Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
"Catching Fire" is the first film with a female lead to top the box office in 40 years
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire made history on Thursday, surpassing Iron Man 3as the top domestic grossing film released in 2013, with $409.4 million at the box office. It’s a remarkable achievement for the sequel, especially since, as Lionsgate crowed in a release on Friday, it is the first time two films in a franchise have both grossed more than $400 million in the U.S. (The first Hunger Games made $408 million domestically in 2012.)
But Catching Fire reached an even bigger milestone on Thursday, and it is a doozy. As entertainment journalist Mark Harris first pointed out on Twitter:
Insane.
To be fair, since The Exorcist opened in 1973, there have been films featuring women in arguably lead roles that have topped the domestic box office for the year: 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone both starred Emma Watson; 2009’s Avatar starred Zoe Saldana; 1997’s Titanic starred Kate Winslet; and 1978’s Grease starred Olivia Newton-John. But all of those movies also featured a male actor either as a co-lead or the film’s main protagonist (respectively, Daniel Radcliffe, Sam Worthington, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Travolta).
Jennifer Lawrence, by contrast, is inarguably the sole protagonist of Catching Fire. Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Claflin fill in the main supporting roles, but we do not track their emotional story in the movie. We only track Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen.
In truth, The Exorcist just barely qualifies as a film with a solo female protagonist. The Oscar-winning horror film starts off following Chris MacNeil’s (Ellen Burstyn) terror at the deteriorating health of her young daughter Regan (Linda Blair). But the second half of the film essentially drops Burstyn’s role as two priests played by Max von Sydow and Jason Miller perform the titular exorcism on Regan.
If you want to find a No. 1 movie with a woman as the clear, unambiguous lead, you’ve got to go back to 1968’s Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand as groundbreaking comedienne Fanny Brice. (Omar Sharif plays Brice’s first husband Nicky Arnstein, and though the film tracks the arc of their relationship, it does so from Brice’s point of view.)
The fact that it’s taken four decades for a film driven solely by a female character to be the most popular movie of the year in the U.S. is yet another damning indictmentof both American moviegoing taste and where Hollywood chooses to invest the bulk of its filmmaking capital. It should also perhaps indicate once more to studio chiefs that modern-day audiences are not allergic to female-driven movies — if theydidn’t have enough hints already.
Meanwhile, even though Catching Fire’s current total global gross of $832.8 million is a 20% improvement over its predecessor, it isn’t enough to beat Iron Man 3’s $1.2 billion worldwide box office number — and global box office is increasingly what drives Hollywood’s bottom line. But if the next two Hunger Games films, 2014’sMockingjay Part 1 and 2015’s Mockingjay Part 2, follow the same global box office trajectory, the franchise could very well soon be the biggest in the world, as well.
But Catching Fire reached an even bigger milestone on Thursday, and it is a doozy. As entertainment journalist Mark Harris first pointed out on Twitter:
Remarkable stat: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the first movie with a solo female lead to be the year's #1 film since The Exorcist.
To be fair, since The Exorcist opened in 1973, there have been films featuring women in arguably lead roles that have topped the domestic box office for the year: 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone both starred Emma Watson; 2009’s Avatar starred Zoe Saldana; 1997’s Titanic starred Kate Winslet; and 1978’s Grease starred Olivia Newton-John. But all of those movies also featured a male actor either as a co-lead or the film’s main protagonist (respectively, Daniel Radcliffe, Sam Worthington, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Travolta).
Jennifer Lawrence, by contrast, is inarguably the sole protagonist of Catching Fire. Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Claflin fill in the main supporting roles, but we do not track their emotional story in the movie. We only track Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen.
In truth, The Exorcist just barely qualifies as a film with a solo female protagonist. The Oscar-winning horror film starts off following Chris MacNeil’s (Ellen Burstyn) terror at the deteriorating health of her young daughter Regan (Linda Blair). But the second half of the film essentially drops Burstyn’s role as two priests played by Max von Sydow and Jason Miller perform the titular exorcism on Regan.
