Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Robin Williams wants in on Batman 3

batman-riddler-poster I kind of hope he gets in.

I’m not going to hide it, but I’m a huge fan of Robin Williams’ work. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been watching Robin Williams' films and I still do. I think Robin is probably still one of the funniest, if not the funniest actor to be working in Hollywood. Robin Williams has also, on occasion, shown all of us that he is an amazing actor, any one that saw films like One Hour Photo can attest to how great of an actor Robin Williams is.

So when news came out that Robin Williams wants to play the Riddler in the next Batman film, it was quite exciting for me. Robin was previously offered the role of the Joker and Riddler in the past series of Batman films, but was ultimately passed up in favour of Jack Nicholson and Jim Carrey.

Whether or not the Riddler will be in the next Batman film, is a little up in the air as the script is still being written. But hopefully Christopher Nolan will see fit to put him in, since I think most fans want to see the Riddler in Batman. Maybe Robin will be lucky enough to land the coveted role, after all he has been turned down twice already.

So what do you think? Is Robin good for Batman?

VIA

Monday, June 28, 2010

iPhone Takes a 50 Calibre Bullet

Don’t try this at home.

This video definitely goes in the Will it Blend category. I’m just wondering why these guys decided to do it. Perhaps it was to get more subscribers to their YouTube channel.

Whatever the case, if your frustrated at the iPhone signal issue, this video will definitely be some fun for you.

VIA

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Peter Jackson To Direct the Hobbit Films

hobbit Good news, bad news I’m not sure.

Well this is an interesting turn of events. Many of you may remember that a few years back many of us were wishing the Peter Jackson would take on The Hobbit films, but ultimately Guillermo del Toro won the directing job. Just as we became comfortable with the idea of someone else directing The Hobbit films, del Toro was forced to drop out due to his previous commitments and the continuing delays on filming. Following del Toro’s departure, Peter Jackson was viewed as a likely choice to take up the directing reins, but he apparently didn’t want them.

But now there are reports that came out on Friday that Peter Jackson is currently negotiating to direct the Two Hobbit films. Which really leads me to ask what has changed? Why the sudden about face? Perhaps Peter was worried the project would be cancelled without a director, and thus wants to direct to insure the project moves forward. But then again, there are probably other reasons.

Let’s face it. Peter Jackson since he left Middle Earth hasn’t been exactly hitting it out of the park with the films that he has been producing. Can Peter Jackson make a comeback into the world of directing? I believe he could. And the Lord of the Rings could be just the thing to get him back into it. Perhaps a good Hobbit film could help people forget the films that followed.

Whatever happens, I would like to wish Peter luck. He still has a talented filmmaker in him and I would hate to see him go off into obscurity.

VIA

Friday, June 25, 2010

Are you holding your iPhone the Wrong Way?

I can’t believe that we really need to talk about this.

Many of you probably have one and from most of the opinion polls and customer requests at my store, you probably love your iPhone. But are you holding it the wrong way? Many people have reported issues of having poor reception with their iPhone. Typically they have blamed their provider (AT & T) for the issues, but it appears it could all just boil down to how you’re holding your phone.

The above video from Engadget demonstrates the problem and also shows how you should be holding your phone. Clearly, as demonstrated, people who like to hold their phone in their left hand are out of luck, but those that use their right hand are ok in doing so. It appears Steve Jobs designed the iPhone to be a right handed device. Those that want to use the device in their left hand will probably need to petition Apple for a left-handed device.

All of this leads me to the question of why Apple would design a device that if you hold it in the wrong hand you risk losing your reception. It just doesn’t make sense to me, but they’ve managed to sell millions of these phones over the years all with no complaints towards Apple. Perhaps it’s not as big a deal as we think, then again maybe it is. I’m just surprised that no one figured this out before.

Based on an e-mail response that Engadget received, a fix may not be coming soon. In the e-mail response Steve Jobs simply says “Just avoid holding it in that way.” I guess it is a temporary fix for the problem, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a permanent solution. Hopefully Apple takes this seriously and fixes the problem.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Neil Blomkamp Is Not Directing the Hobbit

hobbit

Not too big of a surprise.

For those that don’t know, sometime last week a rumour started to circulate around the internet, that Neil Blomkamp was in talks to direct the Hobbit. I decided not to report on the issue, but to instead wait and see just how it would turn out. Today I got my answer and I was right in waiting.

