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The Worst You Can Say About: Barack Obama
By Denise Williams (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 12:30:00 PM
Filed under: Barack Obama, Featured
Stories, 2008 President, Scandal
In the next part of our series, The
Worst You Can Say About... I'll be
looking at some of the myths going
around the intertubes about Barack
Obama. (Check out the first part in
the series by Jay Allbritton, who
looks at what people are saying about
John McCain.)
Some of our most vocal commenters
here on Political Machine are very
familiar with the false stories
circulating about Obama. They have
been most kind sharing those lies
with all of us in the comment sections
of our posts. Thanks to all of those
who have provided me with links and
insight into these unfounded rumors.
The most "popular" of these viral
emails can be found on Fact Check.
These phony stories will surely
become more widespread and talked
about if Obama wins the Democratic
nomination. So, here's my stab at
creating a quick link of myth debunks
for future use on 527's and the RNC:
Flat-out Untruths and Lies:
Myth #1 - Barack Hussein Obama is
a Muslim (not that there's anything
wrong with that).
Based on a chain email titled "Who is
Barack Obama?" and it's variations.
The usual story here is that Obama's
mother married a Kenyan Muslim
(also named Barack Hussein Obama)
divorced him and then married an
Indonesian Muslim and that Barack
went to an extremist Wahabbi
madrassa in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Variations include that because his
father was Muslim, Obama will
always be Muslim, and run to the
extreme theory that he's some sort of
Muslim Manchurian Candidate and
will invite Osama bin Laden to be VP
or Secretary of State. These of stories,
of course, have been debunked many
times by multiple sources.
Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, did
indeed marry a Kenyan that she met
while both attended the University of
Hawaii. Barack was born in
Ryan Seacrest on Fidel Castro
By Mo Rocca (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 10:30:00 AM
19/02/08 - 20/02/08
Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961. The
Obama's divorced in 1963. When
Barack was six his mother married
Lolo Soetoro and moved to Jakarta.
While there Obama attended both
Muslim and Catholic schools - about
2 years each. Both schools, by their
nature, offered religious instruction.
When Barck was ten he was sent to
live with his maternal grandmother in
Honolulu and attended a secular
private school on the island from 5th
grade until graduation. Links that
debunk this myth (there are many
more):
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obam
a/muslim.asp
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS
/01/22/obama.madrassa/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories
/1007/6314_Page2.html
Myth #2 - Barack Hussein Obama's
middle name is Muhummad.
This one cracks me up everytime I
see it. His middle name is Hussein. It
doesn't make it scarier to add the
Muhummad in there. We get the
point. See Myth #5 below.
Myth #3 - Obama swore his Senate
Oath of Office on a Koran
See Myth #1. Obama is a Christian
and used a Bible. Ask Dick Cheney,
who administered the Oath. People
who repeat this are thinking of Rep.
Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first
Muslim Congressman, who did use a
Koran in his ceremonial swearing-in.
Ellison used a Koran borrowed from
the Library of Congress that was
owned by that crazy jihadist Thomas
Jefferson.
Links that debunk this myth:
http://www.politifact.org/truth-o-
meter/statements/238/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obam
a/muslim.asp
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-
2008/sliming_obama.html
Myth #4 - Obama won't put his hand
over his heart during the Pledge of
Allegiance and the National Anthem.
This rumor goes along perfectly with
the Muslim myths as it says, "See!
He's not aMurkin!" Apparently this
one started after a picture was taken
at the Tom Harkin Steak Fry in Iowa
back in September right as this group
was about ready to hear the National
Anthem:
It's time to say goodbye to Fidel
Castro. What a journey!
LibertyNewsprint.
From FactCheck.org:
It is true that the U.S. Code states that
"all present except those in uniform
should stand at attention facing the
flag with the right hand over the
heart." But the word "should" rather
than "shall" makes that a
recommendation and not a legal
requirement. To confirm, we spoke
with Anne Garside, director of
communication for the Maryland
Historical Society - home of the
original manuscript of "The Star-
Spangled Banner," and asked if
anyone could be punished for not
placing their hands over their hearts
during the national anthem. She
quickly replied, "Oh, of course not,"
adding that "there is no obligation to
put your hand over your heart."
Pictures and video of Obama holding
his hand over his heart during the
Pledge of Allegiance, The Nation
Anthem, and even leading the Pledge
as a member of the Senate can be
found here, here and here.
Myth #5 - Obama's United Church of
Christ parish is a black-only racist
church.
And if you can't get a soul to believe
the Muslim smears, you can always
revert back to his OTHER church, the
predominately African American
Trinity United Church of Christ.
Again from Fact Check is the email
that I see copied and pasted here alot
with the link. Unfortunately for recent
visitors looking for black on white
death and destruction, you'll now see
the Church's mission statement AND
and kindly while female Reverend
waiting for you there to debunk this
crap right there! You don't even need
the email sent to you to get this - you
can hear it on Hannity & Colmes
nearly every night.
Subject: Obama's church
Obama mentioned his church during
his appearance with Oprah. It's the
Trinity Church of Christ. I found this
interesting.
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Obama's church:
Please read and go to this church's
web site and read what is written
there. It is very alarming.
Barack Obama is a member of this
church and is running for President of
the U.S. If you look at the first page
of their web site, you will learn that
this congregation has a non-
negotiable commitment to Africa. No
where is AMERICA even mentioned.
Notice too, what color you will need
to be if you should want to join
Obama's church..._ B-L-A-C-K!!!_
Doesn't look like his choice of
religion has improved much over his
(former?) Muslim upbringing. Are
you aware that Obama's middle name
is Mohammed? Strip away his nice
looks, the big smile and smooth talk
and what do you get? Certainly a
racist, as plainly defined by the stated
position of his church! And possibly a
covert worshiper of the Muslim faith,
even today. This guy desires to rule
over America while his loyalty is
totally vested in a Black Africa!
I cannot believe this has not been all
over the TV and newspapers. This is
why it is so important to pass this
message along to all of our family &
friends. To think that Obama has
even the slightest chance in the run
for the presidency, is really scary.
Click on the link below:
This is the web page for the church
Barack Obama belongs to:
www.tucc.org/about.htm
It's also been reported widely that
TUCC's magazine Trumpet gave
Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright
Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said
"truly epitomized greatness." It's
covered pretty well here by
Washington Post's Richard Cohen.
Obama's adamant disavowal of the
church magazine's decision here.
Now there are plenty of legitimate
reasons to knock this candidate - his
issues, his substance and his words
recently are more than enough fodder
for anyone. It's a shame in 2008 that
we still see irrational fear and
loathing of people and cultures we
don't understand. We are Americans
and we should be alot better than this.
Stay tuned for our next chapter in The
Worst Thing You Can Say About...
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2 Politics * Business *
Buckley Scion Gets Mad
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 12:24:00 PM
Filed under: Republicans, John
McCain, 2008 President
This piece from Christopher Buckley
deserves some attention, since he is
the son of the William F. Buckley
who founded National Review and
was widely seen as the leader of the
conservative movement for many,
many years.
It may strike some conservatives
today as odd, if not absurd, to see
John McCain being subjected to an
auto-da-fé conducted by such
Torquemadas of the right as Rush
Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean
Hannity. The other day, he even
endured jeers at a conservative
gathering in Washington, by
otherwise well-behaved exemplars of
conservatism. Indeed, turn on the TV
at any hour of the day and you'll find
Mr. McCain being excoriated in
harsher terms than he endured from
his jailers at the Hanoi Hilton -
variously denounced as a) not
conservative, b) really, really not
conservative, or even c) so not-
conservative as to make you wonder
if he isn't just the latest re-issue of the
Manchurian Candidate.
Why would it strike anyone as odd? I
mean, unless you've been under a
Obamomentum: 'W' Tuesday Postgame Analysis
By Tommy Christopher
(Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 10:45:00 PM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama, Breaking News, 2008
PresidentWashington, Wisconsin, and
HaWaii (it's a stretch, I know, but
work with me) all held nominating
contests today, and as David Knowles
noted earlier, Barack Obama carried
Wisconsin by a wide margin, his 9th
victory in a row, and has taken
Hawaii as expected, 76%-24%. John
McCain carried the state by a huge 18
point spread over rival Mike
Huckabee, and more than doubled
Huckabee's vote total in Washington.
The Washington State Democratic
Primary is being described as a
"beauty contest", since the state has
already pledged its delegates based
on the results of a February 9 caucus,
which Obama won by more than
double, 68%-31%. Despite that fact,
Washington is shaping up to be the
lone bright spot for Hillary Clinton.
With record turnout expected, Clinton
has made up incredible ground in the
state, allowing her campaign to point
to the contest as a momentum-stopper
for Barack Obama, and to challenge
Disney's world is starting to look wonderful again
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:25:00 AM
Filed under: Walt Disney (DIS),
Stocks to BuyIn less-than-certain
economic times, it's prudent to add
one or two large-cap demonstrated
business model performers to your
portfolio, and with the
rock for the past eight years, you
would know that McCain has, in that
time, carried on a crusade against
conservatives in the way that only
McCain can. In that crusade, whether
it was immigration or campaign
finance, or torture, there were two
sides. One side was that of truth
justice and light, and that was
McCain, and the other side was full
of evil, corrupt, despicable, vile
people, and those were the
conservatives.
But all that's in the past. Now
McCain is the virtual nominee and if
the conservatives don't like it, they
can suck it... or as Chris put it:
In response, let me offer a thoughtful,
considered, carefully worded
comment: Would you all please
just...shut...up? (I'd insert an
intensifier, but this is a family
newspaper.)
Mr. Buckley then goes on for about
thirty pages and thousands of words
about defending McCain's various
positions, allies, and crusades against
conservatism, all in the name of
finding out whether McCain is
actually a conservative.
In that time he finds space to talk
the validity of his caucus state wins in
the court of public opinion.
On the Republican side, Mike
Huckabee picked up no delegates, as
both contests were "Winner take all."
Huck shows no sign of dropping out,
but at this point, McCain is at least
benefiting from headlines of wide
victories, rather than sitting quietly
with a secured nomination.The
aforementioned in mind, Disney is
worth a review.
Disney (NYSE: DIS) is the world's
second largest media conglomerate.
In general, analysts see adequate
revenue gains on media network
performance (including solid TV
advertising sales), and relatively
Your Click and Print Newspaper
about the various well known faults
of the other candidates, but he offers
not one shred of evidence that
McCain is conservative, only this
final summation:
I'd love to have been inside his brain -
or to have had a mind-reading crawl
run across the bottom of the TV
screen - as he was offering his
emollient words. I'm guessing it was
something along the lines of, "All
right, you blinking, high-maintenance
idjits, if this is what it takes, I'm
willing to do it, but honestly I'd rather
be doing vodka shots with Hillary
Clinton." But then defiance - defiance
of the gleeful kind - is a quality I've
always associated with conservatism.
So his final point is that McCain is
seeking only the mollification of
conservatives, and that's supposed to
be a supportive statement for his
assertion that conservatives should
just shut up?
Yeah, that's not going to be a
persuasive argument. But if Chris's
real goal was to spark a civil war
between the moderates and the
conservatives, this is a great opening
shot.
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headline for Clinton is, "We made up
33 points in Washington." They can
point to the disparity between the
caucus result and the primary result
as an indicator that all of Obama's
caucus wins are less valid as
expressions of the popular will.
Of course, the rest of the world will
be talking about Obamomentum, as
these contests were his 9th and 10th
victories in a row, 11th if you count
heavy traffic at worldwide theme
parks.
Meanwhile, merchandise licensing
revenue should be adequate, as
should film revenue, with difficult
year-to-year film revenue
comparisons expected to lighten
somewhat in F2009. Further, Disney's
balance sheet is among the strongest
Option update:
Volatility levels for tax
preparers HRB, JTX
By Paul Foster
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:15:00 AM
Filed under: H and R Block (HRB),
Options
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) closed at
$18.47 Tuesday.
Soleil Securities has a Buy rating on
HRB.
HRB overall option implied volatility
of 45 is near its 26-week average
according to Track Data, suggesting
non-directional price movement.
Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) closed
Tuesday at $21.65, near a 30-month
low.
Soleil Securities has a Hold rating
with an $18 price target on JTX.
JTX overall option implied volatility
of 59 is above its 26-week average of
43 according to Track Data,
suggesting larger price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock
Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.com
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Washington. In exit polls, 54% of
voters found that Clinton had been
more unfair to Obama in
campaigning, compared with 34% for
Obama, indicating that it will be
increasingly difficult for Clinton to
benefit from negative campaigning.
Another symbolically bad moment
for Clinton occurred when, during her
speech, MSNBC and other outlets cut
away to Barack Obama's victory
speech. There seems to be no way
Clinton will drop out before Texas,
but the writing appears to be on the
wall.
The highlight of the coverage was
this clip, of Chris Matthews
embarassing an Obama backer. It's
the kind of clip that gets forwarded
around in emails, and fair or not, it
does play neatly into the popular line
of attack against Obama.
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in the sector. The Reuters
F2008/F2009 EPS consensus
estimates for DIS are $2.23/$2.39.
Continue reading Disney's world is
starting to look wonderful
againPermalink | Email this |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Al Gore?
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 11:55:00 PM
Filed under: Republicans, 2008
President, Michael Bloomberg
John Derbyshire at NRO puts
together a fascinating and fun
scenario, and a way out for
Democrats if the frontrunner stumbles
before the convention:
I assume that the folk at the DNC,
who are not fools, have thought
things through to this point. What
comes next?
What do you think? I've been telling
you for months, but you just won't
listen. I told you right here back in
May last year.
Some weeks before that I had told
attendees at a private lecture the same
thing. The organizers of that event
had asked me to give a talk on the
2008 field of candidates, which was
at that point very large. At the end of
my talk, they said, I should offer my
opinion as to who would actually be
the next president. Preparing my talk,
Speech! Speech!
Speech!
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:39:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton,
Democrats, Republicans, John
McCain, Featured StoriesIf there was
any drama in last night's blowout
wins by Barack Obama and John
McCain, it waited until after the
victors had been decided. Of course, I
speak of the speeches each candidate
offered the nation.
The biggest story of the night was the
punch/counter-punch that ensued
between Hillary Clinton and Obama.
Ever gracious in defeat, Clinton,
speaking in Youngstown, Ohio, again
declined to congratulate Obama on
his wins, and, with the aide of a
teleprompter, proceeded to use her
media spotlight to launch into a "new
and improved" attack on her rival.
Having heard enough, Obama took to
the podium midway through Clinton's
bruising oratory, causing her image to
disappear from television screens
I mulled over the matter carefully. At
the very end of the lecture, after 40
minutes of surveying the entire field,
both parties, I said "Ladies and
gentlemen, the next President of the
United States," pressed the key (it
was a PowerPoint presentation), and
up on the screen came Al Gore. There
was a chorus of boos and jeers - it
was a conservative crowd. Derb:
"Look, this is not my guy. I'm anti-
Gore, and have a paper trail to prove
it (see here, here, and here). But as an
analyst, it's my job dispassioantely to
weigh the probabilities. I weighed
them. This is what they told me."
It's not impossible, but it's close.
The major obstacles are two by
number:
1. The Democrats feel they already
have their knight in shining, and his
name is Barack Obama.
2. Hillary has to remain close in the
delegate count, which hinges on her
winning many of the remaining
primaries, and that's looking tougher
and tougher by the day.
Also there's an assumption here
predicated that McCain's resume
faster than a 20-plus-point-lead in
Texas. So which candidate was more
rude? The future of America depends
on the answer.
John McCain's speech was marked,
yet again, by the relatively small
room in which he delivered it. That
metaphor was punctuated by country-
club crowd interrupting McCain's
remarks with chants of "U-S-A! U-S-
A!" The speech itself took aim at
Barack Obama. McCain seems to
realize who he's more likely to face in
the general election. Essentially,
however, his attacks on Obama are
identical to the ones Clinton has been
making. Given how well those seem
to be going over with the voters, he
may want to consider a "new and
improved" speech of his own.
H/T Talking Points Memo.
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Politics * Business *
alone makes him a stronger candidate
than either. I think that assumption is
a false one. One can either win the
presidency by putting together a
coalition of your base plus a majority
of the swing voters, or by boosting
turnout to extraordinary levels among
your base. This latter part is the Bush
method in 2004 and it worked
spectacularly.
John McCain is not going to be able
to go for the spectacular turnout
method, as the base may vote for him,
but only grudgingly. and he is not
going to be able to outdo the Oprah
candidate (if Obama is the nominee)
for the swing voters. And even then,
of all the candidates, only Barack has
the capability of boosting turnout, but
among Democrats. See obstacle #1.
The stronger resume thesis does not
hold. And the conservative
establishment continues to whistle
past the graveyard.
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Obama Outpolling McCain in
Swing States
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 11:22:00 PM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack
Obama, 2008 President, Polls
These sorts of polls are absolutely
meaningless in any predictive sense,
but they are very important
nonetheless. Hillary's been
campaigning that she is the best
candidate to beat the Republican, but
now the Republicans have had the
bad form to elect the one candidate
that is a perfect matchup for Obama.
And these polls from SUSA show it
(link to Jeff at Ohio Daily):Iowa
McCain 41%
Obama 51%
McCain 52%
Clinton 41%
Virginia
'Night Shift' Clinton
By Greg McNeilly (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:47:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Ads,
2008 PresidentHillary Clinton is
airing a new :30 second spot in Ohio
titled "Night Shift."
The script reads:
Announcer: "You pour coffee, fix
hair, you work the night shift at the
local hospital. You're often
overworked, underpaid, and
sometimes overlooked. But not by
everyone. One candidate has put forth
an American family agenda to make
things easier for everyone who works
so hard. Universal health care.
3
Option update:
Intuit volatility flat
into EPS, tax season
By Paul Foster
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:20:00 AM
Filed under: Intuit Inc (INTU),
Options, Politics
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) is
scheduled to report Q2 EPS on
February 21. Soleil Securities says:
"We continue to see double-digit core
-business growth, with expanding
margins."
INTU closed at $30.23 Tuesday.
INTU March option implied volatility
of 34 is near its 26-week average
according to Track Data, suggesting
non-directional price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock
Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.com.Permalink |
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McCain 45%
Obama 51%
McCain 48%
Clinton 45%
Wisconsin
McCain 42%
Obama 52%
McCain 49%
Clinton 42%
Survey USA is always a bit sketchy
in my mind, as they do robopolling,
but the propaganda effect of this on
the remaining primaries will be very
bad for Hillary. Obama has increasing
evidence that he is the best candidate
on the electability front, which leaves
Hillary with no winning message
whatsoever.
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Increased daycare. And help with
elder health care. She understands.
She's worked the night shift, too."
Clinton: "I'm Hillary Clinton and I
approved this message."
Clearly channeling the John Edwards
populism, Clinton is hoping to steer
her campaign off the iceberg in Ohio
and elsewhere. The math is becoming
more difficult. At this point, the
election is no longer about her, her
record, or her vision. There has been
such a large momentum shift that a
change of fate is only possible if she
can pop the Obama bubble. A
doubtful scnario (and legacy-wise
risky).
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4 Politics * Business * Social Net *
SCOTUS Scuttles
ACLU's Wiretapping
Case
By Justin Paulette (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:16:00 AM
Filed under: Bush Administration,
Breaking News, Terror, Supreme
Court
ACLU v. NSA has just been dropped
from the Supreme Court's docket, in
effect granting a victory to the Bush
administration. The ACLU had
argued the illegality of the executive's
warrantless wiretapping program, the
secret program revealed to the world
within the pages of The New York
Times. (I've written on the program
here and here.)
The decision was resolved on the
procedural matter of "standing." The
ACLU sued on behalf of itself,
lawyers, reporters and scholars. None
of the plaintiffs could show that they
had been harmed by (or even
subjected to) the program, Hence,
they lacked standing to sue.
Rails and trucks: A look at two
Buffett stocks
By Steven Halpern
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:38:00 AM
Filed under: Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A), Newsletters, Commodities,
Oil, Agriculture, Stocks to Buy,
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI)
With Warren Buffett in the news
recently, it is timely to look at a
recent report from Paul Tracy,
highlighting some of the best-
positioned stocks currently held by
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)
-- Burlington Northern Santa Fe
(NYSE: BNI) and WABCO Holdings
(NYSE: WBC).
Here, the editor of StreetAuthority
Market Advisor explains, "Buffett
The ACLU calls this a Catch-22: The
government classified the identities of
persons monitored by the program,
but only those unknown persons have
standing to sue. Of course, the
converse logic shows that, in the
years of the programs' existence, no
one has been harmed by its existence
- except some disgruntled (would-be)
terrorists. But those ACLU clients are
another matter....
The ACLU lamented, "It's very
disturbing that the president's actions
will go unremarked upon by the
court. In our view, it shouldn't be left
to executive branch officials alone to
determine the limits." No doubt, they
believe private groups with a
penchant for undermining national
security should be entrusted with
adjudging the merits of secret anti-
terror programs.
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looks for such factors as intrinsic
value, low debt, managerial expertise,
a margin of safety and an 'economic
moats' that offers some sort of
sustainable competitive advantage."
Here's a pair of transportation stocks
that fit the bill.
"While many investors fret over the
current volatility in the stock market,
Warren Buffett is likely busy looking
for value. Historically, in volatile up
and down markets, Buffett has found
even more opportunities than in
raging bull markets."
"Burlington Northern Santa Fe is the
second-largest railroad in the U.S.
Berkshire holds an 18.2% stake in
BNI, recently boosting that stake by
purchasing 11 million shares to bring
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Obama's Streak Continues
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 2:06:00 PM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack
Obama
The momentum continues. Wisconsin
was the 9th consecutive win. Hawaii
made it 10. Texas is looking
precarious for Clinton. After last
night, it got that much more so. The
big headline? Exit polls show that for
voters who made up their minds in
the past month went 63% to Obama
Forget Notepad: 8
Online Text Editors
By Sean P. Aune (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 4:16:18 AM
Yes, most of us are used to using
Notepad for text editing, but if you
want to take your text online, you can
find more robust and full featured (or
even simpler) editors. We’ve
gathered up eight that will let you
code web pages, type in other
languages, and even create PDFs.
(more…)
ShareThis
its total ownership to more than 63
million shares. Buffett has made no
secret of his desire to purchase more
of the stock.
"The key to discerning competitive
advantages between the major
railroad firms lies in the strategic
location
of their networks. Specifically, BNI
has the largest network of track in a
region of the western U.S.
known as the Powder River Basin,
which is home to America's largest
reserves of coal.
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and 37% for Clinton. Maybe she
should have paid more attention to all
those "insignificant" states.
There's no way to spin this pretty for
Clinton. She lost in a state where she
should have been competitive--and by
17%. Just another blowout. What's
her excuse this time?
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MySpace
hears the
music
By Douglas McIntyre
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:22:00 AM
Filed under: Launches, Industry,
Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart
(WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN),
News Corp'B' (NWS)
Everyone else is in the music
download business so why not add
News Corp (NYSE: NWS)'s
MySpace. The big social network is
in talks with the major record labels
including Universal Music and Sony
BMG. The service would offer the
downloads for free and the service
would be supported by advertising.
According to the FT, the deal would
put MySpace in a similar position to
companies like Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:
WMT) that are trying to challenge
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iTunes.
While MySpace has over 100 million
registered users, it is hard to see why
the project will have much success.
The social network is not a music
download destination per se, and it is
uncertain the visitors will want to use
the site for a service that they are
probably getting from Apple, or as
they probably rip their own DVDs.
The launch is another sign that social
networks do not have a model for
making big money. The last News
Corp estimates showed that MySpace
revenue was under $700 million last
year -- modest given its size.
Getting MySpace users to move to
any new service may be like herding
cats.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at
247wallst.com. Read | Permalink |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper Business * 5

