So Amanda Palmer played in Falls Church on Thursday this past week. I hadn't actually realized she was going to be in town, but the webgoblin's post alerted me to it, and I decided to go (even though I had some looong work hours going on this week). I am so glad I did. The show was fantastic. I've seen a lot of live shows (200+ or more, by now) but for only a small percentage does it really feel like the artist is coming out there and just giving their all to the performance. This show was one of that small percentage. (Which is what prompts my belief that Amanda should no longer be known as simply "AFP" but now by the extended name of "AFP: Fierce Fabulous." Because she really is.)

Anyway, I walked over to the State Theater from East Falls Church Metro because Mapquest promised me it was not more than a mile. It probably wasn't, but it kind of felt like it was, given that I was wearing heels. Oy. Fortunately I got there just before Amanda's pre-show interview and found the webgoblin, his wife, and their two friends (and Eden from Balticon, too, although she wasn't at the table) at their reserved dinner table. Amanda came on shortly thereafter for the interview, which was neat. She talked about a bunch of things, including whether her fans ever got too obsessed, and then The Nervous Cabaret came out and played. They were totally not what I expected from the name, but were a lot of fun. (Somewhere in here we also ordered food and drink. cleolinda, I ordered a Woodchuck and thought of you. Hee.) During the break between sets I went out quickly to find an ATM and also buy a tiny AFP button (so cute!) and met bethofalltrades, whom I have seen in my circles around LJ and Twitter but had not met. I also mentioned that some strange guy had sent me to the merch table, and got another little button for that (Yay, Neil!).

Amanda was on next and her set was totally fun. From my completely garbled notes on my phone notepad, it looks like the set list was:

Astronaut (yay!); Missed Me; Guitar Hero; Ampersand.

Break:
Here there were questions from the audience, including "Is the real reason this show is early because you are going to see New Moon with Neil?" (which she didn't really dignify with an answer, hee!) and "Why haven't you read all the Sandman books?" (Amanda then asked how many people had read all of Sandman, and waaay more people than she expected raised their hands), and also "Why did you shave your eyebrows?" She also read one of Neil's stories from Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

There was a question regarding how hard life on the road can be and whether she gets a break or weekends sometimes, to which Amanda replied: "We don't do weekends; weekends are *not* rock and roll." And then commented on her social life and said she's been learning to go places without her computer: "It's hard, but you can do it. Leaving your phone at home? It's hard, but you can do it. I'm going to start a seminar called, 'Doing it with Amanda Palmer.'" (Hee!)

Back to the music:
The Point of It All; Runs in the Family (yay!); Mandy Goes to Med School (Now! With Audience Participation! (which was great)); That's Not My Name (The Ting Tings); Coin-Operated Boy (yay!); House of the Rising Sun.

Encore:
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Leonard Cohen cover, maudelynn, I got this on video JUST FOR YOU); Oasis with Twist & Shout in the middle; Leeds United.

It was a great set.

I ended up staying for awhile afterward, since Amanda was signing things and taking photos. I hadn't really brought anything to sign but thought a photo would be nice. And then last minute I remembered I'd picked up the postcard for the show from the table, so I got that signed after all. :)

I took a fair few photos (which are here).

Also, thank you @amandapalmer, for posting a pic of the whole audience. I'm there! Behind the guy holding up the glass on the left.

( My favorite pics under the cut. )

...

In other news, today I went to my cousin's house for dinner and a visit with him, my sister, my BiL, and the baaaaaby. We got to see Chris's new house he's been fixing up, and he fixed us some awesome Midwestern fare for dinner (steaks, green beans, mac & cheese, corn on the cob...mmmm.) Also he took us downstairs and showed us a bit about how his DJ equipment works (he DJs in Adams Morgan every weekend). That was totally fun.

( Photos, OF COURSE. )

...

And now, linkspam, in great part from my Twitter Posse. (YO!)

Random Stuff Vaguely Related to Me

This is bizarre, but kind of interesting:

TheWhuffieBank.org - A New Social Currency

Apparently I am worth 95 "Whuffies" per month: OK then! (By way of comparison, Neil Gaiman is worth 25,775 W per month. Cleolinda is worth 1,845. (Heh, ask_deadpool is only worth 57. Ironically, on Twitter (which seems to be one way they measure), "he" has 4 times as many followers as I do, and is listed 3 times as much. So...not sure how accurate this thing really is.) I am not entirely sure of the point of this, either, although it appears eventually people with high standings could get, like, real stuff for it. Weird but interesting idea.

My grandma sent me this e-card. It is cute. Yay, pumpkin pie! I looooves it.

Via geekgirldiva: the Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test (Apparently I'm a "Modern, Cool Nerd; 61 % Nerd, 74% Geek, 17% Dork" I'm rather puzzled as to why it came out Nerd when I scored better on Geek, but not puzzled enough to try and figure it out. HEE. Here's the text:

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgeable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!)

Comics Nerdosity

The Merry Marvel Marching Society: The Voices of Marvel/Scream Along with Marvel" records re-mastered

You guys, this is freakin' awesome! It's audio files of two short records that were sent to the Marvel fanclub in the 1960's, with Stan Lee and a bunch of Marvel folks talking, plus songs. It's like a little bit of Marvel history. Seriously give it a listen.

Speaking of comics, Incorruptible, with Mark Waid, looks great.

Copyright Issues Again

Also in comics, Copyrighted comic book cover art used without permission:

A website called the Home of the Green Arrow, which supports the far-right British National Party in its "fight to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia," has co-opted Jock's art from the DC Comics miniseries Green Arrow: Year One for its banner. "This is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth," the artist wrote this morning on Twitter. He has contacted DC's legal department.

NOT COOL, BNP.

And speaking of copyright infringement, Shaun of the Dead director ripped off by The Times

Oh no you di'int! I love Edgar Wright. YOU DON'T STEAL FROM EDGAR WRIGHT.

Here's the original tribute.

The Guardian covers the story

And speaking of infringement:

Completely ridiculous UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder General"

These changes will give the Secretary of State (Mandelson -- or his successor in the next government) the power to make "secondary legislation" (legislation that is passed without debate) to amend the provisions of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

What that means is that an unelected official would have the power to do anything without Parliamentary oversight or debate, provided it was done in the name of protecting copyright.

See the follow-up as well: Britain's new Internet law:

[The Digital Economy Bill] consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the "three-strikes" rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial)

...

£50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing. A duty on ISPs to spy on all their customers in case they find something that would help the record or film industry sue them (ISPs who refuse to cooperate can be fined £250,000).

But that's just for starters. ...

Writing and Publish-y Stuff

From blackholly (I think it was), Wall Street Journal article on "How to Write a Great Novel" (authors sharing their methods of writing).

Speaking of writers, Biographer Talks Ayn Rand and Her Hollywood Days

J.C. Hutchins discusses How the internet will change--but not kill--the tradtional publishing model.

Random Leftover Links

clockwork_zero, maker of faaaabulous steampunk jewelry (I have a great necklace and there are some earrings that will perhaps be in the works soon; ellen_datlow pointed me towards her in the first place and has several earrings I believe) has posted some Tips for Etsy Sellers (and it looks like she may be posting more) on her blog.

