Posts by Joe Wylie

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  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    Without reinvigorating the public domain, the whole thing goes rancid and we enter a dark age whre no one can create anything. . .

    If nothing else, that might go some way towards explaining why Rancid sound so much like The Clash.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dial O for Obama,

    . . . don't you think someone is going to notice that McCain was "wholly supportive of" (and voted for) the bailout bill?

    Maybe not. As James Thurber noted back in 1939, in that appalling elitist rag the name of which, Angus assures us, is mud to the lumpenproletariat, You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dial O for Obama,

    Wonder if Sarah-cuda's newfound supporters will join her in Alaska when this shindy is over, to lay up stocks of moose jam while she revives the secession movement she was supposed to have been involved with a while back. It's hard not to be reminded of Australia at the height of the Pauline Hanson era, when someone suggested that a referendum should be held on whether Queensland should secede from Australia, provided all Australians were able to vote on the issue.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    Keir, I came to the same conclusion while you were typing your post (hence the whitebait question as I knew I'd get a decent answer) - so I doubt we were alone. The whisky conversations were a giveaway, too.. :)

    Nobody else does the Aue thang quite like . . . actually, come to think of it, nobody else does the Aue thang.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Debate and Onwards,

    The only thing Reagan had going on was a very public face, a career of public performance and (sad to say) Alzheimer's.

    Not fair. Ronnie had two glorious assets beside which those you've listed count for next to zilch:
    1. Nancy
    2. The best hot-buttered-yak-wool quiff ever (not counting Elvis).

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    I'm not buying the line about folks envying the courageous entrepreneurs.

    That's nice. Just to make things absolutely clear, it's not a line I'm avocating. All I'm saying is that creators should enjoy a similar level of security to that of entrepreneurial shareholders.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    . . . there are plenty of jobs that involve pouring your heart and sweat into creating material which you subsequently have no control over the use of - so I can see why some people are asking what's so special about artists and authors.

    Do you have any examples of these jobs then, Sacha? Presumably they're all performed in the service of another's vision, whether by direct employees or by contracted freelancers. There's an enormous difference between selling your skills and having the courage to speculate on your own creative vision. I wonder if these shadowy 'some people' who you appear to half-heartedly champion feel a similar level of resentment towards those who benefit from speculating on their own business acumen?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Debate and Onwards,

    There doesn't seem to be any overt warmth between Sarah and her children.

    Isn't this getting just a little hairsplitty? I mean, the Palin camp may be attempting to reap political capital from parading her Downs child in the media, but half-baked analysis at this level of detail (attempting to wring meaning from the behaviour of young children on TV, FFS) comes across as nothing more than the nasty flipside of Republican cynicism.

    As for fundies regarding 'special' children as a form of divine punishment, while it might be true in Palin's case - for all any of us know - it's creepily reminiscent of the ugly and spurious rumours about Seventh Day Adventists, back when the majority of good sensible urban liberals believed Lindy Chamberlain was guilty as hell.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Island Life: No soup for you,

    **5. A new depression is sure to bring us a new dawn in music.**
    Abject despair hardens, in time, into indignation and protest; at that moment, someone picks up a guitar and starts to sing. It begins with Woody Guthrie, it flowers into Bob Dylan. The bloated sanctimony ultimately yields Bono, but the game is still worth the candle.

    They never had such a feast in their life, and the little ones chewed on the Bono?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Hard News: "Rubbish" is putting it politely,

    Um, dude, you have seen 'Amadeus'*, right?

    It was a long time ago - Tom Hulce, straight from Animal House to portraying Mozart as manic boofhead, then into well-deserved obscurity. If that's the take on Mozart that you're content with, hey, don't worry, be happy.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

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