post script visions

Dear NJ Transit,

I will still most likely be with you when crossing the Hudson River, but I just want to let you know that this isn’t the most ideal of relationships.

I know you’re doing your best. It’s not really your fault. Blame your funding. Your conductors have always been great to me. I have met several nice people while on your trains. But you have to admit that you’re a bit expensive and the trains are always so crowded. I love the new trains, the double deckers… but why aren’t there more of them? Is 300 bucks a month from me not enough?

Seats are too small. Not enough cars on the trains during peak hours. Way too many delays because of mechanical door malfunctions. In the evenings the trains are always cluttered with litter. There aren’t many or something any trash containers on the trains.

I have taken many naps and found myself with an ache in my neck but still pretty pleased that I have arrived safely at my destination. At least safely, if not in a timely fashion. Usually.

Really, I’m just deciding and maybe I’m realizing now that I’m giving you too much and not getting enough back. But I know it could all be so much worse. Thanks for everything you’ve done well and right.

–I just want you to know, that even if it isn’t your fault, I will remember all the times you were the reason why I was an hour or more late. I can forgive, but I can’t forget. By the way, what exactly does “signal problems” mean? Why do your conductors seem grossly uninformed at times when there are delayed over 15 minutes? They are nice people, and deserve the truth!

Don’t take this personally. It’s just how things are working out right now. I’m sure you’ll soon find another girl to replace me who treks across state lines with more than enough stuff with her each day. Maybe we’ll meet again and things will have changed. Either you or I and we can go steady again. Maybe one day…

Love Almost Always,
Sammi

PS: Your “Lost and Found” system is awful. Seriously awful.

Okay. Wait.
They guy sitting next to me just told me that NJ Transit apparently has free public wifi/internet?! I’m excited. But figures NJ Transit.. you’re so sneaky. Just as I’m about to leave you or at least take a break from you, you try to lure me back in. Trickster!
—By the way, I can’t find anything about free wireless on NJ Transit trains or stations. They are lying!!

NPR’s Fresh Air asked Shepard Fairey, Mannie Garcia, and a law professor about the the Garcia photo, the lawsuit, and fair use.

Notable parts of the transcript…

How did Shepard Fairey pick out the image for the Obama piece?

FAIREY: Well, I looked through a lot of photographs, but I had an initial concept that I’d like to divide Obama’s face in highlighting shadow between tones of blue and red. So, it was really the direction of the gaze which I felt looked presidential, looked like Obama had some vision and some leadership, and that combined with the way that the light was falling.

…why did he decide to sue the AP?

FAIREY: Well, the AP was threatening to sue me, and they first contacted me and said, you know, let’s figure out how to work this out amicably, which I was vey open to and said, you know, I’m glad to pay the original license fee for the image. For all the reasons I’ve already given you, I didn’t think that I needed to, but I’m glad to do it because, you know, I’d rather just make this easy for everyone.

And then they said no, we want damages. And then they ran a piece in the National Press basically saying I stole the photo, which as an artist that works from references frequently, you know, I feel that they’re calling into question the validity of my method of working as well as the hundredsif not thousands of other artists that made grassroots images for Obama working in a similar way, or people that made things, you know, against the Bush agenda that had a likeness of him. These are all things that were created by people who probably don’t have the resources to license an image.

And the meaning of their art pieces is completely different than the original intention of the source image and adds a new layer, a new value. It’s transformative, and I think it should be fair use. And I felt that I needed to fight the AP not for myself only, but for a whole group of artists that would be self-censored, probably, because they can’t afford the photos and they don’t want to be in a legal entanglement over using those types of images to communicate a message.

What was Mannie’s reaction when he found out the reference image was his?

GARCIA: Initially when I found out, I was disappointed in the fact that, you know, someone had – was able to go onto the Internet and take something that doesn’t belong to them and then use it. I think that that part of this whole story is crucial for people to understand that simply because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s free for the taking, and just because you can take it, doesn’t mean it belongs to you.

**Currently AP over who owns the copyright.

And finally…

Professor GREG LASTOWKA (Rutgers School of Law-Camden; Visiting Professor, Columbia University): One thing that’s really important about fair use, they need to understand, is the Supreme Court has said that each fair use case needs to be decided individually, and there are no bright-line rules. And that’s one of the things that’s most frustrating about fair use because if you look at these four factors for fair use, none of them are strictly controlling, and you can find a case that has, you know, one of these factors going one way or the other and a finding of fair use or no fair use.

