My postings was not meant to scare or produce paranoia in anyone. I'm just an old fart that is near his end time and saddened to witness the underhanded manipulations by the media, the studios, and the Hollywood types. I have watched people's freedom's slowly slip away and those who are losing those freedom's don't even realize that it is happening. Many of them have been, for lack of a better word, programmed, by the media over the years.

Many times the loss is not felt because what is being lost is not an interest or included in the life style of a number of people. If a particular thing or action does not effect one personally, the odds are that person will have little interest in what happens. The other people that don't care are the elitists that feel they are above the fray, they are better than the common person. The Hollywood crowd and the mass media are the worst offenders. The saddness is that in reality, when anyone loses another freedom, we all lose.

There are two types of freedoms battling for supremicy in today's world. As with all things, there are reasonable limits. One cannot condone murder, yet, a reasonable person would allow one to protect one's own life when threatened. Even this concept was abandoned for a while. People were imprisoned for protecting their own lives.

The first freedom is the most difficult for many people, especially the Hollywood crowd. This is the "Freedom to........." This means that you are free to live your life as you see fit. You have the right to earn as much money as you and your skills are able. You have the freedom to seek your own happiness. A simple example might be, if you want to have a woodworking shop in your garage, you are free to do so. Now comes the difficult part....You have to take the responsibility not to overtly annoy your neighbors, not to create an eyesore, in general, compromise with those around you. I, as your neighbor, have a responsibility to allow you to live your life as you see fit. I accept that there will be noises and smells eminating from your garage at times and get on with my own life. I have to accept this responsibility because you have to do the same for me and my life...

The other freedom is the "Freedom from......." This is the type of freedom that has gained a strong foothold as of late. This is the freedom that the Hollywood types continuously push. Using the above woodworking in your garage as an example, I, as your neighbor, want the "freedom from...." the noise coming from your garage, in fact, I want the "freedom from..." you even working in your garage at all. So, I'll push politicians, give the politicians money, advertise while making all sorts of 'logical' rationalizations about why my freedom is worth more than yours, if I am a media type, every story, every movie will carry a negative message about allowing people to work in their own garages until, finally, the general population has been conditioned to accept the 'fact' that it is in the name of freedom that no one should be allowed to work in their own garage. Only by now, it not only means a woodshop cannot be in a person's garage, it includes every thing. No one is to be allowed to work in their own garage on anything whatsoever.. The politicians take polls, the pre-conditioned public has answered in the poll against work spaces in people's private garages and laws are now being passed. No one is allowed to work in their garage under penalty of law. Every time a "Freedom from....." idea is launched, people on the other end lose another one of their freedoms...Soon, there is not going to be many freedoms left to lose...

This has actually happened in some communities, but the point of this probably poor example is to more graphicly show how the media, the studios, the Hollywood types have maniputated people into another way of thinking. Through all of this procedure, the elitist's do not think that any of this should apply to them. One example could be Carl Reiner. He is against SUVs with a passion. He has stated that he beleives that SUVs should be confiscated from the general public. Yet, he owns a fleet of 24 large SUVs. He has stated publicly that his owning of SUVs is different from the general public own such a vehicle..

While this does not seem to concern the copying of movies or TV, I, during these rants, was trying to show how things are connected. how, many times, there is more than what meets the eye going on before you. Do not accept anything for it's face value. I am sure that you have met many people that say one thing, but mean another. This is the same thing only on a grander scale. Next time that you listen to a news broadcast, a song, watch a movie, pay attention to the way the words are linked together, how things were expressed. even the tone of voice has an effect. Was a person that is normally called by their title referred to as just MR or MRS, the subtle message is that this person should be ignored or not voted for or is guilty of something when they are not ?? Does an actor portraying a specific person or representing an idea placed in unflattering light or dressed subtly different, again, the object is to portray this person in a negative way even though the part the actor is playing is a positive one ?? Sometimes, the complete story line or report is saying one thing while portraying another. How many times have you gone to a movie and felt that the story told when applied against the images displayed was slightly confusing. For example, was the movie 'Saving Private Ryan' realy about the bravery of one group of soldiers, or was it a story about the stupidity of war, The Pentagon, the Government, or was it just another interesting tale to be told, or was it all of the above ?

