Stuff You Need to Know, Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The trailer for 9 is out…although I have no idea what they’re going to do since this is not the musical but a Tim Burton-produced animated flick. But this does look promising with an excellent cast.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via NotCot.

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Update: Amazon‘s deal of the day is 61% off the complete Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. That brings it down to $89.99, a savings of $139.96. You can buy yours here if you like.

Australia is getting on the censorship bandwagon. It’s all well and good to say that you’re going to put up a country-wide filter for sites that have illegal porn and advocate terrorism and whatnot, but to not publish the blacklisted sites? So there’s no oversight? Are you serious? Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the magic words: “This is not an argument about free speech.” What did we say about those magic words? And yes, this is being done under the “Protect the Children” banner. To our friends down under: we say keep fighting. Not because you’re in favor of the content being blocked–because we’re not either–but because any government that says they have your best interests at heart and you don’t need to know what they’re up to, just trust them…shouldn’t be trusted. Sorry, but that’s just the way it goes. Source: Variety.

For our American readers, if you want a free Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit, buy anything on New Year’s Day, you’ll get a coupon for a free chicken biscuit.

Imagi, the company that’s bringing you a bunch of different films–the next one being Astro Boy in October–has apparently been audited and is missing about $45M that it needs for operating costs between now and when revenue for the film comes in. This is for all their projects and for operating costs. I do have a degree in English and math and business are not my fortes, so to speak, but surely with ten months of runway they can find somebody to help fund their stuff with the slate they have going…? Unless I’m missing something here… Source: Variety.

Playwright Harold Pinter has lost his fight with cancer. He was 78.

Popeye is public domain starting New Year’s Day, at least in Britain. Which means that you can print your own t-shirts or whatever with the character, although if you’re thinking about slapping it on your brand of spinach, you might want to read the full article first. Popeye is still protected until 2024 in the U.S. because our copyright law is fucked and everything has to be copyrighted across the board in order to protect some corporate properties–when if we just made the copyright opt-in we could all relax a bit. But I’ve beaten that horse enough times on here and I’ll spare you. You’re welcome.

So Fox gets a stake in the Watchmen movie. I figured Warner Brothers would pay them off and the movie would come out on schedule. That might still happen, but apparently WB wants their day in court and Fox might have to file for an injunction to block the release. Which is all well and good, but the next question is who the hell didn’t do the due diligence necessary to avoid something like this in the first place? Source: Hollywood Reporter.

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