Origami Unicorn

John Alvin, 59

John Alvin, movie poster artist, died February 6, 2008 of a heart attack. He was fifty-nine. Alvin's first movie poster was for Blazing Saddles. His later work included posters for Blade Runner and Jurassic Park, as well as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter movies, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Christopher Allport, 60

Prolific television actor Christopher Allport died January 25, 2008 in an avalanche. He was sixty. Allport appeared in The Pretender, The X Files, and Quantum Leap, among many others.

A Downside of Blogging

Some days the news is less good than you wish it was. Today, four obituaries in a row, each of which needs its own header.

Tolkien Trust Sues New Line

Stepping into the queue after Peter Jackson, who recently settled differences with the company, the Tolkien Trust is now suing New Line Cinema about its accounting practices. The suit, filled in Los Angeles, seeks more than 150 million dollars in compensation from profits for the three films based on the acclaimed author's Lord of the Rings.

The First Film Version of LOTR

Ralph Bakshi started on the story long before Peter Jackson, and in some interviews Jackson has acknowledged that this animated version influenced his own presentation. There's a great deal to say about Bakshi, but for the moment, here is the scene when Gandalf reaches Saruman to warn and to ask for aid and discovers that all is not as he hoped:

New, the complete film on DVD is available for about thirteen dollars.

Geraldine

One morning Gerald awoke to discover his life had changed—radically.

The film is in French, and the J+1 means day plus one, etc. Yes, "fin" means end, but keep watching. The film is by Arthur De Pins.

Cassie Edwards, the Last Word?

The popular romance author, accused of plagiarism, appears to have closed her MySpace page and her website. Likewise, mentions of the plagiarism question have vanished from the reviews at Amazon. Signet has said they will review her books, but nothing that was scheduled by any publisher has been deferred. RWA, which she no longer belongs to, continues to carry her on its roll of honor. It seems possible that the whole matter will simply vanish like the smoke from a savage campfire. Tried, true, and profitable, the brave and handsome chief with the fair and needy woman will continue to roam, leaving no path an abusive husband might follow. Something of a pity, since the matter of how handle reference materials when writing fiction continues to be as relevant as it ever was. The question of lifting entire passages was, of course, decided a long time ago: writers don't do that to other writers.

Hard Times at Barnes and Nobel

JP Morgan downgraded its rating of the bookseller from from overweight to neutral and BN shares dropped, faster than the rest of the market, which also fell. The change was not unexpected, since company has announced that the holiday season was not as good as it had hoped, with music sales in particular not meeting expectations.

Analyst Charles Grom said: "Barnes' disappointing holiday comparison was surprising and suggested to us that no retailer is 100 percent immune from today's recessionary backdrop; provided the company's aforementioned tough compares, we think it's likely that Barnes & Noble could run negative same-store sales in 2008." Grom cut his profit estimate by 26 cents a share. He speculated that price competition from Borders might cause BN to reduce their own margins. No mention of the deeper discounters, like Amazon.

Competition among the brick and mortar stores has become increasingly fierce as consumers turn to online shopping and online sellers try to replicate the experience of looking at and skimming a book before they buy. Coffee shops, candy, toys, and stationery have not filled the gap not provided the long term pull it was once hoped they would.

Hugo Nominations In Progress

If you are eligible—signup for this part of the process closed at the end of January—the nomination process for the Hugos closes March 1st. This year's Worldcon is August 6th through 10th in Denver. There's more information and updates at the website.

Heath Ledger Inquest Results

The New York Times reports that it has been confirmed that the actor's death was the result of a interaction of prescription drugs, making his death officially an accident.