Sorry about another rant, but I have listened to producers, directors, and writers discuss how they are going to add the subtle nuaunces to get the end effect that they are looking for. I, myself, must plead guilty in sometimes aiding and abedding these people. I would build props that they would order that assisted in getting their propaganda across to an audience. At the time, I did not realize the full impact of what I was doing. I really thought it was all about the story. Eventually, I heard many of these people come right out and express privately what the desired result was to be. So, in a smaller way, I am just as guilty as the rest...........

Dufas,

I loved your comments. Keep ranting as you say. You make some incredibly valuable points.

I am amazed that someone will actually listen to what an old fart has to say....Thank you.....

Rant on dufas. Great stuff!

I don't know what more I can say and stay reasonably close to the Hollywood subject. I do know that most things are connected, many times in unsuspected ways. One can trace the media's infuence into the public's perseption of the Iraqi war, the food we eat, the vehicles we buy, the presidents that we elect... The media lied about the Vietnam war, covered up a multitude of sins by their favorite politicians, plus hundreds of other things that forms the present public concousness.

An off-topic example would be....

Have you ever heard the news media or Hollywood media speak about one of their favorite politicians, Senator Byrd in a negative way ?? Yet, Senator Byrd is a card carrying member of the KLU KLUX KLAN. He is one of the Grand Dragons, heading his particular chapter of the Klan. He lobbyed in congress using the tactic known as the filibuster to block Black civil rights, integration, and the right for Blacks to vote. He belonged to a group of politicians known as the Dixiecrats was in favour of keeping the status quo as far as the old south was concerned. Hollywood says that they are for civil rights for everyone and loudly denounce anyone that stands in the way of said rights, but, the Hollywood elite and the media never mention Senator Byrd's affiliation to the clan and in fact, outright lied in saying it was the conservative politicians that were blocking civil rights. In fact, it was a Republican administration under Pres. Dwight Eisenhower that pushed through the civil rights legislation and the Dixiecrats, who ran the southern states at the time blocked institution of the civil rights laws. The opposite has been told so many times by the media that no one believes the truth anymore..It finaly fell to a Democrat, Pres. Lyndon Johnson to send the troops into the south and force the obeying of the law....

Another media stance is Hollywood's connection with politicians would effect copyrights and patents for new inventions which in turn would cause you, as a consumer, to be denied usefull and important new products and cause people not to pursue their inventions which in turn causes new technology and jobs not to be created.

These media connection postings can cause messages being posted that although connected in many ways to the original theme of the media and control of piracy, the individual subject matter of these posts would seem way off topic to most people. These topics would challange many people's belief systems and flameing would become the norm in here. Truth, many times has a way of destroying people's comfort zone...

I just remembered a media hoax that is non-political yet caused a lot of harm to many people.

Around ten years ago, before the "Let's stamp out SUVs" movement, the news media and Hollywood's aim was to get rid of pickup trucks. The furver didn't reach as high as the anti-SUV roar did, but it was there...

Out of the millions of pickups on the roads and hundreds of accidents that happen, there was 4 Chevy Silverados involved in collisions where the pickups were broad-sided and caught fire. It was determined that the gas tank split and ignited.

NBC news ran a story about the trucks. It was not the usual 1 to 2 minute news blip that usually happens, but a full, in depth story complete with graphics, a Chevy truck exploding on screen, and followed by a searing opinion piece. This was repeated over and over at every news break for several days.

Most people fell for the news story hook, line, and sinker. Chevy truck sales dropped. General Motors stock dropped. There was talk of closing several Chevy truck assembly plants. People may lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, Chevy was crashing their trucks at a rapid pace trying to replicate what was shown on the NBC news broadcast. They couldn't get the trucks to catch fire. While this was going on, a government safety agency was doing the same thing, only the agency was determined to get the trucks off the streets. The agency couldn't get the trucks to ignite either.

General Motors finally went to NBC and asked them to prove their claims. After some haggling and threats by General Motors to pull all the advertising from all NBC stations and affiliats, NBC came clean and admitted that they tried several times to get the trucks to catch fire but failed, so NBC put dynamite under the truck that was filmed and rigged it to explode when the other car broadside it...

NBC only admitted what they did after General Motors threatened to pull millions of dollars from NBC. NBC never admitted to wrong doing, they explained that they did this for dramatic effect.

