Giant Cellphone Monsters

alternateorg on April 27, 2000

I have a cellphone. I hate it, but I have it. When I’m in public with my cellphone, I tend to feel a sort of hatred coming from certain people when my phone is out in the open (whether this is simply in my head or not, I’m not sure). And so to keep myself from the annoyed eyes of others, I usually keep my cellphone hidden in my pocket, on vibrate mode.

My instincts have always told me that this is the way to do it. Now I also know why.

Thanks to the lovely people at Phonebashing.com, there have been a number of people physically ATTACKED and ROBBED of their phones. The victims are forced to watch as two people dressed up as GIANT CELLPHONES demolish their stolen phones.

It’s actually quite fantastic. And there’s videos of some of the attacks. Brilliant.

Episode II Cometh…

alternateorg on April 25, 2000

Hey Star Wars fans…I heard an unsubstantiated rumor (the source is a “friend of a friend of a friend who works at Industrial Lights and Magic” – take it for what it is worth) involving the name of Star Wars:Episode II, which is in production right now.

According to my relatively sketchy source, it will be called “Episode II: The Seventh Tower.”

Upon researching this a little (by that I mean going to theseventhtower.com), I found that this is the name of a soon-to-be-released book that will be published by LucasBooks. Hmmm…seems like that would make it a little less likely that this rumor is actually true.

Like I said, take it for what it’s worth. If nothing else, it will be fun to see how wide the rumor spreads by e-mail. If you have heard this rumor before (or any others along the same lines), drop me a line. If I get anything interesting, I’ll post it here on Alternate.

Would You Like Some Cheese With Your Whine?

alternateorg on April 24, 2000

According to this article, CD sales are up from last year, which is putting a damper on the RIAA’s court cases. See, the RIAA (Recording Insustry Association of America) is saying that MP3’s are harming CD sales. These new numbers go against what they’re saying, which is good for MP3.com and Napster. And you’d think that the RIAA would be happy about these numbers, too, seeing as how they’re selling more than they did last year. But all they can think of to say is “Well… who knows what we WOULD have sold if MP3s were illegal? We could have grown twice as much..” Which is fucking ridiculous. They’re selling music, and they still aren’t happy.

There’s nothing I hate more than rich brats who think they need more money. I think the next time I think about buying a CD, I’ll look for some MP3’s instead.

At Least it's Not HUMANS and Pandas…

alternateorg on April 21, 2000

Apparently, humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy porn. A Chinese research institute is showing Pandas with sexual inadequacies videotapes of other Pandas doin’ the wild thing in hopes that they, too, will learn how to make sweet, sweet love to other Pandas. No word yet as to whether they’re showing them gay panda porn or not. My guess is no. Maybe they should. Maybe the Pandas in question aren’t screwing other Pandas because they haven’t found the right drag-panda yet.

The Big Apple

alternateorg on April 20, 2000

Yes, Apple is where it should be (given the circumstances), and earning are tremendous, but just not in the billions for a quarter…
Correction- “Apple had net income for the quarter ending April 1 of $233 million”.

Splitting the big Apple

alternateorg on April 20, 2000

While announcing $1.94 BILLION in earnings from this quarter, Apple also announced a 2-for-1 stock split effective June 21 for shareholders on record by May 19.

Meanwhile, Microsoft anticipates a different kind of split. 🙂

Awesome.

[update] Correction: $1.94 billion in revenues, according to an article on TheStreet.com.

Copyright Infringement Was The Case That They Gave Me

alternateorg on April 20, 2000

I understand that the title of this article is a Snoop Dogg reference, and that this article is about Dr. Dre, but hey. It was the best I could come up with.

Following suit (pun intended) with Metallica, Dr. Dre is suing Napster, Inc. for more of this copyright infringement BS. I am truly getting sick and tired of musicians whining like babies and hiring lawyers any time that they aren’t making as much money as they think they should be. And the worst part about all these MP3 lawsuits is that none of the people suing understand the technology. The wording of these allegations is what’s going to get Napster off the hook in court, I think. Metallica and Dr. Dre keep using the phrase “encouraged users to trade songs and recordings without the band’s permission.” This is bogus. Napster is in no way, shape, or form encouraging a god damn thing. They simply make the software available. What people do with it is their own damn problem. After all, isn’t that what’s been getting Hotline off the hook all along?

Art is free.
Let me rephrase that.
Art for the purpose of expression should be free. Art for the purpose of making money should be illegal.

Except for website design, of course.