Monthly Archives: January 2004

Just had a brilliant idea…

Microsoft sues Mike Rowe for creating mikerowesoft.com. Mike Rowe ends up with Free XBox and lots of free publicity

Google has just sued Booble – a Porn search engine. They’re now getting a lot of free publicity.

hmmm…now that I know how to get some free publicity, what company should I choose, and how can I utilize the 10-15 minutes of fame it will generate for me to advantage? I want more than an Xbox, I know that.

should’a” known: Dizney.com is already taken.

Just had a brilliant idea…

Microsoft sues Mike Rowe for creating mikerowesoft.com. Mike Rowe ends up with Free XBox and lots of free publicity

Google has just sued Booble – a Porn search engine. They’re now getting a lot of free publicity.

hmmm…now that I know how to get some free publicity, what company should I choose, and how can I utilize the 10-15 minutes of fame it will generate for me to advantage? I want more than an Xbox, I know that.

should’a” known: Dizney.com is already taken.

Pixar files separation papers with Disney

They’re under contract to do 2 more movies, but after that, Pixar Animation is going solo.

They felt they were paying too high a distribution fee to Disney, Disney refused to negotiate a lower fee, so Pixar said, “You’re the Weakest Link, Good-bye.”

So it looks like Disney is set to lose a second hot property in 2005.

The other item of note in the above news story is the name of the CEO of Pixar. Steve Jobs. It’s not a coincidence, it’s the same guy. I had no idea someone could be the CEO of two companies simultaneously. I thought CEO was like a full-time job. But I guess it’s a fair bet that Pixar does its animation on Macs.

LoTR – Best Picture? Will it be a first?

Many people are predicting Lord of the Rings will be the first Fantasy/SF movie that wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.

If revised to “First Fantasy Movie”, it’s an accurate statement.

but there is one SF movie that wasn’t overlooked. Well, at least kind of. 1956’s Best Picture, Around the World in 80 Days, was based on a Jules Verne novel. But that’s the only one. It’s been slim pickins.

Disney Infringing Copyright Law

It’s sheer poetic bliss.

Disney, the company singlehandedly responsible for extending US copyright in 1998 another 20 years to protect their characters, is being sued for — Copyright infringement!

Actually, the lawsuit is 10 years old, but it is approaching its final stages. A.A. Milne – creator of Winnie the Pooh — assigned the US rights to his characters to the Slesinger family in 1930. They worked out a deal with Disney in 1961, but they claim that Disney has denied them their share of royalties since then, and are suing for a billion dollars. (insert appropriate Dr. Evil laugh)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Disney’s appeal.

A trial is set for Jan 2005. The Slesingers have hired….Johnnie Cochran!

Pooh is Disney’s biggest ‘cash bear’ – at about $3-6 billion a year.

Was it as it was?

You have a Hollywood producer claiming the Pope said something, and the Vatican denying it. Which one are you going to believe?

Quotes from article:
“Still, it takes a particular sort of chutzpah to put a phony quote in the mouth of Pope John Paul II.”

“The Web site promoting Gibson’s film…proudly displays a pair of articles…which the pope is said to have watched a tape of the film…then commented: “It is as it was.””

“in a widely overlooked story circulated by the Catholic News Service on Christmas Eve, two unnamed Vatican officials were quoted as denying the pope had expressed any opinion concerning Gibson’s film. ”

“Whatever one thinks of John Paul II, he never has had any trouble making himself clear, and it might have occurred to somebody, somewhere along the line, that “It is as it was” sounds a bit like a screenwriter doing additional dialogue for an Eastern Yoda.”

Electronic Watergate?

Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.

From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight — and with what tactics.

The Republicans have an interesting defense: It’s all right to commit burglary when the door is left open. Or as they put it:

As the extent to which Democratic communications were monitored came into sharper focus, Republicans yesterday offered a new defense. They said that in the summer of 2002, their computer technician informed his Democratic counterpart of the glitch, but Democrats did nothing to fix the problem. Other staffers, however, denied that the Democrats were told anything about it before November 2003.

My history is sorta fuzzy, and since I was born in 1969 I was fairly young at the time, but I seem to recall that Watergate centered around a similar burglary. I realize this is the GOP Senate, and not the President. It will be interesting to see if Bush makes any statement condemning the actions of the Senators involved.

Quotes from people born today

Stonewall Jackson (b. 1/21/1824) “I like liquor – its taste and its effects – and that is just the reason why I never drink it.”

Benny Hill (b. 1/21/1925) “Just because nobody complains doesn’t mean all parachutes are perfect.”

Geena Davis (b. 1/21/1957) “I’ve always looked up to him, even though he is shorter.” (about Dustin Hoffman)

John Newmark (b. 1/21/1969) “Everything somehow looks different when you’re wearing the silky underwear of the girl you love.”

Other people I share my birthday with:

Telly Savalas (interesting, some people have called me Kojak because of my receeding hairline)

Steve Reeves (no one’s called me Hercules before…)

Wolfman Jack (people have remarked about the quantity of hair on my face, and elsewhere)

Placido Domingo, Billy Ocean, Mac Davis, Richie Havens (You do not want to hear me sing, believe me)