StinkFight.com

There’s a post today on BoingBoing about the band The Romantics suing the makers of the game Guitar Hero for using a “sound alike” band to cover their song “What I Like About You” for the game. (Using a sound a like means the company still has to pay royalties for the use of the song, but about half what they’d have to pay to use the origional recording.)

A bunch of people posted replies basically slamming the Romantics for suing. I posted this reply:

——–

I know copyright enforcement seems really unhip to a lot of folks these days, but copyright is a right guaranteed in the US Constitution. (”…To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries….”)

I happen to really like the US Constitution, ALL of it, and really hate to see it stepped on. It seems to me that a lot of people these days yell loudly when their rights are violated, but then want to violate the rights of others whenever it feels convenient.

Do the commenters here who are bemoaning the enforcement of this Romantics issue think the Constitution should be changed?

And if copyright law should be enforced for one, it should be enforced for all, regardless of perceived artistic merit. (By the way, most of the music I like is really dark: Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Bauhaus, etc, but I think “What I like About You” is a particularly well-crafted pop song, it rocks, and I respect it for that.)
I know that old-school media companies tend to be WAY overly proactive about going after all perceived “violations”, really selfish about trying to extend copyright law for too long, and often slam Fair Use as illegal use. And I think the Internet has changed the playing field to the point where copyright law needs some reinterpretation.

People are making inroads. Among them are Creative Commons. I dig Creative Commons and use it on some (not all) of my projects. I also give away some art, and there are millions of people doing that.

But I also maintain copyright on some projects, for a number of reasons. And I feel strongly that the underlying principals of copyright law are sound, and should be upheld. For all.

Tom Waits successfully sued Frito Lay when Frito Lay used a “sound alike” singer to record a song SIMILAR to one of Waits’ songs (it wasn’t even one of his own songs) for a commercial.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits#Lawsuits

I’m fine with that, but probably for different reasons that some folks here, who probably are fine with it because Waits is good and the Romantics are “shitty”.

Michael W. Dean
http://www.stinkfight.com

The fake emo commercial that Alan did (that DJ and I did the voiceover for) has gone viral, 34,000 views in a few days. The comments section has devolved into a bunch of kids arguing about “what is emo?”, with a bunch of other kids saying that emo is for pussies.

Some adventurous anthropologist on there decided to look up “emo” in Microsoft Vista Library:

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music which describes several independent variations of music with common stylistic roots. As such, use of the term has been the subject of much debate. In the mid-1980s, the term emo described a subgenre of hardcore punk which originated in the Washington, DC music scene.

Old man Dean decided to set ‘em straight on the history. I posted this:

I saw the first emo band, “Rites of Spring” in DC (at “Food for Thought” restaurant) in 1985. It was NOT a wimpy gig, except for the hippie sound guy. He was worried about the slam dancing and split with the speakers mid set. The singer (Guy - now of Fugazi) finished the set yelling, without a mic. A fist fight broke out in the crowd. Nobody cried.

By the way, one of the parties in the fist fight was Ian MacKaye. And the other band that played that night was Grey Matter. I don’t remember a lot about the show because it was so frenetic, and almost over before it started. It was a great night. Oh yeah, Grey Matter played the coolest cover of “I am the Walrus” I’ve ever heard.

Maybe emo is wimpy now, but it wasn’t back when I first heard the term.

–Michael W. Dean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RDw9yx7gEM

“Now That’s What I Call Emo : YouTube Edition”

Fake commercial my friend Alan ( fallofautumndistro) made. Pretty damn funny.
I did the voiceover (and Debra Jean did the “apathetic diary girl” voice).

–MWD

(Post on Web forum board of Cavern Club, a very cool bar in the city of Exeter, UK where I showed DIY or DIE. Post is some punker’s response to the club owner posting my “DIY or DIE on Zune” press release. Below the punker’s response is my response to him.)

———————

edx wrote: Am I missing something here?
I presume the films makers at the very least empathise with the subject they are documenting? Actively choosing to hand this over to a multi national like Microsoft hardly seems inline with what I imagine the subject of this film to be.
The film itself might be available for free but it’s not being hosted by Microsoft for any reason other than to help shift some corporate product.
Hey! Maybe this is some sort of ironic comment on the relationship between DIY and corporate ideals circa 2007?!?

——-

Michael W. Dean replied: This is a ridiculous statement. And these sentiments are usually posted by someone who lives with their parents, or eats out of a dumpster. And the poster was usually six years old when I started putting out my own records booking my own tours.

I’ve been defending this film for five years.

I made this film to share art and to reach people, not to make money. And no money was exchanged in either direction with Microsoft (they got content, I got hits.)

And for what it’s worth, Microsoft came to me, I did not go to them.

I made money at the film over the past five years, but put it most of it back into promoting the film. (Not that there’s anything wrong with making money, but personally, after food and shelter, I basically spend all my money on art supplies, and on getting my art out to the world.)

(I toured US and Europe with the film, among other things, to bring it to the people. Showed it at Cavern Club too, had a blast. Thanks guys!)

I’ve replied to this “punker than thou” accusation at length, by the way.

Here:
http://www.stinkfight.com/2007/11/13/punker-than-thou/ (post “Punker than thou”)
and here:
http://tinyurl.com/39u6ur

Here is a list of the artists in my film who are selling their songs on the Zune Marketplace: Mike Watt, Fugazi, Lydia Lunch, Dave Brockie (in Gwar), J Mascis, Madigan Shive (in Bonfire Madigan), Steve Albini (in Big Black), Lynn Breedlove (in Tribe 8 ), J.G. Thirlwell (as Foetus) and Eric McFadden.

They are all selling their songs on Apple’s iTunes store too, except Steve Albini (though the record he engineered for Nirvana is certainly on there.)

I had nothing to do with getting these artists on either site, but none of these folks are fools. (Which is why I chose to interview them.)

All these artists’ songs, on both sites, are encoded with DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions. And are for sale.

Not that I feel there’s anything wrong with selling music, I do it myself with my own songs.

