Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

“Welcome to the Social.”

Okay. Microsoft was just crazy to try to market using that slogan. Especially considering it was Microsoft. And considering that the product in question was heavily DRM-crippled and largely worthless.

But social networking is big. Pages like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster are – for those of you who don’t tune in to any kind of news program at all – headline grabbers today.

And the Democrats have set up their own – Party Builder.

I confess. I broke down. I signed up.

And I started a group for a cause that didn’t appear to be represented yet.

From 8 PM on Friday to 8 PM on Saturday, I committed to staying awake to run the 24-hour play project. I went a bit beyond by also acting in the plays, which meant my committment took me through 9:15.

There were five plays by five playwrights, all of whom wrote the plays between 8 PM on Friday and 4 AM on Saturday.

And now for your perusal, my play. Completely written in the 8 hour period alotted for the playwrights. “Heat Death” is available in PDF format from rapidshare.

It’s the Friday 10 – on Saturday!

Know the title and the artist? Drop it in the comments!

1. “Your Song,” by Ewan McGregor (Elton John cover) [guessed by Fred] – “The sun’s been kind while I wrote this song.”
2. “See the children run as the sun goes down.”
3. “Golden Slumbers,” by The Beatles [guessed by Fred] – “Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry.”
4. “Bubble Toes,” by Jack Johnson [guessed by Thud] – “It’s as simple as something that nobody knows.”
5. “I don’t want to wonder if this is a blunder.”
6. “Then I blaze ya fire, then I’ll satisfy your heart’s desire.”
7. “I am a pioneer, naive enough to believe this.”
8. “I don’t care ‘bout spots on my apples.”
9. “All they get of you is what they get out of the show.”
10. “It’s tradition – that makes it OK.”

A picture’s worth a thousand words. And when you add words? Well, they’re just worth a word a piece. So by my estimate, this graphic (*note:* some not-safe-for-work language) is worth approximately 1,091 words. The image – made to look like an MPAA-sponsored advert – pretty much sums up the outrage that both Thud and I have spoken about. Here are just a few of the words, but you need to see the graphic for the full effect.

I’ve just bought my favourite movie of all time on DVD from a shop. Now, I’ve got to sit through an unskippable anti-piracy advert every single time I put the disc into my DVD player, even though I own a legit, shop-bought copy….

Again. I have encountered these unskippable ads. On Laurel & Hardy DVD’s. Laurel & Hardy. Frankly, the only reason these films are not in the public domain is the constant lobbying of corporations like Disney to extend copyright far beyond anything the original code would have thought reasonable. These movies have made their money back over and over and over again pretty much since they were released. And now, after paying $50 for a box set of three movies, I get to sit through an ad that tells me I’m a criminal – and even gets the explanation of the law wrong?

I’ve been predicting a copyright blow-up on the winds for a long time, and I know I’m not the only one. But when is it going to be enough for the artists and consumers both to stand up and shout?

We Need to Blog has uncovered Hillary Clinton’s deep, dark secret.

When Hillary Clinton arrived on the campus of Wellesley College, she was a Goldwater Republican and soon become President of the Wellesley Young Republicans.

But she probably doesn’t want you to know that.

Really? It was probably a bad move for her to write at length about being a Young Republican in her autobiography, then, including stories of her early experiences campaigning door-to-door for the Republicans.

Will the shocking revelations never cease! Next, you’ll be telling me that ice was actually once water at a higher temperature.

Slow news day? That’s how most people are reacting to the conservative backlash to this photo. Liberal blogger Mike Stark met Michelle Malkin at a public appearance, asked to have his picture taken with her, and then had the picture taken. Hot Air promptly rushes to the phone, hands shaking, to call Malkin’s husband and make certain everything is okay. Little Green Footballs plasters the photo up alongside one of John Lennon and Mark David Chapman. August J. Pollack and Sadly, No! promptly respond appropriately. God forbid that somebody attempt to be photographed with someone whose opinions they do not share.

Of course, there’s a larger problem here. In a day and age where the President’s audiences are carefully screened according to beliefs on the war and party affiliation to avoid any voice of dissent, the mere act of disagreeing turns anyone into a dangerous element. Hot Air is quick to point out that we are all at risk.

Bryan was right there with her, of course, so I don’t want to overstate the danger, but damage can be done very quickly depending upon the M.O. The lesson here for us is that we simply must take better security precautions. So should the popular lefty bloggers, as there certainly are crazies on both sides. It’s tragic that that’s the price of doing business in the public square these days, but it is.

STAY ALERT!

TRUST NO ONE.

KEEP YOUR LASER HANDY.

Answers to last week’s ten have been posted. Four titles got guessed last time (all by Fred), and I actually expected more of them to be guessed. Oh, well.

So, here’s this week’s ten – if you know the title of the song these lines come from and the artist who performed it (or an artist who performed it) post it in the comments!

1. “Haunted,” by Poe [Fred] – ”... to see a perfect forest through so many splintered trees.”
2. “Delilah,” by Tom Jones [Carl] – “I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window.”
3. “Black Jesus,” by Everlast – “They call me white sinner, black martyr, live wire, fire starter.”
4. “Life on Mars,” by David Bowie [Fred] – “It’s a godawful small affair to the girl with the mousey hair.”
5. “Jesus of Suburbia,” by Green Day – “On a steady diet of soda pop and ritalin, no-one ever died for my sins.”
6. “Jerry Springer,” by Weird Al Yankovic – “See the stripper with the implants? She likes to lapdance and date the boyfriend of her mother.”
7. “These are Days,” by 10,000 Maniacs [Thud] – “It’s true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.”
8. “Money,” by Pink Floyd [Thud] – “Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie.”
9. “Jump Around,” by House of Pain [Fred] – “I’ve got more rhymes than there’s cops at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop.”
10. “Me and My Arrow,” by Harry Nilsson [Thud] – “And if we make up just to break up, I’ll carry on.”