It's not Peter Jackson the person suing New Line to reveal whether or not it's cooked the books (and it certainly looks like it has), it's Wingnut Films. Peter Jackson founded the company and I'm sure he owns a big chunk of it, but it's a company nevertheless. A company with shareholders and employees, people who have bills and rent and mortgages.
It looks like the issue is something like this.
Wingnut does a deal with New Line, something like "You lend us X dollars, and we'll make three movies that make you a whole lot more than X. In return, when other companies distribute and license the movies, the characters, the music, and all that stuff, you give us a fair share -- let's call it Y% -- of the money that you make, because after all we made the movies and did all the hard work. Deal? Deal."
Time passes. The movies are huge. They are, in fact, the most profitable movies in history. Rather than just getting back "more than X", New Line is getting something around "more than thirteen times X". Seriously. For every dollar invested, New Line is getting thirteen back.
So, after the chaos of openings and Oscars and awards left and right has calmed down a bit, Wingnut's accountants notice that Y% is turning out to be a lot less money than they expected. So much less that getting Y% is starting to look like a bad deal, especially given that New Line is laughing all the way to the bank. So Wingnut has a preliminary audit done of the first movie's finances, and it turns out that New Line is actually GIVING AWAY THE MOVIES FOR FREE because the partners and licensees it has signed up all turn out to be, surprise surprise, NEW LINE SUBSIDIARIES. And guess what Y% of FREE is. (note: the subsidiaries didn't actually pay nothing, but it was so much less than market value, it's basically the same thing. Especially when Wingnut's deal was based on market value.)
So the accountants alert Wingnut's executives to the fact that Y% of something that is being given away for free isn't very much. Wingnut's executives then go "Holy shit, are you serious? OK, New Line, we've got to have proper audits down, including the second and third movies, to see what the story is".
New Line: "Um, no." Wingnut: "Seriously guys, something's not right here, we have to go through the books." New Line: "No." Wingnut: "OK, well we'll have to get the lawyers involved, because this is starting to look really dodgy." New Line to the media: "PETER JACKSON IS A GREEDY MOTHERFUCKER AND WE'RE NEVER WORKING WITH HIM AGAIN" Peter Jackson: "WTF?"
I think you're missing the point. The issue at hand is that EVERY SINGLE EXAMINATION of ANY TOPIC could now be banned from schools unless equal time, money, and attention is given to "it's like that because that's the way God made it".
I'm posting this quote at +2 because the original is sitting at +1 and it's interesting.
Originally posted by SuchiRu:
See this is where you are wrong. I'm living in Tokyo right now, and I go about every other day to Akihabara to try to get a Wii. For the last week the PS3's have been stacked up behind the counter, and when I say stacked I mean 4 wide square 10 high with at least 4 piles everyday. Looking at Yodobashi-Akiba (the largest electronics store in Japan) they have had the sign saying that PS3's are in stock for the last 1 and a half weeks as well as every other electronics store in Japan, but when you look above that sign it says the Wii is sold out. I have never seen that sign change. I wish it would because I want a Wii.
You obviously haven't been to an electronics retailer lately. You'll see lots of PS3s sitting there. You can spot the PS3 section by the tumbleweed blowing through.
I mess around with electric guitars in my nonexistent spare time. Last time I ordered a guitar neck from a US manufacturer it was described as being 43 millimetres wide and 0.85 inches thick, with tuning-machine holes pre-drilled at 11/32 inches.
I've declined three employer-funded trips to business meetings and conferences in the USA in the past couple of years. The thought of having some jackbooted stormtroo^H^H^Homeland Security officer with a German shepherd on a leash screaming at me to produce my "PAPERS! PAPERS!" just turns me off. The USA is a place I just don't want to visit any more.
Tell the test subject that the person they're torturing has information that could help protect the USA from an attack by terrorist evil-doers. Tell the subject that he has to think of the children, even when the dirty rag-head sand-nigger camel-jockey Islamo-fascist is pleading for his life.
Congratulations! You just learned how to play AMERICAN POLITICS!
I heard someone talking about the guys from The Rest Of The World, and they don't care about whether or not the sunlight reflects off the roof of each car. They're too busy having fun, playing Nintendo.
Off the top of my head, here's a use to which I've put HTML email in the past week and I found it useful. It was something like:
"Alice, Bob and I have read your earlier queries and here are our replies. The black text below is the specific part of your email that we wish to comment on; the blue text is Bob's comments; the red text is my comments."
Yeah. My agenda is "I want something that gives me the best search results in the shortest time". I don't care if that's Google, Microsoft, or whoever.
Slashdot Mirror
Those of you who remember the Browser Wars of last century might recognise the Spyglass/Microsoft/Internet Explorer story in a different guise.
It's not Peter Jackson the person suing New Line to reveal whether or not it's cooked the books (and it certainly looks like it has), it's Wingnut Films. Peter Jackson founded the company and I'm sure he owns a big chunk of it, but it's a company nevertheless. A company with shareholders and employees, people who have bills and rent and mortgages.
It looks like the issue is something like this.
Wingnut does a deal with New Line, something like "You lend us X dollars, and we'll make three movies that make you a whole lot more than X. In return, when other companies distribute and license the movies, the characters, the music, and all that stuff, you give us a fair share -- let's call it Y% -- of the money that you make, because after all we made the movies and did all the hard work. Deal? Deal."
