NYU

Theft and piracy are two different things. Keep that in mind. You act like what the hell this girl did. She didn't go out and steal a car. She didn't break into a bank, and rob 10 million dollars. She downloaded songs. That was it. Stop with this "She's a criminal. She shouldn't steal." All she did was download songs - including TV Themes. Tell me where she can buy the theme to Family Matters and Full House. Surely not at her local Sam Goody. And yes, since she's poor, sympathy should be shown for her. I am SURE she doesn't have the money to go out and buy any CD she wants. She doesn't work. She probably gets a $5 allowance, if that. Keep in mind - she is 12 years old ! And not to sound out-of-bounds here but, she does live in the projects. She could be doing a lot worse. She could be buying drugs, holding people up at gunpoint, the works. But no - she's downloading music. My god, what a criminal. WHAT A MENACE TO SOCIETY !! Nobody ever said anything about her knowing right from wrong, but there are definitely different shades of it. I'm sure she knows that she shouldn't kill anybody. She shouldn't steal. She shouldn't cheat. But then, you come to downloading music and all of a sudden, she's a rebel and she'll never be no good. She downloaded music. She didn't shove jewels into a sack. Two highly different degrees of stealing - and I hardly even consider downloading stealing. And, by the way, I also disagree with you on the RIAA doing the right thing. If I want to hear a song, I will not put down $14 to get 12 other mediocre songs. It's a waste of my hard-earned money. If the RIAA would put out their own sharing program, where you have to pay a certain fee per month, everyone would be better off. People would get the song THEY want, without all the other additional crap - and the RIAA would still be getting money, which is what they want. But no, instead we resort to scare tactics and suing people. I can see that, in this day and age of wars in the Middle East, fear of terrorism, and a plummeting economy - the perils of downloading music is really our problem.

Where in the hell is the Hanukkah song by Adam Sandler ? It is now the official Hanukkah song in December and one that I love listening to......even though I'm not Jewish. Put on your yamulke It's time for Hanukkah !

Ah, a suicide pool. Just like the one that fucked me up this season in WEEK 1. God damn Miami, how did they go and lose to Houston ? Anyway, I'm in with the Saints. I refuse to let Houston cost me twice

2004 ?! HOLY SHIT, I'VE SLEPT A WHOLE YEAR ! WHAT HAPPENED TO 2003 ?!?! AHHHHHHHHH !! *jumps out window*

To an extent, the RIAA IS cruel. This girl comes from the projects, which probably means she and her family don't have TOO much money or TOO many luxuries. But here comes the RIAA, and now her mother is being forced to pay them $2000. $2000 that she probably needed for food, clothing, or something equally important. But now that money is going into the pockets of the RIAA, and you can damn sure bet it won't make a BIT of difference in their total earnings. And, as for the girl knowing that she was doing something wrong, she's 12 years old. I doubt she knows the whole copyright law and everything there is to know about piracy. I'm sure she knew that it wasn't right, but not that she would wind up getting sued for it. The RIAA is going at this the wrong way and, when they are trying to get $150,000 per song and forcing poor families to pay them $2000, they should be rightfully portrayed as heartless and cruel. Their punishment right now isn't justifying the crime and I guarantee, the result will be that CD sales will go down even further than they are right now.

Well, are we all assuming that this story is 100% true ? Because, honestly, I'm not. I mean, yeah, Zack has been on this board for years. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. But seriously, it's very strange that so many wrestlers would be calling up this one store for title belts. Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Nova, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, WCW - and surely there have been others. Is there no other store in the United States that sells this stuff - so all of the wrestlers are forced to call there ? Very suspicious man. I'm not calling you a liar or anything - but some of your stories have looked to be S*T*R*E*T*C*H*I*N*G the truth a little. You might have a WWE license, but surely other stores in America must have them as well. But hell, what do I know, right ?

Can't you imagine an RIAA representative on the sideline going: "That's right, Brianna. Read the cue card. We wouldn't want this Britney Spears CD to go smashie-smashie. Otherwise, you'll HAVE to buy a new one. Mwahahaha ! Mwahahahah ! *holds pinky to mouth*" -Jeez, the fact that the music industry just got a $2000 settlement that will NOT make a tiny dent in their profits is sickening.

Oh, jeez....I....... Goldberg/Triple H for 6 months..... My stomach. ----------------------------- With that said, my prediction is for Angle to win the Royal Rumble. But I'm not sure who he'd face. Hopefully, not Brock again. That, my friends, would be called overkill.

Ah, shit. Don't tell me they're releasing the 2-disc Fight Club in a few weeks. I just bought that DVD from Best Buy last week. Argh !

How is the announcing ? Is it actual heel announcing or is it just as bland as it always is ?

Right. Because the world has been screaming for another Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match - and another Brock Lesnar title reign. Fresh matches like Kurt vs. Eddie ? Fuck that. Lesnar vs. Big Show at Survivor Series is soon. Thanks Vince.

The original, live PPV didn't show anything with Owen. A Blue Blazer promo was up on the Titantron, when the whole accident happened. This is why many of the fans didn't see Owen fall, because they were looking at the screen. When the promo was over, the camera just stayed on the crowd and occassionally to JR and the King, while JR was saying that there was an accident. There was a whole bunch of crowd shots as they took Owen out of the ring, but there was never a camera shot of his body. Then, of course, as you know, the show went on while there was a blood stain in the corner of the ring.

Sorry, but he doesn't say "Bush" specifically. He doesn't say the "U.S. Government" or "the elected officials." He says "America." This, to me, implies America as a whole. When he says America is a broken toy, is he saying Bush is a broken toy ? No, he's saying the country is. He's saying the country itself is something that should be played with and tossed away. And that's insulting. There's a way to get your point across without degrading an entire country. I'm sure Depp knew what he COULD have said. But he ignored it, and tried to make his comments as nasty as possible. THIS is why his business shouldn't be welcomed in the States. Like I said, dissenting opinions like those of Susan Sarandon are expected and mostly understood. But Depp's just crosses the line.