If you want to find a No. 1 movie with a woman as the clear, unambiguous lead, you’ve got to go back to 1968’s Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand as groundbreaking comedienne Fanny Brice. (Omar Sharif plays Brice’s first husband Nicky Arnstein, and though the film tracks the arc of their relationship, it does so from Brice’s point of view.)
The fact that it’s taken four decades for a film driven solely by a female character to be the most popular movie of the year in the U.S. is yet another damning indictmentof both American moviegoing taste and where Hollywood chooses to invest the bulk of its filmmaking capital. It should also perhaps indicate once more to studio chiefs that modern-day audiences are not allergic to female-driven movies — if theydidn’t have enough hints already.
Meanwhile, even though Catching Fire’s current total global gross of $832.8 million is a 20% improvement over its predecessor, it isn’t enough to beat Iron Man 3’s $1.2 billion worldwide box office number — and global box office is increasingly what drives Hollywood’s bottom line. But if the next two Hunger Games films, 2014’sMockingjay Part 1 and 2015’s Mockingjay Part 2, follow the same global box office trajectory, the franchise could very well soon be the biggest in the world, as well.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Ten everyday situations are (supposedly) costing the economy
1. HANGOVERS
If you think you feel bad after a bender, consider the economy. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hangovers cost the U.S. about $1.37 in lost productivity per drink, which adds up to more than $220 billion per year.
2. DISTRACTED DRIVING
2. DISTRACTED DRIVING
Is distracted the new drunk? According to the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study, haphazard multi-tasking on the road costs $3.58 billion per month in injuries, property damages, lawsuits, and more.
3. DELAYED FLIGHTS
A 2010 Federal Aviation Administration report claimed that delayed flights cost the U.S. economy $32.9 billion per year. The aggravation, however, can't be quantified.
A 2010 Federal Aviation Administration report claimed that delayed flights cost the U.S. economy $32.9 billion per year. The aggravation, however, can't be quantified.
4. FOOD POISONING
According to a study out of Ohio State University, food poisoning costs more than $77 billion each year. Talk about eating a loss.
According to a study out of Ohio State University, food poisoning costs more than $77 billion each year. Talk about eating a loss.
5. SLEEP DEPRIVATION
You don't always lose when you snooze. Tired workers are a liability, and Harvard researchers estimate they cost U.S. companies $63.2 billion annually.
You don't always lose when you snooze. Tired workers are a liability, and Harvard researchers estimate they cost U.S. companies $63.2 billion annually.
6. COLD SEASON
There's no such thing as a paid sick day. The University of Michigan put a $40 billion annual price tag on the common cold.
There's no such thing as a paid sick day. The University of Michigan put a $40 billion annual price tag on the common cold.
7. LOOKING FOR A BATHROOM
In 2012, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program attributed nearly $500 million in Africa's economic losses to not being able to find a clean, safe place to use the bathroom.
In 2012, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program attributed nearly $500 million in Africa's economic losses to not being able to find a clean, safe place to use the bathroom.
8. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
Springing forward each year doesn't just cost you sleep. It also leads to more workplace injuries, lower productivity, and even an increase in heart attacks. Chmura Economics & Analytics says it all adds up to about $433,982,548.
Springing forward each year doesn't just cost you sleep. It also leads to more workplace injuries, lower productivity, and even an increase in heart attacks. Chmura Economics & Analytics says it all adds up to about $433,982,548.
9. MARCH MADNESS
This one might not happen every day, but basketball fans—and economists—cried foul when the executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that March Madness costs U.S. businesses some $3.8 billion in worker productivity each year.
This one might not happen every day, but basketball fans—and economists—cried foul when the executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that March Madness costs U.S. businesses some $3.8 billion in worker productivity each year.
10. SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRACTIONS
Using sites like Twitter and Pinterest all day could cost the U.S. economy up to $650 billion—roughly $4,452 per company—in worker productivity. (Check out the Mashable infographic.) But don't worry, that won't keep these companies from asking you to Like them on Facebook.
