From stay.free at verizon.net Wed Feb 2 11:52:16 2005 From: stay.free at verizon.net (Carrie McLaren) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 11:52:16 -0500 Subject: Stay F---! | February 2 Message-ID: Posted at: http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/ Nothing new on the Stay Free site this week, but elsewhere in the world: Teenage Millionaire, a company that sells t-shirts with the slogan "Jesus Is My Homeboy," has been using its legal muscle to stop people from parodying its product. The company sent cease-and-desist letters to Dan Sieradski, for instance, who was selling shirts bearing the phrase, "Jesus was a kike." The back-and-forth between the Teenage Millionaire lawyer and Sieradski is certainly worth your while (Sieradski is a bright bulb): http://www.orthodoxanarchist.com/2004/12/ip-freely.php That said, Sieradski is in a poor position to win a legal battle since he used Teenage Millionaire's Jesus pretty much as-is. Aaron Watson probably has a better case. Like Sieradski, Watson was threated by Teenage Millionaire for selling a parody t-shirt of "Homeboy" via CafePress, one that read, "Arnold is my Homeboy": http://www.freewillblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/4860/ But unlike Sieradski, Watson didn't appropriate Teenage Millionaire's imagery; he used a likeness of Mr. Schwarzenegger. Also unlike Sieradski, Watson appears to have the means to fight. After Teenage Millionaire threatened legal action, CafePress removed both sellers' shirts in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But Watson told me he has secured a lawyer and plans to have an official response soon. When that happens, there's a decent chance CafePress could reconsider its decision and allow him to keep selling his shirts. I talked to Candice Carr in the CafePress legal department and, though she couldn't comment on the case, she said the company is open to working with sellers who have substantial fair use claims. The company did, after all, back the creators of Jib Jab after they were sent a cease-and-desist from Woody Guthrie's estate for using "This Land Is Your Land." We'll let you know what happens. In the mean time, it's not too late to pick up "Buddha is my homeboy" or -- my fave -- "Darwin is my homeboy" t-shirts (Apparently Teenage Millionaire hasn't found these guys yet): http://www.cafepress.com/beeskneesbuddha.8122299 http://www.cafepress.com/publicdisgrace.14821856 ::: STAY FREE T-SHIRTS A month or so ago I played around with using CafePress myself in order to make an anti-Wal-Mart t-shirt (available for purchase!): http://www.cafepress.com/stayfree I can't decide whether to go whole hog and offer various Stay Free t-shirts via my website. If any of you have an opinion on the matter, let me know. Or you could just let your credit cards to the talking. ::::: US COPYRIGHT OFFICE NOW SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT! The US Copyright Office is seeking public comments on whether it needs to clear the way for people who want to use copyrighted works that have no identifiable rightsholder (aka "orphan works"). If you know any stories about filmmakers, artists, authors, or archivists who have run into difficulty in identifying rights holders, please please write the Copyright Office and give them your two cents: http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2005/70fr3739.html http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002401.shtml :::::: VOLKSWAGEN CAR BOMB HOAX I generally avoid mentioning advertising efforts that are clearly designed for shock value, but Volkswagen's new viral campaign really gets my goat. The blogosphere is afire with word of a commercial for Volkswagen that features a man getting inside his VW, driving to a cafe, and setting off a car bomb; the driver's plans go awry, however, because the bomb doesn't explode the car, which remains intact. http://ad-rag.com/117074.php In posts about the spot, several bloggers have simply mouthed Volkswagen's claims that it has nothing to do with it; the company originally said it was filing criminal charges against the creators but quickly settled for a public apology. The whole brouhaha strikes me as a transparent (albeit clever) effort by Volkswagen to engage in the guerilla-style viral marketing that's all the rage in corporate boardrooms now. The ad team that created the spot -- Lee Ford and Dan Brooks -- have claimed they have no idea how the commercial got on the internet. But Adland (ad-rag.com) found a dead link named "Volkswagen" on the Ford and Brook's website (the site has since been changed and the link is no longer there). http://ad-rag.com/117074.php Ford and Brooks told the Guardian that the spot cost 40,000 pounds but wouldn't say who footed the bill; the spot's director, however, disputed that claim and said it only cost 400 pounds (extremely unlikely given the high production values). Keep in mind that Ford Motors did a similar campaign last year for its SportKa. One viral spot showed the car squashing a small bird; another had the car's sunroof decapitating a cat. Ford tried to distance itself from the spots but, according to the Guardian, they were made by Ford's advertising agency. http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,7492,1402493,00.html So if Volkswagen did indeed sanction the