Moore said after the premiere that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, a personal friend and supporter of the Clintons whose company financed the film, "begged" him to remove a scene exposing Hillary Clinton as the second-highest recipient of campaign donations from the health-care industry.
A blogger jumped on King's statement at the Library of Congress about the importance of reading in which he suggested poor readers have limited prospects, including service in the Army.
Chaplin made the film "The Great Dictator" in 1940. In 1952, hounded by Senator McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, Chaplin left the US. Shortly afterwards, his US citizenship was revoked, mostly due to the efforts of Hoover, who felt that Chaplin (and all of Hollywood) could never be allowed to make movies that portrayed government officials in a poor light.
Special permission from the US Government had to be obtained when Chaplin returned to the United States in 1972 to receive a special lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- M. R.
American films and TV dramas shot since the September 11 attacks have reinforced screen images of Arabs and Muslims as fanatics and villains, ingraining harmful stereotypes, argues an author on the subject.
Vilifying Arabs existed long before 9-11. And another racial stereotype Hollywood enforces is that all drug dealers are either blacks or hispanics. That is not real world.
The Recording Industry Association of America suffered a legal setback this week in a music piracy case where a judge ruled that the sole act of making a music file available in a "shared folder" does not violate copyright laws.
Streisand, who will be 66 on Thursday, was to perform a rendition of the Hebrew prayer Avinu Malkeinu, or "Our Father Our King."
She gave no reason for the cancellation, Peres' office said.
I've worked with Streisand and she is a very sharp lady, sharp enough to realize that the biggest threat to the safety of the world's Jewish people is the actions of the government of Israel. - M. R.
Well, as mentioned, they are now about to remake "Day" and they have searched the world over for a new timely message to expound upon. Is it that we still have too many people on this planet living in poverty? Is it that we still lamentably have regimes that use force and tyranny against their people? Is it that war is still all too common? Could these things be why the new "Day" film will posit that a powerful alien race wants to just erase humanity like a bad virus?
Nah. As far as the new "Day" movie goes, these powerful aliens are mad at us not because we are mean to each other, not because we might then bring that meanness with us into outer space. No, the important message that the Keanu Klaatu wants to bring us, the message that will warn us of an apocalyptic impending alien police action is....
Recently, the poll asked "As a parent, which would you find most offensive in a video game?" The results, as you can see to the right, found that more parents would be okay with cursing or even a severed head in video games over hetero-sex and "two men kissing." Yep, horrific violence just ain't so bad compared to two adult sharing a passionate moment together.
There is a joke in the motion picture industry that if you show a man kissing a woman's nipple it's an 'X' rating, but if that same man takes a knife and slices that nipple off, it's only an 'R'. Behind that humor lies something very revealing about our society. - M. R.
"It will be a different, a provocative masked ball on the ruins of the World Trade Centre," he told reporters before Saturday's premiere. "The naked stand for people without means, the victims of capitalism, the underclass, who don't have anything anymore."
Next time your favorite DJ tosses a promo CD from a UMG artist into the trash, he or she should be reminded that the music industry behemoth considers such disposal an "unauthorized distribution" that's tantamount to piracy.
I am starting to think that the real purpose of cases like this one is not to help the artists but merely to to provide welfare for all the surplus lawyers. - M. R.
Here's the deal. In a sample of 20,000 users, TiVo monitors traffic -- which contestants get replayed (a sign of popularity) and which one's get fast-forwarded.
You think it's bogus? Well, the TiVo system has nailed who got booted four weeks in a row.
And who does TiVo say is getting the ax tonight? Poor Syesha. Take it to the bank, people.
Can we get numbers for fast-forwarding through Bush's speeches? - M. R.
I got a lot of emails always asking if the show was coming back, and I was unable to answer before now, but it is official. Dog is shooting Season 5 right now here on Oahu and Maui. - M. R.
"Remember those pesky student attorneys from the University of Maine School of Law's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, who inspired the Magistrate Judge to suggest monetary fines against the RIAA lawyers? Well they're in the RIAA's face once again, and this time they're trying to shut down the RIAA's whole 'discovery' machine: the lawsuits it files against 'John Does' in order to find out their names and addresses.