Source
Using sites like Twitter and Pinterest all day could cost the U.S. economy up to $650 billion—roughly $4,452 per company—in worker productivity. (Check out the Mashable infographic.) But don't worry, that won't keep these companies from asking you to Like them on Facebook.
Source
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Which internet companies have our backs?
This list only accounts for efforts to prevent government data seizure — some companies, such as Dropbox, have less-than-stellar records in data security. But at least these companies are trying. Others, like Verizon, seem to have just given up.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
FCC overlooks David Ortiz's "passionate" Boston speech
David Ortiz delivered a passionate and mildly profane speech to Red Sox fans Saturday as baseball returned to Fenway Park — and luckily for the slugger, it looks like the team will avoid any fines from he FCC.
"This jersey that we wear today, it doesn't say 'Red Sox,' it says 'Boston,'" Ortiz said. "We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job they did this past week. This is our [expletive] city."
After the game, the FCC tweeted in response.
"David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius," the tweet said, signed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Here is a video of Ortiz's speech (warning: contains explicit language).
Source
"This jersey that we wear today, it doesn't say 'Red Sox,' it says 'Boston,'" Ortiz said. "We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job they did this past week. This is our [expletive] city."
After the game, the FCC tweeted in response.
"David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius," the tweet said, signed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Here is a video of Ortiz's speech (warning: contains explicit language).
Source
Sunday, March 3, 2013
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" to return to television
It’s not a March Fools joke — improvisational comedy showcase Whose Line Is It Anyway? really is returning to television
News of the series’s revival broke this morning, when star Colin Mochrie released this coy tweet:
The CW confirmed the show’s return with a press release this afternoon, saying that new episodes of Whose Line will air on the network this summer. A premiere date will be announced at a later time.
The new incarnation will be hosted by The Talk host Aisha Tyler, a comedian who also stars on FX’s Archer. Master improvisers Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Wayne Brady — all cast members of the original show — will appear in each episode, along with one special guest comedian.
The American version of Whose Line aired on ABC from 1998-2004 and on ABC Family from 2005-07. The series was spun off from a British show of the same name, which began airing on the UK’s Channel 4 in 1988.
There’s just one thing missing from the revived series: original host, producer, and occasional improviser Drew Carey, who apparently has no involvement in the new Whose Line. When asked for comment, Carey’s rep told EW that she hadn’t heard anything about the revived show. Carey hosted a similar program, Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza, on the Game Show Network in 2011. Both Stiles and Mochrie made frequent appearances on Carey’s series.
There’s just one thing missing from the revived series: original host, producer, and occasional improviser Drew Carey, who apparently has no involvement in the new Whose Line. When asked for comment, Carey’s rep told EW that she hadn’t heard anything about the revived show. Carey hosted a similar program, Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza, on the Game Show Network in 2011. Both Stiles and Mochrie made frequent appearances on Carey’s series.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
"Hunger Games" fans racist tweets
As CNN reports, "Only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Knight — both sequels, with the strength of a franchise behind each — recorded bigger opening weekends." Plus, unlike those two flicks, Hunger Games was written by a woman and stars a woman (much as we love JK Rowling, her series isn't named after Hermione) — making it a true lady-centric blockbuster franchise.
Now as you may know, Katniss, the main character in the book and film, was described as having "straight black hair" and "olive skin." It's a post-apocalyptic world, so she could be a mix of things, but some pictured a Native American. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jennifer Lawrence won the part and dyed her hair dark.
But when it came to the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna, many audience members did not understand why there were black actors playing those parts. Cinna's skin is not discussed in the book, so truthfully, though Lenny Kravitz was cast, a white, Asian or Latino actor could have played the part.
But. On page 45 of Suzanne Collins's book, Katniss sees Rue for the first time:
…And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that's she's very like Prim in size and demeanor…
Later, she sees Thresh:
The boy tribute from District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there. He's one of the giants, probably six and half feet tall and built like an ox.
Dark skin. That is what the novelist, the creator of the series, specified. But there were plenty of audience members who were "shocked," or confused, or just plain angry.
