Disagree completely with Katz. This movie was a shallow half-assed vanity piece by what's his name. We liked most of Smith's earlier productions, but will now think twice before we darken the doorstep of another Smith movie.
It was lame, trite, simple-minded, cartoonish, but without any of the benefits of cartoons. And Jay and Bob just cannot sustain a full length feature.
I thought the main plot twist was very creative.
But everything else about this movie screamed "stupid". Dialogue was especially insipid. I was hoping Marky-Mark would get it on with Helena, just to get people up and out of their seats, to liven things up. I really think Tim Burton's best movie was Betelgeuse...sad he has gone downhill since then.
AOL is giving Microsoft a taste of its own bitter medicine. Instead, however, it is using the carrot approach (paying PC makers to put AOL on the desktop). Better than Microsoft's "You-will-do-it-our-way-or-we-will-kill-you"
methods of the past. I liked it so much I even bought some AOL stock for a position play.
My preferred Napster substitute is now AudioGalaxy. Works pretty well..have found lots of good tunes I did not find in the last spasmodic months of Napster as a matter of fact...
This is the same director who brought us "Strictly Ballroom". Same theme (love and freedom win over money and power), similar plots...but amazing animation and action in Moulin Rouge. I believe the writer/director Baz Luhrmann has invented a new form of the movie musical. Take popular love songs over the last 50 years and string sections of them together into a plot. Add video, action and voila...you've got some real entertainment.
Wouldn't be surprised if MSFT was discriminatory
on
Racism At Microsoft?
·
· Score: 1
Considering the way Microsoft discriminated against contract employees (note big settlement), which was a clear violation of the Employee Retirement Security Act (ERISA). They obviously pay little attention to the major employment laws on the books. I doubt that Microsoft management has ever attended a seminar on employment practices..considering themselves "too smart" for such things. If those employees were discriminated against, I hope they get a zillion dollars. Microsoft should pay well for its own stupidity.
The only reason they held off the feds so long on this was all the money they spend on lawyers. Treating employees differently by giving them different labels and benefits, when they really are regular employees is a clear violation of ERISA. And any company that does it needs to be whacked big time.
The advantage of digital movies will be the same as HDTV. IF it it high definition..the resolution and clarity will be fine. Plus film makers will be able to uplink a movie feed to theatres all over the hemisphere via satellite..including updated re-edits. Think of the possibilities. One night Keanu saves the world..the next night..he is eaten by the robo-monster. You would play with all kinds of plot changes..very economically. Plus dig this, the technology which would allow movies to be beamed into theatres, would allow them to be beamed to home satellite theatres as well.
Get to a better company soon. A company afraid to train its employees to maximum potential is on a one-way track to failure. They obviously are afraid they will lose well trained employees because of working conditions, salary, etc.
So, what are you waiting for? Get to the next fish up in the food chain.
The plunge of media into full-blown incest is a disturbing trend. Media incest is the absorption and recycling of inexpensive, readily available material from other outlets, even when they are competitors. The full-bore Survivor orgy by print, broadcast and Internet media is a recent example but there are many others.
Survivor was an entertainment program, but from the column inches and airtime devoted to it by news people, you would think it was a news event that actually affected news consumers. But they were served ersatz news. It is much cheaper for a news organization to pick up gratuitous video and PR from a television program, than it is to send a reporter out to cover and decipher complex events or public documents that may affect the lives, pocketbooks, health, and future of readers and viewers.
This insidious practice, which crowds out legitimate local and world news was rare only a decade ago. Once, newspapers went out of their way not to publish content from competitors, such as television and magazines.
The continued consolidation of news and publishing companies into conglomerates simply multiples the cross promotion and media incest. Example: Would Time Magazine have featured the ladies from HBO's "Sex and the City" on it's front cover, if Time Warner did not own HBO? Would Time have even covered the subject of singles lifestyles? The problem in recognizing ersatz news is in realizing what legitimate news was not covered.
The election outcome is a good thing. The president, whoever he turns out to be, will be able to get NOTHING done. Congress is so closely split, it will be able to get NOTHING done. Four years of unprecedented partisan GRIDLOCK. Almost as good as a Libertarian government sweeping into office.
