As anybody who has read this blog for any length of time already knows... I love movies.
Love them.
I love all kinds of movies. I love everything from stupid stoner comedies to directorial masterworks. I love sci-fi. I love documentaries. I love animation. I love mysteries. I love historical dramas. I even love romance films from time to time. And while I don't like all the movies I see... I do like the majority of them. Film enriches our lives and expands our imagination, and I cannot fathom what my life would be like without the movies.
I also love people who love movies like I do.
I especially love people who can add depth and appreciation to the films we love so much.
One of these people is Lewis Bond from Channel Criswell.
I became aware of him last Fall when he did an analysis of Hayao Miyazaki films called The Essence of Humanity. Being a massively huge fan of Miyazaki's works, it could have been made just for me...
Lewis's admiration for all the things that go into a Miyazaki film were brilliantly on-point, and I instantly became a fan. The guy knows how to look at films. His entire YouTube channel is a love-letter to the movies, and his videos have become an important voice in my appreciation of them.
Then today I find out that Lewis is being sued...
This is absolutely horrifying. Copyright infringement? Really? I cannot for the life of me understand this. He uses clips from the films that he is analyzing or exploring... in the case of this lawsuit, the films of Stanley Kubrick... to support his thoughts. In no way has he ever been "malicious" with the material... at no point was he exploiting the material or damaging the legacy of Stanley Kubrick. If anything, his efforts are keeping his legacy alive by encouraging people to take a look at Mr. Kubrick's work.
I am sickened and saddened that somebody at Kubrick's estate is choosing to make money off of a Kubrick fan like Lewis in such a way. Especially considering that they went straight to lawsuit instead of contacting him directly to resolve the matter. This just shows exactly what kind of people they are.
People who don't love movies.
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As they’re saying elsewhere, “Where’s the fair use?” This lawsuit is spurious madness.
His usage of the clips seem well within the acceptable guidelines if fair use doctrine.
Reading Further. It is not Kubrik’s estate. It is Serendip LLC, and Wendy Carlos (composer of music used in A Clockwork Orange).
Apparently this company is forcing removal of ANY mentions – even claiming copyright to CD cover art, so ebay is removing people’s sales of CDs (because they contain a picture)
I’ve read about a few people like this recently and one of which who won after his movie reviews came under legal attack. But it took him a long time to get to that point. Hope Lewis can get past the Kubrick legal bullies.
Hello there! Just checking to see if you’re ok…
Miss your posts!
June 3rd, 2016. Today we lost a national treasure, David Simmer II. After more than a decade, he last posted on his blog on this date in history, never to be seen again. While persistent rumors have placed him and Bad Monkey at several Hard Rock Cafes, no firm photographic evidence has been presented to support these rumors. Even so, some continue to believe. Your intrepid reporter, on some level, hopes the rumors are true and we will once again have the comforting counsel of David Simmer II.
Signing out.
Dear Dave,
What is wrong?
It’s almost a month without new posts.