Current News and Media Videos

If you enjoy reading good literature then you’ll appreciate a new community for literary lovers over at Mixx, the popular social bookmarking website.

Mixx is a major competitor to sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, and Delicious, but unlike the other three social media sites, new users have taken to Mixx quickly and aggressively. The site has seen unprecedented growth since its start up in September 2007. Recently, Mixx has added the ability for its users to add their own communities and monetize them through AdSense. Well, one of the early adopters of this system is the LitMixx Community, geared toward those who enjoy good literature - poetry, fiction, nonfiction, etc. If you like reading and sharing great literature then you are encouraged to join.

The New Yorker, you no doubt have heard by now, satirized popular misconceptions about Obama and wife Michelle’s identity on its most recent cover.

Initially, Barack Obama called the cover “tasteless,” but his most recent comment, on Larry King Live, was an acknowledgment of the First Amendment and he essentially said that the satire fell on its face, but The New Yorker has its rights.

I’m not sure why this has ever been an issue. Literary magazines have always been involved in satire. Some magazines are nothing but satire. Others include satire in their daily mix. The best magazines use satire as a way to deliver an important message. The New Yorker cover was just making fun of stupid people who really believe that stuff about Obama. It’s point is to highlight the ignorance and blatant ridiculousness of a certain mindset. And Obama himself expressed some dismay, something I’d have expected from the unrefined McCain. But I’m glad the leading Democrat finally pulled his head out of his arse and saw the light. Now can all get back to taking things seriously.

The RIAA doesn’t get the whole Internet thing yet. The Movie Industry doesn’t get the whole Internet Thing yet. So I guess the CEO of AP, Associated Press shouldn’t feel bad that he doesn’t understand it either.

AP CEO Declares War On Internet
Submitted by David A. Utter to WebProNews on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 06:26

“If you want our content, we expect to be paid for it … this nonsense that you can just take the first paragraph or use the picture small doesn’t really fly with us. People die trying to take those pictures,” Curley said in the report.

Soldiers die in wars and the AP makes money on the pictures they take and the money they make from that as well. When they cover a murder, they sell that news to organizations and don’t compensate the family of the person that died.

Fair use remains the topic that never seems to come up in the discussion of using content others have created. Doctrines of fair use allow for “any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose such as to comment upon, criticize or parody a copyrighted work,” according to Stanford University’s Copyright & Fair Use Center.

Just as I am doing in this blog post. It’s legal and it’s fair use.

This leaves the issue open for people like Curley and a deep-pocketed organization to force a definition of fair use by litigating against anyone who tries to reuse their content.

Exactly. The CEO of AP says “people die to take those pictures”. That is not what this is about. It’s about a greedy corporation trying to litigate against smaller entities to force them from doing what is legal.

It’s no different than when the RIAA tries to say they are suing people to protect the artists. It’s to help big record companies continue to profit on the backs of the artists so they can continue to be the only ones allowed to screw the artists over.

Maybe the AP should just merge with the RIAA.

The Rest of The Story here

If you’ve seen my posts on poetry in the past then you know I’m a big fan of the purest art form. You would think so because I write a lot of it.

So here’s one more shameless plug and self-promotion:

There’s a new poetry blog on the scene. It’s not a bad look if I do say so myself. My first real post was made yesterday, a post centered around hyperbole as a literary technique. But I’m not real fond of it as political rhetoric. I guess you can tell.

There was a nice write up on the blog over at Blogs.pn. As the blog develops I’ll be adding new items to it often, to include poetry book reviews, recommendations on books to read to help poets improve their craft, promotion of literary events, and insight into poetic techniques that poets can employ to improve their own craft. If you write poetry or you know a poet then send them over to the World Class Poetry Blog. Ask them to leave a comment and to subscribe. Thanks!

News and Media Blog

Poetry isn’t much seen as media, but I contend that is can be both media and news. Such is the case with Poems From Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak, a new book of poems by actual detainees at Guantanamo. Of course, I haven’t read the book of poems just yet, but I will. In fact, I’m ordering Poems of Guantanamo from Amazon.com this morning.

There will no doubt be an element in America that condemns these poems before reading them under the guise that they were written by enemies of America. Such shallow concupiscence may sway a few of the sheep in the pews but the few American remaining who can think for themselves might actually benefit from seeing what the prisoners at Guantanamo have to say about life through their poetry.

Poetry as media, however, is a subject for more than just Bill Moyers. Everyone should take an interest in poetry of all forms. There are a number of ways poetry can serve as media for our times. Here’s a short list of poetry as media uses:

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Truth In Media: It’s a hot topic. Most people agree with Oprah that James Frey is a lecherous liar. But is he? Did he tap into some “emotional truth” that people are missing? Was Oprah correct in her lambasting him on national television? Did Frey betray some unspoken rule regarding truth-telling in memoirs? Well, according to Joyce Carol Oates and Nan Talese - a couple of experts in the field - Frey wasn’t treated very fairly at all.

(Source) Talese argued that Frey, in the gripping manuscript he submitted, had described himself as a liar, a cheater and an addict, and under those circumstances she did not believe she was reading “the New Testament,” where every word was avowed truth. She described Oprah as exhibiting “fiercely bad manners.”

Is Talese defending Frey because she’s his publisher or because he is worth defending?

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