From Japan to the US--Virtual Reality

It's odd but some of the most famous blockbuster movies dealing with virtual reality can easily claim ancestry with Japan. Take the Matrix for example (and ignore the sequels as we should): 

Remember that? The movie that ushered in the new millennium with the bold assertion that the world we're living in is not real, but an elaborate program we're all hooked into by plugs in our bodies in a post apocalyptic world of human vs machines. Groundbreaking effects and surrealistic elements. Now its predecessor may easily be seen as Ghost in the Shell, an anime classic cyber police thriller where human/cyborg relations have progressed to such a state that many people have augmented their bodies with cybernetic attachments.

The main character has an entirely cybernetic body except for her spine and brain. Living in such a state of course brings up confusion and frustration about being human in an artificial body. The Wachowskis borrowed much from Ghost in the Shell in its thematic and cinematic elements:

A lesser known Japan/US conversion is Paprika and Inception. Paprika is 2006 anime movie about a doctor who utilizes a machine to enter the dreams of her patients to work our their inner dilemmas. The surrealism of this movie is astounding, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Know your history, People!

Obligatory M.I.A. Post

In my research for wikis and collective intelligence, I couldn't help but go back to M.I.A.'s 20 track mixtape that pays homage to Wiki Leaks. It's called Vicki Leekx--one of her new pseudonyms, and she released it as a free download. She's always been an advocate of the site for its whistle-blowing tactics, and the album great demonstrates such.The mixtape takes quotations directly from Assange's interview on the importance of Wiki Leaks:

We chose the right format

We leak the information to the public

And we defend ourselves against inevitable illegal and political attacks

M.I.A. greatly adheres to this idea on the site's importance in a world where the government secrets may not be as iron clad as they used to be.

In addition, she appears to relate to Wiki Leaks subversive use of the Web 2.0 world to her own status as an artist in the music industry. She states in one of the tracks, "I’m not talking about getting it for free. I’m talking about making it freer."

A more in depth analysis of the mixtape in relation to Wiki Leaks along with a free link to the download site may be found here

One of her most recent music videos of the mixtape. Titled "Bad Girls," the music video "Ouarzazate, Morocco in solidarity with the women to drive movement." Take a gander:

A stream of the album can be found here:

Collective Intelligence coming to a venue near YOU!

Whilst I was scavenging for piracy friendly bands on the Interwebs, I cam across this record label's website. The label is literally called The Collective Intelligence, and it's the project of 8 wide-spread friends. Lucky me. See, collective intelligence is defined by Dictionary.com as "a phenomenon in sociology where a shared or group intelligence emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. " These guys have just adopted the perfect moniker for their music label. They all collaborate with each other on their projects and band, and they help each other spread the word, fund the recordings, and of course sell the damn music. They have a wiki prepared for all the bands they represent, a forum board for fans to discuss the music, links for the music to be streamed or downloaded (all mostly free), and even set up a FAQ page on their site. How nice of them:

Q: What is the Collective Intelligence?
A: Well, that isn't always an easy question to answer, as it is a lot of things to a lot of people. Simply put, the CI is a group of eight friends from very similar places (both geographically as well as mentally) who enjoy playing music together. They've formed numerous bands and solo and side projects over the years, and continue doing so to this day.

Q: But isn't the CI the record label of happy-go-poppy bands such as Venus Euphoric and Ultima?
A: Well, in a way, that is true. The CI is the mantle over our collective shoulders, holding us all together where it's warm. The CI does try to do all it can for the bands and projects to which it lays claim. But the eight musicians who comprise the bands are essentially the "staff" of the CI as well.

Q: Could my band sign on with the CI, like I would to a traditional record label?
A: Currently, we are unable to accept outside bands/musicians. It's not really the elitist thing that we're too cool to let anyone else in, but rather the fact that we barely do enough for our own bands to justify our existence, and we're certainly not in a place to be able to help out new bands all that much. 

 Check it out. The bands are covering an extremely wide range of genres, and they would only ask for a donation to show your support. 

 Take a gander here!

Blogosphere & Music

It's fascinating to see the morphing of the music industry through the rise of blogging. More and more we see bands setting up obligatory blogs to stream their music in a pre-release effort to promote their music. In the case of the 5 headed beast of alternative rock (They who shall not be named)

This turned the band into legends, for they released the critically acclaimed In Rainbows digitally for free before the physical release. The fans freaked, the industry freaked, the lawyers freaked, but it all worked out in the end. The pre-release gave an opportunity to promote their album to the lazy former Napsters, who of course bragged about the album to everyone they could reach on their grubby little mouses. While the band certainly isn't the first band to do this:

They're certainly the most famous. Now, it seems that every band is releasing their album for streaming for promotion on their blog or soundcloud page as well as sites such as NPR, Pitchfork. This is also being down for music videos, but from the link below, we can see that particular venue can turn ugly very fast: http://pitchfork.com/news/46765-erykah-badu-is-super-pissed-at-the-flaming-lips-right-now-about-that-nsfw-video/

Ending on a good note: Since Trent Reznor seems to be undeservedly cast in the shadow of Radiohead, I'll finish the post with the last known music video of NIN:

Lorum Ipsum...