It was still a lie. It was very, very far from ethical news reporting, in fact it was a staged editorial done to effect the slant that the media wanted the public to see. If they were going to tell the truth, NBC would have stated that they done experiments with truck crashes and determined that Chevy trucks were as safe in this regard as one could expect them to be...

So, who is the bad guy here..NBC or General Motors ??? Real and honest news would allow you to decide. Slanted news directs you to the conclusion that the media wants you to have. It still is about power and control.....

Well, I guess I went and stepped on everybody's comfort zone...

Good stuff dufas. Wasn't there a thing not too long ago, too, when the movie Babe came out, didn't pork sales go way down? What's even more disturbing than the media and movie industry's subtle manipulation of peoples' opinions is the fact that most people are completely ignorant of it. Kinda reminds me of the emperor on Star Wars slowly manipulating the senate into giving him complete control of the galaxy and they all believing it was the for the best "with thunderous applause". Oh crap - there goes a movie influencing my opinion! :D Honestly, though, IMO the two aren't all that dissimilar.

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Well, I guess I went and stepped on everybody's comfort zone...

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No, no at all, dufas.

I think it's just that we all know how corrupt big business is. How self-serving they are. Bold-faced lies mean nothing in the real-world when the payoff is unlimited money and power.

You can be bought and sold. Hell, you are bought and sold. In our hearts, I think we all know this even if we don't consciously think about it every day. Life is too short. We have more immediate needs to attend to. (Like day-to-day survival - rent, food.....)

When congress can be bought with Hollywood's spare change, what chance do you and I have? We have to move on.

P.S. : Do you really think of yourself an "old fart" on his "way out the door" so-to-speak ???

Pish-Posh! Hell, I'm 52 and _still_ can drink most folks under he table!

I think of you as a sweet 'ol Gandalf (Lord Of The Rings); a wizened old gentleman with more life experiences than most young whipper-snappers today can shake a stick at!!! :=)

[This is a depiction of dufas.....(er).... Gandalf fending off the Evil Hollywood Monster]:

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P.S. : Do you really think of yourself an "old fart" on his "way out the door" so-to-speak ???

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Off topic.....

It's all a point of view and at risk of sounding like I am whining..... I am only 63, but after a motorcycle accident at around 110 MPH, another accident, industrial this time where a load of steel I-beams was hit by an overhead crane and I happened to be in the way, a stroke or something [ the doctors are still arguing ] where, for a short period of time, I couldn't walk, I had to crawl around the floor to get from place to place. I can walk now, but I look like a drunken sailer... My short term memory is shot and I am dizzy most of the time. To type out one of these messages takes around a half an hour because I have to figure out which letter to use on the keyboard which in turn, sometimes screws up my spelling...These are some of the dis-advantages..

The advantages are that instead of being so wrapped up in my own life, I have the luxury of setting back and seeing what is going on around me, I have the time to analyse what is really going on or what is said. Before, life was going by so fast that when I heard or saw something,and unleess it was blatently displayed right in front of me, I, like so many others, just accepted things at face value..

I am not feeling sorry for my self, I have seen many people who are in much worse shape than I, but, along those lines, I have also seen a lot of people who think they are in worse shape than anyone else when, in, reality, they have it made...

Not long ago, it was announced that we must pour millions of dollars to help the homeless, This was a Martin Sheen project, and it is good to help others in need. Sheen and the group he is in bed with announced that 42 homeless people die every second and that this has been going on for years. I used to take a statment like that at it's face value and help out when I could. Now, with the time to stop and think, I realized that using the numbers that the Sheen group and the government used, every person in the America would be dead in 4.53 years using the population figures at the time of the group's announcement... Not one of the brain trusts that different government agencies or private corporations either picked up on this or questioned the stated figures..And what happened to the donated monies, there are still homeless on the streets......

Another quicky might be that swoopy new car that you can buy.. The dealer or the manufacturer will give you a $5,000 rebate if you rush out right now and buy their car. Unless you pay cold cash for that new set of wheels, that rebate is nothing more than a loan. They are selling you a $25,000 car. You sign a contract for $25,000 plus taxes and license fees. You will recieve a check for $5.000. You pay back $25,000 plus interest. It's a loan, not a rebate. The real screwing comes when the car dealer talks some 'dufas' [he he] into using the rebate for a downpayment. Now, the buyer has not only mistaken a loan for a rebate, but has turned around and gave the money back to the very people that scammed him in the first place. They loan someone $5,000 and then that someone hands the money back to the people that loaned him the money in the first place. The car dealer just made an extra $5,000 on the car deal. The buyer thinks that this cut the price of the car down to $20,000, but he signed a note to repay $25,000..

