WGA Writers ... Anti-Union Hypocrites?

Yesterday, a Los Angeles contractor provided a unique and interesting perspective to the WGA writers strike.

This contractor told me that many of her clients are wealthy writers (and directors, actors, producers, and other Hollywood types) who will hire illegal immigrant (i.e., nonunion) labor to renovate or work on their houses.

So, this contractor reasoned, these actors, directors, and writers are hypocrites. They undercut blue collar union carpenters, plumbers, builders, etc., but expect everyone to sympathize when their own Hollywood unions go on strike.

Hers is a thought-provoking perspective, one that hadn't occurred to me.

Tabloid Witch Award in Argentina

The Tabloid Witch Awards -- and all its winners! -- have been covered by an Argentinian publication, Sin Cortes!

Thanks go to Argentinian winner, Daniel de la Vega (director of Death Knows Your Name), for publicizing the Tabloid Witch in Latin America.

Daniel even uploaded a YouTube of him and his team with their Tabloid Witch plaques in Buenos Aries:

L.A. Weekly Cites Hollywood Investigator's Charles Bukowski Exposé

In 2003 the Hollywood Investigator broke a news story (written by Ben Pleasants) about writer Charles Bukowski's Nazi past.

That news revelation has now been cited in a legal battle over the fate of Bukowski's East Hollywood bungalow. Read the details in the L.A. Weekly, which cites the Hollywood Investigator news story!

Tabloid Witch Award winner Shawna Baca Needs YOUR Help!

One of the 2007 Tabloid Witch Award winners, Shawna Baca requests that you view her new video and vote for it should you find it worthy.

Shawna writes: "Chillin’ with the Gonzalezes is the story of a blue-collar couple whose lives are constantly interrupted by their conniving live-in Grandma and her best friend and partner-in-crime: a cutthroat saleswoman trapped in the body of a nine-year-old neighbor girl. This is the 'Granny Krumps' episode.

Please vote for Chillin’ with the Gonzalezes as featured in the Myspace/FOX Television Storyteller Challenge. Fox and Myspace are looking for the next television show.

This was made in 4 days. Please support independent filmmakers and diversity. Pass this along and help spread the love.

Thanks,

Shawna Baca"

Dead Noon's Obligatory Shower Sequence

In the Hollywood Investigator's recent coverage of the 2007 Tabloid Witch Award recipients, actress Elizabeth Mouton discusses Dead Noon's Obligatory Showers scenes. Now here's your chance to see it!

Martin Sheen Questions 9/11 Official Version

Another celebrity voices his political views. Take it for what it's worth:

Antiwar Ad Backs Ron Paul

Rolfe Kanefsky's Nightmare Man Finds Distribution

This past weekend I met writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky, whose Nightmare Man swept the 2006 Tabloid Witch Awards.

Rolfe told me that Nightmare Man has finally found a theatrical distributor. It should be out in November -- look for it!

Student Tasered for Asking Kerry a Question

Is this still a free country?

We've seen Americans arrested for asking Bill Clinton a question. We've seen Americans penned into Free Speech Zones so they wouldn't ask Bush, or Hillary, or Kerry any questions. Now here's actual footage of a student tasered for asking Kerry a question:

Shannon Lark Competes for Miss Horrorfest

San Francisco's First Lady of Horror, Shannon Lark, who is also the Founder & Director of the Viscera Film Festival (co-sponsored by the Tabloid Witch Awards), is now running for Miss Horrorfest.

Below is her entry:



Enjoy it! Then vote for her!

"Side-Line" Goth Site Hacked

The Side-Line website was knocked down for several days after a cyberattack.

Side-Line, whose magazine covers industrial, ebm, and gothic music, was attacked from Tuesday morning, August 28, and collapsed on 10:30 a.m (CET), due to a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack).

Due to the damage caused at the server facility, the magazine's technical staff took over 48 hours to restore the site and its database. "Luckily enough we have always a backup of all of the Side-Line news and forum data so that relaunching the site did not cause too much damage", said editor-in-chief Bernard Van Isacker.

As of today, Thursday August 30, 11 a.m. (CET) the site is back up with all of the functionalities working as they should. "There is only a minor problem that continues to persist but with a minor impact for the visitors and which we are working on right now to resolve", Van Isacker said.

Side-Line stresses that its activities in no way stopped, as some rumors insinuated. Van Isacker said, "The (online) magazine is in an excellent condition and even such an attack will not get us down on our knees." The magazine thanks War-n Harrison from trip pop band Hungry Lucy for his technical assistance in getting everything solved asap.

The magazine asks that everyone who tried to contact the magazine in the past days resend their email, as it's not sure that all the incoming email was saved.

Shame on Time-Warner Cable

Shame on Time-Warner Cable!

Upon buying Adelphia Cable in Santa Monica early this year, they dropped C-SPAN 2 from basic tier and replaced it with...a blank screen!

All three C-SPAN channels are a vital public service. It's what the lucrative cable monopolies pay for the privilege of operating outside the free market. Sure, C-SPAN 2 is still carried on Santa Monica's City-TV, but not 24/7.

Most other "news" sources are partisan and dummied-down. From neocon Reich-Wing Radio to their knee-jerk opposites on Air America, from biased blogs to YouTube clowns, people go to whichever carnival barker tells them what they want to hear.

