Wednesday, some Mishmashing
From Insult to Injury for THE ISLAND
The producers of PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR (1979)EDITOR’S NOTE: NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH “MANOS, HANDS OF FATE”, I PRESUME? have filed suit against DreamWorks and Warner Bros. contending that THE ISLAND was based on their movie.
Myrl A. Schreibman and Robert S. Fiveson are requesting unspecified damages and part of the proceeds from the film. EDITOR’S NOTE: WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THERE WILL BE ‘PROCEEDS’? WE HAD A GROUP OF 4 LAST WEEKEND, WHICH I THINK BRINGS THE GROSS UP TO (LET’S SEE……4 TIMES 8 EQUALS….UMMM…..)…….
CLONUS is the story of a place called Clonus, EDITOR’S NOTE: CLEVER TITLE….where nothing occurs by chance and everyone will die by the horror of freezing to be used later for their body parts.
It is the story of the accidental love affair of Richard and Lena, who are unwitting clones, not people, and of the doctors and guides and their lies and surveillance. But most of all, it is the story of Richard who uncovers the truth and plots his escape.
Besides various similarities between the two films, the producers claim there are also "specific characterizations," "specific lines," "shot compositions" and "sequencing" in THE ISLAND. EDITOR’S NOTE: I ACTUALLY KINDA LIKED THE FILM (IN A BRAINLESS, IT-HAS-SUCH-ATTRACTIVE-PEOPLE SORT OF A WAY). BUT THERE REALLY WASN’T ENOUGH PLOT OR THRU-LINE FOR ANYONE TO STEAL ANYTHING.
CLONUS starred Timothy Donnelly, Dick Sargent, Keenan Wynn, Peter Graves. It was directed by Robert S. Fiveson.
EDITOR’S NOTE: AND NOW…MORE KICKING THE POOR THING WHEN IT’S DOWN…….
Producers Reflect on 'Island' Failure
By Daniel Fienberg
EDITOR'S NOTE: GRATUITOUS PIC OF ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE....
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- "We love all our children," insists Walter Parkes. "We love them all equally." EDITOR’S NOTE: SO NOT TRUE.
Parkes and wife/production partner Laurie MacDonald are meeting with the press to talk about their upcoming romantic comedy "Just Like Heaven," a September release with Reese Witherspoon.
"Heaven" seems like the perfect daughter right now, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed head cheerleader who also makes the honor roll every semester and does lots of community service. Parkes and MacDonald know, though, that it's another child that reporters want to discuss, the older son who dropped out of high school, smokes too much pot and got the nice girl down the street pregnant.
Yup, they may love all their children equally, but talking about "The Island" just can't be much fun.
Through its first three weekends, "The Island" had delivered just over $30 million domestically, with an additional $40-plus million coming internationally. Against a budget over $120 million (before advertising), those figures make "The Island" one of the summer's biggest disappointments.
Parkes and MacDonald have had plenty of time to think about what went wrong, beginning at the very top.
"It's a bad title," Parkes declares, as if the title of a presumptive summer blockbuster were a tiny element that might have just slipped through the cracks. "It's a title that refers to something that doesn't exist in the movie. You might say, 'Oh well, so what?' but really from the title comes the advertising campaign and from the campaign comes the image people have of what they may or may not see, so that was a problem."
As basic a building block as a film's title is its core concept, its selling point. Many viewers couldn't decide if "The Island" was supposed to be a sterile sci-fi thriller in the "Logan's Run" vein, an amalgamation of funny costumes and big ideas, or if it was aimed at being a Michael Bay-style brainless action romp. EDITOR’S NOTE: AND IN ITS ATTEMPTS TO BE BOTH, IS WHERE IT FAILED. (THE TITLE, BEING SO MUCH THE LEAST OF ITS PROBLEMS).
The trailers offered those two hooks, plus several others and left audiences perplexed at what they would see if they spent money on "The Island." Thus, they apparently decided not to. EDITOR’S NOTE: YOU’D THINK THEY WOULD DECIDE…AS WE DID…THAT SEEING EWAN MCGREGOR AND SCARLETT JOHANNSON WAS PLENTY FOR A SLOW AUGUST SATURDAY.
"I can easily tell you about two guys in black suits with sunglasses and big guns who protect us from the aliens we don't know are all around us and you go, 'OK, I'll take that ...'" Parkes says of another, more successful, summer franchise he oversaw. "It's a very distinct concept. If I tried to do that on 'The Island,' it doesn't come down that well."
Parkes continues, "Without that clear conceptual hook, we ended up having to actually present too much, but it actually seemed to be more confusing, as opposed to elucidating to the audience."
But "The Island" is hardly the first summer movie to be released with a confusing plot or, as happens far more frequently, no plot at all. In those cases, it's usually left to the stars to sell the vehicle. The fate of "The Island," though, was left in the hands of Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, two excellent actors of questionable box office clout.
"Listen, those are superstars of the future, those two actors, they're not superstars of the present," Parkes says.
McGregor's mainstream credentials are built on the three "Star Wars" prequels, a billion dollar trilogy that could, just possibly, have succeeded even without him. EDITOR’S NOTE: UMM…YA THINK?!
Johansson is a critical darling with only art house hits to her credit. It's with some regret that MacDonald calls out the 20-year-old actress for not bringing in younger viewers.
