Monday, July 18, 2005
monday mayhem: conde nast sued for libel - and a potter on the loose... *sigh*
Prickled from the "news" of the day - Roman Polanski was victim of a lie, he says. The illustrious magazine Vanity Fair is the dirty rotten scoundrel of a liar, such is implied therefore by Polanski's claim. The truth, who knows, might lie (no pun intended) somewhere in-between...? The fact is that, officially, Roman Polanski waited at least eight to nine years after Sharon Tate's untimely demise to... well... misbehave sexually speaking. However, an article published by Vanity Fair way back in 2002 (why wait three years to sue...?) alleged that he was seeking solace and affection already... on his way to Sharon Tate's funeral. Sharon was, of course, his wife and pregnant when she was brutally murdered by the crazed followers of Charles Manson in 1969. The allegations are, to be precise, that he was seen seducing a woman on the way to the funeral...
Say it isn't so Roman - and, to his credit, he is saying it isn't so. It can't be so. Such a loss - such a spouse - cannot be so easily forgotten. Alas, he also says he was heavily sedated at the time - the pain clearly being too much to bear fully conscious - so it is conceivable that, in a daze, he wasn't even aware of what he was doing... Now don't sue me Roman - I am merely extrapolating here! I loved almost all of your movies - Pirates (Walter Matthau was GREAT)... Rosemary's Baby (best horror film ever - because the horror is right here among us and under our noses)... The Fearless Vampire Killers (so glad you were immortalized together in that, Sharon and you, Roman... and, unlike Leonard Maltin -who called it "near-brilliant"- I say it was brilliant all right... if not... luminous? ;)... and I even liked seeing Catherine Deneuve go crazy in Repulsion, so... I am a fan! Sue big shot publishers like Conde Nast - but don't sue a fan! Please...!
Lawsuits and the publishing world though always make me think of... Potter! I wonder why...
Ah - yes... the lawsuit kept under wraps... the LARRY POTTER vs Harry Potter suit! Little-known children's book *Larry Potter* trying to get what is rightfully his from the author alleged to have stolen ALL of her ideas from it in the maleficient concoction of her harrowing Harry Potter "saga"... Is it so obvious that I am not exactly on J.K. Rowling's side in this litigious affair... hmm? Make no mistake about it now - as a younger writer, I imagined she would have been the ideal womentor for me and many other writers... However, since it is such a long-shot, why not quit the pipe-dreaming and choose to side with what appears to be the right side now... hmm?
Come to think of it, though, the Larry versus Harry rumble is so well-kept "quiet" and under wraps, that I have no idea if it is being settled out of court (as the author of the LARRY booklet wanted...) or not...
In the meantime, Miss Rowling is not slowed down in the least - is she now? Rumors of new book sales records are being whispered about (okay - not merely whispered about - I am making use of some poetic license here - do you mind? *lol*) and the movies keep on coming too (will they recast Harry as they have James and Bruce though...?). All is well in Hogswart (is that what it's called...?) - it is only in the real world that things are going down the tubes...
Say it isn't so Roman - and, to his credit, he is saying it isn't so. It can't be so. Such a loss - such a spouse - cannot be so easily forgotten. Alas, he also says he was heavily sedated at the time - the pain clearly being too much to bear fully conscious - so it is conceivable that, in a daze, he wasn't even aware of what he was doing... Now don't sue me Roman - I am merely extrapolating here! I loved almost all of your movies - Pirates (Walter Matthau was GREAT)... Rosemary's Baby (best horror film ever - because the horror is right here among us and under our noses)... The Fearless Vampire Killers (so glad you were immortalized together in that, Sharon and you, Roman... and, unlike Leonard Maltin -who called it "near-brilliant"- I say it was brilliant all right... if not... luminous? ;)... and I even liked seeing Catherine Deneuve go crazy in Repulsion, so... I am a fan! Sue big shot publishers like Conde Nast - but don't sue a fan! Please...!
Lawsuits and the publishing world though always make me think of... Potter! I wonder why...
Ah - yes... the lawsuit kept under wraps... the LARRY POTTER vs Harry Potter suit! Little-known children's book *Larry Potter* trying to get what is rightfully his from the author alleged to have stolen ALL of her ideas from it in the maleficient concoction of her harrowing Harry Potter "saga"... Is it so obvious that I am not exactly on J.K. Rowling's side in this litigious affair... hmm? Make no mistake about it now - as a younger writer, I imagined she would have been the ideal womentor for me and many other writers... However, since it is such a long-shot, why not quit the pipe-dreaming and choose to side with what appears to be the right side now... hmm?
Come to think of it, though, the Larry versus Harry rumble is so well-kept "quiet" and under wraps, that I have no idea if it is being settled out of court (as the author of the LARRY booklet wanted...) or not...
In the meantime, Miss Rowling is not slowed down in the least - is she now? Rumors of new book sales records are being whispered about (okay - not merely whispered about - I am making use of some poetic license here - do you mind? *lol*) and the movies keep on coming too (will they recast Harry as they have James and Bruce though...?). All is well in Hogswart (is that what it's called...?) - it is only in the real world that things are going down the tubes...
