The Definition of Irony

In a surprise twist of fate, Warner Brothers Studios has been ordered to fork up $17.5 million (yes that's not a typo) for infringing on a copyright held on the source material upon which the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard was based. Apparently no one thought to check up on the legal side of making a movie based on a TV show that they thought they owned.

One poster at Cinescape quirped that maybe WB would try and catch the owner of the rights downloading the movie and sue him for their $17.5 million back. More directly, another poster simply said that the WB was "OWNED." Couldn't agree more on that call... Click here to read the original story.

Ferry crashes into Horseshoe Bay marina

Click here to read the story posted on cbc.ca. More proof that the entire BC Ferries fleet needs to be retired has surfaced today as The Queen of Oak Bay sailed past the birth it was aiming for and smashed into a nearby marina at approximately 10:10AM Thursday morning. The picture is horrifying to say the least. It is unknown if the accident has caused any fatalities.

It should be noted that there were many boats caught underneath the boat as it slammed into the marina. It is unknown if anyone was sleeping in them at the time.

UPDATE:
It has now been learned that as of 1:45pm there have been no reported injuries resulting from the accident. The 544 people on board the ferry were unable to be unloaded until divers had completed the search. Not that it would be of much consulation, I'm betting that there was some complimentary food offered...

UPDATE:
"It's very clear that something went wrong, probably on the mechanical side, but beyond that I can not speculate," David Hahn, President of BC Ferries, told a news conference on Thursday afternoon. Well, duh. Passengers have said that if they hadn't been told they were going to crash they would have assumed it was a normal docking procedure. The impact felt by passengers was nothing more than the regular bumps of contacting the birth walls.

Quote of the Day

When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.
---Pablo Picasso

My Spin: Isn't it funny how critics have no idea how to actually DO what they criticize? Let us all remember this the next time we bash a politician, movie maker, musician, blog writer... ;-)

Bruce Campbell vs. Mike Worth

One day even YOU might be this elite. Bruce was downtown at Chapters on Robson street last Sunday signing his new book, "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way." While I haven't gotten around to actually reading the book yet, the question period with Bruce reaffirmed that the man has not lost an ounce of his wit that made films like Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness such cult icons.

Here are some outtakes from that session... (Thanks to Les for typing them out!)

Question: ARE YOU THE CHOSEN ONE?
Bruce: According to you maybe, I'm just passing through.

Question: Book Three?? Is there a third book in the making???
Bruce: Well it depends on how well Book 2 does. Great decisions have a lot to do with economic reality.

Question: Is Jack Of All Trades coming out on DVD?
Bruce: Why bother? Nobody watched it in the first place!!

Question: What's your favorite movie of all time and what's your favorite movie you have been in?
Bruce: My favorite movie is Maniac Cop!! No its actually Bridge on the River Kwai because it has my favorite actor William Holden, who could kick Ben Affleck's ass any day of the week.

Question: Are you going out with Katie Holmes??
Bruce: No she is a girl, I prefer women.

Question: Was it fun being in Army Of Darkness??
Bruce: No it was not fun at all. Because today you are getting the stretchy face, today you are getting the two headed rig, today we are going to spin your ass upside down, today you are evil ash, 3 hours of make up!!!

Question: Say the boomstick line
Bruce: I would if I was your little monkey!

Question: Bruce when does The Woods come out??
Bruce: Well it got delayed for a year?? Do you think that's good?? They called me up a year later to do three extra days of shooting. Then they said actually we don't need you. (sarcasm) I'm sure it will be an excellent movie (/sarcasm). It will be out this fall some time!

Question: What's your next role in Spider-man??
Bruce: If I get a role in the next Spider-man, I'm holding out! For a smaller role. Lets review real quick, in the first Spider-man I gave the character his name, in the second Spider-man I'm the only character who defeated him, and in part three I will be Spider-man I guess.

Question: When is The Man with the Screaming Brain coming out
Bruce: That film wasn't released it escaped. I'm touring with that film right now, I think I'm going to bring it to Toronto. (Crowd starts booing) Ugh...I mean... Its coming here very soon!!

Apple Admits Inferiority

Well, not really. But it has decided to switch from using it's IBM PowerPC processors to use Intel x86 based ones starting in June 2006 and completely switch by 2007. Wonderful! So, all you people who parade your Macs around in some sort of pagan ritual claiming how they are sooooo superior to PCs now must realize that all you have is a slick, user-friendly OS that is no safer than Windows. Yes, that's right. Now being based on the same machine code ISA as Windows PCs, hardware hacks and malicious code need only to adapt to the different subtleties of the OS' memory management techniques to drive up the need for Apple virus scanners. Neat.

While I might be interested in trying out Tiger on a PC, in reality, I just don't see the point. Why move away from one propriatary OS to another? Oooooh, slick buttons and nifty toolbars! Joy! Both Microsoft and Apple will then be in direct competition for the ownership of your desktop. This could be a fun thing to watch. Where will Linux end up in all of this?

Personally, I'm still planning to eventually switch over to Linux in the next few months and keep Windows for school where I need to use programs I can't run in Linux mode. I've been using Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunfire for the last 5 months without any problems. I really do think the only troubles I will run into will be finding a good MSN client (Gaim works, but its so lightweight... I miss silly features), and getting my iPod to sync up properly. It will be fun.

First Listen: Coldplay - X & Y

Another reinvention results in a massive success for Coldplay. X & Y's leadoff single is the most familiar sounding on this disc as the rest of the tracks, while staying inside their genre, take on a new flavor from the previous two albums. Parachutes seemed to bask in melancholy rhythms and played out in a rather downer tone (think Trouble, Spies, Don't Panic). A Rush of Blood to the Head was more anthematic with Politik, The Scientist, and Amsterdam. X & Y, while still in that vein, brings in more synth keys to give a fuller sounding bed to build upon.

This structure is sometimes bigger than usual as the guitars build to a chunky climax in Talk, or light and floaty during the opening of Fix You only to explode with the drums in the second half. These two tracks upon my first listen were the real standouts. Fix You is destined to be the new Yellow that won't get overplayed (I hope) since it takes a while to build up. Square One opens with a direct homage to Pink Floyd that will have some people checking to make sure Wish You Were Here didn't sneak into their cd player when they weren't looking. Swallowed in the Sea is also a great track with some great wordplay at work with a great piano/guitar mix to carry it forward.

My take? 4.5/5 stars on this one. Good stuff.