"She's not owned by this sort of young generation at all," she says, before burying the knife. "Even lesser television actresses, quite honestly, would have more connection to that audience." EDITOR’S NOTE: A POINT IN HER FAVOR, FRANKLY. BUT, OK. SO THE TITLE IS AT FAULT. THE ACTORS….TWO OF THE BEST IN THE BIZ…ARE AT FAULT. THE MARKETING IS A PROBLEM TOO, EH? DOES ANYONE IN CHARGE BEAR ANY RESPONSIBILITY? SAY THE DIRECTOR WHO TOOK WHAT IS RUMORED TO BE A GOOD SCRIPT AND MANGLED IT? OR MAYBE THE PRODUCERS WHO APPEAR TO PUT THEIR STAMP ON BUT TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY, ONLY CREDIT?
NAH….DIDN’T THINK ANY OF THAT COULD HAVE RELEVANCE…..
Parkes and MacDonald have been with DreamWorks since the company was created in 1994 and the duo just extended their production contract through the end of 2008. Their responsibility is now to try to learn some lessons from "The Island." EDITOR’S NOTE: GOOD LUCK WITH THAT WHOLE LESSON-LEARNING THING.
"We've done this a long time and we've made so many movies," MacDonald says. "It was a big risk to go out with an original, and what turned out to be a difficult, idea and in summer, you're going out in a highly competitive time. What everyone will do now, though, is you'll probably be a little more conservative in what you spend, the kind of casting you need to feel assured you can open the movie, putting it out in a time you feel it has its own space. Those are just things you will reexamine more carefully." EDITOR’S NOTE: ‘REEXAMINE MORE CAREFULLY’? THIS GUY IS DUMB AS A STUMP. RICH…BUT REALLY STUPID.
DVD format war will rage for two years
Experts predict long battle for supremacy between Blu-ray and HD DVD
The recent decision by 20th Century Fox to use Sony's Blu-ray next-generation DVD format, rather than Toshiba's rival HD DVD, is likely to spark a lengthy format war, industry experts have warned.
But the resulting discord could revive opportunities for on-demand TV, according to Gartner.
Laura Behrens, a principal research analyst at Gartner, explained that the motion picture industry hoped to introduce the next-generation DVD on a single format late in 2005.
"But the studios are now evenly divided between Blu-ray and HD DVD, guaranteeing a long market battle," she warned. EDITOR’S NOTE: GOOD. AS MUCH AS I LOVE ALL THE UPGRADING AND NEW, FUN TOYS, I CAN’T AFFORD TO RE-DO MY SYSTEM ANY TIME SOON. SO KEEP FIGHTING KIDS, AND MY CURRENT TECH STAYS CURRENT FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. (PHEW)
"The costs will be immense, in everything from realigned strategic relationships to manufacturing costs to consumer packaging and marketing.
"Eventually one format will win, or companies will develop affordable technology to use both, but Fox's decision will delay that moment until at least 2007."
Blu-ray technology, backed by companies including Sony, Apple, Dell, HP, Panasonic, Sharp and Samsung, together studios including Disney, MGM and now Fox, aims to put 50GB of data on a two-layer disc, enough for more than four hours of HD content.
However, the completely new storage architecture is more expensive to produce than HD DVD hardware and software.
In contrast HD DVD will hold up to 45GB on three layers, but discs can be made in today's factories with relatively minor modifications.
The technology is backed by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo and others, with promises of players on the market for Christmas this year. Paramount, NBC-Universal, Warner and New Line have announced plans to release about 70 movies in the HD DVD format this year.
Gartner expects that content owners will need to direct some of their attention away from the disc format war to the existing HD channel offered by television and create video-on-demand libraries and IP television.
These providers will not completely displace DVD technology among consumers, but they can gain market share while the format war rages.
The analyst firm advised technology providers to "wait no longer" and cater to both formats if they can. "If you can't, decide whether to act aggressively for a big payoff or defensively to minimise losses if your choice doesn't win," said Behrens. EDITOR’S NOTE: UH-YEP. THOSE WOULD BE YOUR OPTIONS. AND YOU GET PAID HOW MUCH FOR THIS HELPFUL ADVICE? (THOSE WHO CAN, DO. THOSE WHO CAN’T, GET BIG BUCKS TO BE ‘CONSULTANTS’)
DA VINCI CODE is Cleared
On Friday, it was announced that Dan Brown has won a court ruling against author Lewis Perdue who claimed his book THE DA VINCI CODE copied elements from two of his books. The suit was for $150 million in damages.
Perdue had claimed CODE infringed on the copyright of his novels DAUGHTER OF GOD and THE DA VINCI LEGACY, and that Brown had copied the basic premis of DAUGHTER.
The N.Y. judge presiding over the case stated "a reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that 'The Da Vinci Code' is substantially similar to 'Daughter of God'." EDITOR’S NOTE: OF COURSE THE ‘REASONABLE AVERAGE LAY OBSERVER’ CAN’T READ.
ATAS Reverses Restrictions on Emmy Speeches
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board of governors voted Monday night to not restrict the speeches of writers and directors winning awards during the Sept. 18 Primetime Emmy Awards telecast.
The decision reverses an April announcement that nominees in the six prime-time writing and directing categories would have to prepare pre-taped remarks, which would be played as the winner walked to the stage.
Sources said writers and directors upset about the decision had made threats, including not preparing tapes, preparing tapes that mocked the Emmys and boycotting the telecast. EDITOR’S NOTE: OOOO…I LIKE THAT MOCKING IDEA. WOULDN’T THAT HAVE BEEN A MUCH MORE INTERESTING SHOW?! (OF COURSE, GIVEN THE WAXING AND WANING OF WRITING SKILL ON TV, I GUESS THE MOCKING WOULD HAVE BEEN AS VARIABLE IN SKILL AS THE TV SHOW WRITING ITSELF)?
