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News Of The Day
Monday, 27 February 2006 22:22Da Vinci Code 'copied book ideas'
A few things: British copyright law is not like the US version. Copyright exists as soon as something is created, be it a book, a painting, a song or whatever. I own the copyright in this post as soon as I post it, and I do not have to register the copyright.
Secondly, you cannot copyright ideas. Many people have many ideas every day and most will get lost in the ether. However, with so many people having so many ideas, a lot of them will seem eerily familar. You don't need to be told this, given that all of you are paid up members of at least one fandom. How many people have had 'Hermione Gets Kidnapped OMG!' ideas independently of each other? How many people come up with the same ships without ever speaking to each other or otherwise communicating?
Now, I must make the following clear: I have not read The Da Vinci Code or The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. I have watched the trailer for the film of The Da Vinci Code and have had some of the basic premise explained to me by my dad, who is a big fan of the book. Therefore I have no particular knowledge of either book beyond something to do with the Catholic Church being secretive. And I already knew that.
Now, from what I've gathered from the news, the claim is thus:
HBHG involves Jesus not dying on the Cross.... DVC involves Jesus not being crucified.... Am I alone in thinking this is not the same thing?
Both involve a storyline where Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children and the line continues to this day.
From what I can gather, HBHG is non-fiction and DVC is In A Cinema Near You Soon. Now, my point is thus:
Are we supposed to believe that the authors of HBHG are the only people to come up with a 'Jesus didn't die' theory? Moreover, are we supposed to believe that they're the only people to come up with a 'Jesus marries Mary Magdalene' theory? Cos it sounds like an obvious sort of thing to me... practically fanficish in its obviousness and lack of being able to be written well.
So I ask this: What exactly is the problem? If the claimants are correct and the entire concept has been stolen... there is a line that can be crossed where a few shared ideas becomes a stolen plot... there are people on my flist who know this all too well... but as it stands, I don't see the problem, because although I'm sure a lot of people think it's very unique and original, the idea of Jesus not dying, getting married and having kids is not exactly a stretch. It's fanfic.
And the idea of a line of Jesus' descendants has cropped up before. They were great-great-etc-grand nieces rather than children... but can we say Dogma, children?
*
George Michael Got Arrested For Drugs.
I presume we're supposed to be 'shocked' at this? George has spoken openly tons of times about his love of marijuana. He sold a record on the back of stories about smoking something like twenty-five joints a day when in mourning for a boyfriend/friend who died of AIDS or something. We know he's a fuckwit when it comes to the law, and so does he it would appear. However... how fucked up must the old boy be to end up slumped at the wheel of his car? What the frell was going on? There's something not quite right about the whole thing.
*
David Beckham admits his son's homework baffles him.
This, because we are a nation entirely enthralled by Becks, has become big news. Some are saying it's proof he's thick and others are like "what's the fuss?"... to which I say: HELLO!?!?! Even if he was a genius, he'd still have issues with the kids' homework, cos that's how it goes for parents! Now, I grant you that Brooklyn is only six years old, but if you've not needed to dick about with any sort of maths since you were a kid (DB's about thirty, so we're talking at least twelve years ago... and this is a bloke who started with Man Utd at 14)... you would find maths questions a challenge. Nobody THINKS like that once they leave. I was only good at equations in maths, because it was essentially just moving stuff from one side to the other... and I couldn't do an equation now if you sat me down with Carol Vorderman, a scientific calcuator and KITT from Knightrider!
More than that, so what anyway? We know David Beckham's not Wordsworth or Steven Hawking or Thomas Macaulay... and why the fuck should he be? He's a footballer, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Aside from anything he may or may not have done with Rebecca Loos, he ultimately seems like a decent bloke and nobody can really slag off David or Victoria for their parental skills (let's wait until the kids grow up and start hanging out with Paris, Calum and the rest at the Met Bar or Chinawhite)... He's a footballer and a hero, and that's not a bad thing. There are worse heroes to have. You know the thing? He's never pretended to be clever. He knows he can bend it like, well, him and what else does he really ned to do?
