Fans on Trial! Phleghm at 11!
Apr 14First, it was Lucasfilm laying the legal smack down on a rogue element in the UK churning out plastic Stormtrooper outfits.
Now another ginormous figure in modern geek entertainment, J.K. Rowling, is taking a fan to court over sticky copyright wickets.
The suit, filed late last year against RDR Books, an independent publishing house in Michigan, alleges that RDR’s plans to publish a print edition of the Harry Potter Lexicon, a Web site that serves as a rather daunting compendium of all things Harry, violates Warner and Rowling’s copyright and takes away the future market for a similar compendium that Rowling plans to write.
The Rowling case is more interesting and “grey” than the Lucas case, frankly.
It Was a Metaphor! For Strangling!
Apr 10Oh, John Cho, you card! You didn’t really try to strangle Zachary Quinto, right? Although there is something sort of awesomely old skool about that image, vaguely reminiscent of all the drama that once went down amongst the original TOS cast, no? Anyway, I couldn’t help but remember my friend Sue’s own strange encounter with Sylar/Spock, which didn’t lead to any violence, but was still slightly terrifying.
It was a metaphor.
Authority Disassembled: How to Fix Wildstorm
Apr 09Sometimes I get these itches in my brain, dumb ideas that are just fanboy fantasizing, and I can do naught but share.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Wildstorm Universe is in a bit of a shambles, and has been for a while. This latest tailspin seems to have been precipitated, oh irony of ironies, by the most recent attempt at a star-studded “relaunch,” which saw Grant Morrison putting out a grand total of TWO comic books before his entire involvement vanished. Meanwhile, the few titles that did actually hit the scene were left standing out in the marketplace virtually naked.
Since then, we’ve had miniseries, and the odd attempts at ongoing series, and a few more “events” that I cannot even confess I bothered to steal off the internet. If memory serves, I think there are TWO more “events” stacked up in the near future: The current “Number of the Beast” miniseries, and something by Keith Giffen crossing the Wildstorm universe over into the DC universe.
It’s a mess. I’d like to see it cleaned up.
Torchwood: Do You Gwack?
Apr 07I’m a couple eppys behind on the U.S. run of Torchwood — just finished up the one with Gwen’s shapeshifter-plagued wedding (did anyone else wish she would have tried to cover up her sudden, mysterious pregnancy instead of telling the ‘rents? Wacky hijinks surely would have ensued!). Anyway, here’s what I really want to talk about: I have never quite bought into Gwack, the oh-so-poetically named Gwen/Jack ‘ship. Yet it seems like Torchwood really, REALLY wants me to buy into it, wants me to start my own fanfic page and do a YouTube mash-up and the whole nine yards. Right?
But I don’t know…their longing looks have just never felt quite as organic to me as, say, Gwen’s sweet domesticity with Rhys or Jack’s triple entendre-laced banter with Ianto. Both are appealing characters, but they don’t really go together, you know, that way. It’s always seemed a bit like Male Lead + Female Lead Must Absolutely = AWESOME ‘SHIP. YOU WILL BELIEVE THIS EVENTUALLY.
But, but…here’s another but (Jack would have something to say about that — hey!). The final scene of this particular episode made me buy into Gwack just a little bit. I mean, shit. “Will you miss me?” “Always.” Oh my God…miss me, too, Captain Jack!! The spark that should have been there all along was definitely present in this tiny little exchange, in this sweet, brooding slow dance. I’m not quite ready to proclaim my allegiance to Gwack entirely, but I can at least see it.
All this makes me curious as to what the general fan consensus is on Gwack. Please tell me if you have an opinion.
EDIT: Of course, Urban Dictionary has a kind of hilarious definition of “Gwack.” Just the first one — don’t read the other ones, they’re not as good.
You go, George Lucas! Kill that fandom!
Apr 07It looks like George Lucas is finally getting around to a lawsuit aimed at stomping out the common practice of purchasing screen-accurate plastic Stormtrooper costumes and then parading around conventions like you own the place and you’re some kind of costume genius because you had an extra couple grand burning a hole in your pocket.
(I kid, I kid. I love those 501st guys. Except the ones who are absolute pricks. I hate them.)
On the other hand…why, George? Why not just put out your own version, one that’s better and has the Lucasfilm marketing machine behind it, and bury the guy through old-fashioned free market capitalism? Instead, you file lawsuits and chase them across the ocean to make sure you get your way.
Why you gotta be like that, Lucas?!