Translation for Mike Rivero's Readers:
Tom Waits cover of "Brothrt can you spare a dime?, an emblematic song during the Depression. These are no news for those that have kept an eye on the things happening since the start of the Iraq War, the information bubble some have been living in has popped too, and as the Gimp said: "facts are a too obstinate thing".
Warner Music Group has proposed a $5/month music tax to be charged by ISPs for 24-hour access to high-quality music downloads:
I have a couple problems with this.
First, this system means that people who are not downloading music are forced to pay for those who do. That's socialism.
Second, with everyone forced to pay the same flat fee, there is no incentive to produce better music. The owners of the mp3 servers will just load them up with whatever crap they can find at the lowest cost, along with the theme songs for whatever films and TV shows they are peddling at the moment. Musicians who write politically challenging songs will never get heard because there the mechanism for audiences to support them by choosing to buy their music has been removed.
With everyone forced to pay for the mp3 services, there is less money for people to spend on their local small bands.
Thanks a lot, music pirates; you've screwed us all.
- M. R.
"Lest there be anyone left who believes the RIAA's propaganda that its litigation campaign is intended to benefit the 'creators' of the music, Hollywood Reporter reports that the RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties on song file downloads, from the present rate of 9 cents per song -- about 13% of the wholesale price -- down to 8% of wholesale. Meanwhile, the big digital music companies, such as Apple, want the royalty rate lowered even more, to something like 4% of wholesale. So any representations by any of these companies that they are concerned for the 'creators' of the music must henceforth be taken with a boxcar-load of salt."
INSTEAD..... Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will lead an orchestra of 33 young Israeli and Palestinians in Jerusalem Friday in what he called a concert "against ignorance and lack of curiosity" on both sides of the conflict.At a news conference Thursday in the concert hall of the YMCA on the Jewish side of the city, Barenboim said Friday's two performances, entitled "A concert for two peoples," will be the first time the young musicians have played together in public.
If I accurately picked up the basic plot of the show, average, freedom-loving citizens in the Western U.S. are fighting against tyrannical elements of their own government, including military forces. The State of Texas has declared its independence from the corrupt new government and another civil war is breaking out in America. And all this was predicated upon a nuclear attack, which some believed was an inside job. Am I close?
The plan--the boldest move yet to keep the wounded entertainment industry giants afloat--is simple: Consumers will pay a monthly fee, bundled into an internet-service bill in exchange for unfettered access to a database of all known music.
I see problems with this plan.
First, some of us don't walk around with iPods plugged into our ears all day long. Why should we pay?
Second, if payment is mandatory for all, there is no incentive to produce better music, no reason to work to please the audience, and over time the database will be filled up with whatever cheap crap the owners of the database can find.
- M. R.
Top comedian and actress Margaret Cho has joined Willie Nelson and Charlie Sheen in questioning the official 9/11 story, stating that the public were going to become very angry when they realized there was a conspiracy behind the terror attacks.
It is time for Americans to revisit Alan Shore's closing argument in this fictional tax evasion case.
This is the kind of television that Edward R. Murrow meant when he stated , "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." - M. R.
A lawsuit that accuses the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) of racketeering, fraud and illegal spying was revived Friday after a federal judge dismissed the case a month ago. An Oregon woman, Tanya Andersen, originally counter-sued the RIAA after she was served with notice of an RIAA lawsuit falsely alleging copyright infringement and demanding penalties. A judge tossed Anderson's first case, but her amended lawsuit, filed Friday in Oregon U.S. District Court, seeks to represent thousands of people in a class-action suit as attorneys claim they have been wrongly targeted for music piracy by the RIAA.
One of the allegations in the amended complaint will involve MediaSentry's status as a private investigator. "MediaSentry claims it is able to gain access to people's hard drives without their permission and collect information," notes Lybeck. "It's illegal because they're not licensed to do that work."
As co-owner of a company that produces content for commercial release, I have (and will continue) to support the rights of copyright owners against illegal copying.
That being said, I am finding it more difficult to support the RIAA itself, given that it is acting illegally, abusively, and worse still, not sharing the money recovered with the artists the RIAA purports to represent.
- M. R.
Having failed to stop piracy by suing internet users, the music industry is for the first time seriously considering a file sharing surcharge that internet service providers would collect from users.
