Tag: 05.19.06

A “Da Vinci” Boom

A whole mini-publishing industry has sprung up around the Da Vinci Code. “Many of at least 20 Da Vinci Code titles have found success by glomming onto the mania surrounding Brown’s successful and controversial thriller. More are being squeezed out, thanks to big buzz for the movie adaptation starring Tom Hanks and due in theaters today.”

Da Vinci Code Producers Sue Sony For CD

The producers of the new Da Vinci Code movie are suing Sony for putting out a CD of music “inspired” by Leonardo Da Vinci. “Universal has alleged that Sony is using imagery connected to the book and film to deceive buyers. Sony insists it has simply seized a marketing opportunity. It said Universal’s rights were limited to the film’s official soundtrack and do not extend to associated promotional material or general religious themes and imagery explored in the book.”

Glassblower Countersues Chihuly

Glass artist Dale Chihuly is suing a former member of his team, alleging the glassblower has been making Chihuly’s designs in violation of Chihuly’s copyright. Now the glasblower has countersued. “The countersuit alleges Chihuly is trying to claim ‘a monopoly on any and all glass art that is curved, nested or uses certain kinds of colors. [Chihuly] cannot use copyright registrations to protect an idea or process that is so elementary that it would preclude any other glass artist from working or creating any glass art at all’.”

This Year’s Brit ‘It’ Girl

The Tony nominations are always received with great excitement in London, where an impressive array of nominations can indicate that a British theatre star has truly arrived on the American scene. This year, the Brits have plenty to celebrate, particularly the ascent of producer Susan Friel, whose revival of “Faith Healer” garnered four noms.

Bush’s America, Through British Eyes

Imagine you’re a Briton spending a few years in America, starting somewhere around the beginning of 2003. Two years removed from the 9/11 attacks, and a few months shy of the invasion of Iraq, how did America look to an outsider? “I have always found America exciting; but, for better or worse, never exceptional. Its efforts at global domination seemed like a plot development in the narrative of European empire rather than a break from it… The fact that it is a big country, which, like any complicated and interesting place, is full of contradictions, is axiomatic. But it is rare to see a political culture and counter-culture so enmeshed, confused and evenly balanced (in numerical terms, at least) that it is impossible to tell which is which.”

Russia’s 9/11 May Become A Movie

Universal Pictures and producer Brian Grazer have purchased the film rights to a magazine article documenting the tragic terrorist attack on a schoolhouse in the tiny town of Beslan, Russia in September 2004. “The article, entitled The School, was written by Chris Chivers of the New York Times. Chivers covered the September 2004 siege during which 331 people, most of them schoolchildren, died when the three-day standoff in southern Russia ended in a bloody and chaotic gunfight.”

Ironically Enough, He Was Busted By The FBI

“A Hollywood producer who claimed he was creating a TV show about the Department of Homeland Security pleaded guilty on Tuesday to swindling dozens of investors out of millions of dollars. Joseph Medawar, 44, spent much of the $3.4 million he raised from about 50 people on luxury cars and a Beverly Hills mansion for himself and the woman billed as the future star of the show DHS, according to court papers.”