New Media
Why I oppose SOPA.
The bill goes too far.
My mother is very by-the-book. For years my father called her “Moral Marian” because she wouldn’t cross the road without a walk signal even if there was no traffic in site. Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… Even though I’m constantly disappointed when Netflix and iTunes don’t have all the titles I want to watch, I never turn to torrent sites to access them illegally.
So when it comes to the Stop Online Piracy Act, you would THINK I could get behind it… were it not for the following problem highlighted by CNET:
“A little-noticed portion of the proposed law, which CNET highlighted in an article, goes further than Protect IP and could require Internet providers to monitor customers’ traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.”
Under SOPA, a site could literally be shut down after a single copyright claim without a trial.
This directly affects my industry: the web TV industry.
Since 2005 I have created and produced a number of web series that relied heavily on fair use. This exception to copyright allowed me and my partner Rudy Jahchan to create parodies on our sci-fi comedy show Galacticast and display comic artwork in our comic book review show A Comicbook Orange. Even though we were extremely careful to follow the guidelines of fair use law, we still lived in fear that a big studio would sue us for using their characters, music, images, or video footage. Thankfully this never happened, but if it had we did have the law on our side. If SOPA goes through, web videos that feature any sort of copyrighted material under fair use laws may not be so lucky.
Another very serious problem the web TV industry could face is copyright infringement claims from corporations. As a producer I have often licensed music, images and art directly from musicians, photographers and artists. In fact, the background for the A Comicbook Orange web site is made up of copyrighted illustrations that are used with permission from the artists directly, but (under SOPA) if a big company like Marvel or DC were to claim they infringe on their copyright our entire site could be shut down without our ability to protest and prove our innocence.
Think this doesn’t sound possible? Read this article about how Universal Media Group removed an episode of TWiT show Tech News Today from YouTube for reporting on a recent Universal copyright controversy. Hell, UMG and other music and media companies have been removing and blocking videos from YouTube for YEARS… why would we give them the keys to do this throughout the entire internet?
We all need to take action.
Call your congressperson and let them know that you do not support this bill. Feel free to add that if they do, you will not support them in the next election. Go here to find your local representative.
In addition, let the corporations and organizations behind this bill know that you expect them to retract their support or you will publicly boycott their products and services. For your reference, here is a list of companies that have come out in support of SOPA. Personally, I’m disappointed in the Screen Actors Guild, especially since they should be representing the interests of the web TV community and if they have conflicting interests between the studios and independents, they should simply retract their support and stay neutral.
Be sure to give a pat on the back to all of those who have come out to oppose the bill. Aside from all the forward-thinking internet companies, I’m truly grateful to the Writers Guild of America, West for speaking out about its’ opposition.
And lastly, be sure to vote for representatives in the future who understand current technology because… it’s no longer OK to not know how the internet works.
I played “Vampira” on a faux daytime talk show…
I was back in Vancouver earlier this year and my good friend Nicholas Humphries asked me to be in a video he was making with his students at the Vancouver Film School. I’ve been wanting to do something with Nick for a long time, so without hesitation I said something along the lines of “F*CK YEAH!” In the video I play a character named “Vampira”, the trashy gothic trophy-wife of a mad scientist, who is obviously having marital problems with her husband. I realized I forgot to blog about it when it came out back in September, so here it is now!
I had lots of fun filming this with them, so I hope you have fun checking it out.
Nominated for 3 IAWTV Awards!
The International Academy of Web Television nominated my web series A Comicbook Orange for three IAWTV Awards!
- Best Hosted (Taped) Web Series – A Comicbook Orange
- Best Host (Taped) – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
- Best Writing (Non-Fiction) – Rudy Jahchan, A Comicbook Orange
We’re all really grateful to the voting members of the IAWTV and I’m looking forward to getting all dressed up and attending the ceremony at CES in Las Vegas! For those who followed my dress exploits before the last big award show I received a nomination for, you’ll be happy/sad to find out I already bought a dress this time!
Be sure to check out the full list of nominees. As a Trekkie, I’m happy to see the amazing Jeri Ryan nominated for Best Female Performance (Drama) for her work on Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Similarly, I’m also relieved to see I’m not in the same category as her. ;) Congrats, Jeri, I hope to see you at the ceremony!
The award ceremony will take place on January 12th, 2012 and will be live-streamed online. I’ll remind you closer to the date and link to the stream from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and my blog.
ELF SABERS: Two elves enter, one elf leaves!
Last month I had lunch with my friend Teal Sherer and she said she wanted to make a lightsaber battle video. She asked if I was interested in doing it with her, and I said something along the lines of “HELL yes!!!” Thanks to the fight coordination and direction of America Young, the idea took shape very quickly… and I’m so happy that I can finally show you “ELF SABERS“!
Be sure to check out Comediva for other wonderfully funny videos, and some behind the scenes photos of our ELF SABERS shoot. And, happy holidays, everyone!!!
In case you missed me on Framerate…
I was a guest on TWiT‘s Framerate this week thanks to the suggestion of the show’s wonderful hosts Tom Merritt and Brian Brushwood! We discussed the online video industry, the future of television distribution, and the TV shows and movies we’ve been watching. Thanks to Tom, Brian, and producer Jason Howell for having me on!
Five years ago today…
…Rudy and I attended the Vloggies, the first ever web video awards, and won five awards for Galacticast! We were critical of the event at first because there were a few f*ckups and it was more corporate than we wanted a web video awards show to be, but in time (and especially after last year’s Streamys) I grew to look back on it with shiny eyes.