In recent months, some of the major labels have warmed to a pitch by Jim Griffin, one of the idea's chief proponents, to seek an extra fee on broadband connections and to use the money to compensate rights holders for music that's shared online.
The Flashbulb (Benn Jordan) has been releasing albums for 14 years, the last 5 have included various commercial endeavors. The label deal he has is a 50/50 split, but he hasn't been seeing the money. Benn says he has no agreement with iTunes to sell his music, and many of his fans have told him they bought his music there. When he investigated the issue further, his label asked him to drop it, and his calls went unreturned.
Those us us with product at iTunes (such as my wife) are supposed to trust that iTunes is accurately reporting (and paying on) the total numbers of downloads. But in light of this story, how can anyone trust that iTunes is being honest! Maybe they are screwing every single artist!
Which makes it even harder to support the RIAA's anti-piracy crusade.
- M. R.
Godard and fellow owner-operators have been slammed by diesel fuel prices that reached record highs in many parts of the country on Friday. In San Antonio, diesel fuel soared to a new high of $3.64 a gallon, up 44 percent in a year's time, according to AAA.
The only way these truckers can cope is by passing the price on to their customers - which means passing the price on to you.
If you can possibly buy (and store) in bulk, now might not be a bad time to do it. - M. R.
Just one week ago french actress Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress, but this week the main stream media is looking to take her out of the picture.
... Marion Cotillard's questions are shared by millions from around the world, including Americans who are demanding answers. But they spin this story so far that we are literally watching them turn our questions about 9/11 into a Thought Crime.
The Telegraph reports that the actress is likely to face a backlash for questioning 9/11, and in the extended version the author Peter Allen goes even further. He is clever, declaring the official story TRUTH, and Marion Cotillard will be shunned for "openly" questioning "the truth," (implying that such things shouldn't be questioned at all).
When EMI, Universal Music and Warner music reached settlement agreements with the likes of Napster, KaZaA and Bolt, they collected hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation - money that was supposed to go to artists whose rights had been allegedly infringed upon when the networks were operating with unlicensed music.
Now, according to an article, the managers of some major artists are getting very impatient, as it appears the very people who were supposed to be compensated - the artists - havent received anything from the massive settlements. They say the cash - estimated to be as much as $400m - hasnt filtered through to their clients and understandably theyre getting very impatient.
The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.
Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when "The Departed" was named best picture.
I quit watching when the "Blue Ribbon Committee" threw "Stargate" out of the finalists.
- M. R.
The estate of "Lord of the Rings" creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company hasn't paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide.
Commenting on Spielbergs withdrawal, one wrote: Do you think you are a human rights warrior? Dont pretend to be great when in fact youre just creating publicity for yourself.
The writers' decided overwhelmingly in favor of ending the strike: 3,492 said yes, with only 283 voting to stay off the job. The number of guild members involved in the strike was 10,500, with countless other industry workers forced into unemployment because of the walkout.
We have a potential SAG strike looming this summer. This has been a crappy year for the film and TV industry.
- M. R.
Steven Spielberg has resigned as artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, in protest at China's failure to distance itself from genocide and human rights abuses in Darfur.
Steven, when will you protest genocide and human rights abuses in Palestine? - M. R.
Paris' film made just $25,000 in its opening weekend. I think "Plan 9 From Outer Space" just lost the "worst movie of all time" crown.
Normally, I would not waste precious WRH space on Paris, but I think this box office bomb underscores a point. Paris was a celebrity only insofar as the mainstream media made her one. The mainstream media in its usual arrogance assumed that if they declared Paris to be important to America, Paris would BE important to America.
On that score, both Paris and the mainstream media have utterly failed. Nobody is buying what the media is selling. $25,000 for an opening weekend, even for February (when the worst movies are released) is a disaster no matter how you look at it. Despite the opening paragraph of this article, the fact is that America is NOT buying Paris, or little of anything with Paris' brand on it.
In the age of the internet, people have realized that they decide for themselves what concerns them, and Paris and Brittney and Lindsey are nowhere near as important as a President who lied us all into a war and along the way trashed the economy. The girls cannot jiggle us out of that mess, therefore they are in the greater scheme of things, irrelevant.
