Friday, September 09, 2005

Modern Stone Overhaul

First off, a lesson in not jumping the gun. I read this wee piece, at Modern Humor (humour) Authority, about how some Ctrl+Alt+Del fan made a short video reenactment of one the strip's storylines for a school project; which he then planned on launching on the internet. He wasn't looking to make money, he made the effort of making sure that, CAD creator, Tim Buckley got full credit and he considered the work to be a tribute to a comic he rated very highly. He didn't, however, ask permission to do it. Buckley responded by calling his lawyers, a reaction that MHA fully supported even though they admitted he was a dick for attacking the fan in the way he did. At first, my reaction was that Buckley was in the wrong, not technically maybe but still in the wrong. But, just in case, I went and I read through the forum until I found Buckley's response. Then I kind of changed my mind. His response was kind of reasoned, until he mentioned his lawyer but, even at that, he'd explained his reasons and you could understand why he was annoyed. So then I started writing this piece in defending Buckley and explaining why but then I noticed something - "I've said it many times on these very boards, I don't allow anyone to take CAD into their own hands, with the exception of fan art. Especially animation/film." Which smacks of trying to have the best of both worlds - understanding what engaging your fans can do for you but smacking them down, in the sternest way possible, if they crossover the line that you've drawn. In my opinion, a fan's tribute is a fan's tribute - whatever form it takes. In this case, as ever, Tim Buckley is 'in the right' but he's actually wrong.

Rolling Stone magazine is going to publish a note left by Hunter S. Thompson, for his wife Anita, four days before his death.

We might have some downtime over the weekend, most likely Sunday, as Frank has done a huge overhaul of the site and will be putting it up sometime then. We hope you won't be too put out and that you'll like the new look.