Every three years, the Library of Congress requests proposals for exemptions to the anti-DRM provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Among its many sections, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of technical protection measures (TPM) securing content. The most infamous TPM is CSS (Content Scramble System) on DVDs, a technically weak protection scheme that was cracked as early as 1999, but whose presence legally prevents the copying of movies for millions of consumers in ways that were never present for analog materials such as VHS video tapes.
The Library solicits entries by publishing a “Notice of Inquiry,” and submitted exemption proposals are subsequently published in the Federal Register for public notice and requests for additional comment. Approved requests are sustained over the three year period, but must be re-approved in succeeding certification cycles. In prior rounds, the Library delivered rulings that permitted the jailbreaking of mobile phones, and in a belated approval in 2010, the circumvention of CSS that permits the use of video from DVDs by documentary filmmakers.
Shteyngart and Felix brave Brooklyn in this new book trailer.
Gary Shteyngart has taken the art of the book trailer to a whole new level–with a sequel! Remember Shteyngart’s hilarious book trailer for Super Sad True Love Story, featuring a cameo by the ubiquitous James Franco and an amazing performance by a former PW staffer? Well, the paperback for the book is out, and Shteyngart is back with another super funny video, this time featuring an extended performance by none other than Paul Giamatti starring as Shteyngart’s roommate. There’s also a brilliant performance by Felix the Dog. The hapless trio make a trip into the wilds of Brooklyn, where the illiterate Shteyngart has been asked to speak at a book club in one of Brooklyn’s famous “brownhouses.” The book itself makes only the briefest appearance.
Click through to New York Magazine to see the video; you will laugh a lot.
This stunning short film/ book trailer for If You Knew Then What I Know Now, an essay collection by Ryan Van Meter, published by Sarabande books, is just beautiful and arresting, at least as far as this blogger can see. It was made by filmmaker Tucker Capps with Van Meter doing the voice over, and it’s just a lovely example of how a text can interact with film to create something that’s not merely a commercial for the book, but a piece of art in itself. Wish more book trailers were like this, instead of cheesy attempts at movie previews.
Comics legend Alan Moore (author of The Watchmen and countless other books) spoke out on behalf of libraries this past weekend at the St. James Library in Northampton, England, for Save Our Libraries Day. He recorded the video above, in which he said, “If my work means anything to anybody out there, they shouldn’t thank me for it, they should thank the institution of libraries.” What an incredible voice!
To be fair, this isn’t really a book trailer at all, but it is being used to promote an upcoming book. Noelle Kocot, a beloved poet who was the subject of PW’s poetry profile two years ago, is about to publish her new collection of poems, The Bigger World (PW review forthcoming) with Wave Books. Kocot’s friend Liz Whiteside filmed Kocot tearing open the FedEx package containing the first advance copy of the book. Click through to watch the whole happy moment caught on tape. This is what all author videos should be–no more ridiculous things that look like snippets from cheesy horror movies, just happiness about books!
Maybe I’m just a sucker for tearjerkers and movies about kids, but this trailer, for The Other Woman starring Black Swan‘s Natalie Portman in another intense dramatic role, and featuring Lisa Kudrow of ‘Friends’ fame, tugged hard at my heartstrings.
The movie is based on Ayelet Waldman’s 2006 novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, which PW called an “honest, brutal, bitterly funny slice of life” in our review. Watch the trailer below. What do you think? Does it move you, too, or does it seem like another cheesy flick about guilt and redemption, etc.
We know you’ve been chomping at the bit these past few months since we told you that Snooki, of Jersey Shore fame, was hard at work on a novel. Well, guess what? It’s coming out tomorrow. Here’s everything you ever would or wouldn’t want to know about it from publishers Simon & Schuster. And click pas the break to see Snooki’s book trailer.
Here’s how S&S describes the book:
Giovanna “Gia” Spumanti and her cousin Isabella “Bella” Rizzoli are going to have the sexiest summer ever. While they couldn’t be more different—pint-size Gia is a carefree, outspoken party girl and Bella is a tall, slender athlete who always holds her tongue—for the next month they’re ready to pouf up their hair, put on their stilettos, and soak up all that Seaside Heights, New Jersey, has to offer: hot guidos, cool clubs, fried Oreos, and lots of tequila.
You probably saw the video below sometime in the last couple of days: it’s the one with the cute 3-year-old seated on the floor amongst freshly unwrapped Christmas booty–a Nintendo Wii towers beside him–as he ravenously unwraps yet another package only to find beneath the paper, much to his dismay, books! Watch as he throws aside one book after another in the hopes of finding–what? A Nintendo DS or iPad cleverly hidden between the terrible tomes? Of course, he’s adorable, and incredibly articulate for a 3-year-old. And once he gets his little performance going–he stands up and delivers his lines (“I don’t get books for Cwistsmas!…I hate it!”) with all the panache of a seasoned stand-up.
So here’s today’s question: is this video a nightmare in which short-attention-span culture has triumphed over education? Have these parents does some horrible mis-educating of their poor son, somehow training him to believe that books and fun live far apart, on opposite islands, separated by an ocean of work? Or is this totally harmless and just a really cute (and articulate, mind you) kid showing us just how fun YouTube can be? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
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