- M. R.
The rather loathed RIAA, most recently infamous for pressuring Congress to pass the PRO-IP Act, has now turned its unwanted attention upon the very people the group ostensibly exists to protect. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The RIAA is now pressing to lower the royalty payments made to musicians and artists for music tracks sold via digital distribution. Though the actual artists who make the music are presently entitled to just 13% of wholesale, the RIAA thinks they should receive only 9%.
Many people that id meet at my shows would say that they bought my music on iTunes, yet Ive never signed any sort of agreement allowing iTunes to host my music, and Ive certainly never seen a dime of money for my albums hosted there.
So I started investigating the numbers from the label, which led me to some shocking revelations about how little the artist and label was getting in comparison to the retailers. When I got around to asking about iTunes, the owner of Sublight Records pleaded with me to leave it be. Everyone else made an extraordinary effort to ignore my calls and emails.
When I finally got a hold of the digital distributor (I must note that digital distributor is the most pathetic job title Ive ever heard), I was told that once the files are in the iTunes system, it literally couldnt be removed or taken down for a year. So, either Apple has created a self-aware doomsday machine that cannot be stopped or reasoned with, or everyone involved is just enjoying the gravy train of ripping off artists like myself and using Apples backbone of attorneys as an intimidation factor.
This is very alarming, because we know many artists (my wife included) who have albums at iTunes. WE keep hearing that the albums are being purchased, but somehow we never see any money for it. If Apple/iTunes were ripping off the musicians, that would be a scandal that would bring down the RIAA and justly so.
This does not justify stealing copies of music, but the same policy of honesty must apply to the music distribution companies. - M. R.
Expensive and error-prone digital tapes has forced BBC UK, one of the world's largest television broadcasters, to look at using computers running Linux to help produce its programs.
Actually, UNIX/LINUX has been a mainstay of computer animation and visual effects going back to the 80s. MACs and Windows systems are the "Newbies". :) - M. R.
American TV networks have lost almost a quarter of their audiences because of the Hollywood writers' strike, according to new figures, and executives fear that orphaned viewers may never return.
Don't worry, ABCNNBBCBS, we'll take good care of them here in the blogs.
Informal talks between representatives of Hollywoods striking writers and production companies have eliminated the major roadblocks to a new contract, which could lead to a tentative agreement as early as next week, according to people who were briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.
Problem is we are looking at another strike by SAG in June. - M. R.
American TV networks have lost almost a quarter of their audiences because of the Hollywood writers' strike, according to new figures, and executives fear that orphaned viewers may never return.
Every year Lost starts off with a bang -- both in terms of content and viewers. But since season two, the number of viewers that stick it out the rest of the season has steadily declined. Now with the Writers' Guild of America's strike limiting the number of fictional shows out there, will a larger audience, desperate for some escapism, stick around?
A nationwide pediatricians' group wants ABC to cancel the first episode of a new television series, saying it perpetuates a myth that vaccines can cause autism.
The episode of the drama "Eli Stone" features a courtroom battle over a claim that a flu vaccine made a child autistic. When it's revealed that an executive at the fictional vaccine maker didn't let his own child get the shot, the jury sides with the family.
Gosh, there's a crazy idea. Hollywood as some unwitting false-flag marketing tool of a crypto-fascist government! Ha ha ha ha... 'unwitting'. I crack myself up.
Once you see Tom Cruise in this video describing how his Scientology cult must eliminate all opposition you can judge for yourself if the description of the video as maniacal is accurate
Hackers have apparently broken into the RIAA website.
Now, normally, I would be critical of the hackers, and while I work in the entertainment industry and support the rights of copyright holders, in this case the RIAA brought it on themselves.
Content theft is a moral issue, not a technological one. The creators of a work have a right to control who gets copies and to sell those copies to earn their living. The RIAA should have kept the problem of content theft in a moral paradigm, but it is hard to convince kids that stealing copies of videos and music is a big deal when we have a President who has stolen Iraq (not to mention our civil rights).
So, the RIAA decided upon a technological approach to the problem, surrendered the moral high ground, and turned the whole matter into a cyber-dick measuring contest, which they were fated to lose simply because they are outnumbered.
