Who is stealing from whom?

The Blu Ray vs HD DVD battle was won long ago and the much more worthy format of HD DVD lost not so much by a fair and open competition but by the bullying tactics of the much bigger Sony Corp. How they were allowed to get away with that is beyond me. Clearly Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita’s tactics did not work in this case. The HD DVD format was more mature, required far less processing power and far cheaper. We are only now seeing Blu Ray players that are up to the technical requirements of the format – and even now there are constant compatibility issues, none of which existed with HD DVD. In theory the Bly Ray format was technically better but the implementation of that technology was far more inferior than HD DVD.

We have recently seen the outcome of the case in Sweden of the recording industry vs  Pirate Bay, round one to the recording industry. The recording industry claims that anyone who downloads a song or movie is stealing, a claim that I will not contest per se since it is a far more complex argument than they would have us think. But I ask you? Who is stealing from whom?

There have been rumours for a long time now regarding an HD format from China which was to compete with HD and Blu. It has now been  released  and the response of Warner Bros is to immediatly announce the release of  movies in the new format. However this format will only be available in China.

It appears that the movies will be around the US$10 mark in China. Now this is very interesting. If they are able to release all of these movies in China for $10 why is it that the same movies are $30 plus on Bly Ray? The players are also said to be 40% less than the equivalent Bly Ray player. The article says that the difference is in license fees. Note that the HD players and disks were also much cheaper than the equivalent Blu Ray players and disks. The reason given was the high license fees for the technology. So what is effectively being said is that because of Sony’s bullying and anti competitive tactics we are paying 2/3 more for players and three times the price for disks. The indication is that this technology will not be available outside China. Oh, there will be very good reasons for this but will anybody but those in the publicity departments believe these excuses?

So, now comes my point. How is this not theft? For every movie downloaded they claim a loss of revenue of the RRP of that movie. Never mind that many of these people would actually never buy the movie anyway, or that because of the loss of definition the actual value is less than the DVD, or that you seldom get the extras, or that after seeing the download many of these people go and buy the movie for the extra features and quality, or that they are immediately deleted since they are broken or not what they thought. According to the article every time we spend $30 a disk $20 of it is going straight into the coffers of Sony, forget about the artists. Every time you spend $500 on a Blu Ray player $330 of that is going straight to the license holder – Sony.

So – I ask you – who are the thieves?

How Guilty Is Guilty?

In othner words is guilty a superlative? Can someone be more guilty than another person?

Let me offer a for instance. Who is more guilty the person who goes into a supermarket, buys 50 items then puts a toothbrush into their pocket in order to not pay for it, or the person who piles 50 items into their bag and bulky clothing then walks out? In the eyes of the law they are both guilty, the punishment meted out may be different but the magnitude of the offense in no way affects the verdict. For instance you never hear the foreman of the jury saying “they are just a little bit guilty”.

In the case of the trial of the people who ruin the Pirate Bay  who were found guilty last Friday they asked why the prosecutors did not go after Ebay and Google and even ISPs who also provide access to copyright material. They answered that the majority of the material on the Pirate Bay was copyright whereas the majority of the links in Google were not. Does this mean that Google are no less guilty? The argument is a nonsense. If the Pirate Bay were guilty it is evident that Google would have to be found guilty since the principle applies equally to both. They both provide a service whereby access is gained to copyright material.

Now I am making no judgement as to whether I believe that the Pirate Bay is morally right or wrong. The issues are extremely complex and some of the judgements passed down in copyright cases are stupid to say the least. In fact many judgements in cases involving technical issues are highly suspect due to the lack of understanding of the judge of technical matters. Some of the statements made indicate that they are way out of their depth.

Having said that I believe that the people who run the Pirate Bay to a large extent are their own worst enemies. The Swedish law recently changed so that this trial could take place due to pressure from the recording industry and they knew that they were going to be taken to court for a long time. There were many alternatives – not all of which included shutting down the Pirate Bay.

On the other hand I do take issue with the recording industry and their tactics, many of which are illegal and most of which are immoral, if (barely) legal. The fact is that they are too lazy to do proper research and investigation and prossecute those who are really the violators of copyright. It is much easier to go after the Pirate Bay who in reality are small fish with large targets painted on their backs. Even when they do appear to find copyright violators they do not bother to verify their suspicions, they simply engage in extortionist tactics against people, most of whom are innocent.

Finally, who is it that the recording industry are representing? The guy who plays in your local bar, or the person doing the clubs trying to scrape together a living. I think not. They are really only interested in maintaining the profits of the large corporations who are as interested your average recording artist as I am in the AFL.

These people are just bullies trying to put a few more pieces of silver into their coffers. As for me I buy most of my material direct from the artist. I know where my money is going, to support the real artists who play the rounds.

Movie Games

While we are on the subject of movies, I was listening to a BBC movie program the other day and they were playing a game where they could change the movie completely by removing the last letter from the title. For example “No Country For Old Me” is about a person who is a stranger in his own contry. Or the trilogy of films about super grannies, “Bat Ma”, “Super Ma” and “Spider Ma”.

