Over at Crescat Sententia, Peter Northup has an excellent summary of a colloquium at NYU featuring Lawrence Lessig. The quote that struck me:

There was another interesting exchange concerning an alternate, “conservative” justification for intellectual property rights: the desire to protect the integrity of certain culturally significant works from debasement (this included the first of many references to Disney pornography, and set the stage for a most unexpected digression on Smallville slash, and the public’s interest, or lack thereof, in its production). If we’re willing to prevent someone from painting his historic townhouse chartreuse, can’t we say “no” to Mickey Mouse pornography?

Indeed, as Lessig reminded the audience, the Dr. Seuss estate made just this very argument in support of the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Meanwhile, the mostly negative reviews of the new movie version of The Cat in the Hat are piling on. A few choice quotes:

• “... one of the most repulsive kiddie movies ever made.” – David Edelstein in Slate
  
• “... the producers may as well have skipped the hassle of securing licensing rights and simply called this mess Mike Myers: Asshole in Fur.” – Gregory Weinkauf in the Dallas Observer
  
• “If the producers had dug up Ted Geisel’s body and hung it from a tree, they couldn’t have desecrated the man more.” – Ty Burr in the Boston Globe.
  
• “A vulgar, uninspired lump of poisoned eye candy.” – A. O. Scott in the New York Times
  

Artistic integrity, my ass.