Under The Dog

Rent Your Soul dot com

No, it’s only figuratively speaking, no deals with the devil here. The basic concept with Rent Your Soul is that you take a picture of yourself, holding a sign that says “my soul”, you upload it to them with your infos and hope that they choose you.

Now you are probably asking yourself, why do I want to give up my informationsoul? Because they will put 10 bucks in your paypal and donate 10 bucks to a charity of your choice.

Charities include: Amnesty International, Animal Rescue Network and Cancer.ca.

It’s for a good cause. Now pony up a photo.

Scare the bejeezus out of grandma with

BABY TATTOOS!

Clicking the picture takes you to la.gg, the best one off photo hosting this side of the universe.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers home has been destroyed in California wildfires

I don’t really goto TMZ very always often as it tends to have news about most of the corprate crap I am against, but it is in my feed reader as they often will break news the before others and this morning they delivered the goods or bads in this case.

Flea, the bassist for the the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lost his home today in the fires raging through Malibu, KNX 1070 is reporting.A rep for Flea could not be located.

The link on their site contained nothing I could about Flea so who knows. Our hearts go out the musician, actor and philanthropist and we hope he didn’t lose anything that he can’t get back.

Zack Snyder Is Making Another Zombie Movie entitled “Army of the Dead”

Zombie purists really hate Zack Snyder for making the zombies fast. I didn’t even finish his remake of dawn of the dead but I loved 300. Part of me wants to say “who the hell does Zack Snyder think he is to use the “of the dead” title for anything, it belongs to Romero”. But I’m 99% positive that I read somewhere an interview where Romero praised Zack Snyder for making a good zombie movie and I can let it slide.

Shocktillyoudrop.com has the details.

Harold has been working as a freelance writer on a variety of studio projects, one of them being Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead for Warner Bros. When we interviewed Joby recently for his debut film, we decided to ask him a few questions about that.

“It was based on an original idea by Zack, which was definitely a very fun idea for a movie,” he told us. “We all met up and seemed to be on the same page and had a terrific time writing that. I’m in the middle of the contract still. We haven’t completed all the steps, but the studio loved the first draft and Zack seems to be pleased. That couldn’t have been a better experience. Zack and all those guys are really salt of the earth people who definitely understand what good movies are all about and what the audience wants, and that was just a tremendous experience.”

“It’s not a sequel. It’s its own being, its own film,” he said, clearing up any confusion that this is a sequel to Snyder’s 2003 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. “I think what Zack wanted to do was make the ultimate zombie movie. If you could do anything, what would be the epic be-all-end-all of zombie films, which is a hell of a challenge but very exciting to do. We took it to the next level. I’m extremely pleased with it. It’s definitely out there, it’s crazy, and — much like Awake – it’s not just a straight-up genre film. There’s a lot of action elements, there’s a lot of horror elements, it’s not just your traditional every day zombie movie. We really take it and run with it.”

This Joby Harold also wrote and directed a movie which I don’t really want to see called “Awake”.

Nature Creates a River

Pretty rad photoset of a river pretty much appearing out of nowhere. Definently worth the 30 seconds to look at the pictures.

Click me

Remaking “The Birds”

Dear Lord Why? Apparently this has been on the shelf for 2 years according to the hollywood reporter, though there is nothing about on the IMDB.

But a recent article in the denver post suggests otherwise.

All I have to say on the subject is please, for the love of god leave it alone. Better yet, re-release it into the theaters.

Activision is being sued by The Romantics

Remember the Romantics? Perhaps this will jog your memory.

Well these guys are suing Activision makers of the “Guitar Hero” because they think the cover featured in the “Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80′s” sounds way too much like the original to the point that they “infringed on the group’s rights to its own likeness”.

Well, you be the judge…

This guy hates Hello Kitty

Yet his blog tells you about all the stuff that is branded with the hello kitty logo. It seems to me that if you hated hello kitty so much you wouldn’t want to give it so much exposure. Heh, so much for that. But don’t bother asking where to get all all the stuff, because he’s not telling.

I’m not 100% positive on this but I think the guy started this blog because his wife is really into hello kitty and 100+ posts later he’s still proving a point. My girlfriend is into a few things that I don’t care for, but you won’t see me starting an “I hate AFI” blog anytime soon.

