LJ Idol 2: Secrets, Lies and the Internet
Oct. 1st, 2008 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bewize“Hi, I’m Brad. Thank you for calling [Cable Company] today! How can I help you?”
Brad was cheerful. Brad was too cheerful. Brad was… annoying.
“Yes, hi. I’m calling because I think I pay too much for cable television. I want to know if there is a less expensive option.”
There was a heartbeat of icy silence. Not so cheerful now, are we?
“Let me just pull up your bill… ah yes, well, you have the Amazing Deluxe Package of Awesome.”
Errr…. Okay. That wasn’t helpful.
“All right, so is there a less amazing Package of Awesome available?”
Clickety, clickety, clickety. Brad was typing something very fast.
“I can offer you basic cable.”
Yeah! Now we’re getting somewhere.
“What does that encompass?”
Silence. Ominous silence.
“Your local channels!”
I waited for more. The ominous silence grew deafening.
“And?”
I’d stumped him. That wasn’t a good sign.
“That’s it!”
What was it?
“So, it doesn’t have BBC America?
…
“No.”
…
“What about Bravo?”
…
“No.”
…
“CW?”
…
“No.”
…
…
…
“I think I’d like to cancel my cable completely.”
…
“What do you mean?”
Now it was my turn to sound cheerful.
“I can pretty much find everything I want to watch online.”
...
…
Poor Brad.
“That’s… illegal.”
…
“Yeah, but I don’t care. Bye!”
*********************
So that’s my deep dark secret. I don’t care about copyright law. I care less about creator’s rights than I do my own convenience.
As a writer, hell, as a lawyer, I probably should care. I mean, I suppose if it was my book being leaked on the internet, I might care. Maybe.
But you know what? If I’d made millions of dollars on it, I probably wouldn’t care that much.
So, here, let me say it.
I like fanfiction. I write fanficiton. I use other people’s characters when I do it.
And I don’t care if they don’t like it. To the JK Rowlings and the Anne Rices of the world, I don’t care. Get a grip. Pull a Ron Moore, or a Joss Whedon and nurture your fans. I mean, seriously, you created a character, you told us a story, and then you set it free and that’s where I come in.
Because I don’t care that you created the character.
I care what I can do with your character. And some of the things I do are better than the things you did. And dirtier.
It gets worse.
Fanfiction. Fan art. Fan videos.
Fair Use? Maybe. Don’t care!
Cease and Desist letters make me laugh. Catch me on the internet if you can! You can’t!
And fanworks are just the beginning.
It’s the tip of the iceberg. A long slippery slope of an iceberg.
I download music. Lots of it.
I watch entire television series online.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE I CAN DO THIS FOR FREE! Some of them are even legal!
But, you know what?
I’d do it even if it weren’t.
And I like it. I like not paying $100 a month for cable. I like seeing the latest episodes of anime, complete with fansubs, 48 hours after they are released in Japan. None of this waiting a year for the official translation bullshit for me!
I read manga online. Entire series of it. For free.
Because I can! And because I don’t care!
But, uh… don’t tell my boss. Or the bar association.
Because then I’d have to care and I really don’t want to.
I enjoy my apathy when it comes to this, thank you very much.
And if you still want to tell me how awful I am, feel free to do so in the comments. I’m going to watch last week’s episode of Supernatural. ON THE INTERNET!
Cheers!
This entry was written in response to the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidol Challenge 2: “I Don’t Care About Apathy: What I "Should" Care About – But Don’t.” There will be voting for this week's entries. I will make sure to link to the poll once it is put up and I would appreciate it if you would vote for me if you enjoyed my entry. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Brad was cheerful. Brad was too cheerful. Brad was… annoying.
“Yes, hi. I’m calling because I think I pay too much for cable television. I want to know if there is a less expensive option.”
There was a heartbeat of icy silence. Not so cheerful now, are we?
“Let me just pull up your bill… ah yes, well, you have the Amazing Deluxe Package of Awesome.”
Errr…. Okay. That wasn’t helpful.
“All right, so is there a less amazing Package of Awesome available?”
Clickety, clickety, clickety. Brad was typing something very fast.
“I can offer you basic cable.”
Yeah! Now we’re getting somewhere.
“What does that encompass?”
Silence. Ominous silence.
“Your local channels!”
I waited for more. The ominous silence grew deafening.
“And?”
I’d stumped him. That wasn’t a good sign.
“That’s it!”
What was it?
“So, it doesn’t have BBC America?
…
“No.”
…
“What about Bravo?”
…
“No.”
…
“CW?”
…
“No.”
…
…
…
“I think I’d like to cancel my cable completely.”
…
“What do you mean?”
Now it was my turn to sound cheerful.
“I can pretty much find everything I want to watch online.”
...
…
Poor Brad.
“That’s… illegal.”
…
“Yeah, but I don’t care. Bye!”
So that’s my deep dark secret. I don’t care about copyright law. I care less about creator’s rights than I do my own convenience.
As a writer, hell, as a lawyer, I probably should care. I mean, I suppose if it was my book being leaked on the internet, I might care. Maybe.
But you know what? If I’d made millions of dollars on it, I probably wouldn’t care that much.
So, here, let me say it.
I like fanfiction. I write fanficiton. I use other people’s characters when I do it.
And I don’t care if they don’t like it. To the JK Rowlings and the Anne Rices of the world, I don’t care. Get a grip. Pull a Ron Moore, or a Joss Whedon and nurture your fans. I mean, seriously, you created a character, you told us a story, and then you set it free and that’s where I come in.
