They make take away my press card, but I just have to ask this: What ever happened to saying "no comment"?

It's a slow news day and you have nothing to lead the front page, and you get wind of a little tiff between two parties that your readers might be interested in reading about. You get the details from some witness who prefers not to be named, and then decide to call up both sides and find out exactly what happened, and maybe even get a good quote or two. Instead, you get a click from the other end of the phone line and the realization that this little story is going nowhere fast.

Maybe that's what would happen a few years ago, but not today. If there is a fight, it almost always spills out into the public arena. Even worse, it doesn't matter if there's a lawsuit attached or not.

I for one am completely tired of the obvious publicity stunt that is going on between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump, between "The View" (which I wouldn't watch if you paid me $1 million) and "The Apprentice" (which really seems to be putting together its final season). This battle continues to get wider and wider until one day soon it will be labeled as Celebrity War III. I mean, not only has Barbara Walters become part of the story, but now even Madonna is throwing in her two cents?

You've got to be kidding me.

Another story that is now making the rounds in the mainstream press (but reported on your favorite genre sites first) is this battle between Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and the LOTR studio, New Line Cinema. In what was probably not the smartest move ever, New Line chief executive Robert Shaye said that he has no interest in ever letting Jackson back on the lot again. Why? Because Jackson had the nerve to sue him.

"I do not want to make a movie with somebody who is suing me." Shaye told SciFi Wire earlier this week. "It will never happen during my watch."

All of this stems from what Jackson claims was an accounting error found during an audit of proceeds from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Although Jackson received more than $250 million for the trilogy already, according to Shaye, the audit showed that Jackson was actually due even more.

Jackson went to New Line, according to a statement he released Thursday through the trade publications, to try and work out the problem to no avail, although Shaye denies it, and decided to seek out recourse in court.

Believe it or not, I am not getting into the debate of "How much frakkin' money does Jackson need?" I mean, seriously, if he earned it, and it's his, then he should get it. If he didn't earn it, and he is mistaken, then he needs to back off and let New Line do their thing.

No, what actually has me irked is something else that Shaye said in the interview:

"There's a kind of arrogance," Shaye said. "Not that I don't think Peter is a good filmmaker and that he hasn't contributed significantly to filmography and made three very good movies. And I don't even expect him to say 'thank you' for having me make it happen and having New Line make it happen. But to think that I, as a functionary in [a] company that has been around for a long time, but is now owner by a very big conglomerate, would care one bit about trying to cheat the guy ... he's either had very poor counsel, or is completely misinformed and myopic to think that I care whether I give him" anything.

So what does this mean? We should start worshipping Shaye because he decided to do the trilogy as if he were doing a favor to Peter Jackson or the fans? That was a good profit that came with that favor then, Mr. Shaye. You might be all over Peter Jackson about his $250 million, but how much money did New Line pocket from that trilogy? I bet it was far more than $250 million.

I see no reason why New Line would deliberately withhold money, in my view, but that doesn't mean a mistake may not have been made. So, check the books, make sure that every penny Jackson was supposed to have received has been distributed, and if not, DISTRIBUTE IT.

In the meantime, leave your war of words for somewhere else. The rest of us simply don't give a damn.

SyBits
Had a few letters relating back to my rants over the Fox network. Apparently there are so many sci-fi shows that Fox hosed over the years, I couldn't even remember them all.

Some other notables included "Space Above and Beyond," "Strange Luck," "VR5," and "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." Sorry.

Let's take a look at the mailbag:

Hey, Michael. I just read your article on the Fox network programming, and first I'd like to state that I agree with you 99 percent. You just happened to forget one little awesome show. Does the name "Bones" mean anything to you?"
-- 'Framing Your World'

Yeah, he was a great doctor in mankind's final frontier.

Some of the story lines were quite good (in "Battlestar Galactica"), but that was when they did not center on a "female Starbuck" able to kick the butt of any being or machine that ever existed.
-- Bob C

If i had a nickel for every time someone told me this ...

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Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com.