LAGGING

I haven't posted for a few days just to sheer, relentless fatigue:

• We're in the home stretch at my school site, the period after state testing, where we're winding down, and the normal state of affairs at this time is a certain amount of mental exhaustion. But added to that is the fact that we have to pack our rooms up for modernization, and this has to be accomplished by the end of Finals week....

• I've got an 89.6 percent in my Health class which I'm having to take for my credential, and so I've got to attend the final next Wednesday in order to ensure my 'A' in the course, which is also my wife's birthday. If I had gotten just one more question right on the last SCANTRON test, I would've been over 90 percent for the course and since the instructor drops the lowest test, could've bailed on the final class session. One question, and I literally talked myself out of a right answer on the last test. That stinks.

• I've got to start yet another class a week from Monday, for 12 afternoons through June 5th, which is pretty much going to put an end to my other outside interests.

• My father's 70th birthday falls on the final day of school, and I'd like to visit him in Texas. But I'd have to be back before the final week of June, because I'm committed to doing a fund-raising concert for my church.

So there's a lot of juggling and head-scratching and worrying going on right now, much more so than usual at the end of a school year. And I'm feeling a little pinched. Blogging will probably have to take a back burner for most of the rest of May, unfortunately.

ATTEND THAT PODUNK CONFERENCE!

Just for you, PZ:

(Though, to be fair, PZ will soon enough be ensconced in an environment which is the very absence of Podunk, and I am appropriately green-eyed).

With appreciation for Ph.D

HERE COME DE JUDGE

Curiously, while the following was supposedly filed on Wednesday (April 30th), there has been little uproar about this alleged court order, whose particulars were supposedly spilled in a post on Ed Brayton's site. Don't get me wrong! I actually think this is legit, it's just that it seems wise to post all the qualifiers ('supposedly', 'alleged', etc.) until I have a source, inasmuch as this is a legal matter. Anywhere, here's the (alleged) red meat:

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

Upon the annexed Affadavit of Yoko Ono Lennon dated April 29, 2008, Declaration of Dorothy M. Weber, Esq. dated April 30, 2008, Affadavit of Darnetha L. M'Baye dated April 29,2008, Declaration of Nancy Weshkoff dated April 29, 2008, together with the Exhibits annexed thereto; the accompanying Memorandum of Law and the Summons and Complaint, and all proceedings heretofore had herein

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IT IS ORDERED BY STIPULATION OF THE PARTIES in open court on April 30, 2008 or as otherwise ordered by this Court, Defendants Premise Media Corporation, L.P., C&S Production L.P. d/b/a Rampant Films, Premise Media Distribution L.P. and Rocky Mountain Pictures, Inc. (the "Defendants"), be and they are hereby are enjoined PENDING THE HEARING of the motion for a preliminary injunction from distributing any additional copies of the Movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," (the "Movie") beyond those third party venues which possess and are showing the Movie as ofthe date of this Order. Defendants ALSO AGREE THAT pending the hearing of the motion for preliminary injunction they WILL NOT MANUFACTURE or PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTE ANY CDs or DVDs of THE MOVIE anywhere in the world.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs will be permitted to conduct expedited discovery. Defendants will produce the following documents on or before _May 6_, 2008: (i) a complete copy of the Movie, (ii) Defendants' agreements,

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licenses and contracts with third parties in connection with rights and permissions for all musical compositions or "clips of third-party film or video footage, still photography, and any and copyrighted materials included in the Movie; (iii) documents and opinions obtained by Defendants in connection with their use of the song "Imagine" in the Movie which support any defense of fair use or first amendment; and (iv) Plaintiff will produce documents on or before May 6, 2008, reflecting the exclusive administration by EMI Blackwood Music, Inc.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendants show cause before the Honorable Sidney H. Stein, United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 500 Pearl Street, New York, New York, Courtroom 23A, on May 19, 2008, at 4:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard, why an order should not be entered, pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure and the Court's inherent and equitable powers, during the pendancy of this action:

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1. enjoining and prohibiting the Defendantys, their officers, agents, servants, employees and attorneys and all persons in active concert and participation with them, from further use of any portion, or the music and lyrics, in any media, of the musical composition written by John Lennon entitled "Imagine", or committing any further copright infringement with respect thereto;

2. recalling for destruction or editing out of any and all references to the Song "Imagine" any and all copies of the Movie from all third-party distributors or editing those copies to remove the infringing Song;

3. awarding to the Plaintiffs costs, attorney fees and such other and further relief as this Court may deem just and proper; and

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that good and sufficient service of this Order to Show Cause and other papers on which it is based shall be made, via hand delivery or Federal Express overnight delivery, to be received on or before April 30, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. on Defendants Premise Media Corporation, L.P., C&S Production L.P. d/b/a Rampant Films, Premise Media Distribution L.P. and Rocky Mountain Pictures, Inc. c/o Allen C. Wasserman, Esq., Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP, 885 Third Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10022 and

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that answering papers, if any, shall be served upon Plaintiffs by hand delivering copies thereof to Plaintiffs counsel, Shukat Arrow Hafer Weber & Herbsman LLP, 111 West 57th Street, New York, New York 10019 on or before May 14, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.; and

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that reply papers, if any, shall be filed with the Court and served upon Defendants by hand delivering copies thereof to be retrieved by Defendants' counsel, on or before May _16_, 2008 at 5:00 p.m..
On consent, no undertaking is required for the T.R.O.

Sidney H. Stein
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Dated: New York, New York
April 30, 2008

ISSUED: 4:23 p.m.

Bottom line? I'm probably never going to see this film in a theatre in my neck of the woods. Not only is it wildly unpopular, losing almost all of its screens this week to Iron Man, but new prints can't be sent out until the Court says so. It looks like another defeat in the public square for Premise Media, but yet another nugget which will be used by the evangelicals behind Premise to claim martyrdom in the pews.