Friends

Much as I hate to add to the preponderance of cat humour on the net, this is brilliant.

seek_abroad
Meet people from all over the world.

fotojournals
Post your photos for other photographers to see.

food_ish
Share successful, disastrous or otherwise amusing food stories, photos and recipes.

I really don't know what to make of this.

As indicated by the link at left, I have long maintained that the Clone Wars animated cartoons produced by Genndy Tartakovsky and his unit at Cartoon Network Studios are by far the best material to be generated by Lucasfilm's largely mishandled run of Star Wars prequels.

Among the many criticisms that can be levelled at George Lucas' second bite at his main cash cow (I once called him a "one trick pony"; unfair, he has two tricks), detailing the manner in which they all but entirely undermine the goodwill generated by the first trilogy, for me the biggest remains the way in which the definitive, crucial relationship between the two principal protagonists (and the transformation of one into an antagonist) is botched.

This is partly due to miscasting but largely due to problems with story structure. Watched in production order, the viewer's greatest expectation of Episodes I-III is surely seeing the great friendship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker maturing against the waning days of the Jedi Knights and the specifics of Skywalker's betrayal and his rebirth as Darth Vader. Yet the two characters share virtually no screen time in the first film, and in any case are separated by a disconcertingly large age gap. In the second, the better part of a decade has elapsed and we find Skywalker churlish and resentful of Kenobi and events soon conspire to separate them anyway. In the third, they are once again spilt from one another and when they meet again it is for the first time as full-blown adversaries. Anakin's whiny, passive and rapid switch to the "dark side" is thus devoid of dramatic weight and for all the emoting the actors attempt their fight to the finish seems desultory at best. There is a sense of doom about the events onscreen, but only because we know they must happen because later stories have told us so. It is impossible to reconcile the brief, stiff and unnatural interaction demonstrated with the abiding friendship so fondly remembered by "Ben" Kenobi.

It is this deficit that the Clone Wars series, and the second in particular, helped to redress. Therein, the two characters fight side by side largely free of angst, recrimination or scratchy-voiced loggerheads. Taking those few elements that do work from Eps I-III, ignoring pretty much everything else and applying the trademark design sense and flair for visual storytelling of the Tartakovsky team, the results only underlined George Lucas' inadequacies as a director and keen-mindedness as a multimedia producer yet further. Now Lucas has, as is his wont, returned to the well. Having used the previous micro-cartoons to serve as "Episodes 2.5", Lucas now expands the window yet further with a maxi-series of cgi cartoons that, despite being apparently open-ended, must all take place within a very few months of narrative chronology as demarcated by the already existing and canonical animation.

The first few episodes of said series are being released theatrically as the above feature film. As far as I am aware, this has only happened once before, about fifteen years ago when Bruce Timm and company's Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was unexpectedly bumped from a dtv production to a theatrical release by Warner Bros. while the work itself was already well underway. It shows; the budget had to be stretched beyond breaking point and the film does not stand up to rigours of full-blown cinematic presentation (although it is still exponentially more intelligent, absorbing and entertaining than the Schumacher horrors that followed). Cobbling together several television episodes, regardless of how polished and and well-produced, is not the way to make a movie (just ask the MST3K crew). Furthermore, I would suggest that adopting a visual style developed specifically for self-consciously "designy" 2D animation is not the way to make a 3D animated film. The result is inorganic characters that appear sculpted rather than grown; based on the trailer, the is film looks like nothing so much as a mega-budgeted episode of Robot Chicken...

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, familiar to most from the cottage industry of documentaries and books that have arisen to needle the network for which he works, if not his regular examination via YouTube and Crooks & Liars, his spoofing on The Colbert Report (The Daily Show has eased up on the guy since The Report's inception) and his near-daily roasting by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, is perhaps the most recognisable American news man outside America, if for all the wrong reasons.

The latest nugget of toe-curling footage added to the pile of public indictments of the man's character is actually an archive piece that is bound to become a viral mainstay for many days to come (YTMND, I'm looking at you). It's been blindingly obvious for several years that O'Reilly has a shorter fuse than Yosemite Sam, but I used to think it came with the general grumpiness of middle age. It seems that in his youth the man was to broadcast news what David O. Russell is to film-making today.

If you haven't seen them, please do ensure you watch both to the very end. And now, to play us out...

kinokofry
Art and comics by Rebecca Clements

wii_kartonline
All about Mario Kart Wii: challenge, chat & have fun

the_polaroids
Post and peruse Polaroid photos

Does this man possess the most dangerous legal mind on the planet? If you create images, sounds, prose or objects for a living you might just be inclined to think so.

According to the Illustrators' Partnership of America's Brad Holland, Jaszi, his colleagues and students are the authors behind a bill currently before the United States Congress and Senate, attempting- not for the first time- to address the problem of "orphan works". These are pieces of intellectual property that, for one reason or another, cannot be attributed to a copyright holder. Therefore they are often unused (particularly in research and education) for fear of infringing upon the rights of some unknown party. No one wants to find themselves liable for misuse of a photo that it later turns out belongs to Paul Getty.

Many American creatives contend that this bill, if enacted as law, will remove the inherent, immediate and exclusive copyright protection from all intellectual property. In-principle protection from infringement will no longer apply from the moment of creation; instead, any and all work will have to be registered with corporate-ran databases at an as yet unknown cost. Of course, this penalises the individual artist who is least able to pay (average earnings for a visual artist in Scotland: £4-5,000) and benefits aggressive and unscrupulous corporate raiders of a mind to gather and misuse any unregistered photos, drawings, music, films, stories or essays. Of course, a cheaper alternative would be to not put work in harm's way by disseminating it; in other words, don't have a career. The article above asks whether this bill amounts to a violation of international law. If it does, it'd hardly be the first time the US's conduct flew in the face of the world's judgement, but even if it it doesn't it remains a signal violation of creative rights.

The IPA has prepared a document that explains why this development should be of concern to creative people globally, as the new law would make it just as easy for an American-based crook to "orphan" a European, African, Asian or South American artist's work as a domestic's. In the age of the blogosphere, anyone or everyone with a mildly creative bent is spewing pretty much every idea they have into the public domain with little or no understanding of where they stand legally. Thankfully, there currently exist rules that govern the use of such material, but it appears this legislation could drive a hole right through the middle of the statute book.

Therefore I encourage you to read, but more importantly print, sign and send this letter to the relevant parties and tell everyone you know about it too.

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so the LiveJournal team is offering users a chance to support the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of those suffering from mood disorders. Proceeds from purchases of the Emerging Sun v-gift during May will be donated to the DBSA, so feel free to buy one. Or, if you really want to rack up some good karma points, get a bunch!

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.


L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses


We know how you salivate over the prospect of new themes, especially when they're designed by users with a unique handle on both form and function.


L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )


We'd like to remind you that the nomination process for LiveJournal Advisory Board user-representatives has begun. If you think you're fit for the job, now's the time to nominate yourself! After all, you're the only who can do it. In two weeks, on the 22nd, the voting process will begin; we'll remind you about it again here.

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

Advisory Board Nominations Begin

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”


chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )