Happy Christmas!
This post is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, so you can modify it to refer to whichever seasonal holiday you like. The humour-challenged should note that these two sentences make the post substantial and original enough to copyright and that this post therefore can be CC licensed, so there.
Technorati Tags: free culture, humour
LOL:
http://www.digitalmediatree.com/tommoody/?34269
Has anyone ever done a painting of a chrome sphere on a chessboard? That would be fun.
A new logical fallacy has been doing the rounds:
Appeal to Stallman
The author appeals to the writings of Free Software guru Richard Stallman in order to make the opposite point to the one Stallman makes. Having removed the possibility of dissent the author is then free to claim that NonCommercial licenses or relicensing work under a less free license are what Stallman would want.
Technorati Tags: free culture, free software, satire
Second Life allows you to set a “non-transferrable” flag on objects. This means that if someone buys the object they cannot then re-sell it.
In the real world you can re-sell things that you buy. It’s only with the event of software and digital media that companies are trying to get around this with end-user licenses and DRM.
As this Guardian article argues, if companies want to sell you songs that evaporate when you stop paying for them, the companies should be willing to accept money that evaporates when they stop giving you access to the music you have paid for.
And it should be the same for Second Life. So I propose Noney. Noney is like money, only not transferrable. If someone sells you an object and insists on making it non-transferrable, they should be willing to accept payment on the same basis.
Anyone who isn’t a hypocrite and who asks for n Linden Dollars payment for something non transferrable will gladly accept n Nonies. They can have as much Noney as they like, but they cannot transfer it, only destroy it when they get tired of it or decide they are fed up with it.
Just need to upload various denomination textures and script the notes. Or possiby a gift voucher. 🙂
Technorati Tags: free culture, second life
My copy of “The Company Of Wolves” DVD came from Amazon. Good film (90% of reviewers miss the point of it entirely, so ignore IMDB), terrible package.
The tacky metal cover (easy to scratch?) and the dearth of extras (no ‘making of’ despite the fact that one exists) are as nothing compared to what awaits the innocent viewer when they make the mistake of actually trying to watch their fifteen quid’s worth of media.
For what seems like an eternity, a terrible sub-flash animation warns you NOT TO PIRATE FILMS BECAUSE IT IS STEEEAAAALLLLIIINGGGG!
Imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if you punished your paying customers in this way (reminiscent of a teacher who tells off the children present in class for the number of absences) in other media.
Mobile phones that announce in a breathless recorded message that you mustn’t steal mobile phones. Every time you go to make a call.
Cars that have vinyl lettering on the inside of their windows telling you not to steal cars. That you’re not allowed to peel off.
Books with “DON’T STEAL BOOKS” watermarked on the page. On the first page of every chapter.
You get the idea.
I’ve never wanted to copy a DVD before. But if there was an easy way of copying this particular DVD to strip this amateurish mood-breaker off of the beginning I’d be sorely tempted.
So well done Granada (extremely self-congratulatory publisher of this DVD), your hard work against piracy is certainly having an effect.
“It’s not the social content,
It’s always the political form.”
– ‘Keep All Your Friends’, Art & Language and The Red Crayola.
The state of Art is hereby declared. For now its government must sit in exile.
Head of State.
The Head Of State is called The Curator. They appoint themself and must re-appoint themself every two years.
Parliament.
The parliament consists of four Critics, one for each corner of the state. They are to appoint themselves every four years. If no appointment can be reached then parliament shall be dissolved and elections called.
Holidays, Festivals.
The festival of Opening Night shall be celebrated regularly, with merry-making, vitriol and free alcohol by order. £There are no holidays. Art never rests.
Citizenship.
Citizens of the state of Art are known as “Artists”. Citizens of Art gain no priveledges or responsibilities by virtue of their citizenship. £Art welcomes applications for joint citizenship.
Laws.
The laws of Art are the laws of aesthetics and composition. Whilst all volumes are not created equal, we must strive to make them harmonious in their parts.
Territory.
The territory of Art will be its map, and vice versa.
Flag.
The flag of Art is a Malevich square. As is its map.
National Anthem.
Cage’s 4.32 is the national anthem of Art.
GNP, National Debt and Resources.
The worth of Art cannot be measured monetarily.
Internet Top-Level Domain.
Art will propose .rt as its Internet top-level domain name. If this is unavailable, .ae will be accepted.
http://www.citizensrequired.com/
At the Fortean Times convention a few years back I bought a book called “How To Start Your Own Country” from Counter Productions. It’s a good read.
I started a country called “Art”. So when people asked “what is the state of art?” there would be a definitive answer. The flag, the map of the country and the country itself are a Malevich square. The currency and the coat of arms are also black squares. The law is aesthetics. The national drink is absinthe.
If anyone wants joint citizenship, or if any other countries out there want mutual recognition, email me. 🙂
update: I found the original project. It wasn’t a Malevich square, but that’s a better idea than the original flag so I’m going to change that and upload some stuff.
Technorati Tags: aesthetics, art
Banksy’s current “manifesto” is a moving-if-true (Banksy’s site is the only place on the web with any mention of this story) account of absurdist aesthetic intervention bringing humanity to a liberated death camp:
http://www.banksy.co.uk/manifesto/index.html
And his current project is decorating the Israeli wall along inside occupied territories:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/gallery/0,8542,1543331,00.html
I hope this isn’t the kind of bogus, lazy, ahistorical moral equivalency that is all too prevalent in the British chatterati regarding the illegal wall.
Trailer for the next Harry Potter Film.
“…you must choose between what is right, and what is easy.” – Dumbledore to Harry.
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
Charlie regards Veruca getting the ticket by her father buying tens of thousands of bars and getting his workers to open them all as unfair. Mike Teevee just hacks Wonka’s numeric system to predict where to find a ticket.
“Only a dummy would give this up for something as common as money” – Grandpa George, regarding Charlie’s one of the five golden tickets.
Willy Wonka is an IP maximalist. he fires all his workers because of industrial espionage and replaces them with a tribe of servile addicts, who at least won’t go to the competition. 🙂
“Why is everything so pointless?” – Mike Teevee, unimpressed by the factory.
“It doesn’t have to have a point, that’s why it’s candy!” – Charlie.
Imagine releasing everlasting gobstoppers onto the market. The displacement! 🙂
Someone once told me about how they thought they could get the food out of the telly as a child living in a council house. The scene with the TV chocolate hasn’t seemed so funny since then.
Technorati Tags: film