JsARCLIGHT

Music is not a drug. Music is all about control: the control on when and what you listen to. They "give music away for free" all the time on the radio... but much like television it is programming, meaning you have to listen to what someone else wants you to listen to. Recorded music on the other hand is about your choice of what you listen to and when you do. In a sense you are paying for that privelage, the freedom to decide what you listen to and when you listen to it.

The heart of the music/TV/movie industry is that they have your "Freedom" under their thumb. They "give away" the things they want you to see and charge you for the things you want to see. Pay for Play. All entertainment in today's world is based on money, someone has to make money off of it. Entertainment has lost it's soul, meaning the soul of free expression and artistic liberation.

It's all about the benjamins... and the industry sees people taking their freedom back for free and they want to stifle it. The US Legal System will uphold any motions about copywrite and domain for one obvious reason: how can the government tax something that is free? That is the harsh truth of the modern world we live in.

As Masamune Shirow once said: Man is a strange creature, wild at heart yet we build cages to trap ourselves in and then we pign for freedom.

I'm not a trans fan but I might buy Prime just to have it. He looks badass with change to spare.

She said the music industry shouldn't have the right to sue.

''It's wrong on their part,'' she said.

What a complete moron. "gee wiz, I can get items for free of the internet that most people have to pay for, how could it be illegal?"

I wholeheartedly agree. I put her quote in bold because I started laughing about that point.

You have to admit though that the story about the grandkids getting grandpa in dutch is just stupid though...

I was just under the impression that all this litigation was an effort to "crush the theives" and "make examples" out the most flagrant offenders... but the first settlement might give everyone an out so to speak. I know if I where a music swapper it would give me the impression that the worst that can happen is they make me pay for the stuff I "stole". Big woop. I was expecting thousands in fines, fees and settlements... you know, some ammount that makes people say "shhheeeeeee-it! I ain't doin' THAT no more!". You know, something akin to a file swapper death penalty.

Of course 2 grand to a college student might as well be 2 billion...

So basically she settled for $2,000... and according to the article they estimated that at $2 per song she traded. That leads me to believe that she DL'ed 1,000 songs, right? 1,000 songs divided by an average of 10 songs per normal CD equals the equivelant of 100 CDs. She paid $2,000 to settle which means she paid about $20 for each approximate "CD's" worth of songs... which by my math is about the going market rate for CD's at the mall with sales tax ($18 x 7% sales tax = $19.26 each).

I'm getting the feeling that RIAA is out to get their money's worth and not "make examples" of people. The sour grapes of these lawsuits has become nothing more than a greedy grab for money in mind now.

Wasn't this a cosplay thread?

Sheesh. Quit worshiping blindly at the Macross trough. Macross Zero is weak so far. Yes it is incomplete but it has not grabbed me and it has not grabbed a lot of other people either. Don't try to defend poor scriptwriting by saying "it's only an OAV". Look at Macross Plus. By the time It's second episode was over we had a great story going with excellent character development, backgrounds, an emerging villain and at least you could say the people knew what the freaking story was about. With the third installment in Zero the darn thing is more than half over and that means we should have half of the story... and in my book we only have one tenth of it. Try as they might this is not Apocalypse Now or The Usual Suspects and their ham-fisted treatment of the story is not building suspense or adding drama.

Yes, a lot of people have baseless complaints and want something that resembles the original. I just want the original. I could care less if they make any more Macross shows as the only ones I've liked so far have been SDF TV and DYRL. Most likely the only reasons I like those are because the patina of youth still clouds their weaker aspects in my mind. I have grown up and my tastes have grown as well. I'm now a professional in a production office and I have come to expect only the best from the best... and in my opinion Macross Zero is weak. If you ask me people need to stop taking it personally when someone disagrees with them on this board. Some people are going to have opposing viewpoints from time to time and if you don't like them, don't read them.

FOR THE RECORD: I myself never give blind praise. I never thought this series would be better than DYRL or the original TV show because it is impossible to recapture the wonder and awe of seeing something for the first time. Face it, Macross has run it's course and Macross Zero is just more of the same. Satisfaction is not unreachable. I just want my toys and an R1 release of DYRL and I will shut up and move on to something different.

I should have phrased my angry response better...

