#Disney Platform Distribution

[patemi-pk]

WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES RETURNS AS A 192-PAGE MONTHLY GIANT, ALONGSIDE UNCLE SCROOGE!

In a move that will send waves of excitement through Disney comics fandom, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories is making a triumphant return as a 192-page monthly—an unprecedented length for the American comics market! Not only that, but Uncle Scrooge will also relaunch as a 64-page monthly series, bringing the richest duck in the world back to comic shop shelves in grand fashion.

A Legendary Revival

Disney comics have a storied history in the U.S., with Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories first launching in 1940. For decades, it was one of the most successful comic books ever published, at one point boasting millions of copies in circulation. Now, in an era where Disney properties dominate screens big and small, the return of its classic comic book legacy feels long overdue.

The newly relaunched Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories will feature a mix of classic and modern Disney tales, bringing together Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and the entire cast of beloved Disney characters. With 192 pages per issue, it will be the longest-running regular comic book in the U.S. in terms of page count—a bold and ambitious move in today’s market.

Meanwhile, Uncle Scrooge will return with 64 pages per month, showcasing the high-adventure and treasure-hunting tales that made Carl Barks' and Don Rosa’s stories legendary.

A New Era for Disney Comics in the U.S.

This relaunch comes at a time when Disney comics have struggled for consistent publication in North America. While European countries such as Italy and Denmark continue to produce new Disney comics at a rapid pace, American fans have had to deal with sporadic releases and limited distribution.

The return of these prestige-format, high-page-count editions signals a renewed commitment to Disney comics in the U.S. Whether longtime fans or new readers, this is a golden opportunity to dive into some of the best all-ages storytelling ever put to paper.

What to Expect?

192 pages of Disney adventures every month in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories

64 pages of Scrooge McDuck treasure hunts in Uncle Scrooge

A mix of classic reprints, modern stories, and potentially new U.S.-produced content

Availability in comic shops, bookstores, and possibly digital platforms

No official creative teams have been announced yet, but speculation is already running wild. Will this include classic European stories never before published in the U.S.? Could we see the return of fan-favorite creators?

One thing is certain—Disney comics are back in a BIG way.

Stay tuned to Bleeding Cool for more updates as this story develops!

https://bitly.com/98K8eH

[maxwellatoms]

Do you think the new division of Cartoon Network Studios will end up exploiting and abusing AI to make new cartoons of their old properties?

I wouldn't put it past any studio to do this.

We're at the end of The Animation Industry As We Know It, so studios are going to do anything and everything they can to stay alive.

The way I see it is:

AI "art" isn't actually art. Art is created by humans to express ideas and emotions. Writing prompts allows a computer to interpret human ideas and emotions by taking other examples of those things and recombining them.

Just because something isn't art doesn't mean that humans can't understand it or find it beautiful. We passed a really fun prompt generation milestone about a year ago where everything looked like it was made by a Dadaist or someone on heavy psychedelics. Now we're at the Uncanny Valley stage. Soon, you won't be able to tell the difference.

It's not just drawings and paintings that are effected, but writing and film. It's every part of the entertainment industry. And the genie is out of the bottle. I've seen people saying that prompt-based image generators have "democratized" art. And I see where they're coming from. In ten years, I can easily see a future where anyone can sit down at their desk, have a short conversation with their computer, and have a ready-to-watch, custom movie with flawless special effects, passable story, and a solid three act structure. You want to replace Harrison Ford in Star Wars with your little brother and have Chewbacca make only fart sounds, and then they fly to Narnia and fistfight Batman? Done.

But, sadly, long before we reach that ten year mark, the bots will get hold of this stuff and absolutely lay waste to existing art industries. Sure, as a prompter I guess you can be proud of the hours or days you put into crafting your prompts, but you know what's better than a human at crafting prompts? Bots. Imagine bots cranking out hundreds of thousands of full-length feature films per minute. The noise level will squash almost any organic artist or AI prompter out of existence.

AI images trivialize real art. The whole point of a studio is to provide the money, labor, and space to create these big, complicated art projects. But if there are no big, complicated art projects, no creatives leading the charge, and no employees to pay... what the fuck do we need studios for? We won't, but their sheer wealth and power will leave them forcing themselves on us for the rest of our lives.

The near future will see studios clamp down on the tech in order to keep it in their own hands. Disney does tons of proprietary tech stuff, so I'm sure they're ahead of the game. Other studios will continue to seek mergers until they can merge with a content distribution platform. I've heard rumors of Comcast wanting to buy out either WB or Nick. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. The only winners of this game will be the two or three super-huge distribution platforms who can filter out enough of the spam (which they themselves are likely perpetuating) to provide a reasonable entertainment experience.

400,000 channels and nothing's on.

I do think that money will eventually make the "you can't copyright AI stuff" thing go away. There's also the attrition of "Oh, whoops! We accidentally put an AI actor in there and no one noticed for five years, so now it's cool."

One way or another, it's gonna be a wild ride. As the canary in the coal mine, I hope we can all get some UBI before I'm forced to move into the sewers and go full C.H.U.D.

[jessfromonline]

Galactic & Going Rogue: Two TTRPGs of War Among the Stars

INCOMING MESSAGE...INTELLIGENCE INTERCEPTED... DECRYPTION IN PROGRESS...REPORT FOLLOWS... MONITOR THIS CHANNEL AND THESE FREQUENCIES FOR UPDATES...

It has come to our attention that Jumpgate Games (a known alias of Jess Levine) will soon be amassing funds to produce physical copies of Riley Rethal'sStar Wars-inspired TTRPG Galactic and Levine's own Rogue One and Andor-inspired game Going Rogue—winner of the CRIT Awards 2023 Best GMless Game of the Year—in a single combined volume intended for mass distribution, with all new art and layout. Given their previous campaigns (cf. Venture & Dungeon, Doikayt, and more for Rethal, I Have the High Ground and PLANET FIST for Levine) we advise keeping a close watch on the situation.

Our intelligence reports that over 30 other contributors will be involved, including:

[REDACTED], of Dropout's Dimension 20 and Um, Actually

[REDACTED] and [REDACTED], two of four known cohosts of the [REDACTED] Star Wars podcast

[REDACTED], journalist and co-founder of [REDACTED] gaming website

[REDACTED], designer of countless TTRPGs including [REDACTED] (cf. Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Winners, ENNIE Awards "Best Rules" Finalists)

We believe they intend to manufacture up to 3 supplemental booklets, along with various tools and components to support their use. Our agents have also acquired footage depicting the material intended for distribution, attached below. This draft includes critical intelligence on the functioning of both The Liberation and The Mandate, as well as analysis on the ever-enigmatic Space Between and various operatives at play in this ongoing conflict. Further intelligence will follow on this channel as information becomes available. Click "Notify me on launch" to receive a direct transmission when decryption reaches 100%.

BDS Statement

Jess & Riley are both Jewish creators with a deep commitment to solidarity with Palestinians, and as such ardent supporters of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli genocide. While we do not use any Disney or Star Wars IP, we anticipate enough interest from fans of this season of Andor and other Star Wars media that we still feel it would be irresponsible not to note that the Disney+ platform upon which many Star Wars movies and television shows are hosted was recently placed the BDS priority boycott targets list. While we share excitement for many Star Wars shows, Jess & Riley do not support or condone subscribing to Disney+ to watch this season of Andor or any other Star Wars properties.