So, tough noogies RIAA. By lacking the courage to take a moral stand during an immoral time, you screwed yourselves. - M. R.
Stallone gently puts things into perspective, "The phrase politically correct is basically a euphemism for bold face lying because unfortunately, lies keep society functioning." That is what is going on in America today, and Stallone goes even further, "The day we have our politicians actually tell us the real truth, wed have anarchy in the streets. So were told what they think will pacify the masses."
s the writers' strike cuts deep, thousands of people who rely on LA's entertainment industry face financial ruin. And the city which has already lost $1.4bn may now lose the Oscars.
The economy is bad enough without the people who HAVE the jobs refusing to work.
- M. R.
ABC Studios has cancelled nearly two dozen production contracts, claiming force majeure (a clause in contracts covering events or circumstances beyond the control of one or both of the parties). According to the Hollywood newspaper Variety, this signifies a 25 percent reduction in ABCs roster.
Nothing has been announced, but Variety is reporting that the last two major studios backing HD DVD NBC Universal and Paramount are opening the door for a switch to Blu-ray. These studios have commitments to release some discs this year in HD DVD, but both have ended their exclusive commitment to that format, which is backed by a group led by Toshiba.
United Artists, the independent production unit of MGM controlled by actor Tom Cruise and his producer partner, Paula Wagner, is expected to become the first movie company to reach an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America, enabling the recent start-up to hire union writers despite the continuing strike.
Sure to delight movie studio chiefs and producers everywhere, the striking Writers Guild of America is about to be struck by its own downtrodden employees.
To some music lovers, the fact that Josh Groban's Noel was the highest-selling album of 2007 is all the proof they need that major-label music is dying. To shareholders and label execs, though, the numbers are more important, and the numbers are grim: music sales are down 21 percent this Christmas season.
I have one insight to share. The slump has nothing to do with piracy but with burnout.
I think the problem for the recording industry is that too much music is sold by image-sale rather than the quality of the music itself, and owning the latest hippest CD has just plain gone out of fashion.
The other problem is burn out. There is too much music in our everyday life. Music in the elevators. Music at the mall. Music on hold. Music between the commercials on the radio. It's stopped being an enjoyable punctuation to life and just become part of the background din, and eventually people's ears burn out. They hear the music, but they no longer listen. And nobody buys a CD of something they know they will not listen to. - M. R.
The Hollywood propaganda machine never sleeps. With the advent of television and Murdochmedia, people forget that it was Hollywood who for generations indoctrinated Americans about the nobility of Americas Manifest Destiny and the sanctity of US military actions.
For Jan Melia, appearing on Channel 4's Wife Swap affected her life so badly that she felt compelled to move on from her native Nottingham to live in Belfast, with her husband Ollie, 42, a sound engineer, and children Dino, 17, Finn, 15, and 12-year-old Albie.
Jan, 43, says she was portrayed on the programme as little more than trailer trash and is still in dispute with the show.
Unfortunately, record company executives don't love music, they love record sales; and quiet music doesn't grab peoples attention as much as louder music. If your track is louder on the radio without the listener having to turn their volume knob up, people are more likely to notice it; and the thinking goes, more likely to buy it.
So starting in about 1989, when digital tools to do so with less distortion became available; record companies started having engineers pump the loudness up.
In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
The RIAA just destroyed what little public sympathy they had. - M. R.
The irony for the writers involved in setting up the new ventures is that at the core of the current dispute is the question of how to reimburse writers for work that is distributed on the internet.
Taking a quote out of context is one thing, lying about a quote is quite another issue. The infamous gossip columnists with the aid of their paparazzi entourage have ruined many a successful career with their rantings....
The latest 'would be' victim was Will Smith, popular actor. His statement of "Everyone is basically good", along with... "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, "let me do the most evil thing I can do today," came out as 'hitler was a good guy'.....
Politicians beware: Parody is returning. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will resume production on Jan. 7 without their striking writers, the Comedy Central network announced Thursday.
If anyone from the Daily Show or Colbert reads this website ... help yourself.
- M. R.
