4 links

First a question. Does anyone know of any instance in which the federal government forced the entire population to purchase a product or service? I am genuinely curious. The upcoming health care insurance purchase mandate seem ripe for a long court battle - yet next to know one is discussing this.

Shepard Fairey, Fraud. I am so sick of alleged artists believing that by virtue of calling themselves artists they get a pass on the law. Fairey's attempt to claim 'fair use' in his case with the AP is pathetic and groundless. He is saying that intellectual property rights do not apply to photojournalists - and more damning - that they do not apply to real artists. Had David Hockney painted a portrait of Obama could Fairey have legally traced it for his Hope poster? Can Fairey legally trace any Pulitzer prize winning news photo he wants? No, of course not. Fairey is a thief, not an artist and ought to be treated as such. I've no doubt that Fairey has certain skills. He's a craftsman not an artist.

Splendeey do: A fine good deed to put on your list this week here.

Libertarians and gay rights. Like them or not the national Libertarian party is clear on gay marriage rights.

Aboriginal - the new black. I have not taken any courses - but it looks fascinating.

fraud who made iconic poster of fraud admits he's a fraud.

Don't miss: Hope poster 'artist' (read: tagger or thief) admits he lied to his lawyers, the AP, and destroyed documents pertaining to his lawsuit against the AP.

Ah life: He's a fraud too - is that perfect or what?


please vote in a Saturday poll question below the fraud image.

Shepard misleads the flock.

One of the down sides of being a blogger ( and, in fact, there are not too many) is dealing with resentful dime store journalists. I long ago got over the idea that I was:

A. Trying to get an A in High School journalism class.
and/or
B. That as a blogger this site (on any blog site) is in any way comparable to a newspaper. Or that it should attempt to be one. Ms. Huffington, having attempted to force her gay husband into a Senate seat and failing, and attempting, hilariously, to force herself into the California governor's mansion and failing - seems to have succeeded in forcing many to believe she runs an online newspaper.

At any rate, knowing that a blog is, in fact, not a cigar, has freed me up to opine, rant, rave, make fun of, and generally hold forth on subjects that interest me without too much care.

An oddity in the big blogger world (of which this site does NOT qualify) is the pissing contest between "legit" news sites and, say, adolescent whiners playing dress up trying to get a ticket to the Big Show - (I am thinking the word "cheetos" here.) Huff and Kos acted as kiddy club houses for Clinton haters all last year. Now, God Bless 'em, they are stuck with both Obama and their humorless egos.

The "real" media is no better. Grabbing crap from big blogs, promoting it, and then screaming that blogs can't be trusted is psycho. But alas, can we expect more from places like MSNBC that are run by amoral bridge trolls?

Nevertheless - I do like it when a big time media outlet reflects an opinion I recently stated on this blog. I am as susceptible to "smug" as any Pod. I just don't think "smug" is a lifestyle choice as Huffington, Kos, Sullivan and the rest clearly do.

I railed on Shepard Fairey after he was arrested in Boston for tagging. Most of my rant that night had to do with the odd - and smug - liberties "artists" like Fairey take with copyrighted material. But I ended by declaiming that he was not an "artist" in any real sense. I still believe this.

Oh, and I loath that "Hope" poster for all the right reasons. It is cheap, creepy, Orwellian and unconsciously ironic. It is not art. It is commentary. These are not mutually exclusive. I know. I've been to the Sistine chapel. Still, grabbing an AP photo, then watering down the stupidity, pain, and delusions of millions into a one word marketing coup is shrewd - but that's about it. AMC has a show called Mad Men in which doing the above activity is dramatized weekly.

Imagine my happiness when the New Yorker ripped Shepard a new one.

Ah, validation.

Fairey arrested.

Shepard Fairey, "creator" of the much imitated, and wretch inducing "Obama hope" Warhol rip off poster has been arrested in Boston.

For tagging. He's 38.

I could stop here, since by now we all know the mental age of the most fervent Obama Pods is 16. There isn't much reason to repeat the obvious. The punk trashed other people's property. What a shock.

I read the LA Times blurb on the subway going downtown to get a haircut and it did get me thinking about art. I can't comment on Fairey's body of work as I don't know it and don't care to. But I can riff on that Hope image. It is not art. It is craft. He lifted an image from the AP and, in essence, commented on a public figure via use of colors.

AP is rightfully suing Fairey. There is a myth that many alleged artists perpetuate around "fair use" rules. The biggest being that if a certain percentage of the copyrighted material is changed then it is "new". This is bullshit. If the original work is recognizable in any way it is not fair use. One cannot remove 75% of a Hockney painting, leaving only - say - a young man diving into a pool, add a sketched rabbit, and then claim that Hockney no longer owns the painted image of the young man. I work in film clearances and I can't tell you how many times I've been asked about this.

There are 2 exceptions. If the work is "transformative" - that is putting the original copy righted material is a markedly different context. If I took the AP photo of Obama and placed it in a photo I owned of the La Brea Tar Pits as a "statement" of some sort - I might have a case. But even that is doubtful.

The other exception is parody - which is protected. Fairey's rip off of the AP photo is not transformative. For many of us it is parody, however. But parody was clearly not the intention.

Every time that "hope" poster was sold, Fairey broke the law. In fact, he probably broke it by making it. However, the law evolves on this issue all the time. Please correct me if you know something I do not.

My main beef here is actually about the nonsense that gets passed off as "art". If I can do it with an Iphone and a computer program it is not art - it's commentary or a hobby. And most of it is pollution as well.