Download movies from Google for free?

Yeah, I thought it crap too, but it's not. Earlier this week, the National Legal and Policy Center complained that Google Video was giving viewers access to full-length movies that aren't available for home viewing. Movies like Shrek the Third and Oceans 13, but an independent firm couldn't find them anywhere.
Well, even though I spent 20 minutes complaining that the NLPC wasn't doing the world any good by making a false statement, turns out they were right. I went on Google Video and found uploaded versions of Knocked Up, No Reservations and Mr. Bean's Vacation, all by just typing in Oceans 13 and searching for videos over 20 minutes long.
It seems like there are only two or three companies uploading the movies, but they are there.
Good luck explaining that one Google!

Avoid Hollywoodland like the plague

I finally checked out Hollywoodland last week. The movie, about the mystery surrounding the death of George Reeves — who played Superman and is portrayed in the film by Ben Affleck, seemed interesting when it hit theaters last fall, but boy oh boy, what a snoozefest!
Now, I’m not the biggest Ben Affleck fan to begin with, but he wasn’t the problem in this movie. For a film about sex, death and old Hollywood henchmen and private eyes, it seemed to lack any enthusiasm.
Reeves, an actor whose only break as landing the role of the man of steel, committed suicide in 1959 after (according to Hollywood lore) he ran into troubles finding work from being typecast as the tights-wearing superhero. In Hollywoodland, private eye Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) tries unsuccessfully to prove Reeves was murdered because of his relationship with a Hollywood honcho’s wife (played by Diane Lane).
Sounds interesting enough. There are a few exciting moments in the film, but for the most part, it’s dullsville. Brody’s character is as unlikable as they come, and Lane, who is usually pretty good, fails to connect with the script — though to be fair the script was filled with plot holes and historical inaccuracies, so Lane really isn’t to blame.
And, for a movie that sets out to solve a mystery, it sure doesn’t make a dent in any of the questions it raises about Reeves’ death.
So, while Reeves’ death was tragic, one could say this movie made it even more so.

Vanessa Peters on M4

The Mad Mad Media Minute was proud to have Vanessa Peters stop by and perform her song, Little Films, today on the show.
Click HERE to check it out. Also, if you're in the area of Lakeland College tonight, Peters is peforming at The Pub.

I know I'm going to catch hell for this, and I don't care!

It's no doubt that Britney Spears is a train wreck. Her performance on the VMAs was horrible and the recent allegations of drug use paint her as being less than Mother of the Year. But all of that said, how about her music career?

This is the point when all of you start chanting, 'Oh no, he isn't going there, is he?'

I've listened to Britney's latest song, Gimme More, about 20 times because of that horrid VMA performance, and after that ... I have to say, it's not that bad of a song.


"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" You scream. "Holy (something)! He didn't just say that, did he?"

Yes I did.

Now, I'm not saying it's a great song. I'm not going to compare her new song to anything by KT Tunstall or Terra Naomi or Rilo Kiley, but it's at least as good as anything Nelly Furtado has churned out lately, and a lot better then the stuff she released before she went on hiatus.

But, Gimme More is a solid pop song.

Don't believe me? Check it our for yourself by clicking HERE.

Go ahead. You know you want to.

50, you ain't no Kanye

This really isn't a surprise, but Kanye West beat 50 Cent in sales last week. Both rappers released now cds last week and Mr. Cent said he would retire if West sold more. West sold 957,000 copies while 50 Cent sold 691,000.
So far there is no word on whether 50 Cent will actually retire, but I'm guessing second week sales of both artists will be in the toilet.
You gotta love da hype!

Peter Mulvey hitting Paradigm tomorrow night

Peter Mulvey, who has been on his 'Look Ma, No Gasoline!' tour of Wisconsin this September, is hitting the Paradigm tomorrow night. The show is at 8 p.m. and has a $10 cover. Brianna Lane is opening the show.
Mulvey, from Milwaukee, has been riding his bicycle to gigs this month. For Thursday's show, Mulvey will travel from Oshkosh to Sheboygan on his bike, with his guitar in tow.

for more info check out www.petermulvey.com.

Barry Manilow 1, The View 0

Barry Manilow bowed out of an appearance on The View because he dislikes one of the hosts. According to a report on IMDb, Manilow – who just released a new album of cover songs from the 1970s — was scheduled to make an appearance on the show today (Tuesday) but cancelled because he thinks co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s right-wing views are “dangerous and offensive” and he strongly disagrees with her “conservative views,” the site reported
Now, I’ve heard of people disliking Star Jones and Rosie O’Donnell, but Elisabeth Hasselbeck? That’s a first. So I say, This One’s For You Barry. It’s a Miracle (miracle) a true blue spectacle! Maybe someday Hasselbeck will realize that Even Now (you) Write the Songs that make the whole world sing and even she Can’t Smile Without You.

