This article reminded me slightly of some of the issues discussed in the video of Professor Lessig's explanation of Creative Commons licensing. The combination of watching that video and reading this article caused me to begin considering the benefits to giving other people access and rights to the work I produce. After reading our classmate Jess's blog I realized that many fun and crazy things people have produced that I enjoy thoroughly, have come from someone else's original idea.

These are two of my favorites:

Internet is for Porn This video uses characters from the game, World of Warcraft, and a song from the soundtrack of the musical, Avenue Q.

Pug Bowling This video fuses a scene from the movie, The Big Lebowski, with my favorite thing in the world, Pugs.

I think because these videos are not made for profit and are just shared on YouTube, they're not illegally borrowing themes or music. However, the very creation of these videos, which possess great entertainment value in my opinion, could not have been created or would lose all of their humorous qualities if the creator did not borrow aspects from other works. Although my feeling is that most sequels are worse than the original work they derive from, I'm sure this is not always the case. (Or at least I know many people who could give me numerous examples to the contrary.) These sequels and spin-offs and such could not be produced if the original idea were not present to build upon. Thinking about it in another way, my dream job has often been to become a free-lance editor. Before publishing practically anything, an author must have the work edited. Although it is ultimately the author's decision which changes they accept and reject, the editor's suggestions, or \"remixes\" if you will, are quite valuable to an author and may be ultimately beneficial to the success of the author's work.

~Caitlin~

I agree, Caitlin. There are so many aspects to consider and different areas where the lines have a tendency to get fuzzed over. To some degree, I'm apprehensive with the whole "take what you may and do with it what you like" attitude, but then again--here are these wonderful creations fused by someone else giving a whole new spin on someone else's brainchild and the adaptation is often brilliant, ingenious, terrible--maybe delightful. I really enjoy the thought of this. If you consider Shakespeare's body of work, it is primarily a ripe foundation waiting to be built upon