(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Shitloads of linkspam that I am putting behind a cut, but which include Prince Caspian, a Luna Lovegood casting call, Terry Pratchett, Where the Wild Things Are, good news on the Internet Annoyance Law, deadly dog food (seriously, check this link if you have pets), more on the Leroy-Frey scandals, the Colin Farrell sex tape, My Little White Witch, C&D LOL, new trailers, the IMDB halfheartedly slaps at Harry Potter spam-voters (with a small rant from me), and Springtiiiiime for BloodRayne in Germanyyyyy.


Prince Caspian is Moving Ahead.

WB Opens Casting Call for Luna Lovegood.

Sam Raimi to Direct Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men.

Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers know Where the Wild Things Are.

Intelligent Design and the Great Octopus. ("So, the Bush Dynasty is being controlled by Cthulhu in order to destroy humanity?" "It explains a lot about Cheney -- he always did have that kind of fishy, Innsmouth look to him.")

The Internet Annoyance Law is less grim than we were initially told. alchemy_gryph:

The caveat: neither of these two statutes applies to speech that is protected by the First Amendment. No one has ever won a case citing 47 U.S.C. 223 trying to prosecute someone who was simply annoying. The Supreme Court recently re-affirmed the statute's limits in this respect in 1999 by unanimously striking down an attorney's lawsuit against someone who was telephoning him on a daily basis to tell him that he was an asshole (I'm not kidding).

"Annoy" was a poor choice of words on Specter's part, but the statute is not a threat to free speech. You are still allowed to tell people online that their fanfic sucks and their grammar sucks and your eyes are bleeding from their sheer inability to write and that you've exhausted your supply of Pepto Bismol and holy shit please for the love of God find another hobby. You are just not allowed to tell them from an anonymous account that you are coming over to their house with a .38 Special because their fanfic sucks.

The American Constitution protects the Rights of Man. It does not guard against the Hurt Feelings of Man.

More on that from lederhosen.

Fla. Bank Standoff Ends; Hostage Rescued.

Woman Who Died in '03 Left in Front of TV.  

S.F. Police Investigating Starbucks Bomb.  

Contaminated Diamond Brand pet food is killing dogs. It runs under a few different names, so check and make sure you're not buying it. It hasn't been purposely contaminated--it's a fungal issue, IIRC.

Border Agents Discover U.S.-Mexico Tunnel.

The NYT picks up the "Million Little Pieces" scandal. Meanwhile, a May 2003 book review called Frey out even then ("A Million Pieces of Shit"). And then Neal Pollack weighs in on the Frey/Leroy scandals. Excerpt: "It's been a hard life because the cops won't start--I mean stop--beating me up. The other day, I spilled coffee on the passenger seat of my 2006 BMW Convertible. That pissed me off so much that I stopped off at the closest Catholic church and hired a bunch of bums to gang-rape a nun. That's how much of a bad-ass I am. Meanwhile, the rumors that I've been hiring an actress to play me in public are only part true. I did hire one, but I killed her after I made her give me a blowjob under the table at the Paramount backlot commissary. If you're wondering where all the records of my various crimes have gone, well, they were destroyed in a fire a few years ago, a fire that spread across neighborhood police stations in every state. You didn't hear about that fire because of another fire that night, this one afflicting newsrooms."

Gene Shalit's son responds to outrage over his father's Brokeback Mountain review. A Washington theater pulls the movie as well.  I'm hearing rumors that the Birmingham Rave may be pulling it due to "controversy"--can anyone confirm or disprove this?

Jadis!Pony. SO AWESOME. (Yes, I did own 45,000 My Little Ponies as a child, some of which I paid for with $5 in ziploc-baggied pennies. WHAT OF IT?)

eBaumsworld vs. YTMND, part 2: Cease and desist, LOL.

Lohan Says She's 'Appalled' by Vanity Fair reporting things she actually said. Also, of the two disputed comments, about drug abuse and bulimia, it's the bulimia that she's complaining about.

Johansson doesn’t believe in monogamy.

Rachel Weisz and Darren Aronofsky are having a baby.

Trailers for Clerks 2 and Alatriste (aka "The Viggo Mortensen Swashbuckling Pornstache Movie").

Colin Farrell sex tape images (NSFW).

Hee. Go to the IMDB and scroll down a bit on the front page: "It seems that Harry Potter fan sites are sending quite a few of their visitors to vote in our annual 'Best of' and 'Worst of' polls, placing noted thespian Rupert Grint in 2nd place for Best Supporting Actor, with Jake Gyllenhaal just ahead of him (hey, we like Ron W. too, but come on!). Ah well, that's what you get when you invite thousands and thousands of people to vote in your Best and Worst Polls, sometimes the best really are the best and sometimes, well... Make sure your voice is heard in our "Best Work" poll and our Best Films of 2005 poll."

OH PLEASE. I loved Goblet of Fire, but it was not the best anything this year. Except maybe "Most Heartbreaking Jailbait Performance (Male)" or possibly "Best Villain Sans Nose." "Best Movie About Wizards," definitely. "Best Imaginary Band" all the way. But as far as satisfying adaptations go, Narnia was much better--in part because it was working with a short book that it got to expand, rather than a book so long that they couldn't even cram all the plot points in at the end. The acting was better and more consistent, even going by other people's comments--how many of y'all complained that Dumbledore seemed totally off this time? Not to mention the fact that David Tennant spent all of his screentime gnawing on the scenery, and that Mad-Eye didn't even get to say "Constant vigilance" once. Meanwhile, Narnia turned in a pitch-perfect Tumnus, Aslan managed to not ruin anyone's childhoods, Tilda Swinton pwned, etc. And there was way too much dragon in Goblet of Fire, I think, following in the recent tradition of "Most Action" rather than "Best Action," but it can't even win "Most Action" because Peter Jackson's got his stampedalanche of dinosaurs to the dinosaurth power. I love GOF and find it to be a perfectly satisfying movie, plot holes aside, but that doesn't mean it was the best of anything. I also loved Sin City, and I didn't vote for anything from that movie as the best, either. Except maybe cinematography, and that wasn't an option.

(Oh, and all the sad Star Wars fans who voted for Palpatine as Supporting Actor? We're just laughing at you.)

BloodRayne "mistake" costs $27 million. Due to a "computer error," 5,500 extra prints of BloodRayne were made and sent out to theaters. It costs roughly $5000 to print a reel, thus costing production $27 million. Here's the thing:

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that, according to Variety, the film is only showing on 985 screens, just over half of the original target of 1,900--and that's separate from the thousands of accidental extra copies. Now, the film is already millions in the hole and it earned only $1.2 million during its opening weekend, failing to place it in the top ten. Uwe Boll has had a lot of second chances, but might this spell the beginning of the end for the self-described misunderstood director?

One theory is that Boll spammed theaters with reels hoping they'd show it, but $27 million worth? No. (I mean, yes, I can see them doing that up to a certain point. But I don't think it's the reason for the "accident.") Don't you think someone would have noticed twenty-seven million dollars' worth of reels being made? Particularly for a movie that wasn't even supposed to have 2000 reels in the first place? Considering that behemoth King Kong (KING KONG!) is only playing in about 3600 theaters?

A version of the Uwe Boll Wikipedia article I read was removed as being "inflammatory and unverifiable," but it did say that the film industry nickname for his company is "Bialystock and Boll," so I personally would not be surprised to find out that this was a Springtime for Hitler gambit--yes, the tax loop he was using has been closed, but my understanding is that BloodRayne would have been grandfathered in due to its production dates. It's been closed now, though--maybe this was one last stab at throwing away giant amounts of money in order to turn around and make a profit?

Comments

[sarah531.livejournal.com]

(Oh, and all the sad Star Wars fans who voted for Palpatine as Supporting Actor? We're just laughing at you.)

Ah. I would totally have done that if I'd known about it- I thought he was pretty good.

*uses SW icon*

But really, the IMDB awards don't matter that much, so...hey. Although spamming the poll wasn't a clever move.

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

So did I. The film made me believe Jedi were being mowed down all over the Galaxy, and Ian McDiarmid had me completely convinced that Palpatine was loving every minute of it.

[sweetdaddydavid.livejournal.com]

1. I've heard nothing about any "controversy" regarding the Rave showing BBM, put I don't put it past the Rave to manufacture said "controversy" to get more people interested.

2. I looked at that Colin Farrell thing to see if his wang is as massive as reported, but it was no where to be found. He makes an incredibly unpleasant face when performing oral sex on a woman apparently.

3. Our babies eat Iams, but thanks for the heads up.

[dietcokebreak.livejournal.com]

Re. 2. at least teh Farrell makes an effort in that department.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Speaking of bad movies, I was just over on Making Light, where I read the following exchange. Eric Olsen tells Teresa about the upcoming Snakes on a Plane movie, and she responds, "In technical plot theory, that's what we call a wind-up toy." (Link here. (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007172.html)) Her essay is pretty interesting too.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I struggle with setup a lot, because I hate bulky setup, and if I can't figure out a reasonably elegant, clean-lined way to set something up, I don't want to do it at all. Hence the stalling on Black Ribbon.

[jeeperstseepers.livejournal.com]

Is Wee Free Men one of the Pratchett novels you were given? It's one of my favorite and I don't see how it could possibly be adapted properly for a movie. It would be turned into a cutesie children's movie with lots of annoying CGI characters, while the book, along with its sequel, is funny and cute but also contains some really serious subject matter that Pratchett barely tries to thinly veil with metaphore and poetic language. I mean, Assisted Suicide, anyone? (Don't worry, though it may seem like it, that's really not a spoiler.)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Nope, I think I got Good Omens, Reaper Man, and Guards! Guards!

[valkyrie79.livejournal.com]

Greg and I actually got a very child-molester creepy vibe from Mr. Tumnus, though to be fair to the actor, it would be hard to play that much differently. We wanted Susan and Peter to get Lucy away from the creepy fawn who liked to talk to her alone.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Without a shirt on. Heh. I like that in the sense of, you know, don't go off with strangers, kids! I can't remember what the BBC/PBS Tumnus was like for comparison. (I think part of the problem was that Tumnus was disturbingly hawt.)

[bibliotech.livejournal.com]

This is so mean, but whenever I see celebrities say "I don't believe in monogamy", I always want to add "Because my SO KEEPS SCREWING THE NANNY OMG WTF."

This is aralinde, btw. Nifty namechange!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

YOU CHANGED YOUR NAME?!

[aberrantangels]

maybe this was one last stab at throwing away giant amounts of money in order to turn around and make a profit?

That's been my working theory.

[arielchan.livejournal.com]

The Jadis pony doesn't seem to work any longer.

Also, OMG CLERKS 2.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awww, she said assholes were giving her a hard time over "stealing from C.S. Lewis," even though the pony is totally Tilda!Jadis, with the giant dreadhive and all.

pictures: http://www.mlptp.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=16083

[rebel-waltz.livejournal.com]

what happened with YTMND in the first place?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think the best explanation is in yesterday's entry--basically, half the internet hates eBaum for stealing their animations/artwork/blah and putting it up AND WATERMARKING IT on the eBaum site. So then eB stole a Lindsay Lohan thing from YTMND and did the same thing, and all hell broke loose. I think denial-of-service attacks were involved--spamming, coding, whatever, to suck eB's bandwidth.

Meanwhile, eB is actually a corporation of Eric Bauman and his father Neil. So Neil send the YTMND guy a C&D order (for stuff that other people, on their own, are doing) that includes the phrase "LOL" in it, which... I'm sorry, netspeak ought to nullify any legal proceedings.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Lindsey Lohan just earns a huge *facepalm* from me. "I didn't know the article author was going to PRINT what I said!!!" Oh glory...

And really, I'm more interested in who the internet thinks had the Best Pasty Face Hiss of Evil, Palpatine or Voldy. Because in the long run that's all I think internet polls are good for.

[drpeprfan.livejournal.com]

Icon love! Lol, Dean definitely called the undead scarecrow "fugly" in the newest episode.

And I think Palpatine would win, he's much gnarlier looking and does the cackling thing.

[emerybored.livejournal.com]

1. I think any girl in their early-mid twenties who didn't have My Little Ponies was deprived. And there was nothing better than taking that bag of coins to Toys 'R' Us and forcing the chick at the register to count it.

2. Viggo, even with the pornstache, is still hawt.

3. Even with your book, I could't get through 30 minutes of Alexander. It just hurt my brain too much. I still enjoyed the M15M without seeing the movie, however.

4. Speaking of your book... Effing fabulous. Got it for Christmas. Read it while I had bronchitis. Spent the entire time trying not to cough on it as the laughter turned to the phlegmhackrattle of death.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Alexander? I... I haven't seen Alexander.

[all-ephemera.livejournal.com]

I knew I liked Scarlett. *grin*

[marumae.livejournal.com]

But don’t believe those rumors that she’s hooked up with co-star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Johansson says he’s like a girl — who likes gossip and shoes.

...aaaaaand this is a problem how?

*applauds at the thought of a Wee-Freeman movie* I have a little Wee-Freeman in my brain, he frequently is the cause of people's belief I have turrets. Also, YAY for Rachel Weiz, I really like her...

[violetsocks.livejournal.com]

Sam Raimi to Direct Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men.

The end is nigh. I was rather hoping they'd leave Discworld alone, apart from the cartoons already made, because no one can really make Discworld into a book. Not unless they asked Stephen Fry to narrate and read the footnotes aloud like he did in HhGttG, and begged Neil Gaiman to write the script.

They're going to kill it. *curls into a fetal position and hugs her imaginary Vimes and Vetinari plushies*

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Wellll, I always thought that Small Gods would make a good musical.

:P

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

I live in DC, and the Regal Cinemas here aren't showing Brokeback either, AFAIK. There's only one theater listed as showing it when I look it up on IMDB. And my visiting boyfriend had already seen it so now I think I have to go see the gay cowboys alone.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

2 more things:
1) Lindsey doesn't seem to understand that the bulimia will make her more sympathetic and people will like her
2) New Lost tonight!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Whee! I just hope I don't forget a discussion entry again. People get surprisingly pissy over that.