Because I don’t care that you created the character.
I care what I can do with your character. And some of the things I do are better than the things you did. And dirtier.
It gets worse.
Fanfiction. Fan art. Fan videos.
Fair Use? Maybe. Don’t care!
Cease and Desist letters make me laugh. Catch me on the internet if you can! You can’t!
And fanworks are just the beginning.
It’s the tip of the iceberg. A long slippery slope of an iceberg.
I download music. Lots of it.
I watch entire television series online.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE I CAN DO THIS FOR FREE! Some of them are even legal!
But, you know what?
I’d do it even if it weren’t.
And I like it. I like not paying $100 a month for cable. I like seeing the latest episodes of anime, complete with fansubs, 48 hours after they are released in Japan. None of this waiting a year for the official translation bullshit for me!
I read manga online. Entire series of it. For free.
Because I can! And because I don’t care!
But, uh… don’t tell my boss. Or the bar association.
Because then I’d have to care and I really don’t want to.
I enjoy my apathy when it comes to this, thank you very much.
And if you still want to tell me how awful I am, feel free to do so in the comments. I’m going to watch last week’s episode of Supernatural. ON THE INTERNET!
Cheers!
This entry was written in response to the
therealljidol Challenge 2: “I Don’t Care About Apathy: What I "Should" Care About – But Don’t.” There will be voting for this week's entries. I will make sure to link to the poll once it is put up and I would appreciate it if you would vote for me if you enjoyed my entry. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 05:34 am (UTC)Re the fanfic: I'm not involved in any of it, but my feeling is that as long as you don't publish an actual book using characters still under copyright, then it should be OK. Or so I'd think :shrug:
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 01:25 pm (UTC)I do not agree with making money off of other people's works. I suppose I should have made that clearer, but in my mind a fanwork is NOT something made to earn money.
Some creators are okay with fanworks. Others aren't. It's all a bit silly in my mind.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 03:11 pm (UTC)And then there are places like Disney that will charge close to $4000 for a 100 episode series run on Bill Nye The Science Guy (for instance). Even with the extra "teacher supplimental material", That's just highway robbery, as far as I'm concerned, not to mention it's darned expensive to pay full price for everything that's out there that you want to see, read, experience.
I take a middle ground. I don't subscribe to cable, mainly because I've gotten quite used to watching TV on my own time, thankyouverymuch, not to mention even with cable, there are still many times when there's nothing good on. I will sometimes "find" shows/movies/etc. I want to watch, however, but if it's something I really enjoyed, I'll buy it later and support the people who produced it. I don't knock myself out doing it the next day, but just when I have the money (and usually whenever said item is on sale). ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 05:33 pm (UTC)Plus, I have a pretty fatalist POV about the internet and information sharing. No one can stop it. Embrace it instead, and make it work for you, big companies!
And seeing someone charge me $50 for what is actually no more than a $20 worth of products is infuriating.
I want to watch, however, but if it's something I really enjoyed, I'll buy it later and support the people who produced it.
Yes, this. I own an indecent number of DVDs and I don't buy from the "back of trucks." But, why buy it if I don't know I'm going to like it?
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 05:12 pm (UTC)In the UK the tv companies seem to have gotten behind the idea of internet watching and are very good about making it available.
Then there is my love of torrents but that's another story. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 05:35 pm (UTC)My other pet peeve now is that online watching, even from a companies website, doesn't count in their "viewer members" numbers, so even shows which are popular online don't get renewed. That's also infuriating.
It also pushes me even more towards a "well you don't care what I think so why should I care about you?" mentality.
Thanks for your comments!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 06:09 pm (UTC)Loved it. :D
~*~
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 06:18 pm (UTC)And I'm glad you agree.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 07:07 pm (UTC)Movies? Those I'll buy ... if I really enjoyed it. Books? I'm a tactile person, I love the feel of the pages and covers under my fingertips. Music is fair game though. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 08:07 pm (UTC)But tv shows and music? Oh, yeah. *lol*
Thanks for reading and commenting!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 08:08 pm (UTC)I tell you what, I originally used iTunes, until I realized that they won't let you load it after so many "loads" onto CDs, iPods, etc.
It pissed me off so bad, I just started finding it in other ways.
Also, your icon is captivating. Who is it?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 09:04 pm (UTC)Got my vote for another week, natch. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 09:06 pm (UTC)It is seriously good, though.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 10:06 pm (UTC)And thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-02 10:07 pm (UTC)Hehehehe. My secret is that I know who to ask. And I can point you to the place you need to go to ask. ;)
I shall email you! Also, it got a little more exciting towards the end.
Thanks for the comment. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 12:55 pm (UTC)The fans, particularly the writing fans, have made and broken not just fandoms but franchises, and the producers who keep that in mind often have better runs.
I agree. Now, to gear up to save T:SCC.
Stupid FOX. I really should just learn my lesson.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 05:17 pm (UTC)Yeah, you could be doing it for the REVOLUTION!
But pr0n is more fun. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 08:22 pm (UTC)*grin*
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:43 pm (UTC)Hehehehe. Shhhhh.
Thanks for reading. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 06:01 am (UTC)~Lisa
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 04:05 pm (UTC)Nice entry.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 04:31 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked the entry! Thanks. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 04:32 pm (UTC)And my sources are everywhere. *shifty eyes* *wink*
(no subject)
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