If you have to do promotional tours, WATCH what you say about the country you're promoting in. If you really want to make your insulting comments known, have the balls to stand up to your studio and say "Hell no, I won't promote there." Then, go back to Europe and make exclusive movies there. But don't insult the intelligence of the American public by degrading their country and then saying "By the way, I'm playing the owner of a chocolate factory. Check it out today."

The story was: Some little restaurant changed the name of their "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries." The story got a pretty big amount of press and some congressman looked at it and said "Hey, I got an idea." Thus, the change in Congress from "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries." Bush had nothing to do with the change. .....not that the whole fries controversy is any less stupid.

But then he shouldn't come to this country to plug his movie at all then. No Letterman appearances. No Leno appearances. No interviews with the newspapers. He can then refuse to accept any box office shares that come from America, if he makes so much money from overseas. He COULD do this.....yet he won't.

If he said something to the effect of "I don't like the politics going on in America" or "Something needs to be done because the political climate of the country is really suffering right now", I wouldn't be pissed at all. But to call America a "dumb puppy" and "a broken toy" his children could discover and throw away is uncalled for. It's one thing to express your disagreeing opinion. I've expressed my disagreement over the government several times, including the war that I disagreed with. But his comments cross the line from dissention to insults. Not all Americans have to agree with everything. But please, if you're going to make a living in this country, and take it's money, don't leave this country, say these unnecessarily insulting comments, and then come back and try to plug your next movie. Susan Sarandon pretty much made calm, rational comments about the war. Hardly anybody remembers her comments anymore. Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks made themselves out to look like assholes, and many still continue to dislike them. It's not what you think, but how you say it. And Depp was definitely too insulting with his words when he continues to earn American money.

*clap* *clap* Nice one, Death Angel. I'm just going to skip over your whole "Take it to NHB" followed by calling me an idiot. It's best just to avoid all the hypocrisy because we're getting away from the point. As for your comment, very ignorant. Piss on them if you can. Ah, you truly are one of the good ones in the world, aren't you ? Depp's comment shows what kind of person he is. Not only is he a person with no loyalty to a place that has given him a living, and millions of millions of dollars, and not only is he a man with a nasty attitude that can say negative things about a country without any care for its citizens that support him - he is also a man with no pride. He'll bitch and moan about American politics, and then greedily stuff American currency into his pockets. This makes his words even more disgusting, because he refuses to stand by them like he should. You might think he deserves props for getting money from a country he dislikes. I think he should get spit in his eye. If I said it once, I'll say it a thousand times. There are people in this country that are desperately looking for jobs and can't find one. The unemployment rate continues to rise for these people that just want a few extra-thousand dollars. But little Johnny-Deep Shit makes a movie in a country he hates and gets millions of dollars. And what does he do ? Gets the hell out of here. If he would just stay out of a country he obviously doesn't respect, maybe these people could get a little more. Or, at the very least, the money goes to an actor that appreciates this country and won't throw daggers from 3000 miles away. ----And, as for my comment to Wuken, I didn't do it to feel "established." I don't need to get my self-esteem from a message board. I did it because he was making stupid comments with no backing, just to get a response from other people. He was adding nothing to the conversation, except meaningless "I hate America" crap. I made my opinion known, just like many many others do here. I don't do it for show. I say what's on my mind. But if the whole "Blah-blah- I'm an angry poster" bit makes you feel better, more power to you.

Er.....should we bring up the whole "Arnold Schwartzenegger announces on Jay Leno that he'll run for Governor" thing, or does that not count ? Pretty big politics, no ?

Wuken, you're not making any contribution to this thread, and you're losing my respect with every new, inane, uninteresting post. Why don't you just quit now ?

Like I said, not the best example. But he could be costing the U.S. possible money in tourism. He's well-respected in Europe for some of his movies, including that Chocolat-shit. Sadly, his opinion will mean a lot to some Europeans and could possibly cause the U.S. millions. In that aspect, he is hurting someone.

Yes, it would. But that's not what he did. He mocked the U.S., called it a dumb puppy, called the whole Freedom-Fries thing stupid(which it was), and said it was a broken toy his children could play with and then leave. He trash-talked the U.S. and degraded it the best way he could. But never once did he say he won't make another American movie. And you can be damn sure he'll be back to start plugging Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soon.

For those who work in the tourist industries and need that money, yes it is. Johnny Depp would be indirectly taking money from them and possibly costing them their jobs.

I just hate the idea that he's making so much money in this country and trash-talking it while he's not here. He's basically taking away millions of dollars from other people that like America and won't badmouth it to a German magazine. It's the whole respect issue.

Come on. If you're an actor, you have an obligation to watch your words. You can't just go out and announce "Murder somebody tonight." Because there are people crazy enough to do it if they are a huge fanatic of you. If you can't see the difference between an actor encouraging the public to murder people and an actor giving his opinions on political and/or social issues, this discussion is over. You said his being an actor didn't mean he shouldn't give opinions. If a normal person screamed "I Love to Murder," would it be a problem ? Sure, he'd be arrested and all, but I don't think anybody would listen and follow through with murders. If Johnny Depp screamed "I Love to Murder," it would have a much larger effect on the public because it would be news. It's not the best example but, because he's famous, his opinions reach out to more people. As a result, he should watch what he says. For all you know, his widespread comments could decrease tourism in America and hurt the economy. Now tell me that a normal person making these comments would have the same effect.