Babylon 5 did not "play the game" like Star Trek is doing right now. They never did and aparently have not been given another chance. They are popular on DVD because that is about all their fans can get right now. When it comes to things made for and broadcast on network and cable TV in this day and age they have to fit a certain market to even get a green light for a pilot. Notice how much trek has changed over the years. The last preview I saw for Enterprise was more about the vulcan chick getting naked than about the story. Trek has fallen victim to sensationalism because they know they have to do that to gather the viewers as their sad stories are all refurbished hand me downs from the other incarnations of itself. A sad token fanbase of viewers is not going to keep a show on the air, shows need to put up "the numbers", the "demos" and prove to their backers that they are money in the bank. That is what makes television nowadays. In your own direction of reasoning: Trek needs to take a page from the Babylon 5 playbook. Write their show from day one with the end in sight (or at least make it seem that way) and then rest on their laurels by releasing several direct to video movies.

My point however remains the same, Sci-fi on broadcast TV or cable is a very weak market in the US and there is no room for "special" shows or "unique" shows any more. Heads of broadcasting companies are not willing to risk the bucks on a "substance" show any more, it all has to be tits and guns, death and cussing, fast cars and faster women. Trek needs to die for right now and figure out what to do in a few years when the market changes again. And if the market continues the way it is going when Trek comes back it will be a porno on a network channel.

yeah it is lacking something , you what ? proper plot development , you know why ? cause there´s only 2 damn episodes available , how the heck do people expect to get involved in the story if it hasn´t been told yet ?

Thanks for pointing that out. You just saved me the trouble and expense of buying and watching the rest of the set.

I found this quite enlightening (it was on my hourly news feed):

WASHINGTON (Sept. 9) - The targets of the first lawsuits against music fans who share songs on the Internet include an elderly man in Texas who rarely uses his computer, a Yale University professor and an unemployed woman in New York who says she didn't know she was breaking the law.

Each faces potentially devastating civil penalties or settlements that could cost them tens of thousands of dollars.

The Recording Industry Association of America launched the next stage of its aggressive anti-piracy campaign Monday, filing 261 federal lawsuits across the country. The action was aimed at what the RIAA described as ''major offenders'' illegally distributing on average more than 1,000 copyrighted music files each, but lawyers warned they may ultimately file thousands of similar cases.

Durwood Pickle, 71, of Richardson, Texas, said his teenage grandchildren downloaded music onto his computer during their visits to his home. He said his grown son had explained the situation in an earlier e-mail to the recording industry association.

''I didn't do it, and I don't feel like I'm responsible,'' Pickle said in an interview. ''It's been stopped now, I guarantee you that.''

Pickle, who was unaware he was being sued until contacted by The Associated Press, said he rarely uses the computer in his home.

''I'm not a computer-type person,'' Pickle said. ''They come in and get on the computer. How do I get out of this?''

Yale University professor Timothy Davis said he will stop sharing music files immediately. He downloaded about 500 songs from others on the Internet before his Internet provider notified him about the music industry's interest in his activities.

''I've been pretending it was going to go away,'' said Davis, who teaches photography.

Another defendant, Lisa Schamis of New York, said her Internet provider warned her two months ago that record industry lawyers had asked for her name and address, but she said she had no idea she might be sued. She acknowledged downloading ''lots'' of music over file-sharing networks.

''This is ridiculous,'' said Schamis, 26. ''I didn't understand it was illegal.''

She said the music industry shouldn't have the right to sue.

''It's wrong on their part,'' she said.

An estimated 60 million Americans participate in file-sharing networks, using software that makes it simple for computer users to locate and retrieve for free virtually any song by any artist within moments. Internet users broadly acknowledge music-trading is illegal, but the practice has flourished in recent years since copyright statutes are among the most popularly flouted laws online.

''Nobody likes playing the heavy,'' said RIAA President Cary Sherman, who compared illegal music downloads to shoplifting. ''There comes a time when you have to stand up and take appropriate action.''

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., has already promised congressional hearings into how the music industry has identified and tracked the Internet users it's suing.

''They have a legitimate interest that needs to be protected, but are they protecting it in a way that's too broad and overreaching?'' Coleman said. ''I don't want to make criminals out of 60 million kids, even though kids and grandkids are doing things they shouldn't be doing.''

The RIAA did not identify for reporters which Internet users it was suing or where they live. Lawsuits were filed in federal courthouses in New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and elsewhere.

''Get a lawyer,'' advised Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. ''There's no simpler advice than that, whether you intend to fight this or not. You'll need someone to advise you.''

With estimates that half of file-sharers are teenagers, all sides braced for the inevitable legal debate surrounding the financial damage to parents or grandparents. The RIAA named as the defendant in each lawsuit the person who paid for the household Internet account.

''That question will come up immediately, whether a minor can have the requisite knowledge to be the right defendant,'' said Susan Crawford, who teaches law at Yeshiva University's Cardozo law school in New York City. ''A very young child who didn't know what they were doing would be a bad defendant for the industry.''