Gateses Give $290 Million for Education

A separate $45 million research initiative will study 3,700 classroom teachers in six cities, including New York, seeking to answer the question that has puzzled investigators for decades: What, exactly, makes a good teacher effective?

They should really just go study my mom, who is the MOST AWESOME TEACHER EVER. Really, she is. See also, my grandmother, back in the day.

And via alliancesjr, this made me laugh.

...

And now? BEDTIME!

Tags: afp: fierce fabulous, alliancesjr, amanda, chris, cleolinda, comics, concerts, copyright, ellen datlow, family, jeff, law, linkspam, little ben, marvel, music, picspam, publishing, terry pratchett, twitter, wonderful neil, writing
i am: sleepy

John has sent me another bit of his Very Cool Art - this time a sketch of Nightmare, from Dr. Strange - which really needs to be posted here because it’s deliciously eerie. So here it is. John is majorly talented (not that it needs to be said).

( Darkness lies within. )

He also sent me a link to a phenomenon he witnessed the other day that I sadly did NOT see:

DC Tweed Ride for Arts for the Aging, Inc. (AFTA)

I bet that looked AWESOME.

...

In other news, I have become determined that, despite money difficulties at the present time, by August of next year I *will* be packing for the 2010 UK Discworld Con. I’ve been wondering if it was wise to even hope that I might make it, but as Rob says, “Positive thinking!” So now thanks to that encouragement and a couple of other factors, I am throwing caution to the winds and anticipating that somehow, someway, possibly with only one remaining kidney (I KID. I KID. SELLING ORGANS ON THE BLACK MARKET IS BAAAAD) I will make it to the con. Which will be great, since I already miss several of my Discworld buddies (OH, BRITISH PEOPLE, WHY YOU HAVE TO LIVE SO FAR AWAY?). Unfortunately, I fear this means I may also need to think about a costume (I am so bad at this), if only because I’ve worn one for at least part of each of the prior cons, and I’d feel kind of bad now if I didn’t even make the effort. Apparently, the only thing that will make me actively plan a costume (other than Halloween when I was a kid) is Terry Pratchett. Knowing Terry, he will see me and immediately ask why I'm not wearing a corset or a gold miniskirt this time. And then I will feel guilty for not having costumed. Heh.

...

And to move to another topic completely without any segue whatsoever, good news from work - I am actually working on drafting a segment of a brief right now! I know, I know, last year I was drafting whole judicial decisions. But hey! This is the most interesting thing I’ve ever done on a contract attorney job! I have to be excited. Not to mention it reminds me of my life as a Real Lawyer (which I will totally get back at some point, RIGHT, ECONOMY?). Ahhh.

...

And finally, hello to anyone who’s wandered over here from Neil Gaiman's journal and my previous post on Neil Gaiman, Coraline, “Mother Holle,” and That Ridiculous Article Some Uninformed Person Wrote. (Thank you for the link, Neil, and I am glad to see that you've accepted your title as a Ruler of the Darkness of This World.) If you’re one of those who’s friended me, welcome to the madhouse, although I can’t promise every post will be as exciting as that. :) But you might enjoy this post while you’re here, if only because it contains The Littlest Neil Gaiman.

Tags: art, awesomeness, comics, convention, costumes, discworld, john snyder, my big bro rob, picspam, terry pratchett, wonderful neil, work
i am: sleepy

I happened upon this article today: Two Stories for Children, by Fritz Spencer, and it just made me go "...WHAT?" It also infuriated me rather a lot; hence, this post.^{FN 1}

( Lj-cut because this got loooong. Though hopefully not boring. )

...

In other things, a link you should really check out because HELLO FUN: A Practical Ghost Story by Lee Thomas.

And the craziest music video I have seen in QUITE SOME TIME: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance Crazy, and yet STRANGELY HYPNOTIZING.

And, hey! I just discovered that Amanda Palmer is going to be doing a concert in Falls Church Thursday. Have now bought my ticket and will be meeting up with the webgoblin and a couple of others from Balticon for the show. WHEE.

Tags: annoyances, articles, balticon, concerts, coraline, dan guy, literary analysis, literature, movies, music, rant, the internet iz serius biznes, video clip, wonderful neil, youtube
i am: awake

I found some great photos from the Irish Discworld Con up here. (He's got a whole collection of Discworld Con photos if you're interested. :)

( My favorites )


...And completely unrelated, thank you to alliancesjr for this link, which cracked me the hell up: Five Reasons It Sucks Being a Joss Whedon Fan.

P.S. And I am now uploading all the old Made of Fail podcasts to my iPod after having to admit to cleolinda that I haven't actually listened to one all the way through yet (I *have* listened to pieces of several of them, though). It's not that I don't want to listen! It's just that I haven't had time. But lo, now I will have them on the Metro, which is great for listening to podcasts.

P.P.S. Thanks to Reilly Brown favoriting this on DeviantArt, I have encountered this bit of awesomeness: Animator vs. Animation. Seriously, this is hilariously awesome. WATCH IT.

Tags: articles, convention, discworld, firefly, ireland, joss whedon, made of fail, my big bro rob, picspam, terry pratchett, tv
i am: uncomfortable

So I know I've posted about fair use vs. infringement of a copyright before, sometimes at great length (and even regarding its relation to the issue of orphan works (remember that fun?)), but I feel like maybe some of the Internet needs to revisit the concept.^{FN 1}

Recently my friend cleolinda had another run-in with someone re-posting, in its entirety and without any attribution whatsoever (including the copyright notices Cleo has interspersed with text in white (i.e. invisible unless you highlight it) font, which had been deleted from the re-posted copy), one of her movie parodies, Twilight in Fifteen Minutes. (Please note, even though it is not necessary to do this to protect your copyright, Cleo always posts specific notices at the ends of her parodies stating that her work is protected and what, if anything, readers may re-post. When authors do this, people should pay attention to these notices.) Re-posting is a problem she has encountered several times in the last few years (interestingly, there is now a website that can help you determine if your internet words are being copied and re-posted. Try searching for the Twilight M15M link, or any of the parodies, and you will see that re-posting without attribution is a common issue for Cleo.) Although fortunately the most recent re-poster eventually removed the parody upon request of some of Cleo's readers and finally Cleo herself, some replies from the poster that were made prior to removal, in response to comments politely asking that the post be removed or at least attributed, included:

I found it in an uncredited bulletin so chill the fuck out hahahah.

lolololol the author. It's a fucking Twilight parody. You're a moron. If she didn't want it posted on the internet, she shouldn't have posted it on the internet. Good luck with that lawsuit.

it's not even like a legit literary work. she re-worded a movie. congrats, here's a cookie.

These comments make me think that perhaps some of us are not sure about the scope of U.S. copyright law and may need a refresher course, particularly regarding Section 107, Fair Use, which is what allows us to, under the right circumstances, copy or use part or all of an existing original work without being found liable for copyright infringement. First, let's be perfectly clear about three things:

1) This post is not meant to attack the person who recently infringed on Cleo's work - rather it is meant to (hopefully) be educational and helpful. This stuff can be confusing! It is not generally taught in schools (except for law schools and perhaps some college classes). Don't feel bad if you've misunderstood what you can and can't do. But please, make the effort to educate yourself as to your rights versus the rights of the copyright owner before using any part of another's work (hint: reading this post and the links above might be a good start).

