foley artists or lyre, lyre pants on fire

Via Marginal Revolution, with just a short voice sample a Canadian start-up company is claiming it can make one with advanced speech synthesising technology appear to say anything.
One could only imagine the nefarious applications quickly outpacing whatever prestige projects or continuity solutions that this service could deliver and thus contributing to the general disdain and distrust for journalism and the tabloidisation of the profession. Being able to quote a source just became a lot more questionable and fraught with doubt, but the potential drawbacks seem to wither compared to their benefits when one indulges in a performance of the eponymous lyrebird of Australia unparalleled mimicry, pitch-perfect for everything from individual human voices to the mechanical recoil of cameras advancing, makes it worthwhile.

arbitration, vendetta

Last week the Turkish diaspora residing in Germany rather incredulously appeared to vote against their self-interests by helping to garner a bald majority in favour of the referendum to imbue the office of the presidency with executive powers.
Ahead of the plebiscite, relations between the two countries strained to the breaking point when German municipalities refused to grant permission for campaign rallies due to concern for public safety. Now that the first resolution has passed an addendum is to follow but this time Germany as a federal republic (not just a venue for a political junket) and as a proponent for human rights would be legally able and morally obligated to block Turkish expatriates from participation in ballots that would involve the reinstatement of capital punishment on German soil—prohibiting set up of voting booths or embassy outreach programmes that would decide this issue that represents a very slippery slope once the recourse is brought back and antithetical to Germany and European Union membership.

worth 1000

Messy Nessy Chic interviews Leipzig transplant and surreal photographer Frank Herfort now capturing the ambiance of post-Soviet public spaces and shares the story behind some of the striking images. This picture gave me the impression of a deleted scene from Twin Peaks and the explanation—while not unsettling—is anything but mundane. Peruse a whole gallery of his works at the links above and discover more jarring juxtapositions that those part of the shot don’t seem to regard as unusually photophilic but are nonetheless content to be part of the composition.

chocolate cake

In a last minute mad dash to at least keep the lights on for a few more days, the US legislature passed what’s known as Continuing Resolution, a stop gap, kicking the can appropriations measure that keeps the American federal government funded for another week.  A few days from now, we’ll be witnessing the same histrionics, except afforded more time for debate that probably translates to neither side finding a point of compromise—and, ironically, the US government will close up shop for Cinco de Mayo over among other items, a border wall. Remember the Alamo—that was some beautiful chocolate cake.  Regardless of the outcome, we are only speaking of funding the government through the end of the fiscal year, 30 September, and after that the stakes get much higher.