The Movie Blog, as well as, a number of other sites are confirming that Neil Blomkamp will not be directing the Hobbit. Not only is Neil not directing the Hobbit but, according to sources in his agency, Neil wasn’t even approached by the studio to direct. This does make a lot of sense give the uncertainty of the film project given MGM’s money woes. Why approach a director when you don’t even know if you can give him the film?

All of this kind of leads me to wonder how these rumours started in the first place. For the short time I’ve been doing this blog I’ve noticed that casting rumours seem to have a very low chance of being right, yet they are always reported regardless of their accuracy. Perhaps it’s because it’s the Internet so we’re not interested in having completely accurate information, just as long as we are on the cusp of the information coming in. And I’m guilty of reporting these rumours myself, since no one wants to be the guy that isn’t reporting on these rumours.

Whatever the case, I hope we come to some kind of resolution where by accurate information is always getting put out.

New International 'Predators' Trailer

Have I ever said, I’m really looking forward to this film. Well I’ll say it now.

I’m a huge fan of Robert Rodriguez and just what he has done with film. From Desperado to Sin City, Robert has always brought his A game to the films that he directs. That is why when it was announced that he would be directing Predators, I was all for it. And looking from the trailer above, it looks like my confidence in Robert is well placed.

Certainly, I would love to see a Predator were a single predator goes around stocking his prey, but a group of them isn’t bad either. I just hope that Robert keeps the film somewhat logical in explaining how this group of humans could overcome these Predators. That is assuming that any of these guys make it off the planet alive.

VIA

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Google Store?

google This is one of those stories that just makes me wonder what Google is up to.

Google over the years has created a number of services from e-mail to search all for the benefit of our online lives. But, it now appears Google is not content with the services they currently have and are looking to add a few more. According to Engadget, Google also wants to be the company that you use to buy your music. That’s right. According to the newest rumours, Google is looking to open their very own music store.

Now an app store does make a lot of sense given that Google has ventured into the mobile operating system market, but music? I have to wonder if a music store is just a bit much. Sure Microsoft and Apple have music stores, but they also have music devices, something Google lacks. Perhaps these rumours are only a prelude to Google releasing a portable music player. That would be a story if Google did release a music player, but I would still have to question why. Google’s focus has been on the Internet for the longest time, as that is where they are currently making their money. Everything about Google has been up to this point, to get us to use the internet more so they could make more money off their ads. Perhaps a music store, assuming the rumours are true, signifies a shift in Google’s strategy.

I strongly believe that a company like Google which essentially makes all their money off of a single product does need to diversify their portfolio, but I have to wonder if music is the right direction for that. Then again, I’m not a business person. Perhaps someone out there will be able to set me straight on just why this move could make sense. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to speculate.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Is the 3DS a Revolution?

new3ds

Nintendo seems to think so.

I have to admit that last week, I missed the Nintendo press conference due to work. Since then, I’ve made an effort to watch the press conference on Nintendo.com. But, today I finally had the opportunity to see the end of the Nintendo press conference, which had a very strong emphasis on the New Nintendo 3DS. According to Nintendo, the new 3DS will be a revolution in gaming, but will it really be?

Many of you may remember that a number of years ago, Nintendo placed a stack in 3D portable gaming with the release of their Virtual boy console back in 1995. Now for those that can remember, the Virtual Boy never really sold well and was very quickly abandoned by Nintendo in 1996. Some of the complaints that people had about the console was that it would cause headaches, and that it was an uglyvirtualboy console which was reaffirmed in 2007 when PC World listed it at number five on their “Ugliest products in History List”. Could the new 3DS suffer the same fate as the Virtual Boy?

I have to think that the 3DS will do very well when it releases. In many ways I’m disappointed that Nintendo has announced a new portable console so quickly after releasing a new iteration of their DS hand held in the DSi XL. But other than that, I think that console will have a strong adoption rate by consumers, especially if the console lives up to the hype. From many of the hands on reports that I’ve read, many of the reporters are impressed by just how the images on the console look. It is really impressive to see that Nintendo is at the cutting edge of the portable gaming space.

What I find most interesting with the 3DS is that it will support video playback and has a strong connectivity emphasis. Before the 3DS, Nintendo has pretty much overlooked online play and video playback on any of their consoles. But now it seems that the light has finally gone on for Nintendo, which makes me interested in seeing how these two features may be integrated into the Wii or perhaps a new console.