2) Under U.S. law, creators of an original work own an exclusive copyright in that work upon its creation. The creator does not have to register for a copyright; it comes into existence when the work is fixed in a tangible medium (please note, I will not be touching here on works for hire and the like, where the creator contracts to give ownership of the copyright to another. That's another issue). This copyright gives owners several exclusive rights to control the use and reproduction of the work, as listed in Section 106 of the copyright laws. If you use a copyright owner's work without permission, and the use infringes on these exclusive rights, you may be held liable for said infringement.

3) The concept of fair use is what allows people to sometimes use part or all of an original work, in some specific instances, without being found liable for infringement. Please note, fair use is what the law calls an affirmative defense. This means you have no "right" of fair use. What you have is, if you get accused of infringement and/or sued, the opportunity to raise, as your defense, the concept that your use of the work is fair, i.e. passes the legal test for fair use as set out by the law and the U.S. courts. The fair use defense does not guarantee you will not be found liable of infringement. Your use has to actually pass the legal test, which is applied on a case-by-case basis, first.


So now that we've got the basics above down, let's move on. There are a lot of things I could cover here, but I've already covered some in the previously-linked entries, so in this one I'm going to focus specifically on some of the problems Cleo has encountered as embodied in the misconceptions of the poster quoted above, before noting some uses of the particular work infringed on here that would be found to be fair under the law.


Misconceptions

1. I found it in an uncredited bulletin so chill the fuck out hahahah.

Believe it or not, original works of authorship, even if not credited, are still protected by copyright law. This is actually the subject of the orphan works posts I have cited above (and my 40-something page paper on orphan works, whee). The Copyright Office defines orphan works as “copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate.” If a work is "orphaned," this does not mean the work is fair game to be used indiscriminately. What it does mean is that under the current law, if a person wishes to use an orphan work in a manner that goes beyond statutory limitations or exceptions to copyright such as fair use or copying only elements not covered by copyright, he must take the risk that the copyright owner may appear after use has begun in order to enforce his rights. If the owner does appear to enforce his rights, and the use has violated those rights, the user may be held liable for infringement under U.S. copyright law. Therefore laughing maniacally and telling people to chill out about the infringement? Probably not the best idea.


2. lolololol the author. It's a fucking Twilight parody. You're a moron. If she didn't want it posted on the internet, she shouldn't have posted it on the internet. Good luck with that lawsuit.

There are two misconceptions in this comment, the first one being that because the work is a parody, it is somehow not a literary work and therefore is fair game for copying. This is incorrect. Not only can parodies be legitimate literary works (often published by well-regarded and well-established publishing houses, as Cleo's book of Movies in Fifteen Minutes has been), the parody format has been used over the years by some of the most well-known classic authors in the realm of literature (hello, Mark Twain, James Thurber, and Edgar Allen Poe!). Note that Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. was the Supreme Court case that established that a commercial parody (such as Cleo's Movies in Fifteen Minutes as published by Orion) can qualify as fair use. I have written about this elsewhere in more detail, and also discuss it below in point 3.


The second misconception in this comment is the incorrect assumption that because something is posted on the internet, it may be re-posted at will, and that the original author should have no expectation of copyright protection in internet-posted works. U.S. copyright law states (in Section 102) that:

(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:

(1) literary works; ...

Works of authorship, including literary works, fixed in "any tangible medium of expression." I doubt that any of us would argue that text posted on the Internet is not a tangible medium by which we express ourselves, and I have explained in both this point and point 3 that a written parody is a legitimate literary work. Therefore...dun dun dun! Original text, such as an m15m parody, that is posted on the internet, is protected by copyright law! I know, it's amazing. The internet is great, but it isn't a free-for-all. The law still applies. Sorry, folks!


3. it's not even like a legit literary work. she re-worded a movie. congrats, here's a cookie.

Ok, I've covered the fact that a parody is a legitimate literary work above and in previous entries, and I've talked about both parodies and the other misconception in this statement (that it's not a protectable work because it borrows from a previous work) before, when someone questioned whether Cleo could own a copyright in a literary work based on another work, opining that that is a derivative work and therefore not copyrightable. I'm going to cheat here and re-post what I wrote about parodies and derivative works in response to that other question, since it's, you know, already written and everything!


Sections 106 and 106A of Title 17 are the statutes that deal with the rights a copyright owner has. Both sections contain the limitation, "Subject to section 107," which is the section dealing with fair use. Fair use is one of several limitations to the absolute ownership of a copyright by the original owner.

Section 107 lists several uses of a preexisting work that are considered "fair" under the law. The list is not inclusive, but this work could be seen to fall under at least two of the listed uses, "criticism" and "comment." Courts apply the fair use doctrine on a case-by-case basis - i.e., unless someone is sued, it doesn't become an issue. If sued, if the courts, using the four-factor test outlined in the statute, determine that the work is one of those listed as permited under section 107 or a similar type, the work does not infringe on the original copyright under Title 17.

The first factor of the test for fair use is "the purpose and character" of the work; the question asked is whether the new work adds something new to the old, i.e. is transformative. The Supreme Court has held that parody is transformative (Campell vs. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994)), and that "it can provide social benefit, by shedding light on an earlier work, and in the process, creating a new one..." The court also stated that the more transformative a work, the less important other factors of the test, such as the commercialism of a work, are in weighing against a finding of fair use. The court makes it clear that parody (like this Movie in Fifteen Minutes) is clearly and obviously transformative, and gives that great weight in the four-factor test.

With parody, the Supreme Court notes, a work may be borrowed from somewhat more permissively than in some other cases, because parody relies for its success on people recognizing the work from which the parody is departing. Therefore, enough of the original work may be used to gain that recognition by a general reader. The court held that as long as "no more is taken than necessary," some amount of borrowing for the purpose of the commentary is permitted.

What you [the commenter on the original post, who was quoting the Copyright Office's definition of a derivative work] referred to earlier is correct: a derivative work is a work based on a preexisting work that, as a whole, represents an original work of authorship. However, a derivative work may still be copyrighted. The copyright of the derivative work extends only to the new material contributed to the original work. That copyright is independent of the preexisting rights to the work.

To sum up, in the case of Twilight in Fifteen Minutes:

1) Cleo can, under Section 107 and current case law, borrow as much material from the original movie and/or book as is necessary to make the work that she is parodying recognizable to the reader, and to make clear her commentary on the original work;

2) Cleo can copyright all original elements of this parody.


So there you have it - some common misconceptions about copyright and fair use, debunked.


Some Fair Uses of Cleolinda's Work

Now, after reading the above, you might be saying to yourself, "but I really, really LOVE Cleo's parodies! They make me laugh, and I just want to share them with EVERYBODY. Are you saying I can't do that?" Or, you may be saying, "I have an opinion about something that she wrote in her parody. I want to post a literary critique of it. But I have to quote her work to do so. Is that allowed?" Or you may be saying, "Cleo is the foremost expert on the Twilight phenomenon and all that it entails. I want to quote her for my news article. How do I do that without getting in trouble?" Or perhaps, "I really loved the literary references she made in this parody, or the use of the parody format itself. I want to show the students I teach how this format was used to critique and amuse. Can't I share this with them?" Or even, "I want to cite Cleo in my paper on Twilight. Can I?"