But note: I am GIVING away “DIY or DIE” for FREE, in NEAR DVD QUALITY, with NO DRM.
————————

All of “DIY or DIE” is also free on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDE5vvs1WxY

–Michael W. Dean
Director, “DIY or DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist”

The only shows I watch are “Cops” and “The Colbert Show”. “Cops” doesn’t have writers, so it’s still airing. But I needed my daily dose of the man who will lead our Nation to victory, so I bought his book I Am America, and So Can You!

It’s pretty damn funny.

I especially liked the line “Upper-middle class is a meaningless term created by the Upperclass to keep the Middle class from joining with the Lower class when the revolution comes.”

And for you Chinaphiles in StinkFight land, the disclaimer on the back of the book reads:

WANING! Several reportages of illegal produced issues of this book from Glorious Peoples Republic of China stealing into bookstores. Do not! Buy only likely copies only authorized STEPHEN COLBER’S I AM AMERICA AND SO ARE YOU books like this one itself!
-Yours, U.S.A. Publisher

I am working on a book about dealing with loss, inspired by, among other things, dealing with the death of my daughter.

One problem I see with such a book is that if it’s successful, people will read it and send me long e-mails about their grief.

I get long e-mails from the readers of “$30 Film School” from people telling me about their projects. I love getting these e-mails. But I don’t know if I could deal with many many e-mails from people about their grief, when I’m still in my own mourning process.

In a similar way, popularizing “DIY or DIE” by mass-releasing it free on Zune Marketplace, I knew I’d be opening myself up to the same “You’re not punk enough/you did something wrong with your art/I’m jealous of your tiny success” etc. etc. that I’ve faced my whole life, and especially, since that film came out in 2002.

Below is an interaction I had on the Yahoo Podcasting board today. You probably don’t need (or want) to read the whole thread, but if you want to, it starts here.

Basically, someone spammed the board (a place I call home) with an ad for “Hollywood sound effects”. I felt they were misrepresenting themselves (the people involved are NOT “Hollywood”) and the sound effects are in a compromised audio format, MP3, which is NOT of the level of quality used in real Hollywood films and television.

Ostensibly, I think the guy (”MissPeter”, and yeah, it’s a dood…It’s always a dood posting crap like this…girls just dig art and don’t get as chest thumpy about the semantics as doods) who responded to my response to the spammer, was taking me to task for putting something called “DIY” on something from Microsoft.

I see no problem doing this…anyone making new media is using tools - at least hardware - made by major corporations. Digital cameras and microphones are made by corporations. Guitars are made by Gibson and Fender. And when was the last time you saw some punker running Linux on a laptop with integrated circuits burned in his own sterile laboratory? Can’t be done.

And besides, my line in the intro of the film about “…this DIY ethic drives everything from garage bands to the largest software companies in the world” is a direct reference to Microsoft and Apple, which were started in a dorm room, and a garage, respectively.

(And in response to anyone who complains at someone taking advantage of useful opportunities, I usually say, “Would you turn it down if it were offered to you?” I wouldn’t put a beer ad in the middle of my film, but I’ll let a huge new player in new media showcase it. No money was exchanged either. Microsoft Zune got content, I got mass downloads and press. )

(I’m tired of 25 years of defending my art. And I’ve written more than one 500-page book that covers the subject well. Buy ‘em, or download ‘em free on Bittorrent.)

So…..I made a handshake bet with my wife that someone would try to take me down a peg on the Yahoo Podboard for the Zune feature within 24 hours.

It only took 12.

Below my DIY bar code is the guy’s stab at me, and my response (I corrected a few of my typos, and tightened up my wording - I wrote the original Yahoo post in a haste - but I left the tone and exact meaning for the reprint here):

— In podcasters@yahoogroups MissPeter <peter@…> wrote:

> Why does any of that matter? Are you saying that it’s not REAL unless
> it’s the same one that everyone else is using? or it’s not REAL if it
> isn’t by a big name? Not very DIY of you…
> p
======

Peter-

First of all, “not very DIY of you” is very grade school of you.

And I’ve handled “punker than thou” assaults on my integrity in person from tough German anarchists when it’s just me and them in *their* squat, and taken the same from drunken skinheads in British pubs, so I can take it from you on the Internet.

Anyway, it’s an absurd allegation. People determine their own definition of DIY. If you have integrity, you will make choices that work. I do that. DIY is not a banner or buzzword for me. It’s my life. I often turn down work that pays a lot and do something else that I feel like doing instead, and frequently end up giving it away or selling it really cheap.

Second, I wasn’t saying using certain tools isn’t cool. I love tools, and avail myself of any I can grab.

I used the Hollywood Edge collection on my last film. The guy who did the sound mix owns the whole collection (about the price of a nice car). He owns it to use in his constant employment mixing sound on number-one Hollywood films.

On the other hand,, I also regularly record my cats, and sounds out on the street, to use in my podcasts.

What I was saying (I guess not very clearly) is that I don’t like people using “Hollywood” as a selling point when they’re not really involved in Hollywood. It strikes me as B.S. If you lived in Los Angeles, you’d probably have a much lower tolerance for it. It hits you CONSTANTLY. It seems like everyone everywhere in LA is trying to claim credits and associations that they don’t really have.

I am also not saying *I* am “Hollywood.” I am very much not, though I have had some genuine dealings with it on some serious levels.

I have no desire to be “Hollywood”.

–MWD

P.S.

Sometimes I question the usefulness of poking at, and pointing out, this kind of “Hollywood hustle” stuff in the world. But I feel that it’s so prevalent that if I completely ignore the weenies they just might take over.

Mission Accomplished.

(director Michael W. Dean with a copy of DIY or DIE: Burn This DVD)

SO….I sent out press releases last night for the upcoming DIY or DIE download giveaway on Zune Marketplace.

Eight people e-mailed me already today and told me I “should put the film out under Creative Commons”.

Here’s my reply:

I am very dedicated to sticking with the choices I made on this film, and I stand by them.

