I really don’t get why plagiarism is even a thing. I mean, I understand it on a low-stakes micro scale (idiot high school kids starting their term papers an hour before the deadline), and I suppose I get why giant corporations like Urban Outfitters feel safe stealing from powerless indie designers, but prominent artists ripping off other prominent artists? And then directing the world’s attention to that thing they stole? WHYYYYYYY WOULD YOU THINK THAT WAS GOING TO WORK? The latest: Artist Dan Clowes is accusing actor/filmmaker Shia LaBeouf of lifting dialogue and plot points from Clowes’s 2007 comic Justin M. Damiano for LaBeouf’s new short film HowardCantour.com. The similarities seem pretty damning—particularly considering the fact that LaBeouf has spoken openly of admiring Clowes.
“The first I ever heard of the film was this morning when someone sent me a link. I’ve never spoken to or met Mr. LaBeouf,” Clowes told BuzzFeed. “I’ve never even seen one of his films that I can recall — and I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind.”
Both the film and comic (below) begin with narration by the main character, who says, “A critic is a warrior, and each of us on the battlefield have the means to glorify or demolish (whether a film, a career, or an entire philosophy) by influencing perception in ways that if heartfelt and truthful, can have far-reaching repercussions.”
I’ve been a writer long enough to understand that sometimes—particularly when you’re working fast—you think you’ve come up with an idea only to realize that you merely read it somewhere before and internalized it. But to lift whole sections of dialogue? It seems like it has to be on purpose. But why would you deliberately do something where you’re almost 100% certain to get caught? That shit belongs on America’s Dumbest Criminals, right next to the lady who called 911 because she didn’t get enough shrimp in her fried rice. Anyway, bummer. Looking forward to hearing LaBeouf’s response. [BuzzFeed]
Kelly LeBrock got arrested for a DUI. 🙁
The 53-year-old was pulled over [in Santa Barbara] for going over the speed limit, not stopping at a stop sign and swerving.
…The November 30 arrest was made by a California Highway Patrol officer in the quaint California town, just two hours north of Los Angeles.
‘The officer said there were signs of alcohol impairment, and gave her a field sobriety test,’ TMZ reported.
‘And LeBrock didn’t do so well. She was arrested and booked.’
Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful. Hate her because she could have killed someone with her car. [DailyMail]
Colin Farrell opened up about his tender quasi-romance with Elizabeth Taylor, which began when he ran into her “people” in the hospital when she was getting a stent put in her heart.
“I said, ‘Will you tell her I said hello, she probably won’t know who I am.’ And they go, ‘No, she knows who you are,’ and I went, ‘Wow, cool. Well, tell her I said hello and I wish her the best,’ and they said, ‘Will do,'” Farrell recalled happily to Ellen.
“So I got home a few days later with Henry and I was thinking about Elizabeth and how she was doing, and I called my publicist and I said, ‘I bumped into some people of Elizabeth Taylor’s…could I send her some flowers?’ And my publicist said…’That’s funny because I’m looking at an orchid from Elizabeth Taylor for you.”
“I’ll say!” Farrell agreed as the audience reacted excitedly. “I said, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.'”
“I said, ‘Well, send that bad boy over to the house and can I still get the flowers?’ And it came with a hand written note from her. I then cheekily about a week later said, ‘Listen is there any chance I can go…and see her?'”
His publicist made some calls and “I got to have an audience with her and that was the beginning of a year and a half or two years of what was a really cool…it was kind of like the last—it feels like in my head, not her, I’m projecting, but the last kind of romantic relationship I had.
“Which was never consummated,” he quickly added.
Some day I hope to be the caliber of gal with whom people schedule “an audience.” [E!]
That kid from Suite Life of Zack & Cody is handling his first nude photo scandal with aplomb.
“To be blunt, I was proud of my progress in the gym, thought I looked hot, and wanted to share it,” he wrote. “I’m of the mindset that whoever you are, if you are proud of your body and want to show it off, so be it!”
But the 21-year-old actor went on to say that “the real problem here was not me sending my pictures to someone, but rather, sending them to the WRONG someone. The real travesty is a misplaced trust, and while I am certainly to blame for it, it is a shame that my private life was somehow forcibly dragged into the public’s perception of me.
“What is wrong is that, generally I try to stay cool and collected with my prose and a role model for kids (maybe not anymore shamefully) and this seemingly inconsequential act will likely affect the youth’s impression of me. Not only that, but I worry somewhat for my artistic integrity, and my academic integrity. Not exactly ideal, but I’m to blame and I’ll look this incident in the eye like a man.”
Golf clap. [E!]
- Neal Schon from Journey got married to this Real Housewife in a tent with 36 chandeliers and also Brian McKnight performed and it was all streamable on Pay-Per-View and WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE PAY TO WATCH THAT. [HuffPo]
- Paul Walker‘s death certificate has been released—the actor died from the “combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries.” [Us]
- Vanessa Hudgens turned 25 and wore a pretty dress. [E!]
- Country music legend Ray Price has passed away at age 87. [People]
- Apparently Katy Perry suffered an “onstage disaster” at a show in Cannes, but I’m not watching it because I can’t stand to see people be embarrassed. You guys are on your own. [E!]
- Charlie Sheen‘s girlfriend hates Denise Richards. [ShowbizSpy]
- Lorde says she’s a “hugely sex-positive person.” [HuffPo]
- Self-portrait: