While Burger King is hanging out with Clive Owen, its rival burgermeister, McDonald's, is being egged by the likes of Ryan Gosling over its poultry practices.

The back story: When McDonald’s was informed that one of its egg suppliers was treating its chickens horrendously by shoving them into increasingly crowded spots to live upon the remains of now deceased chickens as well as cutting off their beaks so they couldn’t peck one another, the company immediately got out of the contract.

But protestors and activists want the fast-food giant to do a lot more than that. Celebrities including Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschanel, Alicia Silverstone, and Steve-O (of Jackass fame) have signed a letter to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner that asks Mickey D’s to release the birds from their impossibly small cages, according to ABC News.Continue reading...

When is an independent film festival no longer independent?

When it becomes the Sundance Film Festival, apparently.

The evolution of any independent art form -- from music and film to art and literature -- into the mainstream is often a slow and barely discernable process. What started as an underground venture somehow ends up attracting celebrities sporting Oakley’s lip balm and Lia Sopia jewelry.

The Sundance Film Festival, even according to the most forgiving definition of the term “independent,” is hardly that – at least anymore. And this reality is a problem for both the festival’s name, and its brand.Continue reading...