Watch this brilliant ‘videologblog’ from The Colbert Report writers:
As you might expect, it effortlessly and effectively mocks the absurd claims of the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers — which is of course a thinly veiled front for the Big Media corporations like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX / News Corporation, Time Warner, Sony, MGM, and Time Warner, among others — and their demand that writers give up all rights and residuals for works presented online.
And don’t miss this one from The Daily Show writers:
Writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America, are simply asking to be compensated when their work is shown online (supported by advertising) or sold by the download, but Big Media has the audacity to assert that there is no additional revenue created by either one. Meanwhile, Viacom brags to Wall Street that their online businesses bring in $500,000,000 per year as it continues to pursue a $1,000,000,000 lawsuit against YouTube. Do they really think we aren’t paying attention? Or worse, that we don’t care?
Clearly, if these clips are any indication, writers can and will get along just fine without their employers. In fact, it becomes much more likely that some of them will build an audience outside of the Big Media confines, especially with those of us who sympathize with their cause, likely the very same audience of the shows Big Media pushed off the air.
And of course, I love to see my generation turn our talents loose on such ridiculously wealthy and needlessly evil incumbents. We are far more powerful than either side realizes, and these tests only make us stronger.
Speaking of which, for my next post: why I am cancelling my Facebook account and you should too — hint: Facebook is even more evil than Big Media (and that’s not even half of it).
Yes, I posed him that way, and no it wasn’t easy, and no I certainly don’t expect that Woggy Wigglebutt will be either, but I do know that the fun has just begun!
Until recently, I had a sense that everything would just fall into place with him, that while he wouldn’t necessarily bend to my will, he would intuitively know where I wanted him to be. I can’t think of anything more foolish now. Or more preposterous.
My role as his father is to provide a balance of space and support, so that he can be himself in the moment and become a man over time — without undue interference, but not without the intimacy of my experience. It’s my greatest challenge to date, but also an incredible opportunity to put in place so many of the lessons I have learned in my 34 years on earth.
I am humbled by the beauty and serenity of birth, and awed by the strength of my beautifully balanced wife, Abby. I knew from the moment we met that we would make adorable babies together, and while it hasn’t always been easy, this is most definitely both where I belong and where I always have longed to be. I am very fortunate to have such wonderful and powerful alignment in my life.
Yes, my life has been hectic as of late, as I am often fond of saying, but it is so unbelievably full of excitement and great expectations. I will soon be able to hold my child in my arms, and watch him discover his world and himself for the very first time. I can’t wait to share it all with you, and even him when he gets old enough.
As always, more soon. Please understand if updates are few and far between for the next few weeks.
Additionally, I’ve been told that Steve Carell informed NBC he is unable to report to work because he is suffering from “enlarged balls.” Not just enlarged, I’d say, but brass ones. The source on this one adds, “We wish him a happy, slow recovery.”
Brilliant.
I can’t believe this is real, but it really is:
Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.
The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.
The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.
We are truly ruled by morons.
Digby on Rudy:
I’m finding myself more and more obsessed with the Giuliani campaign because it really appears to me that the Republicans may just nominate someone dumber than Bush and crazier than Cheney. And without the morals of either of them. How is that even possible?
I hate to say it but I think she might be right.