"Some of the initial assumptions were not accurate in light of the way the show was being constructed," the academy said in a statement. "In effect, the amount of time being saved was not as much as originally thought, and the costs incurred would be in excess of original projections." EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS IS BOSS-SPEAK FOR 'RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!" BOY HOWDY I BET THERE WAS SOME YELLING, EH? (AND THAT MOCKING IDEA WAS WORRYING THEM A BIT?)
The reversed plan was the result of viewer focus-group research seeking ways to make the awards more exciting. EDITOR’S NOTE: FOCUS GROUPS…YET ANOTHER BAD IDEA BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MBA MARKETING DEPARTMENT.
The 2004 broadcast was seen by 14 million total viewers, the second-lowest-rated Emmy awards in history. Last month, Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich was tapped to executive produce the ceremony, taking the reins from veteran Emmys producer Don Mischer.
EDITOR’S NOTE: HERE’S A FOLLOW UP TO AN EARLIER ITEM ABOUT THIS NEW BOOK AWARDS CALLED 'THE QUILLS'.
I DON’T THINK I SHOULD VOTE THIS YEAR…SEEING AS HOW THE ONLY BOOK I’VE READ OF ALL OF THEM IS HARRY POTTER 6. (GO FIGURE…NOT A SINGLE STAR WARS BOOK. HARUMPH)!
HERE ARE THE NOMINEES.
I DON’T’ THINK VOTING STARTS FOR ANOTHER WEEK OR SO, SO READ FAST?
quillsvote.com
http://www.quillsliteracy.org/quillawards.html
Here is the list of 5 nominees in each category.
Audio Book
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (unabridged - CD) Malcolm Gladwell1586217194Time Warner AudioBooks
Chronicles: Volume One (abridged - CD)Bob Dylan; Read by Sean Penn0743543092Simon & Schuster Audio
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (abridged - CD)Jon Stewart and the Writers of the Daily Show1586217011Time Warner AudioBooks
His Excellency: George Washington (unabridged - CD)Joseph J. Ellis1402544766
Recorded Books
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (unabridged - CD)George Carlin1401399169Hyperion Audiobooks
Children's Illustrated Book
America the Beautiful: A Pop-Up Book Robert Sabuda0689847440Little Simon
Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris Nick Harris, Ian Andrew (Illustrator), Helen Ward (Illustrator) 0763626384Candlewick Press
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale Mo Willems0786818700Hyperion Books for Children
Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook Shel Silverstein0060256532HarperCollins Children's Books
Zen Shorts Jon J. Muth0439339111Scholastic Books
Children's Chapter Book/Middle Grade
Dragon Rider Cornelia Funke, Anthea Bell (translator)0439456959Chicken House/Scholastic Books
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)0439784549Scholastic/LevineEDITOR'S NOTE: WOOHOO, GO HARRY!
Ida B...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun Katherine Hannigan0060730242Greenwillow Books
Peter and the Starcatchers Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson0786854456Disney Press
A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Eleventh: The Grim Grotto Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator) 0064410145HarperCollins
Children's BooksYoung Adult/Teen
47 Walter Mosley0316110353Little Brown and Co.
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War Barker, Clive0060291702Joanna Cotler Books
Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood AnnBrashares0385729359Delacorte Press
How I Live Now Meg Rosoff0385746776Wendy Lamb Books
Wormwood G. P. Taylor0399242570Putnam Juvenile
General Fiction
A Long Way Down Nick Hornby1573223026Riverhead Book
Gilead Marilynne Robinson0374153892Farrar Straus & Giroux
The Mermaid Chair Sue Monk Kidd0670033944Viking
The Plot Against America Philip Roth0618509283Houghton Mifflin Company
Zorro Isabel Allende, Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator)0060778970HarperCollins
Graphic Novel
American Splendor: Our Movie Year Harvey Pekar0345479378Ballantine
Bone: One Volume Edition Jeff Smith188896314XCartoon Books
In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman0375423079Pantheon Books
Marvel 1602 Volume 1 Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove0785110704Marvel Comics
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return Marjane Satrapi0375422889Pantheon Books
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
The Closers Michael Connelly0316734942Little Brown and Co.
Eleven on Top Janet Evanovich0312306261St. Martin's Press
The Historian Elizabeth KostovaLittle Brown and Co.0316011770
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Alexander McCall Smith0375422714Pantheon
With No One as Witness Elizabeth George0060545607HarperCollins
Poetry
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day Billy Collins (Editor) 0812972961Random House
Ariel: The Restored Edition: A Facsimile of Plath's Manuscript Slyvia Plath0060732598HarperCollins
Gilgamesh: A New English Version Stephen Mitchell074326164XFree PressBlue
Iris: Poems and Essays Mary Oliver0807068829Beacon Press
Let America Be America Again: And Other Poems Langston Hughes1400095190Vintage Books
Romance
44 Cranberry Point Debbie Macomber0778320731Mira Books
Blue Dahlia Nora Roberts051513855XJove
Northern Lights Nora Roberts0399152059Berkley
The Rocky Road to Romance Janet Evanovich0060598891HarperTorch
Undead and Unemployed MaryJanice Davidson0425197484Berkley
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Stephen King, Michael Whelan (Illustrator) 1880418622Scribner/Grant
Going Postal Terry Pratchett0060013133HarperCollins
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel Susanna ClarkeBloomsbury 1582344167
Shadow of the Giant Orson Scott Card0312857586Tor Books
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror Christopher Moore0060590254William Morrow & Co.
Debut Author of the Year
Broken for You Stephanie Kallos0802117791Grove Press
French Women Don't Get Fat Mireille Guiliano1400042127Alfred A. Knopf
The Ha-Ha Dave King 0316156108Little Brown and Co.
