spriteleigh

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It's just too tempting to put the most badass character on cable TV into the most badass show on premium cable. So Jeff Wysaski did just that. Heisenberg can hold his own just fine in Westeros! Contains NSFW language. -via Pleated-Jeans

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Okay, Wifey, here's a romantic comedy I'm willing to watch on date night: the tale of two lovers, Batman and Bane, drawn together across social barriers. Watch the movie that should have been made from the Nicholas Sparks novel.

-via Bits & Pieces

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Last week we got the news that Ben Affleck will play Batman in the sequel to The Man of Steel. Then we learned that Bryan Cranston has been cast as Lex Luthor. And already, we have a fan-made trailer for the film, starring Affleck, Cranston, and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, edited together from many sources by solyentbrak1. -via Uproxx

Video Link. A new masterpiece by Jonathan "Song-A-Day" Mann.

Looks like we're going to war again
Looks like we're going to war
Looks like we're going to war again
Syria here come the bombs
You don't think that we do this just for fun, do you?
Something has to be done
Now look at Miley Cyrus' tongue

Link: mileycyrustwerkingonreality.tumblr.com.

Quoting unnamed officials within the Obama administration, NBC reports that a military assault against Syria could be launched “as early as Thursday.” The US is organizing an "international response" to the suspected use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government against civilians.

The “three days” of strikes would be limited in scope, and aimed at sending a message to Syria's President Bashar Assad rather than degrading his military capabilities, U.S. officials told NBC News. News on the possible timescale for military action followed another round of telephone diplomacy by President Barack Obama and his administration.

Military strikes on Syria 'as early as Thursday,' US officials say [NBC News].

This aptly-named site serves the top GIFs on Twitter right now.

Marketing its new show, Heroes of Cosplay, SyFy and NBC used photographs of cosplayers without the permission of the photographers. It claims, in its defense, that the subjects of photographs "enjoy rights of joint authorship." Here's Darrell Ardita of BGZ Photography, describing what happened after they sent in an invoice:

The next day I got a phone call from a Robyn Aronson from NBC Universal. She was not very happy on the phone and in fact, stuttered so much I was almost unable to understand what she was saying… with good reason too – because water has begun to boil at the studios for them. The phone call consisted of them claiming they had full rights to the images because of an agreement with the cosplayer(s) whom are also claiming they are co-author and also copyright owners to the images.

NBC certainly knows that the photographers own their shots outright, but it also knows that photographic subjects often believe that they have rights in the image. Cosplayers, like brides and varsity students, are often shocked to discover that they don't own squat. On the other hand, photographers don't like alienating customers, and may issue vaguely-worded permission slips allowing uncertain uses. Ignorant subjects, and legally untested licenses, can be exploited--not least to remind photographers that they could spend a lot of money to assert their rights, only to receive trivial damages from the courts.

Backed into a corner by the fuss, though, SyFy/NBC is apparently now threatening the cosplayers for representing that they owned the images in question.

Everyone needs to know this – the VAST MAJORITY of the cosplayers on the show have forwarded all photographer information over to the studio along with the photographs since BEFORE the show aired. Yes, I do have proof of that too. These people are not stupid – I respect them very much and most of them did 100% the right thing. The people at fault are those who made the decision to not contact the photographers and still proceed with the show – NOT THE COSPLAYERS.

It just isn't monday at Boing Boing without reality TV, copyright law and corporate bullying.

"I was bored so I decided to make a compilation of the crashes on Thomas and Friends," writes YouTube's monsterjamfan100. [via hellojed at Metafilter]

Previously: The ultraviolence of Thomas the Tank Engine was blogged about by Mark more than a decade ago. Don't miss Biggie Smalls the Tank Engine.

The BBC's Natalie Donovan breaks down the £8 that one pays for a music CD in the UK: 30% to the label, 17% to the retailer, 13% to the artist, 8% to manufacturers, 7% to distributors, and 5% on "administering copyright." The rest appears to be eaten by taxes. It's an anachronistic and vaguely boosteristic thing to cover, but it's also true that the CD remains a popular format: 70% of (ever-declining) album sales.

If you want to try the Pomodoro productivity technique, you'll need a timer to track your work sessions and remind you to take breaks. Marinara Timer is a simple—but flexible—webapp that gets the job done, and gives you some great customization choices to boot.

Read more...

BrotherhoodWorkshop created a very ambitious LEGO version of Peter Jackson's teaser trailer for 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'-- "2 months in the making and countless man hours." Not to mention hobbit-hours. Spotted at Laughing Squid where you can view the original trailer. The motion picture is scheduled for release on December 13, 2013. I wish there were going to be a LEGO version of it, too.

Subscribe to BrotherhoodWorkshop's YouTube channel for more awesome stop-motion and fantasy videos. According to their "about" page, their "hope is to one day make feature films," so maybe it's possible.

Below, some stills, courtesy of the BrotherhoodWorkshop Facebook page. These guys are insane, and insanely talented.

