New Year New Job New Problems

The latest helping of Cinema Stew offers a couple of surprising twists in the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping case; A new job for comic book giant Stan Lee; And new DVD formats don't necessarily mean the medium's piracy problems are a thing of the past...

Studio Briefing gets us started with this January 5th shocker:

Pellicano Says He'll Defend Himself

Pellicano--Court Jester

Anthony Pellicano, the onetime "private detective to the stars," on Friday won the right to act as his own lawyer when he goes on trial in August on wiretapping and racketeering charges.

Federal judge Dale Fisher tried to talk Pellicano out of doing so, warning him that he must follow all the rules of the court that an established attorney would have learned, "and I will not help you. You will not receive special treatment from me at all."

The judge urged Pellicano to let him appoint a new defense attorney, but Pellicano was unswayed. "You're very kind, your honor, but no thank you," he said. "If you change your mind, let me know," the judge responded.

The Associated Press reported on Friday that Pellicano's attorney, Steven Gruell, said that Pellicano had told him that he was broke and couldn't afford him. "I was willing to do it [for free]," Gruell said, "but he was too proud" to accept. "It's a very foolish thing to do," Peter Keane, former dean of Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco, told Saturday's Los Angeles Times. "Usually you're consigning yourself to failure. It creates nightmares for judges. Judges and prosecutors hate it."

The Hollywood Reporter updates on what's happened in the case since then..and it sounds like a plot of some twisted mob movie

Pellicano certainly has a fool for a client...

Legendary Superhero Creator Stan Lee Moves From Comics to DVD

Stan Lee, who created or co-created some of Marvel Comics's most famous superheroes, plans to do the same thing on DVD. His POW! Entertainment is producing s DVD series, "Stan Lee Presents," being distributed by Starz Home Entertainment, whose first title, Mosaic..hit the shelves on Jan 9 at $14.98.

"We're very excited," Lee told Home Media Retailing magazine. "The DVDs should appeal to the same audience as those who enjoy Marvel comics." Mosaic will be followed by The Condor on March 20 and, later this year, Ringo, a superhero voiced by Ringo Starr.

Stan is The Man fir sure. But I wonder how well these non-marquee hero titles will sell...? I wish 'em luck

High-Def DVD's Face Security "Meltdown," Says Researcher

Suggesting that the movie industry may be spending millions of dollars developing encryption techniques to prevent DVDs from being copied, only to have the codes quickly cracked, Princeton University computer experts said Tuesday that software posted on the Internet by "Muslix64" represented "the first step in the meltdown" of the new AACS encryption standard used to protect Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition DVDs.

Infoworld magazine quoted Princeton graduate student Alex Halderman, who has written numerous papers on CD and DVD protection technologies, as saying that it's only a matter of time before decryption codes become public and Hollywood is faced with unauthorized copying of AACS-protected movies.

Not all that shocking. No matter how secure the "safe" may be--if someone wants to crack it bad enough he or she will find a way to make that happen.

That's all the stew for now...gotta get ready for the big game...Later this afternoon the Chicago Bears begin their playoff journey towards Super Bowl XLI against the Seattle Seahawks.

The Sporting News says Bears ready to resume Super Bowl quest...