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Okay, trailer time. WATCH!

Last week I was introduced to a 2008 documentary about how new culture is created by building upon old culture, and how the digital age is affecting the creation of new culture. The film is called Rip! A Remix Manifesto, and it is appropriately available for you to watch for free online (yes, legally!); if you want to donate to the creators of the film, you can buy the DVD from the official website.

The film is a great introduction to the way copyright affects creators and consumers around the world. As culture is increasingly becoming a digital phenomenon which anyone can create or have access to, it will soon be very important for all of us to understand how copyright law works and what it means to the average Joe. Creative Commons is also discussed – it’s a different kind of licensing agreement with which creators can say, “Yes, take my art/music/writing/scientific data and use it to make new culture – just give me credit too, please!”

Whether you are a BitTorrent addict, a law student, or someone who believes they’ve never committed copyright infringement in their entire life (yeah – right), you will probably learn something you didn’t know before (unless you’ve already seen the movie).

If this still sounds incredibly boring, the film is heavily interspersed with hot dance beats by Girl Talk, a guy who takes your favorite 80s and 90s songs and combines it with infectious beats to get you up off your butt and on to the dance floor (okay, perhaps just your kitchen floor).

(P.S.: You can even watch it RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW if you have 86 minutes to spare:)

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Tonight’s first act is the collage (mostly) art of Brooklyn artist Lulu Wolf.

There isn’t much information on her website but the image gallery pretty much speaks for itself in my opinion.

Next is a well-produced video of a curious project which was started by, well, a multinational paint company. The director is Adam Berg and all of what you are seeing is really real (really-really, Shrek?). A group went to four different cities around the world and brought some color to otherwise drab walls (and sometimes drab situations):

Though one might say that a multinational company could do more powerful things with its money, this is pretty neat!

Of course, being a fan of beautiful music that is just barely obscure enough to not have mainstream radio airplay in the U.S., I fell in love with the clip’s soundtrack – a song by the lead singer of Icelandic band Sigur Rós (who are currently on hiatus), Jónsi. He is embarking on a solo career for a little bit… Here is the song (with just a slideshow in the background):

(The official video is here but the record company does not allow me to embed it on my blog. Honestly I didn’t think it was too marvelous of a clip but you can decide for yourself, of course.)

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