[38sr]

I know this is gonna be a strange one, but I do have an industry question;

I've been looking for a job for the last 4 years post-grad, I've tried every bit of advice I've gotten over my 6 years in school and 4 years out. Is it too late for me?? Or more so what advice would you have at this point?? I'm starting to feel really negatively about this venture, and getting a day job has been just as difficult;;

Hello Sky! Hope it's okay to call you that. Ah post-grad job hunting.....I don't miss that period of my life at all. Before I begin, just want to preface that what I say going forward is strictly from my perspective/experience. I am not the absolute of the animation industry so if what I say doesn't align with you, you do not have to follow it haha. Alright, advice for post grad job hunting.... Well, I think I want to start off giving a bit of context for the animation landscape these past 4 years that has been rough for everyone (trust me it'll come back around to your question): 1.) COVID Pandemic

This one might be a confusing for some people because when COVID hit in 2020, the only facet of entertainment that was able to keep going was animation. If you remember, during this time streaming numbers went up because people were stuck at home, every studio was launching their own streaming platform (HBO Max, Disney+, Peacock, etc.) and celebrities were given animated shows because live-action had stopped dead in its tracks. This period allowed artists outside of California state to get hired because what's the point of capping the talent to the local area when we're already working remotely? In short, it was a boom. But an exponential boom rather than a gradual boom. You never wanna grow too fast because you'll crash out quicker (and harder) which leads us to our second factor.... 2.) Netflix's first ever round of layoffs in summer 2022, streaming actually isn't profitable?????

In short, this year is when Netflix's growth finally stopped and was the beginning of The Great Animation Contraction. Other studios who were looking to Netflix as a the new model of distributing/creating entertainment had realized Netflix wasn't invincible. As well as their business model. So naturally, they got scared and and take action (aka layoffs). I was affected by these layoffs while working at Marvel Studios and many artists got laid off at studios to save face from the mistake that was streaming (though at this point studios were still double downing on it). Also, around this time live-action was slowly restarting thanks to vaccines and social distancing protocols. So those celebrity studded animated productions dwindled down (and also they caused so much havoc for us animation workers because most of those celebrities had no animation production experience). Which now leads us to...

3.) Mergers everywhere! Yeah, uh, mergers fucking suck. People kept losing their jobs because companies kept absorbing into each other and multiplying their debts to ungodly dollars amounts! Apparently no one took a math class and understood if you multiply any number by zero you will always get a zero. These merger also caused more shows to get shelved and canned, making the job market even slimmer. And by then we get to 2023 and the....

4.) WGA, SAG and TAG Contract Negotiations By now, studios have realized that streaming is losing them money because it costs a butt load of money to not only create a streaming site, but also maintain it, update it, create new media for it, acquire established franchises for it, and maintain the current library. Streaming shows aren't being advertised like they used to on cable so shows don't last beyond one or two seasons. Worker contracts are becoming shorter and shorter (I had a co-worker who had a 3 month contract! Isn't that insane?). And what happens in the midst of this streaming meltdown?

WGA, SAG and TAG are gearing up for their contract negotiations. And as we know SAG (actors) and WGA (writers) did strike which good for them! But now there are no live-action jobs and once again, animation (TAG) is the only one running because our negotiations don't officially start until 2024. At this point, so many animated productions have been cancelled left and right for the sake of "saving money and cutting costs". And the effects were very much being felt in the animation work force. Some animation workers were starting to leave the state of California to more affordable cities, some getting day jobs as baristas, hell some leaving the industry all together. It didn't help that studios were kind of withholding production greenlights 'cause 1) they're greedy corporations 2) these strikes were putting pressure on them. And when we did enter 2024 for our contract negotiations, that contraction was at the tightest. The job market for animation had become so bone dry that you have director-level talent taking entry level jobs to stay afloat. But because of that new, emerging artists are blocked out from breaking in. Anytime a job listing would go up people would go in a frenzy and try every thing they could to get the job. That's how little shows were in production this year specifically. Of course, by now it is public that TAG has ratified the contract (meaning we will not strike). But up until then, studios were quite literally waiting with baited breath for the duration of negotiations. A ton of stuff was in development but nothing was getting a greenlight in fear of a strike. So many animation workers at this point have been laid off for at least 2 years, got priced out of LA county, or got so burned by the industry that they left for a more sustainable paycheck. At this point of the post you're probably thinking, "Why is she talking about all of this and not answering my question?"

And the reason for that is because I what to highlight you didn't miss your chance. You unfortunately graduated at a time where the circumstances were not good for breaking in for the past 4 years.

I'm not saying this to deter you from animation either. I just want to be transparent and honest about the current state of animation because it really has been bleak for the past 4 years. So it's not your fault but rather the industry was just in a seriously bad drought. Both emerging and veteran artists have been struggling to find work and when they do it didn't even last for 6 months. Hopefully, with the renewed contract studios will start greenlighting productions again so everyone isn't fighting for one job opening. But I can't tell 'cause I am not Raven Baxter haha. But what advice can I give during this tough time? Start developing your own projects. Things may be pretty dry right now but now is the time when you can create and develop your own original stuff that can be used in your portfolio. Short or long form, showing progress videos, just create. Because once you start working it's gonna be hard to find that personal project time (trust me I'm going through that right now haha). Also, you'd be surprised how just doing your own thing can garner the attention of someone who does have the power to hire you. How do you think I got to work on the shows I have in the animation industry? Almost all of my jobs happened because I was just creating my own thing and it just happened to match the sensibilities of a show produced by a Hollywood studio. And if I had any additional advice... it would probably be don't think that Hollywood is the only way you can tell your stories.

This one is more of....a recent revelation I've had after going through a pretty bad work experience but Hollywood isn't the only way you can be a storyteller. Whether it's comics, games, streaming, animation, or film....the Hollywood system isn't the end all be all. And by Hollywood system I'm referring to breaking into a big studio like Disney, Nick or something and trying to get your own movie/tv show to win an award or something. That system often works for a certain group of people and fails other groups. That's why I say develop and create your own thing because you might find something that fits your creative voice more than Disney or any other Hollywood studio. Maybe that's inconsiderate of me to say as someone who's been incredibly lucky to work in the animation industry for almost 8 years now....but I still wanna be honest that there are other avenues that isn't the Hollywood way. All in all, please don't give up or beat yourself up. The current state of animation within America was out your control and resulted in many artists struggling to find a job. You aren't too late. In fact, I would say now is your time to do your thing in preparation for when that hiring boom comes again (or you can just take another route to tell your stories). I hope that answered your question!

[archoneddzs15]

Microsoft XBOX 360 - Sonic World Adventure (Sonic Unleashed)

Title: Sonic World Adventure / ソニック ワールドアドベンチャー

Developer/Publisher: Sega (Sonic Team)

Release date: 19 February 2009

Catalogue No.: HEC-00002

Genre: 3D Action Adventure

Sega's Sonic team development division, learning from Sonic 06's mistakes, made the XBOX 360 perform some pretty impressive tasks in their demos, some of which were used in their games. Sonic Unleashed is one of those games (the other one being 2019's Shin Sakura Taisen, a visual novel for the PS4). The game marks the first-ever time a Sonic game debuted with a rendering system dubbed by Sonic Team as the "Hedgehog Engine", designed specifically to handle the drawing of 3D geometry and environments in a fast-paced setting. (The game still uses CRI Middleware and Havok technologies in some parts).

