The Simpsons intro with real life humans filling in as the animated family members Homer, Marg, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, made in the UK as a promo for the TV show's 17th season in March of this year, continues to grow in popularity online where as of today on YouTube it has gotten well over sixteen million views.  And that is just on that site. The video clip is also posted on numerous other additional popular sites such as ebaums world where it is also getting repeated hits - all of which reportedly have increased in recent weeks following the release of the Simpsons Movie.

 The short clip, which accurately re-enacts the title sequence of the animated show with real actors such as the very beginning when the camera zooms into a schoolroom to Bart (above) writing in chalk on the blackboard, got the full approval of Simpson’s maker Matt Groening.  If you havent already see the one-minute video clip that uses the original Simpsons' intro theme view it below and witness the actors' and film-makers' accurate portrayals of each character, and, like the TV show, ends with the whole family squeezed on the sofa ready to watch TV - only in this version they are about to watch the cartoon version of the Simpsons.

NON-FICTION TALE
 Have you heard the true tale of the 16 year old French lad who painstakingly translated (from English into French) all 759 pages of the new Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)  in record-breaking time and within days of its July 21st release date, and then posted it online?  If so you know that this time-consuming task landed him in jail and also facing serious charges of intellectual property violation. 

Now what he did, of course, was illegal but the smart, swift French high-schooler is hardly a hardened criminal. And it is important to note that he was not  trying to make any money off the book or receive any kind of payment for his intense, time-consuming job of translating an entire book. One reason why it is seems crazy to me to go after this young individual  is because anyone who is going to read an entire book online (which is a pain in the ass - most people only read one page online before tiring of starting at their computer screens) is obviously too cheap to buy it in the first place and secondly because if you were to print out all 759 pages you would end up spending more on ink cartridges and paper than if you were to go buy the book itself at the store.

And if you read it online so as to know the story ending before it was published and available in stores - then you are such a diehard Harry Potter fan that you will - undoubtedly -have to later buy a copy of the book to own.  It is just like the music file downloaders who, while download like crazy, also purchase the most music online.

 
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If you want to watch the fun-looking Flavor Flav Roast on Comedy Central tomorrow (Sunday 8/12 @ 10PM)) best to plan on catching it live on TV and not on YouTube in clips at a later time since the media giant that owns the cable station, Viacom,  is doing everything in its power stop clips like it been broadcast on YouTube. And Viacom is not alone in their war on the Google owned YouTube.  Earlier this week they were joined by several other TV broadcasters and publishing companies in  a major  copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular video file sharing website.  These proceedings ultimately mean that we should most likely now begin the countdown to the final days of YouTube .   One of those involved in the legal proceedings  The National Muisc Publishers'  Association said it is joining the lawsuit "out of concern that many songwriters aren't receiving proper compensation when their music appears on YouTube videos."  Additionally Viacom Inc. (which besides Comedy Central also owns MTV and other stations) and the Football Association Premier League are also part of the lawsuit against YouTube/Google.    And while this lawsuit seems crazy for many reasons including that most artists make no money off of past videos played on TV anyways - never mind crumby quality dubs on YouTube which most people only view and don't  download (unlike with Napster in its famous lawsuit some years back) - it certainly looks like it signals the final days of YouTube - as least as  it exists today.  So my advice: enjoy YouTube while you can. 

Manchester music maven Anthony Wilson, whose life was depicted in the movie 24 Hour Party People, died in hospital in England earlier today of a heart attack (Friday, August 10th) according to news reports from the BBC, Sky News, and NME.  Reportedly the former radio and TV broadcaster, record label boss and owner of the legendary Hacienda nightclub, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the Christie Hospital in Manchester.  He was 57 and last year was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had been in hospital receiving treatment since and was being treated with the life-prolonging drug Sutent.

Wilson founded the famous Hacienda and was one of five co-founders of Factory Records, which produced bands such as New Order and the Happy Mondays during a period in the 80s dubbed "Madchester."  See the clip below in which Steve Coogan plays Wilson in the great 2002 movie 24 Hour Party People and is teased in this funny closing by the God character for not signing the Smiths. And below the 24 Hour Party People clip is an interview with the real Tony Wilson from British TV, in a show about the Factory and Joy Division.  SiFor a full tribute to Wilson read the recommended obit in the UK paper the Guardian from 8/13.


 

Trick or Treat?
Apparently San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, seen here trying on his new Halloween costume, didn't get the memo from his own office that the City of San Francisco had canceled all public Halloween celebrations in the city including the traditional Halloween in the Castro party.  As announced Wednesday by San Francisco City officials there will be "no official Halloween celebration anywhere in San Francisco in October" (including at the downtown AT&T parking lot - which was rumored as a possible alternative party spot to the Castro) due to violence at previous Halloweens in the Castro - notably last year when a shooting incident left nine people injured.  Therefore the normally celebratory Mayor Newsom, who just over the past few days  named August "Barry Bonds Month" and named  Wednesday "Virgin America Day" (as in the Richard Branson airline), could easily have named October "SF Halloween-Hater Month"

While I do not wish to see anyone hurt anywhere at anytime, I think that this move by the city of SF is BULLSHIT and it reminds me of when you are a kid in school and some clown in the class would do something wrong and instead of punishing the perpetrator the teacher would, unfairly, punish the entire class. And just like in those school days, when the teacher's actions merely frustrated and aggravated the law-abiding majority , so too will this action by the city officials of SF merely frustrate the average Bay Area resident who wants to enjoy a San Francisco tradition - Halloween in the Castro.  It is not unlike the move several years ago by the leaders of the city  across the Bay who voted to shut down Oakland's famed traditional Festival at the Lake (Lake Merritt) due to many young black males  "cruising" in their cars and incidents of violence in the surrounding neighborhoods (not even at the Lake).  And did the Oakland police action curb violence in the East Bay city? Not at all!