Michael Winslow, the dude who made all those kick ass sound effects from the Policy Academy series, covers Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin.
Wait until about the 0:30 second mark - that is when it turns into an amazing display of talent. (via Kottke)
Everything Is A Remix: THE MATRIX
This is a very cool remix presenting how many elements of The Matrix were obviously inspired by various Bruce Lee and other classic martial arts films. This is not to point out any form of copyright infringement or idea stealing, but to show how everything is really just a remix of something that came before it - that a single idea can be owned by a single creator is damn near impossible.
What is remarkable about The Matrix is how the Wachowski Brothers took inspiration from these various movies and combined them into a unique vision. It is not that The Matrix was a terribly original story, but that it was remixed in a compelling way never seen before.
Andy Whitfield, who starred in the television series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” died on Sunday in Sydney, Australia. He was 39. The cause was non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his wife, Vashti, said in a statement.
Andy Whitfield, Star of ‘Spartacus’ Series, Dies at 39 by Sarah Maslin Nir for the NY Times.
So sad. RIP.
Mr. Cheney’s book — which is often pugnacious in tone and in which he expresses little regret about many of the most controversial decisions of the Bush administration — casts him as something of an outlier among top advisers who increasingly took what he saw as a misguided course on national security issues. While he praises Mr. Bush as “an outstanding leader,” Mr. Cheney, who made guarding the secrecy of internal deliberations a hallmark of his time in office, divulges a number of conflicts with others in the inner circle.
Critics of this pending legislation need to be honest about the company they keep and why they essentially aid and abet these criminal endeavors. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a civil liberties group, claims such a bill would “break the Internet,” while Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says it sets “a disastrous precedent” for freedom of speech. No one has the freedom to commit or abet crimes on the Internet. Stopping crime on the Internet is not, as EFF says, “censorship.” There is no First Amendment right to infringe intellectual property rights.
Don Henley: Internet theft is a job-killer. Mr. Henley should read up on Pro-IP to see exactly how it will break the internets. Congress critters are inherently non-technical, so any law implementing specific technical solutions is sure to be flawed, especially when written by lobbying groups.
Even with all the so-called rampant piracy taking place these days, more content is being created than anytime in our history. To claim that Pro-IP is necessary to save jobs is merely lying to yourself, your fans and the American public.
Lastly, does Henley not realize the RIAA does not represent musicians, but rather, the recording labels and their interests (read: bottom line)?
Spend ten minutes and watch the short film Plot Device. I have always been intrigued with making films but never embarked on a journey to learn the trade. Films like this are really fun to watch and get my inspiration meter pegged.
Final Minutes Of Last Harry Potter Movie To Be Split Into Seven Separate Films
Warner Bros. will recut the last four minutes of “The Deathly Hollows: Part 2” and stretch it into seven films so fans can enjoy the Harry Potter franchise for another decade.
Colbert now wants to do the same, explaining he believes in the American Dream. “And that dream is simple,” he says. “That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections.
Kick ass Star Wars poster. (via dailydoseofbeth)
Snoop from The Wire Arrested on Drug Charge
Sad to see Snoop get arrested for real but I guess it is good to know she is still alive.
Jon Stewart, on the GOP’s curious targets for budget cuts: “Our only way out of this mess is to cut programs that affect people who vote for Democrats.” (via inothernews)
X-Men: First Class - Official Trailer. Now this looks like it could potentially be pretty bad ass!
I jumped in: “And then, of course, the second act is about how they become evil despite themselves. It’s like Animal Farm. The pigs make all these noble rules, and then systematically subvert them.”
Crickets. I won’t be writing the Google movie.
On Google and evil is a great write-up by John August. First he discusses the possibility of writing a screenplay about the early days of Google. More importantly, he shifts his discussion to the much larger issue of all the data Google stores on everyone. I am growing increasingly concerned about Google and am considering migrating some of my data away from their cloud, for the very reasons John outlines.
Thought provoking article worth reading, especially if you are a huge Google product user like I am.
Last week, Stewart stepped onto the field. The change came after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would provide $7.4 billion in medical benefits to firefighters, police officers, and health workers who got sick from working at Ground Zero on and after 9/11. Stewart didn’t just mock the 42 Republicans who refused to consider the bill until the Bush tax cuts were extended. He ripped them apart.
