At the risk of encouraging this line of discussion, you do realize the only feasible way to never let music into your life again (even by accident) is either to live as a hermit cut off from all human contact or to puncture your own eardrums? I suppose you could also join the Taliban, but you'd have to find them first...
Sounds like a grim life you've got lined up for yourself, but good luck with that, and let us know how it turns out for you. Or you could just learn to play the guitar or piano instead, the way regular people used to before the recording industry was invented. It's not as dramatic, but at least it gives you something to do.
(Footnote: If you were trying to be ironic, kindly disregard this message.)
It may be painful at first, but at least the public library isn't in the business of dicking you over for as much money as they can get (unlike, say, any cable/dish/whatever companies).
You've never had to pay for a non-residental card, have you?
And let's not forget, for those "quick, cheap and unrestored" advocates out there, that the version of Metropolis that Kino released is the culmination of three years of work (not counting the decades of efforts that came before).
...and I mean "funny" in the "does this milk taste funny?" sense. And maybe the other way, too.
I noticed on a random search of favorite artists on their site that they had a complete version of The Beach Boys "Hawthorne, CA" 2 CD set. I looked up the listing, and the complete album download is $39.29. That struck me as kind of steep for some reason, so I double checked, and the CD set (with all the liner notes, packaging, etc.) lists for $26.98. That's a bit of a jump in price, considering you're getting LESS for your money from BuyMusic.
FWIW, the individual tracks ARE available for 99c each, which can be a good thing, except when the price is also applied to link tracks that run as short as 15 seconds. Really thoughtful on their part.
In the meantime, the few copies of that work still in existence are deteriorating (this is especially true of old films, made on film materials that have degraded badly over time).
...and thereby hangs a tale...
MPAA Prez Jack Valenti, treasured friend of Slashdotters everywhere, has gone on the record the idea that the public domain actually hurts film restoration, since if the work is free, who'd sink money into costs that, by his estimate, they'd have no chance of recouping (pitting "full price" against $3 DVDs).
Of course, the proof that this type of thing wouldn't necessarily happen is very easy to find, with the restoration of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Here is a film that has made the rounds since the dawn of video in smudgy, scratched multi-generation dupe prints, but a group of archivists and digital restoration wizards put together what may be the definitive version in quality and possible completeness. I get the oddest feeling that was the primary motivation for their work, although making it turn a profit would be a bonus.
Of course, it could be said of the most recent effort that the outcome of the DVD sales will weigh heavily on the future of full-on PD restorations, but people who actually care about quality (and their eyes and ears) will usually seek out the quality product. Anyway, I've heard far too many horror stories about the "best" print (or for that matter, the best tape of a song) in a studio vault not being very good at all, so a long-term rights lockdown isn't an automatic guarantee of quality control.
My favorite WWN story was the time they claimed Mark Twain was trying to communicate from Heaven through the WWW. They even posted a horribly mangled "URL" so you could try it yourself (with a disclaimer that if it doesn't work, keep trying because the connection wasn't always 100%...in other words, in case it got Slashdotted...).
Of course, the time Abraham Lincoln was brought back from the dead was interesting. And the snapshot of Jesus taken with an "ancient Roman camera" was a trip , too.
Patton Oswalt's Lipton bit is vicious; while the impersonation isn't close, the phrase "stench of failed actor" is tossed around. And of course, I highly recommend it.
It won't be this month, because it's Actors Studio Leading Ladies month on Bravo Canada. Tonight's guest: Mary Tyler Moore.
Not quite the same thing.
--DocL ---
Re:I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing...
on
Advergames
·
· Score: 1
I doubt that, since increased product placement and additional commercials in movie theatres hasn't brought down ticket prices.
On the other hand, home video releases with ads before the feature seem to bring down the prices (on VHS, anyway). Just depends on how it's handled, I guess.
If it's not required, it's still a pretty universal practice for kids' programming. Those are called "bumpers", and they've been around at least since the 70s.
You might not be too far off, actually. Dig up a few of the old radio Dragnet episodes (the ones sponsored by one of the tobacco companies) and count how many times Joe Friday asks for cigarettes.
The trick with cartoons isn't to bury the advertisement in the cartoon itself. The trick is to make the advertisement indistinguishable from the main show, which is brutally effective. Huckleberry Hound started his career shilling Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and most of the other H-B shows from the early 60s worked this way, too. Of course, this can lead to embarrassing situations if you overextend yourself, like the (in)famous ads of Fred and Barney taking a Winston break.
The other option is to build a show around a product line. Anybody who grew up in the 1980s knows how that works with toys, but Hanna-Barberra actually had a cartoon starring Sugar Bear (of Post Sugar Crisp fame) and other Post cereal mascots.