A few valid points in the Katz article. But basically he is just another bought-out effete elitist liberal. I am full-bore net user and media user (formerly IN the media). But the sewage which is now coming into our homes through TV, movies and the web is outrageous. Anyone who has children or grandchildren understands this. Does Katz?
I disagree with some of Katz's logic however.
I am against a lot of the crap/violence/filth that is delivered to young people daily. But I am very pro-technology. Many boomers like me would fall in that category.
One of Big Music's chief fears is Napster's unfettered distribution of music by unsigned artists, and start-up labels. This turns traditional music sales and broadcasting patterns inside out. Especially now that the states are suing Big Music for price fixing of CD's. In addition, countless unsigned bands upload their songs onto Napster to be sampled by music fans worldwide. They hope this will boost turnout at live shows, a primary profit center for most unsigned bands. Most bands also sell CD's at such performances. Members of Snake Oil Medicine Show, (http://www.snakeoilmedicineshow.com/) a regional band with a strong following in the southeastern U.S., were pleased to see their tune "Cajun Lipbalm" from their album "High Speed Highway Parade " downloaded by web surfers from New Zealand to Germany to California through Napster. Snake Oil Medicine Show plays a unique blend of jazz, funk, bluegrass and rock that is not easily categorized. This is seldom greeted favorably by major labels or commercial radio stations. Big Music normally requires simplified labels for marketing and music research. Napster also threatens commercial conglomerate-owned radio stations, which rely on a small community of consultants to define their formats and develop playlists. This is often accomplished by gathering members of demographic groups into high school auditoriums after-hours and playing hooks from a limited repertoire of pre-selected playlists. For example, a consultant for an Adult Contemporary format station might select a group of housewives, aged 21 to 39 to listen to music samples and vote on their favorites. This has led to a narrowing of music playlists and the complaint by many public interest groups that claim commercial radio has fallen prey to "McDonald's syndrome": You can order whatever you like, as long as it is a burger and fries. The musical burgers and fries happen to be produced by a handful of large music companies that form primary support for the RIAA. Bands which produce more exotic fare such as Snake Oil Medicine Show; are seldom, if ever included on research playlists by consulting firms such as Coleman Research (http://www.colemanresearch.com). The group program director for a string of Adult-Contemporary format radio stations in the upper Midwest, (who wished to remain unnamed) estimated consultants such as Coleman affect as much as 80% of the music now played on commercial radio. Dissatisfaction with cookie-cutter programming provided by radio station chains has also led to an upsurge of pirate "micro-radio stations". The FCC has also decided to allow the licensing of low-power radio stations nationwide. But Napster and similar programs such as Gnutella( http://www.gnutella.wego.com/) and The Free Network Project (http://freenet.sourceforge.net/) are opening the flood gates for distribution of music completely outside the Big Music axis. Given that large corporations now control major labels and most radio stations in the U.S., a very large ox has been gored, and is fighting for its life. This aspect of the RIAA's (http://www.riaa.org/) problem with Napster (http://www.napster.com/) is not often publicized. Emphasis by Big Media of Big Music and Big Radio's tight control of the average citizen's access to tunes is not likely anytime soon. Such coverage might tip the scale in the ultimate court of public opinion. Related Links: The Committee On Democratic Communications http://www.nlgcdc.org/ Memorandum of Law on behalf of Steal This Radio: http://www.nlgcdc.org/briefs/str/071398prelim_inju nc_brief.html Americans for Radio Diversity http://www.radiodiversity.com/ FCC Investigating Whether Nation's Largest Radio Chains are skirting Payola Laws: http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/03/21/payola21.sh tml Wired Magazine: June, 2000 Radio Active: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.06/radio.html
Everyone who bought a CD at artifically inflated prices should get a refund. Furthermore, the RIAA should collect and handle the refund money. Give them something constructive to do for a change.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from the likes of CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, CBS/Viacom, ABC/Disney, the NY Times, USA Today, and Katz...are a great reminder of just what a media monopoly we have here. Those other monopolist wanna-bees are mad that AOL/Time Warner has dropped a fly in their soup. I am buying more AOL stock when the price drops again. You know it will, when Maria on CNBC gets thru bashing it. Heh heh. Its a wunnerful country.
