Month: August 2013

On International Video Copyright Restrictions

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

Rant Of The Day.

So apparently some crazy stuff went down at the VMAs last night. Something about Miley Cyrus gyrating inappropriately, Justin Timberlake reuniting with the Backstreet Boys (or is it ‘NSync?) and all manner of Hollywood elite naughtiness that promised to both amuse and titillate the audience.

I know this because various websites that I read to pass the time – Buzzfeed, Slate, et al. – have been writing and posting articles about the VMA shenanigans throughout the day. The format of said articles (and this doesn’t just apply to the VMAs, but about more or less anything that happens in America) generally follows this pattern:

1. EYE-CATCHING HEADLINE

2. FERVENT ASSURANCE THAT I REALLY WANT TO READ THIS STORY

3. BREATHLESS PARAGRAPH FILLING ME IN ON THE SCANDALOUS DETAILS

4. EMBEDDED VIDEO OF SAID SCANDALOUS HAPPENING IN ALL ITS SALACIOUS GLORY

5. THE “WASN’T THAT SH*T CRAZY?” PERORATION

Only I happen to live in the United Kingdom. Which means that the whole process falls apart when I reach Step 4. Instead of seeing the embedded video (from YouTube, or MTV, or Comedy Central or whoever the hell else), I get this:

4. SORRY, THIS VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE FROM YOUR CRAPPY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY. SUCK IT.

Thanks, Slate.com for linking to a video that only 4.45% of the world's population can watch
Thanks, Slate.com for linking to a video that only 4.45% of the world’s population can watch

But – and here’s the kicker – not before they make me sit through the obligatory 30-second commercial for J-Lo’s latest crappy perfume or whatever other shoddily-conceived and made wares that they want me to purchase. As a result, for viewers that God has chosen to curse by not conveniently placing them within the contiguous 48 states of the USA, Step 5 then becomes this:

5. WASN’T THAT GREAT THING THAT YOU DON’T GET TO SEE REALLY AWESOME?

I wouldn’t know, would I? I wouldn’t bloody know.

Comedy Central at least tries to be amusing about the fact that their bloodsucking intellectual property lawyers want to extinguish any last drop of enjoyment that I might possibly derive from their shows:

Even Colbert is in on the heinous conspiracy
Even Colbert is in on the heinous conspiracy

But somehow this lame attempt at humour just makes it all the worse.

And no, it isn’t one of the “detriments of living under a monarchy”. It is one of the detriments of living in a modern digital age still governed by dinosaurs and fossils from a previous era who seriously think that today’s web-savvy, enlightened global consumer will put up with their bullshit and tolerate a smug, scornful, condescendingly second-class service.

And the fact that many such content providers, such as Comedy Central above, offer to redirect you to “your local country website” – which is, without exception, massively inferior to the US version in every way, from design to content – merely rubs additional salt into the wound.

THIS IS WHY INTERNET PIRACY HAPPENS. THIS. RIGHT HERE.

Do the suits seriously think that I am going to shrug my shoulders and hop on a plane to the US of A so that I can watch their two-minute-long, mildly entertaining video clip, or else sorrowfully abstain from ever viewing it?

No. In my rage, I will turn to Google and hammer out a stream-of-consciousness search request into my long-suffering keyboard, and fifty websites of dubious legality will instantly offer to show me the same goddamn video clip, without asking me to move continents, kill my firstborn son or jump through a fiery hoop.

The bottom line is that I get to watch the thing that I wanted to see. Semi-Partisan Sam wins. Always. In fact, the only people who lose out are the blood-sucking corporations who tried to throw pathetic, unenforceable legal obstacles in my path, and – sadly – the content creators, who would have materially benefited had I been able to watch on the official site, maybe sit through a couple more ads, and even make a purchase from the online store once in a blue moon.

But I don’t expect much from the likes of ViaCom-NBC-Universal-CBS-Fox-MediaTron-Gargamel-Corp.