The Historian Elizabeth Kostova0316011770Little Brown and Co.
The Traveler John Twelve Hawks038551428XDoubleday
Religion/Spirituality
God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It Jim Wallis0060558288HarperSanFrancisco
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith Martha Nibley Beck0609609912Crown
Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End Deepak Chopra0307236072Harmony
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith: Further Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott1573222992Riverhead
Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential Joel Osteen0446532754Warner Faith
Biography/Memoir
Chronicles: Volume One Bob DylanSimon & Schuster
The Glass Castle: A Memoir Jeannette Walls0743247531Scribner
His Excellency: George Washington Joseph J. Ellis1400040310Alfred A. Knopf
Magical Thinking: True Stories Augusten Burroughs0312315945St. Martin's Press
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare Stephen Greenblatt0393050572W.W. Norton & Company
Business
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man John Perkins1576753018Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story Kurt Eichenwald0767911784Broadway Books
DisneyWar James B. Stewart0684809931Scribner
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner006073132XWilliam Morrow & Co.
Winning Jack Welch with Suzy Welch0060753943HarperBusiness
Cooking
Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral Gayden Metcalfe1401359345Hyperion Books
Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes Giada de Laurentiis1400052580Clarkson Potter
The Gourmet Cookbook: More Than 1000 Recipes Ruth Reichl0618374086Houghton Mifflin
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee0684800012Scribner
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals: Eat Healthy Without Going to Extremes Rachael Ray1400082536Clarkson Potter
Health/Self Improvement
And One More Thing Before You Go... Maria Shriver0743281012Free Press
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell0316172324Little Brown and Co.
French Women Don't Get Fat Mireille Guiliano1400042127Alfred A. Knopf
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo068987474XSimon Spotlight Entertainment
Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health Christiane Northrup0553105736Bantam
History/Current Events/Politics
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn0805076824Times Books
1776 David McCullough0743226712Simon & Schuster
The Children's Blizzard David Laskin0060520752HarperCollins
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond0670033375Viking
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century Thomas L. Friedman0374292884Farrar Straus & Giroux
Humor
Bad Cat: 244 Not-So-Pretty Kitties And Cats Gone Bad Jim Edgar0761136193Workman Publishing
The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker Robert Mankoff1579123228Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954 Charles M. Schulz1560976144Fantagraphics Books
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction Jon Stewart & the Writers of the Daily Show0446532681Warner Books
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? George Carlin1401301347Hyperion Books
Sports
Between a Rock and a Hard Place Aron Ralston0743492811Atria Books
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season Stewart O'Nan & Stephen King0743267524Scribner
Favre Brett Favre, Bonita Favre with Chris Havel1590710363
Rugged Land Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy; Inside the Mind of a Manager Buzz Bissinger0618405445Houghton Mifflin
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Geoffrey C. Ward0375415327Alfred A. Knopf
EDITOR'S NOTE: AND LAST....BUT NEVER EVER LEAST....A WEE BIT OF HARRY POTTERING ---
HBP: the choice of prisoners
The U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay turns out to be a popular place to read Half-Blood Prince, Reuters reports:
"Harry Potter is a popular title among some of the detainee population," said the librarian, a civilian contractor identified only as "Lorie" who works at the prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.Lorie said the popularity of the best-selling Harry Potter books, which recount the adventures of a boy wizard as he triumphs over the powers of evil, was matched only by the prisoners' passion for Agatha Christie, some of whose murder mysteries are set in the Middle East. EDITOR’S NOTE: OR INVOLVE ESCAPING FROM LOCKED ROOMS, NO DOUBT?
GOF to receive PG-13 rating
TVGuide.com is reporting that the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, has been slapped with a PG-13 rating due to "sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images."EDITOR'S NOTE: MY FAVORITE PARTS!
If this is confirmed, GOF is the first of the Potter films to receive this rating by the MPAA. We're working on getting confirmation from Warner Brothers. Stay tuned.
EDIT: We just received word from Warner Brothers. It's official. EDITOR’S NOTE: FIRST STAR WARS, NOW HARRY POTTER. SEX AND VIOLENCE AND SCIFI. WOOHOO!!!
The producers of PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR (1979)EDITOR’S NOTE: NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH “MANOS, HANDS OF FATE”, I PRESUME? have filed suit against DreamWorks and Warner Bros. contending that THE ISLAND was based on their movie.
Myrl A. Schreibman and Robert S. Fiveson are requesting unspecified damages and part of the proceeds from the film. EDITOR’S NOTE: WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THERE WILL BE ‘PROCEEDS’? WE HAD A GROUP OF 4 LAST WEEKEND, WHICH I THINK BRINGS THE GROSS UP TO (LET’S SEE……4 TIMES 8 EQUALS….UMMM…..)…….
CLONUS is the story of a place called Clonus, EDITOR’S NOTE: CLEVER TITLE….where nothing occurs by chance and everyone will die by the horror of freezing to be used later for their body parts.
It is the story of the accidental love affair of Richard and Lena, who are unwitting clones, not people, and of the doctors and guides and their lies and surveillance. But most of all, it is the story of Richard who uncovers the truth and plots his escape.
Besides various similarities between the two films, the producers claim there are also "specific characterizations," "specific lines," "shot compositions" and "sequencing" in THE ISLAND. EDITOR’S NOTE: I ACTUALLY KINDA LIKED THE FILM (IN A BRAINLESS, IT-HAS-SUCH-ATTRACTIVE-PEOPLE SORT OF A WAY). BUT THERE REALLY WASN’T ENOUGH PLOT OR THRU-LINE FOR ANYONE TO STEAL ANYTHING.