Slashdot Mirror
Disagree completely with Katz. This movie was a shallow half-assed vanity piece by what's his name. We liked most of Smith's earlier productions, but will now think twice before we darken the doorstep of another Smith movie.
It was lame, trite, simple-minded, cartoonish, but without any of the benefits of cartoons. And Jay and Bob just cannot sustain a full length feature.
Dune on SciFi was probably the best SciFi to be had anywhere lately. Hopefully more will be coming.
I thought the main plot twist was very creative.
But everything else about this movie screamed "stupid". Dialogue was especially insipid. I was hoping Marky-Mark would get it on with Helena, just to get people up and out of their seats, to liven things up. I really think Tim Burton's best movie was Betelgeuse...sad he has gone downhill since then.
AOL is giving Microsoft a taste of its own bitter medicine. Instead, however, it is using the carrot approach (paying PC makers to put AOL on the desktop). Better than Microsoft's "You-will-do-it-our-way-or-we-will-kill-you"
methods of the past. I liked it so much I even bought some AOL stock for a position play.
My preferred Napster substitute is now AudioGalaxy. Works pretty well..have found lots of good tunes I did not find in the last spasmodic months of Napster as a matter of fact...
He's great. Especially this column which skewers nicely the big online brokers and financial media:
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/010315.html
This is the same director who brought us "Strictly Ballroom". Same theme (love and freedom win over money and power), similar plots...but amazing animation and action in Moulin Rouge. I believe the writer/director Baz Luhrmann has invented a new form of the movie musical. Take popular love songs over the last 50 years and string sections of them together into a plot. Add video, action and voila...you've got some real entertainment.
Considering the way Microsoft discriminated against contract employees (note big settlement), which was a clear violation of the Employee Retirement Security Act (ERISA). They obviously pay little attention to the major employment laws on the books. I doubt that Microsoft management has ever attended a seminar on employment practices..considering themselves "too smart" for such things. If those employees were discriminated against, I hope they get a zillion dollars. Microsoft should pay well for its own stupidity.
In my opinion RHAT has a quality product and quality support. This foothold into the US Defense establishment could be very big for them.
The only reason they held off the feds so long on this was all the money they spend on lawyers. Treating employees differently by giving them different labels and benefits, when they really are regular employees is a clear violation of ERISA. And any company that does it needs to be whacked big time.
The advantage of digital movies will be the same as HDTV. IF it it high definition..the resolution and clarity will be fine. Plus film makers will be able to uplink a movie feed to theatres all over the hemisphere via satellite..including updated re-edits. Think of the possibilities. One night Keanu saves the world..the next night..he is eaten by the robo-monster. You would play with all kinds of plot changes..very economically. Plus dig this, the technology which would allow movies to be beamed into theatres, would allow them to be beamed to home satellite theatres as well.
Get to a better company soon. A company afraid to train its employees to maximum potential is on a one-way track to failure. They obviously are afraid they will lose well trained employees because of working conditions, salary, etc.
So, what are you waiting for? Get to the next fish up in the food chain.
The plunge of media into full-blown incest is a disturbing trend. Media incest is the absorption and recycling of inexpensive, readily available material from other outlets, even when they are competitors. The full-bore Survivor orgy by print, broadcast and Internet media is a recent example but there are many others.
Survivor was an entertainment program, but from the column inches and airtime devoted to it by news people, you would think it was a news event that actually affected news consumers. But they were served ersatz news. It is much cheaper for a news organization to pick up gratuitous video and PR from a television program, than it is to send a reporter out to cover and decipher complex events or public documents that may affect the lives, pocketbooks, health, and future of readers and viewers.
This insidious practice, which crowds out legitimate local and world news was rare only a decade ago. Once, newspapers went out of their way not to publish content from competitors, such as television and magazines.
The continued consolidation of news and publishing companies into conglomerates simply multiples the cross promotion and media incest. Example: Would Time Magazine have featured the ladies from HBO's "Sex and the City" on it's front cover, if Time Warner did not own HBO? Would Time have even covered the subject of singles lifestyles? The problem in recognizing ersatz news is in realizing what legitimate news was not covered.
The election outcome is a good thing. The president, whoever he turns out to be, will be able to get NOTHING done. Congress is so closely split, it will be able to get NOTHING done. Four years of unprecedented partisan GRIDLOCK. Almost as good as a Libertarian government sweeping into office.
