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Damages awarded in fake Facebook libel case

July 24th, 2008 by Scott Marks

A guy throws a party and a couple of uninvited guests steal away to his computer room to create a phony Facebook account that lists libelous info pertaining to the whereabouts, activities, birthday and relationship status of the host’s former school chum. The rascally gate-crashers also take time to impugn the friend’s sexuality and political beliefs.

That was Grant Raphael’s defense in a landmark libel suit , the first defamation case involving Facebook in the UK.

The judge didn’t buy it ruling that Rapheal’s argument was “built on lies.” Mathew Firsht has been awarded £22,000 in damages against his former friend and business associate. Times on Line reports, ” Deputy Judge Richard Parkes QC awarded Mr Firsht £15,000 for libel and £2,000 for breach of privacy. Mr Firsht’s company, which arranges audiences for shows such as Big Brother and Ready Steady Cook, was also awarded for £5,000 for libel.”

Mr. Firsht sued Mr. Raphael for creating the fake profile which claimed that Mr. Firsht was “looking for whatever I can get” in a relationship. Mr. Raphael had also signed the profile up to various groups on Facebook, including “Gay in the Wood…Borehamwood” and “Gay Jews in London.’”

Now in his late 30s, Firsht and Raphael became good friends in Brighton, where they went to school together. After a falling out, Firsht’s company thrived while Raphael, a freelance cameraman, floundered. The difference between the two men is that Raphael held a grudge.

The judge called Raphael’s testimony, ““glib and loquacious, always prepared, it seemed to me, to talk his way out of a difficulty, with no apparent insight into the implausibility of some of his answers.” He was flummoxed over Mr. Raphael’s argument that a party-crasher stumbled into his flat for the first time, used his computer for more than an hour, without being observed, to create a false and hurtful profile containing information that only someone associated with Mr. Raphael could have known.

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False Facebook profile sparks landmark libel suit

June 30th, 2008 by Scott Marks

The managing director of a British company that finds audiences for TV and radios shows appears to have attracted a one man following.

Grant Rapheal is accused of posted a false profile of his old schoolchum Applausestore.com’s Mathew Firsht on the social networking website Facebook. A fake entry was posted listing Firsht’s personal details and listing a bunch of gay groups that he was signed up to. Firsht is heterosexual.

For a kick, the ad also falsely claimed he was ‘Looking for whatever I can get’ in terms of a relationship.

Yesterday, Raphael’s prank initiated a landmark High Court claim for damages. According to thisislondon.co.uk, “Mr Firsht is suing old schoolfriend Grant Rapheal for libel and misuse of private information in what is believed to be the first defamation case involving Facebook in the UK.”

During Monday’s hearing Firsht’s lawyer Lorna Skinner listed the private information including his whereabouts, activities, birthday and relationship status. To underscore the latter, Firsht was signed up the Facebook groups ‘Gay in the Wood. . . Borehamwood’ and ‘Gay Jews in London.’ He was not, however, a member in good standing of ‘Gay Cocken Affan Yom.’

In addition, Ms. Skinner claims that her client was defamed by additional allegations that he owed large sums of money which he attempted to lie his way out of as well as smears that made Matthew’s Applausestore.com sound Firsh*t.

Miss Skinner continued: ‘Mr Firsht values his privacy highly. It was the gross invasion of his privacy, namely having his personal details, including false details concerning his sexuality, laid bare for all to see that caused him the most distress.’

The two friends had a severe falling out in 2000 that, according to Ms. Skinner, left Mr. Raphael harboring an enormous grudge. She also claimed that Raphael had access to Firsht that “only a very limited number of people would.”

Facebook took off in 2006 and is the seventh most popular site on the internet! Last month alone, it attracted 129.3million visitors. I’m on Facebook, but I’m not sure I get it. It just seems like a lot of silly games and quizzes, but, hey, it’s the closest I’ll ever get to really being friends with Roger Corman.