Both of these practices were outlawed by the FCC until the 1980s, when the gloves came off and bare-knuckled fighting for kid money clogged the airwaves again.
This is a unique problem for gameshows, but not insurmountable. Think of the "You Bet Your Life" reruns; the weird camera angles weren't always that way. They blew up parts of the frame to get rid of the DeSoto ads for rerun business. It DID make for some funky looking composition, but it worked reasonably well for the time.
>>>AFAIK, the 95 year mark in the US only applies to works which haven't creator, and such works cannot be copyrighted in Europe in the first place (if there's no author, there's no way his rights can be protected).
That's probably where we get all those credit lines that state the production company as the "author" of certain movies, TV shows, etc, "for purposes of copyright in Great Britain. They keep an eye on those technicalities, them weasils...
..and so, if microsoft loses, another incredibly stupid software patent is proven valid. And that's bad not just because of the consequences for other applications that use the oh-so-obviuos plugin structure - it kind of clears the way for even more insane, consumer-damaging stupid patents.
A patent which, if you check was first demonstrated in 1993 (when WWW traffic was 1% of the whole backbone) and filed in '94. And what was the big Netscape breakthrough in 1995? SERVER PUSH.
Having everything integrated under one hood is only an obvious solution in hindsight.
The Activision version has actually been at most of the Radio Shacks (that I've been in, anyway) for the better part of the year, which probably makes it the easiest one to find.
I'm still waiting for the Seaquest version, but I'm a bit mental that way.
--DocL ----
Re:Link to Doc VII Without ESR Commentary?
on
Halloween VII
·
· Score: 1
As it is, my defense against a copyright-violation suit by Microsoft would have to make rather creative use of the exemptions in copyright case law relating to journalism, satire and commentary. I fear that making un-annotated copies available would place me at significant legal risk.
So the belief is the running commentary helps classify it as fair use, although hopefully that won't have to be tested anytime soon.
Slashdot Mirror
At the risk of encouraging this line of discussion, you do realize the only feasible way to never let music into your life again (even by accident) is either to live as a hermit cut off from all human contact or to puncture your own eardrums? I suppose you could also join the Taliban, but you'd have to find them first...
Sounds like a grim life you've got lined up for yourself, but good luck with that, and let us know how it turns out for you. Or you could just learn to play the guitar or piano instead, the way regular people used to before the recording industry was invented. It's not as dramatic, but at least it gives you something to do.
(Footnote: If you were trying to be ironic, kindly disregard this message.)
Am I the only one who finds it vaguely humorous that the same Daniel Brandt who wants to bust Google's balls has to use Google in his campaign to bust Wikipedia's balls?
DVD+R is made of people!
PEEEEEEEEEOPLE!
And you'll be the third one into the camps.
Sometimes the only way to keep a 500 pound gorilla from fighting you is to get a 700 pound gorilla in your corner.
--DocL (I'm just saying...)
So all these giant Barnes and Nobles they're building are just for decoration?
Around here they were used to establish a Starbuck's beachhead. So naturally, they've got a lot to answer for.
--DocL
It may be painful at first, but at least the public library isn't in the business of dicking you over for as much money as they can get (unlike, say, any cable/dish/whatever companies).
You've never had to pay for a non-residental card, have you?
--DocL (as always, YMMV)
And let's not forget, for those "quick, cheap and unrestored" advocates out there, that the version of Metropolis that Kino released is the culmination of three years of work (not counting the decades of efforts that came before).
--DocL
Funny how that works out, isn't it? :)
--DocL
---
...and I mean "funny" in the "does this milk taste funny?" sense. And maybe the other way, too.
I noticed on a random search of favorite artists on their site that they had a complete version of The Beach Boys "Hawthorne, CA" 2 CD set. I looked up the listing, and the complete album download is $39.29. That struck me as kind of steep for some reason, so I double checked, and the CD set (with all the liner notes, packaging, etc.) lists for $26.98. That's a bit of a jump in price, considering you're getting LESS for your money from BuyMusic.
FWIW, the individual tracks ARE available for 99c each, which can be a good thing, except when the price is also applied to link tracks that run as short as 15 seconds. Really thoughtful on their part.
--DocL
---
MPAA Prez Jack Valenti, treasured friend of Slashdotters everywhere, has gone on the record the idea that the public domain actually hurts film restoration, since if the work is free, who'd sink money into costs that, by his estimate, they'd have no chance of recouping (pitting "full price" against $3 DVDs).