Wal-Mart's strong Analyst initiations: Chesapeake,

international growth a
sign of things to come
By Brian White
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:48:00 AM
Filed under: Products and services,
Competitive strategy, Wal-Mart
(WMT)When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
(NYSE: WMT) reported it had
achieved its first $100 billion quarter
in the company's history Tuesday, it
was probably a time to celebrate at its
Bentonville headquarters. But even a
$100 billion quarter doesn't make for
good feelings sometimes, as much of
that growth came from the company's
international division. Yes, that's the
one I've lamented over frequently in
the past. This time, it was shining
brightly.
Wal-Mart's Q4 sales came in showing
a 19% international growth rate that
pushed those sales to $27 billion for
the just completed quarter. At the
same time, the retailer's U.S. sales
rose only 5%. Is international
becoming the company's growth
engine like it has frequently wanted
Staples offers to buy
to happen? This quarter proved it --
yes, it has. Wal-Mart's Asda grocery
chain in the UK even showed same-
store sales growth in the "mid-single
digits" for all of 2007. Wal-Mart
indicated that its Asda operation was
the fastest growing food retailer in
Europe, ahead of competitors Tesco
and Sainsbury.
Is "Everyday Low Prices" winning
over customer groups outside the
U.S. now? That was the reason given
behind Asda's growth, as customers
seeking out the lowest prices more
frequently shopped at Asda. Is this
the beginning of the "Wal-
Martization" of all its global markets?
Commodity and energy prices aren't
doing anything to help, but it's too
early to make that call. Give four
quarters of outstanding international
growth, and finally, Wal-Mart
investors may have something to
cheer about.Read | Permalink | Email
this | Comments
Brookfield Asset Management,
Nile Therapeutics
By Eric Buscemi
(BloggingStocks)
compound, CD-NP, a chimeric
natriuretic peptide with potential
efficacy and safety enhancements that
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:50:00 AM
could permit broad use in acute heart
Filed under: Analyst initiationsMOST failure setting. The firm started shares
NOTEWORTHY: Chesapeake, of Nile with a Market Outperform
Brookfield Asset Management and rating and $7 target.
Nile Therapeutics were today's
noteworthy initiations: OTHER INITIATIONS:
• Jefferies initiated Chesapeake • Baird initiated Concur Tech
Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) with a (NASDAQ: CNQR) with a Neutral
Buy rating and $54 target and thinks rating.
the company can post group-leading • RBC Capital initiated General
organic growth in production and Moly (AMEX: GMO) with a Sector
reserves over the next several years. Perform rating and $11 target.
• Thomas Weisel assumed • Wachovia (NYSE: WB) was
Brookfield Asset Management reinstated at Goldman with a Neutral
(NYSE: BAM) with a Market Weight rating.
rating citing slowing cash flow
growth. Permalink | Email this | Comments
• Rodman & Renshaw is positive on
Nile Therapeutics' (OTC: NILT) lead
A Microsoft proxy battle
for Yahoo? Yeah, Right
By Jonathan Berr
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:35:00 AM

Filed under: Deals, Microsoft

Corporate Express; offer (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Marketing

rebuffed
By Brian White
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:10:00 AM
Filed under: Competitive strategy,
Staples Inc (SPLS)Staples, Inc.
(NASDAQ: SPLS) wants to buy the
largest global supplier of office
supplies to enhance its most
profitable division. That company,
Corporate Express, doesn't seem
interested in Staples' offer, calling the
U.S. retailer's $3.6 billion unsolicited
offer inadequate and "significantly
undervalues the company."
Corporate Express, based in
Amsterdam, saw its shares trading
above Staples' offer price once the bid
was announced, signaling that
investors expect a much larger offer
price for the office supply company.
Although Staples knows all too well
that U.S. regulators would probably
not approve the acquisition of a U.S.-
based retailer (its attempt to buy
Office Depot in 1997 failed),
Corporate Express is a smart move.
The company does half its business in
the U.S. already, and acquiring it
would give Staples a much-improved
delivery business in the U.S.
Sanford & Bernstein analyst Colin
McGranahan said "the potential
synergies could make this very
accretive" to earnings. McGranahan
then indicated that Staples'
management team is conservative and
smart, and that a higher office price
could make things more difficult.
Reading between the lines, then,
Staples may not up its offer even
though it's been rebuffed by
Corporate Express.Read | Permalink |
Email this | Comments
and advertisingMicrosoft Corp.
(NASDAQ: MSFT) will start a proxy
fight for Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:
YHOO) "unless Yahoo reverses
course and enters into talks' regarding
its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer,"
Microsoft is even considering a proxy
according to The New York Times' fight is because Yahoo does not have
DealBook blog. I'll believe it when I a staggered board, meaning all of its
see it. directors are up for renomination this
year.
First of all, proxy battles are a
gigantic pain in the butt. The bigger Investors need to remember that the
the deal, the larger the hassles. There media loves to hype potential battles
are lawyers, proxy solicitation firms like proxy battles even if the chances
and deal PR firms to pay. M&A of them actually happen are quite
reporters at the major media outlets remote.
have to be wooed. It takes forever.
Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits
Yahoo's board probably won't meet the blog Ketchup and Eggs.Read |
until June. Plenty of things can Permalink | Email this | Comments
happen between now and then.
Probably, the only reason why

Airbus foresees sharp drop in orders

By Douglas McIntyre
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Industry,
Boeing Co (BA)
Airbus believes that new orders for its
planes will drop by half to about 700
in 2008. The company's backlog of
planes that it has to build and deliver
sits at 3,600 according toThe New
York Times.
The introduction of new products
helped Airbus and Boeing (NYSE:
BA) to a year of record orders in
2007, but that has taken up most of
the demand for commercial aircraft
which will be delivered over the next
few years.
The slowdown in orders is not likely
to harm earnings at either company
soon because heavy delivery
schedules will keep revenue flowing.
It does raise the question of whether
the industry will hit a slump near the
end of the decade when current orders
have been filled.
If the market senses that the aircraft
business will not be as robust over
time as it is now, it will probably
pressure Boeing's shares which have
already fallen from 52-week high of
almost $108 to just above $85.
Investors who plan to hold Boeing
long-term may want to reconsider.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at
247wallst.com. Read | Permalink |
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6 Tech Gadgets * Technology * Your Click and Print Newspaper

So it begins: Toshiba's HD-A3

falls to $99 at Circuit City, comes
with 7 free HD DVDs
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:26:00 AM
Filed under: HDTV, Home
Entertainment
It's not like there has been any
shortage of deals on HD DVD
hardware over the past few months or
anything, but now that Toshiba (and
almost everyone else on the planet)
has officially yanked support for the
format, prices are beginning to
plummet en masse. First on the
docket is the HD-A3 at Circuit City,
which now sits at just $99.99 and
comes with seven free titles, two of
which are 300 and Bourne Identity.
So yeah, if you've been waiting for
this moment to snap up the failed
format for cheap, hop on in -- but if
we were betting souls, we'd say
holding out just a wee bit longer
would actually be in your wallet's
best interest.
[Thanks, Dustin]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments

Sharper Image can't move

enough air purifiers to avoid
bankruptcy
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:58:00 AM
Filed under: Household
We can't say the writing was exactly
on the wall or anything, but when
Sharper Image attempted to sell self-
branded cellphones and got dinged
for pushing grossly overpriced air
purifiers that actually made things
worse -- well, you could tell things
weren't all peaches and cream.
Regardless, the company made
famous for selling trinkets and
massage chairs in malls everywhere
has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Lessig May Run
after "declining sales and three
straight years of losses led to a
shortage of liquidity." Comically
enough, the retailer actually went so
far as to "partly blame" the negative
publicity surrounding the
aforementioned Ionic Breeze air
purifiers for its falling revenues, and
court papers also show that it's
currently seeking a $60 million loan
to keep operating. Oh, how the
mighty mediocre have fallen.
[Thanks, Steve] MyRacer MF101 handheld does
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
gaming first, media second
By Darren Murph (Engadget) resolution display gives away its true
calling. Reportedly, it sports a Flash-
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:27:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:44:49 AM
Erick reported February 15 that a
Facebook group was trying to draft
Stanford Law professor and free
culture champion Lawrence Lessig to
run for Congress. It took 5 days but
they may get their way with Lessig
announcing Lessig ‘08, a site that will
host an introduction to his “Change
Congress Movement,” (video above)
as well as his yet to be announced
decision as to whether he’ll run or
not.
Writes Lessig
I have decided I want to give as much
energy as I can to the Change
Congress movement. I will decide in
the next week or so whether it makes
sense to advance that movement by
running for Congress.
Many friends have weighed in on that
decision — both strongly in favor and
strongly opposed. Many more have
joined draftlessig.org and a Facebook
group asking me to consider it.
The first candidate to run based on
support via Facebook? Maybe not
completely, but it’s a headline I’m
sure others may use if and when he
decides to run.
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and
Applications, Delivered Daily.
First things first -- Americans can
keep dreaming on this one, as we're
looking at yet another curious
creation that probably won't wander
far beyond the borders of South
Korea. MyRacer's MF101 handheld
can certainly play nice with a few
audio / video formats -- AVI, MP3,
WMA, WAV, JPEG and BMP, for
starters -- but the control pad flanking
each side of the 2.4-inch 320 x 240
based interface that enables users to
sort through titles on their SD card or
the 1GB of internal memory, but
details are fuzzy on what games it'll
actually play. Still, doesn't seem like
a half bad investment for 99,000
($104) if you're in the area.
[Via Technabob]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper Tech Gadgets * 7

Windows XP SP3 RC2 publicly

available. That's three times the
SP!
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:53:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops, LaptopsLook,

Post-format war, which Blu-ray
player will you snag?
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:00:00 AM
Filed under: HDTV, Home
Entertainment
After what seems like ages, the
deadlock between HD DVD and Blu-
ray has finally been broken, and as
you undoubtedly know, high-
definition film lovers everywhere are
now scrambling to figure out which
BD player would suit them best.
'Course, the easy answer is Sony's
Profile 2.0-capable PlayStation 3, but
we sense the Vista hate out there, but
frankly we think it's your own dang
business what OS you choose to run.
If Vista SP1 is rocking your world
right now, we say more power to you,
if XP is more your pace then you're
certainly not alone, and if you're still
trying to install Firefox on Haiku we version of SP3 from your machine,
feel your pain. That said, XP users but it should be smooth sailing from
are getting a bit of love this week, there. How do you like them apples,
since Microsoft just made Service Vista SP1?
Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 publicly
available via Windows Update. You Read | Permalink | Email this |
have to download a little registry key Comments
to help Windows Update know you're
RC2 fodder, and remove any previous
if you've got a higher-end home
theater, things aren't necessarily that
simple -- there are some pretty big
audio codec issues to keep in mind.
Either way, now that it's safe to
commit to one format, why not check
out what everybody else is doing and
toss in your own vote at Engadget
HD's poll?
[Image courtesy of AV Revolution]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
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Sony selling Cell chip facilities

to Toshiba for $835 million
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:46:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming, Home

EntertainmentWe're pretty sure
there's a load of irony here
somewhere, but we just can't put our
finger on it. Sony is selling its chip
manufacturing facilities -- including
ones that build the Cell and RSX
chips that go into the PS3 -- to
Toshiba, and the $835 million deal
goes down April 1. (No, this is not
some April fool's joke, just really
awkward timing.) Toshiba's also in a
$16 billion partnership with SanDisk
to produce flash memory, so it's
looking like with the inclusion of
Sony's chip capacity we're looking at
quite the chip giant. We had wind of
this Sony deal last year, but it looks
like things finally got official just as
all this "HD DVD losing the format
war" stuff went down. No hard
feelings, right Toshiba?
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
Creative working on a "Zen Share"
WiFi music player?
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:05:00 AM
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable
Video, Wireless
Rumors of a brand new Creative
music player looking exactly like this
are unconfirmed at the moment, but
we do have a pretty solid lead on the
name: Zen Share. That word comes
from the mouth of epiZENter.net, and
why would a self-termed Creative
fansite lie about something like this?
Apparently the player does WiFi
sharing, but that's all we've got to go
on at the moment, so let your
imagination run wild. Zen to Zune to
iPod wireless sharing? In a world of
magic, anything is possible.
[Image courtesy of Bent Post]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
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HP's new UMPC 2133 hotness to run VIA, not Penryn?