Guess what? You CAN actually a) share the parody with your friends; b) critique or comment on the parody; c) use Cleo's parody in your news article; d) use the parody for teaching purposes; and e) cite Cleo's parody in your scholarly work. BUT WAIT. BECAUSE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. There are RIGHT WAYS AND WRONG WAYS to use another's work, and only THE RIGHT WAYS will give you the legal protection afforded by the fair use defense.

The section of U.S. copyright law dealing with fair use states:

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.


If you don't want to accidentally or purposely infringe on another's rights, your use of the original work needs to fall within the parameters of the four-factor fair use test. I know, this test is written in The Dreaded Language of Legalese, and applied by the courts in individual cases, and thus can be hard to interpret on the fly. So here, I give you easy examples of the Proper Way to use Cleo's work in the ways permitted by fair use, To make it simple, let's use the ever-popular Animaniacs "Good Idea; Bad Idea" form of explanation.^{FN 2}

A) Sharing the parody with your friends.

Good Idea: Posting a small portion of the work with a credit or attribution and a link to the whole of the work.

One factor the courts look at is "the amount and substantiality" of a use. This is a very important factor if the only purpose of your copying of the work is to show it to others. For this use, the proper way to go about it is to quote a relevant and reasonably short piece of the work, and then link to the whole of the work with a proper citation and attribution. E.g.:

"Hey all! I just read Cleolinda Jones' Twilight parody, and it cracked me up! This part made me laugh so hard:

EDWARD: I AM VAMPIRE. HEAR ME TWINKLE.

Check out the rest of it here!"

(You can quote more than one line, of course. But for something like this, quoting more than a short scene or two from the whole would generally be too much. Here is someone who did it right.)

Bad Idea: Posting the whole of the work elsewhere. (Please note: Even if you post the whole of the work with a link and an attribution to the copyright owner/author, this does not mean you are in the clear. Courts would look to factor 3 of the fair use test here and almost certainly determine that using the whole of a work goes beyond fair use.)

REALLY Bad Idea: Posting the work and claiming it is your own, and/or posting the work with a few changes, additions, or deletions and claiming it is your own. Yes, these have both happened to Cleo.


B) Critiquing or commenting on the parody.

Good Idea: Quoting small portions of the text interspersed with analysis.

If you are critiquing something, you may have to quote several portions of the work in order to get your point across. This is permitted under fair use, just as using some portions of a work to get the point of a parody across is permitted. The point is to make sure that you use pieces of the work that are directly relevant to the commentary or critique you are providing. For example, if you were to write a positive critique on how Cleo uses references to common tropes and popular culture to humorous effect in her parodies:

"One of the reasons Cleolinda Jones' parodies resonate with the masses is because she highlights her humorous works with references to popular culture and commonly recognized literary tropes, including plot points, as seen here in her Twilight parody:

BELLA: Wait, what's going on at the police station?

EDWARD: Wait, why is my not-dad there?

CARLISLE: Bella, I'm so sorry... your father's weird friend was killed by a feral plot point.

BELLA: I didn't even know we had those in this movie!

CARLISLE [significant look ]: I know. They're very rare in Forks.

EDWARD [mind-reading ]: D:<

Bad Idea: Quoting part or all of the work and then saying, "I really loved this, it made me laugh!" or "Man, this Twilight parody is dumb!"

Neither of these qualifies as a sufficient critique or commentary that would justify re-posting the work.


C) Citing Cleo's parody in your news article.

Good Idea: Posting a news article in which you discuss some aspect of Cleo's parodies. (And here I get to just link things, as several people have done this properly.

NY Mag's Did Breaking Dawn Ruin the Twilight Series?

MSNBC's A Beginner's Guide to Twilight

The Guardian's Tiny Things, Tiny Minds

Bad Idea: Posting Cleo's parody in your blog with "Breaking News! Cleo Has a New Parody Up!" and thinking that's a news article.


D) Using the parody for teaching purposes.

Good Idea: Use Cleo's parody to...wait for it...explain the differences between fair use and infringement under U.S. copyright law! (See THIS POST.)

Bad Idea: Post the parody in its entirety with the comment: "This is how to write a good parody, aspiring writers! Learn from it!" or "Here is an example of a parody. Look at that!"

(Please note: an actual teacher may be permitted to, say, print out copies of a work to hand out to a class or similar, if the purpose of that is for the students to then look at and analyze or learn from the work in some way under the guidance of the teacher. This is a different situation from someone re-posting on the internet, as is the main problem here, and saying it's so people can learn from it.)


E) Citing Cleo's parody in your scholarly work.

Good Idea: Using a quote to illustrate a scholarly point.

For example, in a piece on, say, how people on the Internet invent new words that then become included in the popular lexicon:

"Cleolinda Jones coined a new word, 'fursplode,' in her popular Twilight commentaries, which she then used in her Twilight parody to refer to Jacob's and other Quileutes' violent transformations into werewolves:

[And then Jacob shows up with his as-yet-unfursploded posse, who are all like, did you bring any Cullens? BECAUSE THEY CAN'T COME HERE.]

This word has since shown up in The Urban Dictionary."

Bad Idea: Writing a paragraph or two about how parodies have become popular on the internet, and concluding with, "here's one of the most popular ones I've seen," before posting the entire parody.


To Summarize: As you can probably glean from the above examples, re-posting the entirety of someone else's copyrighted work without prior permission, even with a credit or attribution, is almost always an infringement of their exclusive rights. Don't do it! However, as shown above, there are several ways in which you may quote, refer to, critique, etc. the work without getting in legal trouble. Just be careful to remember that someone else owns the work and consider how you are going to use it and whether that use is truly "fair" under the legal test before you do so (and hey, don't forget you can usually ask the owner's permission to use part or all of a work before using it. I highly recommend this course of action!).


WELL. I think that about wraps up what I have to say about fair use, copyright infringement, and the Internet today. Check back...some other time for more thoughts on legal things. And I really do hope this was helpful and/or some of you all out there have learned something from it! Remember: it's really not cool to steal someone's stuff and re-post it on the internet just because it's easy to cut and paste. Not to mention it's really not legal. So try to follow the law, eh? Thanks.


FN 1: Please note the above is not specific legal advice aimed towards any person's particular situation.

FN 2: Which use I would be able to defend under Section 107 because I am borrowing a small part of the original concept as a pop culture reference to illustrate examples in a simple manner while teaching. :)

Tags: cleolinda, copyright, fair use, law, m15m, parodies, the internet iz serius biznes
i am: thoughtful

OK, so a) I am up for a new phone on my new every two plan from Verizon, and have no idea what to get, and b) after seven faithful years, I think this laptop is really due for replacement. Or a solemn burial. And now, I need adviiiiiice! :) cleolinda gave me some really good tips gleaned from her experience during the Compocalypse '09* (which will hopefully be ending soon when she gets her Dell), but the more info the merrier, considering the last time I laptop shopped was 7 years ago via my law school saying, "Here. Everyone, you get this. It's a Dell. $3,000, please," and the way I generally phone shop is calling up my best friend from home, whose contract typically renews about a month before mine, and going, "Hey, what did you get? Do you like it?" and then getting the same thing. I may do that anyway, but maybe I should step it up a little and actually look around.