Animation has its wall, much like the sound barrier -- difficult to get past, but theoretically possible. It happens when our 3D-animated humans start to look too real. You'd think the more real a character looked, the more believable it would be, but just the opposite is true -- to a point. Before you reach the threshold of believability, you have to travel through the "Uncanny Valley."
Nice to see that Final Fantasy is still the benchmark! :)
- M. R.
The strike was expected to be a fight over pay formulas. But the writers have turned it into an epic struggle to force the media conglomerates who control the entertainment industry into ceding some of that control to the workers.
Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, about the unhealthy state of healthcare in the United States, has made the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' shortlist for an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
It gets my vote!
If you have not seen this film, see it while it is available on pay-per-view.
- M. R.
Hawaiian Wal-Marts have agreed to stop selling DVDs of the movie ''Superbad'' whose packaging includes fake Hawaii driver's licenses.
The plastic cards were included as a promotional gimmick to recall a key scene from the summer's raunchy sex comedy, in which a teenager uses a fake Hawaii license while attempting to buy alcohol in another state.
Here's what we hear from what we believe has truly become the Viacom sweatshop. (One Viacom permalancer estimates that almost 50% of the staff are contract workers at this point.) A 50-hour workweek will now be standard, at least at MTV Digital (which means no overtime until after 50 hours, and no overtime at all for higher-level people, like producers and segment producers), and all will go from a day rate to an hourly rate. Healthcare, which was offered to permalancers after a staggering year of service, will now be offered only to employees who have worked 1,280 hours (25 of those 50-hour workweeks) in any one division. And that's the catch: Get transfered, as often happens, from VH1 to MTV or the like, and you start over on that clock.
CNN has been running this story all morning long, about how Miss Puerto Rico may have lied about being attacked with Pepper Spray. Yes, the biki9ni shots are nice, but I wonder where is the equivalent coverage of the fact that Bush has been caught lying AGAIN about weapons of mass destruction in a nation he clearly wants to invade. - M. R.
It seems that what Annapolis failed to do in uniting the two peoples that live here, Elvis continues to do with his charm. If it helps to bring us all together, I'm for it!
Immortalized in Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
NBC late night host Carson Daly, who today announced that he is returning to the air in the face of the ongoing writers strike, wants his friends and family to help with his scab efforts. In an e-mail, Daly asked a small group of contacts to call in "suggested jokes" to a telephone hotline, noting that he would "play some, most, or all of your jokes on the air."
This would be great news for the entertainment industry, which has been losing money hand over fist since the strike started four weeks ago. Also, all of the shows that are affected by the strike are almost out of new episodes, and you won't believe how crappy television can be until you're watching all reality and game shows 24/7.
No, Jerry Seinfeld didn't say that at all, but he might as well have. He was in Israel over the weekend to promote a new movie of his.... without saying a word about the political situation here.
This is the first time the writers' union has been to the negotiating table since the strike began in early November. The writers' union is seeking more compensation for the use of their work in new media, primarily the internet and new cell phone technology.
One rumor I am hearing from a writer's lawyer in Los Angeles is that the writer's union is ready to reduce their demands on those key issues. On the other side, FOX TV is dominating Prime Time while the strike goes on because FOX has all the top reality shows which do not need writers, while the competition at the other networks are into re-runs. So count on FOX to do everything they can to drag things out. - M. R.
Despite top-notch casts and generally favorable reviews, war-themed films like "Lions for Lambs," "In the Valley of Elah" and "Redacted" aren't attracting moviegoers, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Dear movie studios.
Kindly download a clue.
The Movie-going public is well-aware of how Hollywood has pimped wars in the past, and they have climbed those same stairs too many times with you.
The public will spend money on what they want, and right now what they want are movies about how we all got lied into these wars.
I would be happy to serve as a technical consultant for any such projects you might have under consideration.
- M. R.
Without the writers, there won't be any new shows. Without any new shows, there won't be anything to watch on TV except reruns and reality shows. There is only so much of "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" that I can take before I want to shoot my brains out. I'm begging the writers to reach some kind of agreement. If they don't resolve this strike, I might be forced to do something productive. I might have to read a book or something. Now that's scary.
You can always come visit whatreallyhappened.com.
We're not on strike here!
- M. R.
Television is a thief. It robs the human spirit of creativity, achievement, originality and motivation. The brain becomes passive and the intellect dull.