As a result, compared to the likes of Sonic 2006, Sonic Unleashed is capable of producing CGI film quality graphics very similar to those from the best Disney/Pixar animated film properties. Yoshihisa Hashimoto who was the Director of this game at the time, spent months analyzing video games, CGI films, and even people and places in real life. He came to the conclusion that current-generation games are missing an element known in the computer animation field as Global Illumination.

This allows for a light source to hit a scene, and light is reflected off every object in the environment. To cover the vast amounts of calculations that needed to be processed, they also came up with a system that connected 100 computers for the team to distribute the workload. This enabled them to complete all the lighting calculations for an action stage (which is about 6-8 miles long) in 2 or 3 days.

Hashimoto's team also developed a technology called Light Field, which blended the characters naturally into the environments. With this technology, Sonic can run through an action stage while the light is being reflected off him naturally as if he “belongs” there (in contrast to past games where Sonic looks out of place in several environments). As a result, Sonic Unleashed manages to stand out from the rest of the platformers of its age in that rather than lowering the quality down to PS2 levels (as was the case with some early PS3 and 360 games around 2005-2007), the game uses pseudo-raytracing, coupled with the introduction of the then-novel Boost gameplay mechanic and a custom control scheme dedicated to the Werehog/Night levels, as well as a seamless day/night cycle to provide fast and smooth looking 3D environments.

Coupled together with the XBOX 360's great sprite and polygon capabilities for enemies and explosions and polygon-built ships (mainly those from Dr. Eggman), along with the PS1-quality ease of development that made the XBOX 360 the king in the eyes of general gamers, makes Sonic Unleashed look like quite a feast for the ears, as well as the eyes.

So how does it play? Well, I'm not too sure if it went down well in Malaysia but judging by how hard it is to find a copy, I'd say it wasn't well received (in my area). Most households in Malaysia probably only owned a PS2 back in the day, so the PS2 version of Unleashed is much more common. Globally though, and on the Sonic circles, I remember Sonic Unleashed being showered with praise the world over, with high critic scores and glowing fan and user reviews. This could be because Sonic Unleashed fixed the flawed controls that plagued '06 and turned the franchise's reputation from being stained into a great sendoff for the future, with great gameplay, a killer story, and an AWESOME mix of orchestral, rock, and miscellaneous soundtrack genres as you played all the way from Apotos (based on Mykonos, Greece) to Eggmanland (based on Luna Park Sydney).

There is a lot to blast and search for as well as getting yourself lost quite often in the Open World Hubs (^o^;) Oh and about the gameplay, the Daytime stages are some of the BEST that you'll ever see in terms of graphical fidelity (only bested by Frontiers, Shadow Generations, and the upcoming Crossworlds), and the Werehog stages, it's debatable, but it is pretty good to me. It's not 100% perfect though - there are some minor flaws such as very weird frame-rate issues, and falling down easily when using your ring energy, the Werehog levels can be very long but not as bad as other worse beat-em-ups on the 360 such as TMNT Turtles in Time Re-Shelled and Golden Axe Beast Rider. I wanted to call it "God of War inspired" but that would be me pulling the Sony fanboy card. Let's just say the combat reminded me of either Spike Out, Streets of Rage, or even Batman Returns on the Super Famicom, maybe a touch of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City (though these are later games). You need to replay levels to get the medals which become harder to find.

Bottom line, if you're into the odd type of action platformer with a killer story, then I think Sonic Unleashed will suit you. This game is compatible with XBOX ONE and XBOX SERIES consoles, and if you play it on an XBOX SERIES S or X, you get the added bonus of 60 FPS boost mode which is really awesome.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

It's been 21 years since Bill Willingham launched Fables, his 110-issue, wide-ranging, delightful and brilliantly crafted author-owned comic series that imagines that the folkloric figures of the world's fairytales are real people, who live in a secret society whose internal struggles and intersections with the mundane world are the source of endless drama.

Fables is a DC Comics title; DC is division of the massive entertainment conglomerate Warners, which is, in turn, part of the Warner/Discovery empire, a rapacious corporate behemoth whose screenwriters have been on strike for 137 days (and counting). DC is part of a comics duopoly; its rival, Marvel, is a division of the Disney/Fox juggernaut, whose writers are also on strike.

The DC that Willingham bargained with at the turn of the century isn't the DC that he bargains with now. Back then, DC was still subject to a modicum of discipline from competition; its corporate owner's shareholders had not yet acquired today's appetite for meteoric returns on investment of the sort that can only be achieved through wage-theft and price-gouging.

In the years since, DC – like so many other corporations – participated in an orgy of mergers as its sector devoured itself. The collapse of comics into a duopoly owned by studios from an oligopoly had profound implications for the entire sector, from comic shops to comic cons. Monopoly breeds monopoly, and the capture of the entire comics distribution system by a single company – Diamond – was attended by the capture of the entire digital comics market by a single company, Amazon, who enshittified its Comixology division, driving creators and publishers into Kindle Direct Publishing, a gig-work platform that replicates the company's notoriously exploitative labor practices for creative workers. Today, Comixology is a ghost-town, its former employees axed in a mass layoff earlier this year:

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-layoffs-comixology-1850007216

When giant corporations effect these mergers, they do so with a kind of procedural kabuki, insisting that they are dotting every i and crossing every t, creating a new legal entity whose fictional backstory is a perfect, airtight bubble, a canon with not a single continuity bug. This performance of seriousness is belied by the behind-the-scenes chaos that these corporate shifts entail – think of the way that the banks that bought and sold our mortgages in the run-up to the 2008 crisis eventually lost the deeds to our houses, and then just pretended they were legally entitled to collect money from us every month – and steal our houses if we refused to pay:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-58325420110720

Or think of the debt collection industry, which maintains a pretense of careful record-keeping as the basis for hounding and threatening people, but which is, in reality, a barely coherent trade in spreadsheets whose claims to our money are matters of faith:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act

For usury, the chaos is a feature, not a bug. Their corporate strategists take the position that any ambiguity should be automatically resolved in their favor, with the burden of proof on accused debtors, not the debt collectors. The scumbags who lost your deed and stole your house say that it's up to you to prove that you own it. And since you've just been rendered homeless, you don't even have a house to secure a loan you might use to pay a lawyer to go to court.

It's not solely that the usurers want to cheat you – it's that they can make more money if they don't pay for meticulous record-keeping, and if that means that they sometimes cheat us, that's our problem, not theirs.

While this is very obvious in the usury sector, it's also true of other kinds of massive mergers that create unfathomnably vast conglomerates. The "curse of bigness" is real, but who gets cursed is a matter of power, and big companies have a lot more power.

The chaos, in other words, is a feature and not a bug. It provides cover for contract-violating conduct, up to and including wage-theft. Remember when Disney/Marvel stole money from beloved science fiction giant Alan Dean Foster, whose original Star Wars novelization was hugely influential on George Lucas, who changed the movie to match Foster's ideas?

Disney claimed that when it acquired Lucasfilm, it only acquired its assets, but not its liabilities. That meant that while it continued to hold Foster's license to publish his novel, they were not bound by an obligation to pay Foster for this license, since that liability was retained by the (now defunct) original company:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/30/disney-still-must-pay/#pay-the-writer

For Disney, this wage-theft (and many others like it, affecting writers with less fame and clout than Foster) was greatly assisted by the chaos of scale. The chimera of Lucas/Disney had no definitive responsible party who could be dragged into a discussion. The endless corporate shuffling that is normal in giant companies meant that anyone who might credibly called to account for the theft could be transfered or laid off overnight, with no obvious successor. The actual paperwork itself was hard for anyone to lay hands on, since the relevant records had been physically transported and re-stored subsequent to the merger. And, of course, the company itself was so big and powerful that it was hard for Foster and his agent to raise a credible threat.

