I hesitate to even pass along word of the luxury fashion purveyor’s ongoing litigiousness lest this site land in its hungry crosshairs, but: Have you heard about the lengths to which Louis Vuitton is going to keep its brand safe from the grubby likes of The Hangover Part II ? Or how another, recently resolved court victory has possibly shored up its case against the film’s studio Warner Bros.? Memo to Hollywood: Either get your clearances up front or do not even think of messing with these guys. This has been going on for a while , but THR Esq. now offers up the bone-chilling latest: On March 22, a judge granted a summary judgment victory to Louis Vuitton over a Super Bowl TV commercial produced by Hyundai that featured for approximately one second a basketball that bore resemblance to a flower-like symbol on chestnut-brown background design that was trademarked by Louis Vuitton. The French brand says that the judge’s decision two weeks ago shows why it should be able to go forward with its claims against Warner Bros. for infringing and diluting its trademark by showing for one brief moment in [ The Hangover Part II ] Zach Galifianakis telling someone who pushes his bag, “Be careful, that is … that is a Lewis Vuitton.” In mid-March, Warner Bros. responded to the lawsuit by telling a New York judge that it had a First Amendment right to feature trademarks and incorporate real-life references to brands without getting the consent of owners. The studio added there wasn’t any confusion, and if there was, it was de minimis and/or the responsibility of the company that had actually produced the knock-off handbag. Meanwhile, the designer isn’t backing down, arguing in a court filing (with its victory versus Hyundai in mind) that “Louis Vuitton’s ‘aggressive’ enforcement of its trademark rights and prompt action against those who misuse its trademarks are necessary concomitants of its exclusive rights in the brand.” Fine, but to what end? Is “the brand” — and apparently its business — so fragile that millions of dollars in legal expenses are themselves necessary concomitants of relevancy in 2012? Or is this just the more socially permissible way of shoring up the market share that all those knock-off merchants in Lower Manhattan have eroded in recent years? Either way, to all you screenwriters and studio legal departments alike: Maybe stick to Samsonite? [ THR Esq .] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Did you all have a good April Fool’s Day? Either way, chances are it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as that of the Criterion Collection, which turned its customary April 1 brio on the perfect target: Kindergarten Cop . This July, we’ll be releasing Ivan Reitman’s landmark KINDERGARTEN COP on Blu-ray and DVD: ow.ly/a0AO5 — Criterion Collection (@Criterion) April 1, 2012 Better still: The Kindergarten Cop page at the Criterion site, replete with such special features as “New audio commentary featuring Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, author of It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Can Teach Us ,” Excerpts from the French television program Cinéastes de notre temps : ‘Ivan Reitman'” and this extraordinary cover art: Nicely, nicely done, team. [ Criterion Collection ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The wait is finally over! What did we learn from the return of ‘Mad Men’? By Eric Ditzian Aaron Stanton, Larisa Oleynik, Vincent Kartheiser and Alison Brie in “Mad Men” season five episode one Photo: Michael Yarish/AMC “Mad Men,” don’t ever leave us again, OK? Or at least not for a few more seasons. After a 500-day-plus hiatus, AMC’s hit show returned Sunday night with the epic two-hour season-five premiere, filled with civil-rights strife, relationships of the sure-to-blow-up-in-epically-entertaining-yet-profoundly-troubling-fashion variety, and innumerable tiny moments that make creator Matthew Weiner’s “Mad Men” arguably the finest show on TV . The debut also addressed a slew of lingering questions we’d amassed since the previous season came to a close in October 2010. Check out 11 of the most burning questions we’d been dying to have answered: When Does Season Five Take Place? How gangster would it be if Weiner opened season five with a slow push in toward Don Draper, his hair oddly gray, his deep wrinkles coming into view, his dapper postwar mojo caked in decades of booze, fatty foods and what-has-become-of-this-once-proud-country disillusionment? What if the year were 1986 and Don were a gut-bellied 60 years old? However unlikely such a crazy time jump was, an open question headed into the new season was exactly when in time Weiner would restart his story. After all, over a year passed between seasons one and two, while barely a month elapsed from the end of season three to the start of season four. Now we know the answer: Season five begins in the summer of 1966. Did Don Really Marry Megan? If you thought Don Draper would be content with an appropriately aged girlfriend, a quick trip to “Tomorrowland” (the title of the season-four finale) disabused viewers of such a notion. He ditched Dr. Faye Miller and took his young, seductive secretary Megan Calvet on a Disneyland trip with the kids. One sun-bleached California vacation later, Don had cruelly dumped Faye and asked Megan to marry him. Would it last? Could it last? Yes and yes. They’re now married and living together (though, obviously, not so happily). Is Faye Totally Out of the Picture? Poor Faye. She was smart and sexy and Don’s intellectual equal. Alas, she was also his age. As far as we can tell, Faye is totally dunzo as far as Don’s life is concerned. Could she come creeping back into the picture? There’s an argument to be made that she’s too self-possessed to slink back into his arms. But when on “Mad Men” has a woman ever been able to resist the charms of Don Draper? What Will Happen to Don When He Turns 40? If you guessed “have a birthday party at his Manhattan loft thrown by his secretary-turned-wife during which she saucily sings a French love song to Don and his friends, leading the ad man to verbally bitch-slap his wife and his wife to strip down to her undies, clean their apartment and eventually make love to her hubby on the filthy carpet” — then congrats, you win! Wither Bert Cooper? The firm’s elder statesman seemingly quit the firm at the end of season four, following Don’s public statement that he will no longer produce ads for tobacco companies. “It’s been a pleasure,” Bert announced on his way out the door. Turns out he didn’t quit, and as season five begins, Bert’s still puttering around the office with not much at all to do. Does Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Survive? Big Tobacco gave Don’s ad agency the big kiss of death at the end of season four. They lost the Lucky Strike account, the very big deal keeping their fledging operation afloat. Could Sterling Cooper survive? Would Don have to go back to selling fur coats? Hardly. Thanks to the hard work of account exec Pete Campbell, Sterling Cooper continues to chug forward. They’re still struggling, however, so expect the firm’s finances to play a significant role this season. Does Joan Have Her Baby? A back-alley hump session with a former flame left office manager Joan pregnant last season. She contemplated having an abortion, even traveling to a clinic, before deciding to keep the baby and pretend it’s actually her husband’s child. Did she go through with the ruse? Does her hubby still have no idea he’s been cuckolded? Yep, the guy hasn’t a clue. And Joan, the once-and-future sex kitten, is now spending most of her time applying cream to her baby’s diaper rash, rather than scheming and pouting in the offices of Sterling Cooper. What’s Up With Lane’s Marriage? The British finance whiz had a helluva rough time in season four. His wife left him, he went for a roll in the hay with a prostitute, then his father beat the piss out of him, sending him scurrying back across the pond to mend things with his wife. As season five begins, they’re back together, but all is not well. After he picks up a stranger’s wallet and calls up the guy’s mistress, we witness Lane awkwardly attempting to engage in the ’60s equivalent of phone sex. Nothing comes to pass, but we have a feeling Lane and his marriage are in for a ton of misery in the episodes to come. Is Sally Draper Still a Terror? Shockingly, if only temporarily, the answer to this burning question is no. Last season, heartbreakingly, Sally was a nightmare of a little girl as she struggled to adjust to a life lived under the shaky guidance of divorced parents. Who would have thought that as she approached her teenage years, she’d tamp down on the tantrums and start becoming a well-behaved adolescent girl? Two hours into the new season, that’s exactly what Sally is. Of course, we still haven’t seen her in the company of her mom, Betty. There’s plenty of time for the terror to return. Is Pete Campbell Still So Freaking Pete Campbell? He fathered a child with his co-worker. He got married and cheated on his wife too many times to count. He’s, generally speaking, a sniveling little turd viewers love to hate. But by the end of last season, Pete looked like he was turning things around, confessing his infidelities to his wife and turning into the agency’s rainmaker. Maybe, just maybe, Pete was becoming — less annoyingly Pete. It’s not going to last, it seems. Two hours into season five, he’s already complaining that his wife sits around all day like a frumpy lump, and he has started taking later trains back from the city to the suburbs, because, well, take one guess why he’s hanging around Manhattan after work. Pete Campbell, surprise surprise, will keep on being Pete Campbell. Can Peggy Olsen Sustain a Happy, Healthy Relationship? Remember beatnik journalist Abe Drexler, the guy copywriter Peggy hated and then loved and then kinda love-hated or hate-loved? Things appear to be going well between the two of them. She’s cranky as ever, but he’s supportive of her and her work life, even as he surely continues to believe her job is everything that’s wrong with ’60s America. How long they remain a joyful couple is anybody’s guess (ours is: not very long). For now, though, let’s just be happy for Peggy. After all, she’s the true hero at the heart of “Mad Men.” What did you think of the “Mad Men” season premiere? Share your reviews in the comments! Related Photos ‘Mad’ Hook Ups: The Relationships Of ‘Mad Men’
Halle Berry finally got that durned cast off! And she seems to be proudly sportin’ that engagement ring her French fiance Olivier gave her. Peep the close up… It’s certainly non-traditional — but after two failed marriages, that might need to be the theme for this relationship. Hit the flip for more pics of Nene Leakes and Angela Simmons!
