This morning my weekly E!Online article was published featuring RiP: A Remix Manifesto. It is a documentary about copyright laws and regulations pertaining to the music and film industry — and overall in our culture. Since my chat with Brett covered a lot of ground (and I’ve seen the film twice now), the following is an extended version of the interview and a little more about RiP, which will open in Vancouver theatres on March 20th, 2009.
It’s “a film about the public domain — about the right of citizens to participate in their culture and I think people appreciate that and recognize it,” said Director Brett Gaylor about his documentary, RiP: A Remix Manifesto, which is currently being released in theatres across Canada.
This look into the copyRIGHt and the copyLEFT follows music mashup artist Girl Talk, and features cameos from Lawrence Lessig, Gilberto Gil (Brazil’s Minister of Culture) and Cory Doctorow.
“I’ve always seen the audience as sort of a collaborator in the creation of the film and obviously in the distribution they’re the final collaborator,” noted Gaylor who has been publishing bits of the film online for all to view, remix and share. “In any film the final interpretation is brought to the work from the audience.”
Gaylor drives home the fact that it all depends on how open audiences are to embracing the issues, information and the ideals presented on screen in his colourful, bold, funny and music-dance-party-filled film. “If we treated folks that wanted to know about the film as peers than as consumers or as fans then they would be invested in it and they would have an interest in seeing how it turned out, they’d tell their friends, they’d share the film, they would come out to screenings.”
With this all-star digital line up and seemingly non-stop get-up-and-dance-around beats provided by Girl Talk and various other artists RiP truly can truly empower generations with its ground-breaking style however: “The coolest lawyer in the world just told me I’m making an illegal film,” notes Gaylor in the movie after talking to Lawrence Lessig.
Lessig being the man behind Creative Commons – a form of licensing that allows for sharing, remixing, and re-using — legally. But this collaborative system of building and sharing may not be for all.
RiP not only talks about sharing and recreating works that are already published, it includes sound clips and songs along with and television and movie footage – from The Rolling Stones to Mickey Mouse in order to make its fair use statement.
“[Some] might think that what I’m trying to say is that everything should be free and that nobody should pay at all for art — I don’t say that in the film.” While Gaylor acknowledges that not all may see eye-to-eye with regards to his Manifesto, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “There’s a lot of apprehension around this issue and it was sort of the goal of the film to encourage debate… …You can’t invite people to a conversation about your film and then expect that everyone will agree with you.”
In the film Girl Talk chats with his parents about his performances and his music while one of them shows concern that me might face legal action due to the fact that he uses sound bytes from published artists to create his own music. I asked Gaylor if he’s had any reactions like that from his mother after creating this film, which does embody some of those same elements. “She sees in it sort of some echos of what was happening when maybe she was my age of maybe a bit younger – that there was a feeling of change in the air and a tension between old models and old ways of thinking and something newer, that was hopeful.”
When it comes to actual copyright law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and its little sister law in Canada, C-61 (that never came to be) Gaylor states that it’s yet to be done right.
“What [those laws] did was put a whole bunch of people in front of judges, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it didn’t do any better — so I guess what we’re saying is can we actually make something that makes sense of the technology and makes sense of what people are doing in practice instead of only creating laws that are wish-lists from American record companies.”
What I definitely take away from the conversation is that it’s all about making sure you’re informed as an individual, and society. “We want people to talk about this with their friends and invite conversations around the dinner table about the role of intellectual property legislation in our life, as an issue. Just like the environment is an issue that you need to have opinions about and take action on. Intellectual property is about the domain of the mind, of culture, and no matter what side of this issue you sit on, we have to recognize that it’s really important.”
Empowered by the film’s message, download clips from OpenSourceCinema.org to expand on Gaylor’s work, then upload to share your creation and be a part of RiP’s future. “The main thing is to participate and to contribute to further evolving versions of the film because we’re going to take that to different film festivals and remix it as we go along.” If you believe everything comes from something else, you’ll want to truly make something of RiP: A Remix Manifesto after you’ve seen it — only once you’re done dancing to the beats that will surely be stuck in your head.
You can join the Facebook event for the March 20th screening and theatrical release in Vancouver at the Ridge Theatre and you can also check it out on the 19th with the First Weekend Club.
It’s currently Spring Break in Vancouver for most school-goers and even though it’s grey and blustery there are still many activities around town that are fun for the entire family.
Vancouver Aquarium A staple of Vancouver attractions and education, the Vancouver Aquarium has events and performances planned each day this week including appearances by Bobs and Lolo, a Sea Otter Talk, Birds of Prey in Flightthe dolphin show and Once Upon a Tide presentation. You can view the entire schedule for the week here.
May I also recommend a trek through some of the trails including the Merilees trail high above the Sea Wall between Prospect Point and Siwash Rock, or a stroll around Beaver Lake.
Bear Creek Park Train The miniature railway in Bear Creek Park is open year-round. During special events like Christmas or Halloween this is a penny-saving option in comparison, but otherwise the prices are similar to Stanley Park. I’m not sure if they have any specials for Spring Break but they are gearing up for the special Easter Train coming up in April. Find out more from BCTrains.