About the recent Facebook uproar…

Prof. LASTOWKA: I see it as very relevant because I think the reaction of the public to something like, you know, Facebook’s changing the terms of service, the fear that someone else is going to be able to monetized the creative work that you’re uploading to Facebook shows that we all feel like we are authors and proprietors of the content that we create. So, yeah, I think it’s very relevant because it shows the public’s reaction when their own authorial interests are at stake.

—Very interesting. I thought about this on the train home tonight…

In this blog, I am trying to share and showcase some of the most interesting and beautiful content and creations that other people have created that I have found on the internet. I always try to link back and give credit or at least link back to where I originally found it (or I probably won’t post it).

I now wonder if Shepard Fairey had originally given credit to Mannie Garcia during the Obama campaign, would there still be an issue?

In these hard economic times the issue is very much monetary but it’s not to say that credit is worth less (or worthless?). If Mr. Garcia had received credit and had his name brought up in a more positive manner rather than in the middle of a legal scandal with a very high profile person in the art and design world, would he have gotten more work as a result? Or any money? For an important political campaign that was considered to be a non-profit situation, would money have been an issue if all parties had received recognition?

It is always important to be recognized. I think that the public in general “thought” (knew/understood) that the Shepard Fairey image was based off of a reference, but neglected to acknowledge that fact because of how Fairey treated the work. It is not a photograph that has been altered. It is a drawing/design that was based off of the image, which should fall under fair use. Whether or not it was legally under fair use, it is still, I feel, the “right” thing to do to acknowledge others works.

Does common courtesy and honesty still exist?

These seemed really appealing earlier today. Several people have asked me to do this, so here goes.

1. Where is your cell phone? here
2. Your significant other? home
3. Your hair? usual
4. Your mother? generous
5. Your father? fair
6. Your favorite thing? laptop
7. Your dream last night? unknown
8. Your favorite drink? orange juice
9. Your dream/goal? freelance
10. What room you are in? office
11. Your hobby? sleeping
12. Your fear? implosion
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? moon
14. Where were you last night? bed
15. Something that you aren’t? rich
16. Muffins? cupcakes!
17. Wish list item? everything
18. Where you grew up? jersey
19. Last thing you did? lunch
20. What are you wearing? normal
21. Your TV? missed
22. Your pets? fluffy
23. Friends? missing
24. Your life? almost
25. Your mood? meh
26. Missing someone? yeah
27. Car? netherstorm
28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
29. Your favorite store? free?
30. Your favorite color? red
33. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
34. Last time you cried? currently? (not really)

1. Apparently if you want to live in Manhattan and have a “middle class” life style, your yearly income needs to be about $123,000 a year. Someone living in the suburbs near/around NYC needs to have a yearly income of about $50,000 to $60,000 for the same “middle class”.
2. Don’t be your own IT. (I watched the Ma.gnolia podcast.(But I think that overlaps from start-ups, small businesses, freelancers. Pay some professionals to have the job done and fixed correctly. (I really which my publisher would take this advice instead of trying to make me use my non-existent programming degree.) )
3. We can’t keep up with our bookmarks. We can’t keep up with the content. The internet is overwhelming amounts of information all in real time.
4. Put matches in your bathroom. Seriously.
5. Facebook and some recent work I’ve been doing while assisting my photographer has taught me quite a bit about copyright law. It’s still so complicated. But it’s pretty easy to send your work in for copyright.
6. I learned about temp/staffing agencies. I may be working with the Creative Group soon in some attempts to find a job that doesn’t require 4 hours of commuting a day. I love working in New York City but I’d like to find a job that is closer to home or can pay me more for the commute.
7. While using OS X 10.5.6, I finally figured out that space bar is for the Quick View while browsing through images or files. This was totally a big deal to me.
8. Quite a few days full of WordPress! I didn’t learn too much but I just have had a lot of practice now after upgrading 3 sites into WordPress from version 1.5 to version 2.7.1 at work. I have upgraded/installed it on to my 3 portfolio/blog sites. I found that I really missed coding. I want to learn more about PHP.
9. After a car accident, it’s usually best if you can get the car insurance people/appraiser to communicate directly with the body shop that your car will be using to cut yourself out as the middle man. They both usually know more about cars than you do.
10. If something asks you for a security code of sorts or a password, don’t keep guessing non-stop unless you’re the highest admin or you have an hour to waste waiting for it to unlock. Also! READ THE MANUAL. Really. I needed to learn that.