So. Here's what I'm looking for (and please don't laugh at me! Yes, I know I taught myself to code in HTML and Javascript and yet I don't know how you tell if the phone I want to buy can get the Internet. Shutup).

a) PHONE. With New Every Two's online discounts, I can pretty much pick any phone up to $150 or so and get it free. So I have A BUNCH of choices. I have the LG enV right now (in army green! It is cute!). To date, I have never not had an LG phone, and they seem to hold up really well; but I'm always interested in hearing other opinions. Before I got the enV I almost never texted, and when I got it I was all, "WOE, it's not a traditional flip phone and it's bigger than my last one b/c of the keyboard!" but now I am spoiled, and I text people a lot (ESPECIALLY PEOPLE IN ENGLAND O HAI THERE ROB) so I want my new phone to have the QWERTY board. My current one has a 2.0 megapixel camera/video, so that or better is another thing I want. I like small phones. And I...might want to get a data plan, i.e. The Internet. Is that only practical on a BlackBerry or the like, or are there phones where it's not too annoying to use? Is it really, really expensive? Is it usually a flat rate, or by use? Is it supported on my current phone? I don't even know this. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, PEOPLE. MY TECHNOLOGY HAILS FROM THE DARK AGES. ALSO, GET OFF MY LAWN.

I see they have a new enV (enV3), so I could always go with that.** And there's the LG Chocolate, but I have an iPod Classic I don't plan to give up, so I don't know if that's the best choice. And then there's the LG Versa (is that a touch screen one? It looks like it. Not sure how big a fan I am of the touch screens, but I've never really used one...). There's a Motorola Rival with a QWERTY keyboard. In "PDA & Smartphones" I can get either the HTC Ozone or the Samsung Omnia (another touch screen) for free. AND THEN we have the BlackBerrys: BlackBerry Curve 8330, Storm 9530, 8830 World Edition, and 8703e are all free under my contract. DO YOU SEE WHY I AM CONFUSED?

So...um...thoughts on phones?


b) COMPUTER. Since I can only really afford one computer, my new computer is going to be a laptop. And since my Dell has held on (granted, with repairs, but still) for SEVEN YEARS, I am going to start by deciding to get another Dell. I have done *some* research, and have decided, like any sane person after seeing the comparison tests, to go with Windows 7 over Vista. That's as far as I've gotten.

NOW COMES THE HARD PART. You guys, have you looked at the Dell site lately? There's the Latitude (my current laptop is a Latitude D600), the Vostro, the "Precision Mobile Workstation," the Inspiron, the Studio, the XPS, the Studio XPS, the Adamo, and "Gaming Laptops." I don't even know where to start! (I could do what I do with phones, and go, "Hey, Cleo got this one, maybe I'll just go with that since we do a lot of the same computer things!" But I think that is not, perhaps, the best way to decide how to spend upwards of $1000. So. Here's what I want:

1) Speeeeeed. I am SO over having a laptop that is slow as all get-out. Plsgivemenewfastcomputerkthx. I multitask, and I want a computer that can handle the internet, MS Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, iTunes, and a million other things all going at once without either choking or slowing down.

2) Good graphics/strong video card and all that jazz. Because I do graphic-y things a lot, I design websites, I edit photos, I watch movies, and heck, I may even play a game now and again.

3) A CD/DVD player and possibly (if I can afford it) a burner too. What's this I hear about Blu-Ray? How much does that cost?

4) Right now I connect to the internet with a USB thingie. Do they build that stuff in now? I feel like maybe they do. Am I crazy? *shakes cane at the kids on the lawn*

5) Not too heavy, if possible. Also, long-lasting battery. Also, enough USB ports that I can plug in my mouse and my external drive and my camera-thingie and my wireless (if needed). If that is even possible. Also, good customer service and warranty with replacement parts if needed.

6) BIG storage and memory and a kick-ass processor. What's the difference between duo and dual core?

7) What software does a laptop come with these days? I need MS Office, obvs. a browser (Firefox, ho!), Photoshop, and some other stuff. I think I still have my ooooold Photoshop Elements CD somewhere. I THINK. Um.

8) AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE I AM SO, SO POOR.


So...computer advice, pls? :)


*Favorite Compocalypse entry title: "Compocalypse '09: Your Oxen Have Died" HEEE.

**The phones listed here are all the ones I can get free under my plan. No others.

Tags: computers, help!, my big bro rob, phone, shopping
set location: Typing on my oooold computer
soundtrack: Nothing I have a headache WOE.

I was reminded while talking with maudelynn that I've been meaning to post my latest iPod playlist of Songs I Can't Stop Listening To, just for fun and because I think it's a neat collection.

This set of songs would be defined as "songs I ONLY obtained after hearing them on TV". So in other words, even if it's a song from TV (like Cake's Short Skirt/Long Jacket, i.e. the themesong of Chuck) that I like, if I had already heard it or already owned it, it's not here. Just stuff I specifically hunted down from TV. I recommend all of these songs, obviously. :)

Songs from TV

Time Lapse Lifeline - Maria Taylor
Bones: Ep. 4x23 - The Beaver in the Otter

Apologize - OneRepublic
Smallville: Ep. 7x13 - Hero

Brand New Day - Ryan Star
Lie to Me - Theme Song

The Gift - Angels and Airwaves
Gossip Girl: Ep. 1x1 - Pilot

This is your life - Switchfoot
Smallville: Ep. 4x19 - Blank

You Might Die Trying - Dave Matthews Band
House: Ep. 3x2 - Not Cancer

Raise Your Hand (Lifeblood Remix 128) - The Lights
Gossip Girl: Ep. 1x3 - Poison Ivy

Burning For You - Shiny Toy Guns
Commercial - Lincoln MKS2010

U A Freak (Nasty Girl) - Chingy
House: Ep. 4x15 - House's Head

Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz
House: Ep. 3x1 - Meaning

Cobrastyle - Teddybears (ft. Mad Cobra)
Chuck: Ep. 1x1 - Pilot

Funny Little Feeling - The Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers
Smallville: Ep. 4x11 - Unsafe

Feels Like Today - Rascal Flatts
Smallville: Ep. 4X5 - Run

Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
Greek - can't remember!

Guess Who (parov stelar remix) - Nekta
Gossip Girl: Ep. 1x6: The Handmaid's Tale

Don't Take Your Love Away - Vast
Smallville: Ep. 8x10 - Bride

Teardrop - Massive Attack
House - Theme Song

Precious - Depeche Mode
Smallville: Ep. 5x1 - Arrival

This Is The Thing - Fink
Lie to Me: Ep. 1x19 - Life is Priceless

What You Don't Know - Jonatha Brooke
Dollhouse - Theme Song

Set Free - Katie Gray
Bones: Ep. 4x4 - The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond

Break So Easy - Johnathan Rice
Smallville: Ep. 4x11 - Unsafe

Some Devil - Dave Matthews Band
House: Ep. 1x20 - Love Hurts

Roadside - Rise Against
Smallville: Ep. 6x14 - Trespass

...

