oti0sus

I'm not heading for New York this month, but if I were I'd check out these videos.

On bittorrent, I'm offering Eskimo, the Residents' hand-made album. Turn off the heat and lights and wrap yourself in a fur coat while you listen. Also, The Commercial Album, 40 songs, each exactly one minute long. (And none are any longer or shorter than they ought to be.) These are offered as a tribute to the albums' 25th anniversary.

And here's a non-residential series of 10 lectures on Global Warming by a famous scientist.

There was a lot of news regarding bittorrent in December. A number of sites were closed because of legal threats from the MPAA. I suppose they will rise again, and future P2P applications may incorporate encryption and other safeguards.

The legal case about copyright violation is not very important to me. I would think poorly of anyone charging for such material and it's conceivable that filesharing might hurt the potential income of film makers. If that's the case, then film makers should stick to making film. Don't let the prints get digitized. They can retain the rights to the projection of film on screen in theatres before an audience. People will always be willing to pay to enjoy film as it's meant to be appreciated. Once the film is in digital form, all bets are off. Same goes for music.

People have always been able to borrow and lend and share. And when we add the networking power of broadband internet, our ability to spread knowledge is inconceivably expanded. It is an exciting revolution that no narrow group of interests should be encouraged to subvert. My grandfather started his working life as a saddle maker and he was able to change trades without much trauma. Maybe the focus pullers and associate producers should start considering their future. Then again they could push for simple measures like nominal copyright surcharges on blank CDs.