or sound bites are attributed to a source, there’s no way to tell if they are quoted correctly or in context.

Late in the video, there’s a supposed quote from David Rockefeller, which, if genuine, would be an astounding confession of complicity in mass manipulation. But, of course, the quote is not sourced or dated, which renders it useless. (The video’s website does feature a Sources page, but a hodge-podge list of books, with no page numbers cited, is of little value for source verification.)

The over-all temper of the video is rather like the John Birch Society on acid, with interludes by Harry Smith. Incongruously, after spending nearly two hours trying to scare the bejeezis out of its viewers, Zeitgeist ends on an oddly upbeat note, telling us that Love — not Fear — is the answer, We are all One, and featuring sound-bites from Ram Dass and Carl Sagan.

It’s a shame, really, that Zeitgeist is, ultimately, such a mess. There are plenty of legitimate questions about what transpired on 9/11, just as there are plenty of shady doings in international finance or puzzling aspects of religious history, for that matter. And what is coming down in the name of National Security is truly unnerving. Yet, bundling them all together in disjointed fashion does justice to none of them. Time and again, Zeitgeist maximizes emotional impact at the expense of a more reasoned weighing of evidence. But, perhaps that’s the intention.

I’ve often pondered about what it might take to snap everyone out of the walking dream we collectively entered on 9/11/01. Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall provided the emotional pivot for the end of the Cold War, only a collective experience of an intensity equal to that of 9/11 might jolt us awake as to what is really happening in the corridors of power and certain undisclosed locations.

It’s my hunch that Zeitgeist is one attempt to provide such a jolt, and it does indeed pack a certain punch. Too bad it also runs off in three directions at once, and is so indiscriminate in its sources and overly certain of its conclusions. Zeitgeist may be powerful, but its power is tainted with some simplistic and pernicious memes that have already received more propagation than they deserve. The video’s producer does inform us that “It is my hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth . . .”

Indeed.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 04:13:05 PM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 10

Archie panel from the Spire Christian Comics era. Link

Video -- Great commercial for an awful toy from the 1960s called the Swing Wing. It's a beanie with a pendulum. You put on your head and swing it around. I have a dim memory of seeing this on TV when it originally appeared. Link

MP3s -- "Hobo Conversations and Interviews - Conversations with Sidedoor Pullman Kid Hop-A-Long Chet Dante and Austin John." Link

Video -- shouting match between Bill O'Reilly and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Link

The art of Hannes Bok, 1950s science fiction illustrator. Link

Polygon Pete uses ZBrush ("(It's like finding a box of infinite Sculpey!!!) ") to made 3-D drawings of Woodring characters. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 12:12:52 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Cramer begs Fed Reserve Chairman to cut interest rates (video)

On CNBC's Mad Money Friday, he screamed at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to slash interest rates, to help the stock market. Video Link. The money quote: "No, we HAVE Armageddon."

Also, is it just me, or does he look pretty awesome at 62? (* in fact he's not, it's a running joke on the show). But the lame-ass bobblehead is utterly unconvincing. (thanks, Kent!)

Update: Patrick Nielsen Hayden points us to an amusingly annotated copy of this Cramer video:

Video Link. Smart and snarky. I don't know anything about video makers "iTulip.com" but their gloss on Cramer's epic seizure seems pretty reasonable to me. They mostly seem to be saying, "Wait, exactly where were you promised your business model would always work?"

While Jim Cramer makes for some mildly amusing entertainment, he is actually a pretty horrible analyst, and as studies have shown, people who actually take his advice have a greater than 50% chance of losing their shirts. Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:35:53 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Steampunk toon: A Gentleman's Duel

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:38:14 AM permalink | blogs' comments

SexTV special on Lost Girls

SexTV has aired a fascinating feature on the comic, including interviews with Moore and Gebbie and bookstore owners, along with stills from the book.

Lost Girls is a controversial and wonderful work of erotica and remix culture. Moore and Gebbie have a lot of smart things to say about writing about sex and the artistic impulse behind erotica. I've never heard anyone read from a comic before, but it really works, especially in combination with a slideshow of stills from the art. NSFW Link (Thanks, Jeff!)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:24:15 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Donate to the Academic Film Institute and save a rare movie

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:02:08 PM permalink | blogs' comments

DefCon 15: video of NBC "Dateline" mole fleeing premises

But the first rule of exploits, as anyone in the room worth their SSH could have told her, is -- don't get caught. Ms. Madigan was.

In this video, she departs Defcon 15, escorted by a phalanx of unfriendly jeering persons, having just being outed. Video Link.

One YouTube commentser jokes, "She was probably really easy to spot, since she was probably the only girl there." A bit of an overstatement, as the video was shot by a decidedly female DefCon attendee named Elizabeth Safran -- but the point's not entirely off. I mean, at least wear a hoodie or avoid shaving for a few days. (I kid, I kid! I kid because I love!)

Previously on BB:

Update: Wired Threat Level blog has more.

According to DefCon staff, Madigan had told someone she wanted to out an undercover federal agent at DefCon. That person in turn warned DefCon about Madigan's plans. Federal law enforcement agents from FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service and other agencies regularly attend DefCon to gather intelligence on the latest techniques of hackers. DefCon holds an annual contest called Spot the Fed, in which attendees out people in the audience they think are undercover federal agents. The contest is good-natured, but the feds who get caught are generally ones who don't mind getting caught.