By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:19:00 AM
Filed under: Laptops
If that new HP Compaq 2133 is
hitting your ultraportable sweet spot,
there's more news on that front to
Palm Centro for AT&T unboxing and hands-on at Engadget Mobile
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:07:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Features
If you've been feeling like you don't
drool over. UMPC Portal has word
from a supposed industry insider that
the computer is not running an Intel
chip as previously suggested, but
instead will rock the range of VIA
processors. That means the computer
could fight it out with Eee PC in the
low-end with a C7 processor, or
have enough Palm in your diet,
maybe it's time to look into the
Centro for AT&T. Not sure? Then
perhaps our handy unboxing and
hands-on could help cement your
decision. Head on over to Engadget
adopt one of those upcoming Isaiah
Mobile where it's all going down, big
chips and duke it out with Penryn
ultraportables. If this is true it'd be a
big win for VIA, and consumers
might just get some budget-friendly
excitement out of the deal as well.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
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time.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
8 Tech Gadgets * Technology *
Two years of battle between HD
DVD and Blu-ray: a retrospective
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:48:00 AM
Filed under: HDTV, Home
Entertainment
It's been a long, hard journey to get to
this point, but at long last, the format
war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is
over. Sure, we've got a somewhat
clearer view of how things will pan
out going forward, but we figured it
Peter Lynch Wants to Give You $1
Million
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 9:00:34 PM
What is legendary investor Peter
Lynch doing involved with a
sweepstakes Website that guarantees
giving out $1 million a week, and
offers jackpots as large as $100
million or more? Lynch is an investor
in Jackpot Rewards, a site that mixes
retail discounts, giveaways, and
charity. The company has raised a
$16.7 million series A financing from
Lynch and other Boston-area captains
of finance, including Chuck Clough
(the former chief global investment
strategist of Merrill Lynch),
advertising man Jack Connors, and
DST Systems CEO Tom McDonnell.
“The company grew out of a strategic
planning mission for charity,” says
CEO Jim Miller. It is a for-profit
company that will give 50 percent of
its profits to education and children’s
health charities.
The site launches today. You sign up
and get up to 10 percent cash back for
purchases at 550 retailers, including
Apple, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy,
Land’s End and Target. The company
makes money by driving sales to the
retailers. It gets a commission for
each sale. But instead of pocketing
the commission, it passes on the
savings to its members. This may
prudent to take a step back and really
scope out how we got to this point. If
you're interested in taking a walk
through the past two years of
headbutting without, you know,
actually sifting through headlines
from the past two years, head on over
to Engadget HD and dig in.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
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sound like iWon redux, but it is really
quite different. Jackpot Rewards is
not ad-supported. To participate,
members need to subscribe and pay
$3 a week. That’s right. You’ve got
to pay to play.
Is Peter Lynch crazy? Nobody
subscribes to anything on the Web
(except the WSJ and Consumer
Reports). That is where the $1 million
jackpot comes in. While you would
have to spend $30 a week ($120 a
month) online to break even on the
rewards program, there are plenty of
people who spend more than $3 a
week on lottery tickets. This lottery
ticket actually comes with fringe
benefits like retail discounts and the
knowledge that half your money is
going to charity. When I spoke to
Miller, he seemed sincere enough:
What goes on typically in
sweepstakes is that if it is a huge
prize, it is an illusory prize where
nobody will win it. Even most million
-dollar offers are rarely won. We are
building in large jackpots we will
give away in rapid succession—one
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Blist Secures
$6.5M for Cloud
Database Software
By Mark Hendrickson
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 5:00:41 AM
Blist, a browser-based database
management application, has raised
$6.5M in Series A from Frazier
Technology Ventures and
Morgenthaler Ventures.
The company launched in private
beta at DEMO this year, although we
first covered them this past
November.
In addition to this funding
announcement, Blist is also rolling
out data importing, sharing, and
charting features. The new charting
capabilities can be seen in the picture
to the right.CrunchBase
InformationBlistInformation provided
by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
million dollars a week.
Those are guaranteed, he says, every
week. But there is also a bigger
jackpot that keeps growing and has
very miniscule odds (1 in 847
million). But when it hits $150
million, the company guarantees
giving that away as well. It is all
based on how many subscribers it can
attract. Since the jackpots are paid out
as a 40-year annuity (or a much
smaller up-front cash payment of
about $420,000 for each $1 million),
the cash outlays could become
manageable. Miller figures he needs
only 150,000 subscribers ($23.4
million a year in subscription fees) to
do okay. At 300,000 subscribers
($46.8 million), the business becomes
a nice cash machine. And at 1 million
subscribers ($156 million), it really
takes off.Is Peter Lynch Going to Hit
the Jackpot With This Idea?
• No, Put This in the Deadpool
• Yes, That Guy Is a Financial
Genius
View ResultsCrunchBase
I n f o r m a t i o n J a c k P o t
RewardsInformation provided by
CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and
Applications, Delivered Daily.
VideoEgg: Rich
Media Ads, Pay Only
When Users Engage
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:01:21 AM
Videoegg, the one-time video startup
that sort of competed with YouTube
and sort of competed with
BrightCove (very different
companies), has basically transitioned
itself into a very robust rich media
advertising network. In August 2007
they started selling ad units for
Facebook applications. Since then
they’ve expanded to include
advertising for many other sites,
including Meebo, Flixster and others.
Today at an event in New York
they’ll announce a business model
change, moving away from charging
advertisers a cost per thousand
impressions (CPM) for their display
ads to a new model where advertisers
pay only when a users has engaged
with the ad. The new product is called
AdFrame Brand Response Network -
quite a mouthful.
Engagement is defined as clicking on
the ad, or hovering over it for a
second or two. Once that happens, a
new Flash overlay pops up over the
content on the page and shows a
video, Flash game and other content.
Once the Flash overlay is triggered,
the advertiser pays a fee of $.50 - $1.
VideoEgg CMO Troy Young says its
a much better deal for advertisers,
since they pay only when they have a
verifiable action by a customer. And
publishers, while they don’t get a
guaranteed fee per impression, may
make more money anyway.
VideoEgg says they were able to
charge $10 or so CPMs for their ads
previously. The new ads, which have
engagement rates of .5% - 9%,
generate comparable CPMs of $2.5 to
way above $10. Plus, Young says,
advertisers are much more
comfortable buying more inventory
under this new model, so there is
much less unsold advertising. That
last sentence is key to publishers,
who care about revenue per page
view on average, not just small ad
buys at high CPMs.
Microsoft has signed up for the new
product as an advertiser, and will use
it to distribute videos promoting
Microsoft Office (an example ad unit
is here). There are also a number of
examples on the product home page.
VideoEgg is serious about this
business - they’ve got 25 full time
sales people out there selling ads for
publishers in the network. The
company has raised a total of nearly
$34 million over four rounds of
financing.CrunchBase
InformationVideoEggInformation
provided by CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you
to find a new Job2.0
Your Click and Print Newspaper
SGN Starts to Look Like a “Real Company.”
Adds Jetman To Its Gaming Platform, About to
Raise $10 Million
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 4:45:38 PM
It was only last week that the Social
Gaming Network (SGN) and Zynga
announced their respective developer
platforms for games on Facebook and
other social networks. I said the game
is on between these two companies to
win the hearts and minds of social
gaming developers. The folks at
Zynga took exception to this
characterization. If you put all of its
games together, Zynga is the 10th
largest app company on Facebook as
measured by number of installs. SGN
is No. 51.
Venture capitalist and Zynga investor
Fred Wilson accused me of not doing
my homework in a post that set off a
minor debate over the holiday
weekend. After I commented on his
post that the jury is still out on which
of these young companies will
succeed, Wilson responded:
Its not even debateable who is a real
company and who is not.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus also clearly
feels that the comparison is not
warranted. He told me of SGN:
It is just a thorn in my side. It is some
bad ex-girlfriend who will not leave
me alone. I think we are very clearly
the leader in the space.
That thorn is about to get pricklier.
Sources outside of SGN confirm that
the company is about to raise as much
as $10 million in a venture round.
Multiple term sheets are on the table.
None have yet been signed as the
company studies its options. Says one
competing VC who has done his due
Yahoo Search Wants to Be More
Like Google, Embraces Hadoop
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 8:59:42 AM
Yahoo is following in Google’s
footsteps again in search. Today, it is
shifting a crucial part of its search
engine to Hadoop, software that
handles large-scale distributed
computing tasks particularly well.
Hadoop is an open-source
implementation of Google’s
MapReduce software and file system.
It takes all the links on the Web found
by a search engine’s crawlers and
“reduces” them to a map of the Web
so that ranking algorithms can be run
against them.
Yahoo is replacing its own software
with Hadoop and running it on a
Linux server cluster with 10,000 core
processors. The Hadoop software
does the same job 34 percent faster
than the old software. Yahoo is also
providing some other interesting stats
that gives us a view into the
computing infrastructure behind its
diligence and is eager to lead SGN’s
round:
When all is said and done they will
have as big a network as Zynga. Fred
Wilson doesn’t understand what is
going on.
Sounds like a debate to me.
If size is the determinant of a “real
company” (which I don’t think it is),
then SGN’s platform is already a
whole lot bigger than just a week ago.
In less than a week it has signed 10
Facebook games to its budding social
gaming hub, including Jetman—one
of the most popular games on
Facebook—Pirates, and The Dot
Game. It has also signed Free Gifts, a
virtual gift-giving application on
Facebook that includes the other
seven of the ten games.
All told, the new apps will triple
SGN’s daily active users from
200,000 to more than 600,000 on
Facebook alone, bringing it
substantially closer to Zynga’s
900,000. And in terms of the number
of installs, the SGN network is
getting much closer to Zynga’s 11.8
million (18.4 million including
recently acquired CLZ Concepts and
four other Zynga games not reflected
in the stats), depending on how you
count. Jetman alone has 3.8 million
installs and 200,000 daily active
users, SGN currently has 3.3 million
installs, and Free Gifts has 10 million
installs—but that is mostly for its gift
giving app, which other gaming
developers on the SGN gaming hub
will be able to incorporate into their
games.
Responding to Pincus’ quip, SGN
CEO Shervin Pishevar says: “We are
search engine:
Some Webmap size data:
* Number of links between pages in
the index: roughly 1 trillion links
* Size of output: over 300 TB,
compressed!
* Number of cores used to run a
single Map-Reduce job: over 10,000
* Raw disk used in the production
cluster: over 5 Petabytes
Compare this to some data from
Google on its MapReduce computing
infrastructure (it is not quite apples to
apples, but Google was processing 20
petabytes a day back in September,
2007 and outputting 14,000 terabytes
in compressed data per month):
like an old girlfriend that got
famous.” Noting that many of
Zynga’s games are copycat versions
of other games (Zynga’s Diveman is
very similar to Jetman, for instance),
he adds:
If you want to be a developer
platform, you probably shouldn’t be
copying developers’ games. If you
want to compete with them, fine. That
is why they are joining us.
So is it game over? Hardly. The
games have just begun. But is SGN a
real business? It is as real as any
business built on Facebook.
Update: In an e-mail Pincus responds:
Wow erick.
A) you give them credit for traffic
they don’t even own
And
B) you won’t give us credit for traffic
(clz apps) we do actually own.
Do you even care how hypocritical
sherwin is to accuse me of copycat
games when he copied free gifts on
bebo and risk on fb? Getting the
irony? He is partnering with an app
he literally copied in december while
accusing me of this?
Erick, with all due respect I’m
wondering if you work for sgn now?
I’ve updated the post to include the
Hadoop is a project of the Apache
Software Foundation. It also works
for large-scale computing problems
beyond search. For instance, IBM is
using Hadoop as a foundation for its
cloud computing initiative.
Competing with Google using open-
source software where it can is a
smart move on Yahoo’s part,
especially when that software
outperforms its own.CrunchBase
InformationHadoopInformation
provided by CrunchBase
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Technology * 9
CLZ numbers, which are still counted
separately by Adonomics, the data
source I linked to. As for who owns
what traffic, Pincus is right to point
out that games Zynga owns and
operates are probably worth more
than games simply affiliated to any
particular gaming network. But
SGN’s deal with Jetman and Free
Gifts is as tight as it gets without
buying them outright. SGN will be
hosting their apps, and Jetman’s
developer will be creating more
games for the SGN network. The
battle here is over who will build the
most powerful network and attract
other developers, not who will buy up
the most traffic.
Update 2: CLZ actually has 11.5
million installs, instead of the 5.3
million that Adonomics reports (it
only counts 2 of CLZ’s 18 apps). But
not all otehse are games (You’re
Naughty, You’re a Hottie). I am
beginning to really question how
reliable Adonomics is. The SGN
numbers are probably off as well.
Also, all of these numbers come from
Facebook, which currently has a bug
with how it reports total installs.
Daily active users is the better metric
to use. Zynga has over one million
daily active users, about double
SGN’s (including Jetman and Free
Gifts). Dead installs (i.e. inactive
users) are only good for spamming.
CrunchBase InformationSocial
Gaming NetworkZyngaInformation
provided by CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and
Applications, Delivered Daily.
Introducing The Most
Advanced News Site
On The Planet
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 8:27:22 PM
Well, another news aggregator
launched today. This one is called
Newspond, and while they didn’t set
a record for baseless hyperbole, they
come close.
The site, like TechMeme and Digg,
tries to determine breaking and
important news - but it is a little
different than both. Digg uses user
voting to determine headlines.
Techmeme uses linking behavior of
blogs and other news sites. Both are,
arguably, fairly transparent, and you
can see the number of user votes or
inbound links, respectively to a
headline. Newspond, by contrast, has
a black box algorithm that looks at
number of factors and comes up with
an overall score called a Buoyancy
INTRODUCING page 10
10 Technology * Social Net *
INTRODUCING
continued from page 9
Rating. The higher the rating, the
higher the headline.
So their approach is fine, although I
argue that it’s filling a need that
doesn’t exist. There’s just little to
drive people to the site day after day.
The user interaction on Digg, both
from submitting and voting on stories
