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Contradiction, or saving face? The FCC has ruled that ABC did not violate indecency rules when it broadcast Saving Private Ryan. So graphic violence and language is ok when it comes to war, but everything else is fair game. Gotcha.
Actually, I hope they rebroadcast Schindler's List. The Holocaust was a very important part of our history, and that movie is another perfect example of the atrocities of war and the things people will do to survive.
Actress who breastfed an Apple - worst joke ever!
Foreign Film: It goes to... The Sea Inside El Mar Adentro. Now I really need to see it.
The man, Sam Jackson, is presenting Original Screenplay. Sunshine should win and finally the Aviator does not win something. Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind wins, and I wish Jim Carrey had been nominated. I swear he's been snubbed too many times.
Best Actor: Cheadle, he was so good in this, and the movie was powerful. Depp, I love him. I'm glad he's being recognized. DiCaprio, he's just good, but I still see "I'm the King of the World!" Eastwood, haven't seen it but I here he's good. Foxx, he's the favorite, and it could be an upset.
Jamie Foxx wins. Yayness. Can I just say I've loved him since "In Living Color" Aww, he thanked his daughter. And damn, that man loved his grandmother. Ohh, I'm going to cry. That was so sweet.
Julia Roberts had twins? She looks nice. She's presenting Best Director, and Aviator lost to Million Dollar Baby. How upsetting. Scorcesse deserved the Oscar.
Best Picture: My pick is Aviator. Million Dollar Baby wins. ::pout:: The only pleasure I get from this is how upset all the disability activists are going to be. They obviously don't get movies.
I haven't heard any of them except for Lemony Snicket, which I love, and it didn't win.
Back to Beyonce. She has an amazing voice. That has been established, but the duet is beyond disturbing. Why oh why must she sing like that. There's no meshing, just warbling.
Best Song: Motorcycle Diaries. And the original singer sings the song as his acceptance speech. Maybe next time the Academy will allow the original singers to perform their songs. It won't be such a train wreck.
Best Actress: Hilary Swank wins. Annette Benning deserved an Oscar, and they're cutting her off. Funny.
Hands down, Beyonce has a gorgeous voice and she made "Learn to be Lonely" sound beautiful. But what I really want to know is was that Gerard Butler or some no name dressed as Phantom. I swear the blood started to warm.
Cinematography is next. House of Flying Daggers deserves it, but Aviator just won. This doesn't mean it will win Best Picture.
Oh, that's Terminator music, and I'm such a geek for knowing it.
Sound Mixing is next. Spiderman 2 is nominated, but so is Aviator. Salma didn't say what movie won, but thankfully a little banner showed up and Ray was the movie. That's rather fitting. Hmm...I wonder who speaks better English, Salma or Cruz. Incredibles wins.
Banderas is going to sing now instead of the original singer. It's the first song nominated in Spanish for an Oscar. Now see, Banderas looks so much better with the hair down rather than in some ponytail that is not flattering, especially when he's standing next to that she-he pretending to be his wife.
Is Rock trying to make a statement that African Americans don't watch good movies, just bad ones?
I love the bit with Edna, and Brad Bird does her voice. All the costumes are excellant in this category. Aviator is going to win...oh my god Brad Pitt... and yes I was right. Aviator wins and deserves it. So much about that movie just clicked.
Alright, Rock is just not funny. It's excruciating.
Best Supporting Actress. Cate Blanchett deserves to win. She was amazing as Hepburn. I loved Linney in Kinsey. Madsen's performance was subtle, and wow she's a favorite. Sophie's perormance was heartbreaking in Hotel Rwanda, and Natalie Portman was great in Closer. I've seen all these films!
Cate wins.
Nice little Carson tribute.
Now Leo is presenting Best Documentary. Born into Brothels wins. I was so sure Super Size Me would win just because of the controversy, but apparently not.
Dunst's hair looks amazing, and now she's presenting editing with Bloom. Aviator wins again. It's going to be a sweep.
Counting Crows just sang their nominated song and the lead singer sounded flat. It was rather bad. Maybe nerves got to him? It wouldn't be the first time. I remember when Madonna bombed "You Must Love Me."
Adapted Screenplay: Before Sunset - I loved, loved it. Sideways should win. OH YEAH Sideways wins!!!!!! Finally, it wins something.