DefCon staff say that Madigan was asked four times -- two times on the phone and two times at the conference -- if she wanted to obtain press credentials, but she declined.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:31:25 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Students produce the future of newsgathering

There are some pretty amazing interactive, Web-native multimedia presentations among the student work, including:

* Minorities Representing Majorities: a Google Maps mashup showing the 40 electoral districts where politicians who practice "minority faiths" (like Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism) serve as governmental representatives. The presentation includes video profiles of seven of these leaders.

* Magical Mystery Tour: A guided tour to the centers of "spiritual seekers" in California -- drag the lens over different sites, from Mount Shasta to Salvation Mountain and see videos of the seekers who come to them.

Data Road Trip: A national map of the statistical hotspots for crises and upwellings of faith and religion, including the Bronx, with the highest abortion rate in the nation; Arkansas, where the divorce rate is highest; and LA County, with the largest number of Hindu temples. Click on each for a smart mini-video documentary.

These student presentations are better than anything I've seen from "real" news agencies and could serve as a model for the future of interactive/online journalism.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:01:51 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Friday, August 3, 2007

Petaluma Chicken promo film, 1932

posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:30:17 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Webb Alert day 2

They've added an RSS feed so you can subscribe and watch it on your iPod or on Miro.

Congratulations and best of luck, Morgan and Rob! Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 02:45:49 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Henry Rollins rants about Internet freedom

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:06:23 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Astronaut: Flickr-generated music + image project

Felix Jung says,

I recently launched a project entitled "Astronaut," which is basically a visualization of my friend's song, with random Flickr photos dynamically appearing at set keyframes. The images I'm pulling in come from Flickr photos whose tags match the lyrics of the song.

Every viewing should be different, as the Flash piece pulls in a new set of images each time. I've seen a few breathtaking photo combinations; I've seen several humorous combinations as well, that end up subverting the song entirely. I think the neatest part of the project is its randomness and its fluctuation. This was a lot of fun to work on, and I hope you find it fun to watch.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 09:25:25 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Dr. Bronner defends Germs' drummer against GHB charge

This is the incredible true story of the Germ and Soap Company that teamed up to fight drug charges. David Bronner President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps shows how natural soaps test positive for the date rape drug GHB using police field kits while detergent based fake soaps always test negative.

Reader comment:

Stefan says:

Saw, last Saturday, a wonderful documentary called Dr. Bronner's Magical Soapbox.

It is about the Emil Bronner, the German emigrant behind the liquid soap that comes in bottles whose labels are packed with bizarre religious ranting. If you've never been in a health-food store or knew counter-culture types you may never have seen the stuff, but here's a sample:

Quote: "2nd, every body in God's tremendous Universe must eat or there is no body! To shine on, eat must even the sun, consuming every second 4 million metric ton! To shine on, eat must even the sun! Exceptions eternally? Absolute none!"

and

Quote: "8th: God's Eternal Discipline, save! 9th: Nine lives, self-reliant, brave! 10th: Dignity, beauty, relaxation, fun! 11th: Tenacity gets it done! 12th: Perfect sense of direction, ESP!"

"Doctor" Bronner was nuts. In fact, he was committed to an asylum in the late 40s. (In his delusional universe, it was a communist concentration camp.) He got away (when his sister checked him out for a few hours so they could have lunch) and left his kids behind (well, they were in orphanages and foster homes anyway) to go to California and start his soap company. Apparently, his work ethic was as strong as his desire to rant, and his liquid soap became a hit with counter-culture types.

Bronner's kids and their families eventually took over the business. They're an interesting bunch too; hard working and off-beat.

The digitally-shot movie is low budget but well crafted. It combines old documentary and interview footage, visits to the Dr. Bronner factory, and excerpts from old documents and letters. There are also comments from Dr. Bronner fans, interviewed at a health food trade show.

The real star of the show is Ralph Bronner, who is the company's goodwill ambassador. He's kind of nuts too, but in a really nice way. He travels around putting on a one-man tribute show to his dad, dispenses free samples of soap, and offers hugs. He is unworldly, saintly nice. Like a Health Store guru version of Mister Rogers.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:07:58 AM permalink | blogs' comments

A surreal and supremely inane compendium of miscellaneous knowledge, Vol 9

Video -- MAKE's Bre Pettis shows you how to make a purty silver ring from a 50-cent piece. Link

BBC article about anonymous person leaving cash-stuffed envelopes in public restrooms and mailboxes in Japan. "Also in the envelope were notes asking that the cash be used for 'ascetic training.'" Link (Via Japan Probe)

Video -- Keith Richards throwing a TV from a hotel balcony. Link

Online pharmacy spammer Christopher Smith sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Link

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 08:58:10 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Student roboticists make edible Krispie and veggie-bots

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:03:07 PM permalink | blogs' comments

Andrew Thompson sings funny about scary robots: Video

Never trust robots. YouTube Link to Andrew Thompson's xlntawesomehilarious electropop "We're in Business." This is the greatest thing ever in the last 30 minutes of my life. Get the song: iTunes, lewisrecordings.com, myspace, and more myspace. (thanks Sean!)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 05:06:21 PM permalink | blogs' comments