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque posuere ullamcorper leo. Praesent vehicula justo ac est suscipit vitae sodales massa pharetra. Duis et magna elit, vitae suscipit urna. In commodo tincidunt risus, eleifend hendrerit odio sagittis mollis. Vestibulum ipsum leo, gravida non posuere quis, viverra ut nisl. Aliquam sit amet arcu eget erat elementum condimentum.

Praesent vestibulum felis lorem. Maecenas id turpis ut dolor auctor viverra eget a quam. Vivamus sit amet lectus urna, iaculis tempus ante. Fusce vel justo tellus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aenean imperdiet turpis sed elit mattis tincidunt. Aliquam mollis elit in nulla blandit ac faucibus nisl euismod.

 Vestibulum ornare sodales odio eu varius. Proin at est lacinia velit fermentum laoreet eget et diam. Integer ac massa in ante ultricies interdum. Morbi ullamcorper tincidunt metus, a lobortis metus lacinia vel. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque eget leo sed justo imperdiet imperdiet.

 Donec tortor mauris, porttitor id fringilla a, mattis eu ipsum. Cras nec turpis vel dolor feugiat rhoncus ac ornare libero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clqK5OC3BWE

 Donec molestie tincidunt leo, sed mollis odio mollis sit amet. Phasellus luctus, lectus molestie rutrum ullamcorper, justo diam ornare elit, non hendrerit arcu massa ut lorem. Aenean rutrum, erat vitae consequat hendrerit, felis leo tincidunt nisl, non dapibus leo erat id massa. Curabitur sed orci leo, et porta eros. Quisque mollis leo ornare sem laoreet commodo. Morbi molestie sodales tellus eu rhoncus.

 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus eu urna nisl. Nulla magna ligula, pretium at euismod sit amet, aliquam ac dolor. Morbi tempus eleifend sapien, suscipit dignissim metus semper non. Mauris vel diam ut nunc dapibus ullamcorper.

 Donec scelerisque sodales pulvinar. Phasellus commodo urna non nibh euismod quis ullamcorper lorem aliquet. Sed tincidunt erat vel magna adipiscing posuere. Pellentesque vitae diam sapien, a tristique libero.

 Sed et lectus nec neque vehicula gravida. Etiam aliquam lobortis dictum. Sed vulputate tristique tincidunt. Proin convallis mi a odio vehicula et feugiat felis consequat. Mauris varius, quam at tempor eleifend, nisl diam ultricies mi, ut gravida augue orci eget massa. Sed justo nulla, rutrum rutrum hendrerit sed, tempus et arcu. Nulla suscipit commodo consectetur. Aenean laoreet laoreet pulvinar. Vestibulum vehicula luctus molestie. Curabitur vel leo enim, ut suscipit leo.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLMjHrb_w4

 Maecenas mollis, justo et bibendum lacinia, risus orci iaculis velit, in facilisis massa ante a turpis. Aliquam at erat non nunc vehicula pulvinar eget eu lorem. Integer eu ligula augue. Ut dignissim porta nulla, eget commodo urna dapibus id. Nulla tempus nulla a ligula rhoncus in consectetur lectus feugiat. Duis tempus posuere arcu, eu eleifend nunc laoreet ut. Etiam velit leo, facilisis id porttitor volutpat, laoreet vel sem. Sed eu metus neque. In in ante elit, sollicitudin hendrerit sapien. Donec ultrices cursus ligula vel viverra. Maecenas dignissim, turpis eu pulvinar semper, nisl libero mollis quam, scelerisque suscipit purus erat in massa.

Cyborgs

No origin story

No End in Sight

Inessential Fathers(?)

Black Swan's dirty little secret

I assume most of us have heard of the Directing Giant Darren Aronofsky. He directed tearjerkers like Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler and the freaky opus Black Swan-- you know the movie where Natalie Portman goes bat shit crazy . However, there's another movie in Darren's collection he doesn't want you to know about-- an anime thriller known as Perfect Blue. Aronofsky bought the American rights to the movie literally so he could steal the bathtub scene now infamous in Requiem:

But that's not all he stole. If you take a long hard look at Perfect Blue next to Black Swan, you'll get a scary little surprise. For example:

Granted, some of the BS scenes appear to only be based on PB scenes that Aronofsky evolved into his machinations, but there's an argument to be made if Aronofsky should really be writing psychosexual thrillers about young girls if shit like this happens.

