Complete List of 25 New Titles Added To National Archive
By Brett Zongker
WASHINGTON (AP) --Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, with that unforgettable graveyard dance, will rest among the nation’s treasures in the world’s largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.
The 1983 music video directed by John Landis, though still the subject of lawsuits over profits, was one of 25 films to be inducted Wednesday for preservation in the 2009 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
It’s the first music video named to the registry. It had been considered in past years, but following Jackson’s death, the time was right, said Steve Leggett, coordinator of the National Film Preservation Board.
“Because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development of an earlier seismic shift, which was the development of the music video,” he said.
Joining the King of Pop in the 2009 class will be the Muppets from 1979’s “The Muppet Movie” — the first time on the big screen for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy — and the 1957 sci-fi classic “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” among other titles.
The library works with film archives and movie studios to ensure original copies are kept safe. It also acquires a copy for preservation in its own vaults among millions of other recordings at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in the hills near Culpeper, Va.
“By preserving the nation’s films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
Congress established the registry in 1989, which now totals 525 films. They are selected not as the “best” American films but instead for their enduring importance to U.S. culture.
The library selects films that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and consulting with the National Film Preservation Board.
In “The Muppet Movie,” Kermit leads his fellow TV characters on a road trip to Hollywood where they meet Steve Martin, Mel Brooks and other actors with the magic of creators Jim Henson and Frank Oz.
Other notable titles include “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968), directed by Sergio Leone, representing the “spaghetti western” genre that helped propel such rising stars as Clint Eastwood. The list also includes Bette Davis’ Oscar-winning performance in “Jezebel” from 1938.
The oldest film inducted was “Little Nemo” from 1911, a mix of live action and animation adapted from Winsor McCay’s comic strip “Little Nemo in Slumberland.” The film, highly advanced for its time, influenced future animators, including Walt Disney.
Regardless of ongoing legal disputes over rights to Jackson’s “Thriller,” the library holds a copy submitted in 1984 for copyright purposes and will seek to acquire another for preservation.
25 New Titles Added To National Film Registry
A list of the 25 films being added to the National Film Registry, as announced Tuesday by the Library of Congress:
— “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975)
— “The Exiles” (1961)
— “Heroes All” (1920)
— “Hot Dogs for Gauguin” (1972)
— “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957)
— “Jezebel” (1938)
— “The Jungle” (1967)
— “The Lead Shoes” (1949)
— “Little Nemo” (1911)
— “Mabel’s Blunder” (1914)
— “The Mark of Zorro” (1940)
— “Mrs. Miniver” (1942)
— “The Muppet Movie” (1979)
— “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968)
— “Pillow Talk” (1959)
— “Precious Images” (1986)
— “Quasi at the Quackadero” (1975)
— “The Red Book” (1994)
— “The Revenge of the Pancho Villa” (1930-36)
— “Scratch and Crow” (1995)
— “Stark Love” (1927)
— “The Story of G.I. Joe” (1945)
— “A Study in Reds” (1932)
— “Thriller” (1983)
— “Under Western Stars” (1938)
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More