Matrix, Terminator Stolen?
Posted by:: "nu-monet v7.0"
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:52:51 -0700
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http://www.hotghettomess.com/not.htm
Black Author Wins The Matrix Copyright Infringement Case
This little known story has met a just conclusion, as
Sophia Stewart, African-American author of The Matrix
will finally receive her just due from the copyright
infringement of her original work!!!
Monday, October 4th, 2004 ended a six-year dispute
involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski Brothers,
Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations,
involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were
received and acknowledged by the Central District of
California, Judge Margaret Morrow residing.
Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City
for the past five years, will recover damages from the
films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator
and its sequels. She will soon receive one of the biggest
payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts
of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion
dollars.
Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix,
which she felt had been based on her manuscript,
"The Third Eye," copyrighted in 1981. In the mid-eighties
Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by
the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.
According to court documentation, an FBI investigation
discovered that more than thirty minutes had been edited
from the original film, in an attempt to avoid penalties
for copyright infringement. The investigation also stated
that "credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came
forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full
knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the
Wachowski Brothers." These witnesses claimed to have seen
Stewart's original work and that it had been "often used
during preparation of the motion pictures..."
--
Be Sure To Visit the 'SubGenius Reverend' Blog:
http://slackoff.blogspot.com/
***********
"A stupid movie WILL NOT make you turn
down a blowjob. Simple as that."
-- nu-monet
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 22 Mar 2005 20:36:44 -0800
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nu-monet v7.0 wrote:
(snip)
> Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City
> for the past five years, will recover damages from the
> films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator
> and its sequels.
The "Terminator" judgement is weird, as Harlan Ellison already nailed
Cameron for ripping off "Soldier", an Outer Limits 2-parter. His name
is now in the credits.
Posted by:: nenslo
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:34:04 -0800
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So who do you think would win in a fight, Matrix or Terminator?
Posted by:: Zapanaz
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:53:11 -0800
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On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:34:04 -0800, nenslo wrote:
>
>So who do you think would win in a fight, Matrix or Terminator?
I was talking in an inebriated state a short while ago with somebody
and we seemed to be hitting a common chord. I was starting to go off
on tangents, I remember I got comparing "The Seventh Seal" with "The
Magician" at one point and was talking about music at the same time.
This person seemed to be really connecting so I was really trying to
get at something.
Then this person told me I would love "Alien versus Predator" and I
should go rent it right away.
I still do this kind of full-body jerk when I think of it.
Why am I even in this universe? What did I do wrong?
--
Zapanaz
International Satanic Conspiracy
Customer Support Specialist
http://joecosby.com/
God does not play dice with the universe;
He plays an ineffable game of his own devising,
which might be compared,
from the perspective of any of the other players,
to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker
in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes,
with a dealer who won't tell you the rules
and who smiles all the time.
- Gaiman and Pratchett's "Good Omens"
Posted by:: "Rev. Ivan Stang"
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:51:18 -0500
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In article , Zapanaz wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:34:04 -0800, nenslo wrote:
>
> >
> >So who do you think would win in a fight, Matrix or Terminator?
>
> I was talking in an inebriated state a short while ago with somebody
> and we seemed to be hitting a common chord. I was starting to go off
> on tangents, I remember I got comparing "The Seventh Seal" with "The
> Magician" at one point and was talking about music at the same time.
> This person seemed to be really connecting so I was really trying to
> get at something.
>
> Then this person told me I would love "Alien versus Predator" and I
> should go rent it right away.
>
> I still do this kind of full-body jerk when I think of it.
>
> Why am I even in this universe? What did I do wrong?
I gotta admit I actually laughed at that one.
--
The SubGenius Foundation, Inc.
(4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected, Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
Dobbs-Approved Authorized Commercial Outreach of The Church of the SubGenius
SubSITE: http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB
Posted by:: "just john"
Date: 23 Mar 2005 12:01:20 -0800
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nenslo wrote:
> So who do you think would win in a fight, Matrix or Terminator?
Troy Donahue
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 23 Mar 2005 15:10:20 -0800
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nenslo wrote:
> So who do you think would win in a fight, Matrix or Terminator?
"The Girl with the Pearl Earring"
Might be an amusing video for you to get from the library.
Scarlet Johansen as Vermeer's teenage model.
A bit fluffy at times, but nowhere near as dumb as say, "The Agony and
the Ecstacy".
I like the scenes where she learns to grind pigments and make paint.
Posted by:: Zapanaz
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:40:36 -0800
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On 22 Mar 2005 20:36:44 -0800, "frater S.O.D.D.I."
wrote:
>
>nu-monet v7.0 wrote:
>
>(snip)
>> Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City
>> for the past five years, will recover damages from the
>> films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator
>> and its sequels.
>
>The "Terminator" judgement is weird, as Harlan Ellison already nailed
>Cameron for ripping off "Soldier", an Outer Limits 2-parter. His name
>is now in the credits.
well being able to get witnesses saying that they were thumbing
through her manuscript while they filmed kinda puts it in another
league.