And it’s okay to goof on me for only having 46 friends. If you can count more friends than you’ve got fingers on one hand, you shouldn’t operate a punch press.

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Facebook’s Flixster: America’s Latest Beacon of Cinematic Enlightenment!

December 16th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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Remember alleged film critics Shirley Eder, Bill Harris, Joy Gould Boyum, Gene Siskel, Jeffrey Lyons and John Simon? They had children…well, maybe not Bill Harris…

Stop watching bad movies? This Flixster bunch wouldn’t know a good one if it fell of the projector and brained them. Their ***ahem*** reviews make the imdb comments crew look like Christian Metz and Jonas Mekas.

None of these were in any way altered.

Jon Quinn gives Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game Rating: ★★½☆☆

“The overlapping, complex stories of interlinking relationships is well constructed and interesting but the Upper-class French pomp just doesn’t interest me very much, hense I couldn’t sympathize with the characters. Not my thing and not “one of the b…(read more)est films ever made” in my opinion, though I can see the innovations with natural dialogue etc…”

Lee Hanslip gives Forrest Gump Rating: ★★★★★

“For me this film type cast Tom Hanks. That not a bad thing because i can’t see him ever making a better movie than this. It’s about an ordinary lower than average intelligence guy, making his way through life and fighting against life’s struggles. But it’s the sentimentality and harsh and upsetting reality that make it so good and moving. The music fits in perfect with it also, can’t think of any faults this movie has.”

Joe Easton gives Robert Bresson’s Mouchette Rating: ★★★☆☆

“Mouchette is a very strange individual, but her mother is dying, father is an asshole and brother is just along for the ride. The story lacks character development and dialog. What exactly happened?”

Lacey Joy gives David Cronenberg’s Spider Rating: ★★☆☆☆

“Meh, classic case of a holywood director trying to make an indy film - it’s all WAY too obvious what’s going on. All very Freudian, Yawn.”

Jared Hutchinson gives Richard Lester’s Petulia Rating: ★★½☆☆

“okay movie. obnoxiously 60s. nic roeg does a great job on camera. christie is annoying. film seems very contrived. has many parallels to Bad Timing which wasnt so great but was better than this movie.”

Nikki Mason gives David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive Rating: ★½☆☆☆

“This movie was impossible to get anything out of (at least if I’m thinking of the right movie. There was a bunch of crazy lesbian goings on though. And at random too, like a bad porno. lol”

Geoffrey Miller gives Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

“When people diss “pretentious art films,” this is exactly the kind of crap they’re talking about. Two hours of boring, plotless navel-gazing.”

Calle Bodahl gives John Brahm’s Hot Rods to Hell Rating: ★★★★☆

“This is a beautiful example of mixing together ‘the’ middle class family, delinquent hot rod kids into a B-movie script. It’s irresitible whether you are into turkey films or just enjoy period 60’s hot rods. The movie deserves my 4 stars.”

Caytlin Driggers give Uptown Girls Rating: ★★★☆☆

“The journy of transformation in the 2 main characters is a work of art! Some how I really connected to the characters!”

Simone Swindel gives I Am Sam Rating: ★★★★★

” This movie was crazy to me because a retarded father was better than my father at the time. This movie made me cry!”

Kevin Bratcher gives Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong Rating: ★★★★★

“CGI has added so much value to a movie that had so much meaning even in claymation. King Kong’s facial expression lends so much humanity to his character, and the fight with the tyrannosaurs is one of the most epic battles I’ve ever seen.”

Neil Mick gives Brian DePalma’s Redacted Rating: ★★★★½

“This film is a groundbreaker: not so much for its provocative subject-matter (there are several contemporary Hollywood films coming out nowadays critiquing our broken foreign policy) but more for its method of telling the story. In our CGI-besotted,…(read more) aphasic attention-span in regards to the media, De Palma elects to use this collective disability to his advantage, collaging in different venues to tell the story from different angles, and perspectives. As a result, we see the main characters, literally through several different lenses. The narrative at times was intercut with short youtube segments, giving occasional cameo appearances (an antiwar protestor her 15 seconds of fame, among others). We see the ultimate, promised heinous act, but in confusing, jarring cuts where the camera is not always focused upon the violence perpetrated offscreen. The effect was much like the multi-narrative of Kurosawa’s ‘Ran.’”