CLONUS starred Timothy Donnelly, Dick Sargent, Keenan Wynn, Peter Graves. It was directed by Robert S. Fiveson.
EDITOR’S NOTE: AND NOW…MORE KICKING THE POOR THING WHEN IT’S DOWN…….
Producers Reflect on 'Island' Failure
By Daniel Fienberg
EDITOR'S NOTE: GRATUITOUS PIC OF ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE....
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- "We love all our children," insists Walter Parkes. "We love them all equally." EDITOR’S NOTE: SO NOT TRUE.
Parkes and wife/production partner Laurie MacDonald are meeting with the press to talk about their upcoming romantic comedy "Just Like Heaven," a September release with Reese Witherspoon.
"Heaven" seems like the perfect daughter right now, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed head cheerleader who also makes the honor roll every semester and does lots of community service. Parkes and MacDonald know, though, that it's another child that reporters want to discuss, the older son who dropped out of high school, smokes too much pot and got the nice girl down the street pregnant.
Yup, they may love all their children equally, but talking about "The Island" just can't be much fun.
Through its first three weekends, "The Island" had delivered just over $30 million domestically, with an additional $40-plus million coming internationally. Against a budget over $120 million (before advertising), those figures make "The Island" one of the summer's biggest disappointments.
Parkes and MacDonald have had plenty of time to think about what went wrong, beginning at the very top.
"It's a bad title," Parkes declares, as if the title of a presumptive summer blockbuster were a tiny element that might have just slipped through the cracks. "It's a title that refers to something that doesn't exist in the movie. You might say, 'Oh well, so what?' but really from the title comes the advertising campaign and from the campaign comes the image people have of what they may or may not see, so that was a problem."
As basic a building block as a film's title is its core concept, its selling point. Many viewers couldn't decide if "The Island" was supposed to be a sterile sci-fi thriller in the "Logan's Run" vein, an amalgamation of funny costumes and big ideas, or if it was aimed at being a Michael Bay-style brainless action romp. EDITOR’S NOTE: AND IN ITS ATTEMPTS TO BE BOTH, IS WHERE IT FAILED. (THE TITLE, BEING SO MUCH THE LEAST OF ITS PROBLEMS).
The trailers offered those two hooks, plus several others and left audiences perplexed at what they would see if they spent money on "The Island." Thus, they apparently decided not to. EDITOR’S NOTE: YOU’D THINK THEY WOULD DECIDE…AS WE DID…THAT SEEING EWAN MCGREGOR AND SCARLETT JOHANNSON WAS PLENTY FOR A SLOW AUGUST SATURDAY.
"I can easily tell you about two guys in black suits with sunglasses and big guns who protect us from the aliens we don't know are all around us and you go, 'OK, I'll take that ...'" Parkes says of another, more successful, summer franchise he oversaw. "It's a very distinct concept. If I tried to do that on 'The Island,' it doesn't come down that well."
Parkes continues, "Without that clear conceptual hook, we ended up having to actually present too much, but it actually seemed to be more confusing, as opposed to elucidating to the audience."
But "The Island" is hardly the first summer movie to be released with a confusing plot or, as happens far more frequently, no plot at all. In those cases, it's usually left to the stars to sell the vehicle. The fate of "The Island," though, was left in the hands of Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, two excellent actors of questionable box office clout.
"Listen, those are superstars of the future, those two actors, they're not superstars of the present," Parkes says.
McGregor's mainstream credentials are built on the three "Star Wars" prequels, a billion dollar trilogy that could, just possibly, have succeeded even without him. EDITOR’S NOTE: UMM…YA THINK?!
Johansson is a critical darling with only art house hits to her credit. It's with some regret that MacDonald calls out the 20-year-old actress for not bringing in younger viewers.
"She's not owned by this sort of young generation at all," she says, before burying the knife. "Even lesser television actresses, quite honestly, would have more connection to that audience." EDITOR’S NOTE: A POINT IN HER FAVOR, FRANKLY. BUT, OK. SO THE TITLE IS AT FAULT. THE ACTORS….TWO OF THE BEST IN THE BIZ…ARE AT FAULT. THE MARKETING IS A PROBLEM TOO, EH? DOES ANYONE IN CHARGE BEAR ANY RESPONSIBILITY? SAY THE DIRECTOR WHO TOOK WHAT IS RUMORED TO BE A GOOD SCRIPT AND MANGLED IT? OR MAYBE THE PRODUCERS WHO APPEAR TO PUT THEIR STAMP ON BUT TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY, ONLY CREDIT?
NAH….DIDN’T THINK ANY OF THAT COULD HAVE RELEVANCE…..
Parkes and MacDonald have been with DreamWorks since the company was created in 1994 and the duo just extended their production contract through the end of 2008. Their responsibility is now to try to learn some lessons from "The Island." EDITOR’S NOTE: GOOD LUCK WITH THAT WHOLE LESSON-LEARNING THING.
"We've done this a long time and we've made so many movies," MacDonald says. "It was a big risk to go out with an original, and what turned out to be a difficult, idea and in summer, you're going out in a highly competitive time. What everyone will do now, though, is you'll probably be a little more conservative in what you spend, the kind of casting you need to feel assured you can open the movie, putting it out in a time you feel it has its own space. Those are just things you will reexamine more carefully." EDITOR’S NOTE: ‘REEXAMINE MORE CAREFULLY’? THIS GUY IS DUMB AS A STUMP. RICH…BUT REALLY STUPID.