Comments:
<< Home
Polanski Says He Was Victim of a Lie - Jul 18, 1:01 PM (ET)
LONDON (AP) - Roman Polanski, testifying on the first day of his libel suit against the publishers of Vanity Fair magazine, said Monday that he was the victim of an "abominable lie."
The Polish-born movie director is suing publisher Conde Nast over a 2002 article that said he seduced a woman on the way to the funeral of his murdered wife, Sharon Tate.
Polanski testified by video link from France, where he has lived since fleeing child-sex charges in the United States in 1978.
Tate, who was pregnant, was killed by followers of American serial killer Charles Manson in Los Angeles in 1969.
Polanski called the Vanity Fair article "particularly hurtful because it dishonors my memory of Sharon," adding, "that's not the way I behave."
He said his memories of the time immediately after Tate's death are hazy. "I was sedated and dazed," he said.
The magazine article accuses Polanski of "monstrous conduct by any bereft husband and father-to-be," his lawyer John Kelsey-Fry said in an opening statement.
"It would demonstrate a callous indifference to what had happened and to his wife's memory of breathtaking proportions."
The case went ahead after Polanski won a ruling from the House of Lords, Britain's highest appeal court, saying he could testify by video link.
Polanski was unwilling to come to Britain for fear of being arrested and extradited to the United States, which has an extradition treaty with Britain. He cannot be extradited to the U.S. under French law.
Polanski is the acclaimed director of "Chinatown,""Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist," which drew on his childhood experiences escaping the Holocaust and won an Academy Award for best director in 2003.
The publisher is contesting the suit. Conde Nast is based in the United States, but libel actions concerning the international media are often brought in British courts because they are considered friendlier to claimants than U.S. courts.
Polanski faces arrest in the United States since pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He was charged with rape and five other felonies in 1977.
He fled Los Angeles for Paris soon after, fearing that he could face a lengthy prison sentence. The charge to which he pleaded guilty is not an extraditable offense in France.
Kelsey-Fry called the conviction "a most unsightly blot" on Polanski's reputation that would "cause people to think less of him." But, he stressed repeatedly, "That blot is not what this case is about."
LONDON (AP) - Roman Polanski, testifying on the first day of his libel suit against the publishers of Vanity Fair magazine, said Monday that he was the victim of an "abominable lie."
The Polish-born movie director is suing publisher Conde Nast over a 2002 article that said he seduced a woman on the way to the funeral of his murdered wife, Sharon Tate.
Polanski testified by video link from France, where he has lived since fleeing child-sex charges in the United States in 1978.
Tate, who was pregnant, was killed by followers of American serial killer Charles Manson in Los Angeles in 1969.
Polanski called the Vanity Fair article "particularly hurtful because it dishonors my memory of Sharon," adding, "that's not the way I behave."
He said his memories of the time immediately after Tate's death are hazy. "I was sedated and dazed," he said.
The magazine article accuses Polanski of "monstrous conduct by any bereft husband and father-to-be," his lawyer John Kelsey-Fry said in an opening statement.
"It would demonstrate a callous indifference to what had happened and to his wife's memory of breathtaking proportions."
The case went ahead after Polanski won a ruling from the House of Lords, Britain's highest appeal court, saying he could testify by video link.
Polanski was unwilling to come to Britain for fear of being arrested and extradited to the United States, which has an extradition treaty with Britain. He cannot be extradited to the U.S. under French law.
Polanski is the acclaimed director of "Chinatown,""Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist," which drew on his childhood experiences escaping the Holocaust and won an Academy Award for best director in 2003.
The publisher is contesting the suit. Conde Nast is based in the United States, but libel actions concerning the international media are often brought in British courts because they are considered friendlier to claimants than U.S. courts.
Polanski faces arrest in the United States since pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He was charged with rape and five other felonies in 1977.
He fled Los Angeles for Paris soon after, fearing that he could face a lengthy prison sentence. The charge to which he pleaded guilty is not an extraditable offense in France.
Kelsey-Fry called the conviction "a most unsightly blot" on Polanski's reputation that would "cause people to think less of him." But, he stressed repeatedly, "That blot is not what this case is about."
Potter Breaks Records Across Atlantic - Jul 18, 4:16 PM (ET)
By HILLEL ITALIE
NEW YORK (AP) - Harry Potter is a record breaker on both sides of the Atlantic. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, sold about 9 million copies in Britain and the United States in its first 24 hours. The only book in publishing history to open nearly as well was Rowling's previous book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
"Typically, a good book will take about four to six months to go gold and very few books reach platinum in their first year of publication. 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' achieved platinum in less than one day!" said Richard Knight, the managing director of Nielsen BookScan, which Monday reported just over 2 million sales in Britain.
British sales of "Half-Blood Prince" were 13 percent higher than for the first 24 hours of "Order of the Phoenix."
In the United States, the new Harry Potter sold 6.9 million copies in its first day - averaging better than 250,000 sales per hour and easily outpacing the debut of "Order of the Phoenix," which came out in 2003 and sold 5 million copies.