(and getting all your friends to vote
on stories) drives significant viral
growth. TechMeme doesn’t have that,
and has orders of magnitude less
traffic. Newspond doesn’t have it
either. And it’s unlikely to replace
TechMeme as the blogger’s news site
of choice.
But they just make ridiculous
statements on the website that I can’t
ignore. The home page says
Newspond is “The most advanced
news site on the planet.” The about
page has a huge yellow ball thingy
and the same words in 40 point type.
It also calls itself “the ultimate hub
for the latest news.”
What’s the technology behind this
stunning new startup? Well, within
“the heart of Newspond lies a tireless
electronic brain” with “highly-
advanced machine intelligence” that
analyzes news “at a faster rate of
GenieTown Launches To Tackle
Local Services
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 6:00:03 AM
Palo Alto-based GenieTown launches
this morning. They’re trying to crack
the local services nut - a huge market,
but one that a lot of the big guys are
eyeing, too.
The company says they are
addressing the long tail of local
services. The GenieTown site allows
local service providers (plumbers,
dentists, whatever) to put up a web
presence. Users looking for providers
can find them, based on their location
and user rating.
The site competes on one end with
services like (gulp) Google Local,
Yahoo Local, Yelp and of course the
Yellow Pages (both online and off).
All of those services are great places
to find local service providers.
Eventually GenieTown says they’ll
integrate more closely with service
providers to coordinate calendars and
booking systems. At that point they’ll
run into another group of competitors,
including recently funded Liberysy.
If they are going to be successful in
both carving out a niche and avoiding
all those competitors, they’ll need to
quickly get a lot of those service
Fun Spreadsheet Maker Blist Gets $6.5M
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:25:11 AM
I first caught wind of Blist during
DEMO last month, and the still-in-
private-beta site has raised $6.5
million in Series A investment just
weeks after its debut. Led by Frazier
Technology Ventures and
Morgenthaler Ventures, the funding
will go towards the further
development and the marketing of its
social database service. Frazier
speed than any human being could
ever dream of.”
It reads like a movie script.
So far here’s my experience with the
site - questionable freshness on the
headlines and a complete failure to
send me an activation for my account
signup (they’ve posted on their blog
about the problem). They also fail to
provide a RSS feed for their content.
Not so useful.
More and more websites are starting
to make these types of ridiculous
claims to get attention. It works, but
only for a day. And after that, with
your credibility shot, everyone is
waiting for the inevitable failure. And
since expectations have been set so
astronomically high, even a mild
success is still seen as a dismal
failure.
Glam did it on a grand scale when
they called themselves the “fastest
growing web property in the United
States” to justify a huge valuation.
What they really are is a big ad
network that’s currently unprofitable
but is growing rapidly. But they are
most certainly not the largest womens
site on the Internet, or the fastest
growing site in the U.S. (they count
providers to start using their service.
To concentrate their efforts they are
rolling out the Bay Area only for now
- service providers and users from
anywhere can use the service, but the
company will only market locally.
They’ll grow from there.
And GenieTown is also trying to
engage with users on more than just
making introductions. The smartest
part of the service, in my opinion, is a
Q&A area that will do very will with
search engine optimization.
The company has raised $2 million in
general partner Scott Darling and
Morgenthaler partner Ken Gullicksen
have also joined the Blist board of
directors.
At first glance, the term social
database sounds either boring or
daunting–but really it’s just a fancy
way to say that Blist is a way-cooler
service for making spreadsheets. I got
a chance to try it out on my own,
before meeting face to face with the
Blist team. As you can tell from my
screen shot on the initial Blist post, I
Your Click and Print Newspaper
the traffic of all of the sites they sell
ads for as “theirs). Glam is worthy of
positive attention, but their ridiculous
statements cost them credibility.
And we saw it again yesterday. New
startup YouNoodle, which is
currently little more than a catalog of
startups, claimed that they could
predict the valuation of startups five
years out based on nothing more than
information about the founders. The
product hasn’t even launched, but the
New York Times jumped on the story
anyway. The only way I’ll believe it
works, I said, is if they use it to
predict their own failure.
I’m going to continue to call
companies on unrestrained hyperbole,
and hold them to the expectations
they’ve set with users. Being proud of
your work is one thing, but spouting
random nonsense is something else
entirely. Enough.CrunchBase
InformationNewspondInformation
provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
a first round of funding from a
number of angel investors, including
Stanford professors Hassan Chafi
(also the CEO) and Kunle
Olukotun.CrunchBase
InformationGenieTownInformation
provided by CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you
to find a new Job2.0
couldn’t find too many ways in which
to use the service on my first shot.
That’s mostly my fault, as I seldom
have cause for creating spreadsheets
of any kind, no matter how cool they
look. But after meeting with the Blist
team and getting a deeper look at
what Blist is capable of, I realized
that Blist isn’t only for making
spreadsheets, but it’s a multimedia,
interactive way of organizing your
data.
Whether you’re creating a list of your
TrialPay Taps Europe
For Big Second
Round Of Financing
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 4:18:59 PM
San Francisco based TrialPay will
announce a $12.7 million second
round of financing tomorrow, which
brings them to $15.8 million raised in
total. They tapped European money
for the round, bringing in London
based Atomico, as well as previous
investors Index Ventures, Baseline
Ventures and Battery Ventures.
The service provides users with an
alternative payment method at 3,000
or so participating merchants. Instead
of directly, users are offered
something for free (such as free
calling minutes on Skype) in return
for buying a magazine subscription.
Another example - “If a customer
isn’t quite sold on a software title, he
or she could get that software for free
by sending flowers from FTD.com,
signing up for Blockbuster Total
Access or buying $50 worth of
clothes at Gap.com. TrialPay pays for
the software using revenue (CPA)
from the advertiser, and the customer
gets a free license.”
We first covered them at launch in
October 2007. Buyers are presented
with the alternative options at the
time of checkout, so they can choose
to just pay as normal or take one of
the offers. It’s an easy option for
merchants to accept, since they get
paid anyway. The question is, will
consumers use it enough to make a
real business out of it? I’m doubtful,
but that’s mostly because we’ve seen
a trail of dead bodies who’ve tried to
create alternative payment schemes.
People seem to like their credit cards
just fine, and can smell a marketing
gimmick a mile away.
TrialPay says they’re adding 15,000
new registered users per day, though,
with 5.2 million total. Maybe people
aren’t so good at smelling those
gimmicks after all.CrunchBase
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provided by CrunchBase
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over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
favorite shopping sites and tagging
and rating them, or separating images
into “yes, maybe, no” piles for your
graphic designer to use, Blist’s added
functions for formulas and filtering
makes it an easy and useful tool. In
speaking with the Blist team, a more
automated process for the eventual
creation of mashups is likely on the
way, now that the company has
funding.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Mozilla Messaging
Thinks Email Is Broken
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:13:15 AM
Mozilla officially launched its new
Thunderbird focuses spinoff Mozilla
Messaging yesterday with David
Ascher as CEO. Mozilla Messenging
begins with the proposition that e-
mail is broken, with its goal being to
fix it.
Writes Ascher:
Email and other forms of internet
communications present us with a
paradox. The stunning proportion of
our days spent communicating online
clearly indicates that as a society, we
are more intricately connected via the
internet than ever before….Yet as the
number of such interactions grows,
and as the number of ways in which
we interact grows, the joy that
communication can bring is too often
replaced by frustration, confusion, or
stress.
One common short-hand for the
above is to say, somewhat flippantly,
that “email is broken”.
Local Services Marketplace
GenieTown Launches Public Beta
By Paul Glazowski (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:51:14 AM
Happen to like the concept of the age-
old Yellow Pages, but don’t like the
way the directory has been
implemented, online or off? Consider
GenieTown an easier-to-use
alternative.
This startup, today launched as a
public beta its local services
marketplace, a so-called hybrid love-
child of a trio of services: the Yellow
Pages, Craigslist, and eBay. It claims
to mate the A-to-Z system of the first,
plus the localism of the second, and
the “long tail-ness” of the last (not
literally, though; it does everything
on its own merit), and brings the
benefits of each together to give
people the option to find plumbers,
electricians, and emergency Web
developers without trying too hard.
GenieTown hopes to be the
connection for any type of service
delivered anywhere to anyone. Be it
something to do with home
improvement, culinary gigs, music
Shutterfly Gallery: First Major Release
Since Acquiring Nexo
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:51:06 AM
A few weeks back, Shutterfly
acquired Nexo, the personal social
networking-creation tool. I wrote
quite a long post on the history of the
photo-sharing concept and the
opportunities for commerce that
photo-sharing providers have taken
advantage of thanks to the Internet.
Now, we have the first official release
from Shutterfly since the acquisition.
Called the Shutterfly Gallery, this is
the collaborative tool that we
….we see our primary role as that of
facilitating collaborative approaches
to problem solving and incremental
progress, through a combination of
leadership and facilitation work. This
is an unusual approach, and it can be
chaotic and slow. But it seems to
have worked well for Firefox and the
web, and I believe it can work well
for Thundebird and email.
It’s a noble cause that starts with a
solid email product that has struggled
for attention next to the shining
beacon of Firefox. We’ll certainly be
watching to see what they come up
w i t h . C r u n c h B a s e
InformationFirefoxInformation
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lessons, or troubleshooting those
finicky home networks everyone and
their mother is putting together, this
new site is looking to match you with
any and all professionals and
assistants for a near limitless array of
possible tasks.
One significant limitation you should
be made aware of. (Very significant,
actually.) GenieTown is presently
targeted for services and service
seekers mainly in the San Francisco
Bay Area. So Kansans and
Alabamans aren’t going get much out
of GenieTown from the start.
Of course, as with most things born
today on the Web, attention will bring
growth. Probably quite a bit of it. But
how much short-term growth will
come is what will likely make or
break this debut.
expected from a photo-sharing tool
that took on a social networking
service. With the Shutterfly Gallery,
users can essentially make use of
social networking tools that are made
available with the Shutterfly Gallery.
There are group collaboration tools
mixed in there, so multiple people
can contribute to a single collection
of images that focus on a particular
Technology * Social Net *
CinchCast:
Podcasting Made
Even Easier
By Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 8:33:30 PM
There are a lot of tools that allow you
to easily create podcasts on the go
with your mobile phone. Utterz,
BlogTalkRadio, TalkShoe, and even
several random free conference
calling utilities qualify. Few of them,
however, allow you to accomplish
that task without at least a modicum
of account setup first. As several
folks have noticed (I first spotted
Digital Podcast’s coverage),
BlogTalkRadio has released a new
CINCHCAST: page 12
There’s also, you know, the marvel
that is Craigslist to account for.
Craigslist isn’t just classifieds
anymore. For a long while it’s
been…everything. It is indisputably
the king of local, and is probably be
the biggest name in service search,
too - whether common or
miscellaneous. So its not going to be
very easy for GenieTown to compete.
The most popular kid on the block is
popular for a reason. In virtual reach,
Craigslist is pretty much
insurmountable at this point.
GenieTown is going to have to
exploit niche sectors like crazy to get
itself a market footprint that’s really
sustainable and which can then
snowball into something much larger
and a more legitimate alternative to
the status quo for the average
individual.
Think GenieTown has the stuff to
succeed? Share your thoughts in the
comments. We’d be happy to hear
your first impressions.
ShareThis
event or place, or point in time.
This is all done with the purpose of
telling a story, which likens it to
Blurb and also Kaltura, which
recently launched a Facebook app,
leveraging Facebook’s existing social
network. Given Shutterfly’s
demographic, however, I think its
integration of Nexo’s network-
creation tools will work out pretty
well.
ShareThis
11
VideoEgg Introduces
“Pay for Engagement”
Model to Video
Advertising
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 10:00:12 PM
VideoEgg is launching what it calls
the “AdFrames Brand Response
Network,” (available here) a new
option for video advertising that
moves away from charging by CPM
(a price per thousand impressions)
and instead determining rates based
on how users respond to ads. Here’s
how VideoEgg defines engagement:
“Engagement doesn’t begin until a
user rolls over the ad, and the
AdFrame Invitation has expanded
into an overlay. AdFrames includes a
three-second delay during the roll-
over to ensure the user is not
engaging with the ad inadvertently.”
The overlay format is nothing new –
it’s currently being employed by a
number of major video players
including YouTube. As for paying by
engagement, this is a big deal.
Advertisers will obviously love it,
since they don’t pay for people who
completely ignore ads. On the other
hand, for publishers, it means there is
no revenue earned until a user has
clearly indicated an interest in an ad.
Given recent data that suggests about
6% of Internet users (with some
rather undesirable demographics) do
50% of clicking on display ads, the
engagement metric may raise some
eyebrows with publishers, especially
those catering to folks not especially
apt to engage with advertisements. In
any event, here’s what it looks like
(along with some further explanation
from CMO Troy Young):
That said, some of VideoEgg’s more
important publishers, including
Meebo and Flixster have already
signed on to participate in the
program. Meanwhile, Microsoft will
be running a campaign for Office,
featuring comedian Amy Sedaris. All
the while, VideoEgg isn’t putting all
of its “eggs” in one basket and won’t
be discontinuing its existing services,
which pay publishers on a traditional
CPM basis.
So, what we’re looking at here is a
pretty radical experiment in how
video advertising is paid for.
Engagement is certainly a promising
metric for advertisers, but it will
require a lot of uptake from
publishers to take off. On the other
hand, given it’s hard for most
publishers to sell out 100% of their ad
inventory, an ad network like
VideoEgg is well suited for using
engagement-based ads for remnant
inventory (inventory not sold on a
CPM-basis) which ultimately results
in more total earnings for publishers.
Who knows though - perhaps the
premium advertisers will pay for
engagement will make up for the
more predictable earnings you can
expect from CPM ads.
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12 Social Net * TV * Your Click and Print Newspaper