DVD format war will rage for two years
Experts predict long battle for supremacy between Blu-ray and HD DVD
The recent decision by 20th Century Fox to use Sony's Blu-ray next-generation DVD format, rather than Toshiba's rival HD DVD, is likely to spark a lengthy format war, industry experts have warned.
But the resulting discord could revive opportunities for on-demand TV, according to Gartner.
Laura Behrens, a principal research analyst at Gartner, explained that the motion picture industry hoped to introduce the next-generation DVD on a single format late in 2005.
"But the studios are now evenly divided between Blu-ray and HD DVD, guaranteeing a long market battle," she warned. EDITOR’S NOTE: GOOD. AS MUCH AS I LOVE ALL THE UPGRADING AND NEW, FUN TOYS, I CAN’T AFFORD TO RE-DO MY SYSTEM ANY TIME SOON. SO KEEP FIGHTING KIDS, AND MY CURRENT TECH STAYS CURRENT FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. (PHEW)
"The costs will be immense, in everything from realigned strategic relationships to manufacturing costs to consumer packaging and marketing.
"Eventually one format will win, or companies will develop affordable technology to use both, but Fox's decision will delay that moment until at least 2007."
Blu-ray technology, backed by companies including Sony, Apple, Dell, HP, Panasonic, Sharp and Samsung, together studios including Disney, MGM and now Fox, aims to put 50GB of data on a two-layer disc, enough for more than four hours of HD content.
However, the completely new storage architecture is more expensive to produce than HD DVD hardware and software.
In contrast HD DVD will hold up to 45GB on three layers, but discs can be made in today's factories with relatively minor modifications.
The technology is backed by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo and others, with promises of players on the market for Christmas this year. Paramount, NBC-Universal, Warner and New Line have announced plans to release about 70 movies in the HD DVD format this year.
Gartner expects that content owners will need to direct some of their attention away from the disc format war to the existing HD channel offered by television and create video-on-demand libraries and IP television.
These providers will not completely displace DVD technology among consumers, but they can gain market share while the format war rages.
The analyst firm advised technology providers to "wait no longer" and cater to both formats if they can. "If you can't, decide whether to act aggressively for a big payoff or defensively to minimise losses if your choice doesn't win," said Behrens. EDITOR’S NOTE: UH-YEP. THOSE WOULD BE YOUR OPTIONS. AND YOU GET PAID HOW MUCH FOR THIS HELPFUL ADVICE? (THOSE WHO CAN, DO. THOSE WHO CAN’T, GET BIG BUCKS TO BE ‘CONSULTANTS’)
DA VINCI CODE is Cleared
On Friday, it was announced that Dan Brown has won a court ruling against author Lewis Perdue who claimed his book THE DA VINCI CODE copied elements from two of his books. The suit was for $150 million in damages.
Perdue had claimed CODE infringed on the copyright of his novels DAUGHTER OF GOD and THE DA VINCI LEGACY, and that Brown had copied the basic premis of DAUGHTER.
The N.Y. judge presiding over the case stated "a reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that 'The Da Vinci Code' is substantially similar to 'Daughter of God'." EDITOR’S NOTE: OF COURSE THE ‘REASONABLE AVERAGE LAY OBSERVER’ CAN’T READ.
ATAS Reverses Restrictions on Emmy Speeches
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board of governors voted Monday night to not restrict the speeches of writers and directors winning awards during the Sept. 18 Primetime Emmy Awards telecast.
The decision reverses an April announcement that nominees in the six prime-time writing and directing categories would have to prepare pre-taped remarks, which would be played as the winner walked to the stage.
Sources said writers and directors upset about the decision had made threats, including not preparing tapes, preparing tapes that mocked the Emmys and boycotting the telecast. EDITOR’S NOTE: OOOO…I LIKE THAT MOCKING IDEA. WOULDN’T THAT HAVE BEEN A MUCH MORE INTERESTING SHOW?! (OF COURSE, GIVEN THE WAXING AND WANING OF WRITING SKILL ON TV, I GUESS THE MOCKING WOULD HAVE BEEN AS VARIABLE IN SKILL AS THE TV SHOW WRITING ITSELF)?
"Some of the initial assumptions were not accurate in light of the way the show was being constructed," the academy said in a statement. "In effect, the amount of time being saved was not as much as originally thought, and the costs incurred would be in excess of original projections." EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS IS BOSS-SPEAK FOR 'RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!" BOY HOWDY I BET THERE WAS SOME YELLING, EH? (AND THAT MOCKING IDEA WAS WORRYING THEM A BIT?)
The reversed plan was the result of viewer focus-group research seeking ways to make the awards more exciting. EDITOR’S NOTE: FOCUS GROUPS…YET ANOTHER BAD IDEA BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MBA MARKETING DEPARTMENT.
The 2004 broadcast was seen by 14 million total viewers, the second-lowest-rated Emmy awards in history. Last month, Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich was tapped to executive produce the ceremony, taking the reins from veteran Emmys producer Don Mischer.
EDITOR’S NOTE: HERE’S A FOLLOW UP TO AN EARLIER ITEM ABOUT THIS NEW BOOK AWARDS CALLED 'THE QUILLS'.
I DON’T THINK I SHOULD VOTE THIS YEAR…SEEING AS HOW THE ONLY BOOK I’VE READ OF ALL OF THEM IS HARRY POTTER 6. (GO FIGURE…NOT A SINGLE STAR WARS BOOK. HARUMPH)!
HERE ARE THE NOMINEES.
I DON’T’ THINK VOTING STARTS FOR ANOTHER WEEK OR SO, SO READ FAST?
http://www.quillsliteracy.org/quillawards.html
Here is the list of 5 nominees in each category.
