Copyright Criminals

Copyright Criminals from IndiePix on Vimeo.

"... What the photographer is to the painter, is what the modern producer and DJ and computer musician is to the instrumentalist."

This is a repost of a PBS documentary that Beautiful Decay put up in their own blog, but it was so interesting, I couldn't resist.

Copyright Criminals takes a look at the ethics, history and process of sampling music in the modern music industry. The focus, rightfully so, tends to be on hip hop DJs and shows people like EL-P (Def Jux) and DJ Qbert (Invisibl Skratch Piklz) talking about their process and the considerations they take when choosing what to sample.

Intellectual property law continues today to be a field of infinite grays it would seem, and moving forward I think we're going to see more and more discussion of what is and isn't ethical in the creative process. All the same, this is no new concept, people have in fact been covering, dubbing and flat out copying other works for years and years and years (waaay before hip hop), so why is it even an issue in our modern society? Do we need to collectively opt out in favor of a more pure creative process? Nah, it's probably just an issue of green.

Personally, I used to think it was wrong to draw from others (steal) to make your own work, but we live in a world of collaborative processes anyhow, so is it really that wrong? Doctors share information via medical journals and no one says a thing because their contributions lead to a greater whole, but why don't we lend that concept to more arenas of our lives? I had an old friend that would harp on about how stealing wasn't wrong when it contributed to a greater whole, and I hate to say it, but he made a good point. I'm sure as time moves on we'll continue to see works that evolve from many hours of collaborating, digging around and drawing on others.

Watch the documentary, be entertained and make your own conclusions. It starts as CO1 and continues in the browser as CO2 and so forth.

*** Update: Full documentary no longer streaming online.
Go here for more information. ***

The Philosopher Kings

"There will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers."
-Plato

Nights ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Patrick Shen. A small man, with awkward features and a gaze reminiscent of the fat kid waiting to be picked in gym class, still, as unassuming as he was, within one sentence it was known that he had a large heart and a great connection to mankind.

Patrick is the director of a great documentary called "The Philosopher Kings." The documentary examines the role of the world around us on a smaller scale by peering into the lives of several our educational system's most overlooked everyday philosophers: custodians. Through the eyes of each individual, their lives and their stories, the resulting film culminates into a surprisingly refreshing and insightful view on the world, what matters most and the power an environment has to heal, transform and inspire. If you have a moment you should give the doc. a go. I greatly look forward to seeing more of Patrick's work.

Thomas Peepers!

"Even in the middle of the night... Especially, in the middle of the night."
This was too funny not to put up.

Sofa Surfers

"A Good Day to Die" by Sofa Surfers
Directed by Timo Novotny
Edited by Gerald Schober
16mm handler: Bill Heath & Winnie Heun

The Liquidator

"The Liquidator" by the Harry J. All Stars

Weathering the Storm!

This year turned out pretty strange. The beginning of the year started out pretty normal, not unlike most others, the middle section seemed to kick a lot of ass, but yeah, toward the end there it just kind of fizzled out and went the other way... Between getting arrested for something I didn't do, the car accident and the letter I received the day after Christmas asking me to move out, I think it's safe to say I got my fair share of curve balls. Shit storms are inevitable in life though and sometimes you just have to be ready to roll with it and see what happens. You can never really know, maybe those bad things were really good things in disguise.

Anyhow, Jeremy Fish recently opened an exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, appropriately enough, it's called "Weathering the storm." It's really good and definitely worth the ten dollars and your time. A lot of the themes in this collection of Fish's work deal with many of the more "pressing" issues the US and its economy has seen over the last four quarters, but fear not fellow dilettantes, true to his passion, Fish still manages to incorporate that perfect blend of rabbits, skulls, hands and cartoonery (not an actual word) to keep even the ADDiest of the ADD kids happy. Like middlefinger-unicorns? He's got you covered. Vans that puff skull exhaust plumes? You're covered! Funky soul music in the background of a long corridor of deceptively simple illustrations? COVERED!

If Fish isn't your scene, and he may not be, there are plenty of other works in the museum that are sure to get your mind-cogs turning, it's 90% pop though, so romanticists, you have been warned. Admission is ten dollars and it runs through the seventeenth. Check it out while you can, his work is too fun to get mad around -- you'll have a good time.