Half a million quid will get Elton John to make you cry

It's possible to defend the idea of spending a lot of EU money on a very high-profile concert to promote cohesion. It gets a bit harder when the money in question reaches half a million quid. And it turns into an uphill struggle when that money had been earmarked to promote Italian culture and defend traditional music and ended up going on an Elton John gig.

Still, I'm sure the Campania tourism exec who helped plan the event, Dario Scalabrini, can explain exactly how Elton John is promoting genuine Italian culture, and what the people of the region got for half a million:

"Elton John sang the Neapolitan song O Sole Mio for the first time ever. The audience was crying with emotion."

Ah, that old emotional crying. So different from other types of crying, like crying with algebra, or crying with a side order of chips.

You'll note that Dario didn't say whether the emotion was a positive or negative one. Maybe the idea was that if you don't protect your own culture, it'll end up being mangled in the hands of Elton John. That could be half a million well spent.

Lee Ryan playing possum

Some surprising news from this morning's Sunday People. No, not that the Sunday People is still going - although, yes, that is pretty surprising in itself.

No, it's this:

Blue hunk LEE RYAN is busy learning the language of lurve after landing a role in the Italian version of hit movie, Ice Age 3.

Hottie Lee, who turned on 26 on Wednesday, flew out to record the voice of the character Eddie the possum for two days this week.

I know what you're thinking - "how bloody cheap must the people doing the dubbing into Italian be?"

The People's Katie Hind tries to explain this curious casting:

Lee won the role because Blue were one of the biggest bands Italy has ever seen.

One of the biggest bands Italy has ever seen, were they, Katie? And yet, surprisingly, for "one of the biggest bands" the country has ever seen, they only managed a single number one.

Google explain why they're not The Pirate Bay

The first official defence of Google in response to the mutterings that there's little difference between them and the Pirate Bay, has appeared. Somewhat surprisingly, rather than coming from the Googleplex, it's appeared on the Google Italian blog [Italian version]:

La missione di Google è indicizzare e rendere disponibili tutte le informazioni presenti online, questo indipendentemente dai formati in cui questi file sono messi online.

Google's mission is to index and make available all information online, regardless of the formats in which these files are placed online.

I formati dei file non sono di per sé illeciti, ma è l'uso che se ne fa che li qualifica come tali.

The file formats are not in themselves illegal, but the use to which it is put to them as such.

Per fare un esempio Google è come un'autostrada sulla quali circolano molte autovetture (i contenuti); Google non può essere considerato responsabile se con una di queste automobili viene commesso un crimine e nemmeno lo è l'automobile di per sé.

For example Google is like a highway on which cars are moving much (content) and Google can not be held responsible if one of these cars is a crime committed, nor is the car itself.

Per venire incontro alle esigenze dei titolari di diritti di proprietà intellettuale, Google ha pensato una serie di procedure che permettono di segnalare e rimuovere i contenuti presenti sul proprio motore di ricerca per violazione del copyright.

To meet the needs of holders of intellectual property rights, Google has designed a set of procedures for reporting and removing the content on its search engine of copyright infringement.

Per quanto riguarda YouTube, invece, abbiamo sviluppato Con ContentID , una funzionalità che consente a chi detiene i diritti dei contenuti di monitorarli, gestirli ed eventualmente bloccarli.

Regarding YouTube, however, we have developed with contentId, a feature that allows holders of the rights of content to monitor, manage and eventually block them.

Con ContentID , infatti, è possibile agire anche sui contenuti caricati da terzi che violino il proprio diritto di copyright, non solo bloccando tali contenuti ma anche scegliendo di monetizzarli.

With contentId fact, you can also act on the content uploaded by third parties who infringe their copyright, not only blocking illegal content but also choose to monetise.

Un'opzione, scelta dalla grande maggioranza dei nostri partner, che indica un'evoluzione delle modalità di esercizio del proprio diritto in direzione di un nuovo modello di business.

An option, chosen by the vast majority of our partners, indicating a change in exercise of its right in the direction of a new business model.

I'm not quite sure I follow why, if Google can't be held responsible for illegal cars or crime taking place in those cars, that Google will also intervene to take those cars off the road, but perhaps that's because it's a weak translation of a poorly-considered metaphor.

"Only Madonna can save us now"

The imminent destruction of Western civilization seems more and more attractive as even earthquake victims seem incapable of thinking in anything other than celebrity terms:

Madonna has promised $500,000 to help victims of Italy's devastating earthquake, said Fernando Caparso, mayor of Pacentro, the mountainside village where two of the pop star's grandparents were born.

Carparso told The Associated Press on Wednesday that that he had spoken to the pop star's manager and that he was deeply moved by Madonna's effort to assist the town as well as surrounding areas.

"Madonna was the only one who could help us," he said. "Other then being a great singer, a great rock star and an intelligent woman, with this gesture she has become a great woman," he said.

Let's hope that the money makes it through - Malawi is still waiting for its $3.7million Gucci/Madonna fundraiser, and Madonna spokesmutterer Liz Rosenberg seems reluctant to commit to a figure:

Liz Rosenberg, the pop singer's spokeswoman, confirmed that Madonna had pledged a "substantial amount," in quake relief but didn't disclose the exact figure.

And not everyone is thrilled by the offer in the first place:

Rosa Napoli, 90, was less than approving. "She is a woman that men like. She is not the Madonna that is worshipped in church," Napoli said as she left a small church where she attended an evening Mass.

Thanks for clearing that up, Ms Napoli. I do always get the two of them muddled up - it's easy to mistake the woman who recorded Like A Virgin for a 2,000 year old, don't you find?

Still: It's reassuring to know that whenever the world gets too obsessed with celebrity, we can always rely on the nonagenarians to pull us back.

The great I Like Trains robbery

In their own words, here is a story of robbery in Italy:

Fake policemen managed to steal an entire night's gig takings from iLiKETRAiNS in Italy last week.

The raid happened in Piacenza around 2am last Sunday, 13th April, where the band were pulled over by an unmarked police car.

"Two 'police officers' in full uniform with badges said they were doing a routine check," according to the band's manager, Dominic Brownlow,“and then asked if they could see any cash they may have earned at the gig as there were counterfeit notes in the area.

"As soon as they saw the money-bag, they grabbed it and ran into the waiting car.”
"We were pulled over by two guys flashing a police badge at three in the morning on an Italian motorway,” said guitarist and lead vocalist Dave Martin. “One of them came to the window with a gun in his holster, yelling in aggressive Italian. He asked to see our passports and if we had guns or drugs.

"The whole crew was searched and in the ensuing confusion they ran off with the night's takings. It was a very slick operation and sickening to lose so much cash.”
The got away with? €3,000, about £2,500.

"No-one was hurt but pride was damaged. The police have known about the trick for ages and have never caught them.”

It's not clear if the fake police only target bands, or if they pull the stunt on all sorts of people - there'd be a tale for A Place In The Sun.

Filling iPods for scientitific purposes

A well-meaning and welcome move by the Italian parliament to non-commerical sharing of 'degraded' music files has effectively created a massive loophole in Italian law - because all mp3 files are 'degraded' in a legal sense.

Of course, having had their error pointed out to them, Italy's lawmakers could simply pass a new law to tighten up the wording of the old - but they might be too busy right now.