Last week, I spent a little time watching the Dodgers lose to the Mets with a couple of guys who are really at the top of their game. One has had a show on the air for more than two decades, the other was a producer who’d had a great career and finally struck real gold on one of the most successful sitcoms of all time.
Neither one had a thing to prove to anyone. They’ve played the game and won it many times over — but if you subtracted their success, they’d probably still be the two most relaxed, genial guys in the room.
Here’s the takeaway: You’ve got to be that person now, on the way in and on the way up.read article
Techdirt is a fascinating site for many reasons. Right now this TVWriter™ minion, at least, is blown away by this article on the cultural and political ramifications of copyright law. Who’d a thunk that the copyright thing was so frighteningly complicated?
1st seen on the web at https://chinguyenlan.wordpress.com
by Mike Masnick
For quite some time we’ve pointed out how problematic Section 1201 of the DMCA is. That’s the part of the law that says it’s copyright infringement to simply circumvent any kind of “technological protection measure” even if the reasons for doing so are perfectly legal and have nothing to do with infringement at all. And, of course, we now have the big “1201 Triennial Review” results that are about to come out. That’s the system that was put in place because even Congress realized just how stupid Section 1201 was and how much innovation and research it would limit — so it created a weird sort of safety valve. Every three years, the Copyright Office and the Librarian of Congress would work together to come up with classes of technology that are magically “exempted” from the law. Now, normally, you’d think that if you have to come up with exemptions, there’s probably something wrong with the law that needs to be fixed, but that’s not the way this worked.
The latest triennial review results are about to come out, and a lot of people are focused on it — in part because of current events. As you may recall, earlier this year, we wrote about one of the exemption requests in particular: over whether or not you can tinker with the software in your car. GM was fighting against this, and we were shocked to then see the EPA side with GM (!?!?) on this issue, claiming that it’s a perfectly reasonable use of copyright law to stop tinkering with cars on the off chance that some of that tinkering might lead to changing emissions to illegal levels.read article
Well, it’s been a few weeks since Stephen Colbert assumed command of The Late Show and Trevor Noah has taken the reins of The Daily Show. In both cases the hosts are taking over from prior hosts who had long tenure at their respective shows (David Letterman and Jon Stewart). The new boys have been there long enough now to form some opinions. Admittedly, they’re just my opinions but this is my column.
I want to start with The Daily Show and Trevor Noah. To be honest, this was the one that was of greater concern to me because I really loved watching Jon Stewart. I felt that he (and the show) had an important role on television. It was very funny and had a real point of view and delighted in deflating personalities and kicking other networks and other media up the butt when needed (and it has been an ever increasing need over the past few years). Jon Stewart had a keen eye and a well developed sense of outrage to go with his highly developed sense of comedy.
Could Trevor Noah compete? Could he fill those shoes? Would The Daily Show still be a must-see show for me?read article
Here’s an interesting new approach to funding and distributing work by new filmmakers. The Bureau of Creative Works will help 12 different filmmakers create 12 new short films which will, according to its Kickstarter page, be distributed “exclusively to the very supporters who helped make that film possible.”
The project page explains that 80% of the funds will go directly to the production budget of each film with the other 20% “split between Kickstarter / Amazon / VHX fees, and then operating cost, ie., The Bureau.”read article
Come on, fess up, who amongst us have ‘loved’ and desired the rebel/bad guy/gal – in school, College, University, on the big screen or in the television show? Be careful what you wish for. You might have married one (or were): daily having to tread a fine line between exhilaration and fear, between violence and bliss. Funny, neither gender seem to be liked/suffered nobly in the workplace – but in that arena, it’s all about being a team player not the lone rebel/psychopath.
So why do they ‘reel us in’ – involving us in their complicated, often dysfunctional lives? And what makes them especially compelling when we view them on the big screen or ‘little box’?
From a biological POV, rebels tend to take risks, live precariously, face danger and either through luck or sheer ‘ballsyness’, often reap the rewards of their daring – but not always. Failures can be spectacular and collateral damage is a given. They live and die by the sword – but they live and life on the edge is strangely intoxicating – if you survive. read article
