I generally dislike watching movies on a computer. I also have a netflix account and hardly ever feel an urge to just have to see a movie as soon as possible. I also am not the type to collect films. Once is usually enough for me. So, as far as downloading movie torrents—I don’t really see a need or point (other than making a statement) in my case. However, I think the new Oscartorrents site from those heroes in Sweden, thepiratebay.org is a very cool idea.

The site’s purpose is to provide links to torrent files for this year’s Oscar nominated films and actors as well as a voting system for viewers to decide who should win in the various Oscar categories. As the results roll in from the “official” Oscar show, the decisions of the pirate masses will be posted on the site alongside whom Hollywood should deem deserving to be the winners.

As a further snub to the Hollywood machine, they posted this little gem of a “fuck you”:

“To all intellectual property landlords: we are aware that OscarTorrents might annoy you — but contain your righteous indignation for a while, and think: we’re only linking to torrents that already exist. Face it: your membrane has burst, and it wasn’t us who burst it. Your precious bodily fluids are escaping.”

“You haven’t beaten us, so why not join us? Think of a new business model that doesn’t involve overpriced pieces of plastic and skanky cinemas hawking cheap carbohydrates while relying on $6/hr projectionists who can’t keep a film in focus — not to mention insulting your audiences by (to pick a few examples) surveilling us with nightvision glasses, searching bags, 30 minutes of commercials and bombarding us with ridiculous anti-piracy propaganda. Take a look at yourselves. Is it really any wonder we’re winning?”

I think it’s brilliant.

I’d have to say that the funniest, balls-out, career-making/destroying thing I’ve seen all year was Stephen Colbert’s monologue at the White House Press Corps dinner on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I downloaded a BitTorrent of the speech he gave and was locked to my monitor, slack-jawed, incredulous and laughing my ass off at lines like:

“Mayor Nagin is here from New Orleans, the chocolate city. Yeah, give it up. Mayor Nagin, I would like to welcome you to Washington, D.C., The chocolate city with a marshmallow center.”
“And a graham cracker crust of corruption. It’s a mallomar is what I’m describing, a seasonal cookie. Joe Wilson is here, the most famous husband since Desi Arnez. And of course he brought along his lovely wife Valerie Plame. Oh, my god!
Oh, what have I said. I am sorry, Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife, Joe Wilsons wife. Pat Fitzgerald is not here tonight? Dodged a bullet. And we can’t forget man of the hour, new Press Secretary, Tony Snow. Secret service name, Snow Job. What a hero, took the second toughest job in government, next to, of course, the ambassador to Iraq.”

The insults and and cracks go on and on and leave the President and First Lady red-faced and visibly offended. The audience seems fluctuates between muttering indignation and not knowing whether or not it’s too inflammatory to laugh along at Colbert’s jokes. It’s obvious that everyone in the room is extremely uncomfortable. This is one video that has to be seen. Stephen Colbert has plenty balls.

Here’s links to low-rez WMV and a slightly higher-rez QuickTime video file. For best quality, you should go for the BitTorrent file, but you’ll need to have a client installed. I recommend Azureus. Lastly, you can always try searching YouTube for clips.