French cinephiles are illegally downloading from the Internet as many films as they pay to see in theaters. This according to a new study from the Association Against Audiovisual Piracy (ALPA) that was–My God, THE IRONY–itself leaked to the Internet without its creator’s knowledge or consent. One of the largest studies of its kind, the ALPA effort found that 13.5 million films were illegally downloaded in May, while box office ticket sales for that month were 12.2 million. On average, more than 10 million copies of films are illegally downloaded in France every month. Some 450,000 copies are downloaded daily. Incroyable, but true. “We are facing a major phenomenon that can endanger the film industry and (other) audiovisual industries,” ALPA director Frederic Delacroix told Agence France-Presse. “We did not expect such numbers.”
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Take the famous ballads and duets of West Side Story, insert a dozen mentions of famous social media sites like twitter and facebook, and this is what you get.
Music videos recreated with new lyrics based on what’s actually happening in them. Daydream Believer and Total Eclipse of the Heart are particularly good.
In response to numerous e-mails, I have no idea what planet the giant alien creature is from. Judging from its enormous gills, I’d have to guess it’s from a watery planet. Reminder: please let me know if you plan to be in the office on Memorial Day so I can request HVAC for your floor.
For those of you who mock the wolf shirt beware. There is an old Navajo story about a young man who made fun of another man for wearing a wolf trio shirt. Legend has it that in his sleep, the wolves on the other man’s shirt came to life and tore his body to shreds. They never found any part of that man’s body. The Wolf is something to be respected and feared, not treated like a novelty.