Acknowledging that some stores quickly ran out of books two years ago, the U.S. publisher, Scholastic Children's Books, has already increased the print run for "Half-Blood Prince" from 10.8 million copies to 13.5 million.
"We want to make sure stores have enough copies this time," Scholastic president Lisa Holton said.
Audiobook sales were also record breaking, with more than 165,000 copies sold the first weekend. Audio sales were 20 percent higher than the launch of "Order of the Phoenix," according to Random House, Inc.'s Listening Library. Narrated by Grammy winner Jim Dale, the audiobook runs 19 hours, filling 18 CDS or 12 cassettes, with a cost of $50 for the cassettes and $75 for the CDs.
A range of Potter prices were available on the Internet, from used copies of the hardcover for $12.99 on Amazon.com to $992.40 for a signed first edition, available through another online seller, Abebooks.com.
Sales for the new Potter already top the combined hardcover totals for the memoirs of former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and generated more revenue last weekend, at least $100 million, than the nation's top two movies, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Wedding Crashers."
Unlike most blockbusters, "Half-Blood Prince" is also a hit with critics, at least in the United States, getting raves from The New York Times, The Seattle Times, The Associated Press and others. Many found it to be Rowling's deepest, most accomplished work, with a tragic conclusion that left even reviewers in tears.
Reviews have been tougher in England. The Independent's Suzi Feay found it "wordy, flabby and not very well edited - perhaps a bit less inventive than the previous ones." In The Observer, literary editor Robert McCrum enjoyed the plot, but complained that "Rowling's prose runs the gamut from torpid to pedestrian."
One thumbs up came from the author herself. In an interview Monday on NBC's "Today," she acknowledged picking up a finished copy of the book and being so engaged that she had trouble putting it down.
"It's really rather exciting," she said. "But generally speaking ... I would never pick up one of my own books and read it."
---
On the Net:
http://www.harrypotter.com
http://www.jkrowling.com
By HILLEL ITALIE
NEW YORK (AP) - Harry Potter is a record breaker on both sides of the Atlantic. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, sold about 9 million copies in Britain and the United States in its first 24 hours. The only book in publishing history to open nearly as well was Rowling's previous book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
"Typically, a good book will take about four to six months to go gold and very few books reach platinum in their first year of publication. 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' achieved platinum in less than one day!" said Richard Knight, the managing director of Nielsen BookScan, which Monday reported just over 2 million sales in Britain.
British sales of "Half-Blood Prince" were 13 percent higher than for the first 24 hours of "Order of the Phoenix."
In the United States, the new Harry Potter sold 6.9 million copies in its first day - averaging better than 250,000 sales per hour and easily outpacing the debut of "Order of the Phoenix," which came out in 2003 and sold 5 million copies.
Acknowledging that some stores quickly ran out of books two years ago, the U.S. publisher, Scholastic Children's Books, has already increased the print run for "Half-Blood Prince" from 10.8 million copies to 13.5 million.
"We want to make sure stores have enough copies this time," Scholastic president Lisa Holton said.
Audiobook sales were also record breaking, with more than 165,000 copies sold the first weekend. Audio sales were 20 percent higher than the launch of "Order of the Phoenix," according to Random House, Inc.'s Listening Library. Narrated by Grammy winner Jim Dale, the audiobook runs 19 hours, filling 18 CDS or 12 cassettes, with a cost of $50 for the cassettes and $75 for the CDs.
A range of Potter prices were available on the Internet, from used copies of the hardcover for $12.99 on Amazon.com to $992.40 for a signed first edition, available through another online seller, Abebooks.com.
Sales for the new Potter already top the combined hardcover totals for the memoirs of former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and generated more revenue last weekend, at least $100 million, than the nation's top two movies, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Wedding Crashers."
Unlike most blockbusters, "Half-Blood Prince" is also a hit with critics, at least in the United States, getting raves from The New York Times, The Seattle Times, The Associated Press and others. Many found it to be Rowling's deepest, most accomplished work, with a tragic conclusion that left even reviewers in tears.
Reviews have been tougher in England. The Independent's Suzi Feay found it "wordy, flabby and not very well edited - perhaps a bit less inventive than the previous ones." In The Observer, literary editor Robert McCrum enjoyed the plot, but complained that "Rowling's prose runs the gamut from torpid to pedestrian."
One thumbs up came from the author herself. In an interview Monday on NBC's "Today," she acknowledged picking up a finished copy of the book and being so engaged that she had trouble putting it down.
"It's really rather exciting," she said. "But generally speaking ... I would never pick up one of my own books and read it."
---
On the Net:
http://www.harrypotter.com
http://www.jkrowling.com
I would think that Polanski being under the influance of the seditives, he would be too out of it to do anything to anyone.
Who knows really what really happened. Unfortunately too many people think "Guilty until proven innocent".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is sad that the author of "Larry Potter" had their ideas stolen. Maybe they will get some compensation if it is proven that the ideas were really stolen.
Countess
Post a Comment
Who knows really what really happened. Unfortunately too many people think "Guilty until proven innocent".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is sad that the author of "Larry Potter" had their ideas stolen. Maybe they will get some compensation if it is proven that the ideas were really stolen.
Countess
<< Home
