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Feb 13

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Eastern European Movie Poster Madness

Mystery Movie Poster

Okay, Friday pop-quiz (at least for those who don’t read Cyrillic). The poster pictured to the left was the Russian release poster for what American film, which finally got released in the former USSR in 1990?

This lovely example actually just brings up the phenomenon of Eastern European movie posters. As a bit of a poster buff (I still have dreams about finding an affordable Japanese “Tron” One-Sheet) and someone who’s dabbled in poster design I actually have books of movie poster reference. Classic films, B-Movies, and glorious glorious Eastern European posters.

The style common in most Eastern Europe movie posters is much more metaphorical and pop art based… which makes for amazing works, that not only speak about the interpretation of foreign themes, but also the time and place they come from.

So huzzah for foreign movie posters – spend some time perusing a gallery near you for some of these fantastic works.

And if you’re still stumped about the poster above, try looking here.

Feb 11

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Network Shaping is Bad. Period. Full Stop.

News out of the US that representative Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is trying to sneak anti-net neutrality language into the stimulus bill.

In a nutshell, the senators amendment would tie additional broadband funding in the US with amended legislation that would allow ISP’s to implement “network management techniques” ostensibly to deter child pornography, and movie piracy, and the like.

I recently noted the different approach to piracy in Canada and the US – but here’s yet another concrete example as this amendment appears to be driven by the MPAA in their ongoing anti-piracy campaign.

Let me make this as clear, and concise as I can: The moment content producers allow ISP’s to make a “value” judgement — of any kind — as to data they carry on their network, producers have lost. You have set a precedent that allows the ISP to become the content gate-keeper who will forevermore determine what legitimate services customers will have access to. Read more

Feb 6

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The Piracy Battle – Two VERY different approaches

missed-the-boat

I found it interesting that on the same day that American producers were again renewing the call to battle piracy (although, unsurprisingly not mentioning the latest US legal judgement that a pirated download does not constitute a “lost sale” for calculation of damages… something I’ve long argued the MPAA and RIAA are using to cloak far more systemic problems with their respective business models) I was having a conversation with a couple of Canadian producers on Network Neutrality touching on similar issues (most of the Canadian ISP’s now looking to “shape” all that congesting BitTorrent traffic).

I’ll have much more to say on this as the Net Neutrality hearings at the CRTC heat up – but I wanted to share one of the key points that came out of my discussion that I’m not sure I had heard expressed with such crystal clarity before (and my apologies I can’t recall who actually made the point):

Without absolute network neutrality, content producers will never be able to provide legal content alternatives as effective as illegal ones.

Like the Napster/iTunes evolution, until a legitimate alternative exists which offers most of the benefits of the illegitimate one, you will never win the fight. And without true network neutrality, the capability to implement such a system would be limited entirely to those who own the infrastructure, essentially creating a new caste of “super broadcasters” to gatekeep access to audience.

One of the above discussions struck me as horrifically quaint, while one seemed refreshingly forward-thinking. Can you guess which one’s which?

(illustration via Education Week)

Feb 6

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How I finally managed to synchronize the address book and iCal between three macs, GMail, Google Calendar, an iphone, and a blackberry OR Why I love SpanningSync

spanning-sync

It’s the little things that drive you crazy. For a little over a year I’ve been trying to find an easy way to syncronize OSX Address Books and iCalendars between three separate computers at work. Roll that around on your tounge for a few minutes over a year.

It’s a deceptively tricky problem – it’s not enough computers to warrant the expense (and complexity) of a full on server solution, but it’s enough that just occasionally exporting/importing backups isn’t going to cut it. Furthermore, ideally I want to be able to make changes on *any* of the three computers and have it reflected in the other two.

Let’s add another wrinkle – one of the laptops syncs to a Blackberry, the other to an iPhone. Read more

Feb 2

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Live From Gobblers Knob!

It's Groundhog Day!

I have to admit I’m a little confused on how we’re supposed to treat this, the most insane of meteorological celebrations, now that there is a vast field of pretenders to what was once Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania’s sole domain. Is it like the supreme court of Marmota Monax? With this years predictions in at 6:3 for “six more weeks of winter” does Staten Island Chuck write the dissenting opinion?

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day!