I love Creative Commons, and think it makes the world a better place. I did put a out book Digital Music – DIY Now! under CC, and even gave away the Quark files and high-rez images so people could translate or “remix” it.

But I’m very weary of people suggesting (and sometimes telling me) what to do with my art. Nothing against you, and you’ll have to excuse me while I climb up on my soapbox….See, you have to understand you’re probably the 300th person to tell me “You should put the film out under Creative Commons” in the past four years, and it wears me out.

In calling this article “How I invented Creative Commons”, I am certainly not implying that Lawrence Lessig copied my idea (he didn’t), but rather I’m saying that he was working on Creative Commons while I was simultaneously and independently coming up with a similar distribution model for DIY or DIE…with no knowlege of what Lessig was up to.

I released DIY or DIE commercially through Music Video Distributors on VHS on 10/29/2002 (PDF sales sheet), six weeks before Creative Commons published their first licenses. I released it on DVD as DIY or DIE: Burn This DVD (the name kinda says it all) on 1/28/2003 (see same sales sheet.) But the DVD was authored and already named by October of 2002.

From Wikipedia: “The initial set of Creative Commons licenses was published on December 16, 2002.”

Basically, I feel I invented something very much like Creative Commons myself, before I ever heard of CC, before CC went public, with the way I released DIY or DIE (copyrighted, but giving people permission in the license of the VHS and DVD to make 10 copies for friends, and allowed each of those ten people to make 10 copies. I am also selling the DVD cheap, 8 bucks.)

Many people don’t realize that CC is not always an alternative to copyright, but sometimes a set of parameters within copyright. CC material is often copyrighted, and the various CC licenses simply give the end user more options, within the scope of the existing copyright.

I did the same thing with my DVD. It was copyrighted, and I made exceptions for non-commercial use.

The DIY or DIE DVD is, as far as I know (correct me if I’m wrong), the first instance of a commercial media product being released under copyright but giving users express permission to make non-commercial copies. Also, the DVD was released with no copy protection, and no region encoding.

–MWD

p.s.

The reason I didn’t include anything in the DVD license about downloads is that in 2002 the bandwidth didn’t really exist to cheaply give away massive numbers of copies of a movie online.

DIY or DIE was the first independent film (and probably the first film) ever released on DVD with subtitles in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

When I toured with DIY or DIE (fun photos here), I was probably the second or third person to tour Europe with a self-booked tour of a digital film, in 2003. (Scott Beibin did it before me, with the Lost Film Fest.)

Next week’s high-quality DIY or DIE giveaway on Zune Marketplace (and eventually as a direct download from the Libsyn blog where I’m hosting it) is NOT the first instance of a commercial DVD being given away free as a high-quality download. It’s probably the second. (I thought it was the first, and embarrassingly, sent out press releases to that effect, then sent out an updated “Please us this instead” press release an hour later when I was corrected).

I thought it was the first, but someone pointed out that Jason Scott allowed friends to put his BBS Documentary (great film, by the way) on BitTorrent in 2005, and he linked the Torrent on his site.

Even though Jason didn’t host the media files himself, due to the nature of how Bittorrent works, I feel that a director linking someone else’s torrent really *does* constitute giving the film away himself.

….You only have to be a little bit smarter than your target audience. And a lot more clever and driven.

I wouldn’t dare say this out loud if I weren’t convinced the studios have probably also already thought of it, but………a show called “American Screenwriter”, an “American Idol”-type contest to find scab writers.

p/s Last week I heard someone here remark that the SoCal wildfires were spontaneous combustion from all the unpublished screenplays.

–MWD

People keep asking me “Why did you post the WHOLE film on YouTube and Zune Marketplace and Zune.net? Are you Crazy” (on YouTube and Zune Marketplace now, coming to Zune.net the week of November 19th).

Here ya go:
(in no special order)

1. It’s my gift to the world.

2. I’ve gotten what I need to from this film, and then some:

–I MADE it. That was a triumph to actually finish a first film against all odds. And it turned out GOOD.

–The film has inspired many people They write me almost every day and tell me it got them off their ass.

–I’ve traveled the US and Europe with it, and had a blast. Free paid vacation for five months.

–I was able to write “$30 Film School as a result of making it. That seems to make a lot of people happy.

–Also, I make my much of living from that book.

3. I made the film to spread a message, not make money.

4. I think that posting the whole film might actually drive DVD sales, not reduce sales. This is a film people seem to want to enjoy in a room with other people. It’s hard to watch a movie with your friends huddled around a tiny little window on a computer monitor. (Though the ZM download looks pretty damn good full screen).

Hell, I put the DVD out without copy protection and encouraged people to make copies for their friends. Press and word of mouth from that drove sales. And that’s the DVD, not a small screen on a computer. The DVD looks and sounds a lot better.

“DIY or DIE” has sold over 4000 copies, and it’s on NetFlix, Blockbuster, GreenCine and on a lot of other video rental services, as well in some video rental stores.

I think that at this point, people who would dig the film have either already purchased or rented the DVD, or else they’ve not yet heard of the film.

I can’t imagine there are many people saying, “I’ve heard of that film, and really want to see it, but the DVD is EIGHT bucks, I’m gonna put it off.”

5. I want people to know they can show the DVD as a benefit for animal shelters, because I love cats.

6. I like attention.

7. If posting it online cuts DVD sales, I don’t really care. (see numbers 1-6).

(By the way, right after I posted this I got a Google alert that venerable Film Threat magazine has blogged this. It’s even on the front page at the moment.)

–Buy the DVD on Amazon for 8 bucks new.

Get episode 0053

Thurs, 25 Oct 2007

YUP! IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR TODAY!