The tumblr Hunger Games Tweets has collected a smattering of Twitter postings, with the goal of exposing "Hunger Games fans on Twitter who dare to call themselves fans yet don't know a damn thing about the books." What people are saying is disappointing, sad, stomach-churning, and just plain racist.
Source
Thursday, March 15, 2012
11 tweets that led to a lot of trouble
While some might argue that 140 characters aren’t enough to adequately express a thought or have a conversation, others have discovered that a tweet or two is all it takes to end up in a courtroom. Here are 11 great tricks for tweeting yourself into a hot mess of litigation.
1. Threaten to “Destroy America” (But Not Really)
The difference between “party hard” and “terrorize” is pretty big, and also obvious. Once British slang is involved, though, it gets a little murky. Leigh Van Bryan, 26, tweeted “Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?” meaning, “Come see me before I go to the States to get trashed, guys.” But U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials read, “I’m on my way to bomb all the States. Come by if you want to help.”
Van Bryan and his traveling companion were detained by Homeland Security overnight, during which they were interrogated about their plans. Though they tried to explain that “to destroy” is to “party quite hard in,” the pair were put on a plane to Paris the next morning. Officials claim that in secondary interviews, details “revealed both individuals were inadmissible to the United States.”
2. Joke About Blowing up an Airport
In January 2010, Paul Chambers was just a guy planning a trip from his home in Doncaster, England, to his girlfriend’s in Northern Ireland, when a snowstorm threw a wrench in the works. Frustrated and afraid his upcoming flight would be cancelled, Chambers tweeted, “Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week to get your sh*t together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”
Though the message was a joke and Robin Hood Airport did apparently get it together, two days before his scheduled flight five officers arrested Chambers at work, seized his computers and phone, and then interrogated him for eight hours before charging him with “sending a public electronic message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to the Communications Act 2003.” Chambers lost his job, had to pay $1500 in fines, and lost another job after his new employer discovered his felony conviction in a background search.
The ensuing media frenzy prompted Stephen Fry to hold a benefit event for the Twitter Joke Trial defendant, vowing to pay Chambers’ legal fees and declaring he was “prepared to go to prison… if that’s what it takes,” to support Chambers’ right to “innocuous hyperbole.” Thousands of people retweeted Chambers’ offensive message over the last two years tagged #iamspartacus and #twitterjoketrial to highlight the absurdity of his arrest. (None of these people were jailed.)
In 2011, Chambers’ first appeal was dismissed by a judge at Doncaster Crown Court and his fines and fees were increased to $4100. In February 2012, a second appeal reached the High Court. Chambers’ solicitor David Allen Green says the Court’s decision will have a “potentially immense significance” for everyone who uses social media, since this is the “first ‘appellate’ case on what constitutes a ‘menacing’ communication over the internet.”
3. Tell Police You’re Waiting at the State Capitol … to Kill Them
The first person ever arrested for 140 characters worth of nonsense was 52-year-old Oklahoma City resident Daniel Knight Hayden, whose excitement about an upcoming OKC Tea Party rally was a little… overzealous. Hayden was so amped about overthrowing the government that he imagined a civil war on the capitol building steps and offered himself up as a martyr. The problematic updates included gems like “START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!” and “After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!”
This went on for a few days, but on April 14, 2009, when Hayden urged his followers to “Send the cops around” so he could “cut off the[ir] heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps,” the FBI decided to pay him a visit. He was arrested and charged with making interstate threats, and in 2010 Hayden was sentenced to eight months in prison for “knowingly transmitting a threatening communication.”
4. Help a Bunch of Rioters Evade Police
The Pittsburgh Group of 20 rich and developing nations summit in September 2009 kicked off with a bang when anti-capitalist and anarchist protesters rioted, damaging public and personal property before police moved in to disband the crowds. Elliot Madison, a 41-year-old New Yorker, sent Twitter updates of the police force locations and movements to help other protesters avoid arrest. A similar tactic had been used in Iran and China in prior months during demonstrations in those countries, during which time the U.S. State Department asked Twitter not to perform a scheduled upgrade as it might temporarily restrict service.
