Sinners and Saints

Normally I leave politics to the politicians. However, when I read this article about how the MPAA and RIAA are trying to get several new copyright laws passed, I decided it was time for action. The bill has already passed in the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate. The new bill “could make many users of peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally liable for copyright infringement.. also undo centuries of fair use”. While I believe that copyright infringement is wrong, this bill (HR2391) manages to go way overboard. Some key points:

• Under the language of the law, it could become a criminal act to skip or fast forward the previews and commercials that are shown at the beginning of a DVD. The exact wording: “no changes, deletions or additions are made by such computer program or other technology [DVD player?] to commercial advertisements, or to network or station promotional announcements,that would otherwise be performed or displayed before, during or after the performance of the motion picture”
• The bill spins peer-to-peer services as a breeding ground for child porn, with a tiny little note about copyright infringement. A senator reading this bill would immediately feel the need to protect the children of the world, without even realizing everything else the bill entails.
• The Justice Department basically becomes a lawyer for the MPAA/RIAA, since it will be given the right to file civil suits against copyright infringers.

If you feel that any of these laws are wrong, please write to your Senators! If you don’t know who your senators are, go to the Electronic Freedom Foundation’s Legislative Directory and click on your state. It only takes a few minutes to type an email urging your Senator to oppose HR2391 and it could make all of the difference.

Now on to the Saints for the evening. Penny Arcade is once again putting together their Child’s Play charity event. Basically they ask for people in the community to purchase an item from their Amazon wishlist. The item you purchase will then go directly to one of five children’s hospitals (you may choose which one you wish to support) for Christmas. You don’t have to have a lot of money to participate, in fact, many of the items on the list are around $10 – $15, but it will make a huge impact on a child stuck in a hospital somewhere on Christmas morning.

Ok, this is for all of you playing Halo2 on Xbox Live and wondering why you keep dying. Here’s the strategy. As soon as you spawn, run and grab the best weapon available on the map. For small maps, it’s the sword (some may argue the shotgun is the better close range weapon, but I really like the sword’s “instakill” feature). For larger maps, well, you’re on your own. When it comes right down to it, it’s not skill, or lack thereof, that’s important. It’s how well you know the maps so you can find the best weapon in the shortest amount of time. I guess you could consider that a skill…

Finally! Fullmetal Alchemist premiered on Cartoon Network last night. I hope you all watched it and now have your Tivos, Replays or (Heaven forbid) VCRs set up to record it every Saturday. While I tend to strongly dislike the English dub of most anime, Funimation did a pretty good job. The dialog is fairly true to the original Japanese, which is always a plus. Also, as far as I can tell, they didn’t edit the show for either content or time, at least with episode one. Overall I’d say this is one of the better dubs I’ve watched. The DVDs are not supposed to be out until February, so for all of you who haven’t seen the first few episodes in Japanese, you better double check those record settings.

So, here I am, sitting in the Alamo Drafthouse, watching people play Halo 2 on the movie screen. While I’m not a huge Halo fan, I must say this is pretty cool. I actually got to play for a while, and the dual wielding is awesome. This is actually an event from the end of the whole “ilovebees.com” saga. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but apparently a lot of people were really, really into it. So, the Microsoft PR machine set up four locations across the country for a “training” event. Basically, it just means you get to come out and watch/play Halo 2 all night, with an Xbox Live connection to the other three locations. Another reason the Drafthouse is the best theater in Austin is the free wireless access, which is allowing me to bring this post to you straight from the source. When we get home, and I feel like it, we’ll post some pictures. Yes, you all have my permission to turn green with envy now.

Bleh, Dustin does not have anything with spellcheck installed, so any misspelled words are all his fault. :)