EPISODE 55

976-BeckyChat! (3)

Michael W. Dean and Debra Jean Dean have a chat with our special little friend, Becky Haycox. (Part 3 of 4)

Checking out womens’ racks over your wife’s shoulder, sexism, ominsexual people, San Francisco, how to deal with your boyfriend working at a strip club, feminist strippers, couples who like the same pornography, taking your girlfriend on a date to see the strippers, why women like romance in their sex, other ways that women differ from men, why these chicks hate male bashing, sleeping with more than one person without being a slut, how to get rid of a panhandler, why there’s no such thing as spare change, seeing the Sex Pistols in San Antonio on January 8, 1978 at Randy’s Rodeo, Pink Floyd never murdered anyone, Syd Barrett rocks, and how to freak out the youth of today.

Photos of the day here.

Entire episode recorded on location on the street in Ventura, California on the Zoom H2 portable handy recorder.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/podcasters/message/33326

(The text at the top is Todd’s post, my reply is below.)

I talked to a buddy of mine the other day for the first time in a while. He’s one of the most creative people I know.

I asked him what he’s doing for a living. He said “experiential marketing.” I had to say “What’s that?” He said, “I’m paid by cell phone companies to go into bars with two hot chicks. We party with people and show them our new video cell phones. We drink with them, take photos, let them use the phone, then get them to give us their e-mail address and send them the pictures later. They end up having a great experience and associate it with that particular cell phone brand.”

He’s not supposed to tell the people he works for the company. He’s supposed to be just a cool dude with some hot chicks who happen to like this particular cell phone.

BLEAHHHHHHH!

This seems really sinister to me.

And as everyone knows, the same thing is done on the Internet, with splogs (fake blogs), and on useful, established forums, personal blogs, user reviews on sites like Epinions.com and Amazon, and on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. People are paid to do this. They’re instructed to register as regular users, ingratiate themselves to the community, master the “lingo” and worm their way in under the guise of a non-commercial average Joe, and casually drop wording into their posts about the stuff they’re paid to shill.

Media sharing environments are full of this stuff. There are a lot of new videos on YouTube that look like they’re done in someone’s bedroom, yet have big money behind them. This is done to either sneak in mentions of a product, or launch a “hip & happening D.I.Y indie video channel” (think “lonely girl”, but even sneakier.)

I have no problem with commerce on the Internet. In fact, I love it. I order most of my stuff on the Web, and am loving that services like eMusic and iTunes store may one day help put major labels and studios out of business (if iTunes ever nixes the damn DRM.)

My problem is when it’s deceptive. And I know why companies do it: because people have stopped paying attention to conventional commercials. People mute the TV, or use TiVo. Or just ignore commercials. Or just look at the pretty colors and dig on the bland, loud, crappy fake rock music and forget the message.

But when I go look at a forum of user reviews, I want it to damn well be by actual users, not by subcontractors of subcontractors of the manufacturer posing as users.

HERE’S MY IDEA:

How about coming up with a free basic service that would utilize user tagging like social bookmarking sites (Digg, Del.icio.us) and like Akismet Spam use to identify abusers by I.P. address, habits, links they post, and other machine-learned indicators. Then integrate this with a database connected to a FireFox plug-in to make posts by those users (and sites entirely run by those companies) simply not show up. We could “keep the lights on” with revenue from licensing commercial and multi-user licenses.

I think a great name for this service would be “Stink Fight.” Because it would fight the stink on the Internet.

Any programmers or companies who want to do this, contact me. I’ll help do some of the other heavy lifting to get it off the ground.

– Michael W. Dean

(Idea somewhat inspired by that silly “De-Xeni” FireFox plugin.)

Just got off a three-way Skype call with Howie Kafka and Skip Lunch. Still on the line with Skip. Howie’s in Germany and Skip’s in China, I’m near Los Angeles. We remembered something I’d forgotten: I introduced them, and I introduced Howie to the Internet. Howie said he had a computer but no modem and I sent him a SNAIL MAIL letter in 1996 and said “You’ve GOT to get a modem and check this shit out!” He did, then I introduced them to each other and they’ve been best friends forever, ever since.

mew. Awww…..I love it.

We had fun on the Skype three-way and were sharing links and music and all that stuff and had a realization: This is what we dreamed of as kids…..talking over the miles with our buddies, while living our lives in amazing places.

Rock the fuck on, man.

People often write and ask me:

>How do you get your shows to sound so good? They sound like NPR or something, yet you do them at home…What’s your secret?

Well, grasshopper, I will tell you what I know…..
It’s all here: http://www.askdollie.com/PodGear.htm

Photos of our studio here.

In response to Stephen Deng, a guy in China, who went on a cool rant here: “…Living on Chinese ROCK! [pt 4 on “Skip Lunch on/in China”]”),

about Stink Fight, my “funny happy blog”, and how Skip Lunch’s posts are in the wrong category, I’ve added a new blog post category on Stink Fight.

It’s called “Super happy fun blog!”

The description is “Goofy shit, or stuff about how things are equal but oddly different with the different peoples of the world.”

ALL GUEST BLOGGERS WITH ACCOUNTS ON STINK FIGHT, PLEASE NOTE NEW CATEGORY, AND FEEL FREE TO USE AS APPROPRIATE. THANKS!

-The Management.

(This is a response to “…Living on Chinese ROCK! [pt 4 on “Skip Lunch on/in China”]“), but I thought I’d start a new stink, as I’m sort of splitting this into a different stinky direction:

Stephen Deng Says:

“…..Oh, Stinkfight! so does mr.Cheetah makes sound prescription (Why you #3). To constitute funny happy blog can try your best on “life style” exactly, e.g. gear, self-promotion, BDDSSM…..”
—-

Michael W. Dean replies:

I love this passage, Deng. Your north-of-the-border yankee chinglish makes for some unintentionally poetic and random beauty. (Sometimes I wonder if you, and maybe also Mr. Denisson, are not in reality Boston-born PHDs laughing while running drunken ramblings through “AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation” into Chinese [or Greek] and back to English again, just to pull my leg.)

Yet your words contain more truth than those of many who were razed hear. You see, I make a lot of “Notes to myself for things to do in the future.” Some end up as books, songs, films, software programs, TV shows, photos or blogs loved by thousands. Many others end up in my trash.