There are furniture, large appliance companies, plus many other businesses that do the same thing. An $800 refridgerator ends up costing around $1,000....A new living room suite costing $1,500 ends up going out the door for $2,000................

So, some times it is good to take the time to smell the roses..

That's why we small joe schmoes must look out for each other. We try, at least in here, in regards to video issues, to help each other from being taken to the cleaners.

Knowledge is power, and you can find a lot of knowledge in here if you're wise enough to heed it. (Being selective helps a bit too). We have a cross-section of ALL ages, backgrounds, philosphies, abilities, egos and hopes in these pages.

Enjoy yourself, dufus. Type slowly, think lots, and if you can, don't let us get sucked into the clutches of those who would control us for personal gain.

(Boys oh boys! That sure sounds like a lotta cornball hookey, don't it?)

<But it's still true.....> :)

RE: MAN_ pain page 2
DELTA-9

If you'll take your cranium out of your arse for two seconds I've got a message for you:

KISS MY MOSTLY HAIRY WHITE BUTT!!

By your post it's obvious you're a Brit. How sad. The only reason your little country isn't the smallest province in the Nazi empire, or singing the Soviet National Anthem everyday, is America's ability to crush and destroy BRITAIN's enemies.

Not only that, we put our cities at risk nuclear annihilation to protect yours every day for FORTY years. You ungrateful little nimrod.

It was the stupidity, inaction and cowardice of YOUR country's leaders (and France's) which allowed Hitler to nearly take over the world. And, just as in 1918, we had to pull your nuts out of the fire.

More Americans were killed protecting England than English people were killed by Nazi bombs, rockets and cruise missiles.

GET A CLUE YOU MORON! Try reading a history book. Sir John Keegan has authored many that will educate your illiterate ***.

The ONLY reason you are a free man/wo--, excuse me-- boy/girl today is because Americans were willing to travel, in some cases 5000 and 6000 miles, to protect YOUR country.

Your assinine comments spit on the grave of not only every American who died to save England, but upon their Royal Army comrades whom they have fought side by side in WWI, WWII, Korea, the Cold War and now against Islamofascism.

Not to mention all the intelligence and satellite photos we gave you during the Falklands War!

As for copyright insanity, it was BRITISH law that crushed DVD Decrypter, NOT American. See Parliament about that, bud. Give a knock on 10 Downing Street and see Mr. Blair. Why don't you take care of the problems in your homeland before vomiting your juvenile bilge on mine?

Idiots like you almost make me ashamed that English blood flows in my veins. Clearly most of the best genetic material came across the Atlantic before 1776.

What an ******* you are!
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By your post it's obvious you're a Brit...
well no i am not a brit i am australian funny you shoud mention NAZI's coz i am from solid german desent and proud of it i love my blue eyes pure aryan blood... and you focking americans can kiss my sour crout smelling ass. we shoud have won the war and ruled supreme where all files are for " the mother land" to be shared free for all. even bully americans, with there pay off you scratch my back ill scratch yours diplomacy, i spit in you face white trash traler park red necks.military wanna be's you ar not power full you cant even stop a few arabs , from turning you in to the biggest fools in history... wanna impress me with you great military power go find osama... you make me laugh i am glad my great grand father was a good shot. pitty he is not still around.

Another hate America chant. Ok...while granted I am an American and I did not vote for George Bush myself..lets just calm it down just a little. I am not going to go on a lets make fun of Great Britian chant. I am not going to start talking about how Scotland wants independence... how you are taxed to death... how you are as socialist as one could get... how we bailed you out in World War II and the Nazi flag would fly over London if it was not for America. Now this is not excuse for some of the nasty things America has done but... what I am saying is no one is perfect lol

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all i can say is this little tinpot island (UK) - while not one race as we are a hodge-podge of different races since Britain came to be, has resisted being brought down to the level of other countries thus far, ie the evil that goes on in other countries has only just come to our shores. It's certainly not down to any other countries that i am proud to be British even though i'm of mixed race myself, ie it is down to the British nation as a whole (not American or anyone else) that i am proud to live on a small island that survived various wars. My ancestors ie the Saxons or whoever the hell i am descendant from, were a damn sight less evil than societies we all live in today. As for the aryan comments, lets not go there. why the hell can't people live together instead of all the small minded bigotry that goes on

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If you people don't soon get your shit together and STOP with the hate posts, I will DEACTIVATE your membership.