Win the World Cup, obviously. Do that Dave, and the sainthood's in the post. Convert and I'll nominate you for Pope meself.
*
Daniel Craig is having more Bond issues: apparently he can't drive a manual/stick shift car and so can't do the Aston. So just to summarise:
-It took them ages to get a Bond Girl to play Vesper and the obviously beautiful stars of Hollywood all turned it down and made remarks, so the rumour goes, involving a ten foot barge pole.
-He managed to have a bunch of teeth knocked out during his first filmed fight.
-He can't drive James Bond's car.
-He's blond.
-He's Daniel Craig and what were they thinking?
*
Plans are underway for this year's Clare's Annual Online Oscar Party.... is Y! doing chat these days? If not, where can we go?
*
A couple of Dave Allen jokes before I go:
They say that if an Irishman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's kissed the Blarney. They say if an Englishman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's a politician. They say if a Scotsman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's sober.
*
Many people think that Heaven and Hell are on different levels. They're not. They are side by side, separated by a fence. A wooden fence. One day, God was walking around the area and he started to inspect the fence. It was falling down. All bits and pieces had hallen off it. So he calls out to the Devel over the fence:
"Excuse me, Mr Mephistopheles! Hey, NICK!"
The Devil yells: "Whadderyerwant?"
God says: "The fence. Look at it. It's falling down, it needs repairing, and the posts are on your side. This fence is your responsibility. When are you going to fix it?"
The Devil say: "Ah, screw you!"
God says: "Now, listen: if you do not do something about this fence very soon, you are going to hear from my solicitor!"
The Devil says: "Where are YOU going to find a solicitor?"
*
A last one:
If you can't laugh at yourself, what's the point? For example, here's a joke: Two Irish fellas leave Dublin to go to work in London. The collective IQ of Dublin halves overnight. (as I've said, you've got to be able to laugh at yourself, haven't you?) When the two get to London, the collective IQ there doubles overnight. (I thought we agreed you're supposed to be able to laugh at yourself?"
A few things: British copyright law is not like the US version. Copyright exists as soon as something is created, be it a book, a painting, a song or whatever. I own the copyright in this post as soon as I post it, and I do not have to register the copyright.
Secondly, you cannot copyright ideas. Many people have many ideas every day and most will get lost in the ether. However, with so many people having so many ideas, a lot of them will seem eerily familar. You don't need to be told this, given that all of you are paid up members of at least one fandom. How many people have had 'Hermione Gets Kidnapped OMG!' ideas independently of each other? How many people come up with the same ships without ever speaking to each other or otherwise communicating?
Now, I must make the following clear: I have not read The Da Vinci Code or The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. I have watched the trailer for the film of The Da Vinci Code and have had some of the basic premise explained to me by my dad, who is a big fan of the book. Therefore I have no particular knowledge of either book beyond something to do with the Catholic Church being secretive. And I already knew that.
Now, from what I've gathered from the news, the claim is thus:
HBHG involves Jesus not dying on the Cross.... DVC involves Jesus not being crucified.... Am I alone in thinking this is not the same thing?
Both involve a storyline where Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children and the line continues to this day.
From what I can gather, HBHG is non-fiction and DVC is In A Cinema Near You Soon. Now, my point is thus:
Are we supposed to believe that the authors of HBHG are the only people to come up with a 'Jesus didn't die' theory? Moreover, are we supposed to believe that they're the only people to come up with a 'Jesus marries Mary Magdalene' theory? Cos it sounds like an obvious sort of thing to me... practically fanficish in its obviousness and lack of being able to be written well.
So I ask this: What exactly is the problem? If the claimants are correct and the entire concept has been stolen... there is a line that can be crossed where a few shared ideas becomes a stolen plot... there are people on my flist who know this all too well... but as it stands, I don't see the problem, because although I'm sure a lot of people think it's very unique and original, the idea of Jesus not dying, getting married and having kids is not exactly a stretch. It's fanfic.
