Mature Language

Levni Yilmaz has released another episode in the Tales of Mere Existence series.

This is the best artistic advice you could possibly give to anyone in any artistic situation anywhere.

‘It ain’t about being the best. It’s about being multiple.’ Marvin Tiberious makes the best films about street art that I have seen from anywhere in the world.

Kirby Ferguson continues his Everything is a Remix series by showing us how many of our most cherished and familiar films combine elements taken from or inspired by other films to create their seemingly unique experiences. Sometimes, shots are reproduced almost exactly. Yet, the movie industry is extremely aggressive in prosecuting or suing anyone who tries to use their material.

Part 1 of Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix series. The techniques of copy, combining and transforming existing material is common to all artistic creation.

Ha ha!  This is great!  Jr. Star Trek is one of the very first fan films ever made for the original Star Trek series.  Peter Emshwiller made it in his house at the age of ten.  It actually made its way onto PBS television and has been a feature of many Star Trek conventions over the years.  Do kids still do this kind of thing?  They should.  What a fantastic effort and how much it must have taught the kids about making a movie.  They somehow capture the atmosphere of the classic television show by taking it very seriously.  Kids at that age didn’t see anything funny about Star Trek.  Their imaginations and intellects were fired by the show and they revelled in its deeply optimistic vision of the future.

You can read much more about this film and its maker at a great fan film blog from Clive Young called Fan Cinema Today, which chronicles all things related to films made by fans.  This kind of filmmaking has an important place in art and entertainment.  Unauthorized films are an expression of profound interest and respect by fans who go this far with their endeavors.  They extend the life of a fictional world that has been established in a particular medium and provide many people with an excellent outlet for their creative minds.

Some of the most interesting writing about copyright and remix culture comes from attorney Lawrence Lessig.  His latest book, Remix, is available as a Creative Commons licensed download.  In a world where kids can download everything for free, how do you make commerce thrive and how do you avoid criminalizing an entire generation?  These are the primary questions Lessig asks in this book.  If you make a baby video that happens to have Prince playing on the radio in the background and you upload it to YouTube, have you broken a copyright law?  Prince thinks you have.  But Prince is an idiot with a guitar.  I seriously doubt that the guy can even read.  Lessig is much smarter than Prince.  Read his book with Prince playing on the stereo in your room.  Film yourself.  Then upload to YouTube.  That will make Prince go insane.

I found this book via BoingBoing.

And by the way, you have our permission to film yourself with our audio playing on your stereo in the background.  We’re much smarter than Prince too!

This makes me laugh every time I see it.  It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on the web related to a famous writer.  So, it would seem that the great children’s author, Roald Dahl, wrote all of his books, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, James and the Giant Peach, and Danny the Champion of the World, in a tiny, dilapidated, filthy old shack in his backyard.  Here’s a picture of his ratty worn-out armchair.  Imagine what went on in this tiny room!  His brain was exploding with all those stories and fantastic characters and he was probably fighting the drafts and killing bugs the whole time.  I can totally understand what he must have loved about his little ‘writing hut.’  It was probably his perfect little creative world.

You can look all around Mr. Dahl’s hut with the online virtual tour at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center web site.

Here’s a flickr set of workspaces without computers.  I like all the pencils and brushes in jars.  Messy art studios are always fascinating and inspiring.  This set of pictures covers everything from art studios to garages full of tools.

Here’s another set of pictures of bloggers’ desks.  Ever wonder how the person you’re reading works or what their view is like while they come up with those brilliant posts?  Here’s your answer.