Orangutag Is For
Couch Potatoes, Not
Monkeys
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 9:10:14 PM

Orangutag isn’t a site for monkeys,

but for couch potatoes. It’s a niche
RSS tool that gives you updates on
television programs you’d like to
keep track of. Now, if you love a
show enough, you are likely aware of
the basics about a television show,
but Orangutag brings more
Web Developer Forum information to give you up to date
information about your favorite
programs, notes Profy.
watchlists, or their activity on the site.
While this can be used as some level
of recommendation, the
personalization options stop there.
Without many outside resources,
there’s little connection between the
shows you’re watching and other
sites across the web. This limits the
amount of action users can take

v7n is Up for Sale
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 8:50:01 PM
Despite v7n’s sub-culture appeal, the
folks behind the large webmaster
community are giving it all up. For
about $400,000. v7n is up for sale on
Sitepoint, with a starting bid of
$400,000 and a buy-it-now price of
$500,000. Take even a quick glance
at v7n’s homepage and you’ll see
right away the type of content that’s
typically discussed on the site.
As Sites For Sale points out, v7n has
nearly 40,000 members with over
800,000 posts. With the low price of
$400,000 you’ll et the forums, the
site’s bulletin, a web directory, an
affiliate program, host ratings, a job
marketplace, and the site’s claim to
fame, having pulled off quite a hoax
with its fake term SEO contest some
time ago, and getting lots of press for
what it was worth. While the owners
of v7n have reportedly assured
everyone that the sale is indeed real
and not just another prank, it looks
CINCHCAST:
continued from page 11
utility that does just that called
CinchCast.
I made a couple of quick podcasts in
my best radio voice earlier this
evening. Check them out yourself
here:
http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/21450
41985
You can subscribe in your favorite
feed reader or just grab the MP3s
from the RSS feed.
The files showed up in the feed
almost immediatly after I left them
with the system, and seem to be
decent enough quality for a phone
conversation. The address for the
feed reflects the standard domain for
the Cinch system, with the trailing
directory being an alias based off the
caller ID from the phone the podcast
was made from.
How is it useful? At a conference
like the reasoning behind the sale
could be a waning desire to manage a
web community forum any more.
John Scott, the man behind v7n,
admitted in the company blog that
he’s in “back to school mode” and is
stepping down from the daily duties
of running the site. It looks like this is
the primary reason behind the
decision to sell, despite the reported
tens of thousands of dollars that
comes through the site through
Google ads alone, on top of
submission costs from users.
What may have further spurred
Scott’s decision to step away from the
web forum business is the fact that
monetizing a forum is quite difficult,
outside of selling data direct to
research firms and the like, and
several tools for integrated forums are
being introduced across a variety of
platforms for a number of different
uses, but this is mere speculation on
my part.
ShareThis
and want to record a quick interview
with someone, or perhaps you want to
cover live an event you may be
witness to, and you don’t happen to
have your mobile podcasting rig with
you? Perhaps you have an account set
up with TalkShoe or another phone
podcasting system but no access to a
computer so as to schedule the
episode. Or perhaps you’d like to
record something, but don’t want it to
immediately go live to your entire
Utterz friend list.
Those are just a few use instances
that spring to mind. It’s a valuable
tool to have in a podcaster’s arsenal,
and I’m sure you’ll think of a few
more uses.
ShareThis
For each show that you follow, you’ll
also be able to break it down into
online in the actual interaction with
their favorite shows.
It also increases the necessity to
episodes. Mark the ones you’ve seen, return to the site in order to search
and subsequently you’ll be able to see and maintain the shows you’d like to
which ones you’ve missed, by power track and manage. As niche sites
of deduction. When you view the offer services that aren’t expected to
details of a particular episode, you’ll offer over-arching features, I would
see that this has a user-generated expect them to be integrated in a
element, that allows users to add their deeper manner with other, more
own reviews to Orangutag. There’s a inclusive tools that web users
bit of social networking involved, frequent.
which lets you layer in different RSS ShareThis
feeds for following other users’
Is it Really “Official”? Is it
Really “Breaking”?
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!) have stories like “Breaking:
Submitted at 2/19/2008 11:48:15 PM
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire
endorses Obama,” which is just as
Some smart Redditer did a Google breaking as news about a new mobile
search for all the Reddit stories
phone being launched.
containing the words “It’s Official” in Nothing unexpected here: since
the title. The idea, of course, is to
everyone is trying to push his/her
show that the Redditers use this story to the top/front page,
phrase way too much, be it for fun, or
competition tough, and one has to
to make a story that isn’t actually adapt and use more and more tricks to
official in any way more plausible.
Immediately, I remembered all those
succeed. The question is: will bad
journalism and sensationalist titles
“BREAKING” stories on Digg. The win, or can the community somehow
first time someone thought of using fix it and raise its own standards?
the word to make a news item seem Unfortunately, it seems to me that the
more important, it was over. Soon, more users a social news site has, the
your story had no chance of making lower the standards.
the front page if it didn’t have ShareThis
“BREAKING” in it, and thus we
NBC to stream classic series
By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:28:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows,
WebIf you're really into watching
classic TV on the web, like AOL's
fare at In2TV, you're going to be
thrilled to hear that NBC today
unfurled a line-up of oldies-but-
goodies to stream on their
entertainment sites -- NBC.com,
SCIFI.com, ChillerTV.com and
SleuthChannel.com. NBC is
providing full episodes, people,
streaming and waiting to be viewed, favorite classic shows and share them
beginning this month. It's quite a with their friends," said Craig Engler,
variety of shows too (including some Senior Vice President, SCIFI.com.
crossovers from one site to the other). Continue reading NBC to stream
"These are the kinds of titles we get classic series
requests for all the time at the
network, and now we're able to give Permalink | Email this | | Comments
our viewers a new way to watch their
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Australian Government On
Their Internet Filters: We
Failed
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 4:30:52 AM
Mike at Techdirt reports that the
Australian government has officially
declared their internet filtering
program, which they started about a
year ago as an attempt to protect kids
from pornography, a complete failure.
Only 144,000 copies of the software
were downloaded or ordered on CD-
ROM with only about 29,000 actually
being used. On top of that, kids were
able to hack them anyway.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the
Australian government hadn’t spent
85 million dollars on this program (it
is a central part of a larger initiative
that cost, all in all, 189 million
dollars); quite a nice amount to throw
away for something that anyone who
has a clue would have declared a
failure right from the beginning.
Let it be known, once and for all: if a
A first look at the Smurfs
movie
By Kristin Sample (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:23:00 AM
Filed under: TV Royalty, TV on the
Bigscreen, OpEd, Animation,
Watercooler Talk, ChildrenLong have
I prayed for the following kid shows
of yesteryear to be made into movies:
Smurfs, She-Ra, and Jem (*sings*
Truly Outrageous!). And now, I only
have to wait a little longer (late 2008
to be more specific) for the Smurfs to
take the big screen. Cinematical is
reporting that a movie about Peyo's
little blue buggers is in the works.
The film, produced by Paramount /
Nickelodeon, will be directed by
Colin Brady who has worked as an
animation supervisor on films like
E.T., Hulk and Lemony Snicket's A
Series of Unfortunate Events.
Here's what I'm not so jazzed about.
The movie is 3D CG-animated. What
happened to regular animation? I just
want my smurfs in regular 2D and
only three-apples-tall (or however
three-apples-tall translates onto a
movie screen). What do you readers
Monk returning for seventh season
By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:05:00 AM
Filed under: Programming, Monk,
Psych, Pickups and Renewals,
RatingsMonk will be back for a
seventh season. It isn't an even
number, a fact that would irritate the
OCD detective to no end, but it is a
lucky one. USA Network has ordered
16 new episodes of the idiosyncratic
mystery series which has turned
character actor Tony Shalhoub into
an Emmy-winning star. USA has
plans to run eight of the new episodes
smart, computer-savvy 16 year old
wants porn, no technical barrier will
be able to stop him. This is a natural
law, similar to the laws of gravity or
thermodynamics.
[ i m a g e s o u r c e :
www.sweetmarias.com]
ShareThis
think? Am I being too old-fashioned
in saying this creative move will
jeopardize the soul of the Smurfs?
Well, maybe that was harsh. Anyway,
check it out for yourself. If you'd like
to see some production stills, click
here.
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
in July and August; then the other
eight in January and February.
Before then, you can catch up with
Social Net * TV * 13
Boston Legal: Rescue Me
By Paul Goebel (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:42:00 AM
Filed under: Boston Legal, Episode
Reviews
(S04E14) Hooray! Finally another
episode with a lot of Larroquette. In
fact I think I just came up with a new
spinoff...Carl and The Beav.
Katie's case was a little confusing but
very interesting. I had never heard of
such a situation. Also as soon as I
heard that the client had AIDS, I
became worried that Alan might treat
us to another one of his speeches.
Honestly, the more I heard about the
case, the more fascinated I was by it.
I have always been a fan of Michael
Landes and I found him particularly me. I don't really approve of Katie
kissing her client but considering that
engaging in this episode. What I liked
the most was how simply Katie Jerry is the closest she's come to a
relationship, I can look past it.
spelled it out for opposing counsel.
They made a bet that the client would Continue reading Boston Legal:
Rescue Me
die. He got lucky and is living. They
lost. It happens sometimes, but when
you make a bet and you lose, you Permalink | Email this | | Comments
have to pay. It makes perfect sense to
TV 101: Dribs and Drabs (or,
stuff that wouldn't fit in my
last column)
By Jay Black (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:41:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, TV 101Like a lot
of writers, I have an idea folder (it's
manila, but I have it covered in puffy
rainbow and unicorn stickers, so it's
beautiful). As each week progresses, I
jot down all my ideas -- for columns,
for stand-up bits, for ransom notes --
and at the end of that week, I take
stock of my creative output.
This week, I noticed that there were a a 3000 word monstrosity. My editor
lot of ideas that I wanted to share, but suggested I break up the Dribs and
that weren't quite big enough for a Drabs section into its own piece, and
full TV 101 column. I attached them that, dear readers, is what I did. Dribs
to the end of my last column in a and Drabs, after the jump...
section called "Dribs and Drabs." It Continue reading TV 101: Dribs and
was a good thought, except that it Drabs (or, stuff that wouldn't fit in
took an already bloated piece (my my last column)
writing makes the Unabomber's
manifesto look like a dream of Permalink | Email this | | Comments
concise thought) and puffed it up into
Monk, and USA's other whimsical
detective series, Psych, when they air
on NBC in March. Although it has
not be announced as yet, USA will
likely pick up Psych, too, and they
Big Brother 9:
will continue running in tandem.
