It is Genevieve Cogman’s birthday!

Genevieve Cogman is very clever.  You should buy her books. The first two books in her Invisible Library series are available in the USA now. She also writes roleplaying game material. She is a better writer than I am*. Writing sentences in this style looks just as odd to me as it does to you.

Moe Lane

*I mean it.

News from the Happy Birthday wars: judge rules song is free from copyright.

I first wrote about it in 2013: short version is, the people who ostensibly owned ‘Happy Birthday’ have been real nasty about it, the better to rake in about two million bucks a year in royalties. Well, the gravy train may have derailed:

The world’s most popular English-language song is potentially free from copyright after a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that filmmakers challenging Warner/Chappell Music’s hold on “Happy Birthday to You” should be granted summary judgment.

Continue reading News from the Happy Birthday wars: judge rules song is free from copyright.

The war for “Happy Birthday.”

Interesting:

A new lawsuit being filed today aims to have “Happy Birthday” declared as belonging to the public domain. The proposed class action is brought by a film company that is working on a documentary about the “Happy Birthday” song. During the making, the producers were informed that they would need to pay a $1,500 synchronization license fee to use the song in the documentary. The producers paid for fear of being liable for up to $150,000 in penalties for copyright infringement.

But now, Good Morning to You Productions Corp. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of all those in film, television and elsewhere who are paying for rights to “Happy Birthday.” The plaintiff aims to force Warner/Chappell Music to return millions of dollars collected over the years for what the lawsuit calls “the world’s most popular song.”

Continue reading The war for “Happy Birthday.”

A traditional birthday greeting from my people*.

Yup. Starting in one minute I become the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.  It’s a great responsibility, but at least my biotics didn’t burn out**.

I have known this song to go on for ten minutes or more. Children usually have to flee after five or six.

Moe Lane

*You know. Geeks.

**I never said that I was happy about everything involving the ME3 ending.

A very flattering Birthday Present / “Earth Hour” response…

…from RS Constant Reader mailloux:

a-light-bright-birthday-002

…or more accurately, his kids:

a-light-bright-birthday-001

…in reference to this post about a counter of the meaningless gesture of sitting in the dark for an hour today to show your opposition to global warming. As it is my birthday*, mailloux’ children made me a cake out of Lite Brites… which, as you can see, is a very cool thing to do.  I’m flattered immensely: I especially want to thank his kids for doing this. Even if they love playing with Lite-Brites anyway.

Moe Lane

*Tip jar, etc, etc, etc.

Crossposted to RedState.