Here 's some information on the whole video piracy debate ...as if anyone really cares. Remember that meeting between the Harpies and Conan the Austrian? During the first part of the year the Motion Picture Association of America began whining to the feds about the level of illegal copying in this country. Some MPAA members threatened to stop distributing movies to Canada. Warner Brothers even went so far as to stop showing film promotions in Canada. The federal government passed new legislation, bill C -59, solely on the basis of unverified industry complaints to help out some good old boys from the "golden state" . So are crooked Canucks armed with hundred dollar camcorders destroying the movie business? Not really, Canada actually was Hollywood's largest growth market. So why are so many people actually going out and paying for movies? That's something Shag can't really understand considering the abysmal quality of the end product. In the last three years I've gone to about two movies at the local multiplex. You know one of those with the seats which remind my derriere of the old Exhibition hockey stadium in this city ... well maybe with a little more padding. I guess this is supposed to be more "in your face" or something like that. The sound system was cranked to about 110 db at ear level . Ouch ... Actually that last film was Fahrenheit 9/11. I suppose as an old lefty Shag was stuck seeing this thing ... sort of like reciting the Apostles' Creed for earlier generations. It's true most people who bitch about Moore are probably doing so for the "right" reasons but even so I find his whole approach less than satisfying but that's the way of the passive "entertainment" industry. At least Mike doesn't try to hide the fact of being a social democrat. Pediatric conservativism tends towards this kind of opposition so perhaps we shouldn't look for much more. Maybe this is one of the reasons we have so many bloggers ...