Amazing Expanding Table

Don't you wish you had invented this?

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 4:56 PM | 0 comments

¡Oye Chamaco!

I'm always fascinated by the question of how translators manage translating a joke or situation that involves a reference to the target translation language. For example, on the Simpsons, in Spanish translations, Bumblebee Man speaks gibberish instead of Spanish (I'm told). And on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which Xander dreams people are telling him important information in French, I listened to the French translation, and it seemed to me the French was swapped for Russian.

So, today's FoxTrot (which I receive in email, in both English and Spanish, because I'm a GEEK that way):

Where the English indicates that Peter thinks he's in the Land of Giant Burritos by having him speak Spanish, the Spanish needs to get more clever to create the same impression, so it adds the word "chamaco" ("kid"), which appears to be specifically a Mexican Spanish word. So it's sort of the equivalent of indicating a visit to the Land of Haggis with "Where am I, laddie?"

Mind you, Justin tells me that burritos were actually invented in San Francisco, but humor doesn't have to be accurate to be funny.

So, a question to any native Spanish speakers reading this, is the Spanish version funny? Is my explanation of the joke correct? Does it work as well as the English version?

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 5:24 PM | 0 comments

I'm not about posting videos, but...

This one was too good NOT to post:


Thanks to my old friend deweyeyed for passing this on to me today via IM.

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 10:19 PM | 0 comments

Do-It-Yourself Cat and Girl

If you've ever wanted to make a webcomic but can't draw, I have just the thing for you. The erudite yet funny Dorothy Gambrell has posted this do-it-yourself Cat and Girl creation set.

Maybe you have to be a fan of Cat and Girl to really enjoy this...

Anyway, here's what I wrote. Funny? You like? Is my reference in the last panel too obscure?

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 10:58 PM | 0 comments

Ring ring ring...

This is one of the funniest things I've read in a while.

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 11:36 PM | 0 comments

What to do with do cell phones

I just read this article from the New York Times. Very interesting. Basically, if you have old cell phones around the house, you can sell them. Cell phones and other electronics are the sort of thing that it's best to avoid putting in landfills — so basically you can help the environment and get rid of your phone, too.

The Times provides a few useful links, too, including www.ripmobile.com, www.cellforcash.com, www.oldcellphone.com, and www.phonefund.com.

File this under "useful information".

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 6:25 PM | 0 comments

Ozymandias meets Dorothy Gambrell

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said — "two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ... near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

One of my favorite online comics is Dorothy Gambrell's Cat and Girl (www.catandgirl.com). Gambrell has a keen eye for over-educated urban hipster culture. Her humor reminds me of college at the University of Chicago.

Today's literary-minded installment makes reference to Shelley's poem, as we look at Cat's mundane accomplishments.

Which reminds me that somewhere in Providence I have a little league trophy, three swimming medals, and two trophies for French.

Labels: neat stuff

posted by Tony at 1:28 PM | 0 comments