Hot chocolate is good

[cleolinda]

Garden variety linkspam:

And Then They Go Bombing... Again: Basque extremists warn of new attacks.

Scorpion stings Vermont man on airplane.

Apple renames itself, unveils iPhone.

Sirius pays Howard Stern $83 mln stock bonus.

Golden Tomatoes for 'Casino' and 'Queen.'

'Pirates,' Depp lead People's Awards.

Keith Richards to be in next 'Pirates of the Caribbean' film. I mean, yes, we knew this, to the point where I linked to an actual on-set picture a while back, but the producers are finally confirming it officially. Note: Accompanying picture may scare small children.

Director's Guild nominations: Bill Condon, Dreamgirls; Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine (!!!); Stephen Frears, The Queen; Alejandro González Iñárritu [whose name I am still struggling to spell and pronounce, but I think I have finally succeeded], Babel; Martin Scorsese, The Departed. I think there's still some room for change, but I would not be surprised at this point if these were the Best Picture Nominees. That's how far Little Miss Sunshine has come.

Also, from Oscarwatch as well, the Best Makeup finalists and the For Your Consideration gallery.

Alan Cumming, boyfriend make it official.

Brit tops Blackwell worst dresssed list.

O'Reilly, Colbert to trade appearances. January 18, be there or be square.

M. Night Shyamalan to do Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, not to be confused with James Cameron's long-awaited but unrelated Avatar project, in which I bought way too much play stock at the HSX back in the day.

Clive Owen, the new face of Lancome's men's line. I'll always think of Juliette Binoche as the face of Lancome proper; it's always her ads that I remember. However, while Owen has many, many good qualities, good skin is not one of them, which leads me to believe that this was a humanitarian intervention on Lancome's part. They did it for us, y'all.

Pachabel's Canon in D on an electric guitar.

Stuff You Need to Hear About linkspam:

lenamoster: "Since you link to a lot of information that people wouldn't get otherwise, I thought you might like to link to this, about an 18-ear-old Iranian girl sentenced to death for murder - she was defending herself and her niece from rapists. Clicking the link takes you to a more thorough description of what's going on, as well as another link to a petition calling for a retrial."

Big name comics writers going after Rick Olney, famous for never paying anyone, ever. "There's a guy called Ric(k)(?) Olney. He runs conventions and owns something called Tightlip Entertainment, a comic book company. He has a bad habit of not paying people. Ever. People in the comics industry have been comparing notes and as best as anyone can tell, nobody who did any work for him has ever received what they were owed. So Gail Simone, who went to one of his conventions and was never fully reimbursed, starts a thread on her message board on Comic Book Resources about Olney's various deceptions, and people who have been cheated or encountered the Rickster share their experiences. He's apparently a serial liar and prone to flameouts on message boards and in public. And Gail's thread proves no exception, as 'orcafresh' shows up and proceeds to threaten talent for breaking imaginary NDAs, spew insults and vitriol and get dogpiled by an all-star cast of comic book professionals. Eventually Gail has to ban him - the first time she's banned anyone from her board EVER - just to keep him from going back and deleting all his posts." Which they want to keep for a potential lawsuit.

Speaking of not paying anyone, ever: Granada Media is refusing, and has been refusing, to pay Peter S. Beagle any of the profits from the Last Unicorn cartoon on the grounds that it didn't make a profit. This is a common bit of dickery in the movie business, to the point where I believe the current New Line/Peter Jackson feud is because New Line employing similar creative accounting re: Fellowship of the Ring. (And it's funny that I should mention that, because A Call to Action in Support of Peter S. Beagle mentions that Saul Zaentz made something like $200 million from his rights to the Jackson movies, and part of this money could be used, but is not being used, to pay Beagle what Zaentz owes him for writing the screenplay for Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings.) The problem here is that Beagle doesn't have the money--or indeed, any money at all--to sue Granada for what he's owed on The Last Unicorn (or, in fact, to sue Zaentz for the Bakshi script). I am pretty sure that we are talking about two separate money problems here, but even if I'm explaining it wrong, the fact remains that Peter S. Beagle has been deeply screwed over. I know I mentioned the new Last Unicorn DVD the other day, but I finally stopped and asked judith_s what exactly the whole thing was about, and this is what came out. So, to repeat what I quoted Call to Action saying the other day about the DVD: "On February 6, 2007, Lionsgate Entertainment is releasing a special 25th Anniversary DVD of THE LAST UNICORN. This new edition is a huge improvement over the old one. It is digitally remastered so it looks great and has 5.1 audio, it is widescreen instead of fullscreen, it has much better packaging, and it comes with special features, including a video interview with Peter. Best of all, Lionsgate has agreed to let us sell copies of the DVD through Conlan Press, and more than half of each sale will go straight to Peter and his projects. If you plan on buying this DVD, please buy it here — because Peter will get nothing from copies sold through any other outlet." Please pass this information on, particularly that last link/quote, if you know any fans of Beagle or the cartoon.

