Hyperlinked graffiti

Interactions between the real & the virtual world are fascinating! Here's a Wired report about Grafedia, a variation on the yellow arrow theme.

If you see a graffiti somewhere which contains an underlined word written in blue, then chances are that you've encountered your first grafedia, a real world link into the virtual one. Somebody has left something @grafedia.net, and you can retrieve that content by sending email to word@grafedia.net, preferably from your mobile device.

Qur'an reviewed

Wow - Mr. Widmer has guts! Here (German) he publishes a rather easy going literary critique of the qur'an, comparing it occasionally to its predecessor, the bible. Not only is its tone casual & irreverent - the article outright questions one of the qur'an's central allegations, namely that it is the immediate word of god. From a literal reading point of view, the act of reviewing alone presumably might be seen as blasphemous already. So I guess that might easily spell trouble. Widmer's departing shot won't change much, I don't think.

So, congratulations on a very provocative piece! Since the content alone would not necessitate its style, I suppose it is really meant to be a challenge to the orthodox to test our freedom to insult, which is an extremely important freedom indeed!

P.S. Very timely proof of the importance of the freedom to insult comes from this story (via Samizdata.net).

Fülle des Wohllauts

Now this sounds like an interesting theatre project: An actor recites a chapter from Thomas Mann's Zauberberg and plays old shellack discs on his gramophone. It can hardly get any more analogue than that. I'll be there.

Handelsblog

German economic weekly Handelsblatt has joined media enterprises which give their journalists personal blog space. Some of the stuff seems to be quite vicious, like this post in which the Moscow based author rants about the recent flourish of colour coded revolutions in Russia's neighbourhood dictating his wardrobe!

Who's next? Lazarus?

Just saw Seabiscuit (I know, not the freshest off the shelf), and it is one great, uplifting movie! It's about a loser horse (small, gluttonous, sleepy), a loser jockey (tall as far as jockeys go, half blind, broken leg), a loser coach (type stoic, sensitive loner, horse whisperer) and a loser millionaire in a loser period (Great Depression) - you get the picture. And naturally, against all odds, they turn out winners. Just the kind of thing you need to end a depression - and apparently, that was a true story.

The film is particularly remarkable for three reasons. First, I've hardly ever seen such a detailed, complex exposition. But without it, we'd have been lost. Second, the soundtrack is amazing. Extended periods of - silence! Quite unheard of in Hollywood. And finally, wonderful use of allegory.

Absolutely worth your while!

Economy cat

While my other cat was being serviced today, I was given an S-Type as a replacement car. Note to self: Don't bother evaluating that, it just doesn't feel like a Jag any more. I'd much rather have a Mini instead. Or, erm, a Bentley Continental GT. Well, yes ...

Castings of sorts

Benjamin has finally come up with his beercasting post - yay for that! But the sound quality is really not that convincing. Well, let's give it a break, after all it was unplanned, and on a MS operated mobile phone ...

As for podcasts, people have been wondering about some resources. Here they are: Podcast Alley is a good directory service. And here's the feeds that I am currently subscribed to: The Dawn & Drew Show, Radio Clash, Science @NASA, Tracks up the Tree, Whole Wheat Radio, In Our Time. I guess you want to just copy/paste them into your RSS reader of choice if it has audio support, or otherwise there is also podcast receiver software. I personally find that a bit cumbersome however, because after a while, you get lots of audio files sitting around, possibly redundantly (ipodder & iTunes) and nobody does the housekeeping (as of yet). That's why I don't go all the podcasting way, I just listen to them on NewsFire.

Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine

Le Figaro reports the discovery of the unpublished, final grand novel by Alexandre Dumas, French 19th century author and creator of The Count of Montechristo and The three Musketeers! With 900 pages, it seems to be quite the roller coaster of a novel, and it is scheduled to appear in print on June 3rd. So, there's something to look forward to, and not only for the screenwriters who, I am sure, cannot wait to get their hands on it!

3310

You will be surprised to hear that the title's reference to the Nokia 3310 mobile phone does indeed have a lot to do with the previous post's title. According to an interesting article about South-African languages by Frances Gordon in the current issue of the Royal Over-Seas League's members magazine Overseas (not available online), 3310 is actually a Sowetan reference to a male's sexual strength! How odd is that?! I expect Nokia should make a killing out of it.

The article describes nicely how language evolution and mixing of South Africa's incredible 11 (eleven!) official languages (Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu) is "proof of the birth of a rainbow nation." And I thought Switzerland with its four official languages is exceptional. Fascinating!

A couple of interesting SA terms: yebo gogo literally means 'yes grandma' in Zulu, but has become a general greeting as a consequence of a mobile phone commercial. Drumsticks are legs, and a Ferrari refers to the Zimbabwean currency, as it moves so fast. Tata ma chance!

Sex sells

The journalist who did this piece (German, via Matti) about the recent blogger meeting in Basle is certainly well aware of that old marketing addage. Which of course I am piggybacking on myself now.

It is a widespread bad habit to beef up a story by appealing to man's basest instincts, such as voyeurism. Maybe it also helps to cover up a lack in substance sometimes ... but none of that here. No juicy bits on this blog, I am afraid.

P.S. Sexblogger im Birseckerhof? Matthias, you're definitely OTT now! Next thing we'll hear is that Lyssa was at the table, too!