Tagged: India

Foo Fighters Sue Marvel For Copyright Infringement

Today, Rolling Stone is reporting that the Foo Fighters are suing Marvel Entertainment, First Serve International, Toonz Animation in India and First Serve Toonz for copyright infringement. According to the article:

The band alleges that Marvel used “substantial excerpts” of their songs “Best of You” and “Free Me” as the music for the trailer of the new animated series Wolverine and the X-Men.

The trailer, which showed up online back at the beginning of February, has since been taken down from YouTube. However, as in most cases like this, that doesn’t really help much because you can still get a look at it over at Movieweb. Well, at least you could have up until a few minutes ago. But now, "at the request of the studio", it’s gone.

If you were able to watch the trailer, which I was able to do before it went bye-bye, its pretty obvious that the Foo Fighters songs were used — a lot. Seeing this kind of thing makes me wonder how the people responsible thought they could get away with something like this?

Don’t they realize that once something hits the Internet, this kind of thing can’t stay a secret? Someone is going to get a strongly-worded letter in his or her permanent file over this, just you wait and see.

 

Harry Potter Mania: The Final Battle

Harry Potter Mania: The Final Battle

I may have to do another one of these round-ups on Monday to get the post-publication stuff (and the reviews that won’t annoy Rowling by their very existence), but, after that, I never want to hear the words "Harry Potter" in my life again. (Above, Mr. Potter illustrates my mood.)

CNN just realized that Deathly Hallows publishes tomorrow and they haven’t run a bland “it’s coming” story yet. Problem fixed.

The Houston Chonicle runs Potter Story #5A, “these kids grew up while reading the Potter books.”

The Vail Daily News, on the other hand, files #6B, “this wait is killing us.”

The University of North Texas declares that it has professors standing by to comment profoundly on Deathly Hallows at a moment’s notice.

The Business Gazette of Maryland knows where all the good parties are.

Blogcritics has one of those “it doesn’t matter what happens in the outside world, I’m going to have my own special moment with Deathly Hallows and no one can stop me” pieces, this time by Katie McNeill.

Inside Higher Ed goes inside baseball with a story about the media coverage of Harry Potter. And then I comment on a story about the media coverage, here! Coming soon: meta-comments on my comments, and a spiral into utter madness.

Nicholas Clee, at the Guardian blog, is overjoyed to see arrogant UK supermarket chain Asda brought to heel by the power of J.K. Rowling.

The Indianapolis Star puts its money down on the “classics forever” marker.

Michael Burstein is an observant jew, and has been trying to figure out a way to get a copy of Deathly Hallows on publication day (which is also Shabbat, when engaging in commerce is forbidden). Any particularly clever rabbis out there want to help him?

The Belfast Telegram notes that Deathly Hallows goes on sale at midnight tonight. (Doesn’t a “Belfast Telegram” sound like a euphemism for something – like maybe a Molotov cocktail through the letter-slot?)

The Baltimore Sun reports on the odd people who are following Rowling’s demands and not opening their early-release packages of Deathly Hallows.

The Edmonton Sun watches bookstores batten down the hatches and prepare to be boarded.

The Times of India notes that a lot of people will want this book. Thank you, Commander Obvious.

Fox News has a transcript of the “Big Story” segment that talked about the Deathly Hallows internet leak. Has Bill O’Reilly blamed it on Hillary yet?

Publishers Weekly’s Book Maven blog thinks that Michiko Kakutani’s New York Times review of Deathly Hallows was scrubbed of spoilers after initial publication.

Speaking of the Times, only they would be so full of themselves as to actually use the phrase “muggle soirees” in a headline.

E! News thinks that it’s very sad that the mean ol’ New York Times reviewed a book before the author said it was OK to do it. Mean ol’ Times!

The Cleveland Leader has a somewhat less dramatic take on reviewing a book before the publication date.

Reuters tries to sum up the entire history of Harry Potter in one article.

The San Francisco Chronicle obsesses about whether Harry and Voldemort live or die in Deathly Hallows. (Of course Voldemort dies, silly, it’s that kind of book. Harry, on the other hand, isn’t a sure bet either way, though he’ll probably pull through, merely “greviously injured.”)

Immediately after guaranteeing that they’ll have stock on Deathly Hallows by giving a groveling, French-style apology to Ms. Rowling, the British supermarket chain Asda has announced that they’ll be selling it for £5 – roughly $10, and solidly below their own cost.