This time, though, the tactic was called “hindering apprehension or prosecution by law enforcement,” and Madison was arrested. When the FBI later raided his residence, they confiscated various items, including multiple dog toys and his Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs.
Madison and his lawyer argued that the charges (including “possessions of weapons of crime,” which in this case was Madison’s phone) were erroneous and a violation of free speech protection. By November, Pennsylvania agreed, and dropped all charges. But the state said his activities “may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G20 in both time and substance” and didn’t rule out charging him in the future.
5. Accuse Your Former Fashion Designer of Being a Prostitute
Courtney Love had a falling out with designer Dawn Simorangkir in early 2009, apparently over money. Instead of settling the bill, Love took to Twitter, calling Simorangkir (among other things) a “drug-pushing prostitute.” Thus began the first high-profile Twitter lawsuit, which Love lost. In 2011, the suit was finally settled for $430,000.
6. Accuse Your Former Lawyer of Accepting Bribes
Rhonda Holmes briefly represented Courtney Love in 2009. The professional relationship was dissolved and Love and Holmes parted ways, until Love requested legal help again several months later. The firm declined, inspiring Love to imply via Twitter that Holmes was paid to deny her legal counsel. Specifically, she said she was “devastated when Rhonda J Holmes esq of San Diego was bought off.” After Love settled her previous defamation suit, Holmes filed her own, which is expected to go to jury trial this year.
7. Tell Your Followers They Should Switch Banks
Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández was “raided, arrested, sent before a judge, and sentenced” all in one day for “inciting financial panic,” a criminal offense in Guatemala. The tweet (which has since been deleted) suggested that people who had money in state-controlled bank Banrural should withdraw their funds to disrupt the control of “corrupt people” over the financial institution.
Banrural was at the center of a national political scandal involving Guatemala’s president, Álvaro Colom, who just days before had been implicated in the murder of an attorney who uncovered fraudulent transactions through the bank. Anleu Fernández admitted to posting the update about Banrural, which, amidst the outcry at his arrest, was retweeted thousands of times. His sentence involved house arrest and a hefty $6500 fine — more than the $5000 per capita income in the country. Later, the murder in which the president was allegedly involved was ruled a suicide. Colom finished out his term in 2012.
8. Tweet Your Live-Action Mean Girls Reenactment
A 12-year-old boy, a 17- and two 16-year-old girls were arrested in Arkansas in January this year for posting “vulgar and derogatory rumors” about classmates from two separate accounts. The especially worrying tweets encouraged another student to kill himself and mocked a female student for having an eating disorder. The tweets were sufficiently hateful to earn all four students cyber-bullying charges, though no sentences have yet been handed down.
9. Be a Drunk-Driver-Enabling Social Media Platform
The Brazilian government filed a suit against Twitter in early February, citing concerns that the microblogging site undermines the country’s efforts to curb drunk driving. It seems there are accounts that announce police speed traps and road blocks, ostensibly giving intoxicated drivers a chance to avoid the Breathalyzer and increased opportunity to injure or kill themselves and others on the road. The suit orders Twitter to pay $290,000 per day until all of the accounts are suspended. Twitter has not commented on the case, but a publicly posted content withholding policy states that the company has the “ability to withhold content from users in a specific country” when necessary to comply with national law and custom.
10. Create a Company Twitter Account, Then Take it With You When You Quit
Noah Kravitz was an editor for PhoneDog, a company that shares news and reviews about smartphones, communications devices, and telecom companies. The Twitter account he started (and used for his personal updates as well) had amassed 17,000 followers by the time he left PhoneDog in October 2011. A couple of months later, PhoneDog sent Kravitz a lawsuit totaling $340,000 — $2.50 per follower per month since his departure. PhoneDog claims the followers are company property, and Kravitz counters that the account technically belongs to Twitter, therefore negating any claim PhoneDog has to its followers. The suit is not yet resolved.
