Category Archives: PopCulture

FTRW 2010 – Hitler and the Public Domain

German copyright law grants an author copyright for 70 years after their death.  Hitler died in 1945 so that means “Mein Kampf” will enter the public domain in that country in 2015.  Or will it?    There is a well-known German law banning the dissemination of Nazi ideologies which was put in place after the […]

Friday Fun Link – Code Organ (February 19, 2010)

A web site that allows you to “play” the HTML of any web site.   This isn't as straight-forward as it sounds…The CodeOrgan analyses the “body” content of any web page and translates that content into music. The CodeOrgan uses a complex algorithm to define the key, synth style and drum pattern most appropriate to the […]

Friday Fun Link – Winter Olympics Begin (February 12, 2010)

Not sure if you heard but apparently the Wet & Rainy Olympics are in Canada this year and the opening ceremonies are tonight.  The Olympics are once again a lightning rod of controversy and having them on our own doorstep has perhaps brought this home in a way that doesn't happen when they're in Italy […]

What Is The Most Physically Beautiful Book You Own?

Not sure what my personal answer would be – maybe the print version of the Encylopedia of Saskatchewan?   It's a massive book that's beautifully designed with tons of photos, charts and highly readable entries.  Great for browsing.  (via Reddit)

Saturday Snap – RPL Joins SILS (from local CTV station)

Used a poor man's hack (point iPhone at TV) to get a clip from our local TV news about RPL joining our new province-wide consortium onto YouTube.  Sorry for the crappy sound…

FTRW 2010 – Friday Fun Link – List of Films That Most Frequently Use The Word "Fuck"

Looking for a good date movie?  I'm just kidding but this list of “Films That Most Frequently Use The Word 'Fuck'” does remind me of a funny anecdote from my youth.  A friend had introduced me to “Reservoir Dogs” soon after it came out on video and I quickly became a Tarantino junkie.  When I […]

FTRW 2010 – Nothing Warms The Heart Like The Call For A Good Book Burning

So many choice quotes in this article – unfortunately, you can't make this stuff up: “The row even spread to this year's Fourth of July parade, which included a float featuring a washing machine and a sign that read “keep our library clean.”“Outside West Bend, the fight caught the attention of Robert Braun, who, with […]

FTRW 2010 – Expanded Version of "The Diary of Anne Frank" Pulled From Classrooms in Virginia School

I think it's fair to say that the majority of the battles around Freedom of Expression are taking place in schools these days.  “The Diary of Anne Frank” is one of my favourite books of all-time and a book I probably first read when I was 12 or 13.  So in a world where all […]

FTRW 2010 – Music Monday – "I guess there's gotta be a break in the monotony/But jesus when it rains, how it pours."

It's February which means Freedom to Read Week is coming at the end of the month.  Every year, I try to do a few posts during that week to celebrate and draw attention to this important subject.  For the past year, I've been bookmarking various stories I've come across that I thought had potential for […]

The Invention of Lying – Mini-Review

We watched Ricky Gervais' “The Invention of Lying” tonight and it's a fairly subversive comedy in a thematic area that doesn't get a lot of attention from Hollywood.  The film's trailer made it look like a typical Hollywood gimmicky slug line = green light production.  You can imagine the pitch:  “It's like Jim Carrey's “Liar […]