PoV
%Gallery-16506%
Continue reading Monk returning for
Competition #1
seventh season By JJ Hawkins (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 5:23:00 PM
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US),
Episode Reviews
(S09E04) It's another night in theBig
Brother 9house and the house is full
of people in various states of
BIG page 14
14 TV * Movies
Spoilers Anonymous
By Isabelle Carreau (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: Spoilers Anonymous
This is Spoilers Anonymous, a
weekly column here at TV Squad
where we'll supply you with the dirt
on some of the more popular shows
on the air. We'll never put spoilers up
here on the main page in order to help
the reformed stay unspoiled. If you
have anything to add to the group,
feel free to step up and let yourself be
heard, either with our tips form or by
Nip/Tuck: Candy Richards
(season finale)
By Jonathan Toomey (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:44:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Nip/Tuck,
Episode Reviews
(S05E14) "I pretend to do the thing I
actually do and suddenly I'm cool." -
Sean
Going into this episode, I was really
expecting it to be just be so-so. With
the trend of so many other shows
being cut short because of the WGA
strike, I just assumed Nip/Tuck would
BIG
continued from page 13
unhappiness and discontent. Most
prominently, Parker was extremely
upset with Jen's antics so he decided
to list out the "three steps of
destruction by Jen."
A. She held the secret that her and
Ryan were dating (then subsequently
revealed it to the house).
B. She's cocky to a fault.
C. She's an idiot and he's the one who
emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot
com or call and leave a message at
(775) 640-8479 - your anonymity is
guaranteed, if you wish to remain as
such.
This week we have: Desperate
Housewives, Greek, Kyle XY, Lost
and One Tree Hill. (SPOILERS
FOLLOW!)
Continue reading Spoilers
Anonymous
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
fall victim as well. Not the case. Even
if this season's full order of 22
episodes had been met, this
installment was still clearly meant to
be a mid-season finale. There's no
way an ending like that gets a new
episode the very next week. It worked
here as the season ender and it
worked well.
%Gallery-8310%
Continue reading Nip/Tuck: Candy
Richards (season finale)
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
has to suffer because of her
ignorance.
I can't really say that I disagree with
any of his points. In fact, I'd probably
add a few more items to the list.
Continue reading Big Brother 9: PoV
Competition #1
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
ION hires Boston Legal for fall
cases
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:07:00 AM
Filed under: Boston Legal, Pickups
and RenewalsConsidering how often
ABC has opted to not air repeats of
Boston Legal during its first four
years, it should come as good news to
fans of Denny & Alan's buddy
dramedy that ION has picked up the
series. It plans to re-air the series
weeknights in the fall. Personally, I'm Denny: "Well I knew technology was
thrilled because I missed the first making things smaller and smaller,
season altogether and various but an ion Alan? Really?"
scattered episodes here and there Continue reading ION hires Boston
since then. Oh, and Boston Legal isn't Legal for fall cases
streamed at ABC.com.
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Alan: "So what do you think of our
show going to ION, Denny?"
Jericho: Condor
By Paul Goebel (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Jericho, Episode
Reviews
(S02E02) "I'm not a conspiracy nut."
- Jake Green
Condor? Really? The most creative
code name they could come up with
is Condor? How about something
meaningful like Savior or something
cryptic like Shadow or even
something funny like That One Guy
Who We All Recognize But Can't know that meeting the President has
Remember What From. always been a dream of his. I guess
It's nice to see some things never any old President will do.
change. Mayor Douchebag is still Continue reading Jericho: Condor
more concerned with how he looks
than with the evil corporation that is Permalink | Email this | | Comments
clearly infiltrating his town. You just
Asian Films on DVD:
'Nightmare Detective,'
'Zebraman,' 'Girl Boss Revenge'
By Peter Martin (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 12:02:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Drama, Foreign
Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-
Fi & Fantasy, New on DVD, Home
E n t e r t a i n m e n t ,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Cinematical
IndieA detective, a zebra and
revenge! What more could you ask
for when seeking out Japanese films
newly-released on DVD? I've been
hearing terrific things about
Nightmare Detectivesince it came out
in Japan early last year. Directed by
Shinya Tsukamoto, who also made fantasy about a schoolteacher who
Tetsuo, the Iron Man and A Snake of pretends that he's a superhero, only to
June, among other wonderfully weird discover he is "fated to become the
and twisted concoctions, the film was real-life protector against an alien
described by Mark Schilling of The invasion," wrote Aaron Hillis for The
Japan Times as probably "too dark Village Voice. "Miike's most
and disturbing for the average punter accessible exploit to date ... is still
expecting, from the title, something deliciously insane." The DVD from
in the X Files line. ... Be prepared for Tokyo Shock includes a motley
not just the usual goosebumps, but a collection of extras, such as a look at
viral infection of your dream life." the singer of the theme song and TV
The DVD from Dimension Extreme spots, according to SciFi Japan.
includes a documentary by the Continue reading Asian Films on
director and a "making of" feature. DVD: 'Nightmare Detective,'
'Zebraman,' 'Girl Boss
Originally released in Japan three Revenge'Permalink | Email this |
years ago, Takashi Miike's Zebraman Comments
finally sees the light of digital day in
Region 1. This is the lighter side of
the notoriously edgy Miike, a comic
Your Click and Print Newspaper
EXCLUSIVE: Sigourney Weaver
Says 'Ghostbusters III' Won't
Happen
By Ryan Stewart (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 1:32:00 PM
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi &
Fantasy, Deals, Fandom,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes
and Sequels, Games and Game
Movies
In a forthcoming interview with
Premiere conducted by yours truly,
Sigourney Weaver talks at length
about all her various franchises, and
even has a few words to say about the
recently resurrected hoopla over a
possible Ghostbusters III. When I
pointed out that the film industry's
renewed focus on next-gen 3D
imagery and CG-rendered worlds
means that perhaps a third
Ghostbusters adventure is still
feasible, Weaver looked at me a bit
like I had just given her a toothache.
She then took a big breath and said
"Well, I just saw Ivan Reitman at this
dinner, this lunch for his son, and,
ummm, there's no way." Perhaps
responding to the look of sadness on
my face, she quickly added "You
could 3D Ghostbusters. You could
pay for that. I think they're fantastic
'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' Adds
Some Hip Hop Flava
By Elisabeth Rappe
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 2:02:00 PM
Filed under: Casting, Fandom,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes
and Sequels
It has been a big news day for the old
Canucklehead. It was announced
earlier that Ryan Reynolds was
joining the cast as Deadpool, and that
Taylor Kitsch had signed on to play
Gambit in X-Men Origins:
Wolverine. Before fans could wrap
their mind around the fact that
Wolverine wasn't running solo in this
film, Variety just announced a third
addition. Hip hop star will.i.am has
signed on, and IESB has the scoop
that he will be playing John Wraith.
John Wraith, also known as Kestrel,
was one of the members of Team X.
He was a skilled teleporter and
always knew when to use massive
explosives. He wasn't particularly
memorable, nor was his storyline
movies for that time, and I think, if
anything, Be Kind, Rewind is kind of
a Ghostbusters for this time." Since I
haven't seen Be Kind, Rewind, I have
no clue what that last part is supposed
to mean. Does Slimer make an
appearance in Be Kind, Rewind or
something?
It's not like any of this is a great
surprise -- to my knowledge, Weaver
has never expressed any enthusiasm
for returning to the franchise and
rumor has it she declined to
participate in the upcoming video
where he and Team X tried to prevent
themselves from rapidly aging into
goo. I vaguely remember this from
the Wolverine's solo comic series,
and am very sorry it has been dredged
up. Team X was one of the most
convoluted and bizarre story arcs ever
written, where Wolverine ran around
in third world countries as a sort of
CIA Agent with a team of mutants.
He was usually accompanied by his
arch-nemesis Sabretooth, who was no
game that will feature voices from the
main Ghostbusters and will
cannibalize Dan Aykroyd's never-in-
development Ghostbusters III:
Ghostbusters Go to Hell script. Most
of the recent GIII talk stems from
Ernie Hudson, who was quoted as
saying that he hoped the success of
that particular game would renew
interest in creating a third film, and
that Ramis and Aykroyd still wanted
a third film, too. That would be fine
with me as long as it starts with a
fresh concept, as opposed to the
whole 'Manhellton' crap. I've heard
Aykroyd describe his 'hell' script at
length -- to a radio DJ on a country
music station, no less -- and, frankly,
it's the opposite of impressive. It
sounds like a recipe for a studio-
killing flop with a $300 million
budget. But with Murray and Weaver
and (apparently) Ivan Reitman not
even down for a third go-round, don't
hold your breath. To read the
interview, which mostly centers on
Avatar, check out Premiere.com on
Thursday. Permalink | Email this |
Comments
longer a savage psycho, but all
sophisticated and smart. They wore
suits and carried guns with the
handles wrapped in tape. They were
like hairier versions of James Bond.
To make things weirder, Silver Fox,
Logan's once-murdered lover, often
showed up as a drug runner or
revolutionary. Charmingly, she was
always sporting her Indian maiden
headdress so that readers could
recognize her. It was, needless to say,
extremely lame, particularly when it
concluded with Silver Fox being
eaten by a tree. Only recently, the arc
was dismissed as implanted
memories, as nearly all bad
Wolverine stories are. It's good to
have a brainwashed character
sometimes.
Continue reading 'X-Men Origins:
Wolverine' Adds Some Hip Hop
FlavaPermalink | Email this |
Comments
Movies 15
Oscar Predictions:
Filipino Cruise
Ship Bartenders
By Peter Martin (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/19/2008 2:32:00 PM
Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar
Watch
Writers are whores. We love
assembling random letters of the
alphabet into words, phrases,
sentences, and articles, and will
happily do almost anything (except
sell our integrity) that allows us to ply
our trade. That's how I ended up on a
Caribbean cruise last week, happily
working away as the waves crashed
outside and the sun shone brightly on
miles of publicly exposed flesh that,
in a better world, would only have
been revealed in private to a loved
one. Travel tip: to keep from
overeating on a cruise, simply stroll
by the pool before lunch and take a
close look at all the out-of-shape
bodies. Yuck! I immediately started
exercising ...
Movie choices were slim on board. I
brought a few DVDs to watch on my
laptop computer, and watched a little
TV. (It may be a 500-channel
universe, but only a handful are
evidently available at sea. And did
you know that TCM Latin America
shows old TV shows with
commercials in addition to classic
movies?) Yet the eager, if not quite
ready for Vegas, live entertainment
shows and, especially, the bars
consistently lured me out of my
cabin.
It's hard not to feel like an over-
privileged colonialist when you see
how hard cruise ship personnel work.
They sign up for months at a time and
have very little "free time," which
means, for our purposes, that they fall
very far behind current theatrical
releases. To my mind, that makes
them perfect representations of the
world at large which will be tuning in
for the Oscar telecast with zero
advance knowledge of any of the
nominees.
Continue reading Oscar Predictions:
Filipino Cruise Ship
BartendersPermalink | Email this |
Comments
16 Movies Your Click and Print Newspaper

