… A strange, enigmatic and decadent white diplomat arrives in central Africa, looking like a mixture of Henry Stanley and Karl Lagerfeld.

He has recently bought an ambassadorship and claims to be a do-good rich business man, who has come to spearhead a diplomatic mission.

Officially he is there to start a factory that produces matches – this, to employ locals and teach how to make this simple piece of fire-making equipment.

Unofficially he is really there to gain access to vast reserves of diamonds.The Ambassador is a genre-breaking, tragic comedy about the bizarre world of African diplomacy. …

‘The Ambassador’ Trailer – Lars von Trier’s Production Company Explores African Diplomacy In Sundance

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Something like Hunter S Thompson doing an expose on government corruption in Africa.

You can buy an Ambassadorship for around $40,000, then use diplomatic immunity to transport illbooten gotty across borders.

Hilary Rosen … is an American lobbyist and Democratic pundit. She worked for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 16 years where she was CEO from 1998 to 2003. …

CEO of the hated RIAA during the years I hated the RIAA most?

I have to assume Hilary Rosen is an idiot.

Having never heard of her before this, she certainly sounds an idiot.

Rosen on Cancer survivor Ann Romney:

… Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. …

Ann Romney via Twitter:

I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.

Here’s the misspeak on Anderson Cooper 360:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch an overview of the story on YouTube.

I’m quick to link when Republicans like Rush Limbaugh do something this stupid. This is the dumbest thing Hilary Rosen ever said out loud, and as CEO of the RIAA, she said a lot of very stupid things.

… I’m still backing Romney over Obama, by the way. But I don’t have much faith in either one.

(via Kottke)

related – alternative titles for Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film that was eventually named, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Lawyer / lobbyists sell their souls for money.

Everybody knows it. … So why does anyone believe a word they say?

Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

Rob Reid is a humor author and the founder of the company that created the music subscription service Rhapsody.

TED Talks – Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

Click PLAY or watch it on TED.

(via Michael Geist)

… Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership. …

LA Times

They gave one token woman, Kathryn Bigelow, an Academy Award for directing “The Hurt Locker.”

What are those feminists complaining about?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Randy Ericksen on Facebook)

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that this year’s Academy Awards will amount to a shootout between “Hugo,” with 11 nominations, and “The Artist,” with 10. Fittingly, they are two movies inspired by love of movie history, the first about the inventor of the cinema, the second about the transition from silent films to talkies. …

Outguess Ebert on the Oscars

I admire The Artist. It’s brave and well-done.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube. (pre-roll ad)

Ebert:

Best actor: I was all wound up to select George Clooney for “The Descendants,” but some last-minute instinct leads me to Jean Dujardin, as “The Artist.” …

Dujardin is excellent as is his co-star Bérénice Bejo, wife of director Michel Hazanavicius.

She’s nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

The Artist probably will win. But I don’t rank it anywhere near the best Best Pictures all time.

It’s OK.

To celebrate the launch of the all-new 2012 CR-V, Honda brought Ferris Bueller’s Day Off back in a big game commercial. We cast Matthew Broderick as himself, skipping out on a day of acting work and living it up in his all-new CR-V. Relive movie history with Honda’s fresh twist and wonderful homage to this ’80s classic.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

There is a behind-the-scenes campaign underway to bring laws such as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the United States northward, warns a noted Canadian digital policy expert. …

The expert is Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. He’s my most trusted source on this issue.

The Conservative government under Harper is tempted by corporate lobbyists — but caves quickly as soon the Canadian public becomes aware of dirty tricks.

Geist is not completely against the latest version — Bill 11 … Here’s a succinct summary of the legislation currently under consideration.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

And here’s a list of organizations opposed to the “digital lock”.

The old music industry is dying. Something new will be taking its place. We want the NEXT music industry to be better, not worse to what we’ve had in the past.

(via strombo)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.