Experiments in Cyberspace

A high-quality, full-length work print of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" - the movie is to be released on May 1 - has hit the bit-torrent sites last night.  Not unexpectedly, the film industry's responses have demonstrated how confused they are. One producer behind another major summer franchise insists that while piracy is a serious problem that needs a "focused and visionary response" from the movie industry, a leak like this may not actually cut that deeply into Wolverine's ticket sales. Well, what can I say? Although English is not my mother tongue, even I know the difference between piracy and leak: Piracy is done by an outsider by any means necessary, whereas leak is by an insider with a discrete motive. It is somewhat absurd to blame people with piracy when you leak something voluntarily or discretely. And this comment probably makes all arguments of Hollywood (RIAA) about piracy null and void: People who are going to download and watch it on the...

Here comes a new and brave experiment in the wild wild web: Annodam Films has released the feature film 'Blank' from writer director Rick L. Winters, with leading characters played by D'Angelo Midili, Darlene Sellers, Jason Adkins on March 21, 2009 on several popular torrent sites for everyone to enjoy. It is our concept that if people like the movie they will go back and make a donation or purchase the movie at www.blank-movie.com , thus allowing us to make another film and release it in the same manner. After the end credits of the movie BLANK there will be a trailer for one of the next feature films we are planning to film and release Peer to Peer. The thing that makes this film unique is that it is a co-op based concept where the entire cast and crew worked on a deferred percentage of the films gross. In other words, the cast and crew own a percentage of the films gross, so the profits are not going to Hollywood executives but instead into the pockets of the filmma...

The authorities from Los Alamos National Laboratory, a nuclear arms reasearch facility in New Mexico, USA have finally admmitted 69 of their computers are missing. Leaving aside the significance of the number 69, the lab spokesperson Kevin Roarke has said that there was no important information stored in the computers. Surely, I am not in a position to dispute Roarke's claim until I am finished with all the files (this is the joke part). All in all, I feel much safer now. I know that researchers in Los Alamos are simple souls just like me, surfing internet with their PC's. What a relief!

Sun Sentinel reports that January 2009 marks the first-ever celebration of National Drag History Month! This month-long event salutes the richness of drag culture and pays tribute to the courageous queens & kings who have fought for equality while inspiring, educating & entertaining us all. More Gay & Lesbian Video Taking this opportunity, let me recommend you a movie, if you have not watched it before of course: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert [B&N]. Directed by Stephan Elliot, with Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Bill Hunter in leading roles, it is a beautiful road movie across Australia. The performances of Stamp and Pearce are not easily forgettable. The film received a best costume award in Oscars if I am not wrong.

Stan Lee of Marvel Comics (the creator of Spider Man, Hulk and the X-Men for the uninitiated) has taken up the main character of the book Hero by Perry Moore [B&N] and is heading for prime time TV in addition to kiosks. As Gay Patriot notes , Thom (with an h) Creed is not really the world’s first gay superhero and not even the first under the Marvel brand, but he is the first to have his own TV show and will be the most promoted. Moore's Hero tells the very comic-book-inspired story of a teenager named Thom and his exciting, frightening and courageous journey as a new superhero - a new superhero who just happens to also be gay. Not only is this a wonderful novel filled with great archetypal superhero homages galore, but it is also a true "coming out" story for a new generation. It's a straightforward story that never apologizes for its main character's homosexuality. In fact, throughout most of the book, the reader is so immersed in the playfully familiar ...

Ricardo Montalban, the Corinthian leader of the Star Trek episode "Space Seed" and the second movie "The Wrath of Khan" died in his Los Angeles home yesterday. I would very much like to attach a short video as a tribute for all the Star Trek fans around but Paramount Pictures is unnecessarily touchy about copyright these days. What made Star Trek such a success? I thought about it a lot. For example, despite its popularity, I have never liked Star Wars. Laser swords, the Force, good and evil, flight and fight scenes, they hardly appealed to me. Trek was different. Disguised beneath a sci-fi cover -poor by today's standards-, we watched centuries old dilemmas of the humanity in the series. From religion to philosophy, politics to economy, human mind to anthropology, everyone could find something. My favorite Star Trek episode was "The City on the Edge of Forever". I'd like to know yours.

I have seldom been to Second Life ; not that I do not like the idea but because of my unstable and slow Internet connection, which turns the experience to a misery. I am aware that some people are not easy with the idea of an on-line 3D world created by its virtual residents' wild imagination but to tell you the truth, it can be fascinating. Let's see if I can change your mind, too. According to Second Life Herald, the always-fairly-unbalanced e-zine founded by philosophy professor Peter Ludlow, two virtual world ballet companies premiered new productions on Sunday, November 23, 2008. La Performance with its high school gym-style performance of "You Are So Beautiful" of Shakespeare (music by Zucchero, and choreography by Jie Loon), and Ballet Pixelle (formerly known as Second Life Ballet) with "The Nut: A Slightly Abridged Telling of The Nutcracker" (music by the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and choreography by Inarra Saarien) opened the season. ...