Apple's Steve Jobs Action Figure

Have you seen the "SJ Action Figure"? Its a doll look alike of Apple's front man, Steve Jobs. Its received so much attention and Apple fans loved it. But Apple's (AAPL) legal department was not so happy about it. M.I.C. Gadget, the doll's Chinese manufacturer announced that Apple had stop them from producing the doll after selling out its first batch of 300. A law firm representing Apple Inc. said in an email that this "SJ action figure", has not consented to the use of Apple's copyrights and trademarks, therefore was ordered M.I.C. Gadgets to stop selling and manufacturing the said doll. "Unauthorized...

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Sony HVR-HD1000U MiniDV 1080i High Definition Camcorder

Twenty years ago, back before digital video, they were selling full sized S-VHS camcorders. They cost about the same as a Hi8 camcorder and Hi8 was supposed to be slightly superior in some way, but people still wanted the full-sized camcorders.I don't know, but, at the time, I figured that a full-sized S-VHS camcorder was an affordable, professional-looking alternative to spending three or four thousand dollars for an actual "prosumer" Hi8 camera.Now, Sony has a camcorder, an HVR-HD1000U MiniDV 1080i High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom. It sells for about $1,500.Here's what Sony...

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Leading Oscar Contenders

The Academy awards night is fast approaching and here are some of the leading oscar contenders.Leading Oscar Contenders: ANOTHER YEAR (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, OPENS DEC. 29)Director: Mike LeighWriter: Mike LeighStars: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville About: A married couple who have managed to remain blissfully happy into their autumn years, are surrounded over the course of the four seasons of one average year by friends, colleagues, and family who all seem to suffer some degree of unhappiness.IMDB LinkBLACK SWAN (FOX SEARCHLIGHT, OPENS DEC. 1)Director: Darren AronofskyWriters:...

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Student films

There've been a number of attacks on student films. There was one website devoted entirely to making fun of them.I did a search for "student film" on You Tube and found a few. Student films now seem to mostly be parodies of student films in general.Apparently, there are a lot of suicides in student films. I wonder what the actual suicide rate is among film students. My guess is that it's lower than among those with other majors. There hasn't been a single documented case of an emo kid ever committing suicide, and, like emo kids, film students apparently embrace depression and make it work for...

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Cambodian Water Festival Stampede Kills Hundreds

At least 339 people been killed in a stampede during the water festival celebrations in the Phnom Penh, Cambodian. Most of the deaths were as a result of suffocation and internal injuries. Some were even said to be electrocuted.(Please view the full article if you do not see the video. Some browsers may have compatibility issues.)Sean Ngu, an Australian who was visiting family and friends in Cambodia, told the BBC too many people had been on the bridge. "There were too many people on the bridge and then both ends were pushing, panic started and at least 50 people jumped in the river. People tried...

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Harry Potter's Real Life Quidditch

Some Harry Potter fans made "Quidditch" into a real life sport. Although, not as exciting as in the movie, it is still competitive and tiring. Quidditch is a fictional sport in the Harry Potter book series. It is played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played with 2 teams, each has seven players riding flying broomsticks. (Please view the full article if you do not see the video. Some browsers may have compatibility issues.)"The sport has been adapted under the name of Muggle Quidditch or simply "Quidditch" to the real world. Since at least 2003, Harry Potter fans have played...

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The Room

Several years ago, I was looking at a message board for a website that made fun of student films. It had a post from an angry, bitter recent film school graduate. He said he spent between twenty and thirty thousand dollars making his film. He charged it all on credit cards. I hope he had the good sense to declare bankruptcy.His movie was about a girl leaving home. I assume it was a girl going away to college. He thought that the weakness in most student films was the acting--they never delivered their lines convincingly--so he avoided the issue and made a silent film.I don't think he put any sound...

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Wills and Kate are Engaged | Video

After making the official announcement of their engagement on Monday, Prince William and Kate Middleton made their first public appearance in the state rooms of St. Jame's Palace on Tuesday, November 16, 2010. And, the couple gave their first joint interview.Congratulations goes out to Wills & Kate on their engagement! They look so happy together...

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Ray Dennis Steckler, Charles Grodin

There was a show from England. The Incredibly Strange Film Show. It was probably twenty years ago.On one episode, they interviewed Ray Dennis Steckler, director of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, Rat Fink a Boo Boo, The Thrill Killers, Blood Shack, and a number of other movies. His work was extemporaneous. He generally worked without a completed script. He explained that, "every time we have a completed script, the movie never seems to get made because we can never afford what's on the script. You know, you need all these things, then you spend...

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Truffaut, Godard, Day For Night, and a link

There was the letter Jean-Luc Godard wrote to Francois Truffaut after the release of Truffaut's Day for Night, his movie about the making of a movie.Truffaut was a liar, Godard wrote, "because the shot of you and Jacqueline Bisset the other night at Chez Francis is not in your film, and one wonders why the director is the only one who doesn't fuck in Day for Night."Truffaut played the director in the movie.Godard may have had a point there, I suppose. Truffaut was carrying on a highly publicized affair with Bisset while they were making Day for Night. But Truffaut was the only major character...

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Who should play Prince William in the made-for-TV movie

Prince William is getting married. Good for him. But the poor girl should take a good long look at the family she's marrying into. If they divorce, who gets custody of the children? Christopher Hitchens has said a number of times that the royal children are legally the property of the royal family. I don't know if he meant that literally.But who should play Prince William when they make a made-for-TV movie about the royal wedding? Should actors who play members of the Royal Family be better-looking or not-as-good-looking as the actual Royal Family? Or should some of them be played by better-looking...