The Huffington Post apparently thinks that reviewing a book before the on-sale date is a hanging offense. Now, I’m happy to beat up on the New York Times as much as anyone – maybe even more so – but the job of a newspaper is to seek out news stories and report on them, which is exactly what they’ve done here.

The Bookseller reports on Bloomsbury’s attempts to cap Deathly Hallows returns in the UK by holding reprints until Wednesday.

The Scotsman reports on a hotel where you can get “Mrs. Weasley’s breakfast” tomorrow. (Again, that sounds like a euphemism for something I don’t waant to know about. "Darling, can you come over here? The dog’s got into Mrs. Weasley’s breakfast again, and I need a hand cleaning up.")

Publishing News is already looking past Potter to Christmas.

The Financial Times wants to know who, exactly, is making how much money on Potter. (It’s not the bookstores, as we all know by now.)

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Scream, Harry Potter, Scream!

Scream, Harry Potter, Scream!

Various torrent sites, and others, have posted what are claimed to be scans of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, implying that either a few copies of the US edition have escaped the strict security measures or that some sneaky hacker has Mad Photoshop Skillz. This has caused just one or two small news stories, such as:

The Boston Globe runs another countdown story, this time quoting the Massachusetts governor, who claims to be a big Potter fan. (And it may even be true, though any time a politician claims to love something that millions of his constituents are currently doing, it has to be a bit suspect.)

Peace Arch News, man, gives the South Surrey spin, man, on Pottermania, man.

The Sydney Morning Herald wants to let the book speak for itself.

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Fall of the House of Harry Potter Mania!

Fall of the House of Harry Potter Mania!

In honor of Daniel Radcliffe’s roving eyes, today here’s a picture of what Emma Watson looks like on a regular movie screen, and what she looks like in IMAX 3-D. Quite a difference, eh? (And if you want to see the photo I almost used here — which is probably not safe for work, and presumably is from Daniel Radcliffe’s stage work in Equus earlier this year in London — it’s here. The caption would have been something like "Hey! That’s not Hermione!")

NPR interviews Arthur Levine, J.K. Rowling’s American editor.

The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles J.K. Rowling.

The Guardian profiles Christopher Little, Rowling’s famously tough agent.

My god, even Eddie Campbell has gotten into the act. Must everyone in the whole wide world write about Harry Potter?

The San Jose Mercury News, running a bit behind, files the standard Harry Potter story (interviews with kids, librarians, and booksellers; lots of impressive numbers; thumbnail history) that everyone else was doing last week.

KansasCity.com thinks the Harry Potter readers will be writing their own fantasy novels in six years. (So, agents, if you start getting a flood of boy wizards in 2014, remember that Kansas City called it first.)

Newsday, from bucolic Long Island, New York, gets a bunch of people to recommend other fantasy books for Potter readers.

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Spider-Man 3 sets records in Asia

Spider-Man 3 sets records in Asia

Variety reports today that Spider-Man 3 set records in each of the eight Asian territories in which it debuted on Tuesday.  In Japan, it earned ¥415 million ($3.47 million).  In Korea, it took in 3.2 billion won ($3.44 million), and in Hong Kong the flick had the largest opening day ever, with $HK 7.5 million ($958,984).  Other records were set in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillippines and Taiwan.

The film also opened in France, German, and Italy.  Tomorrow, it distracts China, Australia and Russia, among others, before opening in the US, India and the UK on Friday.

Variety quotes a Sony distribution "honcho" saying, "This is a great way to start the summer. Box office for the past few weeks has been lackluster, and audiences seem very ready for summer."

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Another comic book movie for Nic Cage

Another comic book movie for Nic Cage

AP is reporting that Nicolas Cage has signed to star in the movie adaptation of the Virgin comic The Sadhu.  The movie’s script will be written by self-help maven Deepak Chopra, the father of Virgin’s chief creative officer Gotham Chopra, and is slated to be directed by Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (The Four Feathers).

Chopra the younger says, "Our goal is to start filming in India in early 2008," and explains a little about the title.  "The sadhu is an iconic character. He is an Indian equivalent of the samurai. He is the spiritual warrior of the mind."

No word on whether flaming heads or motorcycles will be involved.