Brazil

Once again InFocus delivers an extraordinary collection of photos. A small protest over transportation fair hikes in Brazil has mushroomed into countrywide, public dissent over poverty, police brutality and government corruption.

The first image makes me cringe.

Making a Difference, One App at a Time

You’ll love this elegant, short film from Apple illustrating the life changing power of iPhone apps.

(via Daring Fireball)

Black Sabbath Returns

Killer campaign by Janus Hansen and Andreas Rasmussen. I just love the idea of digging through all the years of pasted posters to get to back to Black Sabbath.

It’s the band’s first album in 30 years.

I Hear Tell

I hear tell that in California you all got DJs spinning on the beach. Is that true?

Um. Yeah.

The Fastest Way to a Book Deal, Be a Total Douche

Jonah Lehrer, the author that fabricated Bob Dylan quotes for his book Imagine and then lied about it when reporter Michael Moynihan called him out on the fraud, has just landed a book deal with Simon & Schuster.

Unbefuckinglievable.

The publishing giant is billing the book as a “second chance” for Lehrer. But as Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici writes, this is chance number six.

Unless I’m leaving anything out, that would make this his sixth chance. Only an idiot would assume someone with this kind of history would be prepared to change his M.O.

Lehrer’s other redemption attempts didn’t go so well because they came off as disingenuious marketing ploys to get back into favor. My favorite part of Bercovici’s piece is when he suggests that Lehrer may have plagiarized part of the book proposal he turned into Simon & Schuster.

— and indeed, it looks like Lehrer helped himself over-generously to another writer’s work in preparing his 62-page proposal for “A Book About Love.”

You have to be a pretty arrogant tool to try something that ballsy when you’re trying to redeem yourself.

It’s Fun to Be On the Set

Behind the scenes moments like these are the huge bonus of being a part of the photo and film industries. The goofs, gaffes and laughter shorten the long days, and create a club like camaraderie exclusive to those that were there.

Have a look at this great collection on imgur.

Next Time I have Phone Sex, I’m Billing the NSA

The Guardian is reporting today that the National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon. Which of course leads me to believe that the NSA is probably listening in to the phone calls as well.

As an entertainment professional, anything I do or say that is creative is subject to a fee. So when I’m getting creative with the conversation on those long, late night phone calls with my girlfriend while I’m away from home, I figure the NSA is undoubtedly getting an earful. You hear it, you pay for it. That’s my motto.

Since the FBI is also involved, I’m going to send a fee for service bill to that fine, fine “what constitution?” government agency as well. If I can get my girlfriend on the phone enough times during a business trip, I bet I can make back all of my travel expenses.

After a couple of journeys, I’ll upgrade the NSA and FBI to premium client status and send them some sample packs of Lubriderm lotion as a thank you for their patronage. I tell you, this plan can’t lose.

Obama to Take Action Against Patent Trolls

I just wrote about how I feel that patent trolls are anti-American. It looks like the President feels the same way.

This is just awesome.

Update: The EFF has a good overview.

Thank You Firefighters, We Are So Grateful

California has been getting its ass kicked by wildfires these past few weeks. The biggest has grown to 30,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest and Santa Clarita area. Anyone from the photography or movie industries will know this area because they’ve either been on a production on location there, or they know a crew person that has a house in Palmdale.

The Los Angeles Times has excellent coverage.

I’ve seen a few California wildfires in my time. They move quickly and aggressively. Just when you’re being amazed by the orange glow created by the flames burning in an uninhabited area, the fire will suddenly change direction and take out a dozen houses.

Fighting these fires is dangerous, exhausting and frustrating work. Please keep a good thought for the firefighters that are doing their very best to save homes and lives in Southern California.

Photo: Genaro Molina for the Los Angeles Times.

Stalker Sarah, The Coolest Paparazzo

Kids these days. A young girl of six years old gets a picture taken of herself and Robert Hays standing together. A decade and 6000 pictures later she’s one of the most talked about paparazzi, or, more accurately, uber fan in the industry. The secret to her success is in her approach; she’s genuinely a really nice and respectful person. Even the veteran paparazzi love Stalker Sarah and happily share their information about star sightings with her.

This got me thinking about our perception of the paparazzi. Whenever I introduce the topic in a group, everyone readily jumps on their high horse of righteousness and condemn the paparazzi industry for their invasive tactics. And yet, and yet. These very same men and women are the first to pick up a tabloid magazine while sitting in a waiting room or salon chair. You can’t have it both ways darlings.

As for Stalker Sarah, she’s not in it for the money. She’s in it for the passion of the hobby that she discovered when she was just a kid. Read the excellent article about this intriguing young woman, and then check out her photographs of two of my favorite celebs, Julia Stiles and Brad Pitt.

Help Save Podcasting

The podcast is my favorite form of media. Easily accessible shows of really good content from a vast array of passionate people.

Then along came a troll.

James D. Logan, the founder and owner of Personal Audio, a company that doesn’t produce anything except lawsuits, is suing podcasters. Below is an excerpt from the email I received from the Electronic Frontier Foundation two days ago.

A couple of months ago we wrote that podcasting was under threat from a patent troll. At that time, a patent troll named Personal Audio LLC had sued three podcasters and sent demand letters to a number of others. Since then, Personal Audio has filed two new lawsuits—this time against CBS and NBC. It has also sent additional demand letters to small podcasting operations.

To my eyes patent trolls are anti-American because they shatter the pioneering spirit that is the hallmark of this country. They produce nothing. And they leave a minefield in the wake of their actions that threatens future innovators.

Please join me in giving to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help them fight the patent trolls that are endangering the future of podcasting.

John McCain’s Cable TV Bill

Last week Senator John McCain wrote a killer Op-Ed piece for the Los Angeles Times about how current cable TV pricing is unfair to consumers. He contends that package pricing in an iTunes/Netflix era is antediluvian and forces cable customers to pay for channels that they never watch in order to access the channels that they do view.

To tackle the issue Senator McCain has introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act. As much as I’m behind this, I’d love to be able to look into a crystal ball to see how this bill could potentially affect the economics of the entertainment industry. As things are now, development of original programming on the cable channels is feeding a lot of writers, directors and actors – not to mention all the below the line folk who are also being employed by these productions. Productions that are partially dependent on the current cable business model.

I’ve also got an eagle eye on those guys and gals at Netflix. House of Cards was a runaway hit and looks to be just the start of many interesting high quality shows to come from your red labeled internet connection.

To be sure, Senator McCain’s bill has little chance against the powerful cable TV lobby in Washington. But it sure would be nice for consumers to have viewing choices with the production value of Game of Thrones without having to tolerate the reprehensible, monopolistic behavior of the cable TV operators.