Stay Alive, Something Easier to Do than Staying Awake During this This Alleged Thriller

Ever wonder what would happen if a long dead European Countess’ spirit moved to Louisiana for some reason then decided to release a video game, then killed people through the video game? Me neither. But apparently someone did (footnote: one of those someone’s is McG). If they hadn’t I would not have wasted 90 mins of my life that I can’t get back.

V for Vendetta, a Scathing Satirical Allegory

Imagine a world where freedom of speech and expression are things of the past. A place where every home in the country is bugged. Where the the evening news is fabricated and used as a weapon of terror. I know since we live in America that is a difficult thing to do. I watch the “fair and balanced” channel every night and find that whole concept quite laughable. But such a thing does make for a good movie. That move is V for Vendetta, a dark and atmospheric view of the future.

The Libertine: Interesting Performance By Depp, Interesting Film, Not So Interesting Script

In his latest movie, The Libertine, Johnny Depp does what he does best: bring life to a quirky character that would seem absurd if done by anyone else. Depp plays John Wilmot, Second Early of Rochester (think Jame’s Spader’s Alan Shore from Boston Legal, but as a 17th century poet rather than a 21st century lawyer). He drinks, screws, pisses off every one he comes in conact with, tries to make some semblance of a social commentary on the war with France and the disproportionate distribution of wealth in England, and does all this with a perverse wit. The problem is he also philosophizes and philosophizes…and philosophizes without ever really making a strong argument beyond a vague musing on an unclear topic. And that’s where the movie falters.

Weekly Semantic

“3,186

Number of prostitution arrests in the city [New York] last fiscal year. In the same period, however, only 1,922 arrests were logged for patronizing prostitutes, which seems to indicate that the market is a tad oversaturated with hookers.”

The above was happily borrowed from The Village Voice’s website…

Hillary Worked on WalMart Board of Directors

Media outcry has recently revealed a darker side of Hillary Clinton. During her husband’s run as governor of Arkansas, Senator Clinton worked on the WalMart Board of Directors. During President Clinton’s run for the White House in 1992, a chief donator to the campaign was Mr. Sam Walton. With the White House is her eyes, Hillary Clinton is stearing clear of mentioning her ties to WalMart due to a recent Democratic campaign against WalMart’s employee benefits programs (they are non-existent). The liberal news media is currently up in arms over the ordeal. The question is: Why didn’t everyone already know this? She worked on the board between 1986 and 1992, up until her hubby won the White House seat. Is Hillary going to take John Kerry’s place as a severely disgruntled flip-flop? The Village Voice recently deconstructed “Wal-Mart’s First Lady.” It’s funny though, that WalMart is currently selling a book on their website interestingly called “Can She Be Stopped?: Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President of the United States Unless…” I see a fair amount of backstabbing in the near future…

The Hills Have Eyes, A Moderately Entertaining Snuff Film

Question: If the U.S. governement told you, your family, and your entire community to vacate your town so they could test nuclear bombs on the land, would you (A) Do as they said (B) Hire a lawyer who specializes in such disputes (C) Call up every major news station as well as Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Michael Moore help gain public sympathy, or (D) retreat into some nearby mines, emerge after the government is done proving it wasn’t fucking around when it said it was going to test some nukes, and then take revenge against the government by trapping, hunting, raping, killing and eating every unlucky traveller that comes your way? Most people would answer with some combination of A,B, and C. The non-conformists in The Hills Have Eyes chose option D for some reason.

Hoarding and Collaboration: the Struggle over Intellectual Property

Today, Microsoft announced that it received its 5000th U.S. Patent. As the article explains, Microsoft’s intellectual property strategy is fairly defensive. As much as I tend to hate Microsoft, they could be worse; there are quite a few companies with much more aggressive policies. Take over 1600 record labels, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America, for example. As we all know, the RIAA and its associates have recurrently pursued aggressive lawsuits against copyright violators. It’s also common knowledge that quite a few people are less than pleased with the RIAA.

While companies and consumers seem locked in a never-ending battle over the freedom of data, the intellectual property struggle is producing a much more subtle, though arguably more profound, effect on technological innovation. Wired.com recently published a nice, though predictably uninformative, article on innovation in the era of copyrights and patents.

Walmart Begins Annexation of the Blogosphere

Walmart has begun its systematic takeover of the blogosphere. In retaliation for current government and public attacks against the company, Walmart is beginning to hire current employees and embedded bloggers to do their dirty-work; they are feeding Walmart propaganda into the blog world. Recently, a state-legislated bill was announced that would force Walmart to increase spending on employee health insurance. Walmart currently encourages employees to seek public health benefits and welfare programs, instead of using the company’s programs. Brian Pickrell, a paid Walmart crony and frequent blogger, was posting in spades pro-Walmart messages attacking the bill: “All across the country, newspaper editorial boards — no great friends of business — are ripping the bills…” The New York Times ran the article this morning, giving an inside look into the invasion of the blog world:

Several sentences in Mr. Pickrell’s Jan. 20 posting — and others from different days — are identical to those written by an employee at one of Wal-Mart’s public relations firms and distributed by e-mail to bloggers.

Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.

Semantics at Ground Zero

The artist, Jenny Holzer, has installed an intriguing piece of artwork in the lobby of the recently completed 7 World Trade Center building (destroyed on 9/11). The piece stands 14 feet tall and 65 feet long, scrolling everything from Langston Hughes to prose by Walt Whitman. It takes around 8 hours for the entire text segment to complete its journey across the wall of words. The wall of words is visible in the lobby from blocks away, as the white lettering is five feet high. Ms. Holzer, working with Larry Silverstein (the chief developer of the World Trade Center complex) and his wife, Klara Silverstein, spent more than a year debated the content of the text, agreeing to remove any 9/11-related content. Silverstein reiterated, “down here [in Lower Manhattan]… we need positive stuff.” This seems to be the trend of new designs and artworks appearing in the area; light, airy and joyous structures and artwork are rising from the ashes, making Lower Manhattan a forward looking and exciting place once again. The New York Times ran the article this morning.

Catching Up, or Dragging our Feet?, the Fate of Broadband in America

In the last six months the U.S. has been playing catch-up with the rest of the world; from going green to better cell phones, it seems like America might finally be catching up.

There is at least one area, however, where the U.S. hasn’t even begun to modernize. Broadband internet speeds in the United States max out at a rather lethargic 6 megabytes per second, compared to about 100 megs per second in England, and up to 250 megs per second in Japan and other parts of Asia.

But why is the U.S. so behind, and what does that mean for the future of broadband in America?