'THIS LAND' CREATORS DEBUT ONLINE ANIMATION SEQUEL

'This Land' creators debut online animation sequel
NEW YORK -- From the creators of the political satire sensation "This Land" comes a sequel set to the tune of "Dixie."
The online animation "Good To Be in DC!" features the presidential and vice presidential candidates along with Attorney General John Ashcroft, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, filmmaker Michael Moore, talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Jane Fonda.
"In 'This Land,' you had basically [President] Bush and [John] Kerry," said Evan Spiridellis, who co-produced the cartoons with his brother, Gregg. "This piece is more about the whole town, the whole system."
"This Land," in which Bush and Kerry took shots at each other to the tune of "This Land is Your Land," quickly became an Internet hit, viewed more than 65 million times since its July release as people e-mailed links to friends around the world, including Antarctica.
The success led to an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," during which Leno asked if the brothers would consider a sequel.
"We eagerly accepted," Spiridellis recalled. "Once we did, we came back to the studio and panicked."
Spiridellis said he is well aware expectations are high.
"'This Land' turned out to be lightning in a bottle," he said. "You can't do that every time."
Running at 80 seconds, or about 30 seconds shorter than "This Land," the sequel was to debut on the Leno show Thursday and be available afterward at JibJab.com and AtomFilms.com. Spiridellis said "The Tonight Show" is paying an undisclosed amount for premiere rights.
Mika Salmi, chief executive of AtomShockwave Corp., said the company is preparing for an onslaught of traffic by arranging for more bandwidth and trying to sell more ads.
Google lets viewers see entire books in search
SAN FRANCISCO -- Online search leader Google Inc. is becoming more bookish.
Expanding a program introduced last year, Google is inviting publishers to include entire books in its index, enabling people to peek at the contents before making a decision on whether to buy.
Although entire books will be scanned in, the new feature won't let people read them entirely online. But participating publishers must allow people to read at least 20 percent, said Susan Wojcicki, Google director of product development.
Book listings, which include title, author and number of pages, will appear at the top of Google's main search results page.
Books already have been submitted by more than a dozen publishers, including Penguin, Wiley, Hyperion, Pearson, Taylor & amp; Francis, Cambridge, Chicago, Oxford, Princeton and Scholastic.
Wojcicki would not say how many books are in Google's search engine, but said the Mountain View-based company eventually hopes to scan billions. Initially, only English-language books will be indexed, with other languages added during the next few months.
As it broadens its book-search capabilities, Google may become more of a threat to online retail giant Amazon.com Inc., which offers a similar service.
When someone views a book through Google, the company will provide a link to where it can be bought online. Google won't receive a commission, but the company plans to post text-based advertising links related to the books' content.
Associated Press
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