Many of the creative and innovative people who attended the Vloggies have gone on to do amazing things. One of them is sadly no longer with us… R.I.P. Oscar, we miss you.
For more information on the Vloggies I highly suggest reading Laughing Squid’s Vloggies wrap-up… I couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Photos courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
The Haunted Broadsword returns to NSFW!
In case you missed it, I was on this week’s episode of NSFW on TWiT, where I represented the tiny percentage of ladies on Google+ (not to be confused with the percentage of tiny ladies on Google+ to which I am also a representative).
Check it out and spread the word… Fridays are now for inviting ladies to Google+! It shall be known as “Fem Friday” and we shall end the sausage fest! So say we all!!!
Come meet me at Comic-Con!
Good news, kids! It’s official… my ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining co-stars and I will be on a panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. Be sure to add us to your Friday schedule and come say hi!
8:00-9:00 ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining from the Woods to the Web— Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew of ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining as they examine the changing landscape of fan fiction, social media, and the web. Moderator and cast member Taryn Southern (Battle: Los Angeles) chats with creators Paula Rhodes (A Good Knight’s Quest) and Stephanie Thorpe (Gold: Night of the Zombie King) about their initial Twitter inspiration, their crowdsourcing campaign, and the overwhelming fan response. Wendy and Richard Pini (ElfQuest creators) will be sharing exclusive, never-before-seen ElfQuest art and news from the eagerly anticipated Final Quest. Meet cast members Cathy Baron (In Time), Jamie Blair (What’s Trending), Traycee King (He’s Just Not That Into You), Casey McKinnon (A Comicbook Orange), Shannon Nelson (Drop Dead Gorgeous), Taryn O’Neill (Compulsions), Jessica Rose (Lonelygirl15), and Shanrah Wakefield (Oz Girl). One lucky audience member will win a pair of Pini-autographed elf ears from the production! Room 4
Hope to see you! Let me know in the comments if you can make it. :)
This Week in the History of Web Video: Vloggercon 2006
Five years ago I was making a triweekly web series (known at the time as a video podcast or video blog) called Galacticast. Though I had made a web series prior to it called Kitkast, I hadn’t been as involved in the web video community. Once Rudy and I launched Galacticast, we started to share a lot of our experience with the community, especially helping people with encoding issues and visual effects. Still, most of that was done through the burgeoning Yahoo Videoblogging Group, and we still hadn’t met any of our peers face-to-face.
That changed dramatically in June 2006 when I flew to San Francisco (from my hometown of Montreal) to attend Vloggercon. I was so unbelievably excited… a feeling I rarely get anymore with all the networking events I’ve been to.
The beginning of our weekend started on Friday, June 9th with “Meet the Vloggers” at the Apple Store in San Francisco. I spoke about Galacticast and about just going out and “doing it.” Then, I spent a good hour hugging my way through the crowd… meeting people I looked up to and loved from afar; Amanda Congdon, Steve Garfield, Michael Verdi, Jay Dedman, Ryanne Hodson, Josh Leo, Bekah Havens, and many more. Although I didn’t know him at the time, this was also the first time I (probably) met Vu Bui… I then met his brother Lan Bui and Bonny Pierzina a couple of days later when they interviewed me for Noodlescar.
Vloggercon started on Saturday, June 10th with a bang at the Swedish American Hall with panels held in three rooms. Hundreds of video bloggers came from far and wide across the United States, Canada, and Europe. The event had a live audio stream with live chat, so people all over the world could participate in the conference. A video archive of each panel was posted here afterwards. Technology, eff yeah!
The panels were riveting, especially a panel called Character Building where most of the audience teamed up against (our now beloved) Tim Street who was on the panel talking about his show French Maid TV. The issue at the time was about the sexist nature of the characters, but what we didn’t know was that the panel was a setup… and a good one at that. Ask A Ninja rock star Kent Nichols was also on the panel.
Another important panel at the conference was Net Neutrality… sadly, the battle continues even today.
There was one panel (I can’t remember the name) that showed the most AMAZING video. Big Screen Version by Aaron Valdez – the best video I saw at Vloggercon, and a video that I believe paved the way for modern day musical mashup stars like Auto-Tune the News!
The conference ended on Sunday, June 11th with some much needed vloggeraoke. The highlight of the night had Blip.tv‘s Mike Hudack and Josh Kinsberg singing “New York, New York” (video 1 & 2)! I was really looking forward to singing “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles to represent how video podcasts were taking over the audio podcast world, but unfortunately had to get to bed since I had an early flight back to Montreal the next morning.
The faces in web video have changed considerably over the past five years, but the more things change the more they stay the same.
To today’s web series professionals Vloggercon may have seemed like a small amateur event… but to me it was the most profound web video conference in history. The people at this event were true pioneers; using technology to its’ fullest and working to make original, non-derivative content that caused the world to take notice. We were all punk rock media makers… we were the reason Time named “You” Person of the Year in 2006… and I believe we all still carry that indie DIY spirit with us today.
And now… some old photos from Vloggercon that I love very very much:
I also highly suggest checking out the following videos, that are sure to make you smile: Who is your secret Vlogger Crush? by Geek Entertainment TV (GETV), and; Ukraine Romance Tour with Chris Weagel by Richard Show.