I've experienced versions of this myself: every book contract I've ever signed stipulated that my ebooks could not be published with DRM. But one of my publishers – a boutique press that published my collection Overclocked – collapsed along with most of its competitors, the same week my book was published (its distributor, Publishers Group West, went bankrupt after its parent company, Advanced Marketing Services, imploded in a shower of fraud and criminality).

The publisher was merged with several others, and then several more, and then several more – until it ended up a division of the Big Five publisher Hachette, who repeatedly, "accidentally" pushed my book into retail channels with DRM. I don't think Hachette deliberately set out to screw me over, but the fact that Hachette is (by far) the most doctrinaire proponent of DRM meant that when the chaos of its agglomerated state resulted in my being cheated, it was a happy accident.

(The Hachette story has a happy ending; I took the book back from them and sold it to Blackstone Publishing, who brought out a new expanded edition to accompany a DRM-free audiobook and ebook):

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/overclocked-bvej.html

Willingham, too, has been affected by the curse of bigness. The DC he bargained with at the outset of Fables made a raft of binding promises to him: he would have approval over artists and covers and formats for new collections, and he would own the "IP" for the series, meaning the copyrights vested in the scripts, storylines, characters (he might also have retained rights to some trademarks).

But as DC grew, it made mistakes. Willingham's hard-fought, unique deal with the publisher was atypical. A giant publisher realizes its efficiencies through standardized processes. Willingham's books didn't fit into that standard process, and so, repeatedly, the publisher broke its promises to him.

At first, Willingham's contacts at the publisher were contrite when he caught them at this. In his press-release on the matter, Willingham calls them "honest men and women of integrity [who] interpreted the details of that agreement fairly and above-board":

https://billwillingham.substack.com/p/willingham-sends-fables-into-the

But as the company grew larger, these counterparties were replaced by corporate cogs who were ever-more-distant from his original, creator-friendly deal. What's more, DC's treatment of its other creators grew shabbier at each turn (a dear friend who has written for DC for decades is still getting the same page-rate as they got in the early 2000s), so Willingham's deal grew more exceptional as time went by. That meant that when Willingham got the "default" treatment, it was progressively farther from what his contract entitled him to.

The company repeatedly – and conveniently – forgot that Willingham had the final say over the destiny of his books. They illegally sublicensed a game adapted from his books, and then, when he objected, tried to make renegotiating his deal a condition of being properly compensated for this theft. Even after he won that fight, the company tried to cheat him and then cover it up by binding him to a nondisclosure agreement.

This was the culmination of a string of wage-thefts in which the company misreported his royalties and had to be dragged into paying him his due. When the company "practically dared" Willingham to sue ("knowing it would be a long and debilitating process") he snapped.

Rather than fight Warner, Willingham has embarked on what JWZ calls an act of "absolute table-flip badassery" – he has announced that Fables will hereafter be in the public domain, available for anyone to adapt commercially, in works that compete with whatever DC might be offering.

Now, this is huge, and it's also shrewd. It's the kind of thing that will bring lots of attention on Warner's fraudulent dealings with its creative workforce, at a moment where the company is losing a public relations battle to the workers picketing in front of its gates. It constitutes a poison pill that is eminently satisfying to contemplate. It's delicious.

But it's also muddy. Willingham has since clarified that his public domain dedication means that the public can't reproduce the existing comics. That's not surprising; while Willingham doesn't say so, it's vanishingly unlikely that he owns the copyrights to the artwork created by other artists (Willingham is also a talented illustrator, but collaborated with a who's-who of comics greats for Fables). He may or may not have control over trademarks, from the Fables wordmark to any trademark interests in the character designs. He certainly doesn't have control over the trademarked logos for Warner and DC that adorn the books.

When Willingham says he is releasing the "IP" to his comic, he is using the phrase in its commercial sense, not its legal sense. When business people speak of "owning IP," they mean that they believe they have the legal right to control the conduct of their competitors, critics and customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

The problem is that this doesn't correspond to the legal concept of IP, because IP isn't actually a legal concept. While there are plenty of "IP lawyers" and even "IP law firms," there is no "IP law." There are many laws that are lumped together under "IP," including the big three (trademark, copyright and patent), but also a bestiary of obscure cousins and subspecies – trade dress, trade secrecy, service marks, noncompetes, nondisclosues, anticirumvention rights, sui generis "neighboring rights" and so on.

The job of an "IP lawyer" is to pluck individual doctrines from this incoherent scrapheap of laws and regulations and weave them together into a spider's web of tripwires that customers and critics and competitors can't avoid, and which confer upon the lawyer's client the right to sue for anything that displeases them.

When Willingham says he's releasing Fables into the public domain, it's not clear what he's releasing – and what is his to release. In the colloquial, business sense of "IP," saying you're "releasing the IP" means something like, "Feel free to create adaptations from this." But these adaptations probably can't draw too closely on the artwork, or the logos. You can probably make novelizations of the comics. Maybe you can make new comics that use the same scripts but different art. You can probably make sequels to, or spinoffs of, the existing comics, provided you come up with your own character designs.

But it's murky. Very murky. Remember, this all started because Willingham didn't have the resources or patience to tangle with the rabid attack-lawyers Warners keeps kenneled on its Burbank lot. Warners can (and may) release those same lawyers on you, even if you are likely to prevail in court, betting that you – like Willingham – won't have the resources to defend yourself.

The strange reality of "IP" rights is that they can be secured without any affirmative step on your part. Copyrights are conjured into existence the instant that a new creative work is fixed in a tangible medium and endure until the creator's has been dead for 70 years. Common-law trademarks gradually come into definition like an image appearing on photo-paper in a chemical soup, growing in definition every time they are used, even if the mark's creator never files a form with the USPTO.

These IP tripwires proliferate in the shadows, wherever doodles are sketched on napkins, wherever kindergartners apply finger-paint to construction-paper. But for all that they are continuously springing into existence, and enduring for a century or more, they are absurdly hard to give away.

This was the key insight behind the Creative Commons project: that while the internet was full of people saying "no copyright" (or just assuming the things they posted were free for others to use), the law was a universe away from their commonsense assumptions. Creative Commons licenses were painstakingly crafted by an army of international IP lawyers who set out to turn the normal IP task on its head – to create a legal document that assured critics, customers and competitors that the licensor had no means to control their conduct.

20 years on, these licenses are pretty robust. The flaws in earlier versions have been discovered and repaired in subsequent revisions. They have been adapted to multiple countries' legal systems, allowing CC users to mix-and-match works from many territories – animating Polish sprites to tell a story by a Canadian, set to music from the UK.

Willingham could clarify his "public domain" dedication by applying a Creative Commons license to Fables, but which license? That's a thorny question. What Willingham really wants here is a sampling license – a license that allows licensees to take some of the elements of his work, combine them with other parts, and make something new.

But no CC license fits that description. Every CC license applies to whole works. If you want to license the bass-line from your song but not the melody, you have to release the bass-line separately and put a CC license on that. You can't just put a CC license on the song with an asterisked footnote that reads "just the bass, though."

