The Illuminated Dungeon

Happy Fourth of July!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:34:41 GMT

I hope everyone has a great Independence Day!

I've been thinking of which video to post for Independence Day and decided on this one by Sheryl Crow because Americans perfected the high-speed chase, and Steve McQueen escaped on his motorcycle years before James and Sirius were ever invented.

The Lexicon Lawsuit: Children, Copyright, and Technology

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:01:05 GMT

There are some interesting insights into the Harry Potter Lexicon case in the following article by Sara M. Grimes, who is a PH.D. Candidate at Simon Frasier University in British Columbia. She studies the way children interact with technologies such as video games.

Harry Potter Lawsuit and CGC (Child-Generated Content)

Quote: I ... think that legal systems (such as copyright) can be and are increasingly used to limit, contain, rationalize and commercialize kids' culture. And this happens in a variety of ways - through the elimination of opportunities to generate content, or by placing restrictions on what and how that content is generated (limiting freedom of expression and undermining children's agency); through corporate claims of IP ownership over child-generated content and submissions; and by teaching kids from a very young age a corporate reinterpretation of copyright law...ignoring fair use and obscuring the principles upon which copyright was based in the first place.

She also links to a series of articles printed in the Texas Wesleyan Law Review, while wondering if there is some sort of lesson about the Lexicon Case:

Harry Potter Law and Culture: HP and the Law

I haven't had time to read very much of it yet, but it looks fun. :) They write about everything from the Corrupt Ministry to the enslavement of House Elves. I read the part about "Punishment" in the Wizarding World and smiled a little:

Quote: The application of these rewards and punishments, however, is quite arbitrary. Teachers have enormous discretion in giving punishments and rewards. In the criminal realm, the Minister of Magic can follow or bend the law depending on how he relates to specific people. The use of magic is punished depending on who the person is that commits a particular illegal act.

*snort*

One more thing: My friend aredwitchpointed out to me that Canada has had it's own share of Copyright woes recently, including pending legislation that is making alot of people nervous. There are hundreds of articles on Google News about this, but for overview:

CBC: Copyright Bill Protests Surge Online
Macleans: A Users Guide to the Copyright Bill
Michael Geist: How the U.S. Got Its Canadian Copyright Bill

Bluestocking on Copyright ~ Plus Some HP Lexicon Info Turns Up in a Book

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:35:15 GMT

Bluestocking has posted the second part of her enjoyable and witty series on the history of Copyright!

Copyright Through the Annals of Time Part Two: The Battle of the Book

Part One is right here.

Also, something interesting popped up yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. They published an excerpt from a book called By Hook or By Crook: A Journey In Search of English by David Crystal, a linguist. I think the writer sounds a bit condescending to Americans, as if our English skills are somehow of a lesser quality than people in the British Isles (our English here is just different, as English is different in Australia, India, Kenya, Taiwan and wherever else it is spoken.) He thinks the American way of turning every business sign into a pun is somehow strange - but hey, that's Creative Capitalism!

Anyway . . . what jumped out at me is a quote from his book, which mentions all the differences between the American and British versions of Harry Potter. Where did he come across a list of these so he would know exactly how many there are? It's fascinating that he doesn't say in the text, but we can guess. Surely he didn't sit with a British and American version and pick it all out for himself when the Lexicon has listed the differences for years now. I need to read the book to see if he gives credit anywhere.

Another British import was being read at the next table – a Harry Potter book. At least, an Americanized edition of Harry Potter. I could tell by the title: it read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone – not Philosopher's Stone. Evidently, the American publisher felt that US children would have some difficulty with the notion of a philosopher.

If you compare the British and American editions, you find over two hundred substitutions. The children eat crumpets and crisps in the UK; they eat English muffins and chips in the US – potato chips, that is. A dustbin becomes a trashcan, a cooker becomes a stove, Sellotape becomes Scotch tape. It is a mini-dictionary of transatlantic differences: candy-boxes for sweet-boxes, jell-O for jelly, mommy for mummy, sweater for jumper.

Walkin' on the Sun ~ Garden PicSpam

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:52:07 GMT

It was officially 95 degrees (35,C) where I live yesterday, but my daughter saw a bank sign in downtown Chattanooga that said 100 degrees. There was also an Air Quality warning for Ozone. I'm hoping for clouds today.

I keep promising to post pictures of my garden, so today is everyone's lucky day [/sarcasm]

These are chili and bell pepper plants in the foreground, and in the back that is yellow squash on the right with the big flowers, and cucumber vines trailing out towards the grass. Ignore the weeds, please - it's impossible to get them all. This year we made sure my husband could mow all the way around this and that helps. In about a month, the squash and cucumbers will die off (eaten by beetles no doubt) and then I'll plant some sunflowers right there. The peppers will keep growing all the way to frost in November.

And my tomatoes, which I'm watching like a hawk because I want to eat one as soon as they get ripe. I've stopped buying at the store tomatoes due to the salmonella scare, so I'm hoping these will be ripe by the Fourth of July.

I use a trellis for my tomatoes because I have a small garden. I once tried tomato cages around them but it was harder to pull weeds and it was just ugly. We have big wooden 4x4's at the ends of the rows and bamboo beside each tomato plant. As they grow I weave string around it to hold up the branches - it looks natural and it works for me.

