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Sunday, February 20, 2011

US pop and country duo The Bellamy Brothers are accusing pop music singer Britney Spears — also from the United States — of plagiarism in her latest single “Hold It Against Me”. The group believes that Spears is “ripping off” one of their songs, a 1979 track entitled “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”; they are thought to be attempting to have Spears prosecuted.

Howard and David Bellamy claim that Britney Spears’ single, the first to be released from her upcoming album Femme Fatale, is “too close” to The Bellamy Brothers song. Both tracks have reached number one on various music charts.

Speaking to British tabloid newspaper The Daily Star, David Bellamy said, “Howard and I have no personal beef with Britney. She’s a talented gal. But professionally we feel completely ripped off. We will without doubt take the appropriate legal action if our attorneys agree we’ve been ripped off.”

A spokesperson for Britney Spears, made a statement to the same newspaper. “If this is now a legal matter then I am afraid we would have nothing to say until our lawyers have been alerted,” the spokesperson stated.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Brazil beat Croatia in the second Group match, in Berlin, Tuesday, but only by one goal.

Croatia had sat back and made it difficult but Brazil seemed to be in no great hurry to impress and was satisfied with the margin of victory.

One noticeable feature of the match, Brazilian forward Ronaldo appeared to display an exaggerated lack of interest in the game. Carlos Alberto Parreira substituted the Real Madrid striker after just over an hour.

“I don’t know what happened to him,” Robert Kovac, the Croatian centre-back said. “He didn’t run … It was very easy,” he said.

Second best to three Croatian defenders, with the experience of 181 caps between them, Ronaldo did not get a shot on goal until the second half.

The 72,000 fans in the Olympia Stadium saw the best of Brazil in the first half with Kaka and Ronaldinho bright in midfield. Lacking muscle from Ronaldo, Brazil was confined to long range shooting.

Roberto Carlos fired a shot from 40 yards, which was put over by Stipe Pletikosa; the Croatia keeper then, after 15 minutes of the match, tipped a Ronaldinho effort behind. Cafu also had a shot on target and another from Kaka went wide.

A successful long-range effort came from Kaka at 42 minutes. At the top of the semi circle he curled the ball with the inside of his left foot, the keeper’s right hand not even close.

The World Cup champions of 2002 were tested in defence as the Croatians probed for an equaliser. But the team with red and white chequers did not use their 50 per cent of possession to create many clear openings, nor did they capitalise on Brazilian errors.

On 59 minutes Brazil’s defence had a lapse in concentration: a misplaced pass between the back three nearly allowed the quick Croatian substitute Ivica Olic a chance on goal. The advantage came to nothing as the defence recovered.

The best Croatian chance fell to Niko Kranjcar, minutes from the end. When the cross came into the box the midfielder was unmarked – but his header went far over the bar.

The Croatian manager, Zlatko Kranjcar might consider a one-goal loss a good result against the reigning champions. Carlos Alberto Parreira might think by Brazil’s high standards the game was a bad training session.

But the result was a win and was Brazil’s eighth successive World Cup win, a tournament record.

Wednesday, March 9, 2005File:Plastic bag stock sized.jpg

They are cheap, useful, and very plentiful, and that is exactly the problem, according to researchers. A report issued on Feb. 23 by a cadre of environment and economics researchers suggested that Kenya should ban the common plastic bag that one gets at the checkout counter of grocery stores, and place a levy on other plastic bags, all to combat the country’s environmental problems stemming from the bags’ popularity.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Matt Hanson aims to raise £1 million to fund the production of a feature-length film which would be distributed freely via the Internet under a Creative Commons licence, all funded through 50,000 people each donating £25 to the project, which he’s called ‘A Swarm of Angels‘.

No stranger to filmmaking, Matt has produced numerous digital short films, a series of books on digital filmmaking and set up the digital film festival onedotzero, now in its tenth year. He wants to finally make a feature length film, and decided that it was better to turn to the Internet for help and funding rather than plod through the usual ‘development hell‘.

“I wanted to put into practice what I’ve been preaching as a film futurist for ten years, and the technology and Internet infrastructure has just really caught up with that vision now for me to put it into practice.”

The process is inspired by the ‘web 2.0‘ movement, using social and collaborative communities on the Internet. Matt doesn’t see the funding as coming from donations, but as people paying a subscription to become part of a ‘Swarm’. “Rather than the ‘many producer’ model, this is more of an ^[sic] ‘smart consumer’ model … members can help implement and bring their expertise into play, and so become more actively involved in the production.”