Take your rants and loathing SOMEWHERE ELSE! I will not tolerate it in here.

The next person to slur another member-- I don't give a damn where you are from -- YOU WILL BE BANNED.

You know who you are, and you have been duly warned.

-- A_Klingon --

My wife reminded me.., [she's always reminding me of something or other], anyway, just after we moved out of the Hollwood area, far out of the area, I got a call to do some work for a studio. They stated that everyone else is busy and they were in the middle of a shoot and needed some items built fast. After telling me that a bonus will be paid..[I guess I could be bought...], I agreed to come back to Hollywood and stay for a short time until the project was finished. Instead of putting me up at a hotel/motel, they had made arrangements for me to stay at one of the studio's employee's home. This was one of the lessor important people that work for the studio.I was to sleep on a folding bed in the living room. I figured that the employee was getting a couple of bucks extra on the side for putting me up.

The second night that I was there, the phone rang around 3 AM. Since the phone was in the living room, it woke me up right away. After 4 or 5 more rings, my host awoke and came out to answer it. I could not help but overhear my host's half of the converstion. He was saying things like "Now?,...Do I really have to?,.....Are you sure you don't have any?,.....Damn it, alright,..but it might take a while..." and he hung up and went back to his room. A few minutes later, he came out of his room. He was in an obvious hurry, his clothes was just thrown on, he looked over at me as he went to the front door, said it was an emergency and he was sorry about me being awakened and he left.

He didn't come back till around sunrise. I was already up, dressed and getting ready to go to the studio's shop when he came in. I thought he had taken care of a real emergancy, but, after a few questions, I found out that some studio big wig called him out of bed just to get a pack of cigerettes. The reason that it took so long is that the big mucky-up only smokes some imported Italian brand and nothing else. So this hapless employee had to drive all over Hollwood and part of LA to find a store that was open early in the morning who carries that particular brand of smokes. This was when cigarettes cost around 50 cents a pack, the Italian cigs cost $3.50 a pack.

I asked him if he got repaid for the cigarettes, I asked him if he got any money for gas, I asked him if he was handed any money for his time or in gratitude for getting the cigs. He answered nope to all questions. I asked him if the studio is paying him for letting me stay at his house. He said that he wasn't and further probing revealed that he was ordered to put me up.

Since I was not under any contractual obligations to the studio, I called them up and told them that they can get someone else to do their work. When asked why, I told them that I decided that I do not care for their ethics and oppressive attitude. The voice on the phone said I would never work in Hollywood again, I agreed with him, hung up and left for home.

Why relate this story. I think it shows the way the studios look down their noses at everyday people. They have no ethics at all. The only time they even think about 'all the people in the audience' is when they are trying to get you to buy tickets, other that that, you are in their way......

Whoops.

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Pain_Man ;

I know how easy it is to become infuriated by someone who blatantly defies everything you believe in, but I'm going to ask you (politely) to please not flame as you have done earlier.

If you'll notice, Delta-9 is no longer a part of our little group, so there will be no further antagonism from his quarter, and you have made enough thoughtful insights in here that I would, frankly, like to see you around for awhile.

(Thnx). -- Mike --

P.S.: I am a Canuk, and to tell you the truth, I am mightily fond of BOTH Brits _ & _ Yanks !

dufas:

It's funny you should mention James Garner of 'The Rockford Files' about 523 posts ago <gg>.

Yeah, he got screwed royally by his network while creating one of the best prime-time shows ever for them, (talk about 'biting the hand that feeds you), but...

I believe Mr. Garner got back at them. He sued their asses off and you know? He got an acceptable out-of-court settlement from them!

Good for James! (There's not too many success stories in the entertainment biz). James has always been one of my all-time favourite actors.

