Jack the Cat Trees A Bear (!)

I just added this photo to my Flickr news photo site (see link on right hand side of the page) but I couldn't resist posting it here as well. Read the article here.

Mosquito: A Dog-Whistle for Teens

You’re a teenager in a classroom where cellphones are prohibited. Your friend texts you. Your phone rings but your teacher can’t hear it. You sneak a glance at your text message. Done... none the wiser.

Sound implausible? Well not only is it plausible but it’s happening right now in the UK.

In an article by Paul Vitello in the Technology section of Sunday’s New York Times clever teens are taking advantage of, Mosquito, a program actually designed as a weapon against them.

The technology relies on the natural occurrence of presbycusis (aka aging ear) in which humans lose the ability the process certain audio frequencies with age. It was actually designed by a security firm as an aggressive agent for dispersing loitering teens in shop-fronts, parking lots and malls by blasting them with a shrieking 17-kilohertz tone (that brain-damaging high note on the piano only registers 4-kh) while leaving the shoppers unaffected.

Clever technophiles (no doubt young) pirated the technology (or at least a very good copy of it) to develop a ringtone that only teens and young adults can hear.

The success of the pirated program has left the developers scrambling to market, Mosquitotone, "the authentic Mosquito ring tone” in order to try and profit from their own invention.

Read the Times story here. (Note: Depending on when you read this, NYTimes may require registration to read the article. Registering is quick and easy and they don’t sell you out to spammers.)

Jesus of the Week

While Pat Robertson would no doubt consider me a godless heathen, I must confess an absolute love of religious iconography both good and bad. For the latter, I can think of no better place than Jesus of the Week (or J2k6 as they prefer to be called). Aside from being attributed to Village Voice Media, J2k6 is anonymously hosted, guiding us through various imagery with commentary peppered with that kind of sharp, acerbic wit familiar to Voice readers. The visuals (largely contributed by “disciples”) cover a gamut of Jesus imagery including, but not limited to, periodicals, advertising and art (as in this balloon art Jesus and the pictured Corkscrew Crucifix). There is also a bevy of Christian consumer items like Son of God checks and checkbooks and crucifixion cell-phone face plates. There are even specialty services like Heavenly Images where you can have a photo of your dearly departed photoshopped into a graphic with the J-Man. Also included are various oddities like this Fender Stratocaster. For the those inclined towards the anthropological, nothing beats bad permanent skin art in the form of tattoos. Changed as often to weekly as they can, the site is always worth checking in on regular intervals.

The Flaming Lips on NPR's World Cafe

Local heroes and international cult phenomenon, The Flaming Lips, made an appearance on NPR’s eclectic music show World Cafe in April. The segment is 40 minutes long and is largely comprised of an interview with Lip’s founder, Wayne Coyne. The four pieces played on the show are exclusive live in-studio performances including a cover version of Sonic Youth’s “Unmade Bed” which morphs into Led Zep’s “No Quarter” and a very different version (slow acoustic piano) of “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.”

About this version, Wayne tells interviewer David Dye:

The “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” on the record is this kind of T. Rex meets like sorta Gwen Stefani rave-up that really I think is kind of, if nothing, absurd and happy. And this version... is actually very sobering and somber and some of the lyrical content really trades it’s place from being something where we’re kinda making fun of power to really almost being in awe of it, and kinda sad about it, in the same way...

You can listen to this show with either/both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. Other NPR stories related to the release of the latest album, At War With the Mystics, can be found here and here.

P.S. If anyone knows how to download these into a burnable format... please write me.

June is Richard Ramirez Month

Shopping for that "difficult to buy for" person who has an interest in the macabre? Consider getting them the Serial Killer Calendar for 2007. Limited to an initial run of 3,000 on the first pressing, the calendar features the artwork of Nico Claux, “a renowned French artist most noted for his unique portrayals of the world's most notorious serial killers” (according to the press release.) While Claux’s art is vivid and rich, don’t expect the frightening intensity of someone like Joe Coleman. Some of the subjects hardly qualify as serial killers (Charles Manson is highly arguable and Ed Gein was more a notorious grave-robber than killer plus the omission of Andrei Chikatilo is almost unforgivable), still it’s a fairly fascinating selection (note that chronic confessor Henry Lee Lucas is absent in lieu of his partner Ottis Toole). Prices vary according to quantities, check their website for details.

