An unsigned British band have reached a settlement with Coca-Cola over the soft drink giant's use of their material in a television commercial.
The band, 7 Seconds of Love, argued that Coke used their song Ninja and its distinctive kitten-filled video without permission in a South American advert.
This stuff happens all the time - Tom Waits is famous for hunting down illegal use of his work in advertising - and agencies get away with it far more often than the artists would like, usually because the final works are altered enough not to be actionably derivative. But in this case who could possibly have thought that a commercial using not only the song but ANIMATED NINJA KITTENS would escape notice?
Sorry I went silent for a week (both on and off this blog), my grandmother almost died (she's better now).
I'm pretty excited for Ghost Rider: this could be the movie that finally kills Nicholas Cage's career. The appropriateness of his character literally going down in flames is not lost on me.
Thanks to a masterfully-crafted ruse by his wife, Sam's birthday surprise weekend sprung upon him without warning, like a stealthy celebratory panther that drags its prey to the backwoods of Virginia for two days of merrymaking. Had it been a real panther, of course, and not my figurative "celebratory panther" there would have been less merrymaking and more devouring, followed by a nap, then maybe some mahjong.
I can tell you this though, the "real" panther would have a bad, rubbery taste in its mouth, because to panthers moral and affable hearts taste like rubber. Also Sam was wearing rubber shoes.
I managed to briefly sneak back to LA for a few days last week. The only pictures I took were from a hike down/up Runyon Canyon.
Have I talked about the hills and canyons of Los Angeles before? No? Often underappreciated and easily ignored in a workaday routine*, they are a very distinguishing and welcome feature - probably not the primary draw, but an added and unexpected bonus. It's like dating Fabio for his pecs** and discovering new levels of aural satisfaction on his $molto, audiophilic hi-fi system (true!). Or growing a pencil-thin mustache for a costume party and discovering that it makes you appear more dignified (false!).
*and beyond - when was the last time you heard someone say they wanted to move to LA for the convenient backyard constitutionals?
**the cleavage of which is not unlike a canyon unto itself