And now a song that seems appropriate: "Walking on the Sun" by Smash Mouth.

Summer Nights

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:03:40 GMT

I read this morning that the actress who played the ditzy school secretary in the movie Grease, Dody Goodman, has passed away.

Obituary in San Fran Chronicle

So that made me think of this song ~ Summer Nights ~ which seems appropriate as we sit around all summer waiting for either a verdict in the Lexicon case or the trailer to HBP (hopefully both!).

</a>

TechCrunch Legally Challenges the AP - Updated June 21

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:04:16 GMT

I had to start a new post because things are heating up.

In a new twist, TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington, who banned AP (Associated Press) stories from his blog due to the latest madness (see extensive coverage on my previous entry), has now decided to call in his own attorneys because the AP has quoted his blog without paying him a dime. He has sent a takedown order to the AP based on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

Fair Use Smackdown!

Techcrunch: The AP Has Violated My Copyright and I Demand Justice

Also today, the AP promised to meet with an unknown and rather shady group called the "Media Bloggers Association" to form new guidelines, and yet not one story has leaked from the media about it.

UPDATE: According to a blogger on The Washington Post, AP has issued a statement that this matter is now closed! You can read it at the link because I don't dare copy their sacred words:

AP Says Drudge Retort Excerpt Matter Closed ~ No Official Policy Announced

Rogers Cadenhead: Writes About His Meeting with the AP Attorneys ~
The Stanford Fair Use Project offtered to help him.

I spent around two hours yesterday talking to AP attorneys about their specific objections to the user blog entries in dispute, going line by line through the text to pinpoint exactly where they have intellectual property concerns in the short excerpts that were posted. I won't reveal the details of this discussion until AP releases the guidelines for bloggers that it promised on Monday.

On a social news site that's still manageable in size, like the 8,500-member Drudge Retort, it's possible to steer bloggers away from potential conflicts with media organizations by working directly with users. But 25 million people visited a social news site last month, and thousands of people are sharing news links in a way that's in direct conflict with AP's interpretation of fair use regarding the headlines and leads of its articles.

If AP's guidelines end up like the ones they shared with me, we're headed for a Napster-style battle on the issue of fair use.

When it appeared that I might end up in court on this issue, I got offers of help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen and the Stanford Fair Use Project. My attorney Wade Duchene and I were already working up the victory speech to deliver on the steps of the Supreme Court in the landmark First Amendment decision AP v. Me (Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter, Kennedy, Lessig, Tribe and Clinton concurring). I think AP and other media organizations should focus on how to encourage bloggers to link their stories in the manner they like, rather than hoping their lawyers can rebottle the genie of social news.

Given the publicity of this dispute, the first blogger sued for excerpting a news story will have the best pro bono legal representation that massive press attention can buy.

Although AP will be releasing guidelines, I don't think the news service will be able to concede any ground to the blogosphere. AP sells headline and lead-only services to customers. Asking the company to concede there's a way people can share this information for free is like asking the RIAA to pick its favorite file-sharing client.

If an expansive view of fair use is to remain in place, it's incumbent upon bloggers and our $500-an-hour friends in the legal community to define our own guidelines and fight for them. If we don't, big media companies will eventually define them for us, just as they've gotten the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and Copyright Term Extension Act passed in Congress.

(More at LInk about how AP discovered his "infringing" quotes in the first place)

More Links:

Fester: NewsHoggers ~ Increasing the Pressure on the AP

Cernig: NewsHoggers ~ AP Says Case Closed ~ I Don't Think So

The Archcrone: Ass.Press's Desire to Re-Write Fair Use

LissaKay: Newscoma: Connecting the Dots

Rex Hammock: Rexblog ~ It's Their Content and They Can Do What They Wanna

David Burn: How to be Irrelevant Online

Doug Fisher: Common Sense Journalism ~ AP Steps In It, Continued . . .

Sandra: Blogosphere Tells AP ~ Rest In Peace

Thunder Pig: WNC Citizens Blog ~ AP vs Blogger Fight Smoldering, How You Can Fight Back

Barbara Fister: Why Bloggers are Boycotting AP

Michael Duff: AP starts copyright fight but can't handle blogger backlash

Music from Tim Russert's Funeral

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:20:48 GMT

I've never been a fan of Tim Russert, and I think his funeral services have gone on way too long. However, the memorial yesterday afternoon was very touching, and there were great eulogies by Tom Brokaw, Maria Shriver, Brian Williams, and his own son, Luke.

"The Boss," Bruce Springsteen showed up by satellite TV to play "Thunder Road," which actually wasn't that good because he slurred so many words that it was basically meaningless.

However, just before that, Russert's brother-in-law, the jazz guitarist Tony Scozzaro, played a virtuouso performance of "Born to Run" that was one of the best TV moments I've seen because it was so unexpected.

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=266486

If the YouTube becomes available I'll post it. So far the sound is distorted on all of them.

Fair Use: The AP versus the Blogosphere - Updated Links

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:25:58 GMT

When I first read this story, I was amused at the absurdity, but the more I looked around at what other bloggers were writing, it became clear that this was more serious than I thought.

