sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do

but there ain't no cure for the summer time blues.

I went through some Napster and intellectual property related articles just now.

here's one excerpt from Wired News:

Manufacturing and consumer rights organizations have been fearful that new legislation might erode certain rights, such as allowing people to create additional copies of a movie file for personal use.

"If legislation preserves the First Amendment and consumers' fair use rights, we would probably be OK with it," Miller [of the Consumer Electronics Association lobbying group] said. "But consumers should be able to do things like time shifting, so that you can continue to tape Ally McBeal on Mondays and then watch it on Tuesday."

Many feel those rights aren't high on the list of corporations that have billion-dollar investments to protect. But a Disney executive insists creating a security standard would ensure that people have better experiences on the Internet.

"There has to be just one standard," said Richard Bates, Walt Disney Corporation's vice president of government relations. "This would make everything easier for consumers."

he naturally neglected to mention that just one standard as a matter of course would make everything easier for monopolists and trust founders, too. but what the corpochairs have repeatedly failed to apprehend is that one standard above all would make everything easier for crackers.

no wonder the record labels yearn back for the easy days of having just one common enemy in Napster.

hm. I never meant for this LiveJournal to become a soapbox for any of my political issues. better restrict myself to observations only here. even my closest friends have had serious trouble pinpointing my political position, and I like it that way. with the parliament election coming up this fall I should be careful about airing opinions at all.

normally, like I did during the New Year's Eve party I turn upside down on everybody's arguments (even if it isn't meant all that seriously, it's usually very interesting and entertaining, at the very least) and ridicule anybody's given stance. I'd like to refrain from that here, since I want to be as honest as I can be.

all the same, I cannot for my life understand why Harald Zwart's movie One Night At McCool's was interpreted by some critics as misogynistic over at IMDb... it's an hour-and-a-half-long spree of Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, to borrow a phrase from Dimmu Borgir. I really like intellectually challenging comedies, especially when I can extend my mirth over the movie itself to all those who simply didn't "get it." :-)

Callie of course had no probs enjoying it, and afterwards we almost equally enjoyed Kevin Costner as Robin Hood on TV. mostly because Callie has planned a screening of Mel Brooks' Men In Tights for me later on. she claims it's one of the two movies she knows by heart, the other being Addams Family Values. one fine woman for sure, that one. :-)