CC had a sampling license: the "Sampling Plus 1.0" license. It was a mess. Licensees couldn't figure out what parts of works they were allowed to use, and licensors couldn't figure out how to coney that. It's been "retired."

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/

So maybe Willingham should create his own bespoke license for Fables. That may be what he has to do, in fact. But boy is that a fraught business. Remember the army of top-notch lawyers who created the CC licenses? They missed a crucial bug in the first three versions of the license, and billions of works have been licensed under those earlier versions. This has enabled a mob of crooked copyleft trolls (like Pixsy) to prey on the unwary, raking in a fortune:

https://doctorow.medium.com/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator-5f6360713299

Making a bug-free license is hard. A failure on Willingham's part to correctly enumerate or convey the limitations of such a license – to list which parts of Fables DC might sue you for using – could result in downstream users having their hard work censored out of existence by legal threats. Indeed, that's the best case scenario – defects in a license could result in downstream users, their collaborators, investors, and distributors being sued for millions of dollars, costing them everything they have, up to and including their homes.

Which isn't to say that this is dead on arrival – far from it! Just that there is work to be done. I can't speak for Creative Commons (it's been more than 20 years since I was their EU Director), but I'm positive that there are copyfighting lawyers out there who'd love to work on a project like this.

I think Willingham is onto something here. After all, Fables is built on the public domain. As Willingham writes in his release: "The current laws are a mishmash of unethical backroom deals to keep trademarks and copyrights in the hands of large corporations, who can largely afford to buy the outcomes they want."

Willingham describes how his participation in the entertainment industry has made him more skeptical of IP, not less. He proposes capping copyright at 20 years, with a single, 10-year extension for works that are sold onto third parties. This would be pretty good industrial policy – almost no works are commercially viable after just 14 years:

https://rufuspollock.com/papers/optimal_copyright.pdf

But there are massive structural barriers to realizing such a policy, the biggest being that the US had tied its own hands by insisting that long copyright terms be required in the trade deals it imposed on other countries, thereby binding itself to these farcically long copyright terms.

But there is another policy lever American creators can and should yank on to partially resolve this: Termination. The 1976 Copyright Act established the right for any creator to "terminate" the "transfer" of any copyrighted work after 30 years, by filing papers with the Copyright Office. This process is unduly onerous, and the Authors Alliance (where I'm a volunteer advisor) has created a tool to simplify it:

https://www.authorsalliance.org/resources/rights-reversion-portal/

Termination is deliberately obscure, but it's incredibly powerful. The copyright scholar Rebecca Giblin has studied this extensively, helping to produce the most complete report on how termination has been used by creators of all types:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/04/avoidance-is-evasion/#reverted

Writers, musicians and other artists have used termination to unilaterally cancel the crummy deals they had crammed down their throats 30 years ago and either re-sell their works on better terms or make them available directly to the public. Every George Clinton song, every Sweet Valley High novel, and the early works of Steven King have all be terminated and returned to their creators.

Copyright termination should and could be improved. Giblin and I wrote a whole-ass book about this and related subjects, Chokepoint Capitalism, which not only details the scams that writers like Willingham are subject to, but also devotes fully half its length to presenting detailed, technical, shovel-ready proposals for making life better for creators:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

Willingham is doing something important here. Larger and larger entertainment firms offer shabbier and shabbier treatment to creative workers, as striking members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA can attest. Over the past year, I've seen a sharp increase in the presence of absolutely unconscionable clauses in the contracts I'm offered by publishers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/27/reps-and-warranties/#i-agree

I'm six months into negotiating a contract for a 300 word piece I wrote for a magazine I started contributing to in 1992. At issue is that they insist that I assign film rights and patent rights from my work as a condition of publication. Needless to say, there are no patentable inventions nor film ideas in this article, but they refuse to vary the contract, to the obvious chagrin of the editor who commissioned me.

Why won't they grant a variance? Why, they are so large – the magazine is part of a global conglomerate – that it would be impractical for them to track exceptions to this completely fucking batshit clause. In other words: we can't strike this batshit clause because we decided that from now on, all out contracts will have batshit clauses.

The performance of administrative competence – and the tactical deployment of administrative chaos – among giant entertainment companies is grotesque, but every now and again, it backfires.

That's what's happening at Marvel right now. The estates of Marvel founder Stan Lee and its seminal creator Steve Ditko are suing Marvel to terminate the transfer of both creators' characters to Marvel. If they succeed, Marvel will lose most of its most profitable characters, including Iron Man:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/marvel-artists-estate-ask-pre-trial-wins-superhero-copyright-fight-2023-05-22/

They're following in the trail of the Jack Kirby estate, whom Marvel paid millions to rather than taking their chances with the Supreme Court.

Marvel was always an administrative mess, repeatedly going bankrupt. Its deals with its creators were indifferently papered over, and then Marvel lost a lot of the paperwork. I'd bet anything that many of the key documents Disney (Marvel's owner) needs to prevail over Lee and Ditko are either unlocatable or destroyed – or never existed in the first place.

A more muscular termination right – say, one that kicks in after 20 years, and is automatic – would turn circuses like Marvel-Lee/Ditko into real class struggles. Rather than having the heirs of creators reaping the benefit of termination, we could make termination into a system for getting creators themselves paid.

In the meantime, there's Willingham's "absolute table-flip badassery."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/15/fairy-use-tales/#sampling-license

Image: Tom Mrazek (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_Open_Field_%2827220830251%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

--

Penguin Random House (modified) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707161/fables-20th-anniversary-box-set-by-bill-willingham/

Fair use https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

[askagamedev]

This is a hypothetical question, but do you think if there were more consoles on the market instead of the current big 3 we have today, do you think that would be more beneficial to the game industry and market?

I don't think it would be helpful. Game consoles are primarily platforms on which to deliver content to players, alongside PC, mobile, VR, and other various devices. Most of what makes a console compelling is the kind of exclusive games you can play on that console - as long as the technical specs are fairly similar, you can pretty much play the same games on one console as on another, aside from the exclusives.

Adding or fragmenting more exclusive content among more platforms isn't necessarily a good thing. We can take a look at another market where there are multiple competing platforms all trying to deliver content, many of whom have their own set of exclusives. How do you feel about having so many streaming services like Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Starz, and so on? When a new streaming service is announced with exclusive content attached to it, what is your reaction? Personally, I get more than some amount of streaming fatigue. In the case of streaming video, I don't feel like I'm getting a better value overall with more players in the game. They're all essentially fighting over distribution of the same pool of overall content.

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[twopoppies]

https://www.tumblr.com/twopoppies/762188095662735360/wow-looks-like-irving-just-made-himself-a-boat

i don’t understand any of this stuff, but i thought harry was the owner of his music? with erskine and all that. is it the distribution rights that were sold? sorry, i’m dumb when it comes to this

These questions are in reference to this anon I got last night:

As far as I understand (and please someone correct me if I’m wrong or left something out), GMR is a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) like ASCAP, SEASAC, or BMI.

What is a PRO?

The way people and businesses play, purchase, listen to, and consume music has changed drastically in recent times. Revenues related to purchases of physical media and downloads are fading. Now, the attention is turning more than ever towards other sources of royalty revenues, such as performance rights. PROs play a major role collecting these rights and they monitor the compliance of businesses playing music in public.

