Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Copyrights and such...

The troops of Altmark-Uberheim arriving on the field shortly after
daybreak, 21st March 1739.
The 'Space Marine' gig has generate a lively exchange of views in this and one or two other blog spots.  On the whole subject of patents, copyrights, trademarks and 'intellectual property' so-called, my view is that the whole system needs a global judicial review with the aim of wholesale liberalization.  I have no quarrel with the notions of copyright etc, but it is my belief the Fat Cattists abuse the system, enriching themselves at everyone else's expenses, claiming the while to be looking out for the little guy.

Yeah, right.  Ask James Taylor about his relationship with Warner Bros, to take a sample instance.

Consider this little lyric:

Average Guy

I always have been mediocre,
Just an ordinary joker.
I was swallowing my pride,
My soul shrivelled up inside.
I made no try for fame,
Like everyone else I wanted to be the same,
The middle ground I've staked my claim:
I'm just an average guy.

I never had much real ambition,
Never sought for recognition,
I never wanted to fly so high,
So I didn't even try.
I never strove to make my name;
I never courted popular acclaim;
And so I am what I became:
I'm just an average guy.

This ditty can be sung, and whistled, I daresay, to the tune of John Lennon's Jealous Guy.


Imperial troops arriving upon the field shortly before mid-morning
21st March 1739.
Aside from the acknowledgement - a common courtesy - that this parody owes something to Mr Lennon's hit number, what, if anything, else do I owe?  What if I were actually to sing the thing.  Out loud, I mean, possibly even in public?  What if I were to record the thing on DVD for commercial sale (OK let's gloss over the likelihood or otherwise of worthwhile sales)?  If royalties were due for the use of Mr Lennon's tune, what then does that say about the legitimacy of parody as a literary or musical art form?

Meanwhile, the pictures are a foretaste of the 'final' battle for Ulrichstein.  The tabletop action had to be suspended owing to the general decrepitude of both players, the one being hospitalised for a week or so for quite a serious illness, the other having various consultations over the same period with doctors, dentists, podiatrists, audiologists and Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all...

12 comments:

  1. Hopefully both combatants will soon be healthy again and meeting each other on the table top.


    -- Jeff

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    1. I'm not too bad, although the cracked tooth was pretty exciting a couple of weeks back. The foot's annoying, and won't go away, but I can still get about. Barry's state of being was the more serious. He seems to be coming right, though.

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  2. All sounds a bit rough Ion. I trust all is working out okay!

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    1. Not too bad, Rodger. In my case just niggles - expensive niggles. Barry... not so good. But he seems to be coming right. Battle resumes Saturday, touch wood.

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  3. algún día espero que todos los "fat cattists" salten de un edificio alto.
    there little rant over.
    hope the combatants get well soon, though its a slightly interesting twist as such things did happen in warfare. but as you are almost ready then let me say... Let the battle commence!
    BTW what surface are you playing on? as it just looks like a greenish table top.

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  4. ...with slipknots about their necks.

    Barry's wargame surface, I think spray painted with various colours. Some places are fairly shiny, others quite matt. The overall effect is to make a tablecover unnecessary.

    That his table is 8ftx6ft has had an interesting effect on my rule set, which I designed for my much more limited 6ftx4ft table space. Because it takes a deal longer for the armies to close, preliminary artillery bombardments have more time to take effect.

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    1. By the way, that nearest building in the pictures is an example of one of my buildings scratchbuilt from embossed brick card. A fairly straightforward looking construction, with the dormers adding a bit of character.

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  5. thanks for the info. a very interesting table indeed, and large. quite interesting to hear about the effects such a simple thing as the size of a table can have on a whole battle.

    oh thanks for the info on the buildings also.

    as for the slipknots my idea was rather based on death by impact rather than a hanging. all in all a gruesome death either way though mine does create jobs for the lawyers who aided these men, you help them make a mess you clean up the mess of them.

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  6. The table was painted with a base clay colour and then over sprayed with blotches of darker brown, light green and dark green, some with a little gloss.
    Its odd how light effects the table in some photos the surface is quite green and in others a brown effect comes through rather strongly.

    We have finally completed the Ions battle and I am eargerly awaiting the news release.

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    1. thank you for the info... I don't have a table of my own so for now I cannot use this information... without getting in serious trouble

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