(What all of this has to do with "Raids in Internet Piracy Crackdowns" I have NO idea, but what-the-hell?) :-)

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(What all of this has to do with "Raids in Internet Piracy Crackdowns" I have NO idea, but what-the-hell?) :-)te]

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It has to do with the hypocrisy, the lack of ethics that the studios, the media, the Hollywood types as it were. They have always felt that it is completely within their rights to steal, cheat, or otherwise screw anyone that they want to, but woe be it on anyone that may take advantage of them. It is now and always has been about power and control...by them over anyone they see fit....If the mrdia has their way, they would tell you which hand that you can use to wipe your ass and whether you can use paper or not and even when......

I have seen them up close and personal, and as I have stated previously, one can trust a sreet gang further than the Hollywood elite......

News item concerning Microsoft and Digital Media Rights and how the studios won't be pushed around....a little insight about the money...


July 17, 2005 latimes.com : Business
Microsoft Courts Hollywood Allies
# Humbled by Apple's success in music, the tech giant mends fences with the film world as it tries to conquer the home entertainment market.

By Joseph Menn, Times Staff Writer

REDMOND, Wash. — When Apple Computer Inc. transformed the digital music scene in April 2003 by selling songs over the Internet, the richest man in the world was not amused.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates had struggled for a decade to get his software into consumers' home entertainment systems. Now the digital media party was finally starting, and he wasn't invited.


But the blow gave Gates new insight, motivation and some needed humility — and it intensified work on what might prove the turning point in his quest to extend Microsoft's supremacy from the office into the living room.

Just weeks after Apple's seismic announcement, Gates and new AOL Time Warner Inc. Chairman Richard Parsons settled America Online's claim that Microsoft had crushed its Netscape software subsidiary with illegal monopolistic behavior.

More important, Gates and others said in recent interviews, the settlement led to a new relationship that has changed the course of Microsoft's fractious dealings with Hollywood. Since then, the Warner Bros. studio has guided its movie industry peers in quietly meeting Microsoft halfway on a range of contentious issues, setting the stage for the software giant to play gatekeeper for the home video business of the future.

The alliance with what is now Time Warner Inc. "is quite an amazing thing, given that they had a lawsuit against us and we were really mostly in conflict," Gates said in a recent interview. "We have a great, ongoing dialogue with them, including them guiding us on the concerns of other content companies."

Gates' battle to succeed in video where he failed in music is far from over. For one thing, the movie studios and television broadcasters are more prone to internal disagreement than were the record companies when Apple signed them up. That makes it trickier for Microsoft to forge content deals.

What's more, movie producers are under less financial pressure to rush to a download world: Unlike music sales, which have been declining, DVD revenue is still growing, although more slowly than it once did.

Even if they stick together, the content creators may stand pat, place their bets with multiple technology partners or choose someone other than Gates. In particular, few in Hollywood would be shocked to see Apple founder Steve Jobs pull another rabbit out of his hat, unveiling a perfectly thought-out system for moving paid video to computers and portable devices.

Meanwhile, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. already are getting users to contribute video to their sites for others to watch. And Time Warner's AOL is finally taking advantage of its parent's premium content, this month promising online video from Warner Bros., HBO and broadcast television.

Yet after investing billions of dollars and working doggedly behind the scenes, Microsoft executives are predicting visible results within a year.

"We'll see a broader range of movies available for both rental and ownership" via the Internet, Gates said from his corner office. And he said those movies would become available much sooner in their life cycle, "closer to the pay-per-view-type release date."

The pact with Time Warner called for Microsoft to pay $750 million in compensation for its misdeeds and for the two companies — until then mainly rivals in selling Internet access — to collaborate on ways to keep video from being copied indiscriminately. Parsons later directed Time Warner to join with Microsoft in buying a combined majority stake in ContentGuard, which holds patents on anti-copying techniques.

Walt Disney Co. was so concerned about missing out that it called Microsoft and asked for a similar alliance in writing, minus the cash. And the other studios are coming along, spurred by Gates' chats with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other industry captains, many of them at the annual media conference held by investment bank Allen & Co.

Hollywood negotiators say the key has been Microsoft's realization that it can't dictate terms the way it has with computer makers. After it was left in the dust by Apple's iTunes, they say, Microsoft's arrogance evaporated.

