…overpower. Well I wonder how many people in Australia knew about or would even care that at approximately 9.45am on 04 February 2010, The Hon. Justice Dennis Cowdroy passed a judgement in the Federal Court whose impact will be felt across this world. The case that he most brilliantly passed on judgement on was a landmark case both here in the land down under, but also across the world. Never had an ISP been accused of “authorising copyright infringement”. In November 2008, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) launched this action on behalf of 34 of the world’s biggest entertainment companies against Australia’s third largest ISP iiNet.

When I first heard that this was happening I was shocked and concerned; the concern not solely being that iiNet is my ISP but the effects that this case would have on the internet itself. The following year and some change had many reports from the action inside the court. Reports of intense cross-examination of parties from both sides. Wild accusations. Absurd infererences were made. Laughable attempts to discredit. Amazingly deluded assertions put forth. And to all of these, defences were made. After hearing through website updates that the judgement had resulted in the case being dismissed, I was elated, but concern was still there. Concern that, despite this good first step in this debate, the industry AFACT represent will appeal and appeal and then appeal again. And finally, will they end up lobbying the Australian Government? Already I am tempted to swing my vote if Conroy gets his outrageously misguided internet filter place. If AFACT and the interests they represent start to lobby and sway the government my vote will go elsewhere. But back to the judgement.

After a while the full judgement was posted on the federal court’s website and its a huge bitch. It is fascinating reading. Two hundered odd pages of responses to the aforementioned claims were comprehensively (and sometimes complex-y) responded to. It is a great read and you can view it (if you dare *queue 80’s horror theme*) right here. The judgement really highlighted the enormity of the case. There are films listed at the end that were a part of AFACT’s ‘investigation’ that I do believe I may or may not have possibly most likely perhaps could have definitely downloaded and or acquired. Of course, they were deleted. Justice Cowdroy’s detailed responses are awesome. It blew me away how much knowledge he would have had to have in order to confidently respond to AFACT. Sucked in AFACT.

Fast forward to now and it looks like AFACT have indeed lodged an appeal. This appeal will be held August 02 to 05 before three new judges. Lets hope these ones uphold Cowdroy’s initial judgement and slam AFACT into submission. Be very interesting to see how the appeal goes.

Oh and before you sue me for not updating my site for over 9000 days, please think of the children.

take them damn ear muffs off!

Well the Oscars have been and gone and once again the five best picture nominated films grossed about a quarter of the film that sat atop the box office all year. A film’s takings at the box office rarely means anything when it comes to the Oscars. If that were the case Spider-Man 3 would have won it in ‘07, the third Pirates movie in ‘06, Revenge of the Sith in ‘05 and Shrek 2 in ‘04. I am basing these on the domestic grosses in the USA. In fact, the last box office winner to have won the best picture Oscar was The Return of the King in ‘03. Prior to that it was Saving Private Ryan (’98) and Titanic (’97). That was a long time between drinks for those who created some of the most loved and viewed movies of all time.

While it seems almost comical that these hugely popular movies rarely, if ever, get the prestigious awards such as Best Director, Film, etc. I must point out I am not saying I would have wanted Spider-Man 3 or Revenge of the Sith to win it in their year of release. Fuck no. The disparity between box office and critical success is highlighted every single year. In many ways the Academy has created a multitude of awards to honour films with the size and weight of the ones mentioned earlier. I speak of the more technical Oscars such as Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects. The 2009 Oscars has thrown up an enormous upset, in my eyes, with the winner of Best Sound going to Slumdog Millionaire.

The much maligned George Lucas once said that sound is 50% of a motion picture. Never before has this comment been so true, especially in these days of multi-channel surround sound, home theatres and high definition. What astounds me is how a film like The Dark Knight can be ignored for the two most prestigious awards (Director / Film). This is simply outrageous. While I am not saying it was the best film, it certainly deserved a nomination. While I managed to accept that it was par for the Oscar course, I was shocked when it was overlooked for best sound.

Over the past ten years these films have won one or both of best sound mixing or editing: The Bourne Ultimatium (both), Dreamgirls (mixing), Letters from Iwo Jima (editing), King Kong (both), Ray (mixing), The Incredibles (editing), Return of the King (both), Chicago (mixing), The Two Towers (editing), Black Hawk Down (both), Gladiator (mixing), U-571 (editing), The Matrix (both) and Saving Private Ryan (both). Anyone noticing a pattern here? With the exception of Dreamgirls, Ray and Chicago – all MUSICals, I might add – the winners have all come from that most popular of genres, the event films. Or the big budget movies that critics love to scoff at. The tentpole pictures that prop up their self-gratifying, self indulgent pieces of meritless art.

I think that list proves without a shadow of a doubt that the worthy winners are those that require incredible amounts of sound effect recording, mixing, processiong and attention to detail. Each sound effect in a mult-channel mix is manually positioned – it has to be, so as to create the spatial positioning. This is an astonishing achievement by all films, even moreso by those filled with thousands of orcs, frenetic action set pieces and life like concert performances. But not this year.

No, this year, the academy gave Best Sound to Slumdog Millionaire. Its quite remarkable. I have yet to see the movie, and from those who know who have, and loved it, none of them, not one single person, can put a finger on the ’sound’ being all that remarkable. Sure, the music has been mentioned, but not the sound. What I fail to understand is where the Academy is coming from with this award. Last year The Bourne Ultimatum won, beating out No Country for Old Men, which for me, was one of those critically acclaimed movies that had one of the greatest sound mixes ever. So I am more than happy to stand corrected in regards to Slumdog.

I just think the decision to not nominate The Dark Knight for the two big awards, and then fail it by not recognising its technical superiority, its a slap in the face for all those involved. Thankfully, movies like The Dark Knight are critic-proof. Critics mean fuck all for movies that have a mass appeal, that can reach an audience hundreds of times the size of those arrogance-infested, holier-than-thou, pretentious, uppity wanker-cinemas like Nova. Bah humbug.