Of course, the proof that this type of thing wouldn't necessarily happen is very easy to find, with the restoration of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Here is a film that has made the rounds since the dawn of video in smudgy, scratched multi-generation dupe prints, but a group of archivists and digital restoration wizards put together what may be the definitive version in quality and possible completeness. I get the oddest feeling that was the primary motivation for their work, although making it turn a profit would be a bonus.
Of course, it could be said of the most recent effort that the outcome of the DVD sales will weigh heavily on the future of full-on PD restorations, but people who actually care about quality (and their eyes and ears) will usually seek out the quality product. Anyway, I've heard far too many horror stories about the "best" print (or for that matter, the best tape of a song) in a studio vault not being very good at all, so a long-term rights lockdown isn't an automatic guarantee of quality control.
--DocL
--My favorite WWN story was the time they claimed Mark Twain was trying to communicate from Heaven through the WWW. They even posted a horribly mangled "URL" so you could try it yourself (with a disclaimer that if it doesn't work, keep trying because the connection wasn't always 100%...in other words, in case it got Slashdotted...).
Of course, the time Abraham Lincoln was brought back from the dead was interesting. And the snapshot of Jesus taken with an "ancient Roman camera" was a trip , too.
--DocL
---
Patton Oswalt's Lipton bit is vicious; while the impersonation isn't close, the phrase "stench of failed actor" is tossed around. And of course, I highly recommend it.
--DocL
---
It won't be this month, because it's Actors Studio Leading Ladies month on Bravo Canada. Tonight's guest: Mary Tyler Moore.
Not quite the same thing.
--DocL
---
I doubt that, since increased product placement and additional commercials in movie theatres hasn't brought down ticket prices.
On the other hand, home video releases with ads before the feature seem to bring down the prices (on VHS, anyway). Just depends on how it's handled, I guess.
--DocL
The last time I checked, Disney secured worldwide video distribution rights for all of the Studio Ghibli films, so I believe you got hosed.
The person who dropped in Metropolis should know that was done by another studio altogether, though.
--DocL
---
If it's not required, it's still a pretty universal practice for kids' programming. Those are called "bumpers", and they've been around at least since the 70s.
--DocL
---
You might not be too far off, actually. Dig up a few of the old radio Dragnet episodes (the ones sponsored by one of the tobacco companies) and count how many times Joe Friday asks for cigarettes.
--DocL
---
The trick with cartoons isn't to bury the advertisement in the cartoon itself. The trick is to make the advertisement indistinguishable from the main show, which is brutally effective. Huckleberry Hound started his career shilling Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and most of the other H-B shows from the early 60s worked this way, too. Of course, this can lead to embarrassing situations if you overextend yourself, like the (in)famous ads of Fred and Barney taking a Winston break.
The other option is to build a show around a product line. Anybody who grew up in the 1980s knows how that works with toys, but Hanna-Barberra actually had a cartoon starring Sugar Bear (of Post Sugar Crisp fame) and other Post cereal mascots.
Both of these practices were outlawed by the FCC until the 1980s, when the gloves came off and bare-knuckled fighting for kid money clogged the airwaves again.
--DocL
---
This is a unique problem for gameshows, but not insurmountable. Think of the "You Bet Your Life" reruns; the weird camera angles weren't always that way. They blew up parts of the frame to get rid of the DeSoto ads for rerun business. It DID make for some funky looking composition, but it worked reasonably well for the time.
--DocL
---
>>>AFAIK, the 95 year mark in the US only applies to works which haven't creator, and such works cannot be copyrighted in Europe in the first place (if there's no author, there's no way his rights can be protected).
That's probably where we get all those credit lines that state the production company as the "author" of certain movies, TV shows, etc, "for purposes of copyright in Great Britain. They keep an eye on those technicalities, them weasils...
--DocL
You haven't watched Nickelodeon on Sunday lately, have you?
Of course, that's tne new Speed Racer...so YMMV
--DocLA patent which, if you check was first demonstrated in 1993 (when WWW traffic was 1% of the whole backbone) and filed in '94. And what was the big Netscape breakthrough in 1995? SERVER PUSH.
Having everything integrated under one hood is only an obvious solution in hindsight.
--DocL---
The Activision version has actually been at most of the Radio Shacks (that I've been in, anyway) for the better part of the year, which probably makes it the easiest one to find.
I'm still waiting for the Seaquest version, but I'm a bit mental that way.
--DocL
----
ESR explained in the Halloween documents FAQ:
As it is, my defense against a copyright-violation suit by Microsoft would have to make rather creative use of the exemptions in copyright case law relating to journalism, satire and commentary. I fear that making un-annotated copies available would place me at significant legal risk.
So the belief is the running commentary helps classify it as fair use, although hopefully that won't have to be tested anytime soon.
--DocL
---