Danger Mouse vs Girl Talk

The Grey Album was a mash-up album made by DJ Danger Mouse released in 2004. The album features a cappella samples of Jay-Z's Black Album and mixes it with dozens of unauthorized samples taken from The Beatles' LP The Beatles(more commonly known as the White Album). Danger Mouse released limited copies of his work to a few outlets of the internet. The album quickly gained popularity and the amount of attention caught the ears of EMI, the copyright holder of The Beatles. The body quickly ordered the DJ to stop production of the album. The funny thing is, only the copyright holders of the Beatles' works were upset about the mash. Jay-Z's a cappella album was also copyrighted material; however, it was produced with the implicit purpose of creating mashups. Below is a video the song "Encore" featuring samples from "Savoy Truffle" and "Glass Onion".



The mashup is beautifully done. So much so it creates a brand new song; with its own personality and sound. So if Danger Mouse got in so much trouble, what about Girl Talk?

Girl Talk is a DJ artist specializing in mixing and mashups. However, GT uses dozens of samples from copyrighted material. New York Times Magazine called Girl Talk's music "a lawsuit waiting to happen." Below is a video of Girl Talk's "Once Again".



The funny thing about this video is just that: the video clips used to make this video mash are also copyrighted material. So how does Girl Talk get away with what he does? Assembling of songs from other recordings has been done since the beginning of recorded and published music. Most recently, mashups have been featured in and have featured rap and hip-hop songs. Much of Girl Talk's work consists of hip-hop samples. Not to mention, Jay-Z really didn't get that upset when Danger Mouse sampled his work. So, the conlcusion looks to be, if you want to make a mash-up, use mostly hip-hop samples, and stray far away from anything Beatles.

Have You heard?

It is a ripe Rhode Island morning. Three-Fourths of the Griffin men are present at the kitchen table. Dog and writer/actor Brian begin to read the Quahog Informant. Peter, father and head-of-the-household asks Brian to view said periodical. As Peter flips through the Informant he confusingly grunts into the paper. Peter inquisitively asks about the absence of an important piece, which he had thought to be missing from his periodical.

Concerned, Brian asked Peter for further explanation. Peter claims:

“Well there seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece; a headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.”

Inquisitively, Brian wonders what Peter is talking about, Stewie, Peter’s baby, then quickly warns Brian to not be so inquisitive. Suddenly, Peter jumps up from his chair and with an animated glaze in his eyes, starts metrically pumping his arms up-and-down. As Brian stares questioningly in Peter’s direction, Peter begins to clarify that,

“Oh, well a bird-bird-bird. B-bird’s is the word. Brian! Don’t you know about the bird? Well Peter’s gonna tell you about the bird! Oh, well a bird-bird-bird. B-bird’s is the word. Surfi-“

Suddenly, in the midst of his explanation, Peter starts to experience what seems like a seizure. He cannot speak clearly, and muscle spasms are overtaking his regular bodily movements. Peter suddenly falls to the floor, shakes and vocalizes uncontrollably. After a few moments, he takes a deep breath, and falls lifeless onto the tile floor. As drool is foaming out of the side of his mouth, Brian rushes over to help. Flabbergasted, Brian asks if Peter is all right. In the middle of his inquiry, Peter wakes up to finish his explanation.

“Bah-pa-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa Ooh-mow-mow, Bah-pa Ooh-mow-mow!”

As Brian stares blankly at Peter rhythmically pumping his arms up-and-down, Stewie pulls a revolver from his baby jumper and proceeds to put the barrel in his mouth. Although he did not succeed in taking his life, these actions show that songs that are repetitive in nature can ultimately cause an individual to want to inflict bodily harm on himself or others.



(Parry, I chose to focus on a scene from Family Guy instead of a movie. I hope you can understand:)

Who does Facebook own?

You? Me? My dog?

Okay, Facebook doesn't technically own any of us. If we want to get philosophical, we can say nobody really owns anything. We can even look at the meaning of ownership, and what it really means to own or be owned. But don't worry, we won't delve that deep into our metaphysical reality.

As it stands currently, under the current privacy policy, Facebook calls itself "...not just a website ... It is also a service for sharing your information on Facebook-enhanced applications and websites." Facebook gives its users the power to control how the information is shared through the application settings. And, at first glance, this could mean that the users own the information presented on the website; however, some think this isn't the case.

As of February 4th, 2009, Facebook installed a new Terms of Service. In this new TOS, Facebook removed the guarantee that any deleted content will be deleted forever. Or, in the words of Chris Walters of The Consumerist, "[Facebook] Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever." Shortly after the release of those TOS were released to the public, users became upset and Facebook chose to revert back to its old TOS. As it stands currently, Facbook insists that "You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings." I believe this is the way it should be.

I see Facebook as a platform to socialize, upload and share memories and experiences through digital content. Whatever users post should be seen as users' property both in a legal sense and ethical sense. If this trust between platform and user is breached, it could mean the end (or the steep decline) of Facebook's popularity.

Where the Hell is Jeff Mangum?

Neutral Milk Hotel is generally highly regarded in the music world. Pitchfork, one of the most critical music publication even rated their best-known album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea a 10; and Pitchfork never rates anything above an 8.5. Ever.