Kelsey Grammer Gets

Scroogey Again
By Monika Bartyzel
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:32:00 AM

Filed under: Comedy, CastingYes --

once again, Kelsey Grammer will
play Scrooge. And no, I'm not talking
about Frasier, but rather the bonafide
holiday sourpuss. However, it's not

Zack Snyder Fans the going to be your everyday Dickens.

Flames With New
Watchmen Still
By Elisabeth Rappe
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:32:00 AM
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy,
Warner Brothers, Fandom,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images
Zack Snyder, director of 300 and the
upcoming Watchmen, has posted a
thank you to the film's cast and crew
on the film's official website. Filming
has now wrapped and unlike the
constant video features from 300,
Watchmen tidbits have been kept
under incredible lock and key. (At
last, we have an answer as to who
watches the Watchmen. . . )
But Snyder hasn't forgotten about us
and has given fans a wrap gift -- a
new still from the movie. We still
don't get a glimpse of Ozymandias,
Nite Owl or Doc Manhattan, but a
violent Rorschach is always nice.
And Slashfilm has already done a
lovely comparison of the comic book
panel versus the finished product. As
with his work on 300, Snyder has
tried to keep the faith and remain true
to the original panel. (Will the other
guys being torched be CGI'd in?)
It looks cool, but is just vague enough
to drive Watchmen's diehard fans into
a frenzy that he's mishandling it. I can
already hear the howls and fierce
nitpicking. Personally, I have faith
that Snyder will deliver a solid and
faithful adaptation. He has so much
passion for the book that I think it
would kill him to fail as much as it
would destroy his audience.
Regardless, I want more! Let's see
some set videos, stills of other
characters, or an actor interview or
two. As fun as the anticipation is, I
want to see my faith in Snyder
justified. Or at least proof he
improved Laurie's costume.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Variety reports that the actor has
signed on to play a modern-day
Ebenezer Scrooge in the indie satire
An American Carol, which will take
on current American culture --
"particularly Hollywood." (Will that much of your funny? Is it just
menace-to-the-road Britney run over
Tiny Tim or something?) The man
behind all of this is David Zucker; he
that comedy success is luck rather
than having a firm grip on how to be
funny and satirical?
will direct the comedy from a script
written with Myrna Sokoloff.
Zucker had some biggies at the
beginning -- like the classic,
Production is scheduled to begin on Airplane! In the next decade, he had
the 28th, which might have made me
the Naked Guns, and now we get My
giddy for casting announcements and Boss's Daughter and some Scary
details 15 years ago, but not so much
Movie sequels. So far, it sounds like a
now. Zucker is one of those guys who crapshoot.
makes me buy into that whole
"selling your soul for success" idea.
At the very least, it can spawn a
Now, I'm not trying to insinuate that sequel: An American Carol: Scrooge
he's some devil worshipper or
Goes West.Read | Permalink | Email
anything, but it's amazing how many this | Comments
directors of funny, classic films take
nosedives or head down failing
comedic mountains. How do you lose

Kenneth Branagh and Rhys Ifans

Board 'The Boat that Rocked'
By Jessica Barnes
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Music &
Musicals, Casting, UniversalIt was
over a year ago that news first
surfaced about Richard Curtis' (Love
Actually) rock 'n' roll comedy, The
Boat that Rocked. But at the time,
there was no cast in sight. Well,
we've waited long enough, and now it
looks Curtis has finally found his
stars. Varietyreports that Rhys Ifans
and Kenneth Branagh have signed to
star in the musical flick for Universal
and Working Title Productions.
The story is set in the wild and heady
times known as the 1970s. The two
men will play pirate radio DJ's who
run their station from a leaky boat out
at sea. When an American woman
comes to visit the deejays, she falls
for her boyfriend's pal (Ifans) and
chaos ensues. Joining Branagh and
Ifans is January Jones (best know as
the depressed hausfrau on TV's Mad
Men) as the beguiling American gal.
Curtis wrote the script himself and
will also direct. The story has been
described as "Animal House meets
Titanic," which probably isn't the
most likely pairing of styles, but what
can you do? Ifans has made a name
for himself in ensemble comedies
playing characters that are a little --
shall we say, 'out there'? Branagh, on
the other hand, might not seem to be
the obvious choice for a comedy, but
if you have seen A Midwinter's Tale,
then you know that he has a few
giggles up his sleeve. So in the end, it
seems that the two actors make a
good fit for the seemingly 'wacky'
flick. The Boat that Rocked is set to
start shooting in early March on
location in London.Read | Permalink |
Email this | Comments
'Toy Story 3' Details
Leaked by The Wall
Street Journal?
By Monika Bartyzel
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 2:02:00 AM
Filed under: Animation,
RumorMonger, Scripts, Family
Films, Remakes and SequelsIt has
been over a year since the director
and screenwriter were named for Toy
Story 3 (Lee Unkrich and Michael
Arndt). Finally, it seems that we're
getting some plot details, but there's a
case of dueling summaries going on.
Over at Empire, they say that The
Wall Street Journal got a bit loose-
lipped in an article they recently ran
about Disney Pixar stopping the
outsourcing of their movies' video
games. The Journal says: "Woody the
cowboy and his toy-box friends are
dumped in a day-care center after
their owner, Andy, leaves for
college." That makes sense. It's been
11 years since the last film, so a
whole lot of time has gone by (not

'TOY page 17
Your Click and Print Newspaper Movies 17

'Sweeney Todd' Hits

DVD on April First! (No
Foolin'.)
By Scott Weinberg
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:32:00 AM

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Horror,

Music & Musicals, Thrillers,
P a r a m o u n t , H o m e
EntertainmentSweeney Todd
deserved a better fate. Sure, sure, it's
a very fine film -- and that's really all
that matters when all is said and done,
but I can't help but think its domestic
box office tally (just over $50
million) and its Oscar nomination
haul (lead actor, art direction and
costume design) should have been a BUNCH of featurettes, photo
little ... well, bigger. But I suppose it's galleries, trailers and a Moviefone
tough to sell a big-budget horror Unscripted piece, which is cool
musical, even if it is based on a very because we love Moviefone! Neither
popular stage play AND showcases DVD package will include an audio
movie star Johnny Depp in a really commentary, unfortunately for those
(ahem) unique light. who love audio commentaries. Like
me. Oh, but the 2-discer will be
Fans of the flick will be pleased to making an appearance in my
learn that Tim Burton'sSweeney collection. Book that.
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street will be available to own (via [ Thanks to DVDActive.com. Check
shiny disc) on the first of April. out the cover art! ]Read | Permalink |
Choose between a single-disc release Email this | Comments
(which includes one "making-of"
documentary) or a extras-laden
double-disc edition that comes with a

First Pic of Aaron Eckhart as Two Face!

By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/20/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Movie
Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek,
Remakes and Sequels, Images
Okay, so it's not exactly a photo of
Aaron Eckhart from the actual movie,
but it is a blurry photo (click on the
image for a larger version) of the new
Two Face action figure recently
showcased at a restricted press event
during the New York Toy Fair. Of
course, throw up the word 'restricted'
and there's bound to be at least one
dude with a hidden camera phone.
Dark Horizons nabbed the photos,
which are indeed fuzzy, but enough
to make out what the character will
look like. This also means that, yes,
Eckhart will most definitely make his
transformation in The Dark Knight
from Harvey Dent to the villainous
Two Face. But when he does it, and
for how long he's on screen, we do
not know.
Some have suggested that Two Face
will make an appearance at the very
end of the film, for one or two scenes,
as a teaser into the third installment.
Seeing as it's been confirmed that
Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and
Joker (Heath Ledger) will both be
included in the film, it's my hope that
this is the way they go. Last thing we
want is a rushed Two Face storyline;
I'd rather more focus on the Joker and
for Two Face to team up with another
Gotham baddie in the third
installment. What do you think?
The Dark Knight hits theaters on July
18.
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'TOY
continued from page 16
that time really matters in the film
world). So, did the Journal really leak
something? Is Disney/Pixar putting
Now, the twist comes in over at up a bunch of different summaries to
IMDb. Just the other day, the plot mess with our minds? Or, is this
summary was updated and it says: "In summary on IMDb just b-s?
this new adventure, Buzz Lightyear
has encountered a malfunction and is More importantly: Which would you
being sent to Taiwan to be fixed. It prefer?
appears that these malfunctions are Read | Permalink | Email this |
occurring with toys all around the Comments
world! Now, Woody and a group of
his friends are on a mission to save
Buzz's destruction."