This movie was released in Spain in October….but it’s only hitting America on March 30th, so here are some pre-theater titties in a movie… Carie van Houten is some 35 year old Dutch actor…who chose not to live in Hollywood but stay in Europe because she, like me love the Dutch…from legal drugs, to legal prostitution….to a country that doesn’t occupy kitchen garbage like the Kardashians….the Netherlands is the way to go…… More importantly, you haven’t lived until you’ve had a dutch speaking chick whisper “stick it in my ass you worthless, poor, piece of shit my husband would hate knowing I’ve let inside me, but that I did anyway cuz I was drunk and he’s an asshole, and you happened to be in the right place and the right time”….while fucking her unprotected. It’s a life changing exprience you may like so much you want to tattoo it on your face like it is tattooed on your brain.
This movie was released in Spain in October….but it’s only hitting America on March 30th, so here are some pre-theater titties in a movie… Carie van Houten is some 35 year old Dutch actor…who chose not to live in Hollywood but stay in Europe because she, like me love the Dutch…from legal drugs, to legal prostitution….to a country that doesn’t occupy kitchen garbage like the Kardashians….the Netherlands is the way to go…… More importantly, you haven’t lived until you’ve had a dutch speaking chick whisper “stick it in my ass you worthless, poor, piece of shit my husband would hate knowing I’ve let inside me, but that I did anyway cuz I was drunk and he’s an asshole, and you happened to be in the right place and the right time”….while fucking her unprotected. It’s a life changing exprience you may like so much you want to tattoo it on your face like it is tattooed on your brain.
From my extensive, culturally void life, I have learned a few things and one of those things happens to be that amazing things come out of Belgium. Whether we’re talking the french fries, the chocolate, the beer….brussel sprouts or these hot pics of model Camille Rowe, a model not from Belgium, but she might as well should be, because she’s perfect for Elle Belgium….showing her hot ass and hot tits…in ways I really appreciate…..it’s pretty clear….Belgium has it going on….
From my extensive, culturally void life, I have learned a few things and one of those things happens to be that amazing things come out of Belgium. Whether we’re talking the french fries, the chocolate, the beer….brussel sprouts or these hot pics of model Camille Rowe, a model not from Belgium, but she might as well should be, because she’s perfect for Elle Belgium….showing her hot ass and hot tits…in ways I really appreciate…..it’s pretty clear….Belgium has it going on….
Afrojack, Steve Aoki, Lil Jon, Benny Benassi join Guetta onstage on Miami fest’s final day. By Akshay Bhansali David Guetta and Afrojack at Ultra Music Fest Photo: Getty Images MIAMI — Trance and electro house music reigned supreme at the final day of Ultra Music Festival, closing out the annual three-day dance music mega-fest that saw more than 200,000 people walk through the gates at Miami’s Bayfront Park. Sunday, Carl Cox handed over the Cocoon’s “mega-structure” stage to Dutch trance-music icon Armin van Buuren , who continued his globe-spanning celebration of the 550th episode of his “A State of Trance” radio show, streaming epic, dazzling sets of some of his larger-than-life trance-music friends. Gareth Emery, ATB, Ferry Corsten, Tritonal, and Sander van Doorn were but some of the big stars who had fans packing Cocoon right up to the stage’s back gates. Earlier in the day, 2012 MTV Woodies closing act Steve Aoki set the Ultra Main Stage ablaze with his driving electro-metal house show, and a few of his recent Wonderland album collaborators helped him celebrate the occasion. Lil Jon launched the set into overdrive early, joining Aoki for “Turbulence” and more, and singers Polina, and Alyssa Palmer all hit the stage to perform alongside Aoki. Before ending his set with an inflatable boat ride across a sea of tens of thousands of fans, as he traditionally does, Aoki caked two lucky fans in the front row of the audience — with dexterity, we’d like to add, right in the face from more than seemingly 15 feet away. Sunday night marked the UMF return of dance-music king , certainly the biggest crossover brand in EDM. While one might assume that after a throttling set by Knife Party followed by excellent performances by