They are serious about tracking people down who put movies on the internet, even going international. Authorities have tracked the first known pirated copy of “The Simpsons Movie” to make it online to a home raided by Australian police on Friday.
Police ordered a 21-year-old Sydney man to appear in a Sydney court in October when he will be formally charged, the Australian Federal Police said. Details of the likely charge and penalties have not been made public.
The Motion Picture Association industry group said the investigation involved News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, Australian police and the private investigation group Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.
The federation said the illegal “Simpsons” copy was the first on the Internet and was recorded by a cell phone in a Sydney cinema on July 26 — hours before its release in most of the world. Officials said the movie was uploaded to a video-sharing site based in the United States before it hit U.S. theaters July 27.
“Within 72 hours of making and uploading this unauthorized recording, AFACT had tracked it to other streaming sites and P2P (peer-to-peer) systems, where it had been illegally downloaded in excess of 110,000 times, and in all probability, copied and sold as a pirate DVD all over the world,” AFACT executive director Adrianne Pecotic said.
That must be one sweet ass cell phone that can record an entire movie. Or maybe I should stop using the free phones the company gives you when you sign up.
Source: “Pirated ‘Simpsons’ tracked to Australian” [Yahoo]; Photo: The Protagonist
The Simpsons made their first high fashion photo spread in the pages of Harper’s Bazaar.
The Simpsons were dressed up in Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Lanvin, Versace, and Viktor & Rolf. Actual gowns from the designers Fall 2007 shows are represented in the spread.
Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of “The Simpsons” cartoon, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.
Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North America will sell items that until now existed only on television: Buzz Cola, KrustyO’s cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees. It’s all part of a campaign to hype the July 27 opening of ‘The Simpsons Movie.’
For 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Homer’s creators at Gracie Films, the stunt is a cheap way to call attention to their movie, since 7-Eleven is bearing all the costs. Executives of the retail chain put the costs somewhere in the single millions, but think they will more than recoup that figure. They also hope it shows they have “the ability to laugh at themselves.”
The promotion, however, is not risk-free.
The proprietor of Kwik-E-Mart is a man named Apu who speaks in a heavy Indian accent. He is based on a manager Groening encountered while shopping at a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago and plays to stereotypes about convenience-store operators and Asian immigrants.
“I know it’s a stereotype, but it doesn’t bother me. Everybody knows it’s a joke,” Assandas said. “I’m a big Simpsons fan myself, and maybe subconsciously it even inspired me to become a 7-Eleven owner.”
The only thing missing? Duff Beer. Just grab a six-pack of Natural Light and call it a day.
It appears as though the world’s largest convenience store will get Simpsonized, though 7-Eleven said the deal isn’t done yet.
If all goes as planned, the convenience store chain plans to refit 11 stores across the U.S. — Richmond is an unlikely choice — to resemble the front of the Kwik-E-Mart, the convenience store that Homer and other characters frequent in the classic cartoon TV series.
Customers also will be able to buy products inspired by the nearly two-decades-old show, including KrustyO’s cereal, Buzz Cola and iced Squishees (the cup says Squishee, but the contents will be Slurpee).
The chain also will use pictures of Simpsons characters to promote 7-Eleven’s line of fresh foods, such as placing the face of Homer and his classic “Mmmm . . . sandwich” quip on sandwich wrappers.
Details of 7-Eleven’s plans were showed to employees in a booth at a company event at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. It was unclear yesterday which 11 stores of the more than 4,700 nationwide would receive a cartoony facelift or sell inventory of the Simpsons-inspired products.
Rolling Stone has assembled what they believe to be the 25 funniest moments from the first ten years of “South Park” and provide a video clip for each of them.
Their tastes are clearly different from mine, as I don’t find several of the ones they picked funny at all. I mean, the Towelie character? C’mon.
Still, these are pretty good:
MOMENT #22 Cartman addresses Congress in an attempt to save his friend by convincing them of the merits of stem-cell research. They finally agree after he leads them in a sing-along version of prog supergroup’s Asia 1980′s classic “Heat of the Moment” — one of many songs from that era Cartman has an affinity for.
