As Always, Dancing In My Chair

I'm seeing an increasing number of 'Black March' images from reddit campaign being posted/reposted on my flist. I am interested in the SOPA/PIPA issue, so I decided to do a little research before passing on the message.

What I found that made sense to me was a blog post from postcardsfromspace (warning: NSFW title).

Another blogger, karenhealey pointed out a Wikipedia list of companies supporting/opposing the proposed legislation, which could be used for a targeted boycott.

My opinion based on a few hours of research?

The proposed legislation is a 'bad thing.' A youtobe link to a TED talk shared by syble4

Piracy is also a 'bad thing,' especially when it negatively affects the income of the performers/writers/creators and their support structure. There are also times when piracy is a 'good thing' and can positively affect their income by increasing the visibility of a movie, book, song, etc.

Unfortunately, a complete boycott could also end up being a 'bad thing' for the independents and the companies opposing the legislation.

In my case, there will be no boycotting (or financial boosting) simply because our current budget has no allocation for books or magazines, CDs or DVDs or videogames. There have also been no movie tickets purchasd for years due to the risk of infection, but that too would be verboten financially. I don't deliberately download or upload pirated material (that I'm aware of), but I'm pretty sure I've managed to bend laws along the way with my fanworks, so I'm no angel in that regard.

Our internet connection (Time Warner) and Netflix streaming have been our sole media indulgences for the past year, and will be for the foreseeable future, but I'm not going to be shutting down my internet connection for a month because Time Warner is on the list of companies supporting the legislation. So much for my support on any front - targeted or complete. :-/

Yes, you may repost, although I question the coherency of this post due to the meds I'm on.

No, I'm not interested in debate on this. I've just used up my very limited mental spoons for today, which means I now have zero words left for my WIPs. :-(

Another round of warnings on my flist and an email or two advising me there has been another sockpuppet sighting. When people start sending me email to warn me, I guess it's time to weigh in although I'd prefer to stay out of the whole thing because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I suffer from nausea quite enough already, thank you very much.

( You probably want to avoid this post if sockpuppets piss you off mightily and make veins throb in your forehead and steam come out of your ears. )

Please don't choose to friend someone just because I did.

I write fic. I write recs. I comment on fic, art, vids. I beta for other people when asked. That's all I really do out here in the land of bits and bytes and I'd like to stay out of the wank and avoid offending as many people in fandom as I can while writing fic and recs.

OK?

Great. Hugs are on the house. Bartender, set 'em up. *hug*

I had a reader ask me if I have a disclaimer included when I re-write movies into CLex. They were concerned because they thought "[your] fic is almost word for word like the movie" and they were concerned that I might get into trouble.



My Reply (for the most part)

It's a valid question and I understand your concern. Quite often I use large chunks of quotes from the films, even though I change context and characters.

Every one of my stories has a disclaimer in my LJ and I try to include the same at the bottom of the fic on SSA (the archivists prefer not to have them at the top).

This is the template I use, taken from a site (that I can't remember the address for) discussing parody and copyright law.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters herein. The characters of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent as well as any supporting characters are the property of their creators and DC Comics. Gough/Millar Inc and the WB Network TV own Smallville. Any deviations (or deviant behavior) from the originals, however, is mine. Bold is my add.

I include the movie title, production company, writer and director if I re-mix the movie. At no time do I claim sole authorship, they are remixes, rewrites, adaptions. Pick your favorite word. It's stated as such in my summaries. Beyond that, I guess it's up to the reader to decide if the idea of placing one set of fictional characters in the context of another fictional construct is offensive or correct.

I'm putting this out there and I'm willing to discuss as I may have tread on sensitive toes. Am I doing something wrong? Am I using too much of the original dialogue and should every sentence be rewritten? I consider the dialogue an intrinsic part of the movie, and I am trying to lead the reader to see/hear the same words in a different context or slant due to character change or additional motivation.

If there's an overwhelming belief that I should cease and desist, I'll have to seriously consider it.

Opinions?