By the way, the whole Catherine Zeta Jones bit, amusing but I bet it could have been better if Sandler had adlibbed. Rock is depressing me.
Now Jake and Zi are presenting visual effects. It's between Potter and Spiderman 2. Spiderman 2 should get it because it was amazing, and it does! I'm sad it wasn't recognized for more awards, but at least it received something this year. Bring on the well written, acted, directed Marvel movies.
The president of the Academy introduces Al Pacino. Are we already at honorary Oscars? This is going by fast.
Why couldn't he have hosted the Oscars!!!
Incredibles should win for best animated film. Yay, and so it does. I hung up on my mother to listen to Williams and this category. It also goes to show that Pixar is a powerhouse for its animation and its storytelling. What will Disney do without it.
Cate Blanchett is presenting makeup from the audience. Pretty dress. Lemony Snicket wins.
Now it's the first original song. I guess using a major recording artist to sing the songs is the network's way to draw more viewers. I think it's sad. I'd rather hear the original performers.
The Bush/Gap analogy was hysterical. I'm surprised how lowkey he is yet odly funny. I've seen better, but he's no David Letterman.
They're presenting art direction now, and they have all the nominees on the stage. I like Lemony Snicket, and I'm wondering, isn't humiliating to have all the nominees on stage?
Aviator wins. Does the sweep begin?
Supporting Actor is next. Clive Owen. Come on. Come on. Alan Alda was good, and Thomas was such a bastard in Sideways. I have to see Collateral. I just got it on Netflix. Hmm...Morgan, this is a tough one. Come on Clive!!!
Ugh!! Morgan deserved the Oscar though I haven't seen the movie, and oh, he gets a standing ovation. Next year, Clive.
Beyonce: Amazing! Melissa is obsessed with cleavage.
Not so crazy about Hilary Swank's dress. It's a cross between grandma and classy.
Dear God, Antonio Banderas looks like he's been bitch smacked too many times by Melanie's breast implants. That hair! Ugh.
I'll be liveblogging the Oscars for most of the evening tonight barring any natural disasters. I have my favorites, and as is customary, I haven't seen all the nominated films. Though it does put me at a disadvantage next to my little brother, I've predicted the winner more times than him. Titanic, anyone? ::smiles sweetly::
This is of course Clive Owens' night, and my fingers are crossed for The Incredibles. And of course it wouldn't be the Oscars without the fashion.
The Sci-fi channel has placed the first episode of the new version of Battlestar Galactica online, uncut, commercial free, with deleted scenes. Not only is this a gripping, excellant episode, it's also very brave of Sci-fi to do this. Many people with fast net connections use the internet to find episodes they might have missed, or introduce themselves to new ones. Sci-fi gets it. Battlestar Galactica is must see tv. I just hope they change the theme song for season 2 because this one is so drab. The UK version was so much better!
Via Slashdot
I can dream, can't I? And if he should happen to streak the Oscar crowd as he accepts his golden statute for that brilliant performace in Closer, we won't see it because ABC will be implementing a 7 second delay on the live telecast. Anything the network deems inappropriate will be censored, and yet the host is Chris Rock. Want to bet he takes advantage of this?
Our good friends, the MPAA, filed a bunch of lawsuits yesterday against nameless individuals for downloading movies. People, do you not realize that you're costing the industry billions of dollars by downloading these less than perfect files. That's why they're charging you $150,000 per file. Download three or four and they have enough to finance another movie.
Do I see reformat trouble in the future? Since it involves Bill Gates, maybe.
XP SP2 arrived five weeks ahead of schedule. I have a site design job on the horizon, which requires Photoshop, and that in turn means I need a functional laptop.
I hate reformats. Apart from the fact that I almost always forget to backup something, Microsoft will make me call them before I can succesfully use my laptop to full capacity. This does not make a happy Yazzy.
Starting Feb. 28, Microsoft's product security will require that customers who need to reinstall their operating system call a customer service representative to get a code that will reactivate their Windows XP system. New systems shipped from the top 20 PC makers... will be preactivated...
Hmm... so maybe I'm not screwed. Everyone else is.
"To reduce the illegal trafficking of these OEM product keys, Microsoft will 'disable' the ability to activate these direct OEM Product Keys over the Internet," the memo stated. "When a customer or reseller tries to activate using a Product Key found on the list of 'disabled' keys, the online product activation wizard will instruct them to call Microsoft, where a customer service representative can assist them further."The customer representative will ask several questions, such as where the person bought the Windows XP system, to find out whether the certificate is authentic, the representative said.