The best thing I have found on the whole site is proof that some crazy girl changed her middle name to “Hello Kitty”.

Night of Fire

What a funny video. It’s hard to understand other cultures and this video isn’t helping very much.

I’m having a hard time understanding just what is taking place in this video. Are the girls afraid of the overweight guy in womens clothing? How come he breathes fire anyway? Why does every country except for America love hard trance?

Dave Gahan has a new album out…

Source

The folks over at buddyhead have a couple Mp3s off the Depeche Mode singers new album.

They also have this video. But it’s youtube so I don’t care…

Just a little heads up

The Futurama movie “Benders Big Score” just hit the pirate bay so if you wanna catch it 8 days early by all means do it up. That means I’ll be able to review it soon.

Beowolf

3-D technology has come a long way. I can still remember going to disneyland and watching Captain EO. I remember the 3-D was pretty bad as you would see the same image with tracers.

Fast foward to 2007 and we now have Beowolf, Robert Zemeckis’ new animated tale based on some old anonymously written poem with the screenplay written by Neil Gaiman of Stardust and the English adaptation of Princess Mononoke and Roger Avery of Pulp Fiction, True Romance, The Rules of Attraction and Silent Hill.

For the director having made the Back To the Future movies and Forest Gump, I had a hard time believing this movie would be anything but a fairy tale for kids. Boy was I wrong. In the first 10 minutes my girlfriend was nudguing me asking what this movie was rated. It’s gory, it has animated Angelina Joile boobs and so many sexual innuendos I  had a hard time believing that this film was PG-13.

I don’t work in a movie theater anymore so I didn’t have a chance to check out the non 3-d version though I was tempted to download a cammed version. I did watch the 3-D version though and I must say, the 3-D effects are pretty darn cool. Not quite the amazingly eye popping effects beyond my wildest dreams, but good none the less. The thng you want to see the most are things that are right in front of the screen. While there is a bunch of that stuff I just wish it could be a little more pronounced.

The story is a pretty decent tale of a monster that attacks a mead hall whenever they sing songs. The king sends word that half of all his riches will be awarded to whoever kills the monster and Beowolf answers the call. Beowolf battles sea monsters, Grendel(while wearing no clothes!) and in the conclusion a giant dragon. The downtime between battles is never too long though I think this style of filmmaking is best reserved for action sequences. While you are watching it be sure to note how much the characters blink, cause they almost never blink.

If you are a fan of the epic poem, you will be dissapointed to find that he movie deviates from the story and cannon of the poem signifigantly. But who cares, Beowolf is all about visuals and they alone are worth the price of a digital 3-D admission ticket.

Oh Prince, does the money really matter?

For those that don’t really follow this sort of thing, Prince is crazy. So far he has had all his content removed from youtube including a 29 second clip of someone baby dancing to a Prince song. Is prince really owed anything for that? It sounds like “fair use” to me.

Prince has also targeted a few fansites with a series of legal notices sent to sites devoted to the artist, demanding that all images of, lyrics by, and “anything linked to the likeness of ” the artist be removed. He is basically turning a blind to his fans and the free publicity.

 Prince is suing everyone including thepiratebay.org, google and ebay for copyright infringement using the help of a British company called “The Web Sheriff”. Their services include:

Pre-Release Protection- Protecting new films and albums against the damaging effects of internet piracy in the crucial run-up period to commercial release.

Internet Auditing- Analysing the entire internet in relation to a client’s IP portfolio and advising upon all aspects from anti-piracy to on-line licensing.

Global Brand Protection- 365 day, 24/7 anti-piracy and internet auditing functions, to protect global brands, image rights, catalogues and other high-value IP rights.

Digital Rights Management – All elements of DRM, from watermarking and secure delivery, to web-site hosting and management.

On-Line Investigations – From investigative assignments for newspapers and broadcasters, to tackling the commercial piracy of merchandising, music and films.

The irony here is that Prince gave away his album in a newspaper in London. He also gives out his new album with the sale of a ticket to one of his shows. Of course his shows are really expensive but at least you get something.  

What is this guys problem?

Was today a good day?