Clearly, Nintendo must be feeling a little heat not just from Sony and Microsoft, but also Apple. Ever since Apple opened their app store more and more games have been making their way over to the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. But now with the new iPhone on the way and the iPad, Apple will increasingly have a foot in the gaming world. The 3DS may be a move by Nintendo to try and maintain their lead in the portable gaming world. Whether the 3DS will be enough to ward off its competitors, only time will tell.

As for whether or not the 3DS is the revolution that Nintendo wants it to be, it’s still a bit uncertain at this time. Certainly Nintendo has managed to Wow a number of journalist by the new console, but will the general public be as enthusiastic. I have a strong feeling that people will be impressed, but that too will have to wait. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Nintendo announced just when this new console might be releasing, but you can be certain that I’ll be keeping my eye out for this one.

What about you? Are you going to buy a 3DS?

New Resident Evil:Afterlife Trailer

Now this looks awesome.

This is how a movie should look. Obviously this trailer doesn’t say anything about how Resident Evil: Afterlife will end up, but at the very least it seems these guys know what the audience wants to see. The only thing that I continue to worry about is how the 3-D is going to be. In some of the earlier trailers, the 3-D in RE: Afterlife was looking a bit gimmicky, but if the gimmicks are a small part of the movie I don’t mind.

What about you? Did you like the previous Resident Evil films? Are you looking forward to this one?

VIA

Friday, June 18, 2010

Fraggle Rock’s Director on the Rocks

fraggle_rock When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Fraggle Rock. With Jim Henson at the helm back in those days, the show was just amazing. Now with a film in production, I find myself feeling a bit interested to see what they will end up doing to update this franchise.

But alas, there appears to be trouble on the horizon for Fraggle Rock. According to Fraggle Rock’s current director/writer, Cory Edwards, the Weinstein Company has not only rejected his script because they felt it wasn’t edgy enough, but they have also moved to hire a new writer, all without consulting him.

Now I don’t know about you, but when a film company starts to make decisions about your film project without consulting you about those decisions while you’re in charge of the film project, I think it’s fairly safe to say that you’re not in charge. At least you’re not in charge any more. I have to feel sorry for this guy since you can tell from his post that he feels quite angry and confused by what the Weinsteins are doing. Certainly the Weinsteins are within their rights to replace him as writer and as director if they feel that he isn’t up to the job, but we would just hope that the Weinstein Company would handle it a bit better.

One has got to wonder just how bad was Cory’s script that the Weinsteins had to make this decisions? Or do the Weinsteins just not have a clue? Whatever the case, we probably will never know the answer to this one.

VIA

Thursday, June 17, 2010

New Narnia Trailer

Now this looks awesome.

I’m glad that Chronicles of Narnia will continue even though the series has switched hands from Disney this time around.  But taking a look at this trailer.  I don’t mind. 

Do you?

VIA

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

So Who Won E3?


Tat is that big question.

Yesterday as you well know, both Nintendo and Sony had their press conferences which included a slew of new games and some hardware in the case of Nintendo's 3DS. Personally, I'm quite happy with what Nintendo announce, but was it enough?

Nintendo was in an interesting spot this year, having had the lead in the console wars over the last several years, Nintendo is now faced with the threat of being supplanted by its competitors new motion control solutions. So the question was, does Nintendo have what it takes to combat both Microsoft and Sony to maintain their lead? And what new technology my they announce to help them with that goal? Truthfully, I was prepared to make a bold statement that Nintendo would be announcing a new console, like a Wii HD. But that didn't quite happen.

What did happen was what Nintendo should have done 2 E3's ago. Nintendo showed off games that the people that go to E3 actually care about. Over the last couple of E3's Nintendo has concentrated to its detriment on the casual gamer and thus everyone at the convention went away from Nintendo's press conferences feeling like they were robbed. This year however, Nintendo came ready to play ball, announcing everything from a new Zelda, to a new Goldeneye remake and all of it with playable demos. But were these announcements enough?

Sony followed Nintendo's press conference with an impressive line up of games and demos. Sony even introduced their new Playstation Plus service which would give gamers access to free games and content. Personally I'm glad that Playstation owners have something comparable to Xbox Live. I don't have a PS3, but I watched my friend play Modern Warfare 2 and his games are always lagging out or dropping. Hopefully this new service will give PS3 owners some stability.