But last night I grabbed a napkin and wrote a quick yet important outline, one that will be realized and affect the world in a big way: “Mission statement for the Dean Foundation“, ideas for the non-profit I will start with my millions near the end of my life. The main focuses of this tax-free organization will be:

Mission statement for the Dean Foundation:

1. Preserve and spread all the art of Michael W. Dean (which may or may not include the PodBot)
2. Help people who rescue, care for and spay/neuter cats.
3. Help young starving artists by giving them one-time grants to pay their rent for three to twelve months.
4. Help spread understanding for compassionate/healthy BDSM.

See, Deng, you got Dean figured to a “T”!
Keep on stinkin’ on.

–Xenophobically yours,

Michael W. Dean (Master of cats, electrical gear, art, BDSM, and self-promotion.)

Slightly funny ancient punk history, and gossip….

In 1990 Bruce LaBruce put the song “Be A Fag” from my band Bomb on his JD’s zine cassette comp “J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape”, with permission. (Tom Jennings had written Bomb up in his “Homocore” zine, and Bruce found us from that.)

However, Bruce later used the song without permission, during the end credits of his film “No skin off my ass.” When I found out I asked him if we were gonna get any money (The film made a good bit of scratch in home VHS rental and theater showings). He said, “Michael, money in film is like sex with a gay man. If you don’t get anything in the front, you won’t get anything in the rear.”

I took that line, changed “film” to “music” and used it in my first novel “Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women”, without attribution.

If he’d simply asked “Can I use the song for free?” We would have certainly said yes. I just thought it was a little suspect that he used it without asking, and then was so damn caviler about it.

It’s the only time I’ve ever out and out stolen a line from anyone, but I figured I was due. We’re even, and I got a good story out of it.

Carry on.

–MWD

Article is here: http://tinyurl.com/3c339j

A few of my photos got cut for length:

caption: “Me at book signing: Buy my book or I’ll smack you with this microphone.”

—–

caption: “I’m not sure if this was a boy or a girl, but after about four beers I’d be following it around. Which is part of the reason I no longer drink.”

—–

DJ’s stunning large photo (makes great wallpaper) is getting used on the front page, but here’s the big one:

Note. I invented a word poduine and it’s in this article.
The word “poduines” is not on the Internet at all. Let’s check in a month, see if it catches on.

The word “poduine” exists only five places on the Internet now.
What language is this? Regardless, it’s certainly not the context I’m using.
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=poduine&btnG=Search

part of episode one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QKy-_jVvRA

——-

All of episode two (four segments, starts here):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1jgnPkbXc

I’ve actually gotten a number of fan letters bemoaning me “shutting down” kittyfeet.com, the sprawling pop culture / Michael W. Dean ego site I’ve run since 1996.

The site actually has over 1400 pages and 6245 files on it now, most of them hand-crafted by me. Kittyfeet has no central navigation scheme, and no site map. The best description I’ve heard of it is some blogger who said “Kittyfeet.com is the Winchester Mystery House of the Internet.”

The passing of Kittyfeet.com isn’t a bad thing, it’s a natural thing, like tossing out a beloved T-shirt that has served you well. In fact, I tossed out my favorite red shirt (pictured in better times, above) today. I was a little sad to do so, but the shirt was nothing but holes, had served me well, and was beyond sewing any more. And unlike the shirt, Kittyfeet.com is archived. It’s all still there. I’ve just moved on to other things (like this blog, like my podcasts, like live appearances, and my books and films. And like whatever I come up with next. Stay tuned, kids.)

Below is an e-mail from a guy who got hooked on Kittyfeet.com when I was temping in the cubicle next to him in San Francisco in the Web 1.0 boom, around 1998. I’ve gotten a bunch of mail like this.

MWD

=======

Michael,

I’d be amazed if you remember me, but I wanted to drop you a quick note to say I am saddened to see kittyfeet.com go away. I realize we all must grow and change and evolve–and if this is what you choose do, it’s a great thing. As many people surely do, I’ve checked in on your life through the website from time to time—and always loved it–probably for no reason other than that it was unique, like you–and that gave me an occasional weird sense of comfort in all this life madness.

I hope you’re well. Good luck in you endeavors!!

Dave Bratton

(Worked with you a brief while many, many years ago while you temped at the SFCVB)

Microsoft is starting a Zune online store, to compete with the iTunes store.

A guy came on the Yahoo Podcasters board yesterday and announced he had been hired by Microsoft as the podcaster leiason for the Zune store. His post is here, and you can follow the thread by scrolling down to the bottom of that page.

Most people replied to him with some variation of “COOL! How do we get our podcasts on the Zune store?” I replied with a bunch of questions. Someone snipped back at me, and I posted a reply that sums up how I feel about this.

My last post (as of right now) on the thread, is this:

Steve,

I’m not being suspect of the Zune guy, I’m being suspect of the Zune,
which the Zune guy has chosen the role of representing.

I can’t really say “Hey man, how come you don’t play fair?” to a Zune,
because it’s a thing. It won’t care. But the Zune has, at least in the
past, behaved in a way that would make me angry, were it a person. And
the Zune guy has taken on the job of repping that *thing* to us, so
that’s the reception his job position is going to get. And not just
from me.

I’m not saying I’ll never put my stuff on the Zune store, I’m just
saying I have some questions that I’d like answered before I hike up
my skirt and say “Oh, newly minted major digital media force, how may
I beseech thee?” And I think other content creators should consider
their content important enough to ask some questions too, other than
just “How do I get my stuff on Zunes?”

I am not of the mind that “Microsoft is evil”, in fact, I love, and
use, many of their software products. I am not of the mind that “all
corporations are evil”, I basically feel that in the computer realm,
at least with the two major players, they’re both about equally as
benignly irksome. Apple maybe more, because they tend to paint
themselves as fuzzy Berkeley hippies, which hasn’t been the truth
since their inception.

I just wanna know how the Zune is gonna deal with and treat this
wonderful media we’re making in our bedrooms. Is it going to be nice
to it and play fair? Ya know?

