Archive for the &;AP&; Category

Fairey and FairUse

October 28, 2009

Use, unfortunately, is an anagram of &;sue&;.

Charlotte Allen makes some good points about Shepherd Fairey&;s &;expropriation&; of the image he used to &;create&; the now-ubiquitous red-white-and-blue Barack Obama image.  (She also credits Photo District News, which has clearly been on the case.) And Fairey  hasn&;t helped his own case by lying to his attorneys about which image he used, or by his  15 arrests for graffitti. He probably should have asked for permission, or if he&;s made any money on the use of Manny Garcia&;s photo, pay something to Garcia and the AP (which I&;m sure is why the AP is suing, rather than &;the principle of the thing.)  Speaking as a writer whose work has been used without permission or payment,  I certainly sympathize. But the reality is that artists over time have stood on the shoulders of others, &;borrowing&; work to make something new. My favorite &;borrowing&; is Mona Gorilla, by Rick Meyerowitz, which I &;borrow&; below.  (I will take down these images if asked, but I use them to make a point&;and to create something new, this blog post, for which, alas, I do not get paid.)

I&;ve &;borrowed&; myself from press releases for news stories.  &;I used to be a writer, now I&;m a cut-and-paster,&;  I joke. My least favorite borrowing? Peter Benchley&;s Jaws&;modernizing Moby Dick for the money.

Tags:Barack-Obama-poster, , fair-use, Jaws, Moby-Dick, Mona-Gorilla, Shepherd-Fairey Posted in AP, | Leave a Comment &;

Barry Bonds: LA Dodgers Deny FreeSpeech

August 2, 2007

At the Dodger game last night, the right field pavilion was packed with fans cheering the Dodgers and lustily booing Barry Bonds whenever he took the field or got to the plate.  Like many others, we were willing to profit off the a-hole.  We brought our gloves in hopes of the &;money ball&;, Barry&;s 755th. Gloves and booing were fine.  What apparently wasn&;t fine were fans with signs denouncing Barry Bonds.  We watched Dodger ushers usher out a fan who unfurled a paper sign with an asterisk *, saying Bonds&; steroid-fueled feat should forever be questioned in baseball&;s record books.  Another fan screamed, &;Welcome to America, where you can say what you want.&; I call bullshit on the AP and SI.Com for their typical Los Angeles-bashing; &;On Wednesday, Bonds got ridiculed right along with the Laker Girls. He shouldn&;t feel so bad. At Dodger Stadium, this is just what they do &; and he&;s used to it.&; Nonsense.  Dodger fans hate the Giants and despise Bonds, but we lust after our Laker Girls&;if the AP can&;t recognize a horny chant they should find another line of work.

Posted in AP, Barry-Bonds, brittany, Dodgers, Laker-Girls, Los-Angeles-Dodgers, Sex and Society, Sports | Leave a Comment &;

Paris Hilton NotAppealing

May 18, 2007

I bet the Associated Press wishes it could write that sentence, after the AP&;s noble but failed attempt not to cover the madcap heiress for a whole week.  No, Paris is as appealing as ever.    What she&;s not appealing is her sentence for drunken driving.  And what&;s also not appealing are what car accidents caused by drunken driving look like.

Posted in AP, associated-press, drunken-driving, Paris-Hilton | 4 Comments &;