Unlike what happens when you read blogs like this, which stimulate reasoning and logic. - M. R.
Millions of American families are watching 'summer re-runs' in the winter. This was unheard of until this past week when the writers in Hollywood 'hit the bricks' for the first time in twenty years.
Highly successful artists have started abandoning albums as a way to make money. They are now giving away their music for free. Instead of selling albums, they are concentrating on building their fan bases, putting out quality art, and making their bread through touring and merchandising.
The RIAA did it to themselves with their adversarial approach to the problem of illegal copying. In the end, it is a moral, not a technical problem, and in a nation where we all see the President lying us into wars of conquest, it is hard to convince kids that copying a file is any big deal. By moving the issue into a technical context, the RIAA lost the moral high ground.
A day after Hollywood's writers went out on strike, the major studios are hitting back with plans to suspend scores of long-term deals with television production companies, jeopardizing the jobs of hundreds of rank-and-file employees whose names never appear in the credits.
Television bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, who had his reality show taken off the air after getting caught using a racial slur, will not be extradited to Mexico to face a pending appeal of kidnapping charges against him, a judge ruled Monday.
According to witnesses, the driver got out of the vehicle and began threatening to run over anyone who didn't get out of his way. Witnesses said he then got back in the car and drove forward, hitting Johnson.
The law is that a picket line may not block the entrances to a studio or location. This does not excuse the driver, of course, but the studios have already sent out memos that non-writers who do not show up for work may be fired. - M. R.
This is going to be my last article about Dog, the Bounty Hunter. The last several days I have sorted through a flood of angry and oft times abusive emails, denouncing me for failing to denounce Dog to the politically correct degree for a comment he made in private. And as I waded through this flood of venom, the one question that kept coming to my mind was where was all this righteous anger when President Bush lied us all into wars of conquest?
A source close to the network, who asked that he not be quoted because he had no authority to release the information, said A&E has not made a final decision to cancel the show permanently.
Dog Chapman has been captured spewing foul-mouthed racist slurs on a tape obtained exclusively by The NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
And now a civil rights leader is calling for Dog's TV show to be removed from the airwaves.
A&E has just announced that production on the show is halted pending an investigation.
Duane has issued a statement, linked below. - M. R.
"A&E has just learned of the story released by the National Enquirer concerning Duane Dog Chapman. We take this matter very seriously. Pending an investigation, we have suspended production on the series. When the inquiry is concluded, we will take appropriate action."
Michael Feeney
Senior Vice President
AETN Corporate Communications
Halle Berry has learned the hard way that off-the-cuff ethnic jokes don't play in Peoria. The swelling-bellied beauty is doing damage control after a comic bit went awry during her appearance last week on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."
"The REFLECTING POOL," the first narrative movie to question the offical version of the 9/11 events, will have its World Premiere at the 22nd Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Saturday, November 3
9:00 PM
Cinema Paradiso Theatre
Fort Lauderdale
Florida
The theatre is located in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale at 503 SE 6th St, on the south side of the New River, one block East of the Broward County Courthouse.
Also, I just noticed something. At forty seconds there is a photo of George Bush with a band-aid on his face. The adhesive strip at the top is stuck to his hair! No real medic would do that. Is the band-aid a prop? - M. R.
De Palma's film, "Redacted," is based on the true story of a group of U.S. soldiers who raped and killed a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered members of her family. It has stunned audiences for its shocking images and rattled American conservative commentators before its U.S. opening next month.
Although the reason for the raid on the 51-year-olds property has not yet been confirmed, the Las Vegas Review Journal claims that it is related to an allegation of sexual misconduct outside the United States, citing as its source an anonymous person with knowledge of the investigation.
Gee, I wonder what my David Copperfield autographed poster is worth on eBay NOW! :)
- M. R.
I would never wish to badmouth a fellow member of the Magic Castle, especially one who gave me an autographed poster from his Statue of Liberty show, but there have always been colorful rumors about David ... :) - M. R.
In what has to be one of the most outrageous verdicts ever recorded in America, without a shred of hard evidence, judge Michael J. Davis virtually instructed the jury to find Jamie Thomas guilty of copyright infringe
