Soon after the Supreme Court’s D.C. vs. Heller decision came down, the ACLU of Nevada became the first ACLU affiliate to officially support an individual right to bear arms. (The national ACLU still contends that it is a collective not individual right.) This has always been a controversial issue within the organization, leading to the joke: “How does an ACLU member count to 10? 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.”

David Weinberger mostly puts into words what I felt about Wall-E , which I enjoyed and respected greatly, but felt was still constrained by what I call “the Pixar tone.” Unlike David, I’m not put off by it being “another damn kids story,” as I think Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are all superior to the entire Pixar oeuvre. While Wall-E showed the most promise yet of Pixar breaking out of its tonal formula, it was still mired in the admittedly funny but tired wink-wink jokes that pretty much all mainstream computer animated films trade in.

Channel 4 in the United Kingdom has fastidiously replicated the soundstage of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining -- with recreated sets, props, and lookalike actors – for a 65-second commercial about upcoming broadcasts of the director’s films. Even the bear/dog/walrus costume makes an appearance. (thx, jmd)

David Weinberger mostly puts into words what I felt about Wall-E, which I enjoyed and respected greatly, but felt was still constrained by what I call “the Pixar tone.” Unlike David, I’m not put off by it being “another damn kids story,” as I think Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are all superior to the entire Pixar oeuvre. While Wall-E showed the most promise yet of Pixar breaking out of its tonal formula, it was still mired in the admittedly funny but tired wink-wink jokes that pretty much all mainstream computer animated films trade in.

Channel 4 in the United Kingdom has fastidiously replicated the soundstage of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining – with recreated sets, props, and lookalike actors – for a 65-second commercial about upcoming broadcasts of the director’s films. Even the bear/dog/walrus costume makes an appearance. (thx, jmd)

Lawrence Lessig has a well-reasoned and balanced response to the left’s reaction to Obama’s recent FISA vote. I left my own thoughts in a comment yesterday.

You must absolutely read this fascinating account by a lawyer suing the U.S. Government for disregarding FISA in its electronic surveillance program. Usually, these cases die before they begin because the plaintiffs can’t prove that they were surveilled without revealing State secrets, but in this case the government mistakenly released a document proving that the plaintiffs were wiretapped outside of FISA. This leads to a fascinating look into the legal process of fighting illegal wiretaps:

In June of 2007, the DOJ attorneys filed two opening briefs in the 9th Circuit. One brief was publicly available, to which we would be allowed to file a publicly available responsive brief. The other was filed in secret, under seal, for the judge’s eyes only. The bad news for us was that we would not be permitted to see the government’s secret brief; the (sort of) good news was that we could file our own secret brief in response. Rebutting arguments you’ve not been allowed to see is a talent that isn’t taught in law school.

Straight outta Kafka.

A two-month-old video of Neal Stephenson giving a talk at Gresham College on “Science Fiction versus Mundane Culture.”

Spotted last night at the recently opened Whole Foods in Reno: Governor Gibbons shopping with his former Playboy model girlfriend. In 2004, I encountered Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, and one of their children shopping in an upscale Malibu boutique, so I’ve now run into both the Nevada and California governors during “family” time.

For the 4th of July, The Big Picture offers up high-resolution biographical photographs of both Barack Obama and John McCain.

This post is really only for my Tufts University fellow alums, but I just found out that two employees were indicted for embezzling a combined $1 million from the Office of Student Activities. Since I was the chair of Tufts Film Series during the tenure of one of the employees (Jodie Nealley), it’s possible my very own budget was being dipped into. How weird. (thx, jbg)

Researchers funded by the Air Force have been able to successfully photograph an object using quantum entanglement, pointing the camera at the light source rather than at the object itself. Says the Air Force Times:

Air Force satellites could use ghost imaging by pointing a light sensor toward the Earth’s surface and another toward the sun. The technique could allow the service to penetrate clouds or the smoke that follows airstrikes.

Nearly all of the lost footage of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has been found in Buenos Aires, Argentina. More than 25% of the 1927 German film – set in an urban and futuristic dystopia – had been thought to have been irrevocably lost, but once the discovered pieces have been restored, a nearly complete version will be released. (via aicn)

Two guys programmed The Rocka-fire Explosion, the animatronic band for Showbiz Pizza (later Chuck E Cheese’s), to perform Usher’s “Love in this Club.” Here’s a video of their performance. As a kid, I used to go the Showbiz in southwest Michigan all the time – the gorilla keyboardist was my favorite. (thx, jesse)

Roger Ebert reviews Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will in his “Great Movies” series, coming to the conclusion that it’s not so great, at least in his usual sense:

It is a terrible film, paralyzingly dull, simpleminded, overlong and not even “manipulative,” because it is too clumsy to manipulate anyone but a true believer. It is not a “great movie” in the sense that the other films in this group are great, but it is “great” in the reputation it has and the shadow it casts… I doubt that anyone not already a Nazi could be swayed by it.

Rare cloud formations.

According to Al Billings, who received an advanced reader copy of Anathem , Neal Stephenson’s upcoming new novel, the book came with a CD of seven musical tracks with titles like “Proof Using Finite Projective Geometry” and “Sixteen Color Prime Generating Automation.” Writes Al:

[F]rankly, this is some weird shit… The musical styles are all over the map except that they all only use human voices (and occasionally hands).

I wonder if they are algorithmic compositions of some sort. I’m once again anxious to read the next 1,000 page Stephenson novel.

According to Al Billings, who received an advanced reader copy of Anathem, Neal Stephenson’s upcoming new novel, the book came with a CD of seven musical tracks with titles like “Proof Using Finite Projective Geometry” and “Sixteen Color Prime Generating Automation.” Writes Al:

[F]rankly, this is some weird shit… The musical styles are all over the map except that they all only use human voices (and occasionally hands).

I wonder if they are algorithmic compositions of some sort. I’m once again anxious to read the next 1,000 page Stephenson novel.