11. And Sometimes, Not Tweeting Is the Problem
In November 2009, a stampede of frenzied teenage girls overtook a Garden City mall when some guy named Justin Bieber showed up. His manager Scooter Braun, who was in charge of keeping the peace, was arrested for not tweeting a notice from Bieber’s account that the party was over and everyone had to go home. The charges state that Braun “created a dangerous safety situation” by failing to disperse the crowd, and he was arrested and charged with fire safety violations. After several months of litigation, the charges against Braun were dropped when the Biebs agreed to shoot an anti-cyberbullying PSA.
Source
1. Threaten to “Destroy America” (But Not Really)
Van Bryan and his traveling companion were detained by Homeland Security overnight, during which they were interrogated about their plans. Though they tried to explain that “to destroy” is to “party quite hard in,” the pair were put on a plane to Paris the next morning. Officials claim that in secondary interviews, details “revealed both individuals were inadmissible to the United States.”
2. Joke About Blowing up an Airport
Though the message was a joke and Robin Hood Airport did apparently get it together, two days before his scheduled flight five officers arrested Chambers at work, seized his computers and phone, and then interrogated him for eight hours before charging him with “sending a public electronic message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to the Communications Act 2003.” Chambers lost his job, had to pay $1500 in fines, and lost another job after his new employer discovered his felony conviction in a background search.
The ensuing media frenzy prompted Stephen Fry to hold a benefit event for the Twitter Joke Trial defendant, vowing to pay Chambers’ legal fees and declaring he was “prepared to go to prison… if that’s what it takes,” to support Chambers’ right to “innocuous hyperbole.” Thousands of people retweeted Chambers’ offensive message over the last two years tagged #iamspartacus and #twitterjoketrial to highlight the absurdity of his arrest. (None of these people were jailed.)
In 2011, Chambers’ first appeal was dismissed by a judge at Doncaster Crown Court and his fines and fees were increased to $4100. In February 2012, a second appeal reached the High Court. Chambers’ solicitor David Allen Green says the Court’s decision will have a “potentially immense significance” for everyone who uses social media, since this is the “first ‘appellate’ case on what constitutes a ‘menacing’ communication over the internet.”
3. Tell Police You’re Waiting at the State Capitol … to Kill Them
This went on for a few days, but on April 14, 2009, when Hayden urged his followers to “Send the cops around” so he could “cut off the[ir] heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps,” the FBI decided to pay him a visit. He was arrested and charged with making interstate threats, and in 2010 Hayden was sentenced to eight months in prison for “knowingly transmitting a threatening communication.”
4. Help a Bunch of Rioters Evade Police
The Pittsburgh Group of 20 rich and developing nations summit in September 2009 kicked off with a bang when anti-capitalist and anarchist protesters rioted, damaging public and personal property before police moved in to disband the crowds. Elliot Madison, a 41-year-old New Yorker, sent Twitter updates of the police force locations and movements to help other protesters avoid arrest. A similar tactic had been used in Iran and China in prior months during demonstrations in those countries, during which time the U.S. State Department asked Twitter not to perform a scheduled upgrade as it might temporarily restrict service.
This time, though, the tactic was called “hindering apprehension or prosecution by law enforcement,” and Madison was arrested. When the FBI later raided his residence, they confiscated various items, including multiple dog toys and his Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs.
Madison and his lawyer argued that the charges (including “possessions of weapons of crime,” which in this case was Madison’s phone) were erroneous and a violation of free speech protection. By November, Pennsylvania agreed, and dropped all charges. But the state said his activities “may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G20 in both time and substance” and didn’t rule out charging him in the future.
5. Accuse Your Former Fashion Designer of Being a Prostitute
Courtney Love had a falling out with designer Dawn Simorangkir in early 2009, apparently over money. Instead of settling the bill, Love took to Twitter, calling Simorangkir (among other things) a “drug-pushing prostitute.” Thus began the first high-profile Twitter lawsuit, which Love lost. In 2011, the suit was finally settled for $430,000.