Amid this idiocracy, C-SPAN shines as a stark example of unbiased, intelligent, and in-depth political coverage. C-SPAN, C-SPAN 2, and C-SPAN 3 should all be available on the basic tier of every cable system. The media monopolies owe it to us.

Tabloid Reporter Marlise Elizabeth Kast Tells All

Yet another tabloid reporter dishes dirt on her former employers. The Hollywood Investigator has received this following bit of info concerning Tabloid Prodigy: Dishing the Dirt, Getting the Gossip, and Selling My Soul in the Cutthroat World of Hollywood Reporting:

Marlise, the daughter of a minister, grew up in a loving, conservative, slightly sheltered family, and aspired to a career as a respected journalist or television news anchor. But, right out of college, with a journalism degree and few job prospects, she became a star reporter for Globe, playing the high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities.

There was almost nothing Marlise wouldn’t do to get the story behind the celebrity facade. Dumpster diving and hiding in the bushes were child’s play compared to ploys like posing as a drunk to crash one star’s wedding or bluffing her way through the L.A. Police Department to confirm the DUI of another celeb’s daughter. Using a combination of charm and brains, Marlise assumed countless identities and managed to convince insiders to confess the juicy secrets of Hollywood stars.

Along the way, though, Marlise felt torn between her journalistic duties and her moral responsibilities. Marlise tried to ignore the battle with her conscience, but was she abandoning her principles in exchange for a shot at celebrity reporting? As this riveting memoir reveals, her redemption is more honest and personal than any celebrity news she’s ever reported.

Music CD Art Design Contest

Alfa Matrix has submits this info about their new contest to the Hollywood Investigator:

Alfa Matrix has decided to give the opportunity to talented designers & photographers to submit their own design for the 3rd edition of the Endzeit Bunkertracks box compilation devoted to dark elektro music.

The label is looking for something dark, evil, hellish, disturbing, eye-catching, and still fitting the sampler series’ colour concept around black, red, grey and white... In addition to the box front cover the label will also need various additional images/designs for each disc carton sleeve and the accompanying booklet.

For further details, please contact endzeit@alfa-matrix.com

Deadline for submissions is set to September 15th 2007

Save Internet Radio -- Fight the RIAA

Got this notice from "David" and it's worth passing on:

"Just 17 days until the music dies, unless we do something! On May 15th the new royalty rates for Internet radio go into effect (retroactive to 01/01/2007) because of a ruling by the Royalty Rates Board.

These rate increases, heavily lobbied against by NPR, and heavily lobbied for by the Recording Industry Association of America (the same *ssholes that killed Napster), threaten to kill Internet radio. You had better listen to your favorite internet radio station as much as you can between now and May 15. It may be on the air long after that.

Congressmen Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) have introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR 2060) and they are seeking additional co-sponsers. This bill could save Internet radio. Contact your Representative and demand action.

For more info: SaveInternetRadio.org

The U.S. House of Representatives: House.gov

Might as well give your Senator a shout out also: Senate.gov

We can't let Clear Channel and the RIAA rule the world.

What's So Terrible About Don Imus?

I don't understand the uproar over Don Imus calling several black female sports players "nappy headed hoes." It's no worse than much of what Howard Stern has been saying for years on his radio and TV shows. Is it because Stern has a black female sidekick, Robin Quivers? Does Quivers grant Stern a license that Imus lacks?

For that matter, Imus's remark is nothing we haven't heard over and over from hundreds of rappers and standup comics. And not just from black comics. Carlos Mencia specializes in "offensive" racial humor. So, do rappers and comics enjoy a special license that Imus lacks? But Imus too is a satirist, as are Stern and Mencia.

Unlike Imus and Mencia, Rosie O'Donnell is no satirist. She's the self-proclaimed "Queen of Nice." Yet she survived the controversy of her "Ching Chong" remark with little problem. Is it because she's perceived as being pretty far to the Left? But Imus is also perceived as liberal, if not Left. Is it because O'Donnell is a lesbian, whereas Imus is a white male? But Stern is also a white male, and one who's perceived as further to the Right than is Imus. So why are O'Donnell and Stern off the hook, but not Imus?

As for Imus's critics, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have said worse racist remarks, and they're not satirists, but supposedly responsible community leaders.

More than anything, it's the sheer arbitrariness of the uproar over Imus that I don't understand. It seems that all of society can say the same offensive remarks for years on end, but then someone is arbitrarily chosen to be "it." The sacrificial goat who must be killed to atone for everyone else's sins. Who then, after the sacrifice, continue saying the same offensive remarks with no price to pay.

Really strange.

Streets of Fire DVD rot

Add Streets of Fire to the many DVDs suffering from "DVD rot." I bought a pristine Streets of Fire DVD a couple of years ago. No problem. When I tried to view it for a second time a year later, on the same DVD player, the DVD kept pausing at some point. I was unable to play it past 20 minutes.

You can even see bubbles forming in the DVD, near the spindle hole.

DVD rot!

If you don't know what that is, read: Big Studios Stealing YOUR Time and Money With Faulty DVDs.

You might also Google "DVD rot" and see what comes up. Hint: don't waste too much money on your DVD library. DVDs are not built to last -- and that might even be intentional!