Movies
Watchmen trailer
Available now on Apple.com. Looks remarkably like the graphic novel.
Seven-word DVD review: Jesus Camp (documentary)
Makes you want to punch a nun.
Supplemental review: could do without the doomy music. What’s on-screen is scary enough, so the music’s just annoying.
Mrs Bigmouth’s seven-word DVD review: Cloverfield
Like watching someone else play a videogame.
Blame Canada
OTTAWA - The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.
…Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.
…The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.
The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.
The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials - even if the content was copied legally.
As Jerry Sadowitz memorably put it: “moose-fuckers!”
Apple and music: good point, well made
Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research has written a short post about iTunes movies and what it means for music, and he makes an excellent point about music industry attempts to marginalise Apple:
The labels already effectively killed off true-tone ring tones as a vibrant music format by demanding license fees that compelled mobile content providers to build their own IP (cf Crazy Frog) or simply promote more profitable mobile content such as games. Result? Declining ring tone sales.
Though digital music downloads are less exposed, it’s a dangerous game antagonizing the company which has done far more than any other to drive the digital music market and currently accounts for the vast majority of it. The labels want to weaken Apple’s position, but Apple now has bigger fish to fry.
iTunes movie store now in the UK too
Apple has brought its iTunes movie store to Britain, making the Apple TV about a million times more useful and hammering another nail into DVD’s coffin.
As ever, the catalogue’s a little sparse at launch - so you get I Am Legend but not No Country For Old Men - and like all legal digital downloads, the price often seems rather high compared to physical releases. You’re looking at £10.99 for new releases and £6.99 for old ones, and rentals are £3.49/£2.49.
A thorough film review by Mrs Bigmouth
Speed Racer: shite.
Supermarkets are doing great deals on HD-DVD players
Don’t buy one. HD-DVD is deader than a particularly dead dodo.
DVD Jon strikes again
Fed up with DRM and file format compatibility hassles? The entertainment industry’s favourite chap, DVD Jon, may have the answer: DoubleTwist.
As CNet reports, DoubleTwist is “a free desktop client that essentially allows any kind of music, photo, or video file to be shared between a long list of portable media players, and through Web-based social networks.”
The idea, according to DoubleTwist founder and CEO Monique Farantzos, is that media files should be more like e-mail. It shouldn’t matter what service you create the file in, or on what type of hardware, it all should work together seamlessly, she says.
The PC version is available now, and a Mac version’s in development.
R.E.M. have a live DVD coming out
Woo-hoo! It comes out on the 16th October, making it a particularly fine choice of birthday present for an ageing hack whose 35th birthday is just a few weeks afterwards. Ahem.
There’s a trailer here.