Copyright Watch & Making the Secret Treaty Public

One of my favorite advocacy groups, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched a new website called Copyright Watch. The site allows users to see the latest news in copyright law. The effort is to inform the general public about the threat that looming copyright laws poses to individual freedom, and maintaining an open Internet.

In other related news, here’s a quote from BoingBoing for you… I can’t improve upon their words:

“Two US Senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VI) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), have written to the US Trade Representative demanding that the text of the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement be made public. This is the treaty that allows for criminal sanctions against noncommercial file-sharers, demands border-searches of laptop hard-drives and personal media players and phones for pirated material, requires ISPs to spy on their users, and gives movie and record companies the right to take whole households off the Internet with unsubstantiated allegations of piracy.”*

This secret copyright treaty is pretty black and white to me; we must crush it. The consequences of this treaty are unimaginably dreadful.

For more information you can visit the following links:

The Geek Whisperer: Scary Secret Copyright Treaty: From Music to Purses, This is Bad News

Copyright Watch

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

* BoingBoing: Two US senators demand publication of secret copyright treaty

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag!!!

Yes my friends, that is a sleeping bag that looks like a tautaun from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and this is no joke.

Remember when Han and Luke were stranded in the snowy desert of Hoth. Han used Luke’s lightsaber to cut open a tauntaun and sleep within it’s warm guts. Now your child can experience that awesome moment with the Tauntaun sleeping bag.

It comes complete with a lightsaber zipper, because there is absolutely no other way to open up your tauntaun. It also has a printed organ pattern on the inside for that extra bit of detail.

You can sleep in a tauntaun for $99.99 on ThinkGeek.com.

So you’ve read all of this?

You must be a Star Wars fan.

Here’s a little something special for you. The deeper you get into this video, the funnier it gets.

I love how pleased the guy is with himself. Superb.

Scary Secret Copyright Treaty: From Music to Purses, This is Bad News

To followup yesterday’s post, Copyright, teh Internets & the Future, here’s a bit on the secret international copyright treaty known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

ACTA is an international copyright treaty that is being negotiated in secret; although a lot of details have been leaked. The sections regarding the Internet are obscenely draconian; three strikes and you lose your right to connect to the Internet for a year. If this passes, I want that applied to major media conglomerates as well. Three misuses of intellectual property and the whole company loses it’s connection.

This video explains the treaty as it exists today, it’s origins, and it’s potential impact. This isn’t the best video, but it does the job. You are on the Internet, and you are reading a blog, so this treaty will harm you. You should watch the video, don’t be ignorant on this issue.

Make no mistake about it, ACTA will impact everyone. We all handle intellectual property on a daily basis, and current copyright law just doesn’t make sense in a post-Internet world (see yesterday’s post for more on that).

How can the US Government participate in secret negotiations for a treaty that will directly impact so many American’s? This isn’t some right wing thing pro business thing, this is the Obama Administration (not that I care for either side, but some of you do).

Current copyright law turns everyone into a criminal.

Kill ACTA. Reform copyright law.

Copyright, teh Internets & the Future

Copyright law has fascinated me since high school. I read a lot about it, I understand it (fairly well), I have a lot of informed opinions on it, but I have never been able to articulate my ideas on the subject in the way that I am confident.

Fortunately, law professor and Creative Commons founder Larry Lessig does it for me. His presentation perfectly explains Copyright law, then he breaks it down in ways that make so much sense. So much more sense then I could ever make. Not only that, the presentation uses PowerPoint in fun ways.

This isn’t short, but if you have any curiosity or interest in Copyright law and how it impacts you, watch this video. If you don’t have a lot of time, watch the first twelve minutes, and the last five; you won’t regret it.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” ~V

“Castle” Successfully Pandered to this Geek

I’m not ashamed to admit that I need to turn my brain off, and just take in some mindless television for an hour or two a week; I find it incredibly relaxing. Without fail, Castle always fulfills my compulsive need for something easy to watch. It’s not a cerebral show, it’s never hard to follow, and you don’t have to remember much of anything from week-to-week. However, the characters are amusing, and the murders stories never cease to hold my interest.