PROs are in charge of administering the rights of songwriters and publishers. These duties include the collection and distribution of royalties on their behalf. It would be practically impossible for these creators to pick up their royalties one by one. There are too many instances, from digital platforms to physical venues, in which where their rights are being used. This network of agencies work to make sure that people pay all the royalties. In order to do this, they have close contact with different music platforms and checking physical locations, to collect and distribute them on the creators behalf.

x

From what I understand, Azoff’s stated intention in forming this group was to make sure artists were paid their fare share of royalties, given that the rules hadn’t been updated to take into account the current ways people consume music.

From GMR’s website:

x

Basically, any business that uses music (or portions of music) in a public way must pay to license that music from GMR (or any of the other three PROs).

Who needs to buy a license?

So, if you have a restaurant that plays music in the background, if you use music when people are out on hold when they call your business, if you have a store that plays music while people shop… you have to have a license so that the artists/songwriters are paid each time their work is used.

More details here x

Are there any exceptions? Yes.

The only exception is for broadcast radio and tv in businesses under 2000 square feet (3750 square feet for restaurants). Note: this rule applies only to “over-the-air” broadcasts, not internet streams or any other source of music. You’ll also be playing any DJ banter, unfiltered lyrics, and commercials for your competitors. Plus, there may be additional fees based on your type of establishment. For example, if you own a restaurant or bar that features live music, if there is a fee for entering your establishment, or if there is a physical activity coordinated with the music (such as public skating or dancing).

x

What is UMPG?

UMPG is an enormous music publishing company that offers a variety of different services. These range from administration services to creative services and much more.

They offer their services to companies including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Disney Europe (and other territories), Viacom, Amazon, HBO, DreamWorks, DreamWorks Animation, Legendary Pictures, Mar Vista Entertainment, NBC and Sesame Workshop, among many others.

Universal Music Publishing Group’s Film & TV Department creates opportunities for and licenses their catalog of songs to film, television, advertising, computer games, and stage production. This is often referred to as ‘synchronization’.

x

UMPG focuses on traditional music publishing, licensing songs for use in film, TV, commercials, and more, and handling royalties for its songwriters. GMR focuses on managing public performance rights for a select group of high-profile artists. It offers more personalized and tailored services but is invitation-only, making it more selective and exclusive than UMPG.

Harry seems to have his music listed with both companies, as they handle different aspects of royalties.

TL;DR As far as I can tell (and I'm far from an expert), this all boils down to:

Erskine Records is primarily concerned with the release and distribution of Harry's music, partnering with Sony for wider reach. This covers the production, distribution, and promotion aspects of his music.

UMPG (Universal Music Publishing Group) manages his publishing rights. They handle songwriting royalties, licensing his music for use in films, TV, commercials, and other media, and collecting royalties when his songs are performed, played on the radio, or streamed online​.

GMR (Global Music Rights) deals with performance rights. They ensure that when Styles' music is publicly performed (e.g., at concerts, in public spaces, etc., as explained above), the proper royalties are collected and distributed to him​.

Additionally, we don't know how much of the GMR catalog has been sold. Nor do we know what the private equity firm plans to do with what it's bought. From the bit of research I've done, it seems that there is a move toward selling catalogs to private equity firms. For those firms, owning these rights is about more than passive income—it's about actively enhancing the value of the music through aggressive licensing, smarter technology, and even repackaging or reselling portions of the catalog for a higher return​.

More info on that here and here

That's the best I can offer for now.

[james-spooky]

physical media is so fucking important and it’s crazy that companies act like it’s NOT!!!!! sony is gradually dropping their production of blu-ray + dvds, so many stores have stopped selling them! and this resort to purely streaming services means that we’re just stuck in and endless cycle of subscription hell. AND it’s extremely susceptible to so many shows becoming lost media if they’re removed from the only platform they were distributed on. so many disney originals/animated shows that simply Aren’t on streaming anymore so you can’t watch them anywhere except through piracy, (again that is why i think piracy is ethical! i hate all the sites being shut down right now) but truly ! there’s no physical version of said media we’re heading into a dark age!!!! ok rant over you get it 📀

[mikuni14]

Why I think the way the final episode of The Sign was distributed is wrong, offensive and unfair to fans. And how disappointing I am with this approach, because I sincerely supported Idol Factory and Saint.

Personally, I pay for Gaga, Viki and IQIYI, plus a VPN to watch shows that are not available in my country (like Pit Babe), which, you know, I already paid for 🙄 Additionally, I pay for Netflix, I have combined subscriptions with other people for Disney, HBO, Skyshowtime, Prime, last year we paid for Apple to watch Silo and Severance (I recommend both series btw 👌). I also don't mind paying one-time for a film on the platform, which is how I recently watched Oppenheimer.

Money is not an issue (<- lol), apart from the fact that I support myself and I have to work, and I have to carefully manage my budget in order to feed myself and my cat, clothe myself, pay my bills, and my loss of job will mean obviously giving up access to all these media. I say that money is not a problem in the sense that I WILL SPEND MONEY on something I like. I will save, I will give up something else, but I will spend this money on stuff I love.

The Sign has chosen a certain distribution method for international fans. They chose YouTube and chose a set airing hour. They could have chosen to distribute only in Thailand like Cherry Magic, or they could have chosen any other platform with paid subscriptions. But they chose YouTube. And they released 11 episodes for free and at a set time. And now they CHOSE to make the last ep paid and to create a complete chaos related to the distribution of the finale, because I honestly don't know at this point whether it is paid or not, what is paid and what is not, whether it is on Saturday or Sunday or it's for a ticket or for free on channel3 and apparently they have two endings????, which is always an alarming sign for me, because it's very Game of Thrones/Marvel style shit.

Besides, people have their own lives, their obligations, their schedules. Sometimes you just can't get around certain things and you can't watch a series in the available time, no matter how much you want. Secondly, releasing a product for free in order to limit access to it in the final phase is the worst manifestation of toxic capitalism. This is preying on the desperation and devotion of fans. The third thing is the selection of viewers into those who can afford it, have the time, have the resources and those who do not. And yes, sometimes even just $15 of an unexpected expense makes a huge difference in a person's budget. It's telling some of the fans that you are VIP and can sit in the front row, and the rest of the peasants should wait outside for two weeks 😄

tl;dr personally I want and can pay for: 1) the entire series on a legal platform 2) ADDITIONAL things, like specials, fan stuff, etc. I consider paying for access to the series finale, which until now was free, immoral.

But tbh I really have no idea what's going on, I go with the flow 🤡Whenever I check The Sign tag, I read more and more new information related to the possibility of watching the finale, and it's different every day. And if it turns out that the cut version of the series will be available for free on Channel 3, and the uncut version with subs will be available tomorrow with a ticket, it will be the funniest thing ever. Because that would mean that people paid $15 to watch, I don't know what, a sex scene? 😄

Idk, guys, instead of enjoying the finale, people are wondering how to watch it at all. And if IF starts doing this, won't others follow suit? 11 episodes for free, oh you want to watch the finale, well you have to pay or wait and dodge the spoilers 😈

And one last thing for potential defenders of this system, like "what's your problem, it will be available in 2 weeks, just wait": so you accept that not ALL fans will have a chance to experience the final ep together, which is the basis of the fan community? That some fans will experience and analyze the episodes this weekend, and the rest will wait?

[letsdothisentertainment]

Fueling the Future of Children’s Entertainment Through Strategic Media Funding

Children’s media has undergone a remarkable evolution in the last two decades. With the rise of global streaming platforms, digital-first brands, and multi-platform storytelling, the space is more dynamic and competitive than ever. But behind every memorable children’s show, character, or franchise lies one essential ingredient: thoughtful, strategic investment. Today, more and more industry leaders are recognizing the long-term value of children’s content and taking steps to secure its growth for years to come.

