I only knew Andy Hallett, the wonderfully talented actor who brought the green skinned “Lorne” (“Lorne Green? Get it?”) to life on “Angel,” from casual encounters at Dragon*Con. But he was wonderfully sweet, charming, and fun to be with. If you never had the opportunity to meet him, then tragically you never will, since heart disease took him from us at the insanely young age of 33. He will be missed.
At some point today, stop and sing a chorus of “Lady Marmalade” in his memory.
PAD
So I’m reading all these reviews of “Monsters vs. Aliens” written by people who are not remotely the target audience. In the interest of even-handedness, I present the following review written by my daughter, Caroline, aged six. Spoilers abound, but I didn’t want to restrict her creativity. This is, word for word, her description and opinions. Believe it or not, they are 100% accurate.
Continue Reading “Caroline’s Review of “Monsters vs. Aliens””
So we did reasonably okay, although I doubt any of us cashed. I shot a 207, a 229, and a 223. For some reason my thumb kept swelling, so I’d be fine for a few frames and then the ball wouldn’t come off my hand properly. On the other hand, I did better than I did last year.
Below is a picture of Kathleen, Ariel and I with Walter Ray Williams, who we bowled with in our last five frames and is considered the greatest living bowler in the world.
I will be in the audience at the 2:00pm ESPN broadcast today wearing my Spider-man Jersey.
…and heading out to the PBA Pro/Am Bowling Tournament late this afternoon at Babylon Lanes in Long Island. Ariel and, in her very first time in a Pro/Am, Kathleen, will be bowling alongside me on the 7 PM squad. Since it’s the fourth squad, there will probably be little to no oil on the lanes, so I’m not sure how well we’ll do, but here’s hoping. If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by.
PAD
The authorities in New Jersey who have arrested a fourteen-year-old girl on charges of child pornography. Why? Because she posted on line, supposedly for her boyfriend to see, naked pictures of herself.
Yes. Herself.
Supposedly if she’s convicted, she will be facing jail time and be forced to register as a sex offender under laws that were designed to protect people like her from…well…people like her.
Look, obviously this girl’s not the brightest bulb in the box, and were I her father I’d be mortified beyond belief. But wait…what? Child pornography? A sex offender? For putting up pictures of herself? Seriously?
PAD
Well, we certainly got some discussion going last week, so that was nice. I’ve started putting the date in the threader heading. Yes, I know it’s already up there on the tab to the left, but I figure it will eliminate potential confusion for the “Recent posts” list over on the right.
PAD
…along comes someone billing him or herself as “Lady Sybilla,” who has announced the publication of (we’ll extend benefit of the doubt) her own sequel to “Twilight” entitled “Russet Noon.”
It staggers the imagination that Lady Sybilla might actually be a worse writer than Stephenie Meyer. The title, however –which evokes images of a sun-baked potato–would seem to suggest that is so, as does Sybilla’s tendency to respond to controversy by using mangled cliches ( “bad publicity is better than no publicity;” “controversy is the mother of popularity.” ) Then again, if her endeavor, which purports to tell the saga from the point of view of the character of Jacob, displays a fraction of the fantasy put forward by her doubtless-soon-to-be-sued publisher, it could be pretty formidable. Her publisher, the aptly named AV Paranormal, declared:
“When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define. This is especially the case when actual cities like Forks and Volterra are used as the novel’s settings. Such settings are not copyrightable, as they are considered public domain. Similarly, the Quileute Nation is also not copyrightable, and neither are vampire or werewolf legends. Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them. Stephenie Meyer herself borrowed a great deal from previous works dealing with these mythologies.”
While this point of view might be applauded by the “everything should be free to everyone on the internet” crowd, the wrongheadedness of these sentiments is staggering. Vampires, werewolves, and the names of towns and Indian nations are public domain. Specific characters are protected by copyright. There is no blurred boundary here, no difficulty in defining it. This is theft, pure and simple. It should not be countenanced, and I have to hope a cease and desist letter is already en route if it hasn’t been delivered already.
You can read more here.
PAD
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