6. Accuse Your Former Lawyer of Accepting Bribes
Rhonda Holmes briefly represented Courtney Love in 2009. The professional relationship was dissolved and Love and Holmes parted ways, until Love requested legal help again several months later. The firm declined, inspiring Love to imply via Twitter that Holmes was paid to deny her legal counsel. Specifically, she said she was “devastated when Rhonda J Holmes esq of San Diego was bought off.” After Love settled her previous defamation suit, Holmes filed her own, which is expected to go to jury trial this year.
7. Tell Your Followers They Should Switch Banks
Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández was “raided, arrested, sent before a judge, and sentenced” all in one day for “inciting financial panic,” a criminal offense in Guatemala. The tweet (which has since been deleted) suggested that people who had money in state-controlled bank Banrural should withdraw their funds to disrupt the control of “corrupt people” over the financial institution.
Banrural was at the center of a national political scandal involving Guatemala’s president, Álvaro Colom, who just days before had been implicated in the murder of an attorney who uncovered fraudulent transactions through the bank. Anleu Fernández admitted to posting the update about Banrural, which, amidst the outcry at his arrest, was retweeted thousands of times. His sentence involved house arrest and a hefty $6500 fine — more than the $5000 per capita income in the country. Later, the murder in which the president was allegedly involved was ruled a suicide. Colom finished out his term in 2012.
8. Tweet Your Live-Action Mean Girls Reenactment
A 12-year-old boy, a 17- and two 16-year-old girls were arrested in Arkansas in January this year for posting “vulgar and derogatory rumors” about classmates from two separate accounts. The especially worrying tweets encouraged another student to kill himself and mocked a female student for having an eating disorder. The tweets were sufficiently hateful to earn all four students cyber-bullying charges, though no sentences have yet been handed down.
9. Be a Drunk-Driver-Enabling Social Media Platform
The Brazilian government filed a suit against Twitter in early February, citing concerns that the microblogging site undermines the country’s efforts to curb drunk driving. It seems there are accounts that announce police speed traps and road blocks, ostensibly giving intoxicated drivers a chance to avoid the Breathalyzer and increased opportunity to injure or kill themselves and others on the road. The suit orders Twitter to pay $290,000 per day until all of the accounts are suspended. Twitter has not commented on the case, but a publicly posted content withholding policy states that the company has the “ability to withhold content from users in a specific country” when necessary to comply with national law and custom.
10. Create a Company Twitter Account, Then Take it With You When You Quit
Noah Kravitz was an editor for PhoneDog, a company that shares news and reviews about smartphones, communications devices, and telecom companies. The Twitter account he started (and used for his personal updates as well) had amassed 17,000 followers by the time he left PhoneDog in October 2011. A couple of months later, PhoneDog sent Kravitz a lawsuit totaling $340,000 — $2.50 per follower per month since his departure. PhoneDog claims the followers are company property, and Kravitz counters that the account technically belongs to Twitter, therefore negating any claim PhoneDog has to its followers. The suit is not yet resolved.
11. And Sometimes, Not Tweeting Is the Problem
In November 2009, a stampede of frenzied teenage girls overtook a Garden City mall when some guy named Justin Bieber showed up. His manager Scooter Braun, who was in charge of keeping the peace, was arrested for not tweeting a notice from Bieber’s account that the party was over and everyone had to go home. The charges state that Braun “created a dangerous safety situation” by failing to disperse the crowd, and he was arrested and charged with fire safety violations. After several months of litigation, the charges against Braun were dropped when the Biebs agreed to shoot an anti-cyberbullying PSA.
Source
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Early reviews are favorable for "The Hunger Games"
There’s a lot riding on the March 23 release of “The Hunger Games.” Whether you like or loathe the film will be based on your personal preferences, but it can be universally agreed upon that “The Hunger Games” not only is a good movie, but that it succeeds as a fully fleshed out adaptation where most before it have failed.
This is coming from a die-hard “Harry Potter” fan. And while I wouldn’t consider myself a Twi-Hard, I am well versed in both the films and the books. So it’s not entirely objective when I say that both series’ onscreen adaptations are not that great, but it is an honest statement.
