"Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”. He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture.
Because of Edisons patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North american east coast. The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent. There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them - like Fantasia, one of Disneys biggest hits ever.
So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immaterial rights. They copied (or put in their terminology: “stole”) other peoples creative works, without paying for it. They did it in order to make a huge profit. Today, they’re all successful and most of the studios are on the Fortune 500 list of the richest companies in the world. Congratulations - it’s all based on being able to re-use other peoples creative works. And today they hold the rights to what other people create. If you want to get something released, you have to abide to their rules. The ones they created after circumventing other peoples rules.
The reason they are always complaining about “pirates” today is simple. We’ve done what they did. We circumvented the rules they created and created our own. We crushed their monopoly by giving people something more efficient. We allow people to have direct communication between each other, circumventing the profitable middle man, that in some cases take over 107% of the profits (yes, you pay to work for them).
It’s all based on the fact that we’re competition. We’ve proven that their existence in their current form is no longer needed. We’re just better than they are.
And the funny part is that our rules are very similar to the founding ideas of the USA. We fight for freedom of speech. We see all people as equal. We believe that the public, not the elite, should rule the nation. We believe that laws should be created to serve the public, not the rich corporations.
The Pirate Bay is truly an international community. The team is spread all over the globe - but we’ve stayed out of the USA. We have Swedish roots and a swedish friend said this:
The word SOPA means “trash” in Swedish. The word PIPA means “a pipe” in Swedish. This is of course not a coincidence. They want to make the internet inte a one way pipe, with them at the top, shoving trash through the pipe down to the rest of us obedient consumers.
The public opinion on this matter is clear. Ask anyone on the street and you’ll learn that no one wants to be fed with trash. Why the US government want the american people to be fed with trash is beyond our imagination but we hope that you will stop them, before we all drown.
SOPA can’t do anything to stop TPB. Worst case we’ll change top level domain from our current .org to one of the hundreds of other names that we already also use. In countries where TPB is blocked, China and Saudi Arabia springs to mind, they block hundreds of our domain names. And did it work? Not really.
To fix the “problem of piracy” one should go to the source of the problem. The entertainment industry say they’re creating “culture” but what they really do is stuff like selling overpriced plushy dolls and making 11 year old girls become anorexic. Either from working in the factories that creates the dolls for basically no salary or by watching movies and tv shows that make them think that they’re fat.
In the great Sid Meiers computer game Civilization you can build Wonders of the world. One of the most powerful ones is Hollywood. With that you control all culture and media in the world. Rupert Murdoch was happy with MySpace and had no problems with their own piracy until it failed. Now he’s complaining that Google is the biggest source of piracy in the world - because he’s jealous. He wants to retain his mind control over people and clearly you’d get a more honest view of things on Wikipedia and Google than on Fox News.
Some facts (years, dates) are probably wrong in this press release. The reason is that we can’t access this information when Wikipedia is blacked out. Because of pressure from our failing competitors. We’re sorry for that."
—
PIRATE BAY, PRESS RELEASE (18 JANUARY 2012).
(Found via pipperipembo.)
BOOM! (via tobia)
Verrrry interesting.
)
(via justwannaeat)
"Hi, my name is Seth Rogen and I’m currently trying to conceal a massive erection."
—
Seth Rogen standing next to Kate Beckinsale. (via popculturebrain)
Rape culture, exhibit #930,312,300,222,304,878,223.
TW: Rape
wolfenisa:
If I was to steal a chocolate bar because it was sitting at the counter looking all tasty, it’d be theft. Nobody would say but oh, look at the creamy picture on the packaging. It was taunting him. He had no choice. It was instinct. Impulse. Drives and desires beyond his control.
If I walked into some person’s home and said I lived there, I’d be arrested. Nobody would say to the owners that they should invest in curtains so that people couldn’t see how nice their house was so easily. Nobody would tell them that they were ‘asking for it’.
And if I beat a guy up because he was a loud mouth I’d be charged. Nobody would say oh but look at him, he’s a dick. He’s got gel in his hair and he’s wearing a shirt that says “How about a nice cup of shut the fuck up”. The dude is a wanker, he got what he deserved. More importantly, even if they did say that, it wouldn’t effect my charges.
But if a woman is wearing a short skirt then it will dramatically sway people’s opinions in a rape case. Was it cut above the knee? Was your waist showing? These are serious questions that will be asked in a court case.
I donno if I’ve missed something from the past few decades, but I’m pretty sure the whole “look what she was wearing, she was asking for it” thing is a pure joke now. No one in their right mind listening to a rapist pull that excuse would give them any sort of sympathy. It’s not an excuse in any way, just like this post says about stealing or beating someone up, even though this post is doing it sarcastically as if to say we do accept the excuse for rape. I disagree that it still stands. Maybe back in a day when before the 60s or so, but certainly not today. If it is still used then please show me and I’ll be one of the first to tear that legal establishment apart piece by piece.
Here is an example from this calendar year. Please, sir, commence your tearing.
(Source: marxisforbros)
![[Image: Shemar Moore, a brown-skinned, slender man with close-cropped black hair and a slight beard.]
isabelthespy:
quixotess:
danigirl0207:
“I didn’t understand the whole Shemar-is-sexy thing at first because my initial encounter with him was on the phone. Then he walked into a rehearsal and I was, like, look at this man! But here’s the thing with Shemar: You’d think the appeal is how handsome he is, but what’s unbelievable is, it’s actually his charm, his attentiveness. He listens, which is so rare for a man. And he notices everything. ‘You changed your nail polish,’ he’ll say. Or if we’re out at an event and he spots women giggling and staring at him, he’ll walk straight over and kiss them on the hand or give them hugs. Both on the show and in life, he’s like that sexy older brother of your friend, the one who’s got it all together and just looks supercool in a leather jacket.”
~Costar Kirsten Vangsness
Wow. Yeah, that does sound like his character as well. I always thought he sort of seemed like he was playing a version of himself. (Kirsten also kind of gives me that impression, haha.)
i want to be best friends with the whole cast of this show is that so wrong
I agree with quixotess on both counts (Kirsten’s playing a twee-er, more straight version).
The first time I ever set eyes on an image of Shemar Moore was in the mid-’90s when he was a guest on Dini Petty, a Canadian daytime talk show. I remember it because it was the first time I ever heard the expression “24/7”. Shemar Moore: always educational.](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly2g62hZZV1qfwr5ko1_400.jpg)
![popculturebrain:
New Image: The Hunger Games | Collider
[Image: production still with three characters sitting on a black leather sofa. On the left is Effie (played by Elizabeth Banks), in a teal dress with hugely puffed sleeves. In the middle is Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), slouched down as far as he can go without falling on to the floor. On the right is Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), wearing plain black and white clothing, with her knees pulled up to her chest.]
My hopes are rising dangerously high for this movie. Every still I’ve seen is perfect. I mean, look at Effie’s ridiculousness. Look at Haymitch’s IDGAFness. Look at Katniss remade to Beauty Base Zero. The only quibble I might have is that the anglular grey coffee table looks a little Star Trek: The Next Generation 1988, but who cares?](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwjclrFlG1qz8vumo1_500.jpg)
![[Image: A fortune-cookie-style piece of paper that reads: “Night people: ‘Anybody who goes to bed the same day they got up is a quitter.’”]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lul91xm6QC1qzo32go1_500.jpg)
