Actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, Alan Rosenberg, poses for a portrait in this March 17, 2003, file photo taken in Los Angeles. The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday Nov. 22, 2008 that contract talks with Hollywood studios has failed despite the help of a federal mediator and it will now ask its members to authorize a strike. (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)
In what seems an inauspicious time, what with a down economy, the Screen Actors Guild is
threatening a strike.
“We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement,” the statement said. “Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.”
The statement did not specify what led to the impasse, saying only that “management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept.” A SAG spokeswoman said she would not comment further. A call to the movie producers group, known as the AMPTP, was not immediately returned.
It’s difficult to imagine a less sympathetic labor class — or one less in need of collective bargaining — than Hollywood actors. The horrible working conditions that could lead to the strike?
SAG is seeking union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppages. But the AMPTP said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal than what writers, directors and another actors union accepted earlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.
Indeed.
McAfee have just released their list of the most dangerous celebrity to search for online, this time Brad Pitt has come out on top of the list, replacing Paris Hitlon. The list:
1 Brad Pitt — When “Brad Pitt screensavers” was searched, more than half of the resulting Web sites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.
2 Beyonce – Inputting “Beyonce ringtones” into a search engine yields risky Web sites that promote misleading offers to gather consumers’ personal information.
3 Justin Timberlake – Interest in his high-profile relationships makes him an easy target for spammers and hackers. When searching for “Justin Timberlake downloads” one Web site advertised free music downloads that were flagged as directly leading to spam, spyware and adware.
4 Heidi Montag – “The Hills” star is a popular search term when it comes to searching for wallpaper. A host of wallpaper Web sites contained hundreds of malware-laden downloads.
5 Mariah Carey – Spammers and hackers are using Mariah Carey screen saver Web sites to link to other sites proven to contain spyware, adware and other threatening downloads.
6 Jessica Alba – Red-ranked risky sites were identified when searching for “Jessica Alba” and “Jessica Alba downloads.” The sites contained hundreds of malicious downloads, links to other bad sites, misleading offers to gather information, and a high number of spam emails when an email address was provided.
7 Lindsay Lohan – This young Hollywood starlet is as dangerous to search online as she is famous. Searching for “Lindsay Lohan downloads” resulted in several dangerous Web sites laden with hidden adware.
8 Cameron Diaz – Cybercriminals use download Web sites related to Cameron Diaz’s image to link to other harmful sites containing spyware.
9 George Clooney, Rihanna – The technology found one Web site embedded with hundreds of dangerous wallpaper and photo downloads after inputting “George Clooney downloads.” “Rihanna pictures” was also a risky search term, as McAfee identified a site that spammed its test email address.
11 Angelina Jolie – When “Angelina Jolie downloads” was searched, the software highlighted a risky site with 978 hidden malware-infected wallpaper and photo downloads, as well as links to other potentially dangerous URLs.
12 Fergie – A Fergie screen saver site was flagged as offering 111 risky downloads that could seriously compromise a PC’s privacy with unwanted spyware and adware.
13 David Beckham, Katie Holmes – The “David Beckham” search term generated a great deal of wallpaper and screen saver downloads veiled with malware. Consumers should also exercise caution when searching for “Katie Holmes” online — one download site advertised free screen savers that, if
downloaded, would infect your computer with malicious programs like spyware.
15 Katherine Heigl – Hollywood’s big headliner in recent years is now susceptible to Internet lurkers too. “Katherine Heigl” was searched and a site was identified containing hundreds of malware-infected pictures.
But why do you need to search for celebrities when you can just come here?
list source: [the earth times]
Playgirl magazine is no more, Noah at Media Bistro reports:
Nicole Caldwell, Playgirl’s editor-in-chief, just emailed confirmation that the magazine is indeed shuttering its print operation.
“Playgirl is going all-Web. The last print issue will be the Jan/Feb 2009 magazine, which comes out Nov. 18,” Caldwell writes.
Details of the site’s look are scarce, but it will feature more videos and pictorials and less editorial content. In other words, just like Playboy’s site.
Abiola Lapite isn’t surprised:
As it is rather well known that the vast majority of the publication’s readers were not of the female gender, one is tempted to say that the gay men of America will be in mourning - except that they’re the very ones whose waning interest has caused the magazine to close up shop. With the advent of the web and the sheer ubiquity of much more extreme material - an ubiquity so far-reaching that it seems one can’t escape running into gay viewing matter even when it is the last thing one would wish to lay eyes upon - publications like Playgirl which pretended to target female readers no longer serve any purpose, and unlike Playboy, gay men have no female companions to worry about pacifying with excuses like “I’m only reading it for the articles!”
I’m amazed that any of these publications have survived the Internet, to be honest.
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Trip Hop Clan linked with hidden gems #308