Anyway, this week Castle had a Halloween episode that seriously pandered to the sci-fi & comic geek crowds. The show opened with star Nathan Fillion, formerly of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi classics Firefly and Serenity, suit up in his Captain Malcolm Reynolds garb, bust into his living-room while drawing his pistol, and striking a one of his famous poses. I was amused.

They followed up with a generally geeky episode filled with Buffy references, comic book art, vampires, and the pretty female detective costar (Stana Katic) drawing a distinction between comic writer / artist Frank Miller’s work with publishers Dark Horse Comics & Epic Comics… It was a nice homage to Fillion’s past, and (what I’m assuming are) the Firefly fans that watch Castle simply because Fillion is in the show.

Zombieland Slayed Me

The Academy Award for best use of a Metallica song goes to… Zombieland!

It also won the award for best celebrity cameo… but I really can’t tell you who, it would spoil far too much.

Seriously, I laughed so hard in this movie, it hurt. I’ve been out of the theaters for hours and I’m still laughing at it. When I go to work in the morning, I will be shocked if the clock strikes 9:30 and someone hasn’t made a Zombieland joke (I saw it with a number of my coworkers).

I’m calling it now: Cult classic.

The humor in this movie was brilliant and so geeky; I loved every second of it.

They don’t waste lines, they don’t waste scenes, the characters are likable, every odd joke is tied back to the characters in strangely meaningful ways (Twinkines anyone?), and it avoids all of the stupid horror clichés such as:

• The awkward, “we’re going to die sex scene”
• Picking off the cast one-by-one beginning with the funny black guy
• And my personal favorite, “oh no, it’s 2009 and my cellphone can’t get reception anywhere!” bit

Every victim in modern horror films must be on AT&T. Take that iPhone users! …with your cool phone and crappy network.

Go see Zombieland.

09.09.09 Odds & Ends

There’s too much going on today to just cover one topic…

• Happy birthday to TGW contributer Jason (TheLisnakFactor). He is now the official TGW tech question responder guy, so send him some questions!
• Happy 10th birthday Dreamcast; the defunct Sega gaming console. Oh Dreamcast… your graphics were so good, controller was freaking odd, and your games were unfathomably easy to pirate. Thems were the good ole days.

The wire coming out of the back of the controller was never a good idea.

• Steve Jobs and the folks at Apple announced a lot of iPod related things that didn’t excite me enough to write something original.
• DC Comics is going through some drastic changes… really it’s a corporate enema.

Disney to Acquire Marvel Comics for $4,000,000,000

Over the coming year, I’m sure we will see a variety of good and bad changes as a consequence.

"Four billion dollars... Muwhahaha Muwhahaha!"

I wish I owned Marvel Stock today.

Tales of Creepiness – Crispin Glover’s “Clowny Clown Clown”

(“Thank You Al Gore Thursday” is being delayed to Friday afternoon due to a lack of time)

There are a lot of creepy things floating around the Interweb. Personally, I think this is probably the creepiest, legal thing I have seen online (If you don’t count “Two Girls, One Cup.”*).

Anyway… Crispin Glover (George McFly in Back to the Future) made an album in 1989 called, “The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be.” One track of this auditory abortion is called “Clowny Clown Clown.” Glove made a music video for the song that makes William Shatner’s interpretation of “Rocket Man” seem like a creative masterpiece. Have a look for yourself…

This might be the best anti-drug add ever created.

Special thanks to Tim Smith for sharing this epic fail with me.

* I will always carry a little bit of hatred for my friend Pete S. for ruining New Years 2008 by showing that disgusting video.

Avatar Trailer

Thank you to everyone who sent this trailer to me. I appreciate the thought.