For instance, if I release a podcast with no DRM (digital rights
management), and under a Creative Commons license, is it going to be
able to be freely beamed from one Zune to another, or will it still
lock up after three days, three plays (or partial plays) or whatever.
Will that DRMed file be infinitely DRMed down the line as copies are
made?

Anyone thinking I’m being too suspect of this whole thing should read
this:
DRM criticisms of the Zune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune#Digital_rights_management
and
Microsoft Zune will violate Creative Commons licenses:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/15/microsoft-zune-will-.html

and any of thousands of other articles you’ll find if you search
“Zune” + “DRM”
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=Zune+DRM&btnG=Search

I think podcasters should care about their content, and how it’s
treated, always. Even if you’re giving it away for free, there are
always more important issues than just “Oh, someone’s going to make me
more visible? Where do I sign up.”

–MWD
“Clone The Homeless”
Michael W. Dean’s podcast that remembers when sex was safe and music
was dangerous. (Free, and no iPod is needed to listen.)
http://www.clonethehomeless.com

We got a new Canon A460 digital camera today. (We’re giving away our old camera, if you want it, e-mail me. The old one found a new home already.)

The new camera pretty much kicks ass. And it was really inexpensive (like $115 with shipping.)
It takes damn fine pretty kitty pictures. Here’s a WONDERFUL photo DJ took of Fuzzy:

And you can click here for the 3-meg zip of 8 wonderful kitty-and-microphone pix click here to get the 3-meg zip of 8 wonderful kitty and microphone pix. They make great computer wallpaper, and you can feel free to use for anything. Credit Debra Jean Dean.

And this little one, below (that I took, with the old camera) makes a great center (not tiled) computer desktop.

Below is a thumbnail to another (large) wallpaper from the same session.

A friend just wrote me and told me that he purchased an item on eBay called “Film School Low Budget eBook Guide” from a scumbag seller with the user ID: cr3ativo

The eBook turned out to be a bootleg of my “$30 Film School.” And this seller says they have “99 available.”

This user appears to be based in Australia. Anyone know who it is? He’s also selling a bunch of bootleg eBooks under fake names and covers.
I don’t mind so much if people give away copies of my stuff, but I think the idea of someone making money of it AND duping the users is icky. They made up this fake name and a fake cover (with a picture of an Academy Award, which is TOTALLY antithetical to the mission statement of my book.)

And then they used my own ad copy:

“You don’t need big bucks to make great stuff. Computers have made it possible to make great films on very little money. They say that whatever effects the big studios have are four years away from the desktop, that is, four years away from your computer desktop. Big effects at low prices are here now. But great effects aren’t what make a great movie. Neither is money…..”

from my book in their fake pitch.

I turned them in to eBay as selling bogus stuff.

=====-

FOLLOW UP ON OCTOBER 3rd:

eBay has removed the listing:

But not the user. User is still on there, apparently ripping off other authors and buyers.

But the guy who notified me about this  scam, who got scammed by buying the book, has posted a comment about it on the seller’s feedback page:

And you can’t get those removed without going through eBay to do it.

DOWNLOAD Episode 0053 (54 megs, 60 minutes)

Michael W. Dean and Debra Jean Dean have a chat with our new little friend, Becky Haycox. (Part 2 of 4) (And yes guys, she is cute and single!)

They all drive around Ventura, California, go have dinner together, talk about sexy sailors, polyamory with guys who look great in a skirt, drugs of the nasal variety, Kathy Griffin and the Catholic Church, meth-takin’ bike-ridin’ Christians, pinking up, Danny Plotnick, getting clean vs. dying, traveling Europe with your film, Miles Montalbano, commemorative tattoos for dead relatives, kinderwhore punklettes, dealing with a death in the family, make love not war, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, “Pants a gangsta day”,

Episode is from Michael W. Dean’s podcast that remembers when sex was safe and music was dangerous. (Free, and no iPod is needed to listen.)
http://www.clonethehomeless.com

Entire episode recorded on the Zoom H2 portable handy recorder.

Below. Photo by Becky of the “Give peace a chance” girls we encountered.

(I’ve been getting a lot of letters about my H2 recordings, and asking how I make them sound so damn great. I decided to answer one here, so we could share the info.)

——————————————–

Hi Michael,

I’m a recent Zoom H2 owner (well, I guess we all are). I listened to your CloneTheHomeless podcast #50 after it was linked on the O’Reilly site, and then to #51 (which I got completely sucked into, to the point where I probably will listen to parts 2 to 4 even though I’m not really a podcast listener).

I’m really impressed with the audio quality you’re getting, and wondered if you could share your technique with me, i.e., what gain level you’re using, if you adjust beyond setting the L-M-H setting, and how far from the person speaking you’re holding the mic. Are you moving the H2 from you to DJ in #50? You both sound very clear…

I didn’t hear lot of handling noise in the casts, are you doing anything special to reduce that? I had thought that you could make a simple shock mount using PVC pipe (similar to this), though it would be less comfortable to hold.

Anyway, thanks for anything you’re willing to share, and thanks for the casts.

Alan Fairley (aka nolonemo)

=======

Hi Alan,

Hey man. Thanks!

So, I recorded all those casts with the gain on the High setting (of low/med/high), and the internal levels at 100 (out of possible 127). We didn’t use a shock mount, DJ and I took turns gently but firmly holding the H2 (on the included “lollypop” stick) in front of us while we walked, but didn’t pass it each time one spoke. We may have intuitively pointed it a bit to each other as we did, but I don’t remember doing that. We held it at about boob level between both of us, maybe pointing the front up at our mouths at a slight angle, about a foot from our mouths. This was with the front mics, the 90 degree ones. The Becky cast, since it was three people, was done with the back mics (the 180 degree ones).

When we had it on the table with Becky, and when we were walking with her, it was about two feet from everyone’s mouths. When it was on the table, we used the included table stand (as we call it the “H2D2 tripod”, lol).

