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Vatican ‘cashes in’ by putting price on the Pope’s copyright – World – Times Online

Scary. Copyright as a tool of censorship is never a good thing, but to use copyright to get money from religion, particularly in this case- come on. First, you’re limiting the message, which is completely antithetical to the message itself. Next, if as a Catholic you believe that the Pope’s words are divinely inspired, then there are some bigger issues. 😛

CNN.com – Baseball statistics: history or property? – Jan 15, 2006

This is scary. Esseentially, MLB wants to have right sto “identites and statistical profiles” of their players. Statistics, even when associated with an individual, are clearly facts. If MLB wins, it will be disturbing- not only for the fantasy sports industry, as CNN alleges, but for any uses of copyright as well. If statistics associated with a person can be protected by IP, then why not databases? Or for that matter, phone books (currently not protected by copyright)?

From Groklaw, 3 initiatives to improve patent mess.

Public Knowledge has come out with a primer on copyright for creators, avaiable for purchase (print) or free (pdf). It’s a good read.

This month, Turner Classic Movies will be showing Hayao Miyazaki films on Thursdays- for the most part, both the dubbed and subbed versions (Studio Ghibli films).

During the introduction, the commentator interviewing someone from Pixar said something I found strange- something along the lines of, ‘when you think of anime, of japanese cartoons, you don’t think of developed characters or plots,’ contrasting that “standard” thought to Miyazaki’s works.

That’s just bizarre. The whole reason I got into anime in the first place was because of the developed plots and characters- much more than I could expect from English equivalents for the most part. This isn’t to detract from Miyazaki- Ghibli’s works are awesome. We own many of the Japanese versions of the Ghibli films- if only Howl’s Moving Castle didn’t cost quite so much to import we’d have it now. ^_^

We’re watching Spirited Away right now- Holly is reminded of her time in Japan. In the beginning of the movie, the heroine and her family stumble upon an abandoned “theme park” of some sort. That can happen. ^_^

morning musume vs. bob sapp – Google Video

City of Villains Community Site

Interesting. Marvel and NCsoft have settled, so no case law will be developed here… I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

From Wired, Wired News: Star Wars Fans Flee Net Galaxy

This certainly doesn’t inspire me in the least to try Star Wars Galaxies, even if the new play is as great as Sony Online claims (I have my doubts, but even if…). I just don’t want to pay money to a company that treats its users so poorly. First, there’s the obvious “if they did it to THEM…” thought. Second, it just seems unjust to sell out your dedicated user base in such a manner.

The Video Game Revolution: “Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins | PBS

A pro-game article from the PBS website by MIT Professor Henry Jenkins, refuting common attacks on games and gaming.

Wired 13.12: Thinking Outside the Box Office

Steveb Siderbergh’s new flick will be released on DVD, HDTV, and movies all at once… and a bit on copyright and the Grey Album, too.