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today is Sharon Stone

Hollywood to Sell Digital Films Online

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood studios will start selling digital versions of films such as 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'King Kong' on the Internet this week, the first time major movies have been available online to own.

The films can't be burned onto a disc for viewing on a DVD player. Still, the move is seen as a step toward full digital distribution of movies over the Internet.

Six studios said Monday that sales will begin through the download Web site Movielink. The site is jointly owned by five of the seven major studios."

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Bloomberg, Bambaataa, Etc.

Bloomberg, Bambaataa, Etc.
FILE UNDER: City Hall, Mike Bloomberg

Wearing a dark pinstripe suit, open white shirt, mirror sunglasses and braided pony tail, Ice-T walked into the Blue Room for his City Hall press conference. 'We were here lobbyin for movie stuff and we got it,' he boasted to a gaggle of political reporters. When the Mayor arrived, welcoming everyone to City Hall 'or my crib as I like to call it,' Ice-T moved behind him, puffing out his chest and clenching his fists by his hips in a tough guy pose. Def Jam founder and Bloomberg campaigner Russell Simmons, ('my man Russell,' as the Mayor called him) stood next to Ice-T and rubbed worry beads while Bloomberg said the words 'Wu-Tang Clan.' The trio had come together to announce that VH1's annual hip-hop honors show would be staying in New York, beating out competition from Los Angeles."

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Student tries to spend spring break at Wal-Mart

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa - Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.

story written by Mark Hansen: Des Moines Register columnist

Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.

Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.

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DefJam Shuns iTunes

In an attempt to boost record sales DefJam has decided not to release advance singles on iTunes or any other digital music provider. They tested this new strategy with R&B singer Ne-Yo.

The idea is to wait for the album to come out, then release the singles for individual sales. In this case it worked. Soundscan reported that in the first week of Ne-Yo's release he sold 301,000 copies, making it the biggest debut so far this year."

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Eta 'to declare ceasefire'

"The Basque separatist group Eta's announcement of plans for a permanent ceasefire today received a cautious welcome from the Spanish government.

A statement released to a television station and local newspaper said the group planned to begin a 'permanent' ceasefire on Friday, bringing an end to almost 40 years of violence."

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Apple attacks plan to open iTunes

"Apple has criticised a French law that could break the locks tying songs from the iTunes store to iPod players.

In a statement Apple said that if the law were passed it would result in 'state-sponsored piracy'.

The law to open up all online music stores is due to go to France's upper house of parliament for final approval.

The French government said the law was drawn up to ensure no single company dominated the fast growing music download market."

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Amazon accused of anti-abortion bias

Amazon, the online bookseller, has been thrust centre-stage in the American abortion debate as pro-choice groups expressed anger that customers typing in 'abortion' were offered listings on adoption.

The company was forced to defend itself against suggestions it had given a political slant to results from its supposedly neutral search technology.

Campaigners complained that requests for information on abortion generated the response 'Did you mean adoption?' at the top of the page. They expressed their suspicion that Amazon was tampering with its search results to appease pro-life groups, and expressing what appeared to be an 'editorial position'.

Amazon has hurriedly taken down the question but continues to risk the ire of pro-choice groups because adoption is still listed as a related topic. Customers are not offered listings on abortion when they search on adoption."

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Newspaper sues for documents in NSA wiretap case

The company that publishes the Oregonian newspaper in Portland has filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Oregon to unseal documents in a pending case that alleges the Bush administration illegally intercepted international phone conversations between the codirector of an Islamic charity and his two lawyers in the United States.

In a motion filed Friday, lawyers for the Oregonian Publishing Co. argued that it is in the public interest to know the contents of documents that could prove the existence of a potentially illegal domestic spying program.

'This appears to be the first case in which documents have been filed with the court demonstrating the National Security Agency's practice of wiretapping private conversations,' said Charles F. Hinkle, a lawyer for the publishing company. 'We are not interested in the content of the attorney-client communications. We are interested in what the government did.

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South Park' Chef Back After Scientology Skirmish

Soul singer Isaac Hayes may have quit his job as the voice of Chef on 'South Park' after a disagreement over religion, but his character will live on when the satiric cable TV cartoon returns to Comedy Central this week, the network said Monday.

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