“The Hunger Games,” on the other hand, stands on its own as a movie. It deviates from the source material in a way that is honest to Suzanne Collins’ book, and also often strengthens the story. Much like HBO’s adaptation of “Game of Thrones,” every additional scene in the movie adds something that should have been there to begin with.
That’s not to say that “The Hunger Games” is without its flaws. Every movie has them. But that’s the key word right there. “The Hunger Games” is a movie in its own right whereas both “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” were chained at the hips to their source material.
This isn’t an editorial with the intention of bashing “Harry Potter” or “Twilight.” Both of those franchises are successful for a reason, and are good in their own right. “Harry Potter” tells the story of a boy wizard with a big destiny, while “Twilight” tells the tale of the unrequited love between a human and a vampire. The problem with those films, though, is that they don’t add much to the screen that wasn’t already on the page.
By contrast, “The Hunger Games” isn’t constrained by the book’s story. Collins’ novels offer hints that a larger saga is taking place, and the film shows us that. And its strength lies in that component of the movie.
The argument can be made that “The Hunger Games” was always going to be best served as a movie. The action-packed and dramatic story was constantly constricted by Katniss’s first-person perspective while it was always obvious that the tale being told was much bigger than just her. Without that restraint, the film was able to set the stage for the future “Hunger Games” films while also allowing the world of Panem to be fully developed.
There is one character in particular that gets a much larger role in the film than he does in the movie. His presence as a counterpoint for Katniss really works. By amping up his role in the movie (someone else will have to spoil who he is for you), the character helps highlight the brutality of the Capitol in a way just telling Katniss’s side of the story never would.
That’s not to say that “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” never stepped outside of the confines of the novels that they were based on, but those extra or changed scenes never quite worked the way they should have. Showing James, Laurent and Victoria killing innocent civilians didn’t have the same impact as hearing about the mysterious murders occurring in “Twilight” and wondering what was going on. And that scene in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” where Bellatrix Lestrange burned down the Burrow felt out of place and also makes little sense in the continuity of the story.
In those film franchises, there was always the sense that viewers who hadn’t read the books were missing out on something important in the story that wasn’t being portrayed on the big screen. That’s not how it felt walking out of the theater following “The Hunger Games.” The heart of the story was in that film, and it did just as good a job telling Katniss’s tale as the book did.
It’s yet to be seen if “The Hunger Games” will do as well in theaters as the “Twilight” and “Potter” films, but my gut says that it will. Even if it doesn’t end up breaking the same records that the precious two franchises set, one thing is certain: it’s a much better movie than either of those were. And this is coming from a girl who vehemently thought “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ deserved a Best Picture Oscar nod this year.
Source
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Anonymous Goldman Sachs employee tweets stuff overhead in the elevator
The account is called @GSElevator but has expand to include conversations overheard throughout the entire office. The tweeter distinguishes people by number (i.e. #1, #2, #3). Here are some gems.
"#1: Groupon… Food stamps for the middle class."
"#1: Hermes ties are like Jordans for white people."
"#1: My garbage disposal eats better than 98% of the world."
"#1: She’s only about 3 weeks of anorexia away from looking hot.
#2: Maybe 4."
"#1: Black Friday is the Special Olympics of capitalism."
"#1: The only reason I have a home phone is so I can find my cell phone.
#2: Our maid does that."
"1: I asked him what his life goal is, and he said “to make the obituary in The Economist.”
2: Great answer. Hired."
"#1: Groupon… Food stamps for the middle class."
"#1: Hermes ties are like Jordans for white people."
"#1: My garbage disposal eats better than 98% of the world."
"#1: She’s only about 3 weeks of anorexia away from looking hot.
#2: Maybe 4."
"#1: Black Friday is the Special Olympics of capitalism."
"#1: The only reason I have a home phone is so I can find my cell phone.
#2: Our maid does that."
"1: I asked him what his life goal is, and he said “to make the obituary in The Economist.”
2: Great answer. Hired."
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
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