The one big surprise of the Sony Press conference was that they managed to get Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve, to come out and announce Portals 2 as an exclusive of the PS3, as well as, the addition of Steam to PS3s. Now for those that don't know, Gabe Newell back in October of 2007 called the PS3 "a waste of everyone’s time" in an interview with Next-Gen, so to get him to change his mind was quite a large feat.

In any case, I’ll get back to the question. Who won E3? The truth is I'm kind of leaning towards Microsoft a little. Why? Personally I'm excited to see what directions developers will take Kinetic in. Sure Microsoft made a mess of their presentation with all of the Wii rip off games, but I really feel Kinetics has some promise. Nintendo for me was seconded since they gave everyone finally what they wanted and that was good games to look forward to and new hardware in the 3DS. Everyone that has seen the 3DS has been impressed by it and so I know it’s going somewhere. As for Sony, I’m kind of indifferent. I don't own a PS3 or a PSP and I haven't really seen anything that would pull me over towards Sony in their presentation. Certainly that means I'm biased, but in truth I'm probably in a good position to really judge Sony since these press conferences are designed to inform you of upcoming products and to try and sell you on them. I'm not sold yet.

I know that some will disagree with me. As I've taken a look at IGN's poll asking this question, Nintendo is in the lead, followed by Sony and Microsoft is far behind. And I can understand where people are coming from since Microsoft essentially copied Nintendo’s presentation from 2 years ago, as it came to Kinetic, but Kinetic does represent new gaming possibilities beyond those of Nintendo or Sony and that is what I'm looking forward to.

In any case, what do you think? Who do you think Won E3?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Kinetic E3

E3-logo In case you've been living under a rock or just have no general interest in video games, you probably missed the fact that E3 started yesterday and thus the first round of announcements of new games and hardware. Yesterday, E3 was all about Microsoft, who was the first of the three console companies to have their press conference and they didn't disappoint. Then again, maybe it may depend on who you talk to.

Microsoft definitely had many big announcements at this year’s press conference, the biggest of which was the unveiling of Kinetic, which was formally known as Project Natal, as well as a raft of new games that will be coming out for this new device. Some of the more hard core titles looked impressive, like the new Metal Gear Solid game, but then there were also a ton of games that just made little sense to me other than to try and copy Nintendo. Mainly, the new Kinetic Sports which is a complete knock off of Nintendo's Wii Sports. Everything about Kinetic Sports looks ripped off from the character models that look like Mii's, to many of the sports themselves.

But Kinetic wasn't all bad. Kinetic has some cool features like their recognition features which can recognize who you are when you walk into the room. Kinetic also has an ability to measure your dimensions which will demonstrate its usefulness in Ubisoft's new fitness game for Kinetic. Finally, the way that you navigate menus with your hands does look kind of interesting. So I do feel some optimism about Kinetic, as long as it works as demonstrated. There was one hiccup with one of the demos, so I hope it was simply just the lighting that affected how Kinetic was working.

One surprise announcement that Microsoft made was their new Xbox 360, which is much slimmer than the original and has built in Wi-Fi and a 250G hard drive. Ok, maybe it’s not too surprising of an announcement since on the weekend Microsoft's new console was accidentally outed by a new Italian ad featuring the console. One question that I wished was answered at the press conference is, will this new Xbox 360 red ring? But for some reason that question was skipped.

All in all, Microsoft's press conference was very impressive, which makes me wonder just how Nintendo will top Microsoft. In any case we will have to wait till tomorrow to find out. So what do you think? Is Kinetic everything that you were looking for? Or do you not care about Kinetic?

Friday, June 11, 2010

Taken 2 in Discussion

taken_ver5_xlg

Now this is good news.

Personally, I think that 2008’s Taken was a much underrated movie. Taken was an amazing film that really surprised me, as going in to it, I never thought that it would be as good as it was. But now, there is word from none other than Liam Neeson that he is speaking with producer Luc Besson about the possibility of a Taken 2. This is good news, but I have to wonder how they will accomplish this.

Anyone that watched Taken knows the story revolves around Brian Mills' daughter getting kidnapped and Brian (Leam Neeson) going to save her. What I’m wonder is just what Taken 2 would be about. It would be a bit cheesy if Brian’s daughter got kidnapped again, so there would have to be another motivation for Brian to get involved.