NEWSFLASH!!!! O.J. Arrested

This just in, O.J. Simpson was arrested today.
According to an AP story: "O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great’s sports memorabilia, authorities said. Simpson was arrested shortly after 11 a.m."
Police said charges against Simpson will include "robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a firearm," all of which are felonies.

No slow police chase this time though.

Simpson was charged with his killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1994, but was acquitted of the charges.

Simpson was found liable for their deaths in a 1997 civil court decision and was ordered to pay $33.5 million judgment.In August, after a lengthy court battle, Simpson’s book” If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” was released. According to a Wikipedia entry (take this with a grain of salt) “comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, Pablo Fenjves, and prominent investigative journalist Dominick Dunne” before the book’s release.

Simpson Photo: AP Photo; Book jacket, Amazon.com

The trainwreck continues!

Britney at the VMA's
You wanted it...you got it

New Terra Naomi single and CD on the way!

Terra Naomi has released her latest single, Not Sorry, and is preparing to release her first full-length CD, Under the Influence, Sept. 17. I am so excited to hear the whole CD. Really, this is the ONLY CD I am really excited about, and have been for a long time.
I can't wait!
Of course, for those of you who read the Mad Mad Media Blog, you know that Terra made a huge splash on YouTube in the summer of 2006 and has since moved to London to record her debut CD for Virgin Records.
Terra is still posting regularly on YouTube to keep in contact with her fans.
For those of you like me, here's some of Terra's latest offerings from YouTube, including the video for Not Sorry. Otherwise, more info about Terra can be found HERE.

Official video for Not Sorry


Performing Rihanna's Umbrella


Terra being funny


Terra at Live Earth

I can’t believe we’re still talking about this

CBS is in court this week challenging a $550,000 fine levied on the network by the Federal Communications Commission after the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show where Janet Jackson accidentally exposed part of her breast during a routine with Justin Timberlake.
According to an AP article, the network accused the FCC of applying “mushy” and newly restrictive standards when it fined CBS for the half-second of partial nudity, while the agency called CBS indifferent to the risk that “a highly sexualized performance” might cross the line.
90 million people were watching the event when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s bustier and appeared shocked when almost nothing was underneath it (pictured to your left - AP Photo).
But, I’ll tell you what wasn’t underneath it—a naked breast. Jackson was wearing some sort of metal thing over the nipple area (can I write that on the Internet?), preventing exposure of the one part that should have garnered the network a fine of some sort. I was one of those 90 million people watching the broadcast. I was talking to someone when half of the room gasped. I turned to look at the TV and saw and aerial shot of the stadium.
I’m assuming many of the 90 million people watching the broadcast were in the same boat, coming back from the kitchen or the bathroom moments later, asking, “Did I miss anything?”
I’m glad a governmental agency created to hand out broadcast licenses has become the agency that polices the airwaves for the small percent of Americans who get offended by a millisecond of forgettable partial nudity and sexual suggestion. You know what else has sexual suggestion? EVERYTHING! From Barker's Beauties to Ginger on The Real Estate Pros. Hell, half of the programming on PBS, which the last time I checked received governmental funding, has sexual suggestion — and our tax dollars pay for it. Has anyone ever complained about PBS?
It comes down to this. The FCC overstepped its boundaries. There was no nudity. Sorry, without that (or swearing —violence is OK), there is no reason to fine the network.

Should 50 Cent retire?

50 cent threatened to retire if Kanye West outsells him with his latest CD. Both released their CDs today - 50 with Curtis and Kanye with Graduation. Reviews for both have been all right, though Kanye has so far edged out 50 with the critics.

I have heard Fiddy's latest effort (which had its release delayed by his record company at least twice) and it's not very good. It seems like he ran out of steam with his last CD. I haven't heard all of Kanye's latest effort, and the good things I've heard about it have only been in comparison to Mr. Cent's latest release.

So, will 50 Cent retire? My vote is no. This seems like a publicity stunt because 50's new disc wouldn't be going anywhere without it. Plus, because promo copies of the disc went out months ago, the CD has been swimming around the Internet for quite some time - so look for piracy to be blamed for 50's poor first-week sales.

In reality, there isn't a single on the CD (hence the reason why Interscope delayed its release to let controversy brew). And, in addition, 50's record company dropped the ball by allowing early copies of the CD to fall into the wrong hands. I mean seriously, this thing was all over the place. Don't believe me? Google "50 cent" "Before Curtis" (the original CD Name). This thing is all over the net, and has been for months.

That could be good for some musicians ... if the disc was any good (some smaller indie groups have enjoyed good first week sales because their works were "leaked" onto the net at a low quality). But 50's disc is ... not even close to the level of quality it should be at.

Kanye's single (Stronger) was leaked as well, (as was the disc) but it's not going to hit West as hard because Kanye's record company DIDN'T DELAY THE RELEASE OF THE CD NOR DID IT PROVIDE ANYONE WHO ASKED FOR IT COPIES OF THE DISC MONTHS BEFORE IT WAS RELEASED ALLOWING IT TO BE LEAKED ON TO THE INTERNET!

