video project

While this video isn't quite the Citizen Media and the Puplic Sphere rendition of  auto-tune the news that I had hoped to produce, I think it still reflects some of the major piracy and copyright issues we discussed in class. 

 I have say, after weeks of research and trial and error, I have developed a new found respect for many of the mash-up artists on the web. Some of the projects online are serious undertakings that involve some pretty advanced techniques... One day I'll get there. 

To make this video, I experimented with Final Cut Pro, GrageBand and a free ten day trial auto-tune program I found on the net.


 

indiana jones wears one...

With all the chatter circulating the web regarding the iPad and its travel friendly nature, I couldn’t help but also posit the question, will the iPad spark a man purse/satchel renaissance? In all seriousness, I was always pretty skeptical about the iPad’s fragility. Could it be safely stowed in a nap sack or an oversized tote without getting scratched or damaged? I suppose this answers my question.

don't hate the player. hate the game.

The most severe and at times sadistic copyright lawsuits are the ones where the lives of ordinary internet users like you and I destroyed because they’ve been sued by organizations such as the RIAA for file sharing. Often times the culprits of these crimes are children. I must say, (and though I realize this must be the last thing on the minds of the parents who are burned with $80 000 for every Justin Bieper song their sweet little Susie downloaded) I applaud these kids for their deft work in challenging such a tyrannical and capitalistic system at such a young age.

So to put this in perspective, while outdated copyright law continues to ruin lives, lawsuits surrounding copyright have become simply business as usual for huge corporate powerhouses, such as the very messy one billion dollar debacle between YouTube and Viacom. 

Just a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this article, which I thought made for some pretty juicy news. 

Although the lawsuit ended two years ago, the wrath of YouTube (the web’s bandwidth cannibal of the decade) still lingers as Zahavah Levine, chief counsel for YouTube wrote on the YT blog:

“For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately "roughed up" the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom.”

So let me get this straight, not only did Google have to fork over an outrageously large sum of money as the result of their litigation with Viacom, but in the meantime Viacom was getting free YT advertising. Ouch!

hello creepy

Tis that time in the term when papers are due and exams are just around the corner. Every year is the same -- I date all my assignments in my WLUer and I create a fairly reasonable game plan for how and when I will complete every paper, plan every presentation and study for every test, while still keeping up on my readings. In theory, this should work no? Well even in my fourth (and a half) year the work load picks up right at the end of the term, despite my efforts to keep it at a minimum. I have no one to blame for this but... YouTube. It distracts me with hours upon hours of time suckage material that seems (at the time) so much more pressing than finishing my Philosophy paper. 

Today I stumbled on a gem that I felt was worth sharing. If you are like me and you have never heard of Chat Roulette, because you find video chatting with complete strangers very creepy, then you will appreciate this video.

 

What I know about Chat Roulette is that it matches people up at random for a one on one chat discussion, and that it was invented by a 17 year old boy from Russia. What his purpose was for creating it, I don’t know, but I can only imagine that a site such as this probably attracts a whole slew of people, who don’t use it to converse about the weather if you know what I mean...

I can appreciate that when you talk to a webcam for everyone to see, you are facilitating communication among people on a mass scale, despite the geographic constraints that may divide you from the world.  I can’t say however that I do it. I’m not a fan of video blogging or chatting with an unknown audience. Personally, I feel that not only is it a huge invasion of privacy, but it borders too closely with voyeurism and issues of surveillance. With that being said, I think that because I feel this way, I have a greater appreciation for Chat Roulette’s piano playing mystery man. 

I think that what this guy is doing is genius and absolutely hilarious for the fallowing reasons: first, he outwardly makes fun of the chatters (in a very non-offensive and playful way) and the idea behind the site. As his antics disrupt the flow of the site, his behavior adds a kind of self-reflexivity to video chatting, because while he is doing something completely different than the rest of the folks participating, he is also confronting users with the reality that you will never know who or what to expect when you connect with perfect strangers on the net. Secondly, he is a phenomenal pianist who can make people laugh, not just at his clever wit but at themselves. Lastly, there is no doubting that this guy is not in fact Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five. I think it’s amazing that he is two separate celebrities, both in the offline and online world, one as Ben Folds and the other being the hooded practical joker/piano playing prodigy. 

you're about to get pwned...

Orcs, night elves, a couple dragons, a 25-man guild raid... order some Domino’s and a bottomless cup of Jolt cola -- this is the perfect saturday evening. Well, unless you have a life and friends outside the realm of Azeroth.

