This handy new tool by a Colorado-based web security company promises to prevent those embarrassing moves on the internet after a drunken night (as nothing good happens after 1 AM).
It is called the Social Media test, and it is a free plug-in for Firefox/Google Chrome browsers. Program requires the users of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr or Tumbl to perform simple coordination tests before allowed to post online. The tests include keeping the cursor inside a moving circle or correctly identifying a set of flashing lights. Failing leads to blocking access to posting. Google also has a similar tool with math questions, designed to prevent drunken emails.
With the success of the Harry Potter -series and Twilight-franchise, Young Adult (YA)- books as a genre are all the rage these days. Books dealing with the paranormal and fantasy have hit the nerve among the young readers, but surprisingly, it is not just them reading: adults of all ages have discovered YA as well.( This article by the Los Angeles Times discusses this phenomenon quite well). Even +40-year-old stockbrokers can be seen at the subway stop holding a copy of "Twilight". Some of the best of of lot is Suzanne Collins´ "Hunger Games" -trilogy, which has already been scheduled for movie release in 2013 by Lionsgate.
If Harry Potter and Twilight have showed us anything, it is that these books can be easily turned into successful movies. And this is The niche that the infamous writer James Frey has decided to hit on and strike it rich. Frey is more widely known from his "autobiography" Million little pieces(2003), which to date has sold around 8 million copies in more than 30 languages. The man fooled even Oprah with his tragic tale of drugs and overcoming the beast of an addiction. Now he has dreamed up a YA-novel sweatshop, called Full Fathom Five. Simply, because he does not have the time to write these grandeous, money-grapping YA-cookings himself. The deal is to comb through MFA-programs across the US, offer little or next to nothing money, and ask for entire books on fantasy, paranormal subject matter or teen romance. Frey keeps the rights to possibly published works to himself along with 60-70 % of all proceeds. He does help with editing, in so far as it helps to "commercialize" the finished product. Because the main idea is to produce serializable, film adaptable, entertaining novels, that are filled with product placement.
The biggest success of Full Fathom Five has so far been "I am number Four", a tale about young aliens in exile on Earth. The book is supposedly authored by a mystical figure named Pittacus Lore, but in reality it is a collaboration between Frey and a young writer on his "team", Jobie Hughes. Tales of Hughes being bitter over the contract he signed are circling around the internet, as are claims of him being the actual sole writer of the book. Interestingly, "I am number Four" was not accepted by any publishing house until Frey (along with powerful agents) managed to sell the movierights to DreamWorks. The first movie of a planned series is already in the works with big names behind it (Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay). In fact, the movie production began so fast that the actual book had to be finished and published in haste.
Is the first release of the sweatshop of hopeful writers any good? No, it is not. Not Twilight-good, not even close to Harry Potter-good. The attitude of "anything can be packaged in this shape for YA and it sells with a movie" shines though. The editing is horrific, the plot a worn out cliche with not even an ounce of trying. Truth be told, Jobie Hughes probably had a great idea to start with, but it got lost somewhere between 250 dollars (Frey´s given paycheck of a book) and commercialism.
Frey is not showing any signs of slowing down. His supreme idea is somewhat of a factory, along the lines of Andy Warhol or Damien Hirst. A group of people working to create pieces to sell, with his (brand) name slapped on them. The ethics or morality of this scenario are seemingly of no interest to him. In this New York Magazine article he is cited as saying "truth does not exist". He defends his cutthroat terms of contract as the usual Hollywood-style "work for hire"-practice. Except Hollywood writers are usually paid more than 250 dollars.
So far at least 30 young hopefuls have joined his factory with big dreams on their minds. For Jobie Hughes, the dream ended with lawyers. He signed off from writing the sequel to "I am number Four" and is trying to get more proceeds from the first one. Frey´s company recently sold another first book of a planned series to Will Smith´s production company, which plans to make the King Arthur -adaption into a movie vehicle for Jaden Smith. The actual author is not named, and maybe never will.
Back in the 50s, people had high hopes for the future. It was commonplace to believe in a colony in Moon, talking robot helpers and glowing democracy that would save us all with a wink of capitalism.
So no wonder the scientists dreamed up all kinds of fancy aids to help in the kitchen.
This beautiful dream was cooked up by the engineers at General Motors in 1954. Electric mixers and food blenders would rise out of the counters and motorized cabinets move up and down.
