Blogs

Whew! I'm elated; I just added dissertation credits! My oral exam went very well to boot. I don't mind admitting that 30 minutes before the exam, I was in my office having a catharsis/anxiety attack, but I pulled it together in time. In a second I'm going to have a delicious dinner of broccoli and cherry tomatoes sautéed in olive oil and chicken with curry, garam marsala, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper. After dinner, a long bath and then some knitting.

In the reviews section of Computers and Composition Online, there's a review of Into the Blogosphere written by Lanette Cadle.

I hiss in Cincinatti's general direction:

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that rap artists should pay for every musical sample included in their work — even minor, unrecognizable snippets of music.

Lower courts had already ruled that artists must pay when they sample another artists' [sic] work. But it has been legal to use musical snippets — a note here, a chord there — as long as it wasn't identifiable.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati gets rid of that distinction. The court said federal laws aimed at stopping piracy of recordings applies to digital sampling.

"If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you 'lift' or 'sample' something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative," the court said.

"Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way."

To quote Lawrence Lessig quoting Justice William Douglas in the introduction to Free Culture, "Common sense revolts at the idea." "[M]inor, unrecognizable snippets of music" are now potentially proprietary? There goes new blues and jazz, I guess. It doesn't stifle creativity in a significant way? Please. We need Creative Commons more than ever, sigh. On a related note, the latest sample-using song that's making me smile and turn up the volume is "Let's Go" by Trick Daddy, Lil Jon, and Twista. You might have heard it; it features Ozzy Osbourne's "Aiii, aiii, aiii" and other bits from "Crazy Train." :) The song inspired me to put in my Black Sabbath Paranoid CD, and as soon as I heard the beginning of "Planet Caravan," I was instantly transported back to a long-ago Pantera show, the Far Beyond Driven tour, circa 1995, Nashville, Tennessee.

Tangential but related nonetheless: anyone heard George W. Bush's version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday"? ;)

You know, on -- you could also think of it as acumen, savvy, energy, joie de vivre. I feel like Lisa Simpson when she shrieks, "I'm losing my perspicacity!"

If you see my on anywhere around, please do let me know. Regular blogging will resume this weekend, hopefully, as I have the oral exam to prepare for and very little energy with which to do it. Sure, we all have our days when we're not on, but this is an unusually long stretch for me. Healthy food and plenty of water, sleep, vitamins, and exercise aren't helping; anyone got any advice?

Blogging will be light or nonexistent for the next few days, as a good friend is coming here for a visit. :)

Yeah, you probably noticed that I made a few changes. I don't know how long I'll keep this design, but I needed a change; I was tired of looking at the old banner image. This new look is Crooked Timber-inspired, as you can likely tell. If I do decide to keep this, I realize it needs a lot of work; I need to figure out that PhotoShop gradient tool to get rid of that seam separating the banner image from the background color. I also need to do a host of other things, but I'm not going to mess with it anymore tonight.

I got the cat image from the new-ish Creative Commons search engine. I searched for cat, specifying image as the format and permission to make derivative works, and I found several cat photographs by Anne Moss at freenaturephotos.com.

I've once again been having especially vivid dreams that stick with me throughout the following day, narrated here for your amusement and interpretation. The first two are from the night before last; the third is from last night:

New Mexico

I'm in a bus. There are people on the bus, but I don't know any of them. It's a little like Nightmare on Elm St. II, Freddy's Revenge, when Freddy is driving the bus, but not as scary. I ask someone, "Where are we?"

The person says, "New Mexico."

I look out the window and see a reddish landscape resembling a freshly plowed field, with small hills and valleys and lots of rocks. Perched atop some of the hills and rocks are ominous-looking Mayan and Aztec statues. There are also some gnarled shrubs, dried up, with no leaves.

"I hate New Mexico!" I declare to no one in particular.

The bus stops and we get out. Someone leads me to where I'll be staying. It's a rundown cabin with swarms of flying insects inside. I'm horrified. All of a sudden, Scott is standing beside me. He says, "Yeah, those flies'll get you."

Yeah, it's just what it sounds like.

Via flea.