This is the reality for 11.5 million World of Warcraft subscribers world wide. It wasn’t until I stumbled on this article that I realized what a huge cultural force this MMORPG is.   While I’ve never played the game, I can’t help but be intrigued at the amount of attention it has garnered both on and offline. 

What was once an unspoken guilty pleasure--like Zac Efron--is now a huge cultural phenomenon -- like Zac Efron. But, even Disney is jealous of Blizzard's cash cow. Selling 2.8 million copies on its release day, the latest expansion pack is the fastest selling game of all time. 

Relative to its commercial success, Warcraft has been a well kept secret among the nerd community (and I say that in the most endearing way). It is worth noting that 1 in 5 WoW subscribers are female. Perhaps the largest appeal behind WoW (and most MMO games) is that it allows you to create a virtual persona that may differ from your real life counterpart. 

This video from The Onion pokes fun at how eager players are to upgrade to the latest content release by Blizzard. 

Behold... “The World of World of Warcraft”. 

My favorite example is the South Park episode “Make Love not Warcraft”, which makes fun of the stereotypes and gaming culture itself.

South Park - Make Love, Not Warcraft DARK RIDER | MySpace Video

What I find most interesting about these cultural critiques is that it seems as though the WoW community embraces this self deprecating humor. Its never been cooler to be a nerd. 

If I had a penny for every downloaded iTunes song...

Today iTunes announced that it hit its 10 billion mark for songs downloaded to date. As promised by their Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest, the company gave a $10 000 iTunes gift card to the individual that downloaded “I Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash. 

Creativity vs. Copyright

Mashup extarodinaire, producer and DJ, Brian Burton, (in)famously known by the self titled moniker, Dander Mouse is an artist with exceptional talent. His immediate yet unsuspecting success erupted when his music experiment, which was intend for him and his close friends, went viral and soon became an internet phenomenon. 

Danger Mouse’s Grey Album is an ingenious collaboration that layers Jay-Z’s A Capella Black Album overtop instrumental tracks and George Harrison’s vocals off The Beatles' White Album.   

While listeners celebrated DJ Danger Mouse’s creative mastery, EMI issued a cease-and-desist order in attempts to squash the album for Burton’s unsolicited use of The Beatles music. By downloading and streaming his creation, fans and anti-copyright activists together challenged archaic copyright law on what was known as Grey Tuesday (exactly six years ago today). 

Since the release of the Grey Album, Danger Mouse has embarked on many music projects which have been tremendously successful. I can’t help but fallow his musical endeavors-- album after album Danger Mouse will not disappoint. In fact, within the last couple of years he has produced some of my faveourite musical masterpieces including his most recent collaboration project Broken Bells, with The Shins’ James Mercer. He has also produced Beck’s Modern Guilt, Gnarls Barkley and Gorilaz’s Demon Days (a little ironic, seeing as how their manager is admittedly adverse to P2P sharing). 

BROKEN BELLS, "THE HIGH ROAD" from EJ on Vimeo.

Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Even after years of his debacle with copyright law and the corporations that lobbied them, Danger Mouse still preservers. Some have even suggested that EMI has repudiated their animosity towards the Grey Album so that they can continue to harpoon other re-mixers and further clamp down on creativity. 

Last year Danger Mouse teamed up with Sparklehorse and David Lynch, on one of his most impressive collaboration projects called Dark Night of the Soul, which featured a wealth of musical talent including, Iggy Pop, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas and The Flaming Lips. Nonetheless, his rift with EMI still managed to impede the release of his personally funded project. Instead of allowing the album to falter however, listeners were encouraged to buy a blank CD-R that came with a 100+ page book adorned with Lynch’s photographs. 

“All copies will be clearly labeled: ‘For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will,’ ” a spokesperson for Danger Mouse said. “Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night Of The Soul without fear of being sued by EMI.”

"All copies will be clearly labelled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'"

-Billboard Magazine 

If we can learn anything from Danger Mouse and his ongoing dispute with EMI, it is that creativity should not be stifled by copyright law. It is about time the music industry reshapes their corporate structure to include and embrace this paradigm shift that is the internet and a thriving re-mix culture.

Off the Wire(d)

Wired -- the brand, magazine and online publication is now tapping into the tablet market. It is no surprise that Wired, the trustworthy tech related news source is dominating the digital distribution game.