I meant to put a folded up T-shirt under the H2 as a shock mount, but forgot. It didn’t matter much, I think the H2 engineers must have done a good job of internally shock mounting the on-board mics. Yay them!

I’ll try the T-shirt thing when I record the panel I’m on at the Pod Expo on Sept 29. (My first wedding anniversary! Yay! Debra Jean and I are going for four nights, to celebrate our love.)

I recorded both the Clone the Homeless H2 casts using the H2’s CD quality setting (44.1 k, 16-bit stereo WAV) using a 4-gig SD card. I didn’t do any chopping or editing to remove ums and ahs (which I DO do when we record at home in the studio using the good mics and the computer). I just ran it through the Levelator and then added the usual podcast intros and outros. Then encoded to 128 k stereo MP3 using AudioCatalyst.

I think that’s it. If you have more questions, post ‘em here and I’ll answer.

Rock on,

Michael W. Dean, King of all DIY media.

I love free speech, but “It’s not free speech if you steal it.”

If someone who is as much of a jackass as Andrew Meyer
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HgrFSHZfD1o

interrupted me while I was speaking, I’d taser him myself.

–

Update later: Article that says Andrew brought his own camera to the event, handed to a girl to hold so he’d be sure to get his actions on camera, and then egged the cops on before the part of the clip he uploaded to YouTube. And he has a history of jackassery and of uploading his exploits to YouTube for attention. (But then again, who doesn’t, these days?)

No, not “Skip Lunch is old.”

What I’m laying down is this: An old song from Skip Lunch, from when he lived in Jamestown, NY, which is where I met him. The song is called Lowdown. The MP3 is here.

I dig this. Not sure what kind of music it is. It’s sort of punk, but not generic.

Skip wrote it, played guitar and SANG! (he doesn’t do that much.) Bob-o-matic played drums on this. No one remembers the bass player’s name. Bass players can be like that.

Pass it on. All hail our favorite China corespondent, without whom, there would have never been a 10,000 Maniacs (Skip taught their bass player bass, and taught Natalie to come out of her shell, by giving her lots of LSD.)

But far far worse, I probably never would have been in a cool band without Skip.

SO….I have a lot of time on my hands, and I also work a lot….on a lot of different projects. I spend many hours a day parked in front of a computer. I turn my laptop on at 2 PM when I wake up and it’s on until 6 AM when I go to sleep. And I’m pretty much on it, on and off, all my waking hours.

It’s sometimes hard to tell which of this time is work, what part of it is just fun, what’s promotion for previous projects and what’s research for future projects. Sometimes it all kinda blends together. I mean who can say that surfing links for three hours on Wikipedia or posting on some blog isn’t work, isn’t part of my job? It’s all good, it’s all learning, and everything I do helps everything else I’ll ever do in the future.

I recently posted some comments on the O’Reilly Digital Media site on David Battino’s post about the new H2 Recorder. (I have an H2 and love it.) David followed some of my links, liked some of my writing on Stink Fight and elsewhere, and contacted me with an offer of work.

I had no idea David was the editor of that site or that they were looking to hire one good, experienced writer with an extensive knowledge of digital audio, digital video and digital still photography, but I guess I fit the bill.

I signed the contract today, and I am now a writer for O’Reilly. The ironic thing is I’ve done work for them before. I edited DV Filmmaking Start To Finish, contributed to Digital Video Hacks and wrote an article for Make Magazine. I also did a presentation at Maker Faire in 2006. And David didn’t know any of this this when he decided to hire me. (O’Reilly is a big company, and there’s far too much going on for everyone to know everyone who’s ever done work for them.)

I really like working for O’Reilly and am psyched about this. They pay well, are respectful of their writers, and have a hip audience. I dig that.

One of the cool perks is that checks from O’Reilly have an etching of a tarsier on them. (Photo of a tarsier below, and also at the top of this post.)

So I guess the way you get a job in Web 2.o is be really good at what you do, but don’t look for a job. Mess around a lot on the Internet, post your thoughts freely, and be at the right place at the right time.

The term “Web 2.0“  was invented by Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media. –Do’h! See comments below)

…OR “Why You Should Move Here..pt 2″

Seems like this is a hot topic these days. China is exporting low-price
and low-quality goods like mad, and we love it, don’t we? Well, way down the
blog I wrote about “Why you should move to China”. Here are two more
magic letters : QC.

That’s right folks ..step right up and be a Quality Control Inspector!
(On-the-job training provided). Foreign companies don’t want to sell toxic
toys or poison pencils, so they are contracting other non-Chinese companies to check on stuff over here. These companies then hire expats like me, ‘cause I already live here in China. This saves them the trouble of flying all the way to China for every order.

I went to a factory, took some snapshots, filled out an Inspection report,
and I gotta say; that’s the easiest 800Y I’ve ever made. Oh, and over here, that’s a half-month’s rent! And before you start ranting about the working conditions
of the poor Chinese workers, you should know that if the foreign buyer has a conscience, I can report on that, too. I think that costs extra though.

FYI, this factory looked like the one my dad worked at in the 60’s, except
way more relaxed.

Stop complaining and be part of the solution for once, like me. I’m looking
into my Chinese crystal ball, and it says that many, many more positions
like this will soon be available. Again, I love living here since I am “In Demand”, whereas in the USA, I’m virtually unemployable! How about you?

So c’mon cyberpunks, ..join the party! (pun intended)

…On the other hand, hey, both me and MWD probably ate a lot of lead paint when we were kids, and just look at us now! (*:

~Skip Lunch, China correspondent

Ps: That cool-ass plane is a made-in-the USA Flying Tiger, when our pilots helped’em kick-ass on the Japanese. GO USA!

So, I’ve lived out in the sticks for a year now. The day I moved here I was worried “Will I be able to find enough stuff to keep busy?” and noticed on the local cable access channel a repeating ad that said “Get on TV! Make a show for free! Call this number for info!” I told DJ, “If they don’t stop taunting me with that, I just might….”