MOMENT #21: South Park takes on The Simpsons. South Park pays homage to its predecessor by admitting that The Simpsons has covered literally every plot imaginable. In the end, all the characters morph into yellow-skinned Springfield residents.
MOMENT #19 Realizing just how profitable Christian pop rock can be, Cartman forms a group called Faith +1 with Token and Butters. They go on to sell millions. Sample lyric: “I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus! I wanna feel his salvation all over my face!”
MOMENT #12 In what turned out to be South Park’s most notorious episode, Scientologists conclude that Kyle must be a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard. Kyle is given a brief overview of the cult’s beliefs via an abridged version of the Scientology creation myth, which features frozen aliens in volcanoes, alien warlord Xenu…the whole she-bang. Throughout, the message “This is what Scientologists actually believe” is periodically flashed on the screen.
There are a lot of classic South Park scenes missing from the list, though, and some of the show at its sick-not-funny worst included.
Vanessa Grigoriadis looks at Comedy Central’s “South Park” as it enters its tenth season for the cover story of this month’s Rolling Stone. The subhead says it all: “For ten years, ‘South Park’ has been the crudest, stupidest, most offensive show on television. And the funniest.”
Some excerpts:
It’s also the most ideologically opaque political show on television, fostering an open-ended dialogue on difficult questions like whether one has a duty to obey unfair laws or if there is a God in an evil world. Unlike The Simpsons, which is intellectual and pleasantly dumb in its portrayal of American life, using both to further a leftist agenda, South Park offers simple parables — often with an optimistic message — to take aim at all issues without ever showing its hand. “If Matt and Trey came out and said what they were about, all of a sudden people would watch the show with a map,” says Penn Jillette, a close friend. “But you shouldn’t have a map to look at during the ride. You must trust the art and not the artist. They’ll never say what they’re about.”
[...]
Most of South Park’s humor either advocates radical individualism (everyone is stupid, so don’t listen to anyone but yourself) and/or a conservative agenda (this is a great country, and you’re a pussy if you’re down in the mouth about President Bush). Neither Stone nor Parker will delineate his political views, and both contend that the libertarian label, which has been applied to them in recent years, is not entirely appropriate. (As far as the “South Park Republicans” tag that was affixed to their fans a few years ago to define the “cool” part of the conservative movement, they say it’s a dumb notion.) They won’t talk about the war, even to voice an opinion on President Bush’s new troop-deployment plan. “I wouldn’t even begin to say I know enough to say if it’s right or wrong, because whomever is telling you it’s wrong is full of shit too,” says Parker. Neither votes — “like, ever,” says Stone. Parker waves a hand in the air. “Each election is a choice with a douche or a turd, so who cares,” he says. “If Gore had beaten Bush, things wouldn’t be much different.”
While Stone is in fact deeply immersed in politics and a serious reader of nonfiction books about the Middle East, I practically have to wrestle him to hear a smidge of his politics: He’s against the War on Drugs, pro-gay marriage, against socialized medicine and basically in favor of free markets, except in cases like dropping public funding for roads or education. As for Parker, who owns a couple of guns, the closest I can come is his paraphrase of Team America‘s climactic monologue: “There’s a difference between dicks and assholes. Because there are terrorists — assholes — you’ve got to have dicks, people who hunt down terrorists. Dicks are bad, and it sucks to be a dick, but it’s way worse to be an asshole, and because there are assholes, we need dicks. So shut the fuck up, all you pussies!”
Try to argue back to this kind of logic, and the joke’s on you, much to the glee of Stone and Parker. “We went to a party in Malibu on the beach recently,” says Stone, “and this woman came up to us, like, ‘Oh, my son is at the University of Colorado, and I can’t get him to go to class, because he snowboards all the time.’ I’m immediately thinking, ‘Fuck you and your kid,’ because I couldn’t afford to snowboard in college. Then I say, ‘Yeah, I still go to Colorado to visit my family.’ She’s like, ‘So they really are just a bunch of gun-toting hicks out there, aren’t they?’ I’m like, ‘I just told you my mom and dad and sister live there.’ Then Trey walks up to her and says, ‘George Bush is a great man.’ She looked like we’d poured acid in her ear. We were laughing our asses off.”
