| Fashion News Alabama |
"Sweet Home Alabama" script suit dismissed
Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:39pm EST
By Leslie Simmons
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A federal court judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co.
concerning its movie "Sweet Home Alabama"
Stuart Benjamin, a producer on the Oscar-winning film "Ray," along with Alise Benjamin, John Schalter and Sheldon Cohn sued Disney in 2005,
claiming that the 2002 Reese Witherspoon movie was an unauthorized adaptation of their 1997 screenplay, "Rescue Me."
In his 22-page decision issued December 12, U.S. District Court Judge George Schiavelli ruled that while Disney executives may have had some
limited access to the "Rescue Me" screenplay, no "substantial similarities" between the two scripts exist.
"The general stories of 'Rescue Me' and 'Sweet Home Alabama' are similar only at the most abstract level," Schiavelli wrote. "Abstract story ideas,
such as those here, are not copyrightable."
The lawsuit alleged that the film's producer Stokley Chaffin and writer C. Jay Cox had access to the script via a tracking system in place at
Chaffin's production company. But Schiavelli ruled there was no evidence to support that claim.
Chaffin, Cox and "Sweet's" original writer Douglas Eboch provided "uncontroverted evidence" of independently creating and developing the
screenplay," the judge ruled.
Witherspoon played a successful New York fashion designer who returns to her Alabama hometown to secure a divorce from her long-estranged
husband so that she can marry her perfect beau. But complications ensue, and she realizes that life is better in the south.
Nordstrom to Open First Alabama Store at Riverchase Galleria in Birmingham
November 30, 2007: 12:00 PM EST
SEATTLE, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Seattle-based Nordstrom, Inc. , a leading fashion specialty retailer, announced it has signed a letter
of intent with General Growth Properties and Jim Wilson & Associates, LLC to open a new Nordstrom store at Riverchase Galleria in
Birmingham. The two-level Nordstrom will be approximately 143,000 square feet and will open in the former Macy's location. Scheduled to open
spring 2012, the new Nordstrom will be the retailer's first Alabama store.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001011/NORDLOGO)
"We've been looking for the right opportunity to open a store in the Birmingham area for years," said Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for
Nordstrom. "We're eager to serve Alabama customers who already know us and to build relationships with those who are experiencing Nordstrom
for the first time."
"Nordstrom sets the standard for retail excellence, something our shoppers have come to expect from GGP and Riverchase Galleria," said Bob
Michaels, president and chief operating officer of General Growth Properties, Inc. "This is a great opportunity to continue providing an
unparalleled line-up of retail for the Birmingham shopper. Nordstrom's commitment to outstanding merchandise and superior customer service will
be a perfect complement to the existing department stores, Belk, Macy's, JCPenney and Sears."
"Riverchase Galleria is the premiere super-regional shopping center in the southeast," said Jim Wilson, III, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Jim
Wilson & Associates, LLC. "We continue to seek out and attract the most stellar tenants in the country and this is the case with Nordstrom, one of
the leading fashion specialty retailers in the United States. My father, Jim Wilson, Jr., had the vision to bring Nordstrom to the Riverchase Galleria
and for the past seven years, up until his death in 2006, worked toward that goal. We are excited to see his dream come to fruition with the
announcement of Nordstrom joining the Riverchase lineup. Nordstrom's presence will be a shopping boon to the City of Hoover, the Birmingham
area and the entire Alabama market."
In addition to the department stores, the two-level center boasts 200 specialty retailers and also includes restaurants, a hotel and an office building.
The 1.5 million square foot center is Alabama's number-one tourist destination. To learn more about Riverchase Galleria, visit
http://www.riverchasegalleria.com.
Nordstrom coming to BirminghamBirmingham Business Journal - by Lauren Cooper Staff
The owners of the Riverchase Galleria announced they have signed a letter of intent with department store Nordstrom to open a
location in the largest shopping center in the state.
The Seattle-based fashion retailer plans to open by spring 2012 in the former Macy's and Belk location and will operate a two-level
store - approximately 143,000 square feet.
