Eyes on the Screen
One of these days I'm going to drive down to Nena's office and bring the rapture unto some folks. Holy mother of shit. Red, you think YOU work with some fools? You have no idea.
I won't go into details, since they don't matter and are pretty arbitrary. Still. I just don't understand how some folks have managed to live this long.
Alright, some quick hits for folks and then I'm outta here.
First off, the database is going MUCH slower than I'd anticipated. I think this deadline is a wee bit impossible, but I'm going to try and make it happen.
Next, I am SO looking forward to getting out of town for a day or two. Damn, The Minny'd better look out. I'm comin' back.
The Sosa rant ... is brewing. I think I'll finish it up tonight and drop it on you in the morning. I previewed it to Cody and I think i was a bit too Jim Rome with it. I need to bring out the Keillor a bit. There will also be a wrestling rant at some point, because the industry is too stupid to live.
NEWS FLASH! Parental blogging is on its way out. Why? Because the NYT has covered it. Nothing says SharkJumper like a writeup in the paper of record. OK, so hitting the cover of Newsweek or Time is pretty bad. As is having Katie Couric do a one hour special on you. Sorry teen sex, your fifteen minutes is up.
While we're talking about magazines, something dawned on me this weekend while I was trolling Restoration Hardware two weekends ago. I hope that I will never have a subscription to a publication that has the ability to publish a book of their best wine cartoons.
OK, last but not least- anyone been keeping up on this ridiculousness regarding Eyes on the Prize? Apparently there's no DVD release of the documentary because folks are complaining about copyright issues. As a result, folks all over the country are coming together on February 8 to have a massive screening of the documentary. Lawrence's showing will be ...
When: February 8th at 8:00 PM
Where: KU's Summerfield Hall- Room427
Price: Free, with free popcorn in front of the building as well
For more information about the situation, check out this post under the cut.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2005
Eyes on the Screen
"Eyes on the Prize", Civil Rights Documentary, To Be
Released Over the Internet Despite Copyright Disputes
A day of public screenings of the legendary documentary,
to be organized for February 8th, 2005
HYPERLINK: http://www.eyesonthescreen.org
According to some, it's illegal for makers of the civil
rights documentary "Eyes on the Prize" to put it on DVD or
show it in public. But at 8:00 PM on February during Black
History Month, Downhill Battle (downhillbattle.org) is
encouraging Americans to celebrate the struggle and triumph
of the civil rights movement with screenings of "Eyes on the
Prize" in homes and public places with the goal of having a
screening in every major city in America. The campaign is
called Eyes on the Screen.
"Eyes on the Prize" is the most comprehensive and revered
civil rights documentary ever made. But the documentary has
not been available for public viewing for the past 10 years
because of unreasonable copyright laws that impose stifling
restrictions on artists and filmmakers. In one instance,
copyright holders believe they should receive licensing fees
for the song "Happy Birthday," which appears in footage of a
group of people singing to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"To celebrate Black History Month, we believe that "Eyes
on the Prize" should be seen by as many people as possible,"
says Tiffiniy Cheng of Downhill Battle. "The civil rights
movement is just too important for this invaluable resource
to be denied to the public. So, we're going to help
distribute "Eyes on the Prize" to a mass audience and
communities can have screenings."
"Eyes on the Prize is one of the most effective
documentaries ever put together that dealt with civic
engagement," says civil rights leader Lawrence Guyot. "This
is analogous to stopping the circulation of all the books
about Martin Luther King, stopping the circulation of all
the books about Malcolm X, stopping the circulation of books
about the founding of America... I would call upon everyone
who has access to 'Eyes on the Prize' to openly violate any
and all laws regarding its showing."
"Eyes on the Prize" is an award-winning 14-volume
documentary made by the late Henry Hampton, tracking the
Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1965. Clayborne Carson, a
Stanford University history professor, has said, "It is the
principal film account of the most important American social
justice movement of the 20th century" (Wired News, 12/22/04).
"Eyes on the Prize" was the first introduction to the
history of the Civil Rights Movement for millions of
people," says Nicholas Reville of Downhill Battle, "But our
corporatized copyright system is keeping it locked away."
"The situation of "Eyes on the Prize" is a perfect example
of why copyright law isn't working for the public," says
Cheng. "It's ridiculous that this documentary is languishing
in copyright purgatory, instead of being shown in classrooms.
"Eyes on the Screen" is a perfect example of how people can
bring attention to bad copyright law and start turning the
situation around."
For background, see this article:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14801-2005Jan16.html
Contact:
Lawrence Guyot,
Former Leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
w: (202)727-4742
h: (202)332-5157
Tiffiniy Cheng,
Co-Director of Downhill Battle
w: (508)963-1096
e: tyc@downhillbattle.org
Nicholas Reville,
Co-Director of Downhill Battle
w: (508)963-7832
e: npr@downhillbattle.org
###
A 14 volume documentary being shown in one sitting? (Oh, I see, it is only the first part that is going to be shown on the 8th)
But you know, we now- as W says- live in an Ownership Society. And copyright abuse is one of the fundamental precepts of Ownership. All hail the Haves and the Have-Mores.
Um... I don't get it. Why shouldn't the authors of "Happy Birthday" get paid when their song is played? Every movie that uses the song pays them. Do people feel that the rules should be different, since it's a clip from historical footage and not regular source music for a film?
What are the "other instances" that are preventing it? Is the issue that they filmmakers can't get rights, or can't afford to pay for them?
OK, so the example they give is a bad one.
The issue (as I understand it) is that there are a lot of little rights issues that are getting in the way of getting the documentary out to a larger audience, and if each of the rights holder (to many things, not just music) were paid- the filmmakers would lose money for every copy of the documentary they sold. Unless it were sold at such a prohibitive price that it just wouldn't make sense to put this sucker out.
The reason this film matters is because it is the best film history we have of a rather important era in our history, an era that is not being taught to students and one whose lessons they need to learn, fast.
wouldn't the showing at your school be infringement because it is a public showing? or is it considered to be an educational fair use? probably - so theoretically it could still be shown in school as a fair use because it is non-profit educational use - me thinks not to mention the fact that if you show it at a state university there is probably State immunity for people who show it.....and by the way the happy birthday example sesm bogus to me - there must be something else going on - it could very well be a "big brother" censoring the public to keep them stupid issue ...
this makes no sense to me - and i am, after all, the bag o the law ....
hmmmm yeah I do work with some fools. Just how bad is Nena's office?