Rip, A Remix Manifesto Post #4

The filmmaker made this documentary to voice his opinion on remixing and copyright. His friend, an artist named Girl Talk is not allowed to publish his music, which is essentially samples from the music of other artists. Instead of remixing one song, he remixes several songs. This is frowned upon by copyright laws, even though he indicates where he took the samples from. I personally agree with the filmmaker that this is silly, it's not as if he claims the samples themselves are his own.

There is indeed a bias on the filmmaker's part, but it's okay because.. well.. he's right. Girl Talk does what he does for fun, he doesn't claim the samples to be his own, and it's.. well, it's all good-natured. There was obviously an element of "We're the good guys, these are the bad guys!" but in this case it's kind of true, y'know?

Copyright is sometimes good sometimes bad. The idea is usually that an author deserves credit for his work. Fair. But in cases like Girl Talk's, it's just.. silly. I somewhat agree that everything online should be available for us to re-create. As long as full credit is given to the original creator I think everything should be fine, but in the end it's all up to the original creator, because sometimes they don't want their work remixed.

Overall I think the documentary was really good. It was interesting, enlightening, and thought-provoking. The manifesto itself definitely had a lot of truth to it as well. There was easily a bias, but.. well who cares Girl Talk should be allowed to make music! >_<

Grandma made me take down all of my posters of Johnny Depp (third assignment)

I couldn't personally enjoy them because my attention span is similar to that of a gnat. With no colour, no sound, and very long shots compared to shots in modern films (which are like 1-4 seconds amirite), it's hard to get engaged at all. However my opinion sucks and that doesn't mean they can't be "good". Putting aside the fact that they're considered historical art, they can be enjoyable if you aren't a hyperactive teen with (modern) action and drama essentially being viewing requirements.

The Great Train Robbery is considered a milestone in filmmaking. It used many innovative techniques, such as cross-cutting (which was new), double-exposure, composite-editing, camera-movement, and on-location shooting. It is still interesting to watch today (because it's filled with action). I imagine it was a Hollywood thriller back then. Supposedly the last scene in which a bandit fires point-blank at the audience was really, really scary and there was some controversy and whatnot over that. Crazy 1900's people. I want to show them A Serbian Film.


The Great Train Robbery was actually interesting because of the use of cross cutting and moving shots and all that fancy stuff that was very new at the time. The Charlie Chaplin short was interesting but only in a nostalgic way, because that type is humor is really, really outdated, and I don't remember the name but it was that one film glorifying the KKK making them look like heroes, that one was interesting only because it's so hilariously racist now. That's all I guess.

Second assignment

BEHOLD! Boiled Frogs by Alexisonfire! (I don't watch music videos, this is the greatest one I'm aware of)
2. Reality is presented very seriously. The message of the song is a serious one. Srsbsnz.
3. Uhh, I'm not really aware of any stereotypical conventions in this video. Unless being amazing is a stereotype.
4. Living your life to the fullest. I could go on and on about the meaning of this song, but that's all I'll say.
5. The sound that this band has appeals to a lot of kids that listen to alternative/hardcore/whateverthef*ck
6. Yes. It obviously means a lot to the band, it means a lot to me, a fan, and the song and video together carries a powerful message. I would certainly call it worthy of the label "art".

First Post.

I believe that media is, whether I like it or not, important in my life. There's really no escaping it, so I may as well choose to enjoy what I enjoy from it. 90% of media is just recycled, generic, tasteless and blatantly cliche'd trash which everyone in the mainstream craze almost worships (and that really bothers me at times), however that doesn't mean that absolutely nothing in the media appeals to me (or is "good").

I really don't know what type of media I'm the most 'passionate' about. Umm.. I guess video games? When a video game is done right, I believe it can be called art. It can be 100% more immersive than a movie or book ever could, because you're in control of it. I'm not talking about Call of Duty, or Mario. I'm talking about Alan Wake, and Heavy Rain. Mass Effect, and Silent Hill.

Well.. I believe that popular culture is quickly turning the human race into feeble, one-track-minded babbling simps that never THINK, only DO. And what does monkey do? Whatever monkey SEES. Have you ever seen WALL-E? Yeah, that. I predict that the virus called Popular Culture is going to transform most of planet Earth into exactly that. There have always been idiots, but the intense advancements in technology are feeding them at an alarming rate.

Desert island choices:

1. The video game Minecraft. A LOT of things (if not 90%) are ridiculously popular in the media for absolutely no good reason. This is not one of them. This game is growing in popularity at epidemic rates for good reason; it's so simple, but so rich. The developer is a very fun, smart guy as well, and listens to his fans and their ideas for content.

2. The book Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I cannot formulate a proper and/or justifying adjective to describe the legendary fable that is this book (or how relevant it is to me and my psychosis). I recommend it to anyone.

3. The album 10,000 Days by TOOL. No description necessary.