It looks like James Cameron is doing his once a decade movie effects revolution. He pops up, makes a movie, pushes the technology and standards up, then disappears for 10 more years.

I’m not sure what this movie is about, but it looks beautiful. Make sure you watch this one in HD.

The Real GI Joe Trailer

This could end up being more entertaining and memorable than the actual movie:

Battlestar Galactica Influences UN Policy – Really

If you are looking for truly innovative thinking, not just in terms of technology, but in terms of political and philosophical thought, try science fiction.

I’m not kidding.

The writing of people like Terry Pratchett and Isaac Asimov, or television series such as Battlestar Galactica and Firefly aren’t some kids fantasy of the future. They are fun and entertaining, but they deal with heavy social issues, issues that our news media usually gloss over or ignore because they are too complicated to explain in a soundbite.

Want proof?

Check this out.

A few months ago, cast members from Battlestar Galactica spoke before the United Nations.

Edward James Olmos at the UN

In recent days, Battlestar’s message that “race should never be used as a cultural identifier,” has actually changed UN language, and in turn, policy.

Halo 3: ODST, Firefly & Guitar Hero 5

Halo 3: ODST

I just watched  the newest trailer for Halo 3: ODST.

As I was watching, I kept feeling like the voice of the guy narrating was very familiar… then it hit me! It’s the voice of the coolest sci-fi hero since Han Solo; Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the Serenity. Well, actually it’s actor Nathan Fillion, but you know what I mean. As the trailer progressed, I realized that they are also using his likeness.

Just to be sure that I was correct before blogging about it, I looked the game up on IMDB and saw that Fillion isn’t the only Firefly alum in the game. Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin, as well as Battlestar Galactica veteran Tricia Helfer all play prominent roles in the game. All they need now are a couple voices from Star Trek and Star Wars, and they will have geek “bingo.”

It’s worth watching this one in HD:

Browncoats (Firefly fans) everywhere will be able to follow the Captain into battle when Halo 3: ODST hits store shelves on 9/22/09.

What can I say… Browncoats are excitable, and I am a not ashamed to identify myself as one.

Guitar Hero 5

In other video game news, Activision Blizzard released the complete track list for Guitar Hero 5:

You can view the complete list on GameSpot.

Some of the songs that stand out to me at first glance include:

• Dire Straits – “Sultans of Swing”
• Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
• Queen & David Bowie – “Under Pressure” (coolest baseline ever) (Vanilla Ice sucks)
• Bob Dylan – “All Along the Watchtower”
• The Derek Trucks Band – “Young Funk” (Derek Trucks is the man)
• Gov’t Mule – “Streamline Woman”
• Iron Maiden – “2 Minutes to Midnight”
• Jeff Beck – “Scatterbrain (Live)”
• King Crimson – “21st Century Schizoid Man”
• Peter Frampton – “Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)”
• The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy for the Devil”
• Santana – “No One to Depend On (Live)”

There are many more great ones, but those really stand out to me, and a lot of them surprise me a bit.

Guitar Hero 5 is due out on 9/1/09.

News on Upcoming Captain America Movie

Marvel’s Kevin Feige spoke with Hollywood.com about the film. ‘This movie is Steve Rogers’ origin story, and I think it is our burden to make Steve Rogers as appealing as any of our other characters … he’s not just the perfect boy scout who follows order every time. He has ideals he wants to live up to,’ said Feige. The film will be sent during World War II. ‘The origin of Captain America is really the origin of the Marvel universe,’ he continues. ‘It’s about that time in history when the idea of the superhero began to emerge.’ (Source: CBR)

There are only a three or four comic book superheros that hold a special place in my heart, and Captain America/ Steve Rogers is one of them. Hearing that this is the general direction that they are planning on taking the movie makes me very happy. Now I just hope they can execute.

The cover of Captain America #1 is my all-time favorite.