Steal This Film 2 Leaked on BitTorrent; Irony Crushes Unsuspecting Leechers
By Elzee on Nov 20 2007
Like rain on your wedding day, dying right after winning the lottery, and that t-shirt you bought at Urban Outfitters last week, irony takes a toll on everyone. It's preying on innocent fiction writers and hipsters alike, and now it's taken a new victim: the makers of documentary Steal This Film 2. The original Steal This Film documented The Pirate Bay controversy and its fallout; the sequel takes a look at the role of file-sharing in our culture on a broader scale. It's scheduled for release on trackers across the globe in a couple days.
Wait, you say, that's not ironic?! Well, reader, what's ironic is that someone leaked a cammed version of the film onto The Pirate Bay last Wednesday. The quality's pretty bad, so I would suggest waiting for it to be properly leaked. Jamie King, producer of STF2, told TorrentFreak, "We think people better not watch it, as we'll track them down via haxxoring their IPs and sue their asses off." Oh man, I think he was being ironic. Can someone please find that My Chemical Romance album? Because it's really good. No, seriously, someone get it for me.
Peter Bjorn and John Are Touring the States, But I’m Sure They Miss Sweden!
By Scout Leader Kyle on Nov 19 2007
Peter Bjorn and John are that sexy Swedish indie pop group that everyone was talking about last year and earlier this year. They topped the pop charts in the UK with their happening single, “Young Folks,” and successfully had their songs featured in Levi and Pontiac commercials. Go them! You may be asking why they're so fly, and -- let me guess -- you think it's because they have both a knack for creating really nice pop structures and a nice publicist who has helped them along the way. You'd be wrong. The reason Peter Bjorn and John are so cool is because they're Swedish.
Most people don't know that Sweden kicks an unusual amount of ass as a country, so let's cast aside our ignorance of the Swedes for a bit. I'm here to point out three really incredible facts about Sweden to you.
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Number One:
Sweden Is Second On The Environmental Performance Index
The EPI is a scale used to measure a country's environmental impact, using factors such as air quality, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and child mortality. Sweden is second in the rankings of the EPI, where Canada is eight and the U.S. is twenty-eight. The report is fairly new and these findings are from the pilot test, but Sweden obviously kicks a lot of ass when it comes to the environment.
Number Two:
Sweden Is The First Country To Officially Join Second Life
Second Life is a gigantic online computer game where tons of people sign up and play. The real draw for the game is its ability to offer a way to build and create your own avatar to explore a digital world that is built by other users like yourself. The game is pretty fascinating and possibly could be as addicting as World of Warcraft. This year, Sweden opened up a digital embassy in the world of Second Life to help promote and educate people about how kick-ass Sweden is.
Number Three:
The Same Dude That Invented Dynamite and Instituted The Nobel Prize Is From Sweden
That's right, Alfred Behnard Nobel was from Sweden. Homeboy patented dynamite in 1867, and not long after, he invented gelignite, or a blasting gelatin, that could be handled without protection. This sparked the eventual invention of other plastic explosives. Alfred ended up using his massive fortune to fund the Nobel Prize. Long story short, the reason he wanted the Nobel Prize to be established is because certain media sources condemned him for inventing dynamite and Alfred Nobel wanted to leave a more positive legacy behind him.
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And to think you thought Sweden was only good for pop music! Shame on you! You might want to make it up to the Swedes by attending one of their biggest musical attractions in these cities:
Deerhunter Officially Go on Hiatus
By Mango Starr on Nov 19 2007
According to a post titled "Goodbye 21st Century" on Deerhunter's blog, the band members have decided to go on hiatus after their appearance at the Estrella Damm Primavera Club festival in Barcelona, saying they need time to "organize" their lives. Check it out for yourself, straight from the loving fingers of Bradford Cox:
So we have one show left tomorrow night in Leipzig, Germany. Then we drive through the night to Prague where we fly home from early in the morning. This tour has been really insane. We met a lot of amazing people and finally got to play the UK, making our debut at the forum even. We are totally grateful for the opportunity to play everywhere we did. When we started this band years ago we never imagined playing outside of Atlanta, so this has all been like a hallucination. We are all exhausted now and ready to be home. I would like to announce that the show we are playing at Primavera in Barcelona (I hope to god i spelled that right) will be our last for quite some time. It will also be the last time we are ever playing the Cryptograms set we have been playing for the last two years. After that the band are going on hiatus. We all need some time to organize our lives. Thanks to everyone who has helped us out. This has been a crazy year that I will always remember.
Meanwhile, Bradford Cox's solo project Atlas Sounds will release an album, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, on February 19, 2008 (TMT News). You can read our reviews of Cryptograms (TMT Review) and the Fluorescent Grey EP (TMT Review). And then you can weep like a stupid little baby, all the while knowing that this probably isn't the last we'll hear from Deerhunter. Do I smell a greatest hits?
EMI Labels Sue MP3tunes for Copyright Infringement; Have Still Not Mastered That Whole “Changing Business Model” Thing
By Heidi Vanderslice on Nov 19 2007
1. Record companies sue online music industry executive Michael Robertson circa 2000.
2. Said executive pays $100 million to record companies in settlement.
3. Vivendi's Universal Music Group buys Robertson's MP3.com, which is later sold to CNET Networks Inc.
4. EMI sends take-down notice to Robertson's related company, Sideload.com, in September.
5. Robertson sues EMI in response to said notice.
6. See headline.
7. Michael Robertson sez; "These guys rush off to court and tell the court that I am terrible and then they end up buying my company. It is really a shame because instead of using these technologies to improve their business they make an enemy of every technology company out there."
8. TMT sez: WE ARE TIRED OF WRITING THE SAME NEWS STORY. SOMEONE PLEASE PROVIDE BIG RECORD LABELS (especially EMI, who have been hemorrhaging for quite some time now) WITH WHAT ONE WOULD REFER TO AS A "CLUE."
