news bites

THE KING KONG CRAZE: Production costs ballooned from $185 million, to $207 million (some say closer to $230 million), as Jackson added fight scenes between Kong and dinosaurs and other action filler. In the end, the critics liked--but didn’t necessarily love--what Jackson had wrought. Meanwhile, the film’s dramatic trailers, with a snarling, leaping Kong, may have put off some female moviegoers, Hollywood insiders believe. (Source: Business Week Online)

COMMENTARY: I saw the trailer and wasn’t impressed. It was that snarling, leaping Kong that made me think the movie was yet another over-produced remake. And while the reviews were lukewarm, I didn’t know it from watching TV. The media’s latched on to this big ape as being the next “Titanic.” Goody. Just what we needed. They laud the behemoth movie at every turn. It was number one at the box office, trouncing Narnia and others, they say. But it also made quite a bit less than expected. And Jackson spent much more than he was initially given. I’m not going to see it.

APPRENTICE UNDER FIRE: Moments after Randall Pinkett was selected by Donald Trump to be the “Apprentice,” he made it clear he didn’t want any company. During the live broadcast, Trump, after hiring Pinkett, asked if he should hire Rebecca Jarvis, too. “It's not ‘The Apprenti,’ it's ‘The Apprentice,’” Pinkett said, shooting down Jarvis’ shot at a gig with Trump.

“I was surprised, because I think most people would have said hire Rebecca, too,” Trump said. “It shows he’s certainly an independent thinker.” … However, Jarvis won’t be out of work long. The folks at Yahoo offered her a job yesterday. (Source: New York Daily News)

And more from TVGuide.com:
TVGuide.com: The less-cynical fans have noted that your exact response to Trump was that he should not hire Rebecca “tonight.” Was that your way of saying, “Hey, I believe in her. Let’s just not give her a job at this particular moment, OK?”

Randal: I absolutely believe in Rebecca. The premise of the show that evening was to hire the Apprentice. I encourage Mr. Trump to bring Rebecca into the Trump organization--I think she would be a great addition--but competition is competition. I hate to see my favorite sports team lose, but I don’t expect them to share the title. Again, I have tremendous respect for Rebecca; I just think it was a situation where you had two very strong candidates. Mr. Trump could have easily made the decision himself if he wanted to hire both of us last night.

COMMENTARY: Fine, Randal won. I was good with that. But I found his attitude disgusting and completely out of character with the man we’d previously seen. My initial thought was that Randal was worried for the first time that The Donald would choose Rebecca. I know now that he had a good hint that both of them could be potentially hired. Remember, he did say to the eliminated candidates, “If you believe that I should be the sole and single Apprentice tonight, candidates please stand, please stand.”

He is welcome to his opinion. But I found his tact and lauded niceness lacking. Worse, in the end was Trump. First, he should have been clued into the fact that Randal wasn’t on the Apprenti bandwagon with the “sole and single Apprentice” remark. Second, he let a new hire decide for him. Who’s the boss? It was his decision, and when confronted with a unexpected response from Randal, he wilted. Sad. Sad for The Donald, who puts out a my-way-or-the-highway image. Sad for Randal, who lost all the credibility he’d gained throughout the show. Happy for Rebecca, who now has limitless job opportunities.

NO MORE IE: Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates. (Source: Microsoft’s Mactopia website)

COMMENTARY: Yawn, not surprised. And good riddance.

GATES, GATES AND BONO: For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are TIME's Persons of the Year. (Source: Time)

COMMENTARY: I really hate Microsoft. Really. I’d add them to my boycott list with Wal-Mart if their software weren’t so deeply entwined in the passage of information. But the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides great service, as well as a great tax write-off for Bill.

GOOGLING AOL: Time Warner has picked its partner--it’s going to marry off its AOL unit to Google for a dowry of $1 billion for 5% of the company, plus a share of ad revenue. That has the Google gang smiling, the jilted Microsoft suitors scowling and a lot of conventional-wisdom purveyors scratching their heads. Not only will Google retain AOL's pay-per-click dollars that make up 10% of its revenue, but it will forge a relationship with a huge content producer. The question is how Google, which has prided itself in the past for being a content-neutral guide to the Web, will be able to work with an Internet property that spends a lot of its energy rounding up proprietary stuff. In the meantime, Google CEO Eric Schmidt gets to bask in the glory of besting Bill Gates...

Microsoft … desperately wanted to pull AOL’s paid-search ads away from Google, but without a deal, Microsoft's search capabilities will lag further behind. People familiar with Microsoft’s thinking say that it didn't lose the deal over dollars--it certainly could have matched any financial offer--but that it had proposed a more complex deal than Google's offering. (Source: Forbes)

COMMENTARY: NOOOOO! First Flickr was bought by Yahoo! Now this. Sigh. I love Google. I fully support it. I know that it is on it’s way towards becoming a dominator and pain--at which time it will be added to my boycott list. But I had hoped it would take a slower course. I hate AOL. More important, AOL is stupid and unnecessary. Really, why do people still use AOL? What’s the point?