In this idea, everything would work out like magic with the touch of a button.
And this image shows us a quite advanced scifi-kitchen. As in, it is still not possible. Frigidaire´s and General Motors´Kitchen of Tomorrow in 1956. The IBM manufactured card containing a recipe file not only shows the picture of a dish on the screen, but it would dispense the ingredients and start preparing the dish itself. Automatic laundry machine would start washing clothes on its own when the load reached 8 lbs.Now that would be a housewives/or househusbands savior!
This era is quite charming. Capitalism and peer pressure pushed the middle class into buying all the new shiny toys for their new suburbian houses, and commercials emphasized how having all the latest gadgets, floors, furnitures etc. for your home was absolutely necessary. Otherwise you were an unacceptable house(wife). Everything was pushed with appeals to technology, modern times and normality. It was "abnormal" not to have a modern kitchen and a house. Nowadays advertising is much subtler, which can be noticed while watching this video.
If you are not familiar with the cult classic show "Veronica Mars", which aired three seasons and ended in 2007, better go get your DVD:s now. What "My So-called Life" was in the 1990s, "Veronica Mars" was in 00s.
Clever and funny show written by Rob Thomas even coined its own genre, called "camp noir".
Veronica, played by fresh-faced Kristen Bell, was a teen detective in a "90210"-school, working for her private eye dad and secretly for herself. Not so interesting so far? The themes covered in the show were incest, drugs, suicides, pedophilia, teen pregnancy, roofies, adoption, internet porn, LA gangs and the gap between the have´s and have nots. All told in a smart and sarcastic, yet funny, way. The series was critically acclaimed and much loved by its small devoted fan base, but ultimately it failed to generate enough advertising income for its productions company to justify fourth season. The topics tackled in the show probably had something to do with the issue as well.
The Series not only kickstarted the career of Kirsten Bell, but it also featured Amanda Seyfried. The talk of continuation of the story in the form of a movie has been on going since the end of the show, but now the company owning the rights has offered an email address, where to send your devoted petitions. Clearly, if enough people send their thoughts, something might happen. Fingers crossed.
The address is: VeronicaMarsMovie@warnerbros.com
Veronica Mars movie petition gets an email-address
The case of madam Courtney Love. If you have not read the extraordinary article about her in "The New York Times", please do so.
I have always been fascinated by this lady. The widow of late Kurt Cobain, singer-songwriter of critically acclaimed "Hole", Golden Globe-nominated actress of "People vs. Larry Flynt" in 1996 and the occasional muse for countless designers, musicians, hipsters and wannabes. It is fair to say, she has had several opportunities over the years; chances that thousands of aspiring artists would kill for. Yet, she can´t quite make it work. wikipedia refers to her as "an occasional actress" and her latest cd, "Nobody´s Daughter" managed to move only 52 000 copies. Albeit it is not the golden era in record sales, but still a long way from what was to be expected.
Her personal problems with drugs and mental disorders are well documented. Recently Love lost custody of her only child, Frances Bean, amidst rumors of mismanaging her daughter´s future inheritance. Courtney is not all quiet about her struggles- the lady tweets alot. I know, because I have had her listed in my Twitter feed, until I could not take the frantically appearing writings that are often impossible to comprehend.
The NY times article starts with Love proudly declaring her new shape, "I am trying to take better care of myself", while attending the screening of a new movie. Later she is found dazed and intoxicated, stumbling naked in the arms of artist Anselm Kiefer. This seems to be the pattern of her life. She gets better and clean, we all cheer- and then comes the inevitable fallout. The cycle has continued since the 90s. Her bizarre episodes entertain us, give us something to ogle and gossip. In this instance, she is the ultimate celebrity for our enjoyment: look at that, money and fame cannot buy happiness.
Courtney´s alleged repeated missteps in clothing choices and plastic surgery are well-documented and pictured. I was somewhat surprised to find out there is an actual website devoted to her whimsically artsy choices: http://whatcourtneyworetoday.com/ Some of the images are sad depictions of a former grunge queen imitating upper middle class chic. If anything, Courtney is never upper middle class. She is a woman, who wears Narciso Rodriguez, rips it off and shouts F U for us to hear. She is like the anti-Madonna, who we follow not due to her fancy clothes, but what she does while wearing them.
