Responding To SOPA and PIPA: Intellectual Property, Public Domain, and Open Clip Art Library



What I find particularly interesting about the current debate on Intellectual Property is the fact that IP even exists.

If everyone gives their work away for the betterment of humanity, many people benefit. I have watched Open Clip Art Library (OCAL) grow for quite some time and it has a vibrant community based solely on sharing. Every piece of content is Public Domain. In the last week it’s received a massive influx of new users.

STOP SOPA / PIPA David B Lyons / davidblyons

STOP SOPA / PIPA David B Lyons / davidblyons SOPA and PIPA are real threats to the free and open Internet. Although recent media reports have suggested that the bills are losing support, they are not dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor said the bill will be discussed and pushed forward in early February. PIPA could be debated in the U.S. Senate as soon as next week. There is a need to send a strong message that bills like SOPA and PIPA must not move forward: they will cause too much damage. Download, remix, and share the image from Open Clip Art Library http://openclipart.org/detail/167202/stop-sopa-by-davidblyons-167202


When the US government has a De Facto standard of copyright for all creative works in tangible form, there is an inherent hurdle to sharing.

Imagine a world where where that hurdle didn’t exist.

Learn more about SOPA, PIPA, and the Wikipedia Blackout.

Download, remix, and share the image from Open Clip Art Library http://openclipart.org/detail/167202/stop-sopa-by-davidblyons-167202

My First Recipe: Bacon Seafood Vodka Ziti With Cilantro and Provolone



It’s a challenge for me to cook for a multitude of reasons, so here are a few tips that are helping me move into better cooking/eating habits.

Planning:
Shop and bundle it with other activities
Ask friends for cooking tips

Shopping:
Ask for help at the deli and meat counter on how to cook what you buy
Buy things you like in small quantities so they don’t go bad

Cooking:
Ask someone to cook with you, come over for dinner, cook for a reason, or in bulk to get motivated
Start early I have an alarm to begin at 6pm
Eat a pre-dinner snack to concentrate, I usually have an apple
Cook as fast as you can
Clean when you cook so if you get tired, you can just go to bed

Here’s what you need:

1 pyrex baking dish
1 frying pan
1 sauce pan
1 big pot
1 strainer

3 slices provolone cheese
3 mini zucchini
5 garlic cloves
1 jar vodka sauce
1 lb. mixed seafood
1/2 lb. bacon
4 oz. olive oil
1 jalapeño pepper
1 bunch cilantro
1 white onion

preheat oven to 425
start boiling a large pot of water

mince garlic divide into two piles
mince cilantro
slice zucchini 1/8″ wide
slice jalapeno into thin strips
slice onion into rings, then cut rings in half

add 2 oz oil into sauce pan on medium heat
add 1 pile garlic and add onions
stir and brown, cover and let steam, then stir again every 2 minutes
add bacon
add peppers
add zucchini stir again every 2 minutes

In frying pan
2 oz oil
add other pile of garlic and brown while stirring
add in seafood
cook and stir for 5 minutes

add vodka sauce into saucepan
stir and lower heat to simmer

add contents of frying pan into sauce pan including the juices

stir

put water in big pasta pot, after achieving a rolling boil add penne pasta.

cook pasta six to 9 minutes , rinse drain, add olive oil and stir.

place pasta in bottom of pyrex dish cover with contents of sauce pan
place three slices of provolone over the top and cover evenly with cilantro bake 20-25 minutes and watch for melted cheese and slightly browned edges on the leaves.

remove from oven let stand for 3-5 min serves 4-6

Visiting The Museum Of Jurassic Technology



I read Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology while enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute New Genres Masters Program back in 2003, and today I finally had the opportunity to check out MJT in person. I particularly enjoyed the motorized rotating bell wheel installed on the first floor. Take a listen: Ambient Sound From the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, California

Tea garden on the roof of The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, California

Tea garden on the roof of The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, California


I also enjoyed sipping on hot tea with lemon and sugar while contemplating the view from the roof. The babbling fountain and the bird cages integrated into the columbarium are very appropriate touches.

I highly recommend checking out this hidden bastion of conceptual art especially if you appreciate detail, like reading, have an active imagination and a penchant for steam-punkery, even before it was cool. For more information contact The Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Hypermodern Audio: Ten Year Anniversary Of Something Fantastic



Enjoy the hot cut from the floor of the Blue Room, 2002
Cynical and DJZN Live – Fantastic Cutting and scratching with no slide mixer on my side…Yea I’m the platinum blonde…it’s a down-tempo jam with a ton of layers and a lot of back cueing with a knob, turntables run through analog guitar pedals…enjoy. For more sonic delights check out the audio section of Hypermodern.net

DJZN AKA (Pete Ippel) and Cynical (Ryan Schmidt) Mixing in the Blue Room, Cornell University Tjaden Hall, 2002

DJZN AKA (Pete Ippel) and Cynical (Ryan Schmidt) Mixing in the Blue Room, 2002

Rapid Eye Movement And Artistic Dreams



I found a piece of paper that I had forgotten about that was written last Friday. On it was the immediate morning scrawlings of a semi-conscious me. Here’s the dream drama:

A tall Asian curator female in a silk dress, very kind asked me to redo an older painting, so I cut it up and added digital sound and video (likely with a Milkymist) then my Dad and I work on it for a few days. During the installation (it was crated the day before) with all the chaos of the opening it was very hard to find the crate. Just in the nick of time the project was found and installed. In addition there was a device/sculpture component where the original 2d image was a city scape and transformed into a rolling chain of images joined with flexible joints, like a dragon kite.

One of the components was a window frame with the initials NJ in the frame…likely meanig New York was the skyline. Very exciting way to wake up. Everything got finished and the installation was complete right as I woke up.

The dream could have been influfluenced by the chain in Doris Humphrey’s water study, or the fact that I had gone to the studio with my father who was working with folks in wheel-chairs being propelled with whipping momentum across the stage the day before…plus I was anticipating building a crate before I left for California the 10th.

Unpacking Art



Now that I have the majority of my art pieces in my studio in California I’ve been emptying the transportation vessels, hand-built wooden crates, transparent plastic boxes, hole-filled duffle bags. I am pleased to report that there was only one breakage so far, no papers torn, no tubes crushed, no paintings pierced. The most surprising part is that the piece that was broken is constructed of brazed steel…That bag must have taken a major hit…though the hand-thrown glazed teapot made it in the same luggage without incident. Odd.