"They get it better than they used to," said one studio's new-media executive, who like others declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of negotiations. "They're trying to learn lessons from their failure on the music side, where Apple blew them out of the water."

Perhaps the most significant fruit emerged a year ago with the formation of a group that is close to finishing a rights-management system for high-definition video. Backers of the Advanced Access Content System, known as AACS, include tech firms Microsoft, Intel Corp. and IBM Corp.; media companies Warner Bros. and Disney; and consumer electronics companies Panasonic, Toshiba and Sony, which also makes movies.

Microsoft digital media chief Amir Majidimehr said AACS, which uses pieces of technology from Microsoft and other companies, would allow some content to be moved around within a home network, such as from a computer to a television.

The system would also allow the AACS group to reach into the house and change software if the system got hacked to produce unauthorized copies. That's a level of control rarely seen before the latest video game consoles.

But such control may alienate customers, analysts warn. Indeed, some consumer advocates complain that Microsoft is giving veto power over new technology to the risk-averse entertainment industry. Especially disturbing, they say, is the idea of buying a device that does something, only to have a piece of restricted content disable that feature later with a forced software "upgrade."

"The warning I'd like to see is: 'Here are all the things that can be removed from this device if someone somewhere does something naughty, and the studios decide to punish the innocent,' " said Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Microsoft and other technology companies are saying that the person who makes the record should be able to design the record players, and we have never given that power to copyright holders."

Gates said that such compromises were essential for drawing more content into the digital realm and that standard practices would emerge.

"Can I use it, can I lend it to my friend, can I use it in my summer home, what can I do with it? That's got to be clear," he said.

Controversy or no, AACS will be included in HD DVD, one of the two high-definition successor formats to DVDs. The competing format, Blu-ray, may follow suit.

For the negotiations with Hollywood, Microsoft last summer hired Blair Westlake, a longtime home video and television executive at Universal. Westlake advocated for some of the studios' concerns within Microsoft, said Disney Executive Vice President Salil Mehta, which made the people in Redmond "more cooperative."

Microsoft has even agreed to make architecture changes in its next-generation Windows operating system and is modifying its policy positions in Washington. Although the company previously opposed laws that would require anti-copying technology, for example, Westlake now says some might be appropriate.

Microsoft has reason to play nice. Its future depends on developing new uses for computers. As more PC users see their current machines as good enough for everyday computing needs, they delay buying new ones, which depresses Microsoft's sales. But if PCs could become true family entertainment centers, that would kick-start sales.

"It's important to us to get the content available," Gates said. Without the studios' work, "our platforms aren't very interesting."

Taking studios' copyright concerns seriously by working on AACS was one step to reassure Hollywood skeptics. Another came after Microsoft developed a technique for compressing large video files for easy transmission.

Facing suspicion that its VC-1 technology might give it too much control, Microsoft turned over the authority to license VC-1 to the same group that administers licenses for the industry-standard MPEG digital video format. That move won it enough backing from consumer electronics companies that makers of both HD DVD and Blu-ray players will support Microsoft's technology.

Another sign that Microsoft is loosening its tight control over technology has been its willingness to negotiate where consumers can move their content within the home and even how they move it within their computers.

Fashioned with considerable input from Hollywood, the forthcoming Longhorn version of Windows will allow rights-management tools made by Microsoft and others to keep video encrypted as it moves around inside the PC and stop it from leaving the home network.

"They can feel a sense of ownership of how it got pulled together," Gates said of the studios and broadcasters. "When we say to them, 'Hey, please make more content available,' obviously we need to be able to listen to what their concerns are."

Among the trickier remaining goals for Microsoft is making it easy for people to watch cable television on Media Center PCs, or computers based on a special edition of Windows that are designed to be used in living rooms as home entertainment centers. Some cable companies see Microsoft as an emerging competitor and aren't cooperating, instead offering their subscribers advanced recording functions in an effort to make cable-equipped TVs a more compelling choice than Media Center PCs.

Gates' longer-term plan involves a technology known as IPTV, or Internet protocol television. With that, Microsoft can circumvent the cable firms and deal with their rivals, the phone companies.

Some studios say they will be reluctant to give the phone companies much IPTV content if it will be locked into Microsoft's format and can't be transferred to devices relying on other protection schemes.