“That’s the most punk-rock thing you can do in L.A.: say ‘George Bush is fucking awesome’ instead of talking about how lame it is that he’s fighting for oil,” says Parker. “The only way to be more hardcore than everyone else is to tell the people who think they’re the most hardcore that they’re pussies, to go up to a tattooed, pierced vegan and say, ‘Whatever, you tattooed faggot, you’re a pierced faggot and whatever.’ ” He looks very pleased with himself. “That’s hardcore.”
The folks at EntertainmentWikia have named the “Ten Biggest Nerds in TV History.” The winners:
1: Professor Frink (The Simpsons)
2: Samuel “Screech” Powers (Saved by the Bell)
3: The Lone Gunmen (The X-Files)
4: The Whole Cast of Head of the Class
5: Gilligan (Gilligan’s Island)
6: Marshall Flinkman (Alias)
7: Steve Urkel (Family Matters)
8: Paul Pfeiffer (The Wonder Years)
9: Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
10: Gil Grissom (CSI)
Click the link for detailed explanations and a list of some honorable mentions.
MOVIES
–Female star: Jennifer Aniston
– Male star: Johnny Depp
– Leading lady: Cameron Diaz
– Leading man: Vince Vaughn
– Female action star: Halle Berry
– Male action star: Johnny Depp
– On-screen matchup: Johnny Depp & Keira Knightley
– Movie: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
– Movie drama: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
– Movie comedy: “Click”
– Family movie: “Cars”
MUSIC
– Female singer: Carrie Underwood
– Male singer: Kenny Chesney
– Group: Nickelback
– R&B song: “SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake
– Hip-hop song: “Shake That” by Eminem
– Pop song: “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira
– Country song: “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood
– Rock song: “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” by Bon Jovi
– Song from a movie: “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts from “Cars”
– Remake: “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts
TELEVISION
– Comedy: “Two and a Half Men”
– Animated comedy: “The Simpsons”
– Drama: “Grey’s Anatomy”
– Competition/Reality show: “American Idol”
– New Comedy: “The Class”
– New Drama: “Heroes”
– Female star: Eva Longoria
– Male star: Patrick Dempsey
– Talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres
OTHER
– Funny female star: Ellen DeGeneres
– Funny male star: Robin Williams
Ever wonder what Bart Simpson would look like in human form? The longrunning animated Fox series “The Simpsons” is about to show you. The series will unveil a live-action opening sequence Sunday, 8 p.m. EST, a Fox spokeswoman announced Thursday. In it, the dysfunctional cartoon family — Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie — will be seen as they would appear in real life, played by lookalike actors. “I’m just amazed there are people who want to be known for looking like the Simpsons,” said Al Jean, the show’s executive producer, in a statement.
A team from British network Sky One created and commissioned the live sequence, which apes the long-running series’ memorable opening shots: Bart writing on the chalkboard, Homer pulling the nuclear rod out of his shirt and Maggie and Marge at the supermarket, a Fox spokeswoman said.
It’s amazing that, after fourteen [Actually, 17--even more amazing!] years, they keep coming up with new things to try.
“Within 72 hours of making and uploading this unauthorized recording, AFACT had tracked it to other streaming sites and P2P (peer-to-peer) systems, where it had been illegally downloaded in excess of 110,000 times, and in all probability, copied and sold as a pirate DVD all over the world,” AFACT executive director Adrianne Pecotic said.
The proprietor of Kwik-E-Mart is a man named Apu who speaks in a heavy Indian accent. He is based on a manager Groening encountered while shopping at a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago and plays to stereotypes about convenience-store operators and Asian immigrants.
