Interesting Links for 10-03-2012

[andrewducker]

• Why I Pirate - An Open Letter To Content Creators
  (tags: copyright piracy content media business thefuture )
• Can 'financial repression' solve the debt crisis?
  I do sometimes think that inflating our way out of debt is the only response that's going to work in the long term. It's not going to be any fun though. And much harder for countries in the Euro.
  (tags: euro debt finance )
• Why we should be hoping that Greece defaults today
  (tags: greece debt insurance money )
• Ofcom lodges porn TV complaint with Dutch regulator
  (tags: porn tv uk europe censorship children )
• Religious TV host Pat Robertson wants pot legalised
  (tags: religion usa marijuana legalisation )
• 10 Things You Should Know about Comics.
  (tags: comics funny )
• Playing chess in short skirts is now forbidden!
  (tags: chess women clothing )
• The Wolves, the Pig, and the Retarded Bunny
  (tags: society offensive language )
• The NHS Bill will remove the obligation to provide free treatment and allow charging for health services
  (tags: politics uk nhs )
• There was, apparently, an R-rated cut of Galaxy Quest
  (tags: scifi movies )

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Ye gods. I'm still rather boggled that they're pushing ahead with these healthcare reforms.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

[Comics] are not like the movies except when they are

Of course, if the properly does not belong to comics publisher, this cannot be avoided!

However, the comics publishers who have (some) control have lousy timing in respect of people jumping on current comics from the films. Which is odd, because Burton's Batman gave those a great boost, with an expansion in the number of Bat books and storylines not too far outside the movie. (In fact, Gotham suddenly took on the movie look.) Yet, when The Dark Knight came out DC was in the throws of the Batman R.I.P./Battle for the Cowl storyline. Not a place to jump on Batman.

So, let's see, Iron Man also comes out in the middle of 2008, at which places it during the period when Tony Stark is Director of SHIELD and everyone hates him (though not as much as he hates himself) and the fans think he's a fascist pig. It also looks likely, from what Matt Fraction has been saying that by the time Iron Man 3 debuts, someone else may be wearing the armour.

Meanwhile, if the article on Thor in Wiki is correct (because I am so not reading current Marvel) Thor in the comics isn't the same Thor and the original has been retconned out of existence which is so going to boost Thor 2 when it comes out next year.

When Captain America: the First Avenger debuted, either Barnes was Captain America or he was (supposedly) dead again and Rogers hadn't taken the identify back yet. (I really cannot be bothered to check the exact timing, and the reviews for Fear Itself suggest it's terrible.)

I am still boggling a bit about how they are going to try and get Hulk into the Avengers Assemble comic given current continuity. (And anyone who picks up the current main team book is going to be confronted by the Red Hulk and is that going to confuse them.)

Not to mention that we're promised the current cross-over event will "Change the Marvel Universe forever." *sigh*

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

that NHS stuff sounds horrible. hope that wedge in the door never gets in - or if it does that at least they give us nice decor in suicide booths that will be th eonly affordabel alternative to full medical care if we are unlucky enough to get long term or seriously ill. Buggers would probably try to charge for that too....

Free healthcare is one of the main things that makes/keep this country (or any country) what I'd call civilised. I kinda like civilised, you know?

[werejud.livejournal.com]

Both cairmen and I found the "Why I Pirate an Open Letter To Content Creators" very interesting. While the post's writer has some good points he does come across a little aggressively and seems to forget that just because he won't buy content at X price doesn't mean it should be priced how he wants it (i.e. demographics and target audiences, and studios/content creators worth their salt know this).

cairmen has a more detailed (better written and more informed than me in this field) commentary on the piece - find it here.

[ckd]

The Galaxy Quest recut is quite obvious; as one of the commenters on that article points out, they looped new dialog in a couple of scenes including a blatant-to-anyone-who-looks F bomb replaced with "screw". The MPAA gets really picky about language, and that alone could have been enough to get an R in the initial cut.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Piracy:

The Hurt Locker. That comment hit me. I wanted to buy the DVD, and was going to when I read about the studio going after downloaders. I could have bought it second hand for £1.50, but like the author I pirated it just as a 'fuck you'.

I still buy DVDs all the time. I rip them all. Stuff I can't find at a decent price I download. Hurt Locker is *the* example of why I pirate.