Wouldn’t you think that if you had to give a 200-pound “domesticated” chimp some psychiatric drugs like Xanax that you would think that the chimp was unhappy with his life?

The news about this poor chimp is a shame. It could have been easily avoided. I feel terrible for the animal and I do feel somewhat for his owner. She lost a friend. But she should have been thinking about his happiness and well being.

Please do not take wild animals and make them pets. Chimps are not house cats or dogs. Wild animals need to be in the wild.

Read more about this here.

I’m watching CNN Headline News and I cannot stand hearing about this anymore. I think the Octomom is totally repulsive, irresponsible, overall pretty awful. It will be really disgusting if she gets a reality tv show. It’s disgusting because of her actions and expectations. She is unintelligent and selfish, which I suppose makes her a perfect canidate for a reality tv show. The show will be disgusting because of the general public’s sick fascination with ruined lives and ruining lives. It will just be a freak show. These children, do not need that.

I’m not even sure if these children should even be in her custody. Can she really be a single parent to 14 children? Are these children really going to have the best upbringing possible?
Doubtful.

By the way, tax payer dollars are being used and will be used for the medical bills for the 8 kids, not to mention the other 6 she already had living at home.

This woman is insane. Let’s not put her on any pedestals. Let’s get this woman the psychiatric help she needs.

from an iChat conversation

Matt: i am actually trying to remember the last time i saw you online… i think it might have been in october
that is probably a good thing

Myself: i haven’t been on AIM or iChatt in a very long time but i’ve been using everything else lol

Matt: like twitter and that stuff?

Myself: yea, i totally love twitter.

Matt: not up my alley, but if i did do it i’d probably twitter about me sitting up and down every three hours or so
since people need to know when i am standing or not. shits important.

Myself: LOL twitter’s cool bc you can say anything really

Matt: anything?

Myself: yeah why not? today i twittered about a frozen pizza that i was trying to make… that turned into my smoke alarm going off but the pizza ended up being okay. but then there’s other times when i’ll talk about work or a site i found or something.

Matt: last time i made a frozen pizza i set myself on fire. no joke.

Myself: dude that’s messed up. you need to go to like a home ec class or something.

Matt: well let me tell you how it happened. i go to pull it out of the oven and then the towel i was using touched the coils in the oven which sets the towel on fire and then my shirt. it wasn’t bad… i was able to blow it out with my powerful lungs. but the towel… i had to throw in the sink and let it die a slow and painful death.

Myself: oh man. that’s pretty scary!

Matt: i thought it was pretty funny, i was laughing through the whole thing. i dunno… appreciating how ridiculous the situation was.

Myself: that’s good, but i think it’s still scary

Matt: i mean, how many times have you gotten set on fire?

Myself: uh… none so far. i like it that way. granted i could end up LOVING being on fire but i could end up not really liking it too.

Matt: you never know till you try and think about it like this its something else to twitter about. “LOLZ I AM ON TEH FIRE”

Myself: LOL

Matt: but i would be really depressed for you if the first thing you think about while you are set aflame is twittering about the situation

Myself: oh man. Matt, get a twitter. you’ll like it.

Interesting, I’m not quite sure if this conclusion makes me lame or not. When I had my little car accident a few weeks ago, I did end up twittering about it pretty quickly by using my phone. It changed my facebook status, which alerted my sister and others, and she called to see if I was alright. It was just a way to tell others about my awful day. It was not the first thing I thought of.

The first thing I thought of was OMFG. I’M NOT ON THE ROAD ANYMORE. WTF JUST HAPPENED. WHY AM I IN A DITCH? IS MY CAR OKAY? *Proceed to break into tears about the whole situation and shock of getting into an accident and after seeing that i broked the car quite a bit.*  It was not an Oh I can’t wait to tweet this! moment.