And that's all for tonight, folks!

Tags: lists, music, tv
i am: sleepy

You know what I like the best about this day off? Is that my workplace is LOCKED, i.e. I couldn't go in and do my hours even if I wanted to! Therefore, I don't have to feel bad about not getting my overtime hours in yet. WHEE. (I've been working a lot of hours the last few weeks to get the permitted overtime in. But let me tell you, the paycheck is WORTH IT.)

In other, much more fun/interesting news, here's an interview on blogcritics.org with one of my favorite people, cleolinda Jones. Check it out!

And now, I'm going to find some early dinner.

Tags: cleolinda, interview, linkspam, vacation, work
i am: hungry

Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzheimer's has just won a Scottish BAFTA. You can view the video of the awards here, and if you move the scrollbar to just after the stop button, you'll be just about where you need to be to see Rob and some of the crew accepting the award.

Congrats, Terry, Rob, Charlie, and all of the Living with Alzheimer's crew!

Tags: awards, discworld, my big bro rob, terry pratchett, video clip
i am: awake

This made me laugh:



P.S. See also, The Longest Poem In The World

And

The Economy Has Been Hard on Everyone

HEE.

Tags: comics, funny, humor, linkspam, oh noetry poetry, picspam, twitter
i am: amused

Wow, I've been a bit of a slacker around here lately, eh? I guess I can blame working 56 hours a week for that! And that strain of Martian Death Flu I picked up a few weeks ago. But hey, that just means a nice loooong entry (heh) about my recent adventures. Lucky you!

...

A few weeks ago I had a nice dinner at the Thai place with Karen (hi Karen!) whom I hadn't seen in quite awhile, so that was fun. Good to catch up! The next week unfortunately was when I got siiiiick, but I did get to hang out with Kelly that weekend - she brought me dinner and a GIAGANTIC container of yummy chicken soup, which I proceeded to eat for the entire next week. We also went to the comic book store to pick up my towering stack of subscription comics (I think I hadn't been there in a month) and then had a good long conversation about what's going on in her life right now.

I also watched Waitress while I was sick - I'd read reviews that it was a sweet little romantic movie and since it has Nathan Fillion in it, I decided to check it out. I have to say, I was a bit nonplussed. I mean, it's interesting, but a lot of it was just kind of depressing - the way the main character Jenna doesn't want her baby, and the abusive husband, and all the people cheating on each other and all the rest. I think part of why I didn't love it was because I was expecting something a little more upbeat - but I think another reason why I didn't like it that much was because the characters' motivations weren't really made that clear sometimes; like Nathan Fillion's character - it wasn't really clear why he would choose Keri Russell's character Jenna over his own wife, who seemed devoted to him when she finally showed up, and was pretty and cheerful. Not that Jenna wasn't pretty and with her own charm; just that it wasn't really clear what was wrong with his marriage; nor was why Jenna was so unable to get away from her husband Earl, although I guess we were just supposed to assume battered women's syndrome or similar. Anyway - it was fairly interesting, but probably not something I'd watch twice. (THE PIES LOOKED AMAZING, THOUGH.)

After that weekend was when all the chaotic hours at work started, so I can't recall doing anything more exciting than watching TV and working on the new website for Jeff, but this week things finally started to slow down a little, and I got to have lunch at Teaism with the talented John Snyder on Friday. I hadn't been to Teaism before (although vwlphb and I intended to go many times!), but the food is very good (although I have to say their mango lassi can't hold a candle to the ones at Delhi Dhaba; I think DD uses more yogurt...) and it was really nice to get together with John, whom I'd met at the Baltimore Comic Con. We talked about a whole hodgepodge of things, including some art he's done for Zorro & Harlan Ellison (below) and some of the things he's working on now, and are going to meet up again after the excitement of the holidays has died down. Also John gave me an awesome uncut trading card that he'd done. Shiny!

( Some of the great art John has shared with me under the cut! )

This weekend after I finished up my work hours (ick, working on Saturday = no fun) I FINALLY got to sleep for over 5 hours at a time (a whole 8 hours of sleep! What luxury!) and then today I met up with Amanda, Jeff, Benji, Julius, and Julius's girlfriend Athena for lunch. It was SO nice to see my baby nephew again (and every time I see him he's just so much bigger than the last time that it amazes me!) and it was great to see Julius, too, whom I hadn't seen since...New Year's in Trinidad? I think? And nice to meet Athena. We had a great lunch wherein I got to play with the baaaaaby (WIN) and then we all went for a nice little walk. Julius is recovering right now from the shoulder surgery he *just* had, but seemed in good shape. I'm glad he got the surgery done, and the timing is good, since now he will have the whole time between now and March to get back up to speed for the new DC United soccer season.

( Of course I took pictures! )

And now, just a few more little things:

--> I'm finally back to answering questions over at ask_deadpool, so there's a new post up there! I'm going to try to get through my backlog of 20-something questions in the next few weeks, since it's a nice break from other stuff. Whee!

--> I think I may have already recommended it, but I am absolutely addicted to Set Free, by Katie Gray. It's beautiful; give it a listen over at the link.

--> You know how I do craft projects on occasion? Well one of my latest was a clay version of "Scary Trousers Neil" from Neverwear.net, as drawn by Kendra Stout. I think he came out pretty darned cute!

( Don't you think? )

But since I don't need *too* much more stuff sitting around on my shelves, I asked the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund if they might like to auction him off for charity, and they said they would, so I'm going to be sending him over to them soon. Since I'm mailing them stuff, though, I had an idea for another cool Neil-related craft that I might try to do before I mail The Littlest Neil Gaiman, that can be auctioned off as well. I'm excited to try out my idea and see how it comes out. (And of course will post here if it works out.)

And...you know, I think we're all caught up on My Exciting (hah) Life. I'm going in search of some chocolate.

Tags: amanda, art, ask_deadpool, cbldf, comics, crafts, dc united, family, food, friends, jeff, john snyder, julius james, kelly s, little ben, movies, music, nathan fillion, picspam, reviews, wonderful neil
i am: busy
soundtrack: Katie Gray - Set Free

--> First off, we have cleolinda's The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes<sup>1

1</sup>Wizards

(i.e. annotations on three Harry Potter parodies she has posted previously)

Now available for download at Lulu.com

If you haven't encountered the original Movies in Fifteen Minutes parodies (and The Book), you really should check them out. And if you have (or haven't, either way), you really should go get the annotated version, because it is awesome. Cleo calls it "the print equivalent of a DVD commentary" but it's much better than that, because "the notes talk about things like the origins of GQMFs, "dead from coke," "pastede on yay," pixel-stained technopeasants, and the color puce. You also, however, get discussion of the books, the movies, the actors, various in-jokes, Americanisms, Britishisms, internetisms, AND SO MUCH MORE." It really is a ton of fun and worth the money. Seriously, you guys - pure fun, AND you might learn some things. Go check it out!

--> Next, we have a Terry Pratchett radio interview from TheAuthorHour.com, done immediately after the first North American Discworld Convention. Go give it a listen!

