Remix Assignment

    To create my remix assignment, I used clips from lots of news shows, as well as a few short clips of stand-up comedy, to create a view on gay marriage.  The fair use law protects this because I only used small pieces of the original works and none of it is being used to hurt the commercial value of the original pieces. 
    I created a remix video out of existing material to make my statement because that was my assignment, and I would have failed the project if I'd just brought in a piece of paper with the words "YAY GAY MARRIAGE" scribbled on it.  But even if it hadn't been an assignment I would have tried it, because after spending five weeks hearing about remix culture, the advent of digital media and copyright law, read/write culture has become something that I believe in.  Society will become stagnant if we continue to stay a "read only" culture.  There's a whole generation of people with both a message and the means to get it out into the world like never before.  How can we try to censor those people, that creativity?  What might be lost if we get all hung up on "fair use" and "copyrights?"  This new wave of ultra-censorship is just as awful, just as limiting, as burning books.  We need to stop trying to control the past and just embrace this new form of art and all of its wonderful weirdness.

Ahhh!

I totally forgot to post my best discovery of the weekend in that last post, so here it is now.

YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.

Fun Stuff From The Internet!

Here's a couple of fun things I found while I was doing research for the latest project.

The greatest mash-up I've heard so far.

Brazilian Star Wars!

A whole bunch of pop songs from 2009 made into a single song.  Very cool.

Awesome Thing #2

I know this is a school blog and I'm getting pretty viciously off-topic, but I hope you enjoy this video of a small dog running around with a roman candle in its mouth.

Look How Cute This Seal Is!

WHERE ARE ITS LIMBS?

Freeeeedom!

Okay, so I have no idea what I'm going to do for this last project.

It's not that I haven't been thinking about it, because I have.  I'm just kind of freaked out by the amount of leeway we have on this project.  I know I'm an art school kid and therefore should be all excited about doing my own thing, but to be honest, having this much freedom on a school project kind of freaks me out.  I'm sure I'll figure something out eventually, but I'm having a hard time deciding where to even begin.  Maybe I'll just watch 30 hours of remixes and see if that inspires me.

Brainstorms:

• Ummm....
• Robots?
• Maybe something political?
• Gay marriage?  That seems like it's a thing at the moment.  Gotta stay relevant. 
• ...Bears? Something about bears?
• I don't know.

Don't call my name, don't call my name, Manifestoooooo.

"If remix is a crime, then we have a whole generation of criminals."

I loved this movie because it brought up a bunch of stuff that I'd only ever really been peripherally aware of before.  I'd heard vague things about how awful the RIAA is and how they were suing old people and kids for having songs illegally downloaded on their computers, but I'd never seen it all put out in the open before.  It made me feel all activist-y, like I wanted to start a fire or something. 

I know it sucks that people are stealing entire movies and albums and stuff, but I think it's ridiculous to counteract that by deleting millions of YouTube videos for copyright infringement just because they're using 30 seconds of a movie released 40 years ago.  Especially with the new-ish software that just scans and deletes videos for copyright infringement without being able to tell whether they're an entire movie or a clever remix.  Lots of really interesting, unique, wonderful stuff is being censored because these companies care more about money than art.  If thinking that's a ridiculous world to live in makes us criminals, then let us be criminals.

Random thoughts:

• Portuguese is a beautiful-sounding language even when they're talking about cannibalism.
• "You're a talented guy.  Why do you feel the need to take your pants off?"
• Cory Doctorow makes more than one reference to genitals in this video.
• I know the whole Napster thing happened like a decade ago, but I'm not done being disgusted by Lars Ulrich.  That ass.
• Girl Talk likes to crowd surf more than anyone I've ever seen. I guess when your entire act consists of hitting the "play" button on your laptop, you need to do something to fill the time.
• "We will send you a form and you can implicate your child." Good Lord.