Mashit

I’ve spent the past few days traversing the wilds of the SXSW Interactive conference. In the process my brain’s been filling up with way too much information.

Yesterday’s keynote conversation between Graffiti Research Labs‘ James Powderly and the New York Times’ Virginia Heffernan was a highlight which imparted tidbits of wisdom from Powderly like:

Technology, as it approaches, becomes a level of magic.

Transgression only works if there are only a few transgressors.

And that he only calles himself an “artist” when dealing with the cops. Otherwise he’s a “prankster.”

This morning I went to a panel called “New Threats to New Media: Fair Use On Trial” Durring which the following video was shown for us to ponder and discuss:

BOOMBOX: 100 days, 100 songs, 100 locations, 100 dances

Hilarious! This had the whole room laughing, which made it difficult for panelist Ben Sheffner (Special Counsel at John McCain 2008) to defend his side of the argument (this is not fair use of music). Actually, Sheffner even seemed to agree that the music in this video is protected as parody under fair use because it made everyone laugh.

This got everyone talking about issues around getting artists some of the revenue that’s being generated by ads and ISPs. How ’bout some cash for Ely Kim, the artist behind this video, in addition to Blondie, MIA and the other artists involved. Food for thought as I sit here listening to Wired editor Chris Anderson (The Long Tail) speak about why free ($0.00) is the future of business.

But I really just wanted to share that video with you ’cause it’s so awesome!