--> And finally, a few pics from this weekend, which was Capclave and the DC United vs. Columbus Crew game:

( go DCU! Rah, conventions! )

Aaaaand, that's all for now. I have some videos I keep meaning to post, but YouTube is taking forever to upload things.

ETA: Ah-ha, videos! ( John Irving answers a question at the Book Festival, the U2 concert, and Junior at the DC United game )

Tags: audio clip, capclave, cleolinda, convention, dc united, family, interview, julius james, m15m, nadwcon, picspam, soccer, terry pratchett

Future of the X-Men movies.

I really hope Deadpool goes in that direction. *crosses fingers*

Tags: comics, deadpool, linkspam, movies
i am: excited

Many things have been occurring around here, even if I haven't had time to share them.

1) I got a job! It's a contract job, i.e. temporary, but it is interesting and will keep the bill collectors at bay until I get a Proper Job (e.g. not temporary) so hooray! The people are nice and everything is good so far.

2) I got Matthew Good's new album, Vancouver, which is AWESOME. Go. Get it. Seriously. (Available on iTunes, Amazon, or MapleMusic.)

3) I went to Baltimore Comic-Con last weekend, and had a blast! Nathan picked me up on Friday night and we got to Baltimore by about 10 or so, and went in search of dinner immediately. We found a good restaurant on the Inner Harbor, and I had soft shell crab for the second time ever. Yummy! (We also saw The Biggest Anchor Ever. I covet it. It is, like, 8 feet long. I think it would make an excellent conversation piece.)

On Saturday we headed over to the convention center in time to get Nathan set up, after which I went wandering around for hours with occasional stops back at Nathan's table. He had given me a pack of 20 sketch cards and bet me that I couldn't get all 20 of them filled by the end of the con, so much of the time I spent looking at various artists' work and asking those I liked if they'd do a sketch card for me, which was totally fun. By the end of the weekend, I'd collected 18 awesome sketches, which can be seen HERE (and let it be known that I totally won the bet, because as one of the guys said, I "assigned" all 20, even if all 20 didn't get back to me by the end - 2 of those I asked *swear* they are going to mail the cards back to me. Hee!).

During my wanderings, I met the lovely Mariah, who makes little clay creatures and admired my Deadpool earrings. When I told her I was selling the other pair she snapped them up. Here we are modeling our matching earrings. Along with meeting folks (like the lovely John Snyder) while asking for sketches, Nathan introduced me to a metric ton of nice artists, including Greg Williams, Kevin Stokes, Georges Jeanty (actually, I had met Georges before, briefly, in NYC), John Tyler Christopher, Sanford Greene, Dexter Vines, Brian Stelfreeze, Barry Kitson, Norman Lee, Pop Mhan, and more. We hung out in the evening at dinner and the bar, which was just so much fun that I wished we had another night to chill (and race frogs, heeeee!). On Sunday there was more running around, although I did sit a bit more, with Nathan, Dexter, Georges, and John (my feet huuuurt after awhile). I also met Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld briefly, and Deadpool writer Mark Waid, who is really nice. And then eventually, sadly, it was time to go home. Whew! It was a ton of fun, and nice to see Nathan again, and to hang out with the Folks From The South, as I think of them, who are all fantastic. Hopefully I'll get to see some of them at future cons, too. :)

4) Um...that's pretty much all that's occurred. Now? I'm going to sleeeeep. Tomorrow? I might go see my nephew-in-law Junior (that photo is so funny!) play for DC United!

Tags: art, barry kitson, brian stelfreeze, comics, convention, deadpool, dexter vines, family, georges jeanty, greg williams, job search, john snyder, john tyler christopher, kevin stokes, matthew good, music, nathan massengill, sanford greene, work
set location: home, yay!
i am: sleepy
soundtrack: Matthew Good - Volcanoes

Despite the things that aren't going so splendidly right now (WHY HELLO THAR, SCARY DEBT) I've had a nice few days. Since getting back from the Discworld con my "social calendar" has been fairly nonexistent, but I'm making up for it since Saturday, heh.

On Saturday, I went to the National Book Festival, where I sadly missed the John Irving book signing (well, I was in line, but they were already over his signing time with about 300 people still to go, so they cut it off) but I *did* get to hear him speak, along with Julia Alvarez, who I haven't read but have heard of before. She did a really interesting talk about how coming to America where there wasn't censorship the way there was in her home country helped shape her into the writer she is today, along with the accessibility of literature in American public libraries. When I hear things like that it reminds me that despite many flaws with the American system and things that can be complained about, Americans are still very privileged compared to other nations. Not that I forget that - just that this sort of thing reminds me anew. She mentioned How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, which I believe I've heard my (English teacher) mom mention, and think I will look up now.

John Irving spoke directly after her, and I expected at least *a few* people to move along, but only about literally 10 people got up and left, so the tent was REALLY packed, plus it was raining hard (a hazard of the last 2 book festivals!). I was really trying to find a seat, but they kept clearing us out of the aisles, so finally I asked some nice people in the 2nd row if I could sit at their feet, and they said sure. :) So I had a pretty good vantage point of John Irving, and didn't get *too* dusty by sitting on the free bag. (Another hazard of the book festivals: the amazingly pervasive yellow dust of the National Mall.) They did John Irving's talk as an interview, and it was a real pleasure to listen to him. Among many pithy things he said, my favorite quote was (in reference to a student he had once saying he was interested in the creative process but not in the re-writing process): "If you're not interested in re-writing, then you don't know sh*t about the creative part." Hah. A corollary to that being, as he pointed out, that if you got tired of reading your own words after a few revisions, then why on earth would you think anyone *else* would want to read them? Very wise observations.

( Now, with photographs! John Irving )

After the talk Kelly met me at the tent (well she was there too but we couldn't find each other beforehand) and we went back to my place to pick up some stuff for a girls' night, which we've been planning forever but kept having to cancel before the con. But finally last night I got to hang out with Kelly (and Mike). We had a nice dinner at Chili's and then watched some Black Books and ate brie (mmmmm, Kelly makes an amazing brie recipe). We like to do crafty things, so last night Kelly had the idea of doing a charcoal drawing based on a randomly picked object on Black Books. We ended up picking the snail-encrusted wine glass. For mine I was going for a kind of vaguely art nouveau. It was fun.

( it's not quite finished yet )

And then we watched some Neverwhere with Mike. So nice to get to spend some time with them. Sunday they dropped me off for lunch with Amanda and Jeff, so I got to see them and little Ben, who I haven't seen in several weeks. He's getting so big! AND his hair is getting little curls on top. So adorable.

Today I had a lovely lunch with my friend Michael Dirda at Bistro D'Oc, which I commend for their delicious crabmeat, eggplant, and bacon omlette and their almond cake dessert. Mmmmm. It was nice to see Michael again and we had a nice long lunch conversation. And tomorrow is more excitement - I'm going to see U2 with Phil! So excited, since I've never actually seen them live before. Yay!

It's also been an exciting week for packages - the NADWCon shirts from Fo'Paws arrived, the chocolate from England came in, I got an advance copy of Unseen Academicals, and Nate sent me the newest members of Clan Deadpool, The Three Pooleteers! (Mattepool, Clearpool, and Sparklepool) They have been quickly assimilated into the group.

( All for one, and explosions all around! )

And now, bed.