Twitter poped into my mind after my dad came to help me. After I called my boyfriend crying about how I could no longer be his ride from Brooklyn to home and he was like babe, it’s okay I’m going to the subway now and my mom will be able to pick me up, don’t worry! After speaking with a few people that stopped on the road to see if i needed help. I tweeted about it when we were bringing the car back to the house. So I guess that was a fourth or fifth thought, but definatly not the first.

It’s interesting to see how things start and blow up like wildfire on the internet. Chain letters are so common. “Ice breaker” quick writes and surveys are everywhere. All the time. Most being lame as hell. But for some reason, everyone and their mother or sister or friend is doing this 25 things list.

I’m compelled to do it too. I’m going to add to the fire.

1.The first website I ever had was hosted on angelfire.com. I was about 12 or 13 years old. It had at least a hundred flashing .gif images. The second was an actual domain that I owned. It was purchased for me by a guy I have never met before in Tennesee. I haven’t talked to him since either.

2. When I was in 4th or 5th grade I broke an umbrella over a boy’s head who was constantly bullying me. It snapped in half. It had a wooden duck handle. The duck was not harmed.

3. I have been to about as many funerals as years I have been alive.

4. Once while walking home from high school construction workers, lead by a man who was approximately the same as as my father ,who were working across the street from my house decided it would be nice and appropriate to “cat call” me. Hey baby… what’s goin on? I was under 18 years olld (summer baby.)  I wasn’t a fan. I got the boss fired.

5. I need to go visit Fiji, Iceland, Spain, Brazil before I die. I’d like to see a glacier before they become extinct.

6. I’d like to live on the island of Boracay for a few months or a year because it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.

7. I have a giant puff ball for a cat. He is legal in human years. 18 years and still going… going to nap. His name is Fluffy. He is not a robot.

8. I feel that my growing up was a strange social experiment at times. Most people do not grow up under such out of the ordinary circumstances. Cultural differences. Generation differences. Moral/ideal differences. The idea of family is very unique to me.

9. I love airplanes. I love flying. I love airline food. I feel like I could easily live off of  airline food for the rest of my life. Specifically from international flights, not just domestic.

10. I have a 72 gallon freshwater fish tank in my bedroom. I don’t have enough time or money for saltwater.

11. For a time in high school I had a back pack with about 2,000 safety pins on it. Believe me. They were actually counted.

12. Sometimes I don’t think that  it matters where or how you were brought up. I have the same temper as my siblings and my father. I hope I never have to show you.

13. For 3 months I did ballet when I was little. For a summer, I did baton twirling.

14. I have never broken a bone. I have never broken anyone else’s bones either.

15.    There was a time where I thought it would be amazing to get married at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. That was a very different time than now.

16.    Allergic to strawberry nesquik, Luckily, I’m not really missing much in that case…

17.    Once I went to IHOP and I swear I saw almost a perfect doppelganger of my mother. This woman was with her husband and 2 sons. She looked exactly like my mother except wearing all dark colors. When I got home, I confronted her about her secret life. But, she just got annoyed with me and called me crazy.

18.    I won’t pick a fight, but I don’t exactly mind getting in to one. I was always taught that if someone hits you, hit them back harder… while this hasn’t always worked out for the best, I still think that it’s good advice.

19.    If I had the money, I’d have a lot more tattoos.

20.    The past few years have resulted in a special desire to be numb and not feeling anything. The feeling of being unaware is a gift. Believe me, you have no idea.

21.    I’ve wanted to go to the Bronx zoo for a very long time. (the Central Park zoo too!)

22.    My favorite dollar bill is the $10 dollar bill.

23.    There should be more opportunities to roast marshmallows. I’m not asking for more fires, especially random dangerous fires. But there should in general be, more marshmellow roasting in my opinion.

24.    I dream about living in Brooklyn again.

25.    This year, I’m trying to spend less money. I’d say I was doing a good job if it wasn’t for that car accident. In general transportation is eating away at my wallet. Worse than the moths!

in makati today, i told the ayala museum… fuck you.
and we got our money back.
in green hills today, i tried really hard not to talk.
and we didn’t pay nearly as much money.

when driving with my biological mother, we usually end up listening to this minister singing about loving jesus and god. my brother’s kids sing a along. she asks them to sing a long always. they can practice english that way.

in addition…
a bug bit me on the bottom of my foot.
if you see dirt on the walls, that’s gecko shit.