Edgar Camago, aka DJ Overeasy, did an amazing Breaking Bad remix video we featured recently on Boing Boing. Edgar also teaches third grade at a school in San Francisco.

"My class recently created a song using nothing but objects and sounds found in the classroom or in school," Edgar says. And here's the resulting video.

"Any money made off of YouTube will be donated to my school," Edgar says.

He's on Facebook, and YouTube.

More about the video, below.

An Overeasy remix using audio and video samples of things that happen in my third grade classroom. The students wrote and performed all their own parts and even helped with filming, mic'ing, and some composition!

As part of my sell to the parents for letting me do this I decided it'd be a neat idea if I could give whatever sum -- even if nominal -- of money made from advertisements on YouTube to the school. The money would be used for this particular group of students' outdoor ed program. Our school is small and a lot of the funding for our field trips and activities come out of our parents' pockets or from fundraising.

In short: share, share, share! It gives me a chance to share my music and it helps out the kids a bit.

A few last things:

- Keep it civil in the comments. These are eight and nine year old kids. I really don't want to remove the comments section.

- Authorization forms were obtained for all of the students pictured in this video.

- Big shout out to our first grade teacher, Aly Pence, who helped the girls learn that chair dance (in one sitting!)

- Everything you hear is depicted in some shape or form in the video. I did edit the heck out of some sounds, but for the most part what you see is what you hear.

- It's tough having a day job and making these videos, but viewership makes it all worthwhile. Please like, comment, and subscribe.

- Feel free to leave ideas for remixes in the future. I'd love to take on some of your challenges!

Big thanks to all my students and their parents. Y'all gonna be rockstars this year in fourth. Go on and smash it!

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A filmmaker built a cat puppet for a movie, then "got drunk and bored." See what happens when you get drunk and bored? Link -via Viral Viral Videos)

My favorite DJ, DF Tram -- who draws from far-out jazz, psych, experimental ambient, soundtracks, avant-garde classical, and myriad other genres -- just posted this glorious "Movie Mix" that he describes as "a "a selection of sounds from films that have inspired me, audio from scenes that I enjoy, scenes imagined, and scenes discovered along the way." What a fantastic way to lose yourself for 90 minutes.

The UK's Independent newspaper published its first exclusive story on the NSA leaks, claiming that it is based upon "documents obtained from the NSA by Edward Snowden." The story exposes the existence of a "secret" UK base in the Middle East.

But there's a problem: Edward Snowden says he's never talked the The Independent, and that this leak didn't come from him. Through The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, he suggests that the British government is now pro-actively leaking classified information it believes is in his stash.

I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent. The journalists I have worked with have, at my request, been judicious and careful in ensuring that the only things disclosed are what the public should know but that does not place any person in danger. People at all levels of society up to and including the President of the United States have recognized the contribution of these careful disclosures to a necessary public debate, and we are proud of this record.

"It appears that the UK government is now seeking to create an appearance that the Guardian and Washington Post's disclosures are harmful, and they are doing so by intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others. The UK government should explain the reasoning behind this decision to disclose information that, were it released by a private citizen, they would argue is a criminal act."

The Independent's Oliver Wright asserts that it "was not leaked or 'duped,'" but offers no sourcing information for the story beyond what it has already claimed.

For the record: The Independent was not leaked or ‘duped’ into publishing today's front page story by the Government. @ggreenwald

— oliver wright (@oliver_wright) August 23, 2013

Greenwald: "Leaving aside the fact that the Independent article quotes an anonymous "senior Whitehall source", nobody said they were "duped" into publishing anything. The question is: who provided them this document or the information in it? It clearly did not come from Snowden or any of the journalists with whom he has directly worked."

Bob Ross doesn't make mistakes, only happy accidents. But once someone told him that his painting is blasphemy. It is a mistake. To which he replied, "Mistake?" THIS IS PAINTING!!!!

When Larry Lessig used a clip from "Lisztomania" by the French band Phoenix in a lecture, he was pretty sure that it was fair use -- after all, he's written several books on copyright and teaches at Harvard Law. But Liberation Music, who claim the license to the song, had the video of Lessig's lecture removed from YouTube several times, and threatened Lessig with a lawsuit for sending counter-claims asserting that he was in the right. So now, Lessig and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing Liberation Music and plan on making some good fair use caselaw. Fair use caselaw is in short supply, because most claims are settled out of court, but I have a feeling this one is going to go all the way.

Earlier this year, Liberation Music, which claims to own the license to the Phoenix song, began the process to block the video through YouTube's copyright infringement system. After the company submitted a DMCA takedown notice, Lessig filed a counter-notice that asserted the clips were fair use. After Liberation Music threatened to sue Lessig, he retracted the notice. But Lessig did not concede this issue. Instead, he enlisted EFF's help to take Liberation Music to court.

"There's a long and sorry history of content owners abusing copyright to take down fair uses, but this one is particularly shocking," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "Based on nothing more than a few clips illustrating Internet creativity, Liberation Music took down an entire lecture by one of the leading experts in the world on copyright and fair use. This kind of abuse has to stop."