Tags: art, black books, charcoals, clan deadpool, comics, concerts, crafts, deadpool, family, john irving, kelly s, literature, little ben, michael dirda, music, national book festival, phil, u2
i am: mellow

Just a couple of Supernatural/Castiel wallpapers I made:

Castiel

Castiel & Dean

Lyrics from Matthew Good's "On Nights Like Tonight" from the new album, Vancouver.

Tags: supernatural, tv, wallpapers
i am: zen

Was tooling around on DeviantArt for a few minutes today thanks to the wonders of Internet Searching (looking for a Castiel wallpaper; yes, I'll admit to my love of the Supernatural angel) and found this cute little drawing, made funnier by the fact that tonight's episode again had a "Castiel spooking Dean by appearing in his personal space" moment. Hee.

From there I wandered over to Reilly Brown's page, which I hadn't been to in awhile, and discovered a plethora of new(er) Deadpool and other awesome art. A few of my favorites:

Lady Justice

Look at that face - so much personality!

Spidey

I love the textures on this one.

Spidey II

Is the Goblin sneaking up behind him?

Loki

He's right - female Loki is kinda creepy. Almost Joker-ish...

BoB, Agent of Hydra

I love this pic of Bob.

Bob 2

He does such a nice job on Bob.

Bob 3

Seriously, they're all awesome. :)

Joker's Daughter

Wicked!

Deadpool as Black Bolt

Freakin' hilarious. Plus any Wade/Bob shippers could have fun with it. OK, why did my mind even go there?

But speaking of the slash fans:

Cable & Deadpool

Hee.

"Duct tape."

Heh. Wade's cure for all ills. I've noticed Reilly likes to draw Deadpool with a bazillion sharp things sticking out of him.

Aieee Deadpool!

Also: on fire. I like it.

Doctor Deadpool

Disturbing thought.

Just Deadpool

I like the little knife.

Deadpool vs. Zombie

I pretty much hate zombies. But I like this drawing.

Deadpool vs. Wolverine

With bunny slippers!

I may have linked this one before, but I don't care:

Deadpool and Bob

a) I love this sketch; b) that shirt is almost exactly identical to my real-life Deadpool tank top. Hee!

Bang!

I could see this being a signature Wade thing. Heh.

...

Seriously, I love this guy's art. If I run into him at another ComicCon, I have GOT to commission something. Last time all I did was get a couple of posters signed. What was I thinking?! (Oh, I was thinking, "I'm only here in NYC for another 3 hours and still have a lot to see." But still.)

Tags: art, cable, comics, deadpool, marvel, reilly brown
i am: sleepy
soundtrack: Matthew Good - On Nights Like Tonight (in my head)

Rob Liefeld discusses Deadpool movie. W00t! I really, really hope this movie goes well; and at least right now it looks like it's moving along!

And speaking of Deadpool, this little comic cracked me up. In part for Wolverine's posture and expression, which are so perfect for the dialogue. Hee.

And speaking of Wolverine, Peter David uses Wolverine: First Class to express his opinion of people who watched the Wolverine movie rough cut before the film came out.





Hee! While I also happen to agree that watching the rough cut is pretty dumb, both because it's a pirated thing and (more importantly to me) because people go in knowing that they're not getting the Actual Movie Experience and still judge it and/or complain about it anyway, even if you don't agree, I think he was pretty clever in the way he used Wolverine to say what he wanted to say. Heh.

Tags: comics, deadpool, marvel, movies, peter david, scans, wolverine, x-men
i am: busy

Well, the North American Discworld Convention 2009 is over, and I have finally managed to recover somewhat (caught a cold on the way home, blah). By accounts I've heard from all quarters thus far, the con has been considered a big success by all, including Sir Terry himself! At the Gala Banquet, he said, "This IS the best Discworld Convention ever." So: YAY!

I had a lot of fun at the con, despite being busy with actual con-running about 98% of the time. I did get a couple of minutes here and there to actually "attend," as it were, but for the most part have to rely on reports of others for info on how the smaller programs went and even bits of the big programs! I'm looking forward to seeing some of the official video that was taken. But I did get to spend a good bit of time with several friends and acquaintances, including Sir Terry himself, of course, so I'm certainly not complaining!

Since I'm still catching up some, instead of a detailed report here you get the Visual Report: my photos, here. :) And also a few short videos, here. Also if you go to the main page of the con website there's a link to LOOOOOTS of other photos and videos. Whee!

And now all that remains to say is a GIGANTIC thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this convention possible (guests, participants, committee, staff, and volunteers), and to all of our lovely attendees. And that I sincerely hope there will be a second NADWCon, and will be glad to share any information and advice I can with the organizers, should that come to pass.

...

In Life Since the Con, I finally got my apartment clean, my laundry done, my papers sorted, my email almost-caught-up-on, and my job applications rolling again. I am sooo tired of not having a job, but I'm working really hard to try to find one, so...fingers crossed, everyone!

I did take a short break yesterday from job searching to do a little crafty stuff, because I was feeling SO stressed and I needed to hit the pause button on that. It really did help. And also produced cute tiny things. So now I present to you: ( Deadpool jewelry, tiny grenades, and Rorschach's accessory collection. )

...

And now, some linkspam!

First off, don't forget, Unseen Academicals comes out Oct. 6.

Guess what else comes out Oct. 6? (It's a good day.) Matthew Good's new album, Vancouver, which you can listen to in its entirety at his website until Oct. 6. I've listened several times already (of course) and the new album is fantastic. (Favorite of the Moment: "On Nights Like Tonight"). Go give it a listen!

(I am totally going to buy the album as soon as I can afford it, along with Unseen Academicals. Also Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum for XBox, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the first 15 minutes of Ryan Reynolds. Man, I need money.)

Speaking of Marvel, io9 has a great gallery musing on what would happen if the Disney/Marvel merger made Disney darker instead of affecting Marvel. The pics are awesome, and I love the concepts. Heh.

io9's on fire with articles that interest me right now. Another one is their video clips of XKCD's Randall Monroe answering fan questions. I ♥ XKCD, and now I think I may also have a geek crush on Randall, too. Hee.

Another good io9 link today is David Malki's Genre-Fiction Generator. Heh.

And finally, hey, I didn't even know DC did a comics competion. But some of those stories sound pretty interesting.

And now, dinner.

ETA: OK, I know this is hardly topical anymore, but this poster from back when the presidential debates were going on made me laugh.

Tags: clan deadpool, comics, convention, crafts, dc comics, deadpool, discworld, disney, linkspam, marvel, nadwcon, rorschach, terry pratchett, watchmen, xkcd
soundtrack: Matthew Good - Empty's Theme Park

Comes out October 6, but you can listen to the whole thing until then on his website. So far: It. Is. Awesome.

Am recovering from a cold and too much stress etc. But will be back in more detail soon!

P.S. Got my replacement MG bundle in the mail yesterday. Another shirt, plus the bag and scarf and CD and postcards that were missing before. Yayz! The bag is just the right size/fit and when it gets cold enough I suspect the scarf may be my constant companion - it is soft and cute!

Tags: awesomeness, happiness, matthew good, music
i am: giddy
soundtrack: Matthew Good - Vancouver