Mike Masnick founder of TechDirt
TechDirt is one of a kind – editor Mike Masnick works tirelessly writing stories every day to promote freedom of speech and freedom on the internet.
Mike has written articles denouncing censorship, state control around the world including the US Congress attempt through SOPA to shut down the internet as we know it. Continue reading
Reina Makino as Chieko in Babel rave scene (photo Paramount Pictures)
I was watching the DVD of Babel
Suddenly the viewer is immersed in the world of the deaf. The effect is quite startling. You can instantly feel Chieko’s isolation from the crowded and noisy rave.
Chieko’s disability is a compelling part of the story, the emptiness of communication. It forms an ironic counterpoint to the miscommunication or babel of the non-deaf characters.
God speaks to Moses from the burning bush The Ten Commandments
To almost 4 billion Christians, Muslims and Jews around the world God is the great I AM.
He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He is the God that has influenced the world, especially the Western world I was born into.
Last night we watched a bit of The Ten Commandments on TV. I wanted to hear God speak those words again to Moses from the burning bush.
“And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Continue reading
Francis Ford Coppola says that art should be shared not bound with copyrights (photo Grazia)
Excerpted from Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration by Aniston Anderson in 99%
I once found a little excerpt from Balzac. He speaks about a young writer who stole some of his prose. Continue reading
Bing Crosby on drums (Photo: Rex Hardy Jr./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Jan 01, 1937)
Everyone knows Bing Crosby (b. 1903 Tacoma, WA d. 1977 Spain) for his smooth voice singing White Christmas or comedy “Road” movies with Bob Hope.
Less well known is Bing Crosby started his career as a jazz drummer and singer.
In 1925 Bing Crosby dropped out of law school to tour as a singer and jazz drummer in a duo with pianist Al Rinkler. In 1927 while the two were touring the vaudeville circuit, they joined the Paul Whitman jazz orchestra.
Bing left Whitman soon when his star and personality clashed with the controlling Whitman.
In the popular movie High Society, Bing played a jazz singer backed by his friends such as jazz trumpet player and singer Louis “Satchmo”Armstrong.
The 1956 film was centered around a love mismatch with Bing and Grace Kelly in the setting of the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport Rhode Island.
While critics panned High Society as a weak remake of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, movie goers loved the music and light story about socialite Kelly and her ex-husband jazz singer Bing Crosby. I love the film for the music and fun performances from people like Frank Sinatra, playing himself like he did in Guys and Dolls.
High Society also has a musical and witty score by American composer Cole Porter with memorable songs like True Love sing by Bing and You’re Sensational by Frank Sinatra.
Trivia – it was Grace Kelly’s last film before marrying Prince Ranier of Monaco
The video clip is from the 1940 film Rhythm on the River, which featured Bing Crosby playing drums, the only clip I could find with Bing on the drums.
Fox "bonus" movie download requires lawyer and DRM (illustration Fox Media)
The Digital Copy “bonus” DVD inside Crazy Heart requires reading and accepting a 2,925 page legal agreement that seems hefty for just watching a movie.
The intent is to allow consumers to buy a Blu-Ray DVD and watch the movie on their computer, iPhone or other portable device and Blu-Ray player. All good intentions.
Crazy Heart is a second rate re-make of Tender Mercies, a touching and believable movie with Robert Duval in the lead.If you haven’t seen Tender Mercies, rent it or buy it. I cry every time I see it.
Duval is a co-producer of Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges playing himself as a country singer “Dude” down on his luck from alcoholism.
It’s an OK movie. Jeff is the dude. The country music, mostly by T Bone Burnett of the excellent Oh Brother Where Art Thou, sounds authentic and is forever forgettable.
Continue reading
Tron Legacy (picture Disney)
I was excited to see Tron Legacy in 3D but disappointed by the movie at several points.
The cycle games/races and dog fight near the end were exciting on the one hand.
However, there were also long periods of boring and inaudible, philosophical commentary.
I still might go back and watch it again.
The original Tron in 1982 was innovative in the animation of characters in glowing neon suits and the metaphor of life as a computer bit. Tron’s appeal was mainly computer geeks (those few of us around back then) and fans adventure movies.
Tron was full of David-and-Goliath references as the hero gets dematerialized and re-materialized inside a computer. Is he a bit, a byte, a program? No he’s a “User.”
Continue reading
Sonar X1 two days of crash on the tracks but now it's great
Tuesday night I was pretty flushed with getting the guys tracks down for our release of Blue Christmas so I did the unthinkable – upgraded Sonar 8.5.3 DAW software to the new Sonar X1.
Update – Sonar X1b now ready for prime time
If anything could sabotage the project, new recording software is about best way to go about it. From my point of view, what could be worse than the trouble I went through trying to get a backing track last week?
What could be worse was two days of misery trying to get the new software working. But I did it and that suffering is behind me. Sonar X1 is a champ.
Maybe it’s me or maybe it’s Sonar but it that always been a flaky tool. Recording audio is like supporting an inverted pyramid of sound drivers and audio files being processed through the bottle neck called a CPU – central processing unit. People using other programs will tell you their software is better than Sonar. I don’t believe it: the internet is full of support forums with cries of despair. Continue reading
Critically acclaimed Man of a Thousand Songs plays tonight one-night only at Empire Theatres across Atlantic Canada.
Show starts at 7 PM.
Ron tours constantly.
In the video below, Ron spoke to me about the film and why he feels good about it.
I met him after the show at Harmony House, Hunter River PEI on November 19, 2010.