The Petty and Smith thing kind of shows how horseshit copyright law is when applied to song writing. Was Shakespeare just ripping off Da Lentini every time he wrote a sonnet? Does Shiki have to be credited every time someone writes a haiku?? When you start talking about structure, it gets dicey to claim ownership,…

You're right, and, judging by the number of girls I remember wearing t-shirts with his suicide note and death certificate for months after in high school, it apparently wasn't just a scam.

I doubt I'm the first to mention this, but they were selling shirts with his suicide note on it in 1994. They also sold a ton of shirts with his death certificate. Unfortunately, I had to watch several "deep" teenage girls wear them around in high school for months after he killed himself.

This is where I fell on the spectrum too.

Agreed. And the big problem in Cosby's situation is the vast majority (if not all so far) of the incidents actually fall outside of the statue of limitations, meaning the alleged victims cannot go after Cosby criminally or civilly. So, what do they stand to gain here? Publicity?? Because in many cases (or most…

Well, you know the old saying, two wrongs….

And Allred is already utilizing some questionable/aggressive tactics, basically suggesting that he should set up a $100 million fund to be divided up among the accusers (which is tantamount to him admitting guilt, which guilty or not he'll never do), or waive the statue of limitations and get his day in court. Guilty…

All of the reasons you list above are exactly why many women choose to file civil cases instead of criminal cases, which is not something I am arguing against. It completely makes sense why many rape victims file civil charges against an attacker instead of pursuing criminal charges.

There are several instances, though, where the court of public opinion gets it wrong. The Duke Lacrosse case is unfortunately a prime example. Just because the court of public opinion decides that an individual is culpable doesn't mean that the individual is actually culpable. Judging someone as guilty until proven…

Could very well be true, and Penn (assuming the majority allegedly happened there) has a tight 2-year statue in civil cases. Criminal is 12 years, though, so one would hope that at lease some of the incidents still could have been reported to police and criminally investigated if the witnesses were willing to provide…

The allegations are certainly serious, and the number of alleged witnesses is certainly troublesome, but this recently played out with Kevin Clash (Elmo) as well.

And to be fair, the last review the avclub did of Allen's new movie did at least mention the allegations in passing (by linking to his response), but it will be interesting to see how long it will follow Allen around. Considering he puts out a movie basically every year, will every review of his work from here on out…

I say this truthfully. I'm a daily reader of this site, and I have watched the vast majority of Allen's movies and read several reviews of his work both here and on other sites, and Roman/Mia Farrow's twitter rants were literally the first time I'd heard of the assault allegations. Maybe I had heard of it during the…

You know, the allegations against Bill Cosby constitute some pretty serious stuff. And he certainly shouldn't get a pass. But, he settled a lawsuit—something which happens for a variety of reasons, and does not show actual guilt.

I doubt I'm the first person to mention this, but why is it earth shattering when Netflix does a release on the same date the movie will go into theaters, while Comcast On Demand has been doing the exact same thing for a few years now to presumably as many subscribers as Netflix reaches? And, I have to say, thanks…

How do you rationalize an action that may very well be borne entirely out of what may be a person's irrational fears due what could be a treatable disease? Especially when clinical depression is often marked by periods of hopefulness intermixed with suicidal ideation.

The problem, though, is many people suffering from severe depression are almost the perfect definition of an unreliable narrator. It is impossible to know who we should let go, and who is someone that can be pulled back with the right help. I'm not just going to simply leave it up to someone who—by the very…

And who are you to say that a person who committed suicide was a person who was truly in a level of pain where there simply was no other option, and who was a person that could be helped through proper treatment for their condition?

I can't imagine how exhausting it is to someone with severe depression to constantly fight the compulsion to end it all. But I can tell you what it's like to live in a family that has to move forward after someone has succumbed to this disease. While I have learned to accept that people take their own life often out…

Is it really ignorant and/or stupid? His comments are insensitive and way too harsh for sure, but his message basically boils down to suicide is a horrible decision that will adversely impact those around you more than you'll ever know. While he could have made the points much better, both statements are true.