Justine Gunneson gives Steve Spielberg’s Hook Rating: ★★★★★

“Oh, man! The scene where Pan and the Lost Boys are having the feast just kills me. I love it. Uuugh. Anyway, a wonderful movie with great performances (especially by Hoffman), a thrilling plot and wonderful cinematography.”

Damian Lee gives Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ Rating: ★★★★★

“A very accurate account about the Passion. Great directing from my favorite guy, Mel Gibson. Seeing the Messiah being whipped makes you feel like the switch is running through your back and ripping ribbons of your flesh off. Extremely moving and definitely not for the faint hearted.”

Lee H. gives Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy Rating: ★★★★★

“The best Adam Sandler movie! Ive seen it countless times and it still makes me laugh. So many funny scenes.”

Ciar Naranzarian gives Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

” No compelling characters, painful cinematography, tedious throughout and an ending that falls entirely flat.”

Paul West gives Jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor Rating: ★★½☆☆

“Hi, I’m Jerry Lewis. The French find me hilarious, but in reality, I’m probably one of the most overrated comedians of all time, and I’m an as*hole in real life.”

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Facebook Follies: “Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were totally gay”

November 14th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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“When Jer-ry dots Dean’s eyes
With a squirt from his thighs,
That’s Amore!”

How’s this for a libelous, scabrous and thoroughly amusing Facebook account? Were Martin & Lewis gay off camera? Hell no! These studly superstars got more tail than a proverbial toilet seat. Back in the 50’s, a scandal rag ran an article that implied the boys were gay and before you could say Paul Lynde, the tabloid had the Paramount legal team breathing down their neck.

On camera, a case can be made that the boys were more than just pallys. I was surprised that there was no mention of Artists and Models‘ homoerotic hijinx, or how about Jerry “milking” a bull in Hollywood or Bust?

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Dean measures Jerry

Here’s how our deep-thinking friends at Facebook weigh in on Dean and Jerry’s gay games:

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were totally gay

Description: We love Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. But, truth be told, they were kind of gay for each other. Whether it was a long, drawn-out, beautiful love affair or if they just had wild drunken sex once in a “we must never speak of this again” sort of way, something was definitely there. And we love them all the more for it.

Some great quotes:
“There’s a call for able-bodied men.” - My Friend Irma Goes West
“If you’re an average girl, I’ve been dating boys.” - Scared Stiff
“What I”m trying to tell you, daddy, is you’ve got to get on it.” - Colgate Comedy Hour
“Let’s see you blow a little.” - Colgate Comedy Hour
“I’m looking for a man like you.”- Colgate Comedy Hour
“You’ll get the wood.” - Colgate Comedy Hour
“From Miami to London, from London to Boston, I’m known as the Gay Continental.”- The Caddy
“How does anybody get so handsome?”- Dean and Me
(While Dean rubs Jerry’s chest) “I like it!”- My Friend Irma Goes West
“I planted my mouth on his, gave him a big kiss.”- Dean and Me
“I’m gay.” -silently mouthed during the Colgate Comedy Hour

Some great moments:
Jerry and Dean jumping from parachutes, Jerry’s doesn’t work, so he grabs onto Dean and wraps himself around him with his face in Dean’s crotch.
Dean and Jerry in the same bed, many times, many places.
Jerry prancing around and swishing his robe around to give a great view of his legs and perhaps something more during The Gay Continental.
Jerry straddling a giant torpedo, the ultimate in phallic imagery.
Dean and Jerry in bed together, when for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON Dean rolls Jerry over onto his stomach.

Click here for an outrageous update.

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