Whatever the case, I’m glad they are considering a sequel. What about you? Did you like Taken? Are you looking forward to a sequel?

VIA

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Mortal Kombat Rebirth

This trailer is just awesome.

For a long time now the Mortal Kombat franchise has been a bit of a joke, with cheesy film after cheesy film, and bad game after bad game. It’s good to see that Mortal Kombat’s luck may be turning around.

The above video was making the rounds yesterday, with everyone wondering just what this trailer was for. Was it a game trailer or a film trailer? Well according to IGN, it’s actually a film trailer. Jeri Ryan via Twitter confirmed that this video was in fact a trailer for a Mortal Kombat film, which was made to sell WB on the director’s vision for a re-imagining of the Mortal Kombat franchise.

What amazes me is that this short was filmed for about $7,500 since most of the work was done for free. I guess it just shows you that you don’t need a lot of money to make a film these days. In any case, I wish the director, Kevin Tancharoen, luck on selling his vision to WB. Hopefully we will be seeing something soon.

What Happened to Ralph Macchio

With the new Karate Kid film just a day away from releasing, many people are wondering just what happened to Ralph Macchio. Sure he had a recent stint on Ugly Betty, but other than that he has been missing in action.

The above mockumentary looks into the question of just what happened to Ralph, and I have to say, it’s pretty funny how things turned out. I think they were right in many ways; Ralph does look like too nice of a guy. Would it stop you from hiring him, I don’t think so, but it’s funny to just speculate.

Also, it was a nice touch for them to have Molly Ringwald from Sixteen Candles fame appears in this video. Perhaps they will also release a mockumentary on her. Ok maybe not.

In any case, this video gets a definite two thumbs up from me. So enjoy.

VIA

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Gizmodo’s Trial

 

This is just funny.

As many of you know, about a month ago Apple had an iPhone 4 stolen from them and sold to Gizmodo, which subsequently resulted in the raid of Jason Chen’s home, etc. Many of us have wondered just what will happen to Gizmodo and those responsible for taking the iPhone. Well I guess this video answers this question, in the most humorous of ways.

For all of the criticism that Attack of the Show gets for not living up to the Screensavers, every so often they really do hit it out of the park. I applaud these guys for their creativity and in creating a very humorous video. So Enjoy.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Mr. T Dislikes the A-Team

Well the new movie that is.

Over the last several months I've never keep it secret that I'm not a huge fan of the new film adaptation of the A-Team.  But what I never expected is that one of the original A-Team members would be a critic of the film.

MSN Movies is reporting that Mr. T feels that the new A-Team film is too graphic.  According to Mr. T, he found that the new A-Team film was too violent and had too much sex.  Now many sites have used his quote to take pot shots at Mr. T, but I feel more inclined to respect him for his honesty.   If someone finds a film to be too violent or sexual for their tastes, I think people should respect it.   Mr. T wasn't overly critical in what he said about the movie, nor did he ask for it to be band so I'm not quite sure where this criticism is really coming from.  So I've decided to quote what Mr. T said here,

"People die in the film and there's plenty of sex but when we did it, no one got hurt and it was all played for fun and family entertainment. These seem to be elements nobody is interested in anymore.

"It was too graphic for me. I've no doubt it will do big business at the box office but it's nothing like the show we turned out every week."

Is Mr.T really being overly critical or are people just picking on Mr. T.  I have to think that people are just over reacting to what Mr. T said.  And anyone that has a problem with what he said needs to take a good hard look at themselves, what do you think?

iPhone 4 Love it or Hate it

Today was a big day for Apple fans out there as Steve Jobs finally unveiled the new iPhone at his WWDC keynote presentation. Not that we haven't seen the iPhone 4 before. A few months before images and video of the iPhone 4 were readily available due to Gizmodo's stolen iPhone. But the big question today is whether or not the new iPhone is a game changer or just more of the same.

Personally I don't think this new iPhone is enough of a step up to really get me excited. Maybe it was simply that Gizmodo took the wind out of Apples sails, by revealing the phone so many months before it was unveiled. Or the lack of live video of the event, but it really wasn't that exciting this time around. The iPhone's biggest new feature seems to be the "FaceTime" feature (Or husband tracker as I call it), which will allow users to make video calls to other iPhone 4 users. FaceTime sounds like a great feature, but I can't imagine it getting a lot of use other than in special cases. Many of you might remember my article from a few months back discussing Skype video calling being built in to TVs. In the Times article, which I sited for my post, Sherry Turkle, a MIT professor of social studies, found that people in general weren't that interested in real time conversations. Thus people were not interested in Skype or video calling. Could FaceTime change that? I'm just not sure.

