Word: comical
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Biggie was notorious, James is nice. An oversize comic in the mold of Fatty Arbuckle, Jackie Leonard, Buddy Hackett, Rodney Dangerfield and Jackie Gleason, James is different in not using his weight as an excuse for high-pressure comedy - a giant tea kettle ready to blow its top. The star of TV's The King of Queens, he's a Ralph Kramden without anger issues. In Paul Blart, as in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (where he starred with Adam Sandler, this film's executive producer), James gets laughs by underreacting to the humiliations the world heaps...
...predictable enough. It's the touches that James, who wrote the script with King of Queens veteran Nick Bakay, brings to the character that make the movie O.K. James knows how to use his girth to comic effect. If horror is about geometry, comedy is about physics: the pretzeling and punishment a body can take. James' pratfalls don't give the impression of hurting because he has such a capacious cushion to fall on. His grace in motion isn't exceptional, but he could medal in Segway. There's a perfect meeting of actor and character in one little scene...
...soon fall out of copyright in Europe, where the law allows publishing houses to charge licensing fees for reproduction of original material for 70 years after the death of the creator. (U.S. law protects works for 95 years after the initial copyright.) Popeye first featured in the Thimble Theatre comic strip just as the Great Depression got under way in 1929; his creator, Elzie Segar, died in 1938. (See pictures of the greatest animated movies...
...article speculated that a new generation of Popeye posters, T shirts and even new comic strips would soon go on sale in European shops. But King Features, which holds Popeye's rights, says that's nonsense. Even if the copyright does expire, a spokesman for King Features told TIME, the company still holds rights to Popeye through trademark. Trademark, which protects works of "unique origin," is a similar protection to copyright but with different rules governing expiration. In a statement, the spokesman said, "[Use of Popeye's image] is an infringement of the rights afforded by the trademark registrations. King...
...more traditional meetings: ugly carpeting, stiff conference-room chairs and a screen for PowerPoint presentations. Not exactly the ideal setting, but as an audience member remarks, "This is the Carnegie Hall for economists who are also comedians." For attendees, it's the biggest night of the conference: boisterous comic relief to end a week packed with enticingly titled seminars such as "Arbitrageur of Capital" and "Dynamics of Asset Returns and Liquidity." "Microeconomists are wrong about specific things, and macroeconomists are wrong about things in general," Bauman quips during his set. "Particularly having successfully predicted nine out of the last five...