Google Books, What's Next Google Movies?

For any authors not following what Google has quietly been doing to books from all over the world, you had better check. Despite the fact that you wrote a book, got it published, and hold a copyright on it, Google may have copied it in its entirety into their archives.
This presents a problem on many levels. First of all, it was illegal. At this point, that is moot, as Google has settled this little problem to the tune of 125 million dollars. Seems like a lot, right? Wrong. For a small fraction of their company's worth, Google has established for itself a position where it can both sell and distribute works to which is has no claim. Google, the internet good-guy, has finally followed the tracks of every business minded company ever and analyzed a situation to see which course of action would be the most profitable. And they followed through. Books that belonged to authors are suddenly in the posession of Google. It was an act first and ask questions later scanario.

Imagine if they had done something similar with Movies or Music. Google Music or Google Movies would be shut down before the names even left Google's marketing room. The music and movie lobbies (along with the RIAA and the MPAA) already target individuals who do the same thing Google has just done with books, although they sue for obscenely high damage amounts. Google Books, on the other hand, looks to get away with a deal for pennies on the dollar.
The issue now is whether Congress will allow this farce of a deal to go through.

Glenn Beck, Slayer of Frogs!

Matt Damon looks very Political

Well this has swayed my opinion. If I were a resident of New York, and was previously undecided or was voting against Mike Bloomberg, I would change my mind after seeing this. I mean, Matt Damon. In an earlier posting I discussed the role of the public intellectual, maybe I should revisit that.

Mr Damon is a skilled actor, but he is not exactly the first person I would look to for political advice. Or the second. Or the third. I like to consider myself a fairly intelligent person, and all I can get from this add is that Mr Bloomberg's campaign comittee acknowledges that many people are swayed by these kind of things. If they somehow worked in at least a few of Bloomberg's views or policy ideas, the add would be much better. At least it does the rest of the intelligent world a favor and acknowledges that yes, this is a fairly dumb idea, but it appeals to the masses.

I am generally not a fan of celebrities endorsing political candidates, if only because most celebrities seem to know at most one issue their selected politician has taken a stand on. Mr Damon and a few others like him are slightly more involved, but this is not their profession. They are not political pundits, they are people who have public support because, in Mr Damon's case, he can steal millions from a corrupt casino owner and thwart terrorist attacks all in the span of a single year. They are people who have millions of followers on Twitter, but one or two ideas about how run a country.

This ad at least admits that and simply tries to move past it. Ideally, someone like Andrew Sullivan would be in a commercial saying they endorse a candidate. While he may be much more politically inclined and have more knowledge on the topic, he does not have the mass appeal of Jason Bourne. And unfortunately, Jason Bourne is who the masses want to get their political advice from.

And Kanye Has Come Full Circle.

Well I don't know what can top that.

9/12 Protests or the Beginning of the End of the Red Menace Obama?

Check out Ed Brayton's Blog for the details on the ridiculousness of the right's protest. Here is a preview of what you are in for.

The Continuing Online Adventures of Kanye

The online community continues to lambast Kanye after his asinine performance at the MTV Video Awards.

Kanye is all over the place interrupting people

Edit (21:57 on 9/14/2009): Barack's Feelings on Kanye

Joe Ackbar Wilson

Representative Joe Wilson pointing out that President Obama's health care plan is a trap. Now he can concentrate all firepower on that super-star destroyer.