Audio Book
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (unabridged - CD) Malcolm Gladwell1586217194Time Warner AudioBooks
Chronicles: Volume One (abridged - CD)Bob Dylan; Read by Sean Penn0743543092Simon & Schuster Audio
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (abridged - CD)Jon Stewart and the Writers of the Daily Show1586217011Time Warner AudioBooks
His Excellency: George Washington (unabridged - CD)Joseph J. Ellis1402544766
Recorded Books
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (unabridged - CD)George Carlin1401399169Hyperion Audiobooks
Children's Illustrated Book
America the Beautiful: A Pop-Up Book Robert Sabuda0689847440Little Simon
Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris Nick Harris, Ian Andrew (Illustrator), Helen Ward (Illustrator) 0763626384Candlewick Press
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale Mo Willems0786818700Hyperion Books for Children
Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook Shel Silverstein0060256532HarperCollins Children's Books
Zen Shorts Jon J. Muth0439339111Scholastic Books
Children's Chapter Book/Middle Grade
Dragon Rider Cornelia Funke, Anthea Bell (translator)0439456959Chicken House/Scholastic Books
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)0439784549Scholastic/LevineEDITOR'S NOTE: WOOHOO, GO HARRY!
Ida B...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun Katherine Hannigan0060730242Greenwillow Books
Peter and the Starcatchers Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson0786854456Disney Press
A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Eleventh: The Grim Grotto Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator) 0064410145HarperCollins
Children's BooksYoung Adult/Teen
47 Walter Mosley0316110353Little Brown and Co.
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War Barker, Clive0060291702Joanna Cotler Books
Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood AnnBrashares0385729359Delacorte Press
How I Live Now Meg Rosoff0385746776Wendy Lamb Books
Wormwood G. P. Taylor0399242570Putnam Juvenile
General Fiction
A Long Way Down Nick Hornby1573223026Riverhead Book
Gilead Marilynne Robinson0374153892Farrar Straus & Giroux
The Mermaid Chair Sue Monk Kidd0670033944Viking
The Plot Against America Philip Roth0618509283Houghton Mifflin Company
Zorro Isabel Allende, Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator)0060778970HarperCollins
Graphic Novel
American Splendor: Our Movie Year Harvey Pekar0345479378Ballantine
Bone: One Volume Edition Jeff Smith188896314XCartoon Books
In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman0375423079Pantheon Books
Marvel 1602 Volume 1 Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove0785110704Marvel Comics
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return Marjane Satrapi0375422889Pantheon Books
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
The Closers Michael Connelly0316734942Little Brown and Co.
Eleven on Top Janet Evanovich0312306261St. Martin's Press
The Historian Elizabeth KostovaLittle Brown and Co.0316011770
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Alexander McCall Smith0375422714Pantheon
With No One as Witness Elizabeth George0060545607HarperCollins
Poetry
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day Billy Collins (Editor) 0812972961Random House
Ariel: The Restored Edition: A Facsimile of Plath's Manuscript Slyvia Plath0060732598HarperCollins
Gilgamesh: A New English Version Stephen Mitchell074326164XFree PressBlue
Iris: Poems and Essays Mary Oliver0807068829Beacon Press
Let America Be America Again: And Other Poems Langston Hughes1400095190Vintage Books
Romance
44 Cranberry Point Debbie Macomber0778320731Mira Books
Blue Dahlia Nora Roberts051513855XJove
Northern Lights Nora Roberts0399152059Berkley
The Rocky Road to Romance Janet Evanovich0060598891HarperTorch
Undead and Unemployed MaryJanice Davidson0425197484Berkley
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Stephen King, Michael Whelan (Illustrator) 1880418622Scribner/Grant
Going Postal Terry Pratchett0060013133HarperCollins
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel Susanna ClarkeBloomsbury 1582344167
Shadow of the Giant Orson Scott Card0312857586Tor Books
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror Christopher Moore0060590254William Morrow & Co.
Debut Author of the Year
Broken for You Stephanie Kallos0802117791Grove Press
French Women Don't Get Fat Mireille Guiliano1400042127Alfred A. Knopf
The Ha-Ha Dave King 0316156108Little Brown and Co.
The Historian Elizabeth Kostova0316011770Little Brown and Co.
The Traveler John Twelve Hawks038551428XDoubleday
Religion/Spirituality
God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It Jim Wallis0060558288HarperSanFrancisco
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith Martha Nibley Beck0609609912Crown
Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End Deepak Chopra0307236072Harmony
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith: Further Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott1573222992Riverhead
Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential Joel Osteen0446532754Warner Faith
Biography/Memoir
Chronicles: Volume One Bob DylanSimon & Schuster
The Glass Castle: A Memoir Jeannette Walls0743247531Scribner
His Excellency: George Washington Joseph J. Ellis1400040310Alfred A. Knopf
Magical Thinking: True Stories Augusten Burroughs0312315945St. Martin's Press
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare Stephen Greenblatt0393050572W.W. Norton & Company
Business
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man John Perkins1576753018Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story Kurt Eichenwald0767911784Broadway Books
DisneyWar James B. Stewart0684809931Scribner
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner006073132XWilliam Morrow & Co.
Winning Jack Welch with Suzy Welch0060753943HarperBusiness
Cooking
Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral Gayden Metcalfe1401359345Hyperion Books
Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes Giada de Laurentiis1400052580Clarkson Potter
The Gourmet Cookbook: More Than 1000 Recipes Ruth Reichl0618374086Houghton Mifflin
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee0684800012Scribner
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals: Eat Healthy Without Going to Extremes Rachael Ray1400082536Clarkson Potter
Health/Self Improvement
And One More Thing Before You Go... Maria Shriver0743281012Free Press
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell0316172324Little Brown and Co.