Comments

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

WOW. That dickery on the part of Granada Media just leaves me utterly speechless. And I thought I was getting pretty immune to entertainment-business dickery.

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Oh, we talked about that in my film industry class. How they can make it look like Titanic didn't make a profit and how Leonardo DiCaprio didn't see any back-end of Catch me if you Can for years. Seriously, studio accountants are the most creative people in Hollywood.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the actual New Line/Jackson dispute is that New Line is claiming FOTR didn't make any profit at all, but I was hesitant to say that because I thought surely I must be mistaken--surely anyone with the sense God gave a breath mint would laugh that one out of the courtroom. But that one's just the most brazen case of creative accounting I've heard of--at least with Titanic, the costs soared so high (filming on water will do that) that at least you could kind of, maybe, believe for a moment that it didn't make a profit. Maybe.

[sucrelefey.livejournal.com]

Given his age and some of his habits *cough* smoking *cough* Clive's skin could look a lot worse that it is. But he better start using the sample packs they give him.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying, he's a very... rugged man. And rugged's okay at forty, but you hit sixty and you get into... well, Keith Richards territory.

[neveth.livejournal.com]

I cannot even speak of the utter despair and horror the thought of Mr. Shyamalan doing Avatar. It hurts bad enough that it's live action, but he doesn't do wacky, or the kind of light-hearted humor Avatar has! And he's writing it! *screams in great pain and anguish*

[neveth.livejournal.com]

it is so bad I couldn't even finish the first sentance properly! It was supposed to be "I cannot even speak of the utter despair and horror the thought of Mr. Shyamalan doing Avatar brings me."

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

Ah, lenamoster's link goes to a 404. :\

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Fixed!

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Okay, fine, blow up a truckload of nuns and smash all the baby seals you want, but you do. Not. Fuck. With. Gail Simone. She's one of the Good People. And deserves to be treated accordingly.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, she seems to be kicking ass in this case.

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Peter S. Beagle and Conlan Press, while folks are buying the new DVD version of The Last Unicorn movie, they could also take a look at the unabridged audio (http://www.conlanpress.com/html/audiobooks.html) of the book, read by Mr. Beagle himself. Right now it's only available by downloadable MPS, but they're supposed to be working on a cd as well and by all accounts it's a very nice production.

[khaman.livejournal.com]

My only beef - and I've been following the updates/it's a small company so I understand - is that I've had the dang CD/Two Hearts thing preordered for over two years now and I'm ready to have my copy.

[bacardibreezer7.livejournal.com]

The case about the Iranian girl made me so sad. Particularly this quote: She reportedly told the court “I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help”.

Not only are they wanting to kill her for defending herself, but not one single person came to their aid during the attack.

[trash-addict.livejournal.com]

Such an inappropriate comment to be replying to with this: Icon love!

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

I'm just letting you know, in case you have issue with it, that I've reposted the last paragraph of your entry, with credit and a link back to the entry, here (http://the-wanlorn.livejournal.com/372844.html) on my journal, since I'm a lazy SOB who can't be arsed to actually write something my self.

If you want me to take it down, let me know, and I will!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I only hope I explained the situation correctly.

[sound-of-bells.livejournal.com]

Yay Little Miss Sunshine!

I was just watching that today and thinking that they should be getting more recognition, they really did an amazing job. *happy*

[vkitty.livejournal.com]

The guy who invented instant ramen died. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/opinion/09tue3.html?em&ex=1168578000&en=ba41a18dd9b1a5b6&ei=5087%0A)

I don't know about you, but I'm mourning.

[brittastic14.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you. That man invented greatness

[fiberaddict.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up on The Last Unicorn! I preordered it - and Mr. Beagle will autograph it in 3 places since I ordered it through Conlan. :smile:

I have a 9 year old who will be *very* happy when this hits the mailbox!