The project hopes to use professional actors and crew, but use qualified members from the swarm as much as possible. The cast and the crew, including any volunteers that get chosen, would be paid for their work on the film, with Matt suggesting that this is “a great way for people to get into the industry”.

Those members not directly involved in making the film can still participate in the process by discussing ideas on a messageboard, and having a vote on certain crucial decisions such as which script gets chosen for production. Asked how he would balance his own creative direction with input from members, Matt said “my vision will lead the project forward and define the parameters, but the Swarm can influence that, and indeed offer improvements or insights I might not think of alone”.

“Remember filmmaking is always a team effort – whether you are Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick or Jean Luc Godard, you promote people within the project that will complement and bring something extra to the vision of the film. Give it more life. With the Swarm we are making that process more democratic, and giving a wider range of people an opportunity to shine and have creative input.”

Members are promised a collector’s edition DVD of the end product and exclusive merchandise, but the main distribution of the film will be via the Internet, using ‘BitTorrent‘ and peer-to-peer networks. “Unlike many other filmmakers, I’m not wedded to cinema projection as the ‘be all and end all’ – I’m much more excited about people viewing remixed versions on their video iPods,” explains Matt.

The ‘remixing’ of the film will be possible thanks to it being distributed under a Creative Commons licence. Matt suggests that the ‘younger generation’ is more used to being involved with and interacting with entertainment, and points to remixes of the Star Wars films (eg ‘The Phantom Edit‘) as an example of these ‘mashups’. “At the end of the project I would love to have an event that showcased five wildly different versions of the film, different visions from people other than my definitive initial edit,” he suggests. The licence will be for non-commercial use only, however, and so commercial TV stations would still have to pay in order to screen the film.

The project is partly inspired by the success of ‘The Million Dollar Homepage‘, in which British student Alex Tew aimed to raise a million dollars to fund his university education, simply by selling advertising space on a single web page. The publicity surrounding the idea, coupled with the ‘viral’ effect of Internet users passing the page on, meant that he eventually managed to make himself the million dollars.

The success of these projects partly seems to depend on them being interesting and original enough to attract enough attention, and it’s often difficult to see how they could be repeated. Copy-cat versions of the million dollar homepage have so far failed to hugely take off. When asked about this idea, Matt responded “I already expect people to copy the model we are inventing with A Swarm of Angels – it’s a perfect way to create cult media, where the director gets more creative control and organically funds a project, and the fans of the project get more involvement within it. If the market gets too crowded with these projects though, then they’ll have to be packaged differently to stand out. But that’s what traditional film and media projects need to do anyway.”

Over 600 members have signed up to the ‘swarm’ so far, which Matt comments is already an early success, but 50,000 members in total will be needed in order to fully fund the £1 million budget. Matt suggests that getting to the next stage, of reaching 1,000 members, followed by the phase of getting 5,000 members, will be the hardest part, as after that the film will be more ‘tangible’. He expects to raise the full budget, but comments that if the fundraising stalls, “options will be presented by advisors and The Swarm, and based on some kind of consensus we’ll come up with the best option for moving forward.”

Traditionally, independent films are funded either through persuading wealthy individuals to invest, who sometimes are sometimes given ‘Executive Producer‘ credits, or through organisations like the UK Film Council, who award funds from the National Lottery. A tax credit for producers making small films in the UK was announced by the government in 2005, in a bid to give a boost to the UK independent film industry.

Matt says that the film will be “a thriller with soft science fiction elements”, which he says will suit his target audience. “But it will have an indie edginess to it, and be far more visually inventive than you would get with a ‘normal’ British independent feature.” Contributors to the project include artists The Kleptones, who will help with the soundtrack, comic book writer Warren Ellis and documentary filmmaker Grant Gee.

The Swarm of Angels project is online at aswarmofangels.com and costs £25 as an individual to become a member.

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has stated that the whistle-blowing website known as WikiLeaks has committed no crimes in Australia by publishing over 250,000 United States diplomatic cables. An investigation by the AFP into the release of the cables revealed that Wikileaks had not broken any laws under Australian jurisdiction.

“[The AFP has] not identified any criminal offences where Australia has jurisdiction and as a result have not commenced an investigation,” said Robert McClelland, attorney-general of Australia in a statement to the press. “As has previously been stated, given the documents published to date are classified by the United States, the primary jurisdiction for any investigation into the matter remains the United States.”

The investigation into Wikileaks actions came after the Australian Government referred the release of U.S. diplomatic cables to the AFP. McClelland stated that the Government’s reaction to the WikiLeaks issue was “prudent.” Further cables that the Government queries the legality of would also be forwarded to the AFP as well. He also added that the government remains “concerned” about the situation and “unauthorised and irresponsible distribution of classified material.”

Controversy had also been raised today after Julia Gillard changed her stance on the release of the cables from calling the action “illegal,” to calling it “grossly irresponsible,” after the AFP had released their findings. Ms Gillard said at a press-conference in Sydney today that she did not intend to say that the release of the cables was illegal, but that their theft was. Deputy leader of the opposition (Liberal Party) Julie Bishop said there was no room for Ms Gillard to “weasel out of it.”

“She is a lawyer. She well knows about the presumption of innocence,” said Bishop. She added that the prime minister’s legal background did not warrant her comments. Calls have also been voiced by the Green’s Senator, Scott Ludlam, for Ms Gillard to retract her comments.

Wikileaks has been the subject of past investigations in Australia. In March of 2009, the proposed Australian Communications and Media Authority internet blacklist was leaked to the website. That matter was also referred to the AFP, who later abandoned pursuing criminal charges.

“It’s my understanding from the AFP that they considered the prospects of success under their guidelines, but it wasn’t sufficient to get a prosecution,” said Chairman Chris Chapman during a Senate Estimates Committee meeting in February.

Monday, January 31, 2005

New York, USA –UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has noted that the Iraqi people turned out in large numbers to vote in the January 30 ballot. Voters were deciding who to elect to the 275 seat Transitional National Assembly.

Sporadic violence saw the deaths of 22 people across the country during voting, but attacks by insurgents did not seem to deter voters from exercising their new democratic rights. Annan praised the courage of the people and congratulated the Independent Election Commission of Iraq (IECI) and UN officials for successfully running the poll.

The Secretary General went on to say that the success bodes well for the on-going transition process. The next step will be a referendum in October 2005 on the constitution the Transitional National Assembly will be tasked with drawing up.

In the Out-of-Country Voting Program, 93.6% of Iraqis eligible to vote, did so.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Sweden’s first royal wedding since 1976 took place Saturday when Crown Princess Victoria, 32, married her long-time boyfriend and former personal trainer, Daniel Westling, 36. The ceremony took place at Stockholm Cathedral.

Over 1,200 guests, including many rulers, politicians, royals and other dignitaries from across the world, attended the wedding, which cost an estimated 20 million Swedish kronor. Victoria wore a wedding dress with five-metre long train designed by Pär Engsheden. She wore the same crown that her mother, Queen Silvia, wore on her wedding day 34 years previously, also on June 19. Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, walked Victoria down the aisle, which was deemed untraditional by many. In Sweden, the bride and groom usually walk down the aisle together, emphasising the country’s views on equality. Victoria met with Daniel half-way to the altar, where they exchanged brief kisses, and, to the sounds of the wedding march, made their way to the the silver altar. She was followed by ten bridesmaids. The couple both had tears in their eyes as they said their vows, and apart from fumbling when they exchanged rings, the ceremony went smoothly.

Following the ceremony, the couple headed a fast-paced procession through central Stockholm on a horse-drawn carriage, flanked by police and security. Up to 500,000 people are thought to have lined the streets. They then boarded the Vasaorden, the same royal barge Victoria’s parents used in their wedding, and traveled through Stockholm’s waters, accompanied by flyover of 18 fighter jets near the end of the procession. A wedding banquet followed in the in the Hall of State of the Royal Palace.

Controversy has surrounded the engagement and wedding between the Crown Princess and Westling, a “commoner”. Victoria met Westling as she was recovering from bulemia in 2002. He owned a chain of gymnasiums and was brought in to help bring Victoria back to full health. Westling was raised in a middle-class family in Ockelbo, in central Sweden. His father managed a social services centre, and his mother worked in a post office. When the relationship was made public, Westling was mocked as an outsider and the king was reportedly horrified at the thought of his daughter marrying a “commoner”, even though he did so when he married Silvia. Last year, Westling underwent transplant surgery for a congenital kidney disorder. The Swedish public have been assured that he will be able to have children and that his illness will not be passed on to his offspring.

Westling underwent years of training to prepare for his new role in the royal family, including lessons in etiquette, elocution, and multi-lingual small talk; and a makeover that saw his hair being cropped short, and his plain-looking glasses and clothes being replaced by designer-wear.

Upon marrying the Crown Princess, Westling took his wife’s ducal title and is granted the style “His Royal Highness”. He is now known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. He also has his own coat-of-arms and monogram. When Victoria assumes the throne and becomes Queen, Daniel will not become King, but assume a supportive role, similar to that of Prince Phillip, the husband of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II.