Because censoring opinions you disagree with is bad (looking at you Paramount, Viacom, Fox and Lionsgate)
I saw this on reddit this morning and had to share.
Lionsgate, Fox, Paramount and Viacom have all filed DMCA takedown requests with Google to remove all links to TPB-AFK─a Creative Commons, Kickstarter-funded documentary centered around the founders of The Pirate Bay that is in no way owned by Lionsgate, Fox, Paramount or Viacom. Now, these requests are automated, and supposedly, this was a mistake. I mean, who doesn’t include other people’s works when setting up a series of automated requests to take down your work? Oh, that’s right: nobody. Nobody who isn’t making an effort to censor those works would do that.
I believe in respecting copyright and punishments that fit the crime, but this isn’t that. This is manipulating a system designed to protect copyright to censor opposing arguments and ideas. It’s time to start fining companies and individuals for filing false DMCA takedown requests. If there is nothing to stop companies from censoring, accidentally or not, material they disagree with, what’s to stop them from silencing political opinions during elections? What’s to stop them from censoring positive reviews or competing products or negative reviews of their own products?
Go forth and watch TPB-AFK because someone doesn’t wants to take away your right to see it.
[Source: Torrent Freaks via reddit]
Thursday Throwback: “I’ve Seen Better Days”
You know, I’ve never actually heard this song on the radio or seen the music video, but for a while it was inescapable. There was a time when it seemed as though “I’ve Seen Better Days” was playing over the last scene of every movie and TV show.
Some people insist this song is by Sublime. It isn’t. Those people probably illegally downloaded songs with the wrong artist information. Moreover, “I’ve Seen Better Days” is from Citizen King’s 1999 album Mobile Estates. In 1999 Bradley Knowell, lead singer of Sublime, had been dead for three years and not replaced yet.
Owners of restaurant featured on Kitchen Nightmares lose their minds on/at the internet
There’s bat shit crazy and then there’s the owners of Amy’s Baking Company, two people who seemed so genuinely insane that for the first time in Kitchen Nightmares history Gordon Ramsey left in disgust without fixing the place. If that sounds harsh, keep in mind that these are people who admitted on camera to keeping the tips left for servers and lost their composure to an extreme degree with even the slightest provocation. They also fired a waitress on camera when she asked the owner if she was sure a dish was going to the correct table. So they’re the kind of people who sign up for reality shows? Yes, bold-type self, but to an extreme that is rarely ever seen in places without scripts that lead to Razzies. Seriously, see for yourself here.
After the show aired on Friday, the owners took the internet to go off on their critics, which led to an astounding social media meltdown and claims of being “hacked”. Even a former waitress at Amy’s took to Reddit for an AMA session. That was all plenty entertaining, but the real goods are on the restaurant’s Yelp page, which has been flooded with negative reviews. Mostly, it’s a bunch of 1-star “you people suck” type reviews, but some people really had fun with it. Here are the real gems:
Is that… Is that a poem?
Zombies have opinions, too.
Pulp Fictiony
What’s not to like?
Pour one out for ‘The Cleveland Show’
The Cleveland Show was always destined for cancellation. Frankly, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did, but that never stopped me from sparking up a joint and laughing along with the madness.
Look, not everything has to be a work of genius. The Cleveland Show was entertaining, and I’ll miss it. Hey, at least it wasn’t most other things on Fox. Plus, the joint really helped.
One season closer to six seasons and a movie
Sure, let’s reuse this picture… again.
You’ve probably already heard this elsewhere, but Community has been renewed for a fifth season. I think most fans were pretty disappointed by the fourth season, but bad Community is still better than most things. Plus, it got better as the season progressed. With the drama and transition of losing Harmon behind them, I’m optimistic about the new season.
Chevy Chase won’t be back next season, but if I had to pick one character to remove from the show without affecting it, it would be his. Pop POP!