But that's not what I want to REALLY talk about. Let's take a moment to examine a theme in Perfect Blue. In the 1998 movie, the lead character has recently left her pop group to pursue an acting career (I know right? Trust me, it's worth it) She's a complete tech-tard with her outdated computer, so when she finds a blog titled "Mima's Room," she's excited. The excitement dies when she discovers that someone has not only been stalking her--taking GREAT detail into her daily life--but also the creeper is writing as her pop idol persona. Throughout the movie, we're led to believe that this guy is setting up the blog because as Mima's acting career "flourishes," the blog posts get more desperate and accuse the talent agency and director of forcing her to do the raunchy shit in the tv drama she stars in. But the blogger and the crazy dude are actually two separate people suffering from the same damn delusions:

Big Twist--Spoiler Alert. Turns out that the blogger is actually Mima's female agent, who for most of the movie was a voice of reason to speak out against Mima's controversial steps toward fame (I.E. rape scenes, nude photography). She turned into this. (One of these folks is just an illusion. Guess who is who)

These two cray cray folk work to kill everyone who pose a threat to their image of Pop Idol Mima. The agent comes to believe that she is her online persona--Pop Idol Mima--and of course tries to go Highlander on the real Mima. Considering this movie was created back in the old days of online identity and chatrooms, the situation presented in the movie can serves as a scary precursor to more present cyberstalking problems. We never really think about how the web space can actually influence and ruin one's mental health. You withdraw from the world, and become this personality you've created (maybe not to the stabby effect presented in the movie). But the pleasure of creating and living as a character can be too enticing. And what's worse is that there are a multitude of ways you can find other people to encourage this behavior through chatrooms and interactive commenting : Follow the link for more & check this awesome movie!:

Comics & IP

You'd have to be a progeny of the Unibomber to be ignorant of the dominating power of comic book movie adaptations in the box office lately. One need only think of Nolan's recently finished trilogy (Hathaway was the shit right?!) and the Avengers movie--both of which left the box office huddling in a puddle of tears with a ripped blouse. Although comic books have been getting optioned for movies for some time now and not all of them have been successful, (Anyone remember this fiasco?) there's obviously been a recent trend of blockbuster Marvel and DC characters getting their own movies and crossovers (See Samuel L. Jackson), it's mainly thanks to the greed of copyright and intellectual property. Gordon Gekko would be so proud...ish

Intellectual Property relates to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. IP is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.  Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

Copyright is given to any creator of an original work whether it be written, drawn or filmed.  However, copyright does not protect the idea itself, but it does protect the expression of the idea or its transfer to a medium. This is why we can have two of these jokers:

It's already a tricky issue because the creators of a comic book will never know if their work will be popular until it's too late.While copyright laws have changed over the years, the most recent one is the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which fixes it 70 years after the death of the author Or "for work-for-hire, the shorter of (a) 95 years after first publication or (b) 120 years from creation." Once all of the copyrights on a creative work have expired, anyone can create an exact copy of that work. But before you start thinking your own twists in your next big fan fiction about that squirrel dame (You know. This chica), you should be advised that you're shit out of luck. The many trademarks found in comic book characters keep your grubby hands off my squirrel girl for here to kingdom come.


While DC seems to have gotten its shit together (still haunted by those rubber nipples), Marvel is in quite a pickle as Fanboy/lawyer steveorjoey of comicbookmovie.com explains:
" Marvel used to license out the rights for motion pictures in their characters to other film studios, because Marvel could not afford to make their own motion pictures. Therefore, it was more profitable for Marvel to license out the rights in an exchange for a substantial fee and a percentage of the gross proceeds from the films. Sony pictures owns the live action movie rights to all things Spider-man and Ghost Rider, Lionsgate Entertainment owns The Punisher, and 20th Century Fox owns the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Daredevil, and X-Men (if you have seen any of the X-Men movies you know that it is a complete tragedy that Fox owns the rights) (FN 52). When Marvel made these licensing agreements it seemed like a great plan, but with the success of the movies and Marvel getting rich off of it they now want to make their own movies, instead of licensing it out to other companies. Unfortunately, with some of the most well known characters licensed out Marvel will have a hard time making a live action movie about a major Marvel event."

Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/steveorjoey/news/?a=41001#d7blDC4pq5EUQGJG.99

Luckily most of the contracts include a deadline the studios must meet in principal photography. If the studios miss it, the rights go back to Marvel. That's how we got a hot AND talented Banner. However, we do have to remember that in the Marvel Realm, everything and I mean EVERYTHING is connected. The marvel comics frequently collide and crossover, so getting events like the Civil War, zombie apocalypse, or my favorite >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
will be almost impossible if Marvel doesn't start playing more dirty. It could be worse although. They could have Allen Moore's almost literary misfortunes: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/07/alan-moore-watchmen/

Music. Art. Videos. Hard Day's Night. Nightclubbing...

Wafflehouse. Bar Crawl. Galleries. Coffee. endless solos. Pretentious Writers. Hangovers. Public Urination. Lipstick on napkins. Haikus on TP. Chasing the night. Tripping the light fantastic, and Falling down the Fire Escape.

Dig My Demagogues...