The Associated Press, a grand old news group, has used (or misused) the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to justify sending Cease and Desist letters to blogger Rogers Cadenhead of the Drudge Retort, a liberal parody of the Drudge Report. Cadenhead compiles news links from all over the Internet with short excerpts. Even though Cadenhead changed the headlines in most cases, quoted less than 80 words, and linked back to the original story, AP decided that their copyright had been violated.

In the New York Times our friend Tim Wu says:

“The principal question is whether the excerpt is a substitute for the story, or some established adaptation of the story,” said Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School. Mr. Wu said that the case is not clear-cut, but he believes that The A.P. is likely to lose a court case to assert a claim on that issue.

“It’s hard to see how the Drudge Retort ‘first few lines’ is a substitute for the story,” Mr. Wu said.

The AP is now backpeddling and saying they will set new standards, possibly to be announced later this week. Jim Kennedy, vice president of AP said in the same NY Times article:

“We are not trying to sue bloggers,” Mr. Kennedy said. “That would be the rough equivalent of suing grandma and the kids for stealing music. That is not what we are trying to do.”

Other bloggers have alot to say about this, as you might expect. Some are boycotting AP stories from now on (as I probably will - who needs this sort of headache?).

Stanley Bing in the Huffington Post: 12 Bucks to Link to an AP Story

Teresa Nielson Hayden: Making Light: AP to negotiate with sham “Media Bloggers Association”

Michael Arrington: Techcrunch - Something is Rotten in Denmark: the AP, NY Times, and the MBA Love Triangle

Jeff Jarvis: Buzz Machine: Whither the AP

Dorian Benkoil: The AP's Real Problem Isn't Bloggers - It's It's Own Newspapers

Jeff Nolan: The Blogger Wars of 2008

Psychobilly Democrat: Dear AP: Screw You

Reid Stott on The Daily Whim: The Alternate Reality Known as the Associated Press

Justin Gardner: Donklephant ~ Why I Won't Pay the AP One Red Cent

Joe Mullin in The Prior Art: The Associated Press vs. The Quote

Cory Doctorow in BoingBoing: The AP expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations

Making Light Blog: The AP ~ Worse Than Merely Foolish

The Daily Kos: More on the AP Idiots

Jeff Jarvis: BuzzMachine: FU AP

Unassociated Press Petition to Boycott AP

David Ardia of the Citizen Media Law Project has great legal analysis on the PBS website.

Nate Anderson: Ars Technica: "DMCA Takedown Tiff Not a Battle AP Should be Fighting"

Krishna Mony: Hey, AP! Come and Get Me

Alan Herrell: An Open Letter to Jim Kennedy, VP of Strategic Planning, Associated Press
Also by Herrell: The Associated Press, Fair Use, Copyright, and the Rest of Us and The Death Rattle of the Associated Press.

Mark Glaser: Mediashift: AP Badly Mistaken on Drudge Retort

Scott Rosenberg: Do Excerpts and Links Infringe?

UPDATE: As many bloggers have pointed out, the AP is seriously trying to get people to pay by the word when they quote an article. How can this be legal? And why would anyone sign up for this?

Alan Rickman ~ New Bottle Shock Trailer

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 06:32:46 GMT

This was posted on This was posted on alanrickman by monicarnsg , who also put it on YouTube! Thanks so much!

In Honor of James and Sirius: Rebels Without a Clue

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:22:30 GMT

Just because:
A. It's Friday.
B. People were invoking this song about the James and Sirius Prequal.
C. There's a Tom Petty song for every occasion.
D. saiphgrl wrote about going to a Tom Petty Concert.
E. Johnny Depp is in this video!

One thing we haven't talked about is the whole "rock star" aspect of the Marauders. In the Prequal they are wearing those Phoenix t-shirts and their wands are like Drumsticks. Is this a joke about Stubby Boardman? Or were the Marauders more like Spinal Tap? Please Discuss (seriously, sarcastically, or any way you like).

Have a Great Weekend!

New HBP Poster Art

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:35:57 GMT

Passing along the latest HBP Poster art of Harry, Snape, Draco, and Dumbledore. Also larger resolution Yarn Pictures of Tonks and Lupin.

Thanks to "the hollow" on HPN for telling me about them, and of course hbpmoviepics and masterofmystery who posted the hi-resolution versions Here. Mine have been edited for size.

Couple of Pictures from the German Yarn packages (more at hbpmoviepics ):

James and Sirius Prequal - Updated

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:33:49 GMT

JKR writes about the Prequel on her Official Site. She writes that this story takes place three years before Harry is born, which would make James and Sirius about 16-17 years old, and the year around 1977.

The Prequal is online now: http://www.waterstoneswys.com/

Click "Read Our Author's Stories" and then "J. K. Rowling"

Or read my screencaps:

Side One of Card
Side Two of Card
Thanks to freggythepod for finding a typed version for those of us (including me) with bad eyesight:

The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted,"Whoa!" Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without seating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail lights, vanished up the narrow side street.

"We've got 'em now!" cried PC Anderson excitedly. "That's a dead end!"

Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.

There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crawling towards them like some growling luminous-eyed predator.

There was so little space betwen the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch,crab-like,towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall,tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.