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

If we're doing youtube then everyone should check kelly out (if you haven't already)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHFC6rlGsH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_o8bbXAGI
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNxwAU_xAMk

By far, the funniest things you'll ever see in your life

[tecno-fairy.livejournal.com]

I wish I could be surprised by the asshattery that producers and their legions of minions, sorry, accountants are capable of, but I've seen the levels it's reached in theatre, usually around cast-change time on major UK productions (refusing to release money for the costume budget for the recast until the last possible moment, forcing the costume supervisor to compromise on quality as a result of time restrictions, refusing to let us have extra staff or any extra help because of 'budgetry restrictions' when the show has been raking money in for the last four and a half years) so I shudder to imagine what it must be like on blockbuster films where the amounts are so much larger.

I've had my fair share of experiences that have left me in absolutely no doubt of the overwhelming importance of money and the length that studios will go to to make sure they get to keep as much of it as possible, but it still saddens me when people aren't able to profit from something that they worked tirelessly to create and perfect, and that was a commercial success. Surely in that situation everyone should win?

But I'm not an accountant, so what do I know?

[tecno-fairy.livejournal.com]

There are few things that have the ability to shock me over and over again, but when reading the article about Nazinan, the 18 year old sentenced to death in Iran, I came across one of them.

A woman who accuses a man of rape must produce four independent male witnesses to the rape or she could be accused of adultery and severely punished?

I've read this several times recently, in newspapers, on the internet, in Amnesty International literature and in women's magazines, and yet every time I read it I feel sick.

I just hope enough people sign the petition and her sentence is overturned. The more people hear about gross miscarriages of justice and the mysogynistic laws behind them, the more chance Iranian women will have of finally being given the human rights they deserve.

Thank you for publicising this!

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

M. Night Shyamalan to do Avatar: The Last Airbender movie

No. No no no no no no no no. NO.

Three picture deal? Directing and writing them? After Lady in the Water I'm surprised that he's still allowed near a word processor. How is he still getting work?!

I did not know that Casino Royale got a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's pretty sweet. Also Clive Owen for Lancome? Weird, I got one of their eye shadow palettes for Christmas. He isn't what I think of when I think "ideal cosmetic spokesperson" though.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, exactly. Like I said, I will always associate Juliette Binoche with Lancome because she was just so luminous in the ads, and that's extremely good advertising if I still think of her ten years later.

http://kapsel.itam.zabrze.pl/~kosa/binoche/lancome.jpg

At the same time? If you're trying to reassure men that skincare doesn't make you a wimp? You could do worse than Clive Owen.

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

I signed the petition for the Iranian girl defending herself against rapists and being sentenced to murder. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dude, seriously. The best she can probably hope for is that other countries raise enough hell that Iran is forced to back off.

[k-puff.livejournal.com]

Did you hear about this?:

House Co-Stars Get Engaged in Paris (http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/house-co-stars-became-engaged-in-paris/20070109180809990001)

MY OTP IS SO AWESOME THAT IT'S HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE. OH YES.

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

I signed the Save Nazanin petition. Seriously, that sentence is one of the most idiot things I have ever heard, bar none.

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

I reposted the link to the petition exactly as you have it on my own LJ. I hope you odn't mind.

Re: Iranian girl, comic cretins, and movie industry insanity...

[shesnotallthere.livejournal.com]

No matter how cynical I get, it never seems to be enough.

Oh, and I concur. Hot chocolate is good. Godiva coffee is also good. I think I shall go make some.

[xlearntoflyx.livejournal.com]

Yup, I signed that petition a couple days ago. It's asinine.

What bothers me the most is not just the sentence itself, it's that apparently there is a big chance that, had she not defended herself, she'd still be accused and punished for having sex outside of marriage.

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

Heh, I had a brush with a scorpion on a plane last month. Was lucky enough not to get stung, though.

[megotelek.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting the Peter Beagle links! I've already preordered my copy of the DVD - and found out that he wrote a sequel to The Last Unicorn called Two Hearts that I now MUST have!!

Here at my journal (http://megotelek.livejournal.com/46272.html) I posted what happened to me - I emailed Peter Beagle's business manager directly because my late grandfather was friends with Peter and brought me to see him when I was only about 2. So I wanted to ask if there was anything else I could do to help. And Peter himself responded to me!

Anyway, I've been telling everyone I know that they need to order the DVD from Conlan directly, and the ones who tell me they haven't read the book I lend one of my superfluous copies to (seriously, I think they breed)! Thanks again, Cleo!