What about movies with alternative plots. “Oh Brother Where Art Though” is about a dressmaker’s quest to find the right sewing  machine. “Hamlet”, which deals with the daily lives of pepole in a quiet English village.

Over to you…

Random snaps of The Lord Of The Rings Part I

This idea came from and article in The Frodo Franchise which in turn was talking about a blog that used this technique.

The idea is to select random screen grabs from a movie and discuss those screen grabs and anything to do with the movie that comes to mind. It occurred to me that it would be an interesting exercise, so I am taking each disk (six in all) from the three films and taking three scenes from each disk. This first blog will take three screen grabs from disk one of The Fellowship Of The Ring.  The three I have selected using RANDOM.ORG are at 10, 20 and 98 minutes.

The first screen grab is at 10 minutes.

This is a shot from the party preparations where Bilbo is reciting what he is writing as he begins writing the story of the Hobbit, There and Back Again. Bilbo is talking about Hobbits and this is accompanied by scenes of Hobbit’s everyday life finishing with the preparations for Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday. They both have birthdays on the same day, Bilbo’s being 111 and Frodo’s being 33 which coincidentally is considered a Hobbit’s coming of age.

An interesting note is that the actor playing Bilbo, Ian Holm, played Frodo in the 80’s BBC radio adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings.

The narration by Bilbo is a nice warm sequence and a gentle introduction for what is to become later on a very dark story. It also introduces the curious creatures called Hobbits to those who are new to the story in an ingenious manner. It also underlines the upcoming birthday party.

Which brings us neatly to the next screen from the 20 minute mark.

This is the long awaited party and the same banner features as in the last screen grab. The banner is under the “Party Tree” of which much is made in the book but would be completely missed in the film if you did not know the books. Tolkien had a life long affection with trees and his anthropomorphic representation of the trees speaks to this affection. For Tolkien the destruction of trees speaks of the dehumanising way that industrialisation had dominated his society. He was an ecologist before it was fashionable. The party tree represented the the essential bond between nature and humanity. There is a fleeting reference to this later on in the images in Guardrail’s mirror but it is much stronger in the books.

But for the moment the birthday celebration is yet another representation of the simplicity and earthiness if you will of the Hobbits. It also gives the film makers a good opportunity to introduce a number of important, and some not so important, characters and plot points in this complex story.

The final screen grab is from the 98 minute mark.

This is from the council of Rivendel. This is a pivotal point in the story. From Tolkien’s point of view this was a turning point for him where the story began to take on an entirely new dimension. It had been growing in his mind and from Bree to Rivendel and at the council particularly it grew from a neat sequel to The Hobbit into the epic it is today.

From the stories perspective it goes from a neat little tale of Hobbit bravery to a vast tale that encompasses all of the peoples of middle earth. Other races including elves, trolls,  men and wizards have alredy been introduced but it is at Rivendel that it all begins to meld into a cohesive story. Again the book has much more detail and far more exposition than can be put into a 12 hour series of movies but here Jackson does a great job of fitting in enough information to inform the viewer without either boring him or overloading his already bulging brain.

This particular scene is even more interesting since we see the beginnings of the seduction of Borimier. He is at this point arguing that the ring should be taken to Minas Tirith for use in the war against Sauron and here is portrayed with all the ambiguity that possesses his character. A great and noble leader of men which is the very thing that the Ring uses to corrupt. The ring is subtle and knows that it cannot use weaknesses but strengths to corrupt. It uses the very thing which makes us great and turns it against us. For Borimier it is his nobility and strength that the ring tempts him with – telling him that it can aid him  in his defense of the peoples of middle earth. This was the very thing which Tolkien learnt when he was in the trenches in World War II.  It is not a man’s weakness that is his downfall it is his strength.

I don’t want their religious views rammed down my throat!

This chant is heard a lot these days, especially when someone dares to express a contrary opinion. Have you ever been in a discussion where people are espousing their lack of belief and you happen to express a belief and there was a sharp retort similar to the above?Mark Parnell MP

Cognitive dissonance is rife within the area of personal belief. It does not need to make sense. In my experience most beliefs are emotionally based and rapidly fail when subject to the searchlight of logic, and no more than amongst the so called experts, or academia. I have heard so much irrational discussion on such programs as The Science Show.

Let me talk a moment about morality. Who says what is right and wrong? What is the basis for our morality? It seems that Mark Parnell MP is the last word on morality. We need to all regard him as the final authority. The wise and esteemed Mark appears to think that parents have no right to expect that their children’s teachers at least adhere to a certain standard of morality in order to teach their children.

Sorry Mark, a person who teaches my children Maths and Science is far more than a Maths or Science teacher. They have a responsibility that reaches far beyond  the mere teaching of a subject. They should be a person whom I think can set a good example to my children, someone who can show my children how to live. If in my opinion the lifestyle one who spends time with my children is not one I wish them to emulate then it is my responsibility to ensure that they are not my children’s teacher. You do not father my children and you are not my children’s moral guardian.

You may think that you are society’s conscience but excuse me if I prefer my own moral paradigm in favour of yours. I prefer to not have your morality rammed down my throat.