"Get off the bike!" he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.

They did as they were told, finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair, his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in t-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, timeless rock band.

"No helmet!" Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. "Exceeding the speed limit by-by a considerable amount!" (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motocycle could travel.) "Failure to stop for the police!"

"We'd have loved to stop for a chat," said the boy in glasses,"only we were trying--"

"Don't get smart-you two are in a heap of trouble!" snarled Anderson. "Names!"

"Names?" repeated the long-haired driver."Er-Well, let's see. There's Wilberforce...Bathsheba...Elvendork..."

"And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy OR a girl," said the boy in glasses.

"Oh, our names, did you mean?" asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage."You should've said! This here is James Potter, and I'm Sirius Black!"

"Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little-"

But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staying past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical, fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.

For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motocyclists had drawn nothing more than-

"Drumsticks?" jeered Anderson. "Right pair of jokers, aren't you? Right, we're arresting you on a charge of--"

But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.

The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying-actually flying- up the alley on broomsticks-and at the same moment,the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.

Fisher's knee bucked; as he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him, as flump-bang-crunch- they heard the men on brooms slam into the suspended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.

The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.

"Thanks very much!" called Sirius over the throb of the engine."We owe you one!"

"Yeah, nice meeting you!" said James. "And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!"

There was an earth-shaking crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motocycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into thin air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.

I can't think of anything to write about it, so I'll just sit back and wait for the comments.

***The Comments here may contain spoilers!!!***

And here's a video for freggythepod :

"I never felt it in my feet, I never felt it in my soul, but I heard it in the alley now it's in my rock and roll.
If you want to know a secret, You've got to promise not to tell.
If you want to get to heaven, you gotta raise a little hell. "

Bluestocking Writes About Copyright and Defamation

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:49:19 GMT

My friend Bluestocking has posted some new enlightening essays for your summer reading pleasure:

It Ain't Libel If It's True!

and . . .

Copyright Through the Annals of Time, Part One

Yes it all started with the fabled "book curse."

Let's take a trip to the "Lego Hogwarts Library" shall we? I've never heard Madam Pince sound so convincing (and alot like Norman Bates' mother from Psycho):

Lexicon Update: Of Professors and Parasites

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:57:30 GMT

Still no news about the Lexicon. The long vigil continues.

I just saw this article by Professor Alastair McCleery of the Scottish Centre for the Book, Napier University:

Dead Hands Keep a Closed Book

No, don't worry - that rather startling title doesn't mean he is advocating death to writers, but hoping that the descendents of deceased writers will allow more freedom for academic writers to use the published works of the departed. He is complaining about copyright "extension" which allows nearly perpetual copyrights for heirs to a literary estate.

And yes, that would mean a loosening of the copyright laws in some cases, and he goes through quite a bit of the history of copyright, and UK legislation. But methinks the Scottish professor contradicts himself and sounds a bit like an intellectual snob when he singles out the HP Lexicon as a special case because he sees it as "nakedly parasitical." Come on . . . really?

First McLeery writes:

. . . "Intellectual property must at some point become available to all so that it can work to the public good. This is not a legal principle that must be fought for but one that must be exploited without reservation."

. . . instead of welcoming the opportunities to stimulate interest in an author's work and thereby to increase the revenues derived from it, literary estates can block them out of an kneejerk conservatism towards an unfamiliar medium and a fear of loss of control of the heritage they are protecting.

Our academic perspective privileges the generation and transmission of new ideas and learning conducted in an atmosphere of liberty of action and freedom of expression. The viewpoint of the literary estates (and their publishers) is based on a desire to control use of copyright material and exploit it to the full commercially. Both positions are reflected in copyright law itself; yet only that of ownership is stressed and promoted.

No mention of whether the original author or copyright owner should decide how "creative" a work is in order to bestow the privilege of quoting and summarizing. No - even a dry history book, biography, or literary analysis should have "freedom of expression." But then he switches his opinion on the HP Lexicon, which is a special case undeserving of such "liberty":

About the Lexicon: "Other derivative works that have been challenged using copyright have tended to be much more creative responses to existing works rather than so nakedly parasitical."

Sorry, Professor. I think you are being a bit hypocritical there. Don't collegians and academic writers create indexes and lexicons? Don't they actually get tenure based on publishing works about other works? Of course they do. I would never call an academic writer a "parasite," though, because criticism is the rock core of understanding and analyzing literature.

The word "parasitical" is reminiscent of phrases used by the Plaintiff side in the course of the Lexicon trial, and it's a nice echo coming a fellow Scot. However, McLeery cannot have it both ways. Either Fair Use protects all sorts of works, or it protects none. It shouldn't be up to the author or the Court to decide what is "creative" and what is not.

I daresay, in the U.S., most juries would probably rule that most academic writing is not "creative" but "factual" and they might even find it to be a form of parasitical green algae growing on the upper crust of Higher Education. That may be untrue and unjust, but there could be alot of strange rulings if the legal choice is between "creative worship" and "parasitical crap."

If things were that simple, this case would already be over.