Kaskade and Fedde Le Grand, fans might have been a bit fatigued by then. If they were, they didn’t show it. “Can I hear my party people?” Guetta asked as he took the stage. The audience roared back as he launched into Alesso’s remix of Guetta’s “Titanium.” Notably, after the French superstar began a mix of little broski Afrojack’s “Can’t Stop Me Now,” Afrojack, Lil Jon, Aoki and Italian DJ/producer (and Madonna MDNA collaborator) Benny Benassi all joined their friend onstage, causing pandemonium. They posed for a group photo for the history books, and the set continued, only with the volume lower. “Every time I play a track at Ultra, it brings me luck!” Guetta told the audience. “And I’m going to start a new electronic label, and this is the first track on the label. “It’s with Nicky Romero , and it’s called ‘Metropolis,’ ” Guetta continued, before pumping the volume back up and letting the audience take in the electro-house banger that both he and Romero have been previewing in their sets recently. Throughout his set, Guetta maintained a bouncing tide of tens of thousands of screaming fans with his typical ease. There were a couple of new stadium house tracks in addition to known crowd-pleasers like Swedish House Mafia’s “Greyhound,” with the addition of Example’s “Changed the Way You Kissed Me” vocal, and Avicii’s “Le7els,” with Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” vocal. Before ending his set with a remix of “Turn Me On,” his single with Nicki Minaj , and finally “Without You,” his Usher hit, Guetta turned down the volume again and asked folks to take out their cell phones. As a sea of small lit-up screens formed around the UMF Main Stage, he made a remark that would underscore just how big the Ultra Music Festival and electronic dance music are in 2012. “Wow! Thousands and thousands and thousands of people partying together feeling like one,” Guetta remarked. “Do you realize what’s going on in America? How our music is taking over? “I never imagined that one day this would happen,” he added. “But this is only the beginning, right?” Share your Miami Music Week exploits with us in the comments section! Miami Music Week is a wrap, but stick with MTV News as we continue to roll out the latest EDM news and behind-the scenes interviews with your favorite dance music stars! Related Artists David Guetta
Odd Future head reveals on ‘RapFix Live’ that MellowHype’s ’50’ is on the production schedule. By Rob Markman Tyler, The Creator Photo: MTV News There is no video director in the game quite like Tyler, the Creator . As Wolf Haley, the Odd Future head has already put out a number of memorable vids, including his critically acclaimed “Yonkers,” which helped him win a VMA in 2011. Most recently, Wolf directed and dropped two videos off OFWGKTA’s new album, The OF Tape, Vol. 2 — “Rella” and “NY (Ned Flander)” — and he’s now debating which track he should shoot next. “I kinda wanna do ‘Analog 2′ for sure, but the MellowHype ’50’ song, I have an idea for that that would be awesome,” Tyler said when he and the rest of the OF crew appeared on Wednesday’s “RapFix Live.” “That song, just g–damn, that song’s crazy.” “Analog 2” is a Frank Ocean- and Syd the Kid-assisted sequel to the original track which appeared on Tyler’s Goblin album last year — well, kind of. “I didn’t go in to make a sequel for a song, I just went in to make a song and I didn’t have a name for it and just called it that,” Tyler said. “That wasn’t intentional to be part two, I just called it that because I couldn’t come up with another name and I was lazy.” There are some distinct similarities between the two songs, however. On “Analog 2,” Frank Ocean lovingly sings, “Could you can meet by the lake,” echoing the words that Tyler utters on the hook of the original “Analog.” “It wasn’t that I was gonna make I part two to this, nah, it was just not being creative,” Tyler insisted. Wolf wouldn’t give up any details on his video treatments, though, saying he had to protect his ideas. “See, I can’t tell you. I don’t tell my business like that son,” he said. “I might say some sh–, then some n—a might steal that idea, put that sh– out and then I’m f—ed.” What should be the next video from Odd Future’s The OF Tape, Vol. 2 ? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos Watch ‘RapFix Live’ With Odd Future Now! ‘RapFix Live’ Has An Odd Future Related Artists Tyler The Creator Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All