Just this past Friday, Wired Magazine CEO, Chris Anderson lead a demonstration at the Technology, Entertainment and Design Conference where he presented a six-month in the making tablet application. Wired, which is known for “breaking the rules for print”, has collaborated with Adobe to create an interactive interface where subscribers can read, watch and participate with the magazine. 

Delighted by the tablet technology, Anderson announced that “we are entering a new era of media, where we finally have a digital platform that allows us to retain all the rich visual features of high-gloss print, from lavish design to glorious photography, while augmenting it with video, animations, additional content and full interactivity.”

Next month's issue will be the first for readers to access Wired via the tablet application. Seeing as how the iPad’s release date is also around the corner, I doubt this is just a timely coincidence. However, in case you are not dazzled by Apple’s iPad, all Adobe AIR applications will be compatible with Flash to satisfy your alternate tablet needs.

What is most impressive is that the design team tweaked their preexisting pages, produced with Adobe InDesign (the standard program used for many magazine publications) to orient their layout so that the user can interact with the articles and advertisements.

It may only be a matter of time before other publications fallow suit and offer their own tailor made Adobe AIR application.  Although a magazine subscription for a tablet would be much cheaper, I am not convinced that impressive graphics and interactivity are enough to entice the average reader to give up their print subscription for a digital one.


 I can’t see every magazine benefiting form this sort of thing. After all, a copy of Vogue would not be as enchanting without its stacked spine, glossy pages and fragrant perfume samples.

A Job Well Done Steve

After reading this article, I am officially sold on Apple's latest creation, the iPad. At first I figured it was just another gadget to temporarily satisfy the Techie’s unquenchable cravings for upgrades and innovation.

 I’ve been duped, yet again, first with the iPod, then with the iMac. Without these things I feel incomplete, as if they are an appendage and imperative to my well being. Sure it may sound a bit extreme, but a day without my iPod would result in some very long and awkwardly silent bus rides. I’d be hard pressed to choose wether I’d rather forget my lunch or my iPod. 

Apple is notorious for creating a lack in the mind of the consumer while simultaneously filling that void with sleek user-friendly electronics. If the iPad were just a jazzed up version of a reader, I can’t say I’d be overly excited about it. Sure carting around books can be cumbersome, but it’s not troubling enough to justify spending money on a  reader. I actually enjoy the tactile experience of reading; I like holding a book and physically turning the pages. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with a fellow Apple enthusiast that I learned that the iPad simulates the act of reading a book, “you can turn pages and highlight” he told me. After hearing this I was impressed, but not yet convinced that the iPad was a practice purchase. 

What really caught my attention was that Apple signed a deal with major publishing companies for its iBook application, which at the very least, could cause an inevitable collapse of Amizon’s Kindle. Now with the choke hold on the e-book industry, Apple has set a new precedent for the way we consume text. This is similar to the Napster era, where downloading ushered in a demand for Mp3 players and Mp3 players, encouraged more downloading, legally and illegally. Seeing as how scanning pages from a book is a much more strenuous procedure than ripping music files, I can’t imagine iPad users will habitually download e-book torrents. 

The iPad, is more than just a reader that can hold your school textbooks. I think Apple's multimedia tablet could  revolutionize what it means to be a student. Just recently, Apple’s iPad SDK revealed that the device has the capability to: entertain video conferencing, synch up network printing, hook up to HD external displays and share a workspace with a desktop. Speaking as a student, presentations and group work have never sounded so enticing.

 Thanks Apple -- life just got a lot easier.  

Why Local Matters

The thought of my community without local television is a disconcerting one. This past year I’ve held my breath, hoping that Waterloo Region would not be affected by the budget cuts which have befallen broadcasters in communities not far from my own. Now, with local television under review by the CRTC, the reality is that we too could be burdened with budget cuts, or worse -- community television termination.

Television is one of several ways we stay connected with our local community. Even though technology has ushered in new ways for audiences to gather news and entertainment, I believe that local television is a fundamental part of our identity as a community. 

Local content acts as an equalizer that puts our stories on par with nationally broadcasted media. We are made to feel that our lives are newsworthy and no less important than everything else we watch on TV. At the same time, watching our friends, neighbors and community leaders at the forefront of our televised news and entertainment speaks to us on personal level. It also reinforces that we as citizens have agency in the media we consume-- we are just as much a part of the news as we are in producing it.

“The future of local TV and the financial health of the broadcast television industry in Canada may rest with community television, and initiatives to reinforce the creation and distribution of local community programming.”     mediacastermagazine.com

Have you given your two cents yet?