[pinstripe-bindi.livejournal.com]

Starbucks bomb = PROJECT MAYHEM STRIKES AGAIN!

[crucioveritas.livejournal.com]

Considering out of the movies I seen this year.. GoF is going up for me as Best in Picture. *Shrugs* To be honest i didn't think Narnia was all that great, it was good yes, but not as great. Not to mention the color contrasting of the actors and background was off and gave it a early 90's look in places.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, to be honest, I actually *voted* for Pride and Prejudice. Brokeback Mountain was probably the most important, but I think I enjoyed P&P the most, and thought I'd mix things up.

[theatre-angel.livejournal.com]

The thing about GOF is that I think Harry Potter appeals to a wider audience than Narnia does, simply because I think more kids have read HP. The only Narnia book I read was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I didn't understand the religious allegory until a couple of years ago when I re-read the whole thing over. It certainly has plenty of adventure to go around, but I can't help but feel that HP would appeal to a wider audience.

As for the films, it took me two viewings of Narnia to really appreciate it, but I'm definitely going to have to agree with you -- it was the better-made of the two films. Which is funny, because I really didn't like it all that much the first time, but when I saw it a second time, I had one of those, "Oh my god, this is actually amazing" revelations that occur at the movies. My standards are way too high when it comes to acting, but the Narnia kids were way better than the Potter kids. (Though Radcliffe and Moseley are in serious competition here for Most Heartbreaking Jailbait Performance. Though I don't think Moseley's all that young...)

[kinkydork.livejournal.com]

i work at a veterinary college (only a lowly secretary, but i get plenty of dirt anyway) in the public relations office, and i've also heard quite a bit about the dog food contamination. when i first read a clip about it i was slightly terrified, as one of our puppies has been sick lately, but we feed them beneful, so it wasn't the food. anyway, point. my boss said that the reason the contamination happened is because while that contaminant is usually filtered/cleaned off the corn (i swear, this made much more sense when he explained it) in the process of making the food, and the food is tested at various stages, it is possible that there was a "hot spot" so to speak that the testing didn't catch, since they just take random samples of each batch.

but from what i hear, their consumer relations department is being absolutely excellent to everyone who has been affected by it. i cannot imagine losing one of my girls!

on a lighter note, i def. agree with your rant on harry potter, and i'm likely seeing narnia (finally!) on monday so i won't be so out of the loop. i did read all the books over the past month or so - i had only read the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe originally - and the very end was sort of a copout, at least to me. i was just kind of like WHAAA? but i suppose it had to end sometime.

and i hope the whole scandal over a million little pieces doesn't taint me on it, i bought it last week to read on the way to sundance!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, "The Last Battle" is supposed to be kind of a gloss on Revelations in the Bible, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it.

Boll & tax writeoffs

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

There's a Cinemablend (http://www.cinemablend.com/feature.php?id=209) article on this subject too - accusing Boll of deliberately making bad movies to exploit a tax loophole.

[theendofallthat.livejournal.com]

I just want you to know, where the wild things are is gonna be bad. I mean, I 'd hope they could fix it...but it's gonna be bad.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

But, but, Spike Jonze is directing it! How can it be bad?
(I would so have his crazy babies)

[firefly-ca.livejournal.com]

OMG!! Wee Free Men movie!! I've been waiting for that ever since I read it (which admittedly wasn't that long ago, but still).

I'd like to request Billy Boyd as the voice of Daft Wullie and John Hannah as whatever the name of the MacFeegle who flew on the bird was. Just 'cause I requested the movie be made to no one in particular and it happened, so it can't hurt to try again.

[drpeprfan.livejournal.com]

On that "Coming Soon" website, it also talks about the new Disney animated movie called "The Wild". Is it just me, or does this movie seem exactly like Madagascar, just the other way around?

I'd vote Narnia or Pride and Prejudice for Best Picture, but not GoF, the Potter movies don't seem to have the same kind of cinema magic as LotR did.

Oh, I was wondering if you'd seen Memoirs of a Geisha yet, it's really good. And you can't beat John Williams paired with Yo Yo Ma on the soundtrack, I promise that there is no wailing.

So wait...

[livinthegoodlfe.livejournal.com]

Does your sly reference to Springtime for Hitler (and Germany) mean youve seen The Producers? You might as well just see it if you haven't, i'll just keep nagging until you do. I hate to nag, truly, but not when I enjoyed a movie THAT much.

Just kidding, Ill try not to nag.

Oh, maybe I can look at those Colin Farrel pics now, considering (im assuming) a female user already looked (not that its bad if a male did, but I don't want to see anything... mannish) and said there was no meat present.

Re: So wait...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I've seen the original movie, not the musical or the musical/movie.