Fair Use Verdict: Stanford's Falzone Wins Against Yoko Ono

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:49:54 GMT

There was an interesting verdict in a Fair Use case in New York City the other day - I believe this is the same Federal Court that is deciding the Harry Potter Lexicon case JKR/WB vs. SVA/RDR. A filmmaker along with actor Ben Stein wanted to use John Lennon's complete song "Imagine" ("there's no religion") as an ironic counterpoint to a film sequence in a conservative anti-evolution film. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, along with her son Sean and step-son Julian, filed for a permanent injunction against the film being distributed, and wanted all copies of it destroyed. The Judge, however, ruled that the use of the song was Fair Use, and denied the injunction.

You can read about it on the Stanford Fair Use Project website. Anthony Falzone, who did the closing statement in the Lexicon trial, also represented the defendents in this case.

Dan Slater in WSJ Law Blog wrote: "Transformation trumps all. That’s the lesson we take away from today’s decision."

Indeed, most legal bloggers are viewing the verdict as appropriate in terms of Copyright and Fair Use, even if they disagreed with the goal of the filmmakers.

Kevin Smith writes in the Duke University Copyright Blog:

Imagining Fair Use

The judge has rejected a request by the Yoko Ono for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the distribution of the film. Ono claimed that the use of this short clip without her permission was copyright infringement. Given the vastly different political perspectives involved, it is unlikely permission would have been forthcoming. But the judge ruled that it was also unlikely that permission was necessary, since there was a strong claim that the use was fair use. Since one of the criteria for getting a preliminary injunction is “likelihood of success on the merits,” Ono’s request was denied because the judge felt it was unlikely she would succeed on the underlaying claim that using the clip was infringement.

. . . Nor does the film Expelled compete in any way with the market for the recordings of John Lennon. And in a traditional transformative use case, the owner of the original may not have much desire to license the use if asked, since the proposed new use often subjects the original to criticism or ridicule (as in this case). Transformative uses are often those uses where there is a strong possibility that the copyright owner in the original work would use his or her rights to suppress the new speech; fair use is the remedy that prevents this censorship by copyright.

For me, this role of fair use in preserving copyright as the “engine of free expression” is especially clear in this case (for an explanation and discussion of this quote from Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises, see this report from The Free Expression Project). Free speech is always hardest to accept, and most important to remember, when one disagrees violently with what is being said. In this case, I personally have little use for the claims being made in the movie “Expelled;” they strike me as inflammatory and hard to defend with real logic or facts. Nevertheless, the right of the movie producers to make those claims is inviolate, in my opinion, and it is important that they have the tools to make their case in the best way the can. Fair use is an important tool to support creative expression, whether I agree with the content of that expression or not. The arguments being made in the movie may fail, but the judge got this decision exactly right when he ruled that the producers could use the tools they did (including a small part of another’s copyrighted expression) to make those arguments."

Mass Law Blog

"The court’s ruling on fair use is no surprise, and applies “black-letter” fair use law to undisputed facts. Any outcome other than a ruling in favor of fair use would have been a surprise."

Copyright or Wrong

"Premise argued that the lyrics “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too” was integral to the documentary, as it demonstrated many people’s belief that the world is better off without religion. Premise also argued that under the fair-use doctrine it has the right to comment on these lyrics.

Judge Sidney Stein agreed, noting that "the fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes of criticism and commentary is not an infringement of copyright."

While no fan of "intelligent design" and a big fan of Lennon, I can't help but agree that Judge Stein nailed this opinion. Setting out boundaries of fair use (discussed here and here) is key to helping society understand what is and what is not OK to "borrow" and/or "use."

Ars Technica

"Judge Stein's task wasn't to critique the dubious logic of this segment, but to evaluate the narrower question of whether the film's use of "Imagine" is fair under copyright law. He noted that the film was focused on a subject of public interest, and that the film was commenting on Lennon's anti-religious message. The excerpting of copyrighted works for purpose of "comment and criticism" is explicitly protected by the Copyright Act, and Judge Stein ruled that this provision applied in this case.

The decision quotes extensively from Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, a 2006 decision that allowed the reprinting of reduced-size versions of several historical posters used in a coffee-table book about the Grateful Dead. In that case, as in this one, the alleged infringers had used the works in a commercial product, but the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that "courts are more willing to find a secondary use fair when it produces a value that benefits the broader public interest." Whatever the merits of its argument, Expelled is clearly commentary on an issue of public concern, and the use of "Imagine" was central to its argument. Those facts weighed heavily in favor of a finding of fair use.

Stein and company were defended by lawyers from Stanford's Fair Use Project. In a blog post announcing their decision to take the case, executive director Anthony Falzone wrote that "The right to quote from copyrighted works in order to criticize them and discuss the views they represent lies at the heart of the fair use doctrine," and argued that Ono's actions threaten free speech."

Congratulations, Obama!

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:30:25 GMT

I'm happy tonight that Obama has enough delegates to be the Democratic Nominee.

I'm proud to say I voted for him in the Tennessee Primary, and I think he is a great candidate. News Here

I realize not everyone on my f-list is an Obama supporter, and some of you are not U.S. citizens. But I love Obama and I just want to celebrate his election tonight.

Update: The Associated Press is reporting that Obama has a Vice-Presidential Committee! Who knew?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama named a three-person team including Caroline Kennedy to lead his search for a running mate Wednesday while expressing confidence that the Democratic Party would soon unify after a bruising battle for the presidential nomination. "I'm very confident of how we're going to be able to bring the party together," Obama said after a brief conversation with Hillary Rodham Clinton, his vanquished rival.

Campaign officials said Kennedy, who is the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, as well as former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and longtime Washington insider Jim Johnson have already begun compiling information on potential running mates. They disclosed no names.

Here are some links to my favorite websites for political information. These are useful whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Undecided. These are also good if you get busy and just want to know quickly what's going on in politics.

MSNBC First Read Blog
Real Clear Politics
Politico.com
CNN Politics
Huffington Post Politics

The Prince and Draco

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:14:34 GMT

Another fabulous Snape pic from HBP! This one must be from the talk they have during Slughorn's party. Alot of expression on Alan Rickman's face as Draco walks away. Just before that happens in the book there is a great line:

"Why was Snape looking at Malfoy as though both angry and . . . was it possible? . . . a little afraid?"
~ HBP, Chapter 15

There's a close-up of Alan Rickman under the cut, thanks to Bscorp on HPN:

The Man Who Is the Half-Blood Prince!

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:24:06 GMT

Look at this beautiful picture of Slughorn's party in HBP!
I found this on hbpmoviepics

Can you believe that WB released a picture of Snape first this time? Do you think they realize he really is the HBP? *lol*

Harry Potter and the Five Million Pound Note Card

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:02:24 GMT

Most of you already know that JKR has written an 800-word Prequal story about teenage Marauders James and Sirius on a notecard as reported by Snitchseeker and on JKR's Official Site by the author herself.

This is surprising considering last month JKR gave sworn testimony that she couldn't write anything due to mental distress. Even more so considering that she wrote on the card that the tale was: "[from] the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!" The Daily Record: reports that the note card will be auctioned on June 11, and bidding may go as high as five million British pounds.

Since many have speculated on what the story might say, my good friend Olwen on Harry Potter Network set up two contests, one for fiction and one for art. Here is the link for the fiction, and I will add the one for Art when it's set up.
The HPN 800 Writing Challenge . Waterstones announced today that they are also having a contest, not for an HP Prequal, but for an original story. Details Here. The winner's story will be published alongside JKR's and other writers in a book released later this year.

For the last word on this, we turn to Giles Coren of the London TimesOnline:

J.K. Rowling: how small can you go?

...as the price of Potter goes up, so the size of the books comes down (which is, at least, a blessing). Last year there was The Tales of Beedle the Bard, only 157 pages and with a print run cunningly restricted to seven books, of which only one came on to the market and was sold to Amazon (see that? sold to Amazon, not by Amazon) for £1.95 million. That's good business, that is.

After that Rowling clearly decided to see how far she could push the maths, and has now produced a book of only 800 words, written “in minuscule handwriting” on a single piece of A5. Eight hundred words! It's true, I read it in the Daily Mail on Thursday. Rowling has grasped that, with her stock this high, 800 is about as many words as she needs to write.

...Will her next great oeuvre contain 400 words? 200? 83?

************************

It just isn't going to end, it isn't ever going to end. There are going to be new Harry Potter books coming out every year for the rest of my life. I just know it.

That blasted Scottish woman promised she was only going to write seven of them and then stop. But she lied. She just rotten lied, purely to push up the value of the ones she has published already. It's like the diamond market. She is the De Beers of literature, hoarding away tons of this intrinsically worthless stock, for which people have an inexplicable and very base lust, and trickling it out on to the market gradually, for billions, under the threat of an impending (and imaginary) shortfall in supply.

...And as the price of Potter goes up, so the size of the books comes down (which is, at least, a blessing). Last year there was The Tales of Beedle the Bard, only 157 pages and with a print run cunningly restricted to seven books, of which only one came on to the market and was sold to Amazon (see that? sold to Amazon, not by Amazon) for £1.95 million. That's good business, that is.

After that Rowling clearly decided to see how far she could push the maths, and has now produced a book of only 800 words, written “in minuscule handwriting” on a single piece of A5. Eight hundred words! It's true, I read it in the Daily Mail on Thursday. Rowling has grasped that, with her stock this high, 800 is about as many words as she needs to write. If she has anything in common with her fellow writers (and she doesn't have much) it is clearly laziness. There is not a novelist alive who would not stop writing after 800 words, if he thought he could get away with it.

The book has been produced for a charity auction (I am not for a minute suggesting that Rowling is avaricious, just smart) and is apparently some sort of a prequel. Ooh, how exciting. It's Harry Potter before he could do magic. What is it, a Jennings book? But, come on, 800 words. Where will it end? The original Harry Potter books kept getting longer and longer (the crackhead lit-kids who came out annually to score them at midnight needing bigger and bigger doses to “feel something”) and now she is going the other way.

Will her next great oeuvre contain 400 words? 200? 83?

Laurence Sterne risked a single blank page in Tristram Shandy (as well as one black one). Georges Perec made a bold stab at a full length novel with no “e”s in it (and Gilbert Adair made an even bolder stab at translating it - lipogram intact - from French into English). B.S.Johnson put a lot of loose pages in a box and said it was finished. But the great pranksters and innovators of the past will have to hold up their hands and admit defeat ifRowling truly makes a go of the one-page novel.
And what of all the great novelists who never got around to banging out prequels to their greatest works, for fear that they didn't have much to say about events before the narrative began, or thought they didn't have enough time for such a craven endeavour?

Little did Charles Dickens dream that there might be two million quid in a bit of paper that said: “Congratulations, Mrs Twist - it's a boy!” And perhaps Herman Melville would not have lived such a life of penury if he had had the nous to publish a prequel to his most famous work featuring a single scene, in which a couple walk into a Nantucket bookshop, the wife clearly eight and a half months pregnant, pick up a book of baby names and open it randomly at the letter “I”.

Hell, if they'd followed the Rowling model the blokes who wrote the Book of Genesis could have scratched “It was a dark and stormy night” on to a scrap of papyrus and moved to California.
And who is to say it will end here? Who knows how far Rowling can take this? How short can she go?
When I am asked in future “Have you read the new Harry Potter?”, will my usual defensive lie - “I'm halfway through but not really getting into it, I'm afraid” - be met with a raised eyebrow and the admonition: “But it's only two words long”?

No doubt, as her final great gift to literacy in English, Rowling will eventually produce a novel that comprises a single piece of paper - valued at £90 million - on which is written simply the word: “Wizard”.
And no doubt, as some wealthy but barely literate teenager pores over it for endless hours in her suburban bedroom, her parents will say defensively: “Well, at least it's got her reading...”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_coren/article4034597.ece

Lexicon Update: No News is No News

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:58:13 GMT

There isn't much to report about the Lexicon case yet - we are just waiting for either a settlement or for the Judge to give a verdict. However, if you want a good laugh, check out this new website which has lots of quotes about the case:

Fandomentalism

You'll see a few familiar names there, ahem . . . There's a place for people to post comments about each quote.

And since I have nothing else to write about and WB won't even release any photographs from the HBP movie and save us from boredom, here is a video my kids watch every day because they think it is hilarious, but it's probably not suitable for very young children. I cannot explain exactly why this is funny, but it is. Some of you may have seen this already . . .

Charlie the Unicorn

No Joke: "Assassinate" is a Dark Word

Sat, 24 May 2008 09:03:55 GMT

My gosh this is sad: Hillary Clinton made a huge mistake today using the "A" word when she mentioned Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June as a rationale for her own campaign going forward into the summer. The implication is that "something" might happen to Barack Obama, and then it would be important to have her around as a back up candidate.

I've read lots of comments by Hillary supporters online saying that Hillary shouldn't drop out of the race because "something might happen" to Obama, and I thought they meant a new scandal, not something like this - I never want to believe they actually talked about the possibility of Obama being assassinated. It's scary and it's really sad - the fact that she has said this several times is totally inappropriate. She could have gone out of the presidential race at the top of her game last week after winning Kentucky, and now she's put a dark blot on her record that will be hard to remove. This is really sad for all the people who have supported her for so long.

But this is why the word "assassination" is never a joke.

As Americans we have this uneasy relationship with that dark word. Every time someone says it, we jump a little inside, afraid of what it means and the ideas that twisted people get from it. We are afraid of seeing people crying in the streets. Our country has had to survive the shocking aftermath of many assasinations of great people: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Malcom X. Any sudden death is a tragedy, just as the whole world mourned the loss of Princess Diana, Heath Ledger, and Steve Irwin. But a premeditated assassination is murder, and the victim is usually someone who stands up against the status quo. The idea is that the person who is "different" must be stopped at all cost.

We were talking elsewhere about this word just last week, and people felt maybe I overreacted to the use of it. It was like "there goes SIP again, making too big of a deal about something." I hope those same fans hear the news tomorrow that Hillary Clinton, ex-first lady of the U.S., Senator from New York, and Presidential Candidate is being held accountable for using that horrible word. I hope then they will try to understand why that word should never be used as a joke. Fandom is emotional and also political, in that there are opposite factions who feel passionately loyal. But calling for assassinations or any sort of violence in that context is not a joke. There is no right time to use that word. It's just plain wrong.

Waiting Till the End of the Line

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:51:55 GMT

I meant to post this a while back, but I made some icons a few weeks ago from those new Russian Book Covers and posted them on book_icons ~ Here. I also made some based on To Kill a Mockingbird, The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander), and The Borrowers. I posted a bunch of "Flambards" icons from the TV mini-series Here.

I also found a funny Alan Rickman icon made by xintax from the movie "John Gissing" and some beautiful banners Here.

Let's cruise into Memorial Day Weekend with more of the Travelling Wilburys:

Lexicon Update: We Are All Made of Stars

Wed, 21 May 2008 08:46:37 GMT

. . .

Kristin Devoe's Daily Prophet Blog has a good question:

I ask of JK Rowling: What do you think of all the haters?

What makes this so disturbing, is that for those of us who feel that this book frankly, is no big deal, and should be published under the guidelines of “fair use”, we have been called “JK Rowling haters”, or “Steve Vander Ark lovers”. Simply because, we are exercising out inalienable right to disagree. We are not “true fans”

GASP!!! We disagree!!!

And just for reference, a quote from "The Sneetches":

Now, the Star-Bell Sneetches had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.
Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small.
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.

But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort
“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”

...When the Star Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts
Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,
They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches
They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches.
They kept them away. Never let them come near.
And that’s how they treated them year after year...

~ Dr. Seuss

10th Anniversary Edition of Sorcerer's Stone Coming this Fall

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:58:20 GMT

From Snitchseeker:

A special 10th anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will feature exclusive bonus material from J.K. Rowling. The book, being released by Scholastic on September 23, will also have new cover art by Mary GrandPré, which you can see below or in hi-res by clicking on the photo here in our gallery.

You can preorder the book here on Amazon.com.

Grandpre says: "It's a real treat for me to get another chance to visually bring Harry back to his fans in not only a new scene, but in a new light," said American illustrator of the Harry Potter books, Mary GrandPré. "Going back to draw the first cover for the anniversary edition was an opportunity for me to show another side of Harry... a vulnerable side. Having come to know and love Harry the way we all have, after experiencing the whole series, I think we can appreciate him even more on an emotional level."

You can see the new covers below the cut - what do you think? Will you buy one of these? And what will the "Bonus Material" be?

Reminds me of HP: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad & Death Rides a Horse

Mon, 19 May 2008 14:28:13 GMT

A great movie star died yesterday at the age of 70 - John Phillip Law.

He played a blind angel in "Barbarella," a young man seeking revenge in the western "Death Rides a Horse," a Russian sailor in "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming," and the mythical figure Sinbad from the Arabian Nights in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad."

Obituary Here

LA Times Slideshow of Pictures

I was sorry to hear of his passing because I've always enjoyed his movies, two of which remind me strongly of Harry Potter. For one thing, John Phillip Law has these green eyes that are quite distinctive . . .

Here is the theatrical trailer for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - you can see the obvious connection to HP. All these great creatures were created by special effects master, Ray Harryhausen. I especially like the one-eyed Centaur (although I realize some kids think JKR invented Centaurs and Griffins. Um, no.).

The next movie is one of my favorites - Death Rides a Horse, which is also called "Da Uomo a Uomo" or "Man to Man." The plot is summed up by this line from John Phillip Law's character:

Bill: "Remember 15 years ago at the Mesito ranch? Another time when you took it out on a woman? Unfortunately for you, that woman happened to be my mother."

That sounds alot like Harry in "Flaw in the Plan." So watch the trailer and then read my list of reasons this movie reminds me of HP.

1. When the movie starts a group of men is protecting a farm family who has sold their cattle for alot of money. A group of outlaws in black capes and coats swoops down and attacks the farm. One of them looks through the window into the house, where they see a woman rocking a baby boy. It's nearly identical to Voldemort looking in the window and seeing the Potters - the only difference is that the boy in the film has an older sister.

2. The men break in and attack the family, killing the father first of course, then the women. The little boy hides beside the fireplace. The men forget he is there, and set the house on fire. A few minutes later another man comes in, gets the boy out of the burning house and puts him outside under a wagon where no one can see him. The boy picks up a spur and holds it like a magic wand.

3. The man who rescues the boy wears a necklace that looks like a skull, and the boy remembers this years later.

4. Fast forward in time 14 years, and the boy is grown and learning to be a sharpshooter. We also see Lee Van Cleef being released from jail. He was set up by some "friends" and he wants revenge (think Sirius Black, but he looks like Snape with that nose). The same old friends send men to kill him right outside the prison, but he tricks them instead.

5. The first place Van Cleef goes is to the farm where the family was killed. He's standing by the grave when a young man comes out and they talk. He tells the boy he was a friend of the family, but not that he is the man who saved the boys life years before.

6. More men attack Van Cleef and he has to leave town, but one of them leaves a spur behind that matches the one the boy found years before, so John Phillip Law goes off on a quest to kill the people.

7. Van Cleef is always just one step ahead of Law while trying to hunt down the men, and he keeps giving fatherly advice to him to which he doesn't listen of course.

8. Finally, Van Cleef thinks he and Law are going to work together to catch the last of the bad men, but Law tricks him and takes his gun and horse away. Van Cleef says "Maybe I wish I had a son." It's really sad. But Law doesn't care and just rides away.

9. Of course Law gets into trouble and Van Cleef tracks him down. Together they work with people in a small Mexican village to fight the bad guys. On the last day, when they've almost won and Van Cleef is so happy, Law sees the skull necklace around his neck. He thinks Van Cleef is one of the men who killed his family, but Van Cleef says he got there too late to stop it. Law almost kills Van Cleef, who refuses to pull a gun in his own defense, but instead, Law ends up saving Van Cleef's life, which is a much better outcome than poor Snape had when Harry watched him die.

10. Van Cleef sounds just like Snape in this movie - he says another version of "revenge is sweet":

Ryan: Somebody tries to shoot me in the back, I defend myself.
Sheriff: You defend yourself almost too well, mister. They're both dead as doornails.
Ryan: They came in the window. It wasn't to wish me pleasant dreams.

Ryan: Somebody once wrote that revenge is a dish that has to be eaten cold. Hot as you are, you're liable to end up with indigestion.

Ryan: Two lessons, my son. First, watch behind you. Second, count your shots - four bullets for one man, that's a waste.