I've seen Soldier, I think it's very good for it's era. I think there
are definite resemblences with Terminator but I dunno, there are a lot
of differences.
What the fuck though, we gotta make sure Uncle Harlan can afford to
eat, right?
--
Zapanaz
International Satanic Conspiracy
Customer Support Specialist
http://joecosby.com/
Winching that baby into the cage is going to be no picnic.
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 23 Mar 2005 15:13:27 -0800
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I have also heard rumours that A. E. van Vogt got a settlement from the
makers of "Alien", due to its similarity to one of the "Space Beagle"
stories.
Posted by:: nenslo
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:53:55 -0800
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"frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
>
> I have also heard rumours that A. E. van Vogt got a settlement from the
> makers of "Alien", due to its similarity to one of the "Space Beagle"
> stories.
Some geekier subgenius than I should be able to summon from their vaults
of memory the 1950s version of the Monster On Board movie.
Posted by:: "Paul Casino"
Date: 23 Mar 2005 17:40:40 -0800
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Copyright Infringement is a tough row to hoe, and a settlement doesn't
always indicate guilt. There was a book out a while ago called "Free
Culture" that changed the way I look at the flow of ideas. Negativland
did a whole series of shows devoted to the book, they're FANTASTIC if
you can download them off serpent x's archive.
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 23 Mar 2005 18:56:47 -0800
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Paul Casino wrote:
> Copyright Infringement is a tough row to hoe, and a settlement
doesn't
> always indicate guilt. There was a book out a while ago called "Free
> Culture" that changed the way I look at the flow of ideas.
Negativland
> did a whole series of shows devoted to the book, they're FANTASTIC if
> you can download them off serpent x's archive.
I understand (and make use of) the type of collage aesthetic that
Negativland espouses. But I've set myself some standards here. Mark
Hosler wrote a couple of columns in Keyboard on this subject.
"Fair use" with artistic intent (like "dysPEPSIa") and simple-minded
ripoffs (like all them b-boys who sample whole bars off of Funkadelic)
are light-years apart.
Outright theft of ideas cannot be tolerated. You need to pay a working
artist his due.
Hollywood is notorious for trying to skeeve off with others' ideas...
and actual work, like the notorious Disney vs. Stravinsky deal. They do
not want to pay. They must be made to pay.
Posted by:: "Paul Casino"
Date: 23 Mar 2005 19:37:08 -0800
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>Outright theft of ideas cannot be tolerated.
Yeah, that's where it gets so fuzzy. Where does "inspired by" end and
"outright theft" begin? If I'm a stand-up comic and I use a turn of
phrase that I read here, am I an asshole? Is any idea original anymore?
Joeseph Campbell would argue that all stories are just the same story
being told over and over again, same window, different curtains. It's a
judgement call, it's not black or white. Disney ripped off the Brothers
Grimm, they still do it. Is Snow White infringement? Not legally, of
course, but artistically? Or did they take a base (Grimm) and expand on
it, flesh it out, make it better than it was? Tough questions all...
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 23 Mar 2005 22:56:15 -0800
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Paul Casino wrote:
> Yeah, that's where it gets so fuzzy. Where does "inspired by" end and
> "outright theft" begin? If I'm a stand-up comic and I use a turn of
> phrase that I read here, am I an asshole? Is any idea original
anymore?
> Joeseph Campbell would argue that all stories are just the same story
> being told over and over again, same window, different curtains. It's
a
> judgement call, it's not black or white. Disney ripped off the
Brothers
> Grimm, they still do it. Is Snow White infringement? Not legally, of
> course, but artistically? Or did they take a base (Grimm) and expand
on
> it, flesh it out, make it better than it was? Tough questions all...
The Grimms' stories are public domain.
I'm going to use an example that shows just how grey the grey areas can
get.
"Yojimbo" is one of the best of Kurosawa's films... maybe one of
Japan's greatest films.
It's better than "Fistful of Dollars". It's magnitudes better than that
Bruce Willis abortion "Last Man Standing".
But did Kurosowa pay for, or get permission to use, "Red Harvest" from
Dashiell Hammett's estate? All three films are based on "Red Harvest"
(actually, the makers of the latter two said THEIR films were based on
"Yojimbo"). Did anyone pay Hammett's estate?
I'll bet Kurosawa did not have permission to use it. Should he have
gotten it? I think yes. Should he have paid? Again, yes.
Does it make ONE FUCKING BIT of difference?
No. Because "Yojimbo" is a great fucking film, and obviously, great art
trumps copyright protection.
Posted by:: nenslo
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:56:54 -0800
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Paul Casino wrote:
>
> Copyright Infringement is a tough row to hoe, and a settlement doesn't
> always indicate guilt. There was a book out a while ago called "Free
> Culture" that changed the way I look at the flow of ideas.
Some people are making a few tidy dollars with their books about how
Greek (white) culture was cruelly and maliciously STOLEN from the
(black) Egyptians, unmindful of the reality that "Ideas have wings, and
nothing can stop their flight."