This cracked me up:

http://waxy.org/random/view.php?type=video&filename=Tom_Cruise_Kills_Oprah.mov

-Jean Chen

I was shocked and pleased to read that Bill Gates is dontating $440 million dollars for public health projects in the developing world. Somebody with that much money better be giving it away. I wish other celebrities and rediculiously rich people would realize that they should dontate money to those in need as well. If nothing else its a write off, and if thats not good enough…use it as an image booster. CLick here for the nitty gritty

I just saw the trailer for the new Dukes of Hazzard movie. When I first heard they were going to film a movie based on the 1980s tv show, all I could think was, “Will the General Lee have a big confederate flag on the top?”

And the answer is… Yes.

- Jean Chen

The Supreme Court decision in the Grokster case , brought up by major movie and music companies, ruled that file-sharing networks such as Grokster and Morpheus, which connect one user directly to another instead of going through a central server like Napster, can be held responsible for users downloading and “stealing” copyrighted material. The movie and music industry are touting it as a “historic victory for intellectual property in the digital age” because illegal downloading is hurting record and movie sales. The music industry has seen a drop in sales of 25% since 1999 when file-sharing was introduced.

I am outraged that we have let file-sharing get so out of hand. C’mon people, mulit-millionaires are losing money! Those huge mansions and Bentleys just don’t pay themselves off you know. And they need the money to pay their servants to buy the groceries for their chefs to cook so that their nannies can feed their kids. Bootleggers, you make me sick.

Such a “historic victory” for the entertainment industry. I’ve never even heard of Grokster. There are too many file-sharing networks and there’s no stopping it. Even if they somehow managed to eliminate file-sharing (they never will), there are still CD and DVD burners. File-sharing is just one element of bootlegging. And there’s probably so much bootlegging and downloading because very few DVDs or CDs are worth the price tag. I’ve got a mouth to feed — my own, so I’ll be damned if I’m gonna buy a mediocre CD or DVD if I can download the two or three decent songs from the album or buy a bootleg DVD off some guy on Mission Street for only $5. If a CD or DVD is good, I go out and buy it. But if the entertainment industry wants to increase sales again, they should try lowering the prices of their products instead of trying to eliminate file-sharing. And anyone who pays to download music is a sucka.

Nike has been stealing album covers for their ads! The latest one is from political DC punk band Minor Threat. Lead singer Ian MacKaye better have his lawyers ready:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/23.shtml

-Jean Chen