I’ve never cared for the American version of the first Godzilla movie, with Raymond Burr. My son Eric rented the original 1954 Japanese version, Gojira, and it’s quite good! I’d place it alongside the best of the 1950’s American sci-fi flicks, such as Them!
I’ve picked a scene from the movie that shows the obvious influence of King Kong. Even the music here is reminiscent of Max Steiner’s score.
Gojira has a rather dark and downbeat story, with a serious message about Japan’s understandable fear of nuclear weapons testing. One of the principal actors in the movie is Takashi Shimura, who also appeared in The Seven Samurai that same year. Shimura can be seen briefly in this earlier post.
Well, it’s happened. Responding to pressure from Comedy Central, YouTube has sent me a notice of copyright violation. If the text of the message isn’t below, look for a “more…” link and click it.
I haven’t posted much on YouTube — a couple of short Stephen Colbert items and a movie clip. A moment ago I deleted them. So now the question is, will I be hearing from Comedy Central directly, for the Colbert clips I’ve posted here?
YouTube
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Comedy Central claiming that this material is infringing:
Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.
If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):
(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
(D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriberis address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:
DMCA Complaints
YouTube, Inc.
1000 Cherry Ave.
Second Floor
San Bruno, CA 94066
Email: copyright@youtube.com
Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.
My friend Sam is a fan of the gameshow Jeopardy. I thought he would appreciate all-time champ Ken Jennings’ appearance on The Colbert Report, from way back in September. This is my way of tempting Sam away from his brand-new Panasonic 50-inch HDTV plasma panel, to watch tiny, lo-res Net video!
Here’s a bit more of “The Wedding of Superman,” with the temporary resolution of everybody’s favorite virtual love triangle. Uh, why would Perry White want “the woman’s angle” on the arrest of bank robbers?
Lois marrying Supes was a theme that was played out numerous times in the Lois Lane comic book, a guilty pleasure of mine as a kid, as was the Supergirl comic. Lois Lane’s favorite artist was Kurt Schaffenberger, and Supergirl’s best renderer was Jim Mooney.
