Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013

Bieber won’t be charged for alleged threat ustin Bieber won’t face criminal charges for allegedly Bieber’s response seemed “immature” but not necessarily threatening a neighbor who complained about his driv- criminal. He also said there’s not enough evidence to charge Jing. City News Service says Los Angeles County prosecu- Bieber over a neighbor’s complaint that Bieber drove his tors decided Wednesday that there’s insufficient evidence to Ferrari recklessly through the area in May. Yochelson said it’s charge the pop star. A neighbor in Bieber’s gated Calabasas unclear who was at the wheel. Messages left for Bieber’s rep- neighborhood told a sheriff’s deputy that Bieber threatened resentative, Melissa Victor, weren’t immediately returned him and spat in his direction when he confronted the 19- Wednesday. — AP year-old about his driving last March. Prosecutor Alan Yochelson wrote in a document that Justin Bieber Usher, Wahlberg, Run-D.M.C. slapped with copyright Low-budget ‘Machete’ infringement lawsuit strikes again at box office tudios are risk-adverse. Good ideas can- lence and action sequences, was made for sher, Mark Wahlberg and Run-D.M.C. brother Donnie is also named as a defendant.) not flourish. All the best work is being just $13 million (9.6 million euros), while are among a slew of musicians who Run-D.M.C., meanwhile, allegedly sinned Sdone in television.... So go the com- “Machete Kills”-in which actor Danny Trejo Uare being sued in a sprawling lawsuit by using “Different Strokes” in their tunes plaints of many a US filmmaker. But not low- returns as Machete, an ex-federal agent in claiming that dozens of artists infringed on a “Naughty” and “Beats to the Rhyme.” A num- budget director Robert Rodriguez, whose Mexico-cost not much more, around $17 mil- song by sampling it without authorization. In ber of record labels, including Sony Music “fun” and “wacky” action film “Machete Kills”, lion. “When I do something, I try to make it the suit, filed in US District Court in Illinois on Entertainment and Universal Music Group, are featuring Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Antonio the kind of movie that will make some mon- Tuesday, Twilight Records and Syl-Zel Music also named in the suit for contributory copy- Banderas and Lady Gaga, comes in the wake ey. Then I can experiment all I want because claim that the above defendants and others right infringement. of the box office success of “Machete”. if it’s succesful it’s a big success because it sampled “Different Strokes,” which was sung The complaint seeks accounting, along Rodriguez, 45, whose films include “From didn’t cost very much,” said Rodriguez. and recorded by Sylvester Thompson, a/k/a with a permanent restraint against sampling Dusk Till Dawn” with George Clooney and “And if it doesn’t do well at the box office, Syl Johnson, in 1967, and later in a derivative the song, along with unspecified damages. the “Spy Kids” series, doesn’t waste time it’s still a success because it didn’t cost very version. This isn’t the first time that “Different Strokes” wringing his hands about the state of the much. It’s a win-win situation.... Then you can According to the suit, Usher infringed on has sparked a lawsuit. In 2011, Johnson sued industry. make movies for ever,” he said. Rodriguez “Different Strokes” with his 1993 song “Call and Jay-Z, claiming that the song “With the rising costs of marketing it’s turns his hand to whatever he can in order to Me a Mack,” while Public Enemy made use of was improperly sampled on that pair’s album harder for the studios to take the gambles free up cash to hire the best actors, albeit just the tune on multiple songs, including “Fight “.” That suit was later set- and risks that they used to,” he told AFP in an for a day or two. “Most action films like that the Power” and “Fear of a Black Planet.” tled. — Reuters interview in Paris, where “Machete Kills” has are about 100 days. This was 29 days so Wahlberg, meanwhile, is allegedly in hot just opened. “Even the Weinsteins can’t take Charlie Sheen was there one day, Lady Gaga water for his tenure in the much-missed the risks that they used to take, so it is diffi- was there one day... Mel Gibson was there Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, whose “The cult because you need to be able to take risks three days,” he said. “It was fast so it was Last Song on Side B” made unauthorized use to find new ideas,” he said the Weinsteins challenging.”—AFP of the song, according to the suit. (Yes, his being independent-film backers Bob and Harvey, co-founders of Miramax studios and The Weinstein Company. Rodriguez says that far from forcing him into a creative strait-jacket, low-budget movie making has left him free to experi- ment. “Machete”, with its comic-book vio-

British actor Ben Kingsley, US actress Abigail Breslin, US actor Harrison Ford and British actor Iron Maiden’s vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, performs during a concert in Santiago. — AFP Asa Butterfield pose during a photocall for the film Ender’s Game in Madrid yesterday. — AFP