Personal
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.
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!!!
Google+ Comments!
Thanks to Juan Carlos Bagnell from Movies You May Have Missed for making this all possible (directing, narrating, and making me crack up). And thanks to all of you awesome Google+ commenters who make me giggle every day. :)
You can find me on Google+ here.
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
My 1st Internet Pseudonym
I love hearing stories about how people came up with their first internet pseudonym. It tells a lot about a person, especially when the pseudonyms are really nerdy.
My first pseudonym came from watching a lot of Star Trek: Voyager. When I was living in Edinburgh between 1997-1999, I trained in a martial art called Kuk Sool Won. My instructor Master Don Mackenzie used popular TV and movie quotes to motivate us; with many of his references coming from Highlander, Star Trek, and various superhero movies. In Star Trek: Voyager episode Drone, a Borg drone is created after a transporter incident that fuses the Doctor’s mobile emitter with some of Seven of Nine’s nanoprobes. During the course of the episode the drone asks for a designation, but since Seven of Nine and Captain Janeway are encouraging him to embrace his individuality, he selects the name One. Soon after that episode aired, Master Don started teasing/motivating me by calling me “One of One.” I loved it.
When I finally went to register my first email address I tried to get oneofone, but someone had already taken it. As they do, Yahoo suggested I add a number to the username to make it unique. So what number did I add? 5618, the Borg designation for the human species. After that, oneofone5618 was born! :P
So what was your first internet pseudonym, and what was the story behind it?
Throttled to death.
I’ve been thinking a lot about cutting the cable with Time Warner Cable. I started thinking about it after I read this Wired article last fall, but never actually thought I’d do it until I signed up for Netflix streaming and XBox announced Live TV at E3 this year.
Now with recent rumors about Apple trying to kill the cable industry using Apple TV and iCloud, we’re getting closer and closer to the death of cable TV. But reading Robert Scoble‘s Google+ post about Apple TV the other day forced me to think of a huge potential problem; internet access.
Although we pay for Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner Turbo, the fastest internet access possible with the service provider, every single time I stream something – whether I’m watching Netflix, talking to my parents on Skype, or appearing as a guest on TWiT – TWC never fails to cut off my internet forcing me to reboot my modem and wifi over and over again. This is called throttling, and it’s driving me f*cking crazy.
As more and more people dump cable for internet streamed television, we’re going to have to address this problem in a big way. Currently I’m looking for alternatives to TWC in my area, preferably a service provider that doesn’t need to string a line through my apartment building to get me internet service. I’m looking for the future… there must be someone out there who’s providing throttle-free wireless internet service at ludicrous speed! If not, they’d better start doing it soon… otherwise we’ll all have to file a class action suit against service provider TWC and their lack of, y’know, providing service.
So you wanna meet me IRL…
The internet is my favorite place in the whole world. It’s a comfortable place where I can interact with really cool people who share my passion for video games, sci-fi, cats, rainbows, etc. But while I communicate a lot of my sentiments publicly online, my personal life is rather private. So when it comes to meeting people I’ve interacted with online, it can be a very strange and uncomfortable experience.
“Don’t be a dick!” -Wil Wheaton
When it comes to responding to people, I always try my best to follow Wheaton’s Law (above). I love that people appreciate my work, so it’s always nice to hear from fans, but recently I’ve been getting quite a few emails/messages/tweets from people who are visiting my city and want to meet up for coffee or dinner. That is where I have to draw the line.
If we’ve never met and you want to meet me, please watch for convention announcements and go meet me there! If there’s a big convention in your city and you want me to come, let me know! You‘re the reason I go to conventions… “It’s all for you, Damien!” ;)
If you’re wondering where all this is coming from, I have a lot of interesting stories from over the years… people showing up at locations uninvited to see me, men I’ve never met who just walk up and hug me, dudes sending me photos of lingerie I’d “look good in”, requests for photos of my feet, and much more. As funny as these stories seem, they all have one thing in common; they go too far. That kind of behavior won’t make anyone memorable in a good way.
If you want to be remembered, here’s the best thing you can do: be a gentleman. Hope to meet you soon :)
Dear n00bs,
I used to be like you once; curious of all the great video games out there, yet scared of the multitude of buttons on modern controllers. But I have a secret for you: modern video games are designed to teach you those buttons throughout the game.
When I was a kid I played a lot of Atari 2600, Nintendo NES and Game Boy. When paying Atari, I had my right hand on the joystick and my left thumb on the orange button. When playing Nintendo, I had my left thumb controlling the d-pad and used my right index and middle fingers to control the A and B buttons. But when video game consoles introduced controllers with 4 buttons, I lost my way and failed to adapt.
Now XBox 360 and PS3 controllers have SO MANY buttons! And, while I’m telling my friends about all the awesome video games I’ve been playing this year (mainly Portal 2 and L.A. Noire), I’ve come across so many people who are afraid of those buttons. The thing I’ve realized, though, is that those games are all designed to teach n00bs like you!
Let’s take the first Portal for example. From the very beginning, the disembodied robotic voice of GLaDOS instructs you. You start working out puzzles in test chambers under her instruction and in every level you learn a new trick. Once the game finally gets complicated, you’ve learned all the rules and have the tools necessary to figure out the rest of the puzzles. Portal 2 is similar… the beginning teaches you basic movement, then basic controls and skills.
In Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire the early stages of the game are spent also teaching you basic skills. In Red Dead Redemption, Bonnie MacFarlane teaches you tricks like using a lasso – which you can later use on criminals for bigger bounties – while the sheriff of Armadillo takes you on raiding missions that give you access to better guns than your shitty default Cattleman Revolver. At the beginning of the game you are SUPPOSED to suck. The further you get in the game, the better it gets; your guns, your aim, everything improves. L.A. Noire is also very similar… while there are 5 desks in the game, the first desk is there to teach you the ropes.
So time to stop worrying and go pick up that shiny new console you’ve been wanting. I personally think that some of the stories I’ve seen in video games over the past year are more riveting than those I’ve been watching on TV and in theaters. I highly suggest picking up Portal 2, which will have you tumbling down the most awesome rabbit hole you’ve never seen.
With all that said, there are always exceptions. If you’re more interested in playing fighting games, you’re going to have to either learn some serious combos or click every button as fast as you can. Ahh… the more things change, the more they stay the same. ;)
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.
