Would you work for minimum wage?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Censorship at its best. . .
I just saw Disney's Song of the South. It was unlike anything I have ever seen, and I thought I saw it when I was a kid. I guess I just remembered what my parents wanted me to remember like how the leopard got its spots and zip-e-do-da and singing and telling stories. But wow, for all of the blackface I have seen and the Jim Crow art I was not prepared for that. All I can say is thank God that I had no idea what was going on when I saw it the first time. AHHHH!
So that brings me to an actual school topic. I watched a bootleg copy. When it showed up as a donation I nearly fell out of my chair. So I just had to watch it. Generally I think censorship is a bad thing, but this self-imposed censorship that Disney has taken up is not all bad. There could be a little more access to the film for school purposes, when I was deep into American race relations it could have been a very powerful teaching tool. But a teaching tool to college students, not kids and it should not be something you can go to Blockbuster and pick up. So in 2039 Song of the South will enter the public domain.
Usually I think Disney is enemy #1 when it comes to keeping things from the public domain. But on this one, I am with them. So the question arises, what happens in this one instance where the copyright holder wants to keep the art from the public for the publics' good? Because out there in the public domain the work could be used in the worst kind of ways, is it maybe better if Disney could just lock it up in their "vault" and throw away the key?
So that brings me to an actual school topic. I watched a bootleg copy. When it showed up as a donation I nearly fell out of my chair. So I just had to watch it. Generally I think censorship is a bad thing, but this self-imposed censorship that Disney has taken up is not all bad. There could be a little more access to the film for school purposes, when I was deep into American race relations it could have been a very powerful teaching tool. But a teaching tool to college students, not kids and it should not be something you can go to Blockbuster and pick up. So in 2039 Song of the South will enter the public domain.
Usually I think Disney is enemy #1 when it comes to keeping things from the public domain. But on this one, I am with them. So the question arises, what happens in this one instance where the copyright holder wants to keep the art from the public for the publics' good? Because out there in the public domain the work could be used in the worst kind of ways, is it maybe better if Disney could just lock it up in their "vault" and throw away the key?
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Game Theory for the web
Just like Adam Greenfield says, I buy a ton of books from Amazon. But still they recommend things like Daniel Steel or Dan Brown for me to buy. Why????
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Monday, July 9, 2007
At least its not the gibson
After a computer hell weekend, its always good to bring some perspective to your life. I suggest Hackers not only for baby boy Dade (who I believed to be the hotest boy ever circa '96) but for the sheer sillyness of it all. It does raise some very good questions. Like: Why dont we all wear roller blades everywhere we go? Any how come when I connect to a network I dont get to see all of those pretty formulas dancing across my screen. (Maybe the pretty colors would have given me more satisfaction when I finally connected this weekend.)
But seriously, they do say one thing that is actually true. The "hackers" are out for shared information and open access. Maybe we are still working on open access cause we never made that necessary transition to roller blades.
But seriously, they do say one thing that is actually true. The "hackers" are out for shared information and open access. Maybe we are still working on open access cause we never made that necessary transition to roller blades.
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Sunday, July 8, 2007
Public Domain???
It almost makes me rethink who I am voting for in the primaries. Mike Gravel is a hero! Democracy Now's piece on How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published by the Beacon Press is a great retelling of the story. Robert West, former president of Unitarian Universalist Association and Beacon Press talks about the troubles he faced publishing a work that was part of the public domain.
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People and their avatar
I really love this slide show of people and avatars. My avatar was super lame, maybe thats another reason I couldn't get into second life. I wouldn't be caught dead in that crappy shirt my avatar had on.
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Monday, July 2, 2007
I guess you'd call that integrated
Ugh! I have given up on integrating the three and having only one of each tag. In stead of the two or three of each tag, I just have one of each tag.
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