Lawrence Lessig Strikes Back Against Bogus Copyright Takedown (Thanks, Dave!)

Jenny Parks, whose Doctor Mew artwork has featured here before on Neatorama, is back with the best cat painting you'll see today. Catvengers, assemble! (which is probably harder to say than do, because, as Nick Fury can attest, if herding cat is hard, try assembling them)

Parks also created individual portraits of feline superheroes:

... Batcat and Catbane:

... Spider-Cat and Daryl Dixcat:

... as well as other neat cat characters that you can see over at her official website - via Nerd Approved

In Ecuador, the nation's head of intelligence agency "has asked the legislature to draft a bill that would outlaw the publication of classified documents, amid growing concerns over a government clampdown on the media," writes Rosie Gray at Buzzfeed. The South American country has been in the news recently for providing shelter to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London, and for offering a travel document to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

One day after being sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking secret government files to Wikileaks, Pfc. Bradley Manning today announced via NBC TODAY the decision to live life as a woman.

We first wrote about this aspect of Manning's story in 2010, after realizing that a series of chat logs circulating on the internet--which we'd published without understanding the subtle references within--spoke to Manning's desire to transition.

We will be using the female gender to refer to Manning, from this point forward.

Below is the soldier's full statement to the public about the desire to publicly transition:

Subject: The Next Stage of My Life

I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.

As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.

Thank you,

Chelsea E. Manning

Speaking on TODAY, Manning's attorney David Coombs said Manning will begin hormone therapy.

"The stress that he was under was mostly to give context to what was going on at the time," said Coombs. "It was never an excuse because that's not what drove his actions. What drove his actions was a strong moral compass."

How will the Army deal with this, as Manning heads to prison--likely Ft. Leavenworth--to serve 35 years? Adam Klasfeld at Courthouse News wrote about the support for trans prisoners here, and updates that today. No one expects a supportive environment.

Snip from NBC News:

The Army responded to Manning's decision to seek hormone therapy with a statement.

"Inmates at the United States Disciplinary Barracks and Joint Regional Correctional Facility are treated equally regardless of race, rank, ethnicity or sexual orientation," the statement reads. "All inmates are considered soldiers and are treated as such with access to mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers and behavioral science noncommissioned officers with experience in addressing the needs of military personnel in pre- and post-trial confinement.

"The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder. The USDB has implemented risk assessment protocols and safety procedures to address high risk factors identified with the Prison Rape Elimination Act."

In the U.S. prison system, transgender prisoners who have not had genital surgery are generally assigned to live with their birth-sex peers, but the military policy is unclear.

On whether Manning will seek sexual reassignment surgery, Coombs said "I haven't really discussed that aspect with her. Really, it's more about getting the hormone therapy, so at this point I don't know the answer to that."

And from Klasfeld's piece today:

While a broad range of psychological treatment is available to all soldiers imprisoned at Ft. Leavenworth, hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery is not, spokeswoman Kimberly Lewis said in an interview. Referring to those policies, Coombs cryptically added, "I'm gonna change that."

Previously on Boing Boing:

• Bradley Manning expected to speak at trial today; email with female selfie released
• Was alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning's crisis also one of personal identity?
• Boing Boing's coverage archives of the Bradley Manning trial

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Here's a video clip compilation of different animals playing on a trampoline. Let's see, we have plenty of dogs, some cats, goats, foxes, and a buffalo. Yah, really. With the perfect music to accompany them. -via Tastefully Offensive

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has won a huge victory in its ongoing battle to turn over the rock of secret surveillance in the USA. A federal court has ordered the government to publish a 2011 opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in which the court held that the NSA's surveillance was unconstitutional and not in "the spirit of" federal law.

For almost two years, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court’s opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated “the spirit of” federal law.

Today, EFF can declare victory: a federal court ordered the government to release records in our litigation, the government has indicated it intends to release the opinion today, and ODNI has called a 3:00 ET press conference to discuss "issues" with FISA Amendments Act surveillance, which we assume will include a discussion of the opinion.

It remains to be seen how much of the opinion the government will actually make available to the public. President Obama has repeatedly said he welcomes a debate on the NSA’s surveillance: disclosing this opinion—and releasing enough of it so that citizens and advocates can intelligently debate the constitutional violation that occurred—is a critical step in ensuring that an informed debate takes place.

EFF Victory Results in Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional

This morning, I posted about a series of legal threats sent to TorrentFreak by Comcast's (creepy) enforcers Cyveillance. At the time I posted, TorrentFreak had less than 24 hours to resolve the issue before being booted off its webhost, and was unable to get anyone at Cyveillance or Comcast to answer its repeated emails.

Now, Comcast has changed its mind. Here's an email I just received:

Hi Cory - I saw your post and wanted to let you know this notice was sent in error, and we have advised TorrentFreak to disregard it. We apologize for any confusion. Will you update your post with this information? Thanks.

Jenni

Jenni Moyer

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

Network & Operations

One Comcast Center

Philadelphia, PA 19103

xxxxxxxxxx@comcast.com