A few valid points in the Katz article. But basically he is just another bought-out effete elitist liberal. I am full-bore net user and media user (formerly IN the media). But the sewage which is now coming into our homes through TV, movies and the web is outrageous. Anyone who has children or grandchildren understands this. Does Katz?
I disagree with some of Katz's logic however.
I am against a lot of the crap/violence/filth that is delivered to young people daily. But I am very pro-technology. Many boomers like me would fall in that category.
One of Big Music's chief fears is Napster's unfettered distribution of music by unsigned artists, and start-up labels. This turns traditional music sales and broadcasting patterns inside out. Especially now that the states are suing Big Music for price fixing of CD's. In addition, countless unsigned bands upload their songs onto Napster to be sampled by music fans worldwide. They hope this will boost turnout at live shows, a primary profit center for most unsigned bands. Most bands also sell CD's at such performances. Members of Snake Oil Medicine Show, (http://www.snakeoilmedicineshow.com/) a regional band with a strong following in the southeastern U.S., were pleased to see their tune "Cajun Lipbalm" from their album "High Speed Highway Parade " downloaded by web surfers from New Zealand to Germany to California through Napster. Snake Oil Medicine Show plays a unique blend of jazz, funk, bluegrass and rock that is not easily categorized. This is seldom greeted favorably by major labels or commercial radio stations. Big Music normally requires simplified labels for marketing and music research. Napster also threatens commercial conglomerate-owned radio stations, which rely on a small community of consultants to define their formats and develop playlists. This is often accomplished by gathering members of demographic groups into high school auditoriums after-hours and playing hooks from a limited repertoire of pre-selected playlists. For example, a consultant for an Adult Contemporary format station might select a group of housewives, aged 21 to 39 to listen to music samples and vote on their favorites. This has led to a narrowing of music playlists and the complaint by many public interest groups that claim commercial radio has fallen prey to "McDonald's syndrome": You can order whatever you like, as long as it is a burger and fries. The musical burgers and fries happen to be produced by a handful of large music companies that form primary support for the RIAA. Bands which produce more exotic fare such as Snake Oil Medicine Show; are seldom, if ever included on research playlists by consulting firms such as Coleman Research (http://www.colemanresearch.com). The group program director for a string of Adult-Contemporary format radio stations in the upper Midwest, (who wished to remain unnamed) estimated consultants such as Coleman affect as much as 80% of the music now played on commercial radio. Dissatisfaction with cookie-cutter programming provided by radio station chains has also led to an upsurge of pirate "micro-radio stations". The FCC has also decided to allow the licensing of low-power radio stations nationwide. But Napster and similar programs such as Gnutella( http://www.gnutella.wego.com/) and The Free Network Project (http://freenet.sourceforge.net/) are opening the flood gates for distribution of music completely outside the Big Music axis. Given that large corporations now control major labels and most radio stations in the U.S., a very large ox has been gored, and is fighting for its life. This aspect of the RIAA's (http://www.riaa.org/) problem with Napster (http://www.napster.com/) is not often publicized. Emphasis by Big Media of Big Music and Big Radio's tight control of the average citizen's access to tunes is not likely anytime soon. Such coverage might tip the scale in the ultimate court of public opinion. Related Links: The Committee On Democratic Communications http://www.nlgcdc.org/ Memorandum of Law on behalf of Steal This Radio: http://www.nlgcdc.org/briefs/str/071398prelim_inju nc_brief.html Americans for Radio Diversity http://www.radiodiversity.com/ FCC Investigating Whether Nation's Largest Radio Chains are skirting Payola Laws: http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/03/21/payola21.sh tml Wired Magazine: June, 2000 Radio Active: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.06/radio.html
Everyone who bought a CD at artifically inflated prices should get a refund. Furthermore, the RIAA should collect and handle the refund money. Give them something constructive to do for a change.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from the likes of CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, CBS/Viacom, ABC/Disney, the NY Times, USA Today, and Katz...are a great reminder of just what a media monopoly we have here. Those other monopolist wanna-bees are mad that AOL/Time Warner has dropped a fly in their soup. I am buying more AOL stock when the price drops again. You know it will, when Maria on CNBC gets thru bashing it. Heh heh. Its a wunnerful country.