The RIAA also announced an amnesty program for people who admit they illegally share music, promising not to sue them in exchange for their admission and pledge to delete the songs off their computers. The offer does not apply to people who already are targets of legal action.

Sherman called the amnesty offer ''our version of an olive branch.''

Some defense lawyers have objected to the amnesty provisions, warning that song publishers and other organizations not represented by the RIAA won't be constrained by the group's promise not to sue.

U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer.

Take special note of the things in bold that caught my eye on this...

However more tired of pussies who are not being held accountable for their crimes.

We all are, the only problem is we are dealing with an internet message board and not the burning of the Reichstag here. I think it is imperetive that we all do our part to catch the crooks in the act rather than remove features of the board.

... and if catching crooks in the act doesn't work then hell, remove the edit button.

I like the way you think! I'm gonna go do that this weekend and use that excuse... then at my trial I'll claim that I played this video game called Grand Theft Auto and it made me go out and steal cars.

Excuses are like azzholes, everyone has one. Getting that excuse to get your bacon out of a lawsuit is what counts. Let's hope all those poor guys have good ones.

On another note (this is something that has been interesting me this whole time):

What are the age groups most responsable for online/internet property "theft" (games, songs, etc.)? I and some guys at the office had a little talk about this subject months ago and one topic that kept coming up was that almost everything online requires a credit card... and kids don't have credit cards. The inability to legitimately purchase things online might spur a lot of people into "theft"... has anyone ever thought of that?

Before it was only Mod Max and I who wanted to nuke the "Edit" button. Now the situation is different.

You know me, I'll follow you to the gates of hell... (before saying "screw this" and running away )... but you have to remember that I'm pretty sure we heard from either Shawn or Graham last time telling us in no uncertain words that the edit button stays.

On a related note, if everyone remembers right Agent noticed that edited posts did not show themselves as being edited when the new MW went into effect and Shawn quickly changed it so they did. Perhaps this argument may find purchase this time around.

Related point--I don't think I ever saw a partially-expended UUM-7 pod. But since each pod holds 15 missiles, I guess it might not be visible from the front until the 11th was fired.

If you look reeeeeeeally close at Hikaru's Strike VF-1S after he blows up Badolza you'll see that he only has a few UMM missles left... and they make tic-tac-toe patterns!

I ooriginoly feelt the eadit bootun's elemination wuld make us spel baad. Now I aagree with Agant One.

This argument is of course going to fall on deaf ears as it has been broached before my good friends. Let us simply walk tall in our honesty and straightforwardness and try to catch the evildoers with quotes.

Yes you are right. The RMS-1 "Angel of Death" Reaction Weapons are the only wing pylon mounted weapons in both shows. The AMM triple missle racks are in the TV show only and the UMM multiwarhead pods are in DYRL only.

Now we need to find out why toy companies like Yamato keep giving their valks mixtures of the two missle types in their photos... logically DYRL units should only come with DYRL weaponry and vice versa for the TV units. Then again units like Toy Focker's VF-1S are almost unchanged between the TV and DYRL so I guess that logic goes out the window...

the mega-molga was for the tomy zoids stand at a toy expo in japan this summer which highlighted the latest zoid models and the upcomming zoid fuzors tv series

OK, That answers my question.

Zoids never struck me as a big-time popular anime that, outside of a trade show for the toys, would warrant an expensive mock-up like that.

Whenever a new lock is made, someone makes a skeleton key for it within the week. Proprietary copy-protection never seems to work in the long term. The best ideas I've heard have been the "On Demand" services solution and the self-destructing CDs... two ways that allow the consumer to get something very cheap and easily but then limit their options on how they use it from there. I know here in the midwest the Video On Demand thing on Digital Cable and Satelite is starting to give the rental places a run for their money.

Then perhaps the flawed nature of big music biz has met it's match: the cheapskate with better tech.

The more and more "connected" and open the world becomes, the lines between what people can and cannot "have for free" are starting to be erased. Sure it is illegal and "unethical"... but when the music biz took off back in the 40's and 50's they where selling their records resting confident in the knoweldge that people had to pay for their product as there was no way for them to "Steal" it yet... but now in 2003 there are more ways to "Steal" the music than there are ways to buy the music legitimately. That should tell everyone something, especially the music biz.

Just think about this. If studios find that people are more likely to download songs instead of buying the CD, what incentive do they have to sign more artists?

If the music is being DL'ed for free, as in ripped off, then yes you are 100% correct... but if the studios get on the digital tomorrow bandwagon and charge for those DL's then I would think that they would still be making enough money to "hunt new tallent".

Most people will download the CD and use the 'I will listen because I don't want to chance buying  crap CD' excuse.  Then once they have the CD, they figure why spend the $$ on something they got for free.