"I don't want my customers to have to pick a technology before they can pick content," said Mitch Singer, a Sony Pictures executive vice president and key negotiator.

Although Microsoft is seen as having a more complete technology for IPTV than rivals, the first large phone company trials of its system have been delayed because of quality issues.

But the content owners are watching IPTV's progress closely, Gates said. "They'll often say to us, 'Well, how many households, and in what year?,' and at this point nobody knows the exact number. But over the next five years, it will be definitely many tens of millions."

In the best case for Microsoft, Gates said, the phone companies will invest so much that the cable companies get nervous and invest in IPTV as well.

Whichever way it shakes out, Gates vows not to play the victim in "Son of iPod."

After learning a hard lesson in the digital music business, "we're really having to work more closely with partners in the hardware industry and content industry, to really think through the whole end-to-end experience and make it better," Gates said. "That's where we've done our mea culpa. We are fixing that."

It's all so Orwell-ean in nature, isn't it?

(I'm very proud of you for what you did whilst in the home of that fellow who was ordered to buy smokes for some dipshit executive. I hope he didn't get fired for hosting you, a "rabble-rouser".) :=) Very little I hear or read about today regarding Hollywood's rampant lack of ethics surprises me though. They're thoroughly corrupt, bogus, and full of more kinds of s--t than you can find in a barnyard.

Sooner or later, dufas, someone is going to nail Micro$oft'$ b---s to the floor for doing this. If HD-DVD is going to contain these restrictions, you can bet your bottom Peso that the entire, world-wide network of hackers, reverse-engineering experts and others, are going to spend 24-hours a day in trying to defeat it.

When released, I'm going to look very l-o-n-g and hard at these formats before I ever plunk a nickle down.

A_Klingon...................

I never saw or heard from the studio little guy again. I have wondered if anything happened to him, but I thought it best not to contact anyone anymore. It all left a bad taste....

If anyone is interested in how the studios, both movie and music, screw the people that is supposed to get paid for their work or investments, I suggest that they go to http://www.hollywoodnetwork.com/Law/Hart/columns/ and read about the unorthodox accounting procedures that the studios use to figure net profits, which, by the way, usually end up being ZERO......

Remember..it's about power and money.............

Studios trying to market religion in order to make up for sagging audience...............

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Directors, studio executives and marketing experts have been seeking to entice an audience that made its power felt with "Passion," according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

"Mel Gibson did us a service," said Bob Waliszewski, a media specialist with Focus on the Family, an evangelical group.

"The Hollywood elites' eyes widened big time. They said, 'I thought the church was dead. Is it possible that we don't know what's happening in state after state.' And the answer is a resounding yes."

There are an estimated 30 million evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the U.S., and Hollywood -- mired in a prolonged slump at the box office -- is making a concerted effort to mollify and attract that audience.

Actor Peter Sarsgaard said that while shooting the Disney thriller "Flightplan," he was told to strike the word "Jesus" from his dialogue; the directors didn't want him to "take the Lord's name in vain."

Focus on the Family was one of about 30 groups invited to see an early trailer of Disney's "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on C.S. Lewis' works, which Christian groups regard as an allegory of Christ's Resurrection.

Jonathan Bock, who founded Grace Hill Media to specialize in Christian marketing, was hired to help promote "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Cinderella Man" and is advising Sony on "The Da Vinci Code," based on a novel that challenges basic Christian dogma.

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie steal a neighbor's car in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," a crucifix is seen hanging from the rear-view mirror. And in the next scene the two wear borrowed jackets that read "Jesus Rocks."

"We decided to make the next-door neighbor, whose crucifix it is, be hip, young, cool Christians," the movie's director, Doug Liman, told the New York Times news service. "It's literally in there for no other reason than I thought: 'This is cool.'"

Universal Studios screened the movie "Ray" for church groups as a way to build positive "buzz" for the film by word of mouth; the director had alread expurgated the script to mollify the film's backer, Philip Anschutz.

Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Pictures, said the Christian audience is "a well-formed community, it's identifiable, it has very specific tastes and preferences and is therefore a group that can be located and directly marketed

And the industries wonders why people download 600.00 meg crappy avi's of movies that people use a camera to make pirated copies. I would not pay 50.00 for my family to go see such crap they put out.

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