Okay, I’ll admit it, I did not get to this series of videos in a timely fashion. But after watching this series, all I have to say is better late than never. My mind is blown! Not only was I not aware that a number of  Led Zeppelin song lyrics were from other songs, but I was completely oblivious to the “science” of remixing in the movie industry. Of course I recognized the lack of truly original movies being released, but I was not aware truly how many of the movies are sequels, adaptations or remakes. It’s incredible! But at the same time, I can understand it. Human creativity is based on inspiration– inspiration often coming to us from others works (movies music art etc). Part 3 discusses how this notion of creativity and inspiration is primarily learned and based around copying. We copy a trade until we master it enough to create “originals” of that trade–which more often then not emulate the previous copies we made.

As Jim was discussing this series in class today (Tuesday April 10), my mind was jogged. Being a new fan of Skrillex, Bassnectar, Daft Punk and Girl Talk it made me wonder–is the music that these artists are creating illegal?? They make their millions by re-stepping pre-existing music. There is an obvious case for both sides, but with this day and age of remixing– where do we draw the line? Having gone to and heard live performances of Bassnectar, he creates tracks based on the audience at each show. He’ll record sounds from the audience and then remix it into song. Do these people have rights to those sounds? Do they have the rights to the money he makes off of those noises? After watching this series, my ideas of originality, authenticity, remix, what’s legal and what’s not are completely skewed. Kirby has done a fantastic job of addressing how originality appears to be a myth. This is a series that changed my perspective of entertainment. I’m questioning what is original and what is not. I am an avid movie watcher and I find that I won’t be able to watch a film without wondering the origin of this concept.

BOOM! my mind is blown–yet again ds106 surprises me, and I’m not hating it

More remix assignments to come, stay tuned!