"We've been looking for the right opportunity to open a store in the Birmingham area for years," said Erik Nordstrom, the company's
president of stores.
"We're eager to serve Alabama customers who already know us and to build relationships with those who are experiencing Nordstrom
for the first time."
The Galleria's existing anchors include Belk, Macy's JCPenney and Sears and is owned by Jim Wilson & Associates LLC and General
Growth Properties Inc.
In August, the owners of the Galleria purchased the 255,000-square-foot anchor space where Nordstrom will be housed from Belk for
$10 million. Belk eventually moved to spaces vacated by Parisian and McRae's within the mall.
That leaves more than 100,000 square feet of the anchor space unaccounted for.
Galleria General Manager Bob Perry said the owners are studying and exploring different ways to accommodate the 143,000 square feet
Nordstrom will take.
It could result in a variety of different uses to include additional retailers, he said, including tearing down the existing shopping center
and building a new one.
Nordstrom has 157 stores in 28 states. This will be the retailers first store in Alabama.
Dec 10, 2007
Strike a pose
Artists unite to produce breast cancer awareness pinup calendar
By Jennifer Crossley,
Staff Writer
"Leading Ladies," the new calendar benefitting breast cancer awareness in Northwest Alabama, is different from most images you'd
find in a specialty calendar store. There are no slick shots of race cars, aquamarine Greek seascapes or cute puppies. Instead, you'll find
modernized pinup pictures of local models posed on vintage airplanes or batting their kohl-lined eyes behind Asian parasols.
That's just how Manique Singleton wanted it.
"I have an infatuation with pinup calendars," said Singleton, innovator and art director of the calendar. That infatuation led her to
recruit local photographers such as Amanda Chapman to capture belly dancer Gina Thompson and other local women in glamorous
moments.
When she got the idea for the calendar three years ago, Singleton doubted she could get all the volunteers she needed.
"I really desired that everything be local because the money is going to local cancer research," Singleton said.
She gathered those volunteers, including additional photographers Jake Jones and J.T. Tomlin, and started working on the calendar in
June.
Most of the calendar was shot at GAS Commercial Photography Studio in Tuscumbia, but the picture for March, depicting a model
perched on a yellow 1946 Piper J-3, was shot at model Marleyne Smith's parents' home on the Tennessee River.
Images range from the coquettish, with the May model sucking a lollipop, to the flirty, in a picture of a blond model seemingly
emulating Marilyn Monroe, showing a lot of leg. An ethereal picture of the red-haired, fair-skinned Thompson, wearing a white dress
while lying down gazing at the camera upside down, could pass as a shot from a glossy fashion magazine. Singleton said making a
tasteful pinup calendar proved challenging, but she feels she never crossed the line to risque. "We don't want to make it raunchy by any
means," she said.
"It's a pinup (calendar) but it's still very modern ... the calender is new and innovative, but there's still that classic sexiness."
"I think it's absolutely beautiful," Smith said. "It's a calendar people would want to look at."
A female perspective
Pinup calendars have a history of appealing to soldiers away from home, but photographer Robert Rausch, owner of GAS Studios, feels
the women involved in the calendar kept the pictures from portraying only a man's point of view.
"One thing is, they had a woman photographer and mainly women working on it, so it wasn't a man's view," said Rausch. He said the
whole perception of pinups has relaxed through the generations. "At the time, they were probably racy, but today they're just
beautiful."
Singleton's grandmother, a cancer survivor, inspired her to start a project that benefitted breast cancer awareness. The American
Cancer Society locally will distribute 100 percent of proceeds toward breast cancer awareness.
"There's many ways to communicate awareness about the disease," said Kara Neloms, communications and marketing specialist with
the American Cancer Society in Huntsville. ..."The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health
problem through research, education, advocacy and service."
On Dec. 16, Old Town Tavern, also where Singleton works, will host a calendar release party where pictures that didn't make the
calendar will be auctioned off. Next year, Singleton hopes to include local musicians in the calendar for a roadhouse theme.
Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.
Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:39pm EST
By Leslie Simmons
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A federal court judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co.
concerning its movie "Sweet Home Alabama"
Stuart Benjamin, a producer on the Oscar-winning film "Ray," along with Alise Benjamin, John Schalter and Sheldon Cohn sued Disney in 2005,
claiming that the 2002 Reese Witherspoon movie was an unauthorized adaptation of their 1997 screenplay, "Rescue Me."
In his 22-page decision issued December 12, U.S. District Court Judge George Schiavelli ruled that while Disney executives may have had some
limited access to the "Rescue Me" screenplay, no "substantial similarities" between the two scripts exist.
"The general stories of 'Rescue Me' and 'Sweet Home Alabama' are similar only at the most abstract level," Schiavelli wrote. "Abstract story ideas,
such as those here, are not copyrightable."
The lawsuit alleged that the film's producer Stokley Chaffin and writer C. Jay Cox had access to the script via a tracking system in place at
Chaffin's production company. But Schiavelli ruled there was no evidence to support that claim.
Chaffin, Cox and "Sweet's" original writer Douglas Eboch provided "uncontroverted evidence" of independently creating and developing the
screenplay," the judge ruled.
Witherspoon played a successful New York fashion designer who returns to her Alabama hometown to secure a divorce from her long-estranged
husband so that she can marry her perfect beau. But complications ensue, and she realizes that life is better in the south.
Nordstrom to Open First Alabama Store at Riverchase Galleria in Birmingham
November 30, 2007: 12:00 PM EST
SEATTLE, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Seattle-based Nordstrom, Inc. , a leading fashion specialty retailer, announced it has signed a letter
of intent with General Growth Properties and Jim Wilson & Associates, LLC to open a new Nordstrom store at Riverchase Galleria in
Birmingham. The two-level Nordstrom will be approximately 143,000 square feet and will open in the former Macy's location. Scheduled to open
spring 2012, the new Nordstrom will be the retailer's first Alabama store.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001011/NORDLOGO)
"We've been looking for the right opportunity to open a store in the Birmingham area for years," said Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for
Nordstrom. "We're eager to serve Alabama customers who already know us and to build relationships with those who are experiencing Nordstrom
for the first time."
"Nordstrom sets the standard for retail excellence, something our shoppers have come to expect from GGP and Riverchase Galleria," said Bob
Michaels, president and chief operating officer of General Growth Properties, Inc. "This is a great opportunity to continue providing an
unparalleled line-up of retail for the Birmingham shopper. Nordstrom's commitment to outstanding merchandise and superior customer service will
be a perfect complement to the existing department stores, Belk, Macy's, JCPenney and Sears."
"Riverchase Galleria is the premiere super-regional shopping center in the southeast," said Jim Wilson, III, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Jim
Wilson & Associates, LLC. "We continue to seek out and attract the most stellar tenants in the country and this is the case with Nordstrom, one of
the leading fashion specialty retailers in the United States. My father, Jim Wilson, Jr., had the vision to bring Nordstrom to the Riverchase Galleria
and for the past seven years, up until his death in 2006, worked toward that goal. We are excited to see his dream come to fruition with the
announcement of Nordstrom joining the Riverchase lineup. Nordstrom's presence will be a shopping boon to the City of Hoover, the Birmingham
area and the entire Alabama market."
In addition to the department stores, the two-level center boasts 200 specialty retailers and also includes restaurants, a hotel and an office building.
The 1.5 million square foot center is Alabama's number-one tourist destination. To learn more about Riverchase Galleria, visit
http://www.riverchasegalleria.com.
Nordstrom coming to BirminghamBirmingham Business Journal - by Lauren Cooper Staff
The owners of the Riverchase Galleria announced they have signed a letter of intent with department store Nordstrom to open a
location in the largest shopping center in the state.
The Seattle-based fashion retailer plans to open by spring 2012 in the former Macy's and Belk location and will operate a two-level
store - approximately 143,000 square feet.
