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I should create a new category here called “Rips,” I’ve been covering copycats so much lately. A link to this article was sent to me yesterday by my boss. The Adfreak piece says that the new Apple video iPod commercial featuring Eminem is a rip-off of a 2001 ad for Lugz footwear . It indeed looks strikingly similar in terms of style and feel. The executive of the agency that produced the Lugz ad said in this article that his firm isn’t planning to “make waves” so this probably means Apple (and TBWA) are safe from litigation.

Related article: Washed Up Superheroes, a post I wrote in 2003 where I wonder whether Steve Jobs is losing his creative originality. The Incredibles, although derivative at many levels (it’s even got a little bit of Spy Kids in it), proved, as you all know, to be light years ahead of any prior works that share the same subject matter.

Update: There’s going to be a lawsuit after all. Lugz itself is coming after Apple.

Happy Birthday to PhilWeavers, which turned 5 last October 15. I was one of the original members of this online organization of Filipino web designers when it was formed back in 1999. I also served as one of its moderators in the year 2001. Although I’m not currently active, I still keep abreast of its activities by reading mail from the mailing list.

Congrats, Drew and Berger. Like it says, “Pwede na mag prep!”

A day after a story about new energy-generating giant windmills in Northern Philippines appeared in the news, an article on the unexpected downside of wind power appeared in Wired News. It mentions that hundreds of the five thousand windmills 30 miles east of where I live in Fremont will be shut down next month. Although the wind farm is situated in Altamont Pass where winds are strong, it lies on an “important bird-migration path,” killing about 1000 raptor birds a year. The 70s-built turbines here use older, inefficient designs and were installed “without any type of environmental impact study.” It’s interesting that two groups concerned with environmental issues - one for alternative sources of energy, the other for preservation of wildlife habitats - have clashed over this matter.

Even as Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit tops the U.S. box-office in its opening over the weekend, the film’s studio warehouse in England is gutted by fire. All of their “sets, props, story boards and models from earlier productions” have been totally destroyed. Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit’s creator, has a good handle on things, however. Although it was bad news for the company, he says “it’s not a big deal” in light of world events. No one was hurt in the blaze, and all the archived film prints are safely stored somewhere else.

Did you know that today was National Porn Sunday? It is an event organized by web-based XXXChurch.com (”The #1 Christian Porn Site”) that is aimed at helping churches deal with the “dirty little secret” that is pornography use by some Christians. Over 100 churches participated.

As for me, I know my weakness so I’ve got self-imposed internet-filtering and application-blocking (bye-bye, Limewire) software installed on my computer. My wife’s got the passwords. Of course, it’s just one of the protective hedges in place (I could bypass the software if I were determined enough). Now before anyone thinks I’m being uptight about this whole sex thing, I’ll let you know that sex is great - within the context of marriage. Here’s an article on why conjugal sex is the best.

Now going back to National Porn Sunday, it somehow coincides with Clergy Appreciation Day. Have you hugged your pastor today?