Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category

The Battle over the Rights to “Zombies in a Mall”

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

When asked to think about the pop-culture zombie genre, classics such as George A. Romero’s 1979 film “Dawn of the Dead” (and its 2004 remake) and Peter Jackson’s 1992 creation “Dead Alive” come to mind. After all, the storylines read typically: man battling the undead for ultimate survival. Joining the genre ...

Mashups, Fair Use and Community Standards

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Mashup culture continues to expand and proliferate, especially in the online word. Many audience members are no longer content merely to consume media, but actively comment on it, interact with it and reshape it. The explosion of repurposed copyrighted material that appears online challenges old notions of the fair use ...

New Weapons Used In Pursuit of Film Pirates

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

It seems that hassle-free entertainment at the movie theatre is truly becoming a thing of the past.  The film industry has taken some aggressive measures to combat pirating in Canada, as evidenced by increased security patrol in the theatres, knapsack searches and the use of metal detectors and night-vision goggles.  ...

New Weapons Used in Pursuit of Film Pirates

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

Although the imagery of the article from which this post takes it's title, is hilarious; turn our movie theatres into war zones, with metal detectors, pat-downs, and night-vision goggles, while security at our schools and universities remains lax, I believe that despite the movie industry's use of James Bond-esque technology, this may not be ...

New weapons used in pursuit of film pirates

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

The lights dimmed. I settled into my seat. This was the world premiere of British film Boy A, screening one Sunday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. The standard TIFF advertisements for sponsors, etc. came and went. And then, a warning to would-be pirates: “Infrared and night-vision technology may ...