Time passes. The movies are huge. They are, in fact, the most profitable movies in history. Rather than just getting back "more than X", New Line is getting something around "more than thirteen times X". Seriously. For every dollar invested, New Line is getting thirteen back.
So, after the chaos of openings and Oscars and awards left and right has calmed down a bit, Wingnut's accountants notice that Y% is turning out to be a lot less money than they expected. So much less that getting Y% is starting to look like a bad deal, especially given that New Line is laughing all the way to the bank. So Wingnut has a preliminary audit done of the first movie's finances, and it turns out that New Line is actually GIVING AWAY THE MOVIES FOR FREE because the partners and licensees it has signed up all turn out to be, surprise surprise, NEW LINE SUBSIDIARIES. And guess what Y% of FREE is. (note: the subsidiaries didn't actually pay nothing, but it was so much less than market value, it's basically the same thing. Especially when Wingnut's deal was based on market value.)
So the accountants alert Wingnut's executives to the fact that Y% of something that is being given away for free isn't very much. Wingnut's executives then go "Holy shit, are you serious? OK, New Line, we've got to have proper audits down, including the second and third movies, to see what the story is".
New Line: "Um, no."
Wingnut: "Seriously guys, something's not right here, we have to go through the books."
New Line: "No."
Wingnut: "OK, well we'll have to get the lawyers involved, because this is starting to look really dodgy."
New Line to the media: "PETER JACKSON IS A GREEDY MOTHERFUCKER AND WE'RE NEVER WORKING WITH HIM AGAIN"
Peter Jackson: "WTF?"
I think you're missing the point. The issue at hand is that EVERY SINGLE EXAMINATION of ANY TOPIC could now be banned from schools unless equal time, money, and attention is given to "it's like that because that's the way God made it".
Welcome back to the Dark Ages, America.
If there is only one shot, how can someone shoot first?
As in "...ask questions later".
However, hearing that Sony itself has been pressuring the porn industry away from the Blu-Ray format, it seems they've shot themselves in the foot...
Replace "Blu-Ray" with "Betamax" for a history lesson.
Amazing. Sony just fucked itself again, in the same sort of format battle, exactly the same way.
You really didn't get the joke, did you?
I'm posting this quote at +2 because the original is sitting at +1 and it's interesting.
Originally posted by SuchiRu:
See this is where you are wrong. I'm living in Tokyo right now, and I go about every other day to Akihabara to try to get a Wii. For the last week the PS3's have been stacked up behind the counter, and when I say stacked I mean 4 wide square 10 high with at least 4 piles everyday. Looking at Yodobashi-Akiba (the largest electronics store in Japan) they have had the sign saying that PS3's are in stock for the last 1 and a half weeks as well as every other electronics store in Japan, but when you look above that sign it says the Wii is sold out. I have never seen that sign change. I wish it would because I want a Wii.
A group of PS3s is a rarity.
You obviously haven't been to an electronics retailer lately. You'll see lots of PS3s sitting there. You can spot the PS3 section by the tumbleweed blowing through.
It's a mobile phone designed in the USA for a US network. It will suck.
I mess around with electric guitars in my nonexistent spare time. Last time I ordered a guitar neck from a US manufacturer it was described as being 43 millimetres wide and 0.85 inches thick, with tuning-machine holes pre-drilled at 11/32 inches.
Thank you... thank you. For not saying "that big OF a deal".
I @#$%^& hate that.
Wouldn't it be better to just, y'know, get to work on creating prion-free PEOPLE?
Coming soon to a DNS server near you: ALLOFM4P.COM!
Resource for resource, Russia is the RICHEST COUNTRY ON EARTH. It just hasn't worked out how to effectively extract those resources. Yet.
I've declined three employer-funded trips to business meetings and conferences in the USA in the past couple of years. The thought of having some jackbooted stormtroo^H^H^Homeland Security officer with a German shepherd on a leash screaming at me to produce my "PAPERS! PAPERS!" just turns me off. The USA is a place I just don't want to visit any more.
About 25 deg here at midnight (Adelaide, Australia). Cold beer was the order of the night, and a drunken splash in the pool at about 1.00am.
I point and say, in a Nelson Muntz voice, "HA HA".
Tell the test subject that the person they're torturing has information that could help protect the USA from an attack by terrorist evil-doers. Tell the subject that he has to think of the children, even when the dirty rag-head sand-nigger camel-jockey Islamo-fascist is pleading for his life.
Congratulations! You just learned how to play AMERICAN POLITICS!
I heard someone talking about the guys from The Rest Of The World, and they don't care about whether or not the sunlight reflects off the roof of each car. They're too busy having fun, playing Nintendo.
Off the top of my head, here's a use to which I've put HTML email in the past week and I found it useful. It was something like:
"Alice, Bob and I have read your earlier queries and here are our replies. The black text below is the specific part of your email that we wish to comment on; the blue text is Bob's comments; the red text is my comments."
Yeah. My agenda is "I want something that gives me the best search results in the shortest time". I don't care if that's Google, Microsoft, or whoever.
People will go to extraordinary lengths to suspend their own disbelief if they think there's going to be a big payout at the end.
Now there's a Xmas message for you.
But... it runs the gambit!
Repeat after me.
Non-techies don't care about this shit.
Non-techies don't care about this shit.
Non-techies don't care about this shit.
In other news, Gary Kasparov was discovered this morning to have accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving.