The draconian effect of copyright law
| May 9, 2011 | Posted by Joe Towse under culture, entertainment, international, technology |
N.B. Sorry that this is a long read, but it is a very broad subject. I’m willing to answer any questions. ‘Copyright’ was a term that first came into being after the Statute Of Anne in 1709 – this was intended to protect the publishers of books against unwanted pirating of their works. That statute allowed authors and publishers to apply for the exclusive right to create copies of books that were their intellectual property; however, instead of creating any automatic or perpetual right, this was originally for 14 years, and then another 14 if the copyright owner was still alive, and only applied if the owner made the application to have said copyright. Furthermore, it only restricted the creation… more
Gems from the music underground: Part 1
| April 28, 2011 | Posted by Joe Towse under culture |
This is a new series – although I’m not sure how frequently it will be updated – based on fantastic albums that are often overlooked. They will largely be from extreme music scenes (extreme forms of punk, extreme metal, noise/power electronics, etc.), although if something else catches my ear I’ll make sure to include it. Cows – Taint Pluribus Taint Unum [1987] Extremely catchy noise rock, with strong elements of John Zorn’s alternative jazz and the general strangeness of Mike Patton’s assorted projects (the best known is Faith No More, but the weirder approach shines through more in projects like Mr Bungle and Fantômas). The vocals, courtesy of Shannon Selberg, are quite low in the mix, although this suits their… more
What is the impact of blogging?
| April 22, 2011 | Posted by Joe Towse under lifestyle, technology |
There is no denying that the cultural phenomenon that is blogging has a big impact on the world. Indeed, many news stories, memes, and artistic efforts either air their head via this medium, or are exposed to the wider world by it. Although WikiLeaks is the organisation that has hit headlines recently for exposure of information, blogs over the years have had at least an equal, if not greater, impact, although perhaps not quite on such a global scale. However, if one goes over to Blogger and hits the ‘Next Blog’ button (I’m unsure if there’s a WordPress equivalent), the product will generally be either a manga fansite (not that I have a problem with those per se, it’s just… more
Is professional gaming a legitimate career path?
| April 11, 2011 | Posted by Joe Towse under technology |
Nyegh. So I’m stuck without my trusty old Xbox 360 once more, which really helps to pass time these days. I won’t get into the reasons, but it’s more due to confiscation than the somewhat clichéd “red ring of death/darkness/doom/oh shit no moar CoD lolz”. The fact that the red ring, which simply signifies that you’re going to have to be without your console for a couple of weeks, is described so extravagantly, is actually quite worrying. I’ve said since way back that I enjoy video games immensely, but could see that they’re often viewed as sad and a bit of a niche interest. However, there is something that has occurred to me over the past couple of days, and… more
