The ones you cry because you are watching a frail but spirited Ray Bradbury sing the praises of his longtime friend Ray Harryhausen as the latter gets a star placed on Hollywood Blvd.

The crowd was small, but packed with people from every creative part of the film industry. Forrest J. Ackerman, Rick Baker, James Cameron and animation guys of every stripe cheered as Ray's movies were listed.

The most fun was telling people wandering by what was going on...although few people knew him by name, almost everyone of every age remembered Sinbad's skeletons.

Frank Darabont (director of Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile)told a story about asking Tom Hanks why he had wanted to become an actor. Tom replied that as a boy, when he saw Sinbad fighting those skeletons he knew that was exactly what he wanted to grow up and do.

Ray H. looks strong ang robust and it was a great event.

What Are Real Geek Tears?

A good interview with a good musician, albeit one that is only admired by the dregs of society, like hackers! Lesbians! Lesbian hackers!

Excerpt:
In "Serpentine" you say, "I've been around the world now/ and I can say this about America:/ The mind control is steep here/ the myopia is deep here." What do you mean by mind control in that song?

I'm not really that well traveled. I've just been a few places. I exaggerate. I form big opinions based upon small bits of knowledge. [Laughs.] One thing that is great about traveling so much is learning about where you come from. We all speak from our own perspectives, but I think the American tendency is to be very ethnocentric. I began to experience it as a kid growing up, learning history from the perspective of the elite ruling class. As I travel around, I've begun to realize that there's a way of looking at it where America is a pretty big evil empire that is trying to carry out an imperialist program in the world. And we're becoming very hated and we have very little awareness of it because we're so saturated with corporate propaganda. I keep trying to explain to people outside America, "No, we're not all evil. We're just ignorant."

At least she doesn't have to worry about the radio stations not playing her music because of this interview, since Clear Channel stations don't normally play her music at all...

Salon Interview with Ani DiFranco

] A report from the front lines of the real culture wars

] Learn how corporations use 'statutory damages' as a
] secret weapon to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars
] from people who are 'guilty until proven innocent'. YOU
] COULD BE NEXT!

] WILLFUL INFRINGEMENT was produced on digital video, is 58
] minutes long, in color and stereo. It is available only
] on DVD and comes with over 45 minutes of bonus material
] including an interactive discussion guide for educators
] and exclusive 'Mickey & Me' sidebar video.

From the preview clip it does look worth the view.

Willful Infringement

] EVANSTON, Illinois (AP) -- Richard Cusack, an advertising
] executive turned actor and screenwriter whose children
] included Hollywood stars John and Joan Cusack, has died
] at 77.
]
] Cusack, who died of pancreatic cancer Monday, abandoned a
] 17-year successful advertising career in 1970 to enter
] the film industry.

CNN.com - Richard Cusack dead at 77 - Jun. 3, 2003

] "They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell
] you. Meat made the machines."
]
] "That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're
] asking me to believe in sentient meat."
]
] "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are
] the only sentient race in that sector and they're made
] out of meat."
]
] "Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based
] intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
]
] "Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied
] them for several of their life spans, which didn't take
] long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?"

Before The Matrix, There was Only Meat

] LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. Pictures'
] "The Matrix: Reloaded" made box office history this
] weekend as the highly anticipated sequel chambered an
] estimated $93.3 million during the three-day session and
] a staggering $135.8 million since its release late
] Wednesday night.
]
] Numerous records were shattered at the box office in
] North America, but a select few remained intact as the
] record books had to be downloaded and adjusted to
] accommodate the massive assault by "Reloaded,"
] co-produced with Village Roadshow.
]
] As expected, the opening weekend gross vaporized the
] record for the biggest opening by an R-rated film,
] effortlessly besting MGM's "Hannibal" ($58 million). The
] Keanu Reeves starrer, helmed and written by brothers
] Larry and Andy Wachowski, racked up the second-biggest
] three-day weekend ever, behind Sony's "Spider-Man"
] ($114.8 million), which was released on a Friday without
] previews. The first four days of "Reloaded" is likely to
] be bigger than the same time frame for the webbed one
] ($125.9 million) even without the grosses from Wednesday
] night previews -- marking the biggest first four days in
] history.

I foresee the hacker culture suddenly becoming very mainstream...

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

] I was sure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated
] "hacking scene".
] Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She
] whips out Nmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open,
] and proceeds with an über ssh technique! I was so surprised,
] I almost jumped out of my seat and did the "r00t dance"
] right there in the theatre!
]
] There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the
] hots for me!

OK, if Fyodor gets Carie-Anne can I have her Ducati?

Nmap Hackers: Whoa!

] "What we heard back from him (Rosenberg) was that Eminem
] was fine with me having the parody on my album but said
] he was afraid that a Weird Al video might detract from
] his legacy, that it would somehow make people take him
] less seriously as an important hip-hop artist," Yankovic
] said.

Oh come on! Al's done parody videos of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Coolio, Dire Straits - and Eminem is afraid it's going to "detract from his legacy"? Even Kurt Cobain said "I knew we made it as a band when I saw the Weird Al parody on MTV." I'm firmly convinced that Eminem, whose name sounds like a candy, for chrissakes, takes himself much too seriously.

Yahoo! LAUNCH - News: Weird Al Disappointed Eminem Nixed Video