commercial, it is far from the first megacorp to bank on plausible deniability. And since the internet is increasingly the media of choice for reaching coveted young adult males, you can bet it won't be the last. From stay.free at verizon.net Mon Feb 7 13:10:02 2005 From: stay.free at verizon.net (Carrie McLaren) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 13:10:02 -0500 Subject: Stay F--- | February 7 Message-ID: Posted at http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/ - - - - - Maybe you've heard the recent story about the guy selling ad space on his forehead on eBay. Or the one the woman who auctioned off space on her pregnant belly: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46690&item=3869933040&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Since these stories became media sensations, eBay has been flooded with copycats -- people trying to sell space on their faces, bald heads, backs, etc. I guess it's a small consolation that most of these morons haven't found their auctions to be nearly as lucrative as their predecessors, with bidding hovering around a dollar or two, at most... but the fact remains that they remain undeterred. Therefore, at the risk of my dignity, I've decided to step into the fray and auction off ad space on my colon: "Advertise on my colon" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5555567005 Perhaps this way we'll at least get to see an ad in a space where it belongs. (Thanks to Jonah Peretti for the tip) :::::: A fellow Brooklynite has come up with what is arguably a more innovative solution to the "forehead advertising" problem: special eyeglasses designed to block the ads: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5949718150 (though, as a commentator on one blog suggested, a lead pipe to the head would be more effective.) From stayfreemagazine at gmail.com Wed Feb 16 22:22:47 2005 From: stayfreemagazine at gmail.com (Carrie McLaren) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 22:22:47 -0500 Subject: Stay F--- enters the blogosphere Message-ID: <5287918a05021619222c3c7d80@mail.gmail.com> I am pleased to announce the launch of our brand new blog: Stay Free! Daily* http://stayfree.typepad.com/ >From now on, instead of relying on my sporadic emails, you can check here for the latest news and links to items we fancy. I've enlisted a handful of my favorite people (including Charles Star, Tim Harrod, Allison X. Miller, Damian Chadwick, and Matt Ransford) to keep the blog moving, but we can always use more volunteers. (We're looking for at least one more regular contributor.) In the future, I'll be sending out fewer emails and concentrating on the blog. IF this bothers you greatly, let me know. But if you haven't yet discovered RSS feeds, let me urge you to do so now. What's RSS? Don't ask me for any kind of technical explanation, but go to a site like http://www.bloglines.com, sign up, enter some of your favorite blogs (including http://stayfree.typepad.com/ , naturally), and you'll be smitten. RSS consolidators like Bloglines.com tell you when your favorite websites have updated and provide a fast, simple way to view those updates without having to visit a bunch of URLs. ADVERTISE IN STAY F---! Our next issue will be out in May and it's gonna be a good one. Want to advertise something? Our (cheap) ad rates are posted here: http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/publishers2005.pdf EBAY AUCTION MEETS UNTIMELY END The eBay auction I mentioned last week ended up getting sacked by The Man, who apparently approves when idiots sell advertising space on their foreheads, arms, backs, and bellies, but not on their colon. Oh, well. At least I don't have to pony up the auction fees. http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/images/public/ebay.gif * We can dream. From stayfreemagazine at gmail.com Mon Feb 28 15:37:17 2005 From: stayfreemagazine at gmail.com (Carrie McLaren) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:37:17 -0500 Subject: Stay F---! | 28 February Message-ID: <5287918a05022812371dd14820@mail.gmail.com> Hello. Here are some recent highlights from our new blog. Visit http://stayfree.typepad.com for full stories and images (or just click the direct URLS below). CELL PHONE JAMMING Posted by Carrie Next time some loudmouth on the bus starts yapping on his cell phone, it's nice to know you have a few options, aside from joining the conversation or resorting to violence. Commercial cell phone jammers -- which range in price from $250 to $2,000 -- temporarily disable nearby cell phones... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/cell_phone_jamm.html LIKE TIVO, BUT MORE PRURIENT Posted by Charles Did you ever want to watch TV but didn't want to get bogged down in plot or dialogue? Did you ever think "Why can't I just skip to the necrophilia and avoid all the tedious character development?" Well, now you can! The Parents Television Council website features the Worst of the Week in network television, giving their membership access to all of the things that they really, really hate so they can watch them over and over again. Probably with their pants off. Their prudery is your ticket to pleasure. Click and enjoy our debased culture. http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/like_tivo_but_m.html "KEEP TV FREE?" Posted by Carrie Gee, who would have thought that some of the same suits who are now trying to dictate what you can watch and record on television once urged Americans to "Keep TV Free"? Well, here's a PSA from the late 1960s Hollywood that does just that... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/1960s_psas_urge.html GREAT MOMENTS IN JOURNALISM, VOL. 1 Posted by Charles Last Sunday's NYT Business section, featured a 3,000 word story about how McDonald's move towards healthier fare has suddenly made them the largest purchaser of apples in the country. McDonald's Apple Dippers are going to "take the place of French Fries in some child's Happy Meal" and "answer many of its critics who contend that most of its menu is of poor nutritional quality." Apple Dippers? They are dipped in yogurt, right? Twenty-four paragraphs (and eight pages) later, on the heels of a McDonald's lackey bragging about how salads have improved McDonald's image, we are finally told: > Apple Dippers, which come with a caramel dipping sauce and > are offered either as a part of a Happy Meal or sold separately > for $1 ... have also given McDonald's customers some > alternatives to burgers, chicken nuggets and fried potatoes. http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/great_moments_i.html PROPOSED LAW ON MOVIE THEATER ADS Posted by Carrie Fire up for New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who has introduced legislation that would require movie theaters to specify when movies actually start, not when the ads start. If passed, theaters that don't provide actual start times could face fines of $500 to $1,000 for each infraction... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/proposed_law_on.html QUEENS DEVELOPER DROPS PLAN FOR NYC WAL-MART >From The New York Times: Facing intense opposition, a large real estate developer has dropped its plans to include a Wal-Mart store in a Queens shopping complex, thwarting Wal-Mart's plan to open its first store in New York City, city officials and real estate executives said yesterday... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/queens_develope.html ABC-TV AD COVERS THE GOWANUS SKY Reader Ted Houghton writes: I was just looking out the window, holding my newborn and enjoying one of baby's first sunsets over the Gowanus expressway, when I noticed a dark blotch in the sky. On closer inspection, it was a giant floating billboard being towed by a helicopter advertising an ABC-TV program.? It was gigantic -- you?had to wonder how the helicopter got it off the ground... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/abctv_ad_covers.html HERE'S AN IDEA: "NEW YORK CITY" Posted by Charles Because I like reading without the burden of "thinking," I occasionally pick up "am New York." It is a good thing I did. Otherwise I might never have known that New York is in the process of renaming The Big Apple. New York City has filed a trademark application for the phrase "The World's Second Home" (a phrase already in use by the City's 2012 Olympic committee) to use on T-shirts and other promotional geegaws. This would be unremarkable (after all, the Olympics are 20% sport, 30% pathos and 50% selling stuff) but for a not-so-coincidental coincidence: "The Big Apple" is in the public domain. In other words, it isn't enough for the City to sell t-shirts and temporary tattoos and keychains for the Olympics: it has to have a proprietary mark. Of course it does. New York may be the world's second home, but remember: you are just renting. http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/heres_an_idea_n.html SILENT DISOBEDIENCE Posted by Mat Honan With the 'AA's and major rightsholders going after everyone from BitTorrent tracker sites to Beatallica, most copyright violaters are keeping their heads down. But not? Scott Moschella, who's documented how he stripped Apple's Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology from an iTunes track and posted the de-DRM-ed song online for others to download. Moschella used a promotional Pepsi iTunes code to purchase "Silence," by the Ciccone Youth, from the iTunes Music Store. He's now more or less daring the RIAA, Apple, or anyone else, to come after him... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/silent_disobedi.html CHRISTO SAYS: DON'T PHOTOGRAPH THE GATES! >From an email by NYC activist Robert Lederman: > Christo's publisher claims a vast new degree of copyright > and trademark protection. They claim they will prosecute > anyone who sells their own original photos of The Gates; > who makes and sells a drawing of The Gates or who even uses > the words, The Gates, without their permission....They also > claim to have an agreement with the media that media sources > may only use news photos of the gates for the period the installation > is up. That after that the media will only be allowed to use > "official" photos of The Gates. http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/christo_says_do_1.html See also: "More on Christo's policy of photographing the Gates" http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/christo_says_do_1.html BILL GATES DROPS SOME MAD 5x1llz Posted by ja3 Need to know what your kidz are saying to each other online? Microsoft's primer to computer slang has the answers... http://stayfree.typepad.com/stayfree/2005/02/bill_gates_drop.html