I mean, how stupid is that? It just ticks me off that all of these record companies use the whole "sales are being hurt by file sharing" argument when they are the ones who are primarily at fault. They are the reason CDs are hitting the net (sometimes six months) before the release date, and they are the reason sales are being hurt because they are packaging crap in a nice wrapper and expecting the public to eat it up. They need to do the same thing the film industry had to do -look at its current practices. Instead of trying to hurt the consumer (and in the process piss a lot of people off) record companies and the RIAA need to take a hard look at what they do - beginning with the policy of sending promo cds to everyone and anyone and their absolute failure to protect the artists and the consumer from their bad business practices.

OK. Rant is over. Sorry about that, but this is just getting rediculous.

Back to the 50 vs. Kanye thing, I kind of hope both retire. That doesn't mean they won't be around. Jay-Z retired and that lasted what, two years? And look at 2-Pac. He's dead and still releasing music. He hasn't retired yet.

But two rappers retiring at once... that would be something new. But don't retire because of sales. Retire for the right reason. Because your record companies are killing your industry, and getting out now is pretty much the only right choice.

P.S. Just in case you didn't believe me, here's a LINK to a post on the two discs, complete with downloads. The last time I checked, the downloads had been removed, but look at the date of posting. A little early, don't you think!

Apple: You magnificent bastard!

Apple released its latest iPod today, complete with many of the features that made its iPhone the must have device of the summer. The iPod Touch is definitely drool-worthy.
The 8 and 16 gig models are audio and video ready, and are Wi Fi enabled. So you can surf the web, and buy music from the iTunes music store, wherever there is Wi-Fi access (which is just about every coffee shop in the world nowadays).
The iPod Nano also got an upgrade, with a smaller size and can now play video … d’oh!
I don’t have much on the tech specs on the Touch or new Nano, they were just announced a couple of hours ago, but man, I was thinking I need to get an iPhone, now iPod Touch seems to be the right thing for me. And I don’t think I’m going to be alone. So, lets all march to the Apple Store! The revolution will be podcast!




More including a guided tour HERE!


UPDATE! New iPod Touch will ship by Sept. 28 through the Apple Store. The 8 gig model sells for $299 and the 16 gig model sells for $399. AND, they will be available for both Mac and PC.

UPDATE2! Apple will also phase out the 4 gig iPhone and drop the price of the 8 gig iPhone to $399. Apple also announced a WiFi partnership with Starbucks. According to an AP article, "Starting in October, the Starbucks icon will light up on the iPod Touch whenever a user nears a Starbucks coffee shop that has Wi-Fi access. Users can then download the song that's playing overhead or get a list of the 10 most recent songs played. The Starbucks partnership — which executives at both companies have been working on for two years — begins at 600 stores in New York and Seattle on Oct. 2. In November, it will be available at 350 stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, and by the end of next year it will be in all Starbucks with Wi-Fi nationwide." Apple will also start selling ringtones for $0.99 later this month.

UPDATE3! The "Classic" iPod is being beefed up as well. The iPod will come in 80 gig ($249) and 160 gig ($349) versions. Double the sizes of some of its predecessors.

UPDATE4! Microsoft announced it would cut the cost of the Zune by $50 bucks. Just in case you didn't notice that new tidbit because you are currently running around the room screaming "Oh My God. Oh My God. The New iPod is soooooo sweeeeeet!"

5 reasons why the new Costco Rocks! (and stinks)

It Rocks Because:
1. They have everything. They had a wall of Chuck Taylors, 21 bucks, awesome food, electronics galore and even furniture!
2. I got 200 blank CDs for $20 bucks. Woo Hoo!
3. Wide aisles. You know the biggest problem with shopping in a large store is aisles that are too narrow. Not at Costco. You can fit plenty of people in the aisles.
4. Buying in bulk. My personal belief is buying in bulk is better for the environment, so this is a good thing.
5. Big Parking lot. Plenty of places to park.

It Stinks Because:
1. While they had an entire wall of Chuck Taylors, not one pair was in my size. And they had Levis too, but they were 505s.
2. It's 50 bucks to join, and they don't take VISA. This is the 21st century. Even McDonalds takes VISA!
3. People. It doesn't matter how wide the aisles are, there are going to be people in them. Confused, awestruck people. People who walk at a normal rate and then just stop...for no reason, dead in their tracks, with you behind them going 'hey, goober, why'd ya stop? I got somewhere to go, and you're not helping.' Or something louder with more swears.
4. Buying in bulk. I love ketchup, but do you need 5 gallons of it? I'd need to get another fridge...but they do sell those at Costco, probably.
5. Big Parking lot. Where did I park? Crap, I'm pretty sure it was this way. No, that car only looks like my car...d'oh!


Seriously, Costco has just opened in Grafton. I took a tour, it was pretty cool. If you have a lot of money, and time, check it out!