The big problem that I see with FaceTime is that it requires Wi-Fi and can't function over your data connection. As soon as Steve said that FaceTime wouldn’t work over data connections, I told myself that I would never use this feature. Sure I could see myself using it from home, but I can't see myself going out and using an open WiFi point. Security is a concern for me, and so open Wi-Fi is definitely out for me. So really I would use this feature only from home, which would limit its usefulness to me, especially since I could always use Skype video.

As for all of the other new iPhone features, I came away feeling a bit underwhelmed. Other than iPhone 4’s new design and noise cancelling features, etc., it feels like pretty much the same phone as the previous generation.

So will I buy one? Probably not. I know I mentioned before that I work for Wind here in Canada and unfortunately the new iPhone doesn't support our network, so I don't see myself switching carriers to get one. But if it did support our network, I just don't know if I would buy one. I must admit that I'm kind of personally over the iPhone and I find myself more interested in what's happening with Android. Then again, that’s just me.

So, what about you? Do you plan on getting an iPhone? Or are you just not interested?

Sunday, June 6, 2010

All Eyes on Steve

Steve-Jobs_2

For those that don’t know, WWDC starts tomorrow (Monday) where it is widely expected that Steve Jobs will officially unveil the next generation iPhone. Previously, images and videos the fabled phone was leaked online via Gizmodo, but tomorrow we should see it become official.

What else will be presented during the keynote is a big question. Steve Jobs just over a week ago sent out and e-mail stating that we won’t be disappointed in what we see at his keynote, so you have to wonder if Steve Jobs has another product under his sleeve. Also, in his e-mail he stated that there is no way that Google’s Android will be able to beat the iPhone? What new feature could the iPhone have to maintain dominates in the mobile world?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Sir Ben Kingsley Makes fun of Heidi Montag

I knew this would happen.

Ever since Heidi Montag’s Transformers 3 audition video first hit the Internet, I had a feeling that someone was going to make fun of it. But I never thought that someone was going to be Academy Award winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. Clearly this video appears to be a spot from the Lopez Tonight show, but you have to wonder if it’s a bit of a step down for an actor of Kingsley’s calibre to be making fun of Heidi Montag.

What ever the case its a funny little video so enjoy.

VIA

Jeremy Renner is Hawkeye

jeremy-renner

Well at least that’s according to The Hollywood Reporter.

For months now, it has been rumoured that Jeremy Renner would be taking on the role of everyone’s favourite archer, Hawkeye. But there are now reports that Jeremy is in final negotiations with Marvel to play Hawkeye. However, whether or not Renner will actually play Hawkeye is still a bit up in the air, since Marvel still hasn’t confirmed that they are in talks with Renner.

But if it is true, I think Renner would be a good choice. Anyone that has seen The Hurt Locker knows just how well Renner did in that film. Truthfully I would have preferred to see him take on Captain America, but Hawkeye isn’t a bad role either.

So what do you think? Is Renner right for The Avengers?

VIA

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Canadians Gets Screwed by new Copyright Laws

piracy Oh boy.

Canadians for the most part have fared well against the crazy US style copyright laws, but it appears that will now change. Yesterday Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore tabled a bill to reform Canada’s out dated copyright laws, which included many compromises for both consumers and creators. The only problem is that there will be no flexibility on DRMed content.

According to these new laws Canadians will be free to make copies of content for personal use. The trouble comes if the content has any type of copy protection or DRM (Digital rights management) on it, as the new laws do not provide any provisions for breaking the DRM. Meaning that Canadians will lose all rights to make copies of content that has DRM on it, even if it’s for their own personal use. So if you planned on converting your CD collection over to MP3s and your CD’s have DRM on them, you will be out of luck. For the most part any CD that you buy today will come with DRM on it, so you will not be able to make copies of any new CD that you buy.

This is really terrible. I understand why they are doing this since a lot of people have stopped buying music and movies since it’s so freely available for free online, but stopping people from being able to copy for backups or personal use really is a bit much.