The Growing Value of Children’s Content

Children’s entertainment has always played a key role in shaping young minds. Whether it's educational programming, animated adventures, or live-action stories with strong moral messages, high-quality children’s media holds the power to entertain while also nurturing social and emotional development.

In the current content-driven economy, children’s IPs (intellectual properties) are proving to be among the most valuable in the entertainment industry. Successful franchises don’t just live on screens; they evolve into toys, books, games, and even global theme parks. This kind of longevity is why so many investors are starting to pay closer attention to this sector. The right content can offer significant return on investment—financially and culturally—while also making a lasting impact on young audiences around the world.

Why Smart Investment Matters Now More Than Ever

We are living in an era where families consume content across devices, platforms, and formats. From YouTube Kids to streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+, the demand for meaningful, original content is soaring. But producing such content is no easy task. It requires not only creative vision and technical expertise but also a financial ecosystem that can support creators throughout the development, production, and distribution process.

That’s why initiatives focused on investing in children’s media IP have gained traction. Rather than waiting for a project to find success on its own, these investments help creators from the beginning—supporting script development, animation pipelines, talent acquisition, and marketing. In turn, this support allows projects to reach their full potential both creatively and commercially.

Supporting a Diverse Range of Voices

One of the most exciting outcomes of this renewed investment in children’s content is the growing diversity of stories being told. From Indigenous-led animations to bilingual preschool series, there’s a stronger push to reflect a wider range of cultures, languages, and family structures. Financial support is a key part of this shift. It’s not enough to have a good story—the right funding makes it possible for that story to be told at the highest possible standard.

The launch of initiatives such as a children’s media investment fund has opened doors for underrepresented creators, emerging studios, and content that challenges the norm. These funds do more than support individual projects—they help build a sustainable future for children’s media by encouraging innovation and long-term development.

Long-Term Growth and Cultural Impact

Children’s media isn’t just about short-term gains. It’s a long game. Franchises built for kids have a unique staying power, with characters and stories that can be passed down through generations. Investment in this space doesn’t just create entertainment—it shapes the future of culture.

In a landscape increasingly driven by IP, media companies are now thinking not only about the next hit show but about the next generation-defining brand. It starts with believing in the power of children’s storytelling—and backing that belief with resources, partnerships, and vision.

Conclusion

The landscape of children's entertainment is changing rapidly, and those with the foresight to support meaningful content will lead the industry forward. Whether it’s backing original concepts or creating inclusive programming, the future belongs to those willing to invest in imagination. To see how one company is championing these efforts and pushing the boundaries of children’s content, visit letsdothisentertainment.com.

[whispersoffateleo]

Breaking News: Huace in charge of Shui Long Yin overseas distribution

Shui Long Yin at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The drama will be distributed by Huace.

This is excellent news as they have distributed content to more than 180-200 countries worldwide and have a reputation for good subtitling.

(See below for more information)

Who is Huace?

》China Huace Film & TV Co., Ltd, commonly known as Huace Group in China. Their diverse business ecosystem includes TV series, films, animation, music, celebrity management, industrial parks, and professional education in film and television. With the mission "Better Content, Better World," Huace Group has distributed over 150,000 hours of content to more than 180-200 countries worldwide.

•Huace-Partnering with global streaming platforms with Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Viki, iQIYI International, WeTV, YouTube.

•Huace-Licensing to international TV networks in North America & Europe, South Korea (KBS, MBC, and SBS), Japan (U-NEXT), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines)...

•Huace - Expanding through film festivals & industry events at Cannes, Berlin, Busan, and Tokyo Film Festivals. They were hosting exclusive promotional events in key overseas markets.

•Huace- Co-productions and international investments with foreign companies example South Korean studios for projects featuring Korean actors. Investing in foreign productions, including Hollywood.

•Huace - Multilingual subtitles & dubbing in English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese.

Dubbing in key markets (Japan, Thailand, and Latin America.)

•Huace - Leveraging social media & engages international fandoms x, Facebook, Ins, tt.

Shui Long Yin & Leo team

[lurkingshan]

I feel like I am watching everything BL that has been out but do you think there is a show that is not being talked about as much?

Oh, for sure. There are always shows that go relatively under the radar. In bl, there’s a clear hierarchy for what gets most eyeballs, discussion, and attention on tumblr, and a lot of it has to do with platforms and their different levels of international access. Basically:

Anything on YouTube for free, and especially on the GMMTV channel, gets outsized attention, whether it’s good or not. @bengiyo was not wrong when he called GMMTV the Disney of bl. This is where most Thai bl lives and why it tends to dominate discourse.

Shows on Viki or Gaga are next in line, as these platforms are fairly accessible and cheap. This is where most Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese bl lives. There’s a steep drop off in engagement on here for these compared to YT shows, but they still get some attention and occasionally one will break through and become hella popular (like The Eighth Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake).

Anything on iQIYI only gets even fewer eyeballs, because you gotta pay for this one and it actually has a terrible UI. It’s extra frustrating because a lot of shows are going here now and people are just not seeing them. Kinnporsche is an example of an iQIYI show that managed to go viral despite this constraint, but it’s a mega outlier.

Everything else in the great grey beyond. There are still bls produced that get no international distribution at all, though this is thankfully becoming less common. One of my great frustrations about I Feel You Linger in the Air is that it’s not actually available in a lot of places internationally, and this is keeping its audience small despite it being one of the best things airing right now. You need a VPN and a can do attitude to make it work, and with so much content folks just aren’t inspired to hunt down the shows that aren’t coming to them.

In addition to IFYL, recent shows that come to mind as flying relatively under the radar despite being top tier include La Pluie, Sing My Crush, Wedding Plan, and Love in Translation. There’s also a jbl airing right now called I Cannot Reach You that is unfortunately inaccessible to the international audience; I’m eagerly awaiting a distribution deal for it soon.

[ipartv]

"The Evolution of Movies: From Silent Films to Streaming Giants – A Journey Through Cinema History"

The Evolution of Movies: From Silent Films to Streaming Giants

Movies have been a cornerstone of global culture for over a century, captivating audiences with their ability to tell stories, evoke emotions, and transport viewers to different worlds. From the early days of silent films to the rise of streaming platforms, the film industry has undergone a remarkable evolution, reflecting changes in technology, society, and audience preferences.

The Birth of Cinema: Silent Films and the Golden Age

The history of movies begins in the late 19th century with the invention of motion picture cameras. The Lumière brothers are often credited with pioneering the art form, showcasing short films like Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896), which astonished audiences with its realistic depiction of movement. Silent films dominated the early 20th century, with stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton becoming household names through their physical comedy and expressive performances.

The 1920s and 1930s marked the Golden Age of Hollywood, as studios like MGM, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures churned out iconic films. The introduction of sound in The Jazz Singer (1927) revolutionized the industry, paving the way for musicals, talkies, and more complex storytelling. Classics like Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) emerged during this era, setting the standard for cinematic excellence.

The Rise of Blockbusters and Special Effects

The 1970s and 1980s saw the rise of the blockbuster, with films like Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) redefining the movie-going experience. Directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas embraced new technologies, such as advanced special effects and sound design, to create immersive worlds that captivated audiences. This era also saw the emergence of franchises, with sequels and spin-offs becoming a staple of the industry.