Let me see, Best Buy owns me. My name is Yasmín, and I'm a 27 year old female law graduate with an interest in civil rights and civil liberties.
How exactly do they cross reference? Anyone can steal information. Anyone can hack XP to make it work. All Microsoft is doing is making its customer base feel more uncomfortable, and frankly it's the wrong move.
One side of my family believes in conspiracies. Someone somewhere paid that official to make something not work. It just had to happen that way! Which is why I'm not surprised to hear that HP's pocket-gouging ink cartridges have chips that expire after a certain number of months. And here I thought Salinas paid off Ashcroft to break my printer.
Now the question remains. If there is to be a class action lawsuit, where will it be brought, and how?
You've seen the advertisements proclaiming "No more late fees" as the poor Blockbuster staffers get mobbed by the overpriced abused crowd. Turns out that it's still a big lie.
Under Blockbuster's (Research) new policy, put into effect on Jan. 1, customers can keep a rental for one week past the due date at no additional charge. After that, they are charged a restocking fee of $1.25. And if the overdue item is kept for more than 30 days, Blockbuster will charge the customer the retail value of the item.In a brief statement, Blockbuster defended the new policy, saying it was surprised and disappointed by the lawsuit.
"The fact is there are no longer late fees at Blockbuster," the company said.
Did Blockbuster forget that no late fees means no late fees, or was the $15 a month just not enough? If this is what it calls competition then I think Netflix is still the better deal.
Ya know, I was utterly baffled when I saw the Five start showing up all over the place, especially since it was discontinued months and months ago. Apparently, a livejournal community has revived it.
1. If you could have anything you wanted to eat for a day, what would you choose for your meals and snacks? It depends. Am I guaranteed not to get sick of it for that one day? If so, then I would say candy corn.
2. Is there ever a dish/food or dessert you wanted to try but never had the opportunity, what is it? It's an Indian dish called paan, I think. I heard about it on Boing Boing, and it sounded interesting.
3. What's a dish/food or dessert you've tried that you wish you hadn't? Too many to count? Perhaps airline food is a given, but on a trip back from London we were fed lamb with green jelly, and needless to say I'm never touching the stuff again.
4. Ever watch cooking shows? (i.e. "Great Chefs," "Epicurious," etc.) When I had cable I would watch Emeril. It's all about the "Bam" baybee!
5. Are you hungry yet? I should be, but the jelly sandwich isn't calling me as strongly as it could. I'd rather have tortilla soup.
One year ago the WB network did something incredibly stupid. They canceled Angel, a series that had yet to reach its prime and was one of the best written shows on any network for that year. Since then the WB's ratings for the majority of its shows have fallen, and the show that replaced Angel has been canceled.
So here's to Angel and the Buffyverse, and may Serenity be the success that it deserves to be on September 30th.
I saw the signs, and it opened up my eyes, and I will probably put off the reformat until I lose everything!!!
Ok, so maybe I'm not Ace of Base, but today left me frazzled. My laptop would not boot up, and once it did the sound died. I tried upgrading the drivers, removing the drivers, accidently deleting an unrecoverable driver, and thankfully System Restore fixed the later. Finally, I realized that my sound problems began after I installed a firewall on Thursday, so I did another restore, and my sound problems were fixed.
Then my laptop died again while I was watching a recap of American Idol and downloading last night's episode of Numb3rs. It's just not fair! So, as soon as I receive my copy of SP2 from Mr. Gates, I'll be doing a reformat.
Oy!
Zach's posts are here and here.
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When I brought up the fair use argument I wasn't refering to the mp3 player, and in a license situation you're right, ideally there's no ownership. There's only a reserved right to listen to the music for as long as the consumer pays for the subscription.
Here's a typical license situation (courtesy of the MBE portion of the Bar Exam). A baseball fan purchases season tickets for his favorite team. He doesn't own the seat, or the stadium, or even the team. He just gets to go and enjoy what he loves best with no strings attached: baseball.
If he becomes a menace to the other patrons then the stadium can kick him out. His license can be revoked. What's important for this situation though is, the man knew what he was getting, and what he was losing.
My problem with Napster is that many people will be signing up for this deal with the impression that they'll get to keep the music much like you do with cd purchases. Why else would you compare it to iTunes and blatantly say it's a cheaper and faster way to fill up an mp3 player. And unfortunately many people won't realize that the music will disappear if they cancel their subscription. Sadly, many people don't realize that they have a right to rip copies of their cds, make them into mp3s, unrestricted, upload them to their iPOD or iRiver without them disappearing.
I'm all for a service like iTunes or Napster, but when it includes DRM, and when it appears misleading and lacks the fair use component, that's when the warning bells go off.
As for satellite radio, I still think it's a better alternative. Napster costs $15 a month, and while it does give you control over your playlist, it still has the DRM controls. Satellite on the other hand can cost between $9-$13, and though there is no control over the playlist, there's more exposure to music you might never had heard before, and you can record it, and it's cheaper.
It's days like these I really wish I were in New Orleans. Not because I'm bored and think San Antonio could be a livelier city. Not because I could be getting nekkid with the natives for oodles of beads, though honestly that's so last year.
It's because Lent starts tomorrow, and The Powers That Be have decided to drop Girl Scout cookies in my lap. Oh, fate can be so cruel!
Now, I'm a true believer in the whole "giving up material things" as being petty. As a non-practicing Catholic trying to jump back into the fray, I always try to do something worthwhile. Afterall, Lent is about suffering and repentance, and suffering, and have I mentioned suffering.
I've always seen it as a way to cleanse the soul so to speak, and as per usual I think I will yet again pledge to do an act of kindness everyday and try not to be so much of a smart ass. It will not apply to this blog! I revel in my miserable attempts at sarcasm.
As for the petty, well my roommate is going to make me give up something. I gave up Dr. Pepper last time. Maybe coffee or sodas in general? Or nothing at all?
PS. In the comments, I'm not replying to myself. My mother and I have the same name, and she decided to make an appearance. ;-)
Okay, so maybe it's not a done deal for the Patriots. Hello!!! What the hell are you doing!! Get with the program.
Anyway, there was one commercial that did pass the test. Ok, well two.
War of the Worlds: This speaks to the movie fanatic in me, and it's a Spielberg movie. And it was a new clip. Oh yeah.
The Verizon commercial was funny too, but only because it was amusing to see Cristina being blown away by a hair dryer.
Eh.
The game itself is alright.
The ads are just dull. No, seriously. They're pitiful. Am I supposed to laugh at a washed up MC Hammer? I've seen better. And though it was nice to see all those people clapping at the soldiers as they walked through the airport, I can't help but think of the ad Anheuser-Busch originally intended us to see.
Where did all the good ads go? Oh, they ran away from the big bad FCC.
It isn't over yet. A judge in New York City has ruled that a ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional. Of course the impact of the ruling won't be felt if an appeals court grants the city a stay, but it's still rather thrilling to see rulings like these.
The CBLDF just won its case against US Customs. Apparently they seized a comic which was a parody of Richie Rich, and claimed it was copyright infringement. Thankfully, they were able to see the error of such a claim.
Via Neil Gaiman
Alrighty then. I have a ton of invites. So, leave me a comment and I'll give you one. Trust me, it's impossible for me to run out of them. Methinks they're preparing to jump out of Beta.
A Vermont company has decided to stop selling a teddy bear wrapped in a straight jacket after advocacy groups decried it insulted the mentally ill.
In other news Hallmark has decided to stop selling teddy bears because they innacurately portray bears.
I admit I was tempted to go with a sleazy subject title after reading this article on abstinence, but reason prevailed. Can't say the same for our fellow lawmakers.
Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President George W. Bush’s education plan, have had no impact on teenagers’ behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University...
The federal government is expected to spend about $130 million to fund programs advocating abstinence in 2005, despite a lack of evidence that they work, Pruitt said.
The study showed about 23 percent of ninth-grade girls, typically 13 to 14 years old, had sex before receiving abstinence education. After taking the course, 29 percent of the girls in the same group said they had had sex.
Boys in the tenth grade, about 14 to 15 years old, showed a more marked increase, from 24 percent to 39 percent, after receiving abstinence education.
Abstinence-only programs, which have sprouted up in schools across the nation, cannot offer information about birth control and must promote the social and health benefits of abstaining from sex.
Which is why an abstinence only program doesn't work. Knowledge is power. Teach a kid that abstinence is cool, but don't be stupid and also tell them about condoms. No one wants to be a grandparent in their thirties.
