mountain masala

so you think you can be president

this is great

so you think you can be president?

stop child labour

a week or so ago the twins were part of a flashmob in the city to raise awareness about child labour and its implications. you don't get to see them in the video as they were on the other side of the 'silver balls'.

black is the new president...

thanks to fellow cyber-traveller mary hess for this link to the art of obama. this great site showcases a range of fascinating art of across several media promoting obama and his cause.

"generation we" is pretty great too. millenials changing america is also an interesting site.

an early christmas carol

joy to the world,
john howard's gone....

mickey mouse lives on...

“Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration and sing about the grief” (U2, "The Fly", from Achtung Baby, 1991)

I finally submitted a slightly overdue essay on issues surrounding copyright in a digital age... I happened across a great book while buying a second-hand textbook from Amazon (when I buy a second-hand book I tend to browse the second -hand booksellers catalogue to see what else is on offer...) The book in question is Controlling Voices: Intellectual Property, Humanistic Studies and the Internet by TyAnna K. Herrington, Southern Illinois University Press, 2001.

The reading for this course is excellent. I've been reading the judges' statements (majority and minority) at the 2002 US Supreme Court challenge to the Sonny Bono "Mickey Mouse" copyright extension bill (Lawrence Lessig was one of the plaintiffs). That's the bill that extended copyright from 50 years to 70 years, a bill that protected Disney and others' entertainment interests from being in the public domain. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge to the bill but as 4-3 vote, and the lead judge's ruling and that of one of the dissenting judge's are actually fabulous reading about copyright, authorship, ownership and commerce. You may not be aware that thanks to our free trade agreement with the US, the 70 year limit now applies here as well. How's that for colonialism!

A couple of good quotes from Herrington's book:

“Reality exists only in shared perception, and this perception depends on information developed through the process of creating knowledge. Those who have access to knowledge and control its use and dissemination thus control what we perceive: ultimately our shared reality.”

In the introduction to Herrington’s book, Jay David Bolter says, “We should be increasingly skeptical of claims by individuals and corporations to own texts that are themselves the products of interactions among current and earlier texts, authors and readers”.

Great to have an excuse to cite Negativland in a uni essay!

I'm listening to Bright Eyes' Cassadaga at the moment and loving it!

face2face project

others may have seen this but I've only just come across it. face2face is a photographic project seeking to bring peace in the Middle East. The photographers have taken photos of both Israelis and Palestinians making funny faces. They are displaying huge photos of both sets of images on both sides of the Wall.

simple. clever. compelling.

and the instigators say - 'Today, "Face to face" is necessary. Within a few years, we will come back for "Hand in hand".'