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Having a silly shoot-'em-up where you shoot "evil terrorists" isn't a commentary at all. Commentary points things out. Commentary presents a view. Commentary is intended to make people think.

These games do not have the subtlety of a good political cartoon. Hell, even a bad political cartoon (such as you might see in USA Today *shudder*) makes more of a statement than "I wanna beat up Bin Laden".

The best example of a political cartoon in Flash form are the "Napster Bad!" line of cartoons on Camp Chaos. The one with Sheryl Crow and Nutty McShithead ("MP3s: Good or Goblin") is hilarious.

RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen said in a statement that Berman's bill was "an innovative approach," adding that "it makes sense to clarify existing laws to ensure that copyright owners--those who actually take the time and effort to create an artistic work--are at least able to defend their works from mass piracy."

And all this time I thought musical artists were the ones creating music and not the RIAA. Now we see what Hilary really thinks of the people she's supposed to be representing... Lets not forget that when you sell your soul to the RIAA, you no longer own any music you've created. Here's the proof. Or is Lars readying to "pilfer the grabasses"?

FYI, micmac can be seen here: MicMac the midget

Back in the dark ages when I was trying to convince my (then) employer that we needed to be online, the primary management objection was loss of productivity. I told them that yes, there would be a period where people got addicted to surfing and that there would be a temporary drop, but that it lost it's allure pretty quickly and that the overall benefits of quick access to information would outweigh the time lost to surfing.

They were also worried about their liability from employees downloading pr0n on company machines. I advised them to treat it like any other policy violation. Ultimately, they decided to wait.

Two years later I was talking to the CEO (I had already left the company) who told me they were finally getting everyone online and that what I told them had turned out to be accurate.

The web is like any cool toy - most people will get addicted to it for a brief period of time, then the attraction tapers off. The useful parts stay useful and, for most people, the fluff loses it's attraction. You can only watch Napster BAD! so many times...

Of course, here I am on Slashdot and it's workin' time.

Because, and I quote:

NAPSTER BAAAAAAAD
James Hetfield

Americans already have Mickey Mouse as president: look here.

Hmm. That reminds me of something I saw one time. ;-)

Check the official homepage.

And check the parody site as well... :-)

In my opinion, the plugin scheme is really a sort of "crummy patch" to a widespread used technology (the browser). I think that these guys understood that and chose the path of a new internet client.

Now it's a conspiracy theory, tommorow it could kill all sorts of products and projects, like the browsers I mentioned. This patent could be bad for internet advancements anyway; it might be very hard to create an alternative scheme flexible enough to work around this patent.

--

Too late. It appears as though CBS has already implemented this idea into one of their reality TV shows.

http://www.campchaos.com/cartoons/ass/ They shoved a camera up my ass.

Go to campchaos.com - they have an entire series of the "Napster Bad" cartoons. It followed along with the lawsuit and media stories. The entire series consists of:

Napster: BAD! (The original)
MetalliCOPS (Pretty decent)
Metallica Millionaire (Better yet)
MP3: Good or Goblin? (Ft. Nutty McShithead of the RIAA)
Sue All The World (w/ Elton John, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Sheryl Crow, & more)
Napster Dead? (HYSTERICAL!)
Bizarro Napster Bad (The Final Episode to date)

And the following "Special Features":
Special Fucking Edition (featuring "Monkey Notes")
Fire Bad! (video game)

I recommend you watch them in series... they make more sense that way, and it adds to the comical flavor. The series exists at:

http://www.campchaos.com/cartoons/napsterbad/index .html

Hahah, I love this idea, I wonder if Camp Chaos could be convinced to create this?

The way I see it, Bill Gates would be in place of Lars Ulrich telling the story about how the GPL is bad and so on, Steve Balmer would take the place of James Hetfield saying Windows GOOD! Linux BAD! and so forth...

Gates: "Like good afternoon, my name is like Bill Gates from the software giant Microsoft. I'm here today to to talk about open source software."
Balmer: "Open Source BAD!"
Gates: "Yeah so like these open source coders are out to destroy our company and destroy the American way. Open source licences are like a virus or something and they well infect you, and your mother fucking code if you use it. You will also turn into an evil communist if you write open source software."
Balmer: "Communist BAD!"
Gates: "We spend upwards of 24 to 48 hours writing our code and we don't want you open source zealots to steal our hard earned money!"
Balmer: "Money GOOD! Open Source BAD!"

Okay, so the story line isn't great, but I wrote it quickly...

Uh-oh.

Watch out for new Metallica versions of the Camp Chaos cartoons!

"Hey! This is, like, you know, Lars Ulrich from Metallica, and we've got a few choice words on Napster. At this very moment, we're, like, deleting everything with an MP3 extension on, like, your computer. And, like, every filename with the word Napster in it. James learned Linux for you!"

"Linux GOOD! Fire BAD! Napster BAD!"

"Finally, like, we think you hackers and computer nerds that we used to beat up in high school are, like, pretty cool with us, 'cause, like, without you guys, we'd have had no clue, like, no fucking idea, like, how to stop all the money grubbers sharing our stuff with Napster. I mean, we put blood, sweat and motherfucking beers into our music!"

It was actually Camp Chaos (campchaos.com) that did the Napter parodies with Metallica.

They now have a few of them out, not just the original one.

Money Good. Napster Bad!

First I thought it was a joke, but campchaos is doing a series on Napster parodies. There is this movie called 'sue all the world'. Y'know, if I'm reading this Gnutella case, I still wonder whether 'sue all the world' actually is a joke.

