number five

While home for Thanksgiving Break, I watched True Life: I Live Another Life on the Web. This episode followed three girls, all who had some form of anxiety with the real world. Amy, a musician, has a fan base on Second Life but she's terrified to play in front of people in real life. Another girl, Judy, has a almost soft-core porn website, but she's extremely shy and timid when she has to interact with others. The third girl, Maleri, meets guys online and has cyber-relationships with them, but like the other girls, is too shy to meet boys more traditionally. What I found interesting was that all three of these girls did not feel comfortable interacting with others in real life, and used their computer screens to hide. Would this still be a problem for them if we did not have the internet? How would they interact in the world if technology was not such a big aspect of our lives? Would they eventually "get over it," or would they forever be crippled and hide away from society?


Judy, the girl who takes pictures of herself, has a fan who pays her apartment rent. He often pressures her into taking full frontal naked pictures, and she doesn't mind. She often talked about how the pictures gave her a sense of control, so if there was ever a time where she felt uncomfortable, she could just "turn off the computer." I thought it was strange that someone who was super shy, but yet took naked pictures of herself, could be so detached and blasé about the whole situation. Maleri, who meets men online, also takes pictures of herself if the guy online asks for them. She also talked about having a sense of "control" because she can take pictures of her body she is most comfortable. Maleri also acknowledged that she knew her relationships online were not going to go anywhere, but she is too embarrassed to talk to guys face-to-face. There was one scene where her friends had to go talk to guys for her, but she was too self-conscious to carry on a conversation. Amy, the musician, was nervous at the beginning of the episode to play in front of an audience, but she soon mustered up enough courage and played a couple open-mic sets. She has a mentor, another Second Life musician, who helps her become more comfortable to play in front of a live audience. 


After looking back on everything we have discussed in class, I realized that this episode is only the beginning of the online generation. Are there going to be more cases of social anxiety as the Internet becomes more and more prevalent in our lives? Are we no longer going to be able to carry on face-to-face conversations, or are we no longer going to be even talking to others face-to-face? This episode aired in 2008, so it's interesting to see how these three stories are still relevant to society. I would like to think that people will be capable of navigating in the virtual and real world, but I can see how others can run into problems.

Remix Culture

I had never thought seriously about the implication and relevance of remixes and mashups. It wasn't until college did I ever start listening to mashups, starting with the Kid Cudi/Milkman concert. After downloading his album, which thankfully was free, I started discovering more artists that also offered free downloads, like The White Panda, E-603, Norwegian Recycling, etc. This discovery, along with watching the documentary about Girl Talk, I soon realized that these artists are essentially protesting to the big music companies. Why should they have to pay an absurd amount of royalties to use snippets of songs in order to create art?


As much as I respect artists that produce and create their own music, I think in regards to mashups artists, they are also creating their own sound so they should have to suffer such harsh penalties from copyright laws. For example, Lars Ulrich should be thankful that a mashup artist would think to sample one of Metallica's songs. This could prompt the listener to think, "Oh hey, I like that riff, I wonder what band that is?" and thus would lead him or her to discover the works of Metallica, and maybe gain another fan in the exchange. I know that may be a far reaching example, but it could happen. I know that Norwegian Recycling lists all the songs he uses in his mashups, and I have sometimes bought the actual songs from ITunes after listening to his work. However, there should be a way to find a middle ground when it comes to copyright laws. Artists should somehow get their royalties, but other artists should be able to "build off" or sample other works to ensure a free flow of creativity and artistry. As mentioned in the documentary, the artists themselves are not even getting their fair share in these copyright laws; the laws seem to only be there to ensure the music industry remains the giant monopoly of music they are now. 


Like we have previously discussed in class, these copyright and fair use laws are almost impossible to police. There are countless websites that will convert youtube links to mp3s, music blogs that post leaks and free downloads for artists/mashup mixtapes, artists themselves are releasing free or pay-as-much-as-you-want albums, and all the torrents you could download in the world. Since being at school I have come to appreciate websites like goodmusicallday.com and thissongissick.com for blogging about new artists leaks and mixtapes. Even though I have yet another distraction from schoolwork, I love scrolling through all the blog posts and discovering new artists. It's hard to think what the music would would sound like if there were no sampling or mashups because this build-off is such a key in the development of genres. There would be no hip hop, r&b, rock and roll- anything- without the blues and early spirituals. 


On a sidenote, I also did not realize that these fair use laws also applied to science. It was frustrating to hear that if another scientist had a patent on a idea, another has to completely scrap the idea and start over. Cancer and other diseases are difficult enough to cure, but we shouldn't be stopped because of frivolous things like patents. I'll admit that I don't know much about the benefits of having a patent on an idea, but there should also be a way to allow scientists to build off each other and make research more communal. 


I know this post is kind of a rant, but there's my two-cents on copyright and fair use laws :)