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Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

Finally after the tragic end of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, another big royal wedding is on the works. The helicopter pilot Prince William will marry Kate Middleton, a commoner like Diana. Prince William is second in line to the throne, next to his father. William and Kate Middleton had been dating for more than 8 years now and its just right that they get married. They are both 28 years old. The palace announced that their wedding will be next year's (2011) spring or summer.The sapphire and diamond engagement ring  belonged to his late mother, Diana. "I thought it was quite nice...

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Shanghai Skycraper Fire Kills at least 42

(Please view the full article if you do not see the video. Some browsers may have compatibility issues.)A fire in a 28-storey Shanghai apartment building has killed at least 42 people. It is believed to have started in construction scaffolding surrounding the building.Source: www.bbc.co...

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Number Coding Causes Bus Strike

Local bus operators made good on their threat to keep their buses from plying their regular routes to protest the implementation of the number coding scheme for all passenger buses, including provincial buses. Under the number coding scheme, buses are banned on EDSA that have license plates ending in 1 and 2 on Mondays; 3 and 4  on Tuesdays; 5 and 6 on Wednesdays; 7 and 8  on Thursdays, and, 9 and 0 on Fridays.The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said around 13,000 provincial and city buses will be affected by the scheme, 1,000 of them on a daily basis.President Homer Mercado...

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Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao Dominated Antonio Margarito

The people's champ Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao has done it again. Dominating his 12-round fight against Mexican “Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao, dubbed the “Fighter of the Decade” wins his 8th world crown, the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas with a unanimous decision  scoring 120-108, 118-110 and 119-109.“He’s strong. I never expected him to be as strong as he was. He’s a very tough fighter. I can’t believe he took all those punches,” Pacquiao said in a Reuters report.Margarito suffered severe cuts on his eyes...

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You Tube celebrities

I guess Justin Beiber is the only You Tube celebrity to hit it really big thus far.There were others. Tay Zonday sang "Chocolate Rain" on You Tube and went on to do a Dr Pepper commercial. Chris Crocker, after the success of his "Leave Brittney Alone" video, has done some things, or they've talked about him doing some things. I don't know what. I haven't seen him in anything.Low budget filmmakers used to get John Carradine or some other aging star to appear in their movies. Rory Calhoun started doing the same thing late in his life. Ernest Borgnine appeared in movies you wouldn't expect to see...

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PXL 2000

"Come on!" I said.This was over twenty years ago.I went with my friends to Toys R Us."There it is!" I said.It was a Fisher Price PXL2000---the toy camcorder that really worked! Produced a slightly fuzzy black and white picture recorded on an ordinary audio cassette tape.It cost about $100 at a time when real camcorders could cost a thousand bucks.My friends scoffed. I didn't buy it. I shouldn't have listened to them. Now the PXL 2000 is coveted by artists and bohemians.I don't know why it matters. There's a free program for Mac computers to modify video to make it look like a PXL 2000 picture....

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Young Manny Pacman Pacquiao as a Teenager

Saw these young and skinny Manny Pacman Pacquiao pictures by Gerhard Joren. He was said to be just 17 years old in these pictures. Like most unfortunate people in Philippine provinces, Manny went to Manila at the age of 14 to escape poverty and help his mother with 6 siblings in General Santos City, Mindanao.There have been rumors that he started out as a "Panadero" or Baker or Pandesal Maker or Pandesal seller. Then became a boxer just like that. That's not true. Filipinos know so little about the history of Pacquiao. He started working different jobs, one of them is construction. But even as...

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Google Offers Help To People Searching "Suicide"

Google added a new feature to its search engine. The feature is a "link-up with Samaritans, displaying the charity's helpline number in response to UK search queries relating to suicide." When users in UK search the word "suicide", they will now be shown a red telephone icon on top of the lists. This feature was already introduced in the US last April.Google says it aims to reach out to people who are depressed, suicidal or in distress. "People turn to the internet for information and advice all the time," said Google's UK chief, Matt Brittin. Although some other specific words relating to suicides...

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British Amateur Space Enthusiasts Launch Paper Plane Into Space

A team of amateur British space enthusiasts just sent the first paper plane into space. The place was made of paper straws and covered in paper and has a 3ft wing span. They launched the plain using a helium balloon and then dropped 17 miles in the atmosphere, capturing images using its miniature camera. The paper plane was launched in Spain using a helium balloon and eventually landed 25 miles away from its launch site with minimal damages to its wing.View full article for the video of the flight.. Source: www.dailymail.co...

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Dino De Laurentis, Menahem Golan, Chuck Norris

Dino De Laurentis has died at age 91.He produced some great movies---Bitter Rice, La Strada, Nights of Cabria---but it was always a little surprising to see his name on those films because he produced a lot of somewhat lower brow movies in the '70s. I'm looking at a list of what he produced then, and he still produced some pretty good movies. Serpico, Three Days of the Condor, Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg.There was a spaghetti western Vic Morrow directed in the 1970s called A Man Called Sledge. De Laurentis was producer. Filmed in Spain. They brought in horses from Italy. When they were...

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Google Not Building a Social Networking Site Like Facebook?

Before the social networking sites, search engines like Google has dominated the web industry. Now we can see that people are spending more and more time using social networking sites. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook was just launched in 2004 but has more than 500 million members. So why is the Internet Search Leader Google Inc not building a social network to compete with Facebook?"We're not working on a social network platform that's just going to be another social network platform," Google's head of mobile product development, Hugo Barra, said in answer to a question at the Monaco Media Forum. "We...

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