Well, I ended up keeping very busy with other stuff, but the other day I was bored and I called the number and found out what I needed to do to make a show. 12 hours later, I had a completed show on a DVD, and we delivered it today. I’m supposed to call this weekend to find out when it’s approved and when they’ll start airing it (I’m making one episode a month, and they’ll show each episode once a week for a month.) I’ll let you all know.

The show is called “Stink Fight - Radio on TV”. It’s spoken audio, some from Clone The Homeless, and also original audio created exclusively for “Stink Fight - Radio on TV.” It’s mostly Debra Jean and I, with a few guests. And our cats. The video is just still images of our cats. Many many many still images of our cats.

Our motto is: “Stink Fight - Radio on TV. Because what we say is more important than what you see.”

It will be on Time-Warner cable, and will be able to be seen on channel 25 in these cities: Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Camarillo, Calabasas, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, Simi Valley and Newbury Park. I don’t know how many people will watch my show, but over a quarter of a million people will be able to if they want.

I’m getting the last time slot available.

I’ll let you know when it airs.

P/S - Anyone can get a cable access show anywhere in America, as long as the show doesn’t contain obscene material, and certain basic technical aspects are met. And you can produce your show at home, or use the facilities at the station for free or very cheaply. There’s cool gear at the facility where mine is going to be cast from. The cool guy at the station gave us the tour. Debra Jean laughed because I was drooling at the racks of gear.

Time is available for members of the community to offset the fact that private companies infringe on the public by routing cables through public and private areas. More info on the program is here.

I’m gonna make the “Wayne’s World of cats!”. (The cats part was partially inspired by the episode of South Park where the kids get high on Nyquil and make a show that just shows puppies, with cheesy music in the background. The show becomes very popular.)

By the way, Australia and Canada also have public access-type TV, also. It’s called “Community channel” in Canada, and “Community television” in Australia.

If anyone is interested in getting “Stink Fight - Radio on TV” shown on cable access in their area, please contact us.

–Michael W. Dean

Hey….The wife and I made a fun 30-second commercial for StinkFight.com. Please feel free to put on your podcast, radio show, your band’s CD, etc.

Here it is as a CD quality WAV file (5 megs)

Here it is as an MP3 (1 meg)

(right click either to save)

Thanks, and let me know if you use it somewhere.

- Michael W. Dean

There’s a 2004 documentary called “Michael Moore Hates America”. It’s finally all up on YouTube. Watch it here, in many parts.

“Michael Moore Hates America” is sort of a parody of a Michael Moore movie….From the inclusion of the documentarian as a subject, the documentarian being the narrator, the timber of the narration, to the “I’m from small-town America” bent, to the use of ironic animated sections…to the fact that the filmmaker spends the film trying to interview an evasive famous person. Which should be mildly amusing, but I just don’t like “Michael Moore Hates America”. It’s a cheap shot at a guy who’s trying to make a difference. I think the director, Michael Wilson, just wants attention. (Which is often kinda the case with anyone who bases their entire career on a resentment to another person.)

I don’t always agree with everything Michael Moore has to say, and do agree that he uses “creative” editing, but I really like Michael Moore. “Roger and Me” is the reason I started making documentaries. And I wish there were ten more Michael Moores and ten less of whoever makes those horrible 100-million-dollar blockbusters foisted on us every summer.

The worst thing I can say about “Michael Moore Hates America” is it’s boring. I watched the whole thing, but after the first 8 or 10 minutes, it was hard.

Anyone ever notice that the audio (music videos and interviews) on MTV Tr3s (The Spanish-language dance music MTV) sounds horrible? It’s crunchy and the treble is boosted WAY too much.

My theory is that they do it intentionally to sound good to people on cocaine. I know some guys who used to play in disco bands in the 80s and said that the producers used to do the same thing on some dance cuts.

I dunno, I can’t watch this channel, even for a song, it hurts my tired old sober ears.

(How’s that headline for meta-nonfiction?)

The very nifty Xeni Jardin blogged today about the blog post I did about the YouTube videos about the KLF burning a million pounds and about their book “The Manual”.

BoingBoing post is here.

(photo from the Infinite Cat Project)

I’ve noticed a lot of websites (hosted by several different hosts) down lately, for a few hours at a time. I’ve noticed e-mails taking hours to arrive.

I asked my friend JP about this today, and he said, “Maybe it’s the beginning of the end. Maybe it’s companies illegally instituting anti-net neutrality intentionally. When we’re sick enough of it, they’ll say, ‘Well, if you’re willing to pay more money each month, we’ll make it right for ya’.”

Yikes.

Concerned? Check out SaveTheInternet.com

Hmmmmm……This may be a solution (but not THE solution) to Apple selling stuff that’s either DRM-crippled, or encoded at a lower bit rate.

As Jon Stewart said (and I’m paraphrasing, can’t find the exact quote): “Sure, Wal-Mart is destroying small-town America. But hey! Nine dollars for a refrigerator!”

From the article:

“The retail giant just began selling digital music free from copy protection today, at just 94 cents per song, versus $1.29/song on iTunes. Let the DRM-free price wars” begin!

Link

I love a study in modern 21st century style contrasts, for example I have two browser windows open and one is a buncha gadget geeks arguing the merits of Blu-Ray vs HD DVD discs. New data has come in this format war, showing 2:1 lead by one of the Blu-Ray format in disc sales. It appears despite Blu-Ray outselling HD DVD, the decision makers at Paramount & Dreamworks will no longer manufacture in the currently leading format. Huh? I fortunately have not yet begun to worry about this consumer crap conciousness fight, and do not look forward to ever joining. So in a tech-centric world, it’s shamefully hard for me to muster strength to care…

As I imagine it is overseas in Moscow. Today the International Herald Tribune and sister NY Times website’s both feature a fact of life piece that in Moscow, supposedly one of the world’s top cities, in summertime the city deals with massive hot water shortages. Huh?

Apparently, under communism it was long ago decided that instead of individual boilers like we use in the US, the Russians centralized hot water distribution, which basically collapsed even before their empire. Each summer, due to repairs, the Moscovites in the market are riper than the fruit…