The Da Vinci Code Lawsuit Scam

While I’m not in favor, per se, of unlawful behavior... it’s difficult not to be impressed by the intelligence, psychology and even arrogance, of a well-organized scam.

It was the perception of the press (and therefore the public) this Spring that Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of the historical, non-fiction book “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” were suing Dan Brown for aspects of his fictitious novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” that they felt were appropriated from their investigational work.

This is erroneous. In fact, Baigent and Leigh, sued the publishers of “The Da Vinci Code”, mega-corp book-slinger Random House. Any idea as to who was Baigent and Leigh’s publisher for “Holy Blood...”? Delacorte Press, a subsidiary of... you guessed it! None other than Random House!

I can almost imagine the conversation between a couple Random House gunners and Baigent & Leigh. The setting would be a successful “publisher’s row” hangout (“Is that John Updike puking in the corner? Did Joyce Carol Oates just give me the finger?”) near RH headquarters on the company’s tab. Somewhere near the middle of the third martini (or perhaps Long Island Tea or Perfect Margarita) this conversation might have ensued:

RH: Uhm... boys... while we are indeed celebrating the new printing of your book... we have a little something else to talk about. While, over the years, it’s true that... though a well-researched and wonderfully constructed book, “Holy Grail..” has just never been the... success... that we wanted it to be... that we felt it should be...

B&L: (Incoherent mumbling about lack of advertising, promotion and support begin to sputter)

RH: Now, please... hear us out, boys. We sense great rewards from open minds... As we were saying... Dan’s book fell into one of those, bizarre, inexplicable time/space publishing wormholes that even Stephen Hawking couldn’t explain. We realize fully that his wife cited your book in the annotations... it was widely realized that you were not... how shall we say... well served, and frankly, we heard some grumbling around the water-cooler.

(B&L start to defend themselves.)

RH: Now, boys... and again please hear us out because this requires a creative mind... we’re on your side. We feel that you should sue... not Dan, of course, but us... Now. now. I know what you’re thinking... but we published your book, and well before his... WE should have seen the problems. We feel that you should take action against us. You should sue us.

(B&L stare aghast at the RH reps)

RH: Just think about it boys. You have a brand new printing... “Code” is coming out as a movie in a few months. We have the lawyers find a “European Theater” somewhere so it doesn’t just play as an American story. Think of the publicity... free publicity... we could spend millions and never generate that sort of press. People get curious about what “Holy Grail” is... you sell a ton of books... royalties pour in... Dan sells more books... we profit from both.... EVERYBODY makes out.

And just think about it... you win... we give you some money... sales skyrocket. Worst Case Scenario: You lose... Sales hit the roof... You crack the New York Times Bestseller list. Who knows, maybe there’ll even be a movie offer for your book.

Postscript: Baigent and Leigh “lost” the case. It was widely reported in the world press that Dan Brown had won the case, even though he was never actually a defendant. He did testify however, breaking a reclusiveness that is said to rival J.D. Salinger. Brown’s book remained affixed in the bestsellers and “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” joined it there. Baigent and Lee have a few legal expenses but I bet if they asked real nice, their publisher would bail them out.

I haven’t read either of these books and have no intention to in the near future. I’ve had Christians approach me in an attempt to debunk the “truths” of Dan Brown’s novel. You might as well explain to me how “Lord of the Rings... it never happened.” That’s just how I feel about the whole thing.

For the few of you who read DVC and thought it was kind of a crap novel and couldn’t imagine getting excited about a movie of it... I forward this condolence from The AV Club (the somewhat more sober arm of the satirical newspaper The Onion) who in a Summer Movie Preview wrote “Wasn't reading Brown's stilted, tortured prose bad enough, without having to hear Hanks declaim it too?” As an alternative to seeing the film they offered “Reading a good book, wishing someone would make a movie out of that instead.”