Surrey Arts Centre Not only is it a community gallery and a performance venue, they are also running a Spring Break Theatre Day Camp all week.
Science World For more indoor options, Science World is always a favourite as well and this week’s theme is Colour Chromatic. They have workshops and interactive displays such as Colour Your Whirl, Light Fantastic (featuring a light-based remix of a Van Gogh work), Leland Faulkner’s World of Wonder, aRHYTHMetic Book Launch, Pantomime Robots and more.
Rogers Play Dome Eat cotton candy, ride the Zipper and the Ferris Wheel, and play some Whack-a-Moleinside BC Place at the midway.
Museum of Anthropology Probably one of my favourite places in the region, the Museum of Anthropology follows everything from the history of man to modern-day cultural art. Their current feature exhibit is Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture and once you’re done inside, take a walk around the grounds and Pacific Spirit Park.
Fort Langley The Fort has programs year-round but you can stop by to explore and learn about the birthplace of our Province as we know it during Spring Break at the Fort.
Top Things to do in Surrey Back in 2007 I profiled some of the top activities in Surrey and some are still relevant including a day trip to Redwood Park (I also listed it as one of my top things to do on a Sunday when I was profiled in The Province newspaper), visiting the lovely Surrey Museum in Cloverdale, going on a nature walk at the Serpentine Fen, and stopping by the Historic Stewart Farm.
Day Tripping I’d like to pull from my Day Tripping series and offer up the following suggestions and even though some time will need to be spent in a vehicle to arrive at most of these destinations, the drive time is less than an hour for each: The Othello Tunnels (near Hope, BC), Chuckanut Drive (just south of the border), Hell’s Gate (take the airtram across the Fraser Canyon), Gibsons (just a quick hop across the ferry to Langdale, stop by Molly’s Reach).
In town you can even stop by the Avalon Dairy, or Maplewood Farm in North Vancouver (currently featuring a milking demonstration, and potbellied pig feedings).
If you need any more ideas check out my Park Series as well, which includes contributed entries from guest authors along with entirely inexpensive yet fun and nature-filled options for a great day out (such as Lynn Headwaters, Burnaby Lake Park, and Blackie Spit).
Update from the Comments Gary has suggested the Vancouver Police Museum which reminds me of Shannon LaBelle, a museum blogger who gave a talk at Interesting Vancouver last summer. She runs The City Diorama which is filled with events and activities year-round.
Being a blogger and social media consultant (along with a WordPress coder… but enough about the day job), my talks at speaking engagements usually evolve around blogger outreach, building your brand, and blogger relations however one of my own most powerful tools for not only me but my site, is Twitter.
Back in October of 2008 I wrote a post on my company’s blog that was a general overview of Twitter for Business. Now, months later, after giving a talk at the IABC‘s luncheon speaker series, I have been able to expand on several of those points and also step back to give a basic look at this tool that is far more than the latest buzz word.
A casual overview of my talk, including the slides used. Run time, about 20 minutes
Two of the applications I mentioned during my live presentation that will make your life a whole lot easier:
TweetDeck – manage your account, follow trending topics, have a list of your top people to follow/filter your stream (read my post from Oct 2008)
I have put my slides up on Viddler and I also recorded some audio that you can find over my the sixty4media blog. Today’s event was very encouraging, there were many questions about tools, tips and even things like privacy, so I hope that this can be a conversation starter for business communicators. Should you have any questions, I’ll be answering them via the comments here or on the sixty4media blog.
Over the next two weeks I’ll be featuring a series of posts about the Juno Awards as they will be hosted in Vancouver on March 28th. My series will feature the awards themselves (from my view in the press box), satellite events, the street festival, and even the people involved in the process, such as the Uptown Gift Box Company.
On Friday March 27th at the shiny new UBC Thunderbird Arena, NHL alumni will hit the ice and take on Canadian musicians in the Juno Cup.
Juno Cup is an ever-growing popular event among fans that mixes music with sport, matching NHL alumni with top artists and entertainers in support of MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity, associated with CARAS. Juno Cup has helped raise more than $700,000 for MusiCounts and music programs across Canada.
Tonight I’ll be at GM Place to liveblog the Canucks game. We’ll have photos, video, commentary and a live chat up on the Fan Zone section of Canucks.com, and we’ll also be following the conversation on Twitter, using the hashtag #Canucks.
Chris Zimmerman, President and CEO of the Canucks stops by the live blog
On that section of the site, you may also notice a new video player which will live stream tonight’s game versus the Colorado Avalanche.
The puck drops at 7:00pm Pacific time and you can watch the action on Sportsnet or follow along with Team 1040 radio.
Comedians, Peter Kelamis & Jamie Hutchinson
Update: Wow, the crowd is electric tonight and the game hasn’t even begun! We’ll be live blogging and chatting on the Canucks Fan Zone page alongside the live video stream. So many people are stopping by our kiosk (including Karl Dawson and his family) it’s really exciting.
Juno Cup is an ever-growing popular event among fans that mixes music with sport, matching NHL alumni with top artists and entertainers in support of 