“Melverne Mel, Dunkirke Dave, myself, and several other members of our honourable assembly must find that we we see no evidence of a shadow whatsoever. Seriously, we looked all over the place. Our respective handlers waved us all over the place for several moments – collectively almost a minute. We also must strongly question what kind of rigorous diligence can be expected from our honourable colleague, given that he willingly lives in a property called Gobblers Knob?”

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day!

Or is it less a uniform consensus we are looking for than a forecast tailored to a specific general local? Not that it matters in this specific case as Wiarton Willie seems to be with the majority this year. I kind of like this reading, as the forcasts for Toronto have been a little shaky this year, and I like the idea that flinging around small mammals is just an effective method of prognostication as doppler radar. “Hey Rob, do you know if I need to take an umbrella with me?” “Hang on a second and let me see if the cat attacks my mouse pointer with it’s left or right paw!” “What’s the weather going to be like on my trip tomorrow?” “Take the raccoon out of the drier and see how many times it circles around before it gets into our garbage and throws up on our deck… multiply that by eight for your temperature in Fahrenheit.”

In conclusion – this is truly a spectacularly bizarre tradition, even by the somewhat lax standards of North-American-post-Christmas-festivities.

… I’ll stop this now… but know ye well that I could have HAPPILY kept re-posting this ALL DAY.

Feb 2

no comments

Live From Gobblers Knob

It's Groundhog Day!

I have to admit I’m a little confused on how we’re supposed to treat this, the most insane of meteorological celebrations, now that there is a vast field of pretenders to what was once Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania’s sole domain. Is it like the supreme court of Marmota Monax? With this years predictions in at 6:3 for “six more weeks of winter” does Staten Island Chuck write the dissenting opinion?

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day!

“Melverne Mel, Dunkirke Dave, myself, and several other members of our honourable assembly must find that we we see no evidence of a shadow whatsoever. Seriously, we looked all over the place. Our respective handlers waved us all over the place for several moments – collectively almost a minute. We also must strongly question what kind of rigorous diligence can be expected from our honourable colleague, given that he willingly lives in a property called Gobblers Knob?”

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day!

Or is it less a uniform consensus we are looking for than a forecast tailored to a specific general local? Not that it matters in this specific case as Wiarton Willie seems to be with the majority this year. I kind of like this reading, as the forcasts for Toronto have been a little shaky this year, and I like the idea that flinging around small mammals is just an effective method of prognostication as doppler radar. “Hey Rob, do you know if I need to take an umbrella with me?” “Hang on a second and let me see if the cat attacks my mouse pointer with it’s left or right paw!” “What’s the weather going to be like on my trip tomorrow?” “Take the raccoon out of the drier and see how many times it circles around before it gets into our garbage and throws up on our deck… multiply that by eight for your temperature in Fahrenheit.”

In conclusion – this is truly a spectacularly bizarre tradition, even by the somewhat lax standards of North-American-post-Christmas-festivities.

Jan 30

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Newspapers on the Internet? Aww… that will never work!

A little Friday filler, via TechCrunch

Jan 28

1 Comment

I wish I was making this up.

polar-bear-oh-nothumbnail

Pop Quiz Hotshot… a new Tokyopop Manga is published with the following (partial) description:

“Trina Devi is the last of the Tantric Adepts and a master of the esoteric art of Stripfighting; a tantalizing fusion of Shaolin martial arts and Tantric sensuality, where practitioners use articles of clothing as weapons to subdue and incapacitate their opponents.”

It should be marketed towards:

Don’t get me wrong guys, I know the market is in the tanks… but I’m not sure selling softcore to pre-teens is necessarily the solution.

[EDIT – I’ve been informed the rating is not “Older / Teens (11+)” but rather “Older Teens (16+)” and that the logo is just hard to read on the Tokyopop website… I guess I’m happier with that rating (at least without having actually read the thing. So now I have to find something else to be outraged about… like, why doesn’t the ratings logo actually link to a ratings explanation page? I may (or may not) be fine with the rating, depending on how they classify their categories, but if a net-addled wonk like me can’t find a definition page in two minutes of searching – that’s probably not good enough for little Billy’s Mom.]

[EDIT 2 – Yes I’m aware there’s a viewer on the tpop website to actually read the first 50-odd pages of “Tantric Stripfighter Trina” and therefore better base my opinion. However, without a serious creative team pedigree, or a shelf full of industry accolades, or someone paying me to, I am likely never going to voluntarily read a work entitled “Tantric Stripfighter Trina”]