And the idea of a line of Jesus' descendants has cropped up before. They were great-great-etc-grand nieces rather than children... but can we say Dogma, children?
*
George Michael Got Arrested For Drugs.
I presume we're supposed to be 'shocked' at this? George has spoken openly tons of times about his love of marijuana. He sold a record on the back of stories about smoking something like twenty-five joints a day when in mourning for a boyfriend/friend who died of AIDS or something. We know he's a fuckwit when it comes to the law, and so does he it would appear. However... how fucked up must the old boy be to end up slumped at the wheel of his car? What the frell was going on? There's something not quite right about the whole thing.
*
David Beckham admits his son's homework baffles him.
This, because we are a nation entirely enthralled by Becks, has become big news. Some are saying it's proof he's thick and others are like "what's the fuss?"... to which I say: HELLO!?!?! Even if he was a genius, he'd still have issues with the kids' homework, cos that's how it goes for parents! Now, I grant you that Brooklyn is only six years old, but if you've not needed to dick about with any sort of maths since you were a kid (DB's about thirty, so we're talking at least twelve years ago... and this is a bloke who started with Man Utd at 14)... you would find maths questions a challenge. Nobody THINKS like that once they leave. I was only good at equations in maths, because it was essentially just moving stuff from one side to the other... and I couldn't do an equation now if you sat me down with Carol Vorderman, a scientific calcuator and KITT from Knightrider!
More than that, so what anyway? We know David Beckham's not Wordsworth or Steven Hawking or Thomas Macaulay... and why the fuck should he be? He's a footballer, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Aside from anything he may or may not have done with Rebecca Loos, he ultimately seems like a decent bloke and nobody can really slag off David or Victoria for their parental skills (let's wait until the kids grow up and start hanging out with Paris, Calum and the rest at the Met Bar or Chinawhite)... He's a footballer and a hero, and that's not a bad thing. There are worse heroes to have. You know the thing? He's never pretended to be clever. He knows he can bend it like, well, him and what else does he really ned to do?
Win the World Cup, obviously. Do that Dave, and the sainthood's in the post. Convert and I'll nominate you for Pope meself.
*
Daniel Craig is having more Bond issues: apparently he can't drive a manual/stick shift car and so can't do the Aston. So just to summarise:
-It took them ages to get a Bond Girl to play Vesper and the obviously beautiful stars of Hollywood all turned it down and made remarks, so the rumour goes, involving a ten foot barge pole.
-He managed to have a bunch of teeth knocked out during his first filmed fight.
-He can't drive James Bond's car.
-He's blond.
-He's Daniel Craig and what were they thinking?
*
Plans are underway for this year's Clare's Annual Online Oscar Party.... is Y! doing chat these days? If not, where can we go?
*
A couple of Dave Allen jokes before I go:
They say that if an Irishman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's kissed the Blarney. They say if an Englishman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's a politician. They say if a Scotsman is blessed with the ability to talk, he's sober.
*
Many people think that Heaven and Hell are on different levels. They're not. They are side by side, separated by a fence. A wooden fence. One day, God was walking around the area and he started to inspect the fence. It was falling down. All bits and pieces had hallen off it. So he calls out to the Devel over the fence:
"Excuse me, Mr Mephistopheles! Hey, NICK!"
The Devil yells: "Whadderyerwant?"
God says: "The fence. Look at it. It's falling down, it needs repairing, and the posts are on your side. This fence is your responsibility. When are you going to fix it?"
The Devil say: "Ah, screw you!"
God says: "Now, listen: if you do not do something about this fence very soon, you are going to hear from my solicitor!"
The Devil says: "Where are YOU going to find a solicitor?"
*
A last one:
If you can't laugh at yourself, what's the point? For example, here's a joke: Two Irish fellas leave Dublin to go to work in London. The collective IQ of Dublin halves overnight. (as I've said, you've got to be able to laugh at yourself, haven't you?) When the two get to London, the collective IQ there doubles overnight. (I thought we agreed you're supposed to be able to laugh at yourself?"