It would be nice, however, if the news and entertainment websites that I frequent – respectable websites and publications that should know that much of their readership originates from outside the continental USA and does not appreciate being titillated with the promise of content that they cannot watch – smartened their act up and linked to sources that do not enforce petty, control-freakish regional access restrictions (or at least pressured content providers to stop their errant ways for the good of humanity).

Henceforth, I will be naming and shaming any site that falls short of this entirely reasonable standard of behaviour on this blog.

Fair warning.

On PowerPoint Presentations

Samuel Hooper2 Comments

How not to do them:

 

Dr. Lorraine Fisher-Katz commits every public presentation blunder and PowerPoint faux-pas known to man while addressing a group of young undergraduates in Boston…before it is revealed that she is an actress hired by their professor to highlight the importance of good presentation skills. Sadly, there remain serious people in the business world who would benefit enormously from sitting through this short “workshop”.

A masterpiece in Comic Sans Serif.

On Political Interviews

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

How not to do it:

 

Wow. I will leave it to you to determine whether Chris Young was seriously running for mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, or auditioning for American Idol. Kudos to the interviewer for keeping a straight face throughout the excruciating, preachy song.

More on the Chris Young phenomenon here and here.

On Lego Architecture

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

Although it is not brand new, the award for Best Thing Of The Day has to go to a discovery that I only just made – the Lego Architecture Studio set.

Best Thing Ever - Lego Architecture Set
Best Thing Ever – Lego Architecture Set

Apparently it retails for around $150 USD and looks to be worth every darn penny.

Wired.com reports that the set comes with no instructions for constructing any one specific building, but rather with a hefty user manual that walks you through different architectural styles and practices, enabling the lucky owner to experiment with their own interpretations:

Architecture Studio, a new set from Lego, comes with 1,210 white and translucent bricks. More notable is what it lacks: namely, instructions for any single thing you’re supposed to build with it. Instead, the kit is accompanied by a thick, 277-page guidebook filled with architectural concepts and building techniques alongside real world insights from prominent architecture studios from around the globe. In other words, this box o’ bricks is a little different. Where past Lego products might have had the happy ancillary effect of nurturing youngsters’ interest in architecture, here, that’s the entire point.

Seventy-three different kinds of bricks are included in the set. But bricks are easy to find. It’s the guidebook that’s truly new. Its pages offer accessible overviews of basic architectural concepts, along with illustrated exercises for exploring them in Lego form. Pages on negative space and interior sections, for example, encourage budding builders to think not only about how their miniature creations look from the outside but also in terms of what sorts of spaces they contain within them.

What a brilliant idea. I was already impressed with the initial sets in the Lego Architecture series, such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” house, pictured below:

I would love to live there, but would settle for the Lego model
I would love to live there, but would settle for the Lego model

But even here the user is only following the preordained instructions transcribed from the original architect’s design. With the Lego Architecture Studio set, one is given all manner of different blocks, a thoroughly detailed and useful guide to help get into the architect frame of mind, and a blank slate on which to play. Brilliant.

Definitely one for the Christmas list.

How Best To Challenge Putin? Ctd

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

A good ongoing series from Sullivan, focusing on the need to stand up to the ever-increasingly authoritarian, intolerant regime of President (Dictator) Vladimir Putin, particularly as his Kremlin policies relate to freedom of the press and civil rights (especially for gay Russians).

Patrick Appel's avatarThe Dish

by Patrick Appel

Jamie Kirchick’s tactic:

Michael Scherer claps:

American reporter and pundit Jamie Kirchick did the cable news medium proud by ambushing a conversation about Bradley Manning on RT, the cable channel funded by the Russian government, to attack Russian President Vladamir Putin over his government’s anti-gay policies. Truly. Great. Cable. Television.

Zack Ford points out that, contra Kirchick, RT has covered Russia’s anti-gay laws – but “much of the coverage has been used to justify it.” Recent Dish on protesting Russia’s anti-gay policies here.

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