The 1990s and early 2000s brought further advancements in computer-generated imagery (CGI), enabling filmmakers to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. Films like Jurassic Park (1993), The Matrix (1999), and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) showcased the potential of CGI, blending it seamlessly with live-action footage to create breathtaking spectacles.

The Streaming Revolution

In recent years, the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has transformed how audiences consume movies. The convenience of on-demand viewing has challenged traditional theatrical releases, leading to debates about the future of cinema. Streaming services have also become major players in film production, producing critically acclaimed movies like Roma (2018) and The Irishman (2019).

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift, as theaters worldwide closed and studios turned to streaming to release their films. Blockbusters like Black Widow (2021) and Dune (2021) debuted simultaneously in theaters and on streaming platforms, signaling a potential new model for film distribution.

The Power of Storytelling

Despite the changes in technology and distribution, the heart of movies remains storytelling. Films have the unique ability to reflect societal issues, challenge norms, and inspire change. From the social commentary of Parasite (2019) to the representation of diverse voices in Black Panther (2018), movies continue to shape and reflect the world we live in.

As the industry evolves, one thing is certain: movies will remain a powerful medium for entertainment, education, and connection. Whether experienced in a crowded theater or on a smartphone screen, the magic of cinema endures, reminding us of the universal power of a great story.

From silent films to streaming giants, movies have come a long way, yet their essence remains the same: to entertain, inspire, and bring people together. As technology continues to advance, the future of film promises even more innovation and creativity, ensuring that the art of cinema will thrive for generations to come.

For more insights and updates on the world of movies, visit www.ipartv.com.

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[tobiasdrake]

On a scale of 1-11, how interested are you in Daredevil: Born Again?

Probably about a 6. I never saw the third season of the Netflix series because... Well, first season was okay, second was terrible, and Defenders was unbelievably boring. So when Disney Plus was announced and it became apparent that Netflix's shows were basically doomed to die and never be spoken of again, I took that as a jumping off point.

Before D+, Netflix and Disney had a pretty simple relationship. Disney produced and Netflix distributed these shows that, like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., would occupy their own one-sided pocket of canon. A space where the movies would never speak of them or acknowledge them or anything, but they could speak of and acknowledge the movies to their hearts' content.

But then D+ became a thing and, with it, came a wave of cancellations for MCU products on platforms Disney didn't control. All of the Netflix shows were promptly taken out back and shot. And then there was a little marketing trick that happened.

While they were Netflix products, they were canon pariahs. They are not real, they do not exist, we do not speak of them. As long as promoting them would promote a rival service to Disney Plus, these shows are not welcome in Disney's universe.

Once Disney gained distribution rights? WE LOVE THE NETFLIX SHOWS. Daredevil was a wonderful show, wasn't it? We're going to cameo him in everything. We're making a new DD show. We're bringing back the Kingpin for Hakweye. It's all canon and it always was the whole time.

Interesting, that.

For me, I had issues with season 1 of DD that compounded in season 2 and Defenders, that ultimately killed my interest in the series. What it amounted to was a show that fundamentally disagreed with its central protagonist.

The protagonist of a series is meant to drive its tone. Matt Murdock is presented in the show as a "Thou shalt not kill" type hero. He's presented as someone tempted by his own inclinations towards violence, and who believes in better ways.

The show thinks that it's great that he thinks that, but it also thinks he's wrong. That he's a fucking fool for believing that. In his show, there are no better ways. The villains of his show remain a threat so long as they continue to exist, and it's only by the hands of murderers like the Punisher, Stick, and Elektra that anything ever gets solved.

Matt gets to stand there and preach while the killers in his cast bloody their hands to deliver him achievements. While the one main rival that they don't kill for him, the Kingpin, is a persistent Forever-Threat he cannot solve at all. For two seasons, the show let him hold his moral high ground but refused to ever let him be right. To let his beliefs actually show positive results.

(Also The Hand just sucked for a variety of reasons but that's beside the point. The point is that for the first two seasons at least, it's an ongoing pattern of Matt drawing lines in the sand. While other characters pat him on the shoulder and go "That's great, pal" while headshotting his villains for him because the show can't actually imagine any other resolution. It agrees with the murderers over him.)

Because the Netflix shows take place in a dark and gritty hellscape where things can only ever be solved through blood. That is the tone they wanted. The result is a useless and ineffectual protagonist who is incapable of standing up the most basic job a protagonist has: To drive the tone and solve the plot through his own actions and beliefs.

I don't know if that changed in season 3. Like I said, I never came back for it. Once Disney killed the Netflix shows and it seemed like they were going to be decanonized forever, I figured I wouldn't have to and walked out.

But that's not a problem with the character or premise; It's a problem with the direction of the show. Since he returned to the MCU, he's been pretty fun. I liked him in No Way Home. I liked him in She-Hulk. I had issues with Hawkeye but Fisk wasn't my beef, and Echo was pretty good.

New series by new creators means new creative direction, and so I'm tentatively curious to see if they can bring a good treatment to the character this time around.

[pers-books]

The shooting of the new ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off has reportedly begun, most likely in the United Kingdom, the principal location of the series. Denise Welch, who is known for playing Natalie Barnes/Horrocks in ‘Coronation Street’ and Steph Haydock in ‘Waterloo Road,’ was spotted filming the series recently. The production of the original series’ fourteenth season recently wrapped and the fifteenth season’s shooting is slated to begin in December in Cardiff.

The spin-off series revolves around the UNIT, a military organization operating under the United Nations to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to Earth. UNIT has featured significantly in the original series for the past 50 years. The spin-off will follow UNIT leader Kate Stewart. Jemma Redgrave appears as Stewart in around ten episodes of the original series. Redgrave will be appearing in the series after portraying Stewart in the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special later this year, starring alongside the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa (‘Sex Education’).

The new spin-off will be a part of an expanded “Whoniverse,” which was born after Disney+ struck a significant international distribution deal with BBC. ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner and executive producer Russell T. Davies revealed that the show is only one of the several spin-offs that will form the “Whoniverse.” “[…] it was time for the next stage for Doctor Who. I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs,” Davies told British GQ about expanding the ‘Doctor Who’ universe with new shows set in the same.

Redgrave is best known for playing Evie Wilcox in ‘Howards End,’ alongside Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, Lady DeCourcy in Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny-starrer ‘Love & Friendship,’ MI6 Agent Emily Tuthill in ‘The Grid,’ Rebecca Edmonds in Craig Ferguson’s ‘I’ll Be There,’ etc. Her recent credits include DI Jill Raymond in ‘Silent Witness,’ Amelia Gurney-Clifford/Davenport in ‘Grantchester,’ Bernie Wolfe in ‘Holby City,’ etc.

Welch’s recent credits, on the other hand, includes Angela in ‘Dead Canny,’ Trish Minniver in ‘Hollyoaks,’ Doll Belvedere in ‘Dun Breedin’,’ Linda Bradshaw/Pam McGrath in ‘Holby City,’ etc. BBC has not announced other cast members of the spin-off series yet, which can be expected in the upcoming months.

Along with BBC Studios, Sony-backed Bad Wolf, the production company behind ‘His Dark Materials,’ ‘A Discovery of Witches,’ and ‘Industry,’ is expected to be involved in the production of the series. Bad Wolf has been co-producing ‘Doctor Wolf’ since the fourteenth season of the show.