Copyright issue forces downfall of Hitler YouTube parodies

It looks like Hitler won’t be making any more people laugh.

Hmmm…it looks that sentence deserves some context. A series of popular videos on YouTube have had clips of Downfall, a 2004 German drama about the final days of Hitler, with the subtitles switched around to show the Führer hyperventilating over a problem such as getting banned from XBox Live rather than the collapse of his plans of global domination.

Now Constantin Films, the studio that owns the rights to the film have taken down most of the videos, much to fans’ dismay over not seeing Adolph yelling about the new iPad.

One video that has so far survived the copyright takedowns has Hitler griping about the Hitler parodies themselves, in a sly and not-so-subtle commentary on the issue of copyright takedowns in general.

Conan returns to late night on TBS

Iconic poster for Conan's recent comedy tour.

Ted Turner is probably doing a Mexican hat dance right now. Conan O’Brien will return to late night on basic-cable superstation TBS in November. Yes, the same TBS that brought you Frank Caliendo and and a slew of Tyler Perry TV projects.

Not long after Jay Leno recouped his precious Tonight Show timeslot, the announcement is kind of ironic in part because he will be taking George Lopez’ timeslot. But it seems that Lopez was one of the catalysts for the deal so no acrimony there. Fans looking for a little CoCo fix have been trying to get it anyway they can, either with his comedy tour or even driving to work.

R.I.P Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

Former manager of the Sex Pistols and all-around punk rock provocateur Malcolm McLaren has died at the age of 64.

Born in the suburbs of post-World War 2 London, McLaren gained fame as the manager of punk pioneers the New York Dolls. But it was his idea to dress the group in Soviet Union iconography that practically doomed the band.

After the group’s dissolution, McLaren would start a clothes shop simply titled SEX which sold S&M bondage gear. At the same time, he started managing a group called the Strand who would later become known as the Sex Pistols. As the Sex Pistols became famous (or infamous), the band created controversy everywhere they went, whether it was the record labels that would consistently drop them or McLaren’s publicity stunts that thumbed their noses at the British aristocracy and the establishment in general.

McLaren’s turbulent time managing the group eventually soured around the time of “The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle” where members of the Sex Pistols felt slighted in terms of payment and McLaren’s self-promotion. By the time that group had ceased, he had become a hitmaker in his own right in the 80′s with songs like “Buffalo Gals,” which has been sampled by artists like Mariah Carey. His song “About Her” was even featured in Quentin Tarentino’s “Kill Bill-Vol.2.”

Although he was a divisive person especially among the artists he managed, former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon and others has expressed their sympathies.

Newswire: The Latest In Depressing Movie Franchises

So Austin Powers 4 is going to exist. Talk about taking one joke too far.

Here’s the story: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/mike_myers_signs_on_for_th_austin_bM11f4dvsZwu68ybB5v7EN