Vinnie Jones… master teacher.
Jan 242012
Dec 202011
Daniel Craig speaking on The Quantum of Solace:
It seems that the script is sometimes an after-thought on huge productions.
‘Yes and you swear that you’ll never get involved with shit like that, and it happens. On “Quantum”, we were fucked. We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, “Never again”, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.’
You had to rewrite scenes yourself?
‘Me and the director [Marc Forster] were the ones allowed to do it. The rules were that you couldn’t employ anyone as a writer, but the actor and director could work on scenes together. We were stuffed. We got away with it, but only just. It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished.’
Hugo Chavez is planning on moving $12 Billion worth of gold from England back to Venezuala according to an article in Reuters.com, (via Daringfireball). It is a good read, you should take a gander. Felix Salmon proposes that one method Chavez considers using to move the gold is crowdsourcing (read the article, it makes sense). My favourite part comes from the comments section:
“But here’s one last idea: why doesn’t Chávez crowdsource the problem?”
Sounds utterly insane to me: put gold in the hands of desperate who (a)might just leg it, (b)will set up a constant and dependable stream of vulnerable robbery targets and fraud opportunities.
It would give birth to a criminal society that would probably rival some drug cartels.
We are talking about Venezuala here. This is a country that has a #5 ranked murder rate1. Apparently Venezuala has a higher murder rate than the Democratic Republic of Congo2. I understand the commenter’s concern about creating a stream of vulnerable targets for robbery. I’m just not sure that Chavez would risk creating “a criminal society” by following this line of thinking. Of course, I am equating the murder rate with the criminal tendencies of an entire nation. Perhaps that isn’t a fair metric to use.
Aug 122011
While I was away on my annual retreat to cottage country Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slignshots fame inked a guest strip for Questionable Content. Both strips are wonderful. If you don’t read either, you should read both. (Bonus points to both series for having librarian characters!)
Aug 102011
The Pentagon has been working for nearly a decade on an audacious plan to strike anywhere on the planet in less than an hour. Thursday could prove to be the do-or-die moment for that plan.1
Seems like a duplication of effort to me. The United States already has a weapon capable of knocking the world back to the stone age in less than an hour – its financial services industry.
- http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/pentagons-mach-20-missile/ ↩
Aug 102011
One European Union study this year found that 17 per cent of Britain’s youth are classified as “NEETs” – for Not in Employment, Education or Training, in other words high-school dropouts with no prospects of employment – the fourth-highest percentage in the European Union. There are 600,000 people under 25 in Britain who have never had a day of work.1
Imagine a game show where 600,000 young adults are stranded on an island on which all resources and power are tightly controlled by a jealous few. What outcome would you predict? (I’m pretty sure my 21 month old child could figure this one out…)
Apr 142011
The Globe and Mail is reporting that Canada’s broadcasters have requested that the CRTC regulate Netflix.
Representatives of Canada’s media industry have approached the federal broadcast regulator to ask it to consider regulating online TV and movie service Netflix, the way it does for traditional broadcasters.
Get the feeling that someone is scared? Even though the selection on Canadian Netflix leaves something to be desired my family is already watching Netflix content more than we are watching content off of traditional cable television. I can only imagine what would happen if Netflix improved their offerings.
Continue reading »
Apr 122011
The Globe and Mail currently has a banner at the bottom of their website that reads “subscribe to the Globe and Mail and get the Globe and Mail how you want it.” Really? Because when I click through to a link, I see a placeholder for a format that my iPad cannot display. Does this ad imply that if I subscribe they will deliver a compatible video format? I hope so.
Formats have been on my mind a lot lately. Between the New York Times’ new subscription model, the Financial Times declaring it will not release an iPad app with built-in suibscriptions, Netflix announcing that it has secured the rights to Mad Men and my continuing disdain for MLB.com’s blackout policy I’m starting to wonder who is wrong… me or the media industry.
Continue reading »
Mar 082011
Reading between the lines…
Over the last few days we at HarperCollins have been listening to the discussion about changes to our e-book policy. HarperCollins is committed to libraries and recognizes that they are a crucial part of our local communities. We count on librarians reading our books and spreading the word about our authors’ good works.
However, we really wish you’d stop lending copies of our books after you’ve promoted them. That’s not why we sold you a copy.
Our goal is to continue to sell e-books to libraries, while balancing the challenges and opportunities that the growth of e-books presents to all who are actively engaged in buying, selling, lending, promoting, writing and publishing books.
And by balance we mean “maximize.” And by “all those who are actively engaged” we mean “HarperCollins.”