Seriously, when it comes to minor things such as file-sharing shenanigans, we will regroup and fight back. If the music industry thinks that killing Napster will kill online file sharing, they have no idea how wrong they are and this is a Good Thing. The guy on the TV interview next to Colin (some VP of Virgin Records) clearly had no clue exactly what Napster was, over and above the Hetfield viewpoint, and although Colin wasn't overflowing with technical knowledge, he at least recognised the positive side of what it is capable of.

I really think that record companies are fighting a losing battle here, though they do not know it. One day they will be financially exhausted from trying to fight too many battles against the future, and although we are a long way from a Utopian situation here, I think we should realise this and focus on some more important issues for a while.

Sorry for rambling, just a drunk Englishman. I'll be on my way.

Napster BAD

i think the biggest problem is that many view the whole IP situation as an either/or one shot deal.

Unfortunately, it's not so simple. Courts have ruled that reselling CD's is ok - i can go down to my local Recycle Records and sell them a Metallica CD (not that i own any) for $5. At that point - they can sell it to whoever they want for however much they want. Metallica doesn't get to see one red cent. In this instance, it's easy to argue that you're paying for the CD - or you're paying for your right to own that music. 'nuff said.

On the other hand, you've got programs like Napster. I rip that very same Metallica CD and listen to it on mp3 - everyone's happy. But the minute I distribute any of those copies to friends, or anyone else for that matter...the RIAA throws a shit-fit. And we've already seen what Lars thinks of the good ole Nap.

So it pretty much boils down to two questions. 1)Are you paying for the music, or the right to listen to the music. and 2)If you're actually paying for the media....do you have the right to do whatever the hell you want with that media.

What does this have to do with legacy media? Vampire Hunter D perhaps? - Simple....the later cost shouldn't be a factor. 10 years after a movie comes out, everyone should have rights to view that movie for free. 10 years after a song comes out, everyone should have rights to listen to that song for free. Fuck royalties. If you're Don MacClean and you haven't written a good song in 20 years - you should either A)Get your fatass up and write another one or B)Get a new profession. Should i still get royalties off a shell script or a program i coded for a company 10 years ago? Hell NO!


FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network

Sabertooth had lines
Lost on the cutting room floor
He said "Napster Bad!"

I can't wait for the inevitable campchaos cartoon about this one...the first 3 were hillarious....beer GOOD!

On a serious note, I hope they talk to people other than artists, record execs, and software makers about this. It would lend a great deal of credibility if your average mullet-head Joe Schmoe came up to the mic and testified that he ended up buying the entire Selloutica collection (well, up until the black album anyway)after hearing Sanitarium.mp3 from some random site. But then, given congress' inclination toward corporate welfare, don't expect a balanced & representative set of speakers.

I think the real issues here are twofold;

1. Distribution channels:Record execs fear Napster, the internet and the MP3 format because it offers aspiring young artists a way to bypass the traditional music distribution & promotion channels. As such, musicians will have an alternative to selling their souls & signing all their rights away just to get recorded, promoted, and distributed. They will no longer be able to dictate what we should and shouldn't like. Just imagine; no more Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Backstreet Boys drivel being showered upon us by money-grubbing record execs. Maybe talent and creativity will actually count for something again!
2. The recording industry isn't giving consumers what they want:Who the hell wants to spend $20 or more on a CD they've never heard before, which might contain songs that suck? I know, I know, artists often craft an album as a statement or single unit. And indeed, some of the best music I've ever heard (Rush, Queensryche, Ice Cube) fit into this model. But then, why does the record industry promote one song at a time? I think consumers would love to be able to (a) sample an entire album before buying the album and (b) buy only those songs he/she likes. Think about it; this would be a music marketer's wet dream! They would know exactly what soungs consumers like without having to pump all those marketing dollars into promotion.

Some bands are starting to get this, and have (thankfully) put pressure on their management to adapt. It's not like we're going to be able to ban the MP3 format, eradicate Napster & Gnutella and their derivatives, or prosecute/sue everyone who does pirate a song. It's simply a change in the market that the record companies are going to have to deal with.

Mötley Crüe's "Metalli Greed!"
In this hilarious macromedia flash 4 cartoon, characatures of the Mötley Crüe band members, in their own voices, tell their fans and the rest of the Internet what they really think about Metallica, Napster, and the whole bit. They call Metallica "grumpy, moody assholes." Hmm.

Check out
http://www.campchaos.com/cartoons/napsterbad/ind ex.html
for a different look at the whole Napster/Metallica deal..

Mötley Crüe is the latest band to speak out against Metallica, and for Napster. They've released a statement as a cartoon in which their characatures make fun of Metallica, entited "Metalligreed." It's really funny! Users with the Shockwave Flash plugin (there's one for Linux) can check it out at Camp Chaos Entertainment.

click

Read more about Why Napster is bad and about a proposed improvement to Napster.

METALLICA: "NAPSTER - BAD!"
--
You think being a MIB is all voodoo mind control? You should see the paperwork!

You have to see this ::

Napster v/s Metallica

--
Why pay for drugs when you can get Linux for free ?

can be fond here, courtesy of Camp Chaos.

========

(And yes, I know you're likely to have to reboot or go to someone else's machine to view the animation, but trust me it's worth the effort).

Mike

I'm sure a bunch of people have already checked this site out, but it made me crack up in the ultra-quiet computer lab at Marist College during finals week...fart. enough about me, go here if you have flash! ---- this .sig here until i think of something funny

check this out....

http://www.campchaos.com/cartoons/nap sterbad/