“Space Oddity” as performed by Canada’s Cmdr. Chris Hadfield aboard the ISS
A song by Davie Bowie wrote about an astronaut in space performed in space by an astronaut on the International Space Station? Shut up and take my YouTube hit!
Thank you, Chris Hadfield. You made my week. [Update: He and his crew just landed safely.]
’24′ Coming back to TV
There have been promises to bring back Jack Bauer ever since 24 went off the air in 2010. For a long time, the rumor was that we were getting a 24 movie. While I was excited by the prospect of hearing Jack Bauer shout something other than “Damn it”, I never really thought 2 hours of real-time action was enough to do it justice. Sure, there was 24: Redemption, but it was only a device to segway into Season 7. It was barely a standalone movie, and really only worked as 2 hours of 24 set two months before the events of 24. It was more like an annual issue of a comic book than a standalone event.
Anyhow, a 12 episode run of 24 is coming in May 2014 as part of Fox’s effort to air programming in the Summer that makes people want to watch in the Fall. The limited series will be called 24: Live Another Day. It will definitely feature Kiefer Sutherland, but nothing else has been announced.
Via EW
Good Head: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
Here’s a nice new beer to try for the weekend.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of San Diego County’s breweries. In fact, they’re easily my favorite thing about San Diego. Granted, I’m not much of a beach person, but going down to North County to sample beers is one of the best uses of a Southern California Saturday afternoon I can imagine. The breweries are easy to get to, close together and distinctive enough to warrant checking out several instead of camping out at just one. With a large facility they built from the ground up, the biggest in the area is easily Stone Brewing Co.─who have a fantastic free tour that includes samples, by the way─with others, like the ever delicious Mother Earth Brew Co., being as small as a single suite in a single-level office park. I like to think I’ve been to lots of the area’s breweries, but in reality, I’ve probably been to less than 25% of the fine establishments that make up the San Diego Brewers Guild. One of the bigger ones I’ve never had a chance to visit is Ballast Point. I’ve wanted to go, but it’s far enough away from where I usually go to be written off as “maybe next time” every time. Boy, was that a mistake.
A few weeks back I had a nice time getting bad genuinely fucking terrible service at Slater’s 50/50 with two friends, and one of them had me try his Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. Now, I’m not much of an IPA guy (unless it’s Port Brewing’s seasonal High Tide IPA), so I tried it more as a courtesy to him than out of actual interest. Much to my surprise, it was beyond fantastic. I’ve since had it several more times. Sculpin IPA has that hoppy, citrusy crispness typically associated with the IPA style, but the execution uses just the right amount of sweetness and a note of tropical fruit to bring a perfect balance to a style of beer that can sometimes overwhelm the palate with bitterness. I would recommend it to anyone, even lovers of canned domestics, and I’m recommending it to you right now.
Ballast Point is my new go-to summer beer, and I think after you try some, it will be yours, too.
The Real Silent Hill
I heard a long time ago that the fictional city in Silent Hill was inspired by a real city in the United States called Centralia. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s good and stuck in my head. Granted, Centralia doesn’t have Pyramid Head, but in 1962 the eastern Pennsylvania town became home to a massive underground inferno when a vein of coal that reached the surface was inadvertently exposed to small trash fire. Instead of Silent Hill’s fog, Centralia has coal smoke coming up through the ground in some places. Some 50 years later the fire still rages below the nearly vacant town.
For a time, that was really all I knew: a town became virtually uninhabitable when coal underground ignited.
As it turns out, the fire isn’t nearly as interesting as people’s reactions to the fire. There are rival factions, intrigue, conflict and even death. I love the way adding a human element to history can make it a story instead of a dry set of big picture facts.
A while back, RadioLab covered the history of Centralia’s underground fire as part of their “Cities” episode. What I heard was a rebroadcast. Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t support embed codes from Radiolab, but you can click here to hear the story for yourself. That link will take you directly to the segment on Centralia.
Flickr Photos
|
