Archive for November, 2009
Haz dey dun it?
The Stanhope government in the ACT might’ve found the loophole that will force the federal government to act, instead of passively recognising same-sex relationships.
After several high-profile attempts to secure and allow same-sex marriages/civil unions in the ACT which were knocked back by two federal governments, the ACT yesterday passed legislation cheekily recognising same-sex civil unions that have been legally officiated, while denying the same to heterosexual couples as they already have the Marriage Act (Cth). Guess who’s not happy?
Background: The ACT or Australian Capital Territory is one of several areas in Australia that fall under federal rule, as compared to states which are semi-sovereign in their own right, but it is the only self-governing capital territory.
Also in Australia, homosexuals have all the same rights, obligations and benefits as heterosexuals, except for ‘marriage’. In my view, marriage is redundant when all else is equal.
Tea and art
Many years ago, we overnighted in Braidwood NSW on a mistaken assumption it was a large-ish town. It’s not, but it had fresh Devonshire Tea.
If you’re in the Southern Tablelands of NSW, why not pop into Suzanne Bellamy‘s open day at her studio, from 27-29 November. Not only are her sculptures colourful, but she collaborates on art and text fusion projects (such as Unsettling The Land with Susan Hawthorne) which I, unexpectedly, found to be quite lovely.
Suzanne promises endless tea while you explore her studio, creek and environs.
Plagiarism or mash-up
Mash-ups are a sort of sampling technique, where you take bits of sound/visual/sculpture or what have you, mix them up a lot perhaps changing an edge or two but still retaining recognisable origins, to create a ‘new’ work. How original the ‘new’ work is can be hard to tell, because if it’s not sufficiently original or clearly rips off too much from elsewhere, well, you’ll be hearing from lawyers.
Sampling is very common in the music industry but almost always credit is given or permission obtained. In literature, sampling, if not used as quotation, can come very close to plagiarism. Of course there are ways around this call, for example if bits pulled are from public domain works or the bits fall under ‘fair use’. The key here is giving credit – if you’re not sure if you should point to your source, best to do so. But if you’re copying someone, please don’t say “everyone does it”, because dude, it’s still wrong – unethical if not illegal.
Other ares, such as photoshop-ing images are harder to catch but I don’t know much about visual use except to say that trademarks are what companies register to protect their brands.
Very sad for Maine and for all hoomans
Legislation recognising same-sex marriages in Maine was overturned by hateful homophobes. Sad and angry me. Stupid peoples. Obviously they need to get out more – to other civilised nations that have allowed SSMs and where the population is much happier for not squabbling over this non-issue.
