Bits & Pieces

Check out Roger Ebert’s live blog of the Academy Awards here.

My guess for Best Picture: The Hurt Locker. Or maybe Avatar. Who knows?

And if you are away from a TV you can watch the AP’s coverage of the Oscars streaming live here.

Google has a nice template listing all the nominees here.

At least according to The Awl. Check out this video compilation of Apple products’ appearances in movies and on TV.

Apple’s Greatest Cinematic Achievements from The Awl on Vimeo.

What is this all about? Anyone have a clue who did this and why? The intentionally low production values should not mislead, in that a close look indicates it is actually extremely well done. And don’t let the current low viewer count on YouTube mislead. This is virtually certain to be a big YouTube hit. But why?

My guess: This is actually part of a viral campaign for Avatar to win “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards. And here I am being all viral and stuff….

(h/t William Gibson)

Many of my friends seem aggressively disinterested in foreign films. I love them. And this doesn’t help.

Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

By the way, Lars Von Trier is, in fact, a great director.

As the New York Times is reporting, there is currently an international effort underway to negotiate a new treaty primarily aimed at protecting intellectual property.  And it is being done in secret.

Behind a veil of secrecy, the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries are forging ahead with plans to coordinate an international crackdown on illegally copied music, movies, designer bags and other goods that change hands in sidewalk souks and Internet bazaars.

Negotiators, under intense pressure from media companies, luxury brands and other corporate victims of piracy, are scrambling to complete a so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement by the end of the year.

But the process is running into growing criticism from Internet campaigners, lawmakers and even some people involved in it.

Since when is it good policy to negotiate law in secret and primarily for the benefit of private parties rather than sound policy reasons? One of the possible approaches apparently being considered would mandate some sort of regulations that would require ISPs to disconnect customers who content provider claim have engaged in illegal file sharing. Where is the due process? Why isn’t this just a way for a private industry to get law enforcement for its own protection for free?

More from the EFF, Public Knowledge and James Love.

In movies, an extended take is an uninterrupted shot that lasts much longer than normal as measured by the rest of the movie or movies in general. Geekweek nominates 20 of the  best extended takes.

My favorite is this incredible shot moving through a TV studio from Magnolia:

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

The reason I used to like Netflix is that they had movies available for rent on the same day and date that a movie was released to DVD. Now they have agreed with at least Warner Bros. to wait 28 days from the DVD release date to rent DVDs. Having cut this deal with Warners, the rest of the studios will demand the same.

So, if  you have a Netflix account and expect to get new releases to DVD on a timely basis, forget it.

Can’t wait for this one.

Fortune Magazine has named Steve Jobs CEO of the decade.  And he certainly deserves the title.

How’s this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.

Sound too far-fetched to be true? Perhaps. Yet it happens to be the real-life story of Steve Jobs and his outsize impact on everything he touches.

As presented by Monty Python:

A new documentary on William S. Burroughs is now out. It is titled William S. Burroughs: A Man Within. Looks great.

A school orchestra (apparently the Portsmouth Sinfonia) destroys a classic moment of cinema.