Persepolis Lives on in Fight for a Free Iran

Persepolis was an amazing graphic novel and animated feature film by Marjane Satrapi that recounted her experiences in Iran as a child during the Islamic revolution.

Now, some talented artists and fans of the original have taken the characters and style of Satrapi’s original and placed them in the world of the most recent unrest in Iran.

The result is striking and effective, much like the original.

As one would hope, Satrapi does not seem to be crying copyright violation or trying to have this blatantly derivative work taken down from the web.  Perhaps this is only because Satrapi supports the message.  Perhaps it would be a different story if her style and characters were used by those backing the Supreme Leader to spread propaganda.

Either way, you can be sure if someone in the US made a graphic novel depicting Mickey Mouse overthrowing the government you can bet Disney would be all over it.

HBO, Facing Obsolesence, Tries Threatening Inaugural Ball ‘Tubers

HBO, which has a completely obsolete business model at the moment, took a shot at relevance by securing the exclusive rights to film and air Barack Obama’s Inaugural Ball.

Now, via TechDirt, comes word that HBO is attempting to force the takedown of personal videos posted on YouTube that were shot by regular folks lucky enough to be in attendance last night.

The majority of these videos seem to be short clips shot on cellphones and it is pretty hard to imagine how their presence online could harm HBO’s “exclusive” rights.  Nobody is going to watch those videos as a replacement for HBO’s professionally shot and produced video nor will anyone mistake those videos for the work of HBO.

Not only is it just plain mean to attempt to stop folks from sharing their personal looks into a major historical moment but it makes HBO look bad.  Considering how few reasons there are to pay for HBO, you’ve got to wonder why they would risk web backlash…unless they were blind and ignorant when it comes to New Media.

Nah…

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Dear TD Bank – Kids Don’t Dig Regis and Kelly

So, in some completely brain-dead attempt to attract a younger crowd to place their money with TD Bank they have taken their perfectly suitable TV ad featuring  current spokespeople Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa and repurposed it into a badly “animated” video for YouTube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN_pOYx0Yow&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

A few questions for TD Bank and their ad agency:

1) Who the hell thought 20-somethings would be excited to see a video starring an old man and a MILF doing something other than having sex?

2) Who advised TD Bank to put this lame video up on YouTube?  Not only has it got less than 500 views but it makes the bank look completely out of touch – the last thing they are trying to communicate to a young, web-savvy crowd.

3) Finally, if you want to convince young people to use your bank why not actually tell them the benefits instead of creating worthless song-and-dance?

Kelly Ripa?  Kelly Ripa

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Inching Closer to Reigning in MPAA/RIAA et. al.

Image via Wikipedia

One of the many incredibly outrageous things that RIAA tries to do is to recoup “statutory damages” from file sharers that massively outweigh the actual financial damages incurred.

Now, at least a few judges are beginning to see the light.  TechDirt points to a recent NY court ruling:

“In a recent case in the Southern District of New York, Yurman Studio, Inc. v. Castaneda, 07 Civ. 1241 (SAS)(S.D.N.Y. November 19, 2008), District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin reminds us of the well settled principle that “At the end of the day, ’statutory damages should bear some relation to actual damages suffered’ [citing RSO Records v. Peri, 596 F.Supp. 849,862 (SDNY 1984); New Line Cinema Corp. v. Russ Berrie & Co., 161 F.Supp.2d 293,303 (SDNY 2001); 4 Nimmer Sec. 14.04[E][1] at 14-90(2005)] and ‘cannot be divorced entirely from economic reality‘” (via)

More people are waking up to the reality that the current manner in which copyright law is being applied to digital content is just plain crazy.  It is an extremely complex problem but it will not be solved unless more individuals stand up to these powerful organizations.