French Women Don't Get Fat Mireille Guiliano1400042127Alfred A. Knopf
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo068987474XSimon Spotlight Entertainment
Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health Christiane Northrup0553105736Bantam
History/Current Events/Politics
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn0805076824Times Books
1776 David McCullough0743226712Simon & Schuster
The Children's Blizzard David Laskin0060520752HarperCollins
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond0670033375Viking
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century Thomas L. Friedman0374292884Farrar Straus & Giroux
Humor
Bad Cat: 244 Not-So-Pretty Kitties And Cats Gone Bad Jim Edgar0761136193Workman Publishing
The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker Robert Mankoff1579123228Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954 Charles M. Schulz1560976144Fantagraphics Books
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction Jon Stewart & the Writers of the Daily Show0446532681Warner Books
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? George Carlin1401301347Hyperion Books
Sports
Between a Rock and a Hard Place Aron Ralston0743492811Atria Books
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season Stewart O'Nan & Stephen King0743267524Scribner
Favre Brett Favre, Bonita Favre with Chris Havel1590710363
Rugged Land Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy; Inside the Mind of a Manager Buzz Bissinger0618405445Houghton Mifflin
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Geoffrey C. Ward0375415327Alfred A. Knopf
EDITOR'S NOTE: AND LAST....BUT NEVER EVER LEAST....A WEE BIT OF HARRY POTTERING ---
HBP: the choice of prisoners
The U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay turns out to be a popular place to read Half-Blood Prince, Reuters reports:
"Harry Potter is a popular title among some of the detainee population," said the librarian, a civilian contractor identified only as "Lorie" who works at the prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.Lorie said the popularity of the best-selling Harry Potter books, which recount the adventures of a boy wizard as he triumphs over the powers of evil, was matched only by the prisoners' passion for Agatha Christie, some of whose murder mysteries are set in the Middle East. EDITOR’S NOTE: OR INVOLVE ESCAPING FROM LOCKED ROOMS, NO DOUBT?
GOF to receive PG-13 rating
TVGuide.com is reporting that the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, has been slapped with a PG-13 rating due to "sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images."EDITOR'S NOTE: MY FAVORITE PARTS!
If this is confirmed, GOF is the first of the Potter films to receive this rating by the MPAA. We're working on getting confirmation from Warner Brothers. Stay tuned.
EDIT: We just received word from Warner Brothers. It's official. EDITOR’S NOTE: FIRST STAR WARS, NOW HARRY POTTER. SEX AND VIOLENCE AND SCIFI. WOOHOO!!!
posted by QOTD (the Queen of the Dweebs) at 8:00 PM
1 Comments:
Actually, the DVCode was _not_ Cleared.
Dan Brown won a round, but the case is far from over.
The headlines were wrong that the judge has cleared The Da Vinci Code of copyright infringement issues or that the issue has been settled.
Contrary to the headlines, Judge Daniels did not "acquit" Brown, but quite to the contrary, acknowledged that there were many similarities in the setting, plot and characters, in other words the key ideas making up my books. However, in one of those interesting quirks of law, he found that Brown's expression of the ideas was different and, therefore, that in the legal meaning of the word he had not plagiarized. We believe the evidence the Judge improperly excluded from consideration proves that my expression was infringed upon, not merely my ideas.
There has been no trial on the issues. What occurred exploits a quirk in American copyright infringement law whereby all facts and expert witness testimony can be excluded from consideration. This quirk is the "lay reader" test which says that the judgement relies on the gut-level response of an average reader as to whether similarity exists or not.
Ironically, the controversy with Da Vinci Code began with average "lay" readers – strangers who sent me unsolicited emails saying they felt I had been plagiarized. While this is a self-selected population, those who feel I have been plagiarized run approximately 10-to-1 in my favor. This indicates there is a substantial legal question to be addressed.
But NONE of those true, average "lay" readers – many of whom were identified in our legal briefs --counted. Only one reader counted in this case: Judge George Daniels who obviously fell into that 1-in-10 category. Because of that, I did not get a trial. Justice demands that a jury hear the evidence.
The summary judgment process has an admirable goal: to keep frivolous lawsuits from clogging up the courts. However, as my legal team amply demonstrated with expert testimony and hundreds of solid examples of fact and similarity, this legal action is well-founded on fact, raises substantial unresolved issues and deserves a trial.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has been clear on the following issues:
(1) Summary judgement should NOT be granted unless there is "no genuine issue of material fact."
(2) The Court should, "resolve all ambiguities and draw all inferences in favor of the non-moving party." I am the "non-moving party."
(3) A motion of summary judgement should NOT be a decision on whether copyright infringement has taken place. "Clearly, the duty of a court on a motion for summary judgment is to determine whether there are any genuine issues of material fact to be resolved by trial and not to decide factual issues."
(More details about this as well as the case citation can be accessed on my blog.
Thus, I believe Judge Daniels erred in his decision. In addition, item (3), above, makes it clear that the Judge's decision should not be considered a decision on the merits of whether copyright infringement has taken place.
Furthermore, I have never claimed to have copyrighted a notion, a fact, a plot, a bit of history, an idea or any other nonsense.
This quote from the judge's decision is totally false:
"Perdue alleged that Brown copied the basic premise of Daughter of
God, including notions that history is controlled by victors, not
losers, and the importance of the Roman Emperor Constantine in
requiring a transition from a female- to a male-dominated religion."
Just totally incorrect. Take a look for yourself at the original legal papers (including the expert witness reports) filed with the court, at: and you'll see that "expression" is what was infringed and what this suit is about.
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