"We've been looking for the right opportunity to open a store in the Birmingham area for years," said Erik Nordstrom, the company's
president of stores.
"We're eager to serve Alabama customers who already know us and to build relationships with those who are experiencing Nordstrom
for the first time."
The Galleria's existing anchors include Belk, Macy's JCPenney and Sears and is owned by Jim Wilson & Associates LLC and General
Growth Properties Inc.
In August, the owners of the Galleria purchased the 255,000-square-foot anchor space where Nordstrom will be housed from Belk for
$10 million. Belk eventually moved to spaces vacated by Parisian and McRae's within the mall.
That leaves more than 100,000 square feet of the anchor space unaccounted for.
Galleria General Manager Bob Perry said the owners are studying and exploring different ways to accommodate the 143,000 square feet
Nordstrom will take.
It could result in a variety of different uses to include additional retailers, he said, including tearing down the existing shopping center
and building a new one.
Nordstrom has 157 stores in 28 states. This will be the retailers first store in Alabama.
Dec 10, 2007
Strike a pose
Artists unite to produce breast cancer awareness pinup calendar
By Jennifer Crossley,
Staff Writer
"Leading Ladies," the new calendar benefitting breast cancer awareness in Northwest Alabama, is different from most images you'd
find in a specialty calendar store. There are no slick shots of race cars, aquamarine Greek seascapes or cute puppies. Instead, you'll find
modernized pinup pictures of local models posed on vintage airplanes or batting their kohl-lined eyes behind Asian parasols.
That's just how Manique Singleton wanted it.
"I have an infatuation with pinup calendars," said Singleton, innovator and art director of the calendar. That infatuation led her to
recruit local photographers such as Amanda Chapman to capture belly dancer Gina Thompson and other local women in glamorous
moments.
When she got the idea for the calendar three years ago, Singleton doubted she could get all the volunteers she needed.
"I really desired that everything be local because the money is going to local cancer research," Singleton said.
She gathered those volunteers, including additional photographers Jake Jones and J.T. Tomlin, and started working on the calendar in
June.
Most of the calendar was shot at GAS Commercial Photography Studio in Tuscumbia, but the picture for March, depicting a model
perched on a yellow 1946 Piper J-3, was shot at model Marleyne Smith's parents' home on the Tennessee River.
Images range from the coquettish, with the May model sucking a lollipop, to the flirty, in a picture of a blond model seemingly
emulating Marilyn Monroe, showing a lot of leg. An ethereal picture of the red-haired, fair-skinned Thompson, wearing a white dress
while lying down gazing at the camera upside down, could pass as a shot from a glossy fashion magazine. Singleton said making a
tasteful pinup calendar proved challenging, but she feels she never crossed the line to risque. "We don't want to make it raunchy by any
means," she said.
"It's a pinup (calendar) but it's still very modern ... the calender is new and innovative, but there's still that classic sexiness."
"I think it's absolutely beautiful," Smith said. "It's a calendar people would want to look at."
A female perspective
Pinup calendars have a history of appealing to soldiers away from home, but photographer Robert Rausch, owner of GAS Studios, feels
the women involved in the calendar kept the pictures from portraying only a man's point of view.
"One thing is, they had a woman photographer and mainly women working on it, so it wasn't a man's view," said Rausch. He said the
whole perception of pinups has relaxed through the generations. "At the time, they were probably racy, but today they're just
beautiful."
Singleton's grandmother, a cancer survivor, inspired her to start a project that benefitted breast cancer awareness. The American
Cancer Society locally will distribute 100 percent of proceeds toward breast cancer awareness.
"There's many ways to communicate awareness about the disease," said Kara Neloms, communications and marketing specialist with
the American Cancer Society in Huntsville. ..."The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health
problem through research, education, advocacy and service."
On Dec. 16, Old Town Tavern, also where Singleton works, will host a calendar release party where pictures that didn't make the
calendar will be auctioned off. Next year, Singleton hopes to include local musicians in the calendar for a roadhouse theme.
Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.
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