I can understand this change from the stand point that they need to do something to slow down piracy, but it just makes me feel like not buying. I like buying CDs for the higher quality sound and converting them to AACs or MP3s, but these new rules will prevent me from doing this. Add to that, that these rules will open that door for copyright holders to sue vendors of software that break copyright, and thus we may end up with no way to really back up.

I applaud these guys for trying, but there must be another solution. Just what that is, I don’t know.

VIA

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Is Rosie Really in Transformers 3?

Victoria Secret thinks so.

Victoria Secret has decided to go all out and produce a video congratulating Victoria Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on her role in Transformers 3. As for whether or not Rosie actually got the role, it hasn’t officially been confirmed.

That being said, we have to believe that Victoria Secret isn’t going to be putting themselves out there like this just to be wrong. Then again, this video is generating a lot of publicity for them and their product, so even if they are wrong they have managed to create a video that will be shared all around the internet by guys like me. So either way Victoria Secret wins.

If Rosie got the role, good for her, but personally I was hoping for a female lead that had acting credentials. Shia does a good job, but I was hoping for someone that could be a good partner for his Sam character. In any case, what do you think? Do you think Rosie is good for Transformers? Or does she expose exactly what is wrong with Transformers?

VIA

Reactions to Del Toro’s Departure

Hey guys, I just thought I’d share this video with you since it has a really good discussion on Guillermo del Toro’s departure from The Hobbit.

John Campea from The Script to Screen blog at AMC put this video together, which asked many pundits from various films sites just what they thought about del Toro’s departure from the Hobbit as well as, who they think should replace him.

My money says that no one is going to want to be attached to The Hobbit until MGM sorts out their money problems. But if I had my choice in terms of director I would probably lean towards Neil Blomkamp. Why you might ask? Because he will probably still work for cheap since he has one film under his belt, which will help the studio in its financial turnaround, if there is one. He has shown that he can work effectively with Peter Jackson and I really feel that he has a lot of potential to give us a good film.

So what about you, who would you like to see replace del Toro?

VIA

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Del Toro Leaves Middle Earth

It’s sad, but true.

Now I know that this news will be greeted both with excitement and with great sorrow. Yesterday, Guillermo Del Toro announced that he would be leaving The Hobbit films due to the delays in filming. The Hobbit has been on hold for some time now due to MGM’s financial woes.

I know that some people will be happy since it could open the way for Peter Jackson to return as director of The Hobbit, but I was really looking forward to seeing just what Del Toro would do with The Hobbit. Del Toro is well known for his creativeness. From Pan’s Labyrinth to Hell Boy, Del Toro seems to continue to one up him with each new film. This is why it was actually good news for me when Del Toro was named director of The Hobbit.

Sure I would like to see Peter Jackson direct The Hobbit as well, but sometimes it’s good to have someone else on board as well. Del Toro will still be staying on as a co-writer on the project, but I have to wonder now if The Hobbit will even happen. Let’s all keep hoping for the best.

VIA

********** Update:  It appears that Peter Jackson doesn't want the directing gig for The Hobbit as well.  I wonder who will be willing to step in.

iPad Street Magic

If

I could do this with an iPad I would probably buy one.

Whenever a new product hits the market it’s always exciting to see just what uses people will come up with for the device. But I’m pretty certain that no one envisioned street magic as one of them.

After watching this video, I’m feeling that I really need to learn some magic of my own. What about you? What are you using your iPad for?

VIA

Tony Jaa Calls it Quits

tonyjaa This is disappointing.

Now many of you are probably scratching your heads wondering just who Tony Jaa actually is. Well I’ll tell you. Tony Jaa was the main actor for the Ong Bak martial arts films. At one point Tony Jaa was probably the most exciting new martial arts actor in the world, as he came in from nowhere and was doing a lot of crazy stunts in his first Ong Bak film.

Unfortunately, Ong Bak did not continue the way it started. Both Ong Bak 2 and now 3 did not do very well. Ong Bak 2 was a direct to DVD release and it appears that Ong Bak 3 will be going the same route.

So with to flops under his belt, Tony Jaa has decided to call it quits from acting and is reportedly joining a Monastery to become a Monk. According to reports, in Thailand it’s not uncommon for someone to leave their careers and become a monk for a time. So let’s just hope that Tony decideds to come back to acting shortly.

VIA