Source

A classic video and song. While I can’t say that I’m super into gangsta rap, if you grew up during the early 90′s and had MTV, then you just can’t deny the classics of that era. Along with The Chronic and Doggystyle, The Predator is a classic.

Fun facts about Ice Cube.

1. Ice Cube is a Sunni Muslim.
2. Ice Cube wrote over half of the rhymes on N.W.A.’s “Strait Outta Compton” and Easy E’s “Easy Duz It”
3. Louis Farrakhan facilitated the end of Ice Cube and Common’s fued.
4. He Will be playing Gabe Kotter in a welcome back Kotter remake

I thought I was bad but

Source 

MOKCHEON, South Korea — The compound — part boot camp, part rehab center — resembles programs around the world for troubled youths. Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses, counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming.

 But these young people are not battling alcohol or drugs. Rather, they have severe cases of what many in this country believe is a new and potentially deadly addiction: cyberspace.

They come here, to the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, the first camp of its kind in South Korea and possibly the world, to be cured.

South Korea is very into their gadgets and games. More so than any country. I want to move there really bad but alas, I don’t speak Korean. Who knew the internet could be so addictive…

They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.

What Is Intimidating about this?

This really should be going on my new political website that hasn’t even launched yet. But whatever.

Source

What happened, according to court documents and other sources: On December 1, 2004, David Casiano was on trial, facing criminal charges relating to drug possession, when he noticed that an undercover police officer was present to testify against him. With camera-equipped cell phone in hand, Casiano exited the court room and acted as if he was taking photographs of the undercover officer and other police officers who were in the hallway outside.

Those officers complained to the judge, who ordered that the phone be confiscated. Casiano was reported saying, after his phone was seized: “What do you think I am…stupid? I already e-mailed the pictures to my house before you took the phone.”

Apparently the guy got an intimidating a witness charge. In my opinion, if you are going to use an unbdercover officer than he should testify with a muslim birka(sic?) and something that makes his voices sound like a chipmunk. But seriously folks. What the hell is going on here?

If you find yourself in some line of work where you need to look out for undercover police officers then maybe you should check out this website. You pay a fee to see profiles of real undercover officers and paid police informants.

Screw you Gene Simmons

Well it’s premature for me to be posting anything yet but I saw this article and I had to write something about it.

Gene Simmons of KISS fame seems to have some very strong opinions about the music industry. For a guy who’s been in the industry so long now, it’s hard to believe that he can’t see that industry is changing whether he likes it or not. Here are a few choice quotes of his from a reuters interview.

The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free — that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street.

There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music. How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free? I will be putting out a Gene Simmons box set called “Monster” — a collection of 150 unreleased songs. KISS will have another box set of unreleased music in the next year.

The record industry doesn’t have a f—ing clue how to make money. It’s only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there’s no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid’s face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They’ve got freckles. That’s a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit’s mask.

Doesn’t affect me. But imagine being a new band with dreams of getting on stage and putting out your own record. Forget it.

I wish the interviewer would have asked Mr. Simmons this: “What would suing all those kids using Napster really have accomplished?” The only answer is nothing. Some people would have been scared away but other than that it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

When Simmons was asked about new business models from the like of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails He replied with this…

BUT SOME ARTISTS LIKE RADIOHEAD AND TRENT REZNOR ARE TRYING TO FIND A NEW BUSINESS MODEL.

That doesn’t count. You can’t pick on one person as an exception. And that’s not a business model that works. I open a store and say “Come on in and pay whatever you want.” Are you on f—ing crack? Do you really believe that’s a business model that works?

SO WHAT IF MUSIC JUST BECOMES FREE AND ARTISTS MAKE THEIR LIVING OFF OF TOURING AND MERCHANDISE?

Well therein lies the most stupid mistake anybody can make. The most important part is the music. Without that, why would you care? Even the idea that you’re considering giving the music away for free makes it easier to give it away for free. The only reason why gold is expensive is because we all agree that it is. There’s no real use for it, except we all agree and abide by the idea that gold costs a certain amount per ounce. As soon as you give people the choice to deviate from it, you have chaos and anarchy. And that’s what going on.

Seriously, the entertainment industry is changing. Over time artists are going to have to figure out news ways to monetize their music. There is really no effective way to stop file sharing.