"I speak to you as someone who doesn´t want to be perceived as a trainwreck", she declares to the interviewer in her hotel room, where she has been staying since last year. The room is described as messy, filled with clothes, cigarette buts, junk food and prescription bottles. By her own admission, she is taking antidepressants, which, combined with alcohol, produce the kind of spaced out states she is often written on.
Prozac, depression and antidepressants became all the fashion to have and talk of in the 90s, with the emergence of books such as "Prozac nation" by Elizabeth Wurzel. Suddenly it was cool to be depressed and be taking medication; having mental issues were associated with creativity and brilliance. But the novelty value of being out of balance did not last long; by 2001 and Winona Ryder´s shoplifting incidence the stigma attached to mental problems began to re-emerge. Winona, the other famous dark and moody actress, was once the poster child for glorified angst and anxiety("Heathers", "Reality Bites"). Now, she was just 30 and found with 7 illegal pain killers in her purse, among them Demerol and Oxycodone. (The video is here )
Clearly, Courtney has missed the fashion trend in this instance, if there ever was one.
Yet, she is likable in the way underdogs often are. Her tales of humble beginnings aside due to her mother being an heiress to the Bausch & Lomb fortunes, she is charismatic in a way people with tremendous challenges behind them are. When she is calm and sober, she talks with a magnetic, quick-witted way about her.
As Simone Beauvoir remained to be always known as "that Sartre´s woman", somehow less genius than her lifepartner, the same was (is?) in danger to happen to Love. There can be destinies far more horrific in life than to be branded as "Cobains widow", yet Courtney is fighting it, trying to make something of her own name again and again. Regardless of the value of her merits, she doesn´t stop inspiring us. One could argue that the whole look and attitude of teen star Taylor Momsen is taken from Love.
Only those who risk going too far, find out how far they can go (Fringe 0305)
New detailed report investigates the disappearing Atlantic bluefin tuna and the questionable fishing practices. Stop eating that tunasushi, people
The existence of precognitive powers has been proved -via the help of erotic pictures. Really. This was Cornell university, so it must be true.
The large Hadron Collider has finally created a "mini big-bang". This would be in Cern, Europe
The most overpaid actor according to Forbes magazine is..... Will Ferrell
According to David Duchovny, the third "X-files" movie is definitely on the works
Controversial writer Michel Houellebecq wins French top award, Prix Goncourt. He has been criticized of misogyny, racial provocation and obscenity among other things.
The Mad Men -craze got me late, in fact almost 3.5 seasons late. I blame it all on the ad pictures and short clips shown from this fabulous show, where practically always someone is smoking, drinking or both.
It gave an impression of the show of a virtual 1-hour commercial for the alcohol-and tobacco industry.
Now that I have gone through all but the fourth and latest season, I must admit that the show is good on its own. The writing is good, actors are smart, and one clear, essential idea of what makes art brilliant shows through. Namely, it is better to "show, not tell". Simple, yet so difficult to demonstrate and do well.
However, the use of less-than-healthy substances is heavy and visible in all the episodes. Especially during the first season, which seems to move on through a thick layer of smoke and echoes of alcohol reeks. I get it, this is supposed to be the sixties, when men were drinking at the office before noon, and your doctor was smoking while seeing patients. However, the internationally known brands are namedropped so often, that it makes me believe this is not just set design. Product placement? Of course. For these companies this show is golden. The crew probably gets free cigars and Jack D. sent to their dressing rooms as thanks for a job well done. I am not joking. This is how the machinery works.
Mad Men Warning: Smoking is Hazardous to Your Health
Spanish officials announced today of a 10-year-old giving birth to a baby. Apparently the father of the baby is also a minor, although his exact age was not announced. According to Spanish law, having sex (consensual or not) with a child under the age 13 is considered a criminal offence and child abuse.
The child mother is of Romanian origin, and when asked, her mother (the new grandmother) argued this kind of phenomenon to be normal in their culture. Children having children, that is. This leads to believe that culture in question is the Romanian gypsies.
When I see 10-year-olds, they look like little tiny kids, they act and talk like kids. There is no way children in that age have sex and procreate without adult interference and sexual abuse. Am I being overly naive or onto something here?
Amidst all the recent gay teen suicides, here is a touching admission from a prominent priest in Georgia, US.
After two divorces and a life in the closet, he decided to share his true sexuality with his congregation and the world. He believes that God loves us all.