No argument here, that is a strong point. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?

Studios will just stick to the singers that have proven they still do sell records.

They do that now. Most "success stories" are manufactured by the music industry lately. They want a hot new band? Bing! They assemble one from the leftover parts of another passe band.

So because of all the stealing of music, potential bands will never get a contract and you will never hear their music. Hows that sound.

At it's base that is semi-flawed logic. If anything the music biz would want to hunt down as much "low overhead" tallent that they could muster so they could lower their overall CD price in an attempt to make themselves compeditive again. Honestly, "musician" should not be one of the world's highest paid professions... only in the last 50 years have musicians and the "music industry" become the bloated, overpaid and top heavy beast they are.

I'm not trying to start a fight, defend "theives" or jump your shist here... I'm just saying that the Music biz needs to go back into the war room and come out fighting with what they do best: music. Litigation is almost a pathetic crybaby solution to a problem that will persist no matter how this turns out. They need to fix the world their problem is in, not attack the problem.

I will admit that the drawn out release schedule is definately hurting the show in my eyes... but then again so is it's hurky-jerky nebulous plot, it just feels like it was written by someone with ADD. Their plot choices are far too ambitious for a simple 5 episode OAV and you can already see signs of "rush rush" character introduction and development.

I will most likely reserve my final verdict until I see the whole thing but to be honest I'm not really "into" what I'm seeing... it has just failed to "grab" me like the original did in the first episode, or like the first episodes of Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Inu Yasha or others.

Macross Zero is just lacking that "something"... we'll see if it gains it in the next three parts...

Is anyone else totally losing interest in Macross Zero? I find that after watching episode one I was left saying "It will get better with the next episode". Now after seeing episode two I'm left saying the same thing, "Maybee it will get better in episode three"... The only thing keeping me watching M0 are to see the new designs that may become toys. All in all I find it to be a very poorly executed show. I would really like Kawamori to prove me wrong with future episodes because IMHO Macross has not had a "great" show since DYRL, everything since has been lukewarm at best.

Everybody "got it" that Starship Poopers was a farce... that's about the only kind of movie Verhoeven can make. The major issue with Poopers is that Verhoeven directed it... if it had been a better director with an actual sense of tact, timing and talent it would have been a much better movie rather than the over the top comic travesty it was. The movie blows.

BACK ON TOPIC:

Can someone tell me why they made a 1/1 scale Zoid? What was it for?

Why does everyone keep calling on the dead spirit of Babylon 5... it lasted 5 seasons, so what? It's round about the ONLY Sci fi TV show other than Star Trek that didn't get cancelled by it's third season... wait, other than the new Star Treks as the original did get cancelled. And what's with the "leaves fans wanting more" thing? EVERY show that goes off the air leaves it's fans wanting more. I know people that are still pissed COP ROCK got the shaft. A lot of shows "write themselves out" rather than get cancelled all together. Look at Space: Above and Beyond. When their writers and producers found out their show was getting the axe they slaughtered everyone off in a "if you're pulling the plug then we'll see to it we never come back" fashion. Babylon 5 is not unique... so then... why did Babylon 5 supposedly "succeed"? Because it's creators where smart enough to know when they're show was not going to amount to anything more than a trek clone with a sparse fanbase they pulled the plug and chose to "write the show out" before their thin non-network backing ran out on them. What has Babylon 5 done lately? A bunch of sad made for TV movies that aired all of once (if at all) on Sci-Fi network. Pretty pitiful for such a "popular" series... If you want to talk "non-trek sci-fit TV" longevity, Babylon 5 is the weakest of examples. What about Stargate SG1? It's in it's fifth season now and still supposedly going strong. SG1 was going to get the axe but someone picked up the reigns and saw to it that the show soldiered on... SG1 runs on what, one cable channel now and is in syndication on two major networks afterhours? At it's height Babylon 5 was on UHF stations in select markets... and the last two seasons got dropped from a lot of those stations that carried it so they could run Hockey and Baseball games instead.

Sci Fi on TV is weak at best and it's only chances for market share come in syndication, like Star Trek found out. Here in the midwest, TNG put up better numbers running in late night syndication than it ever did first run on the network. If syndication had not exsisted the original Star Trek would have died and been buried long ago, along with Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeanie and Lost in Space.

Turn on the gas, let Trek slip under and then put the drano in the IV and let nature take it's course. <_<

I'm backing out of this thread because I am now feeling real anger towards Trek and that is unhealthy.

Action JsARCLIGHT 2 will come with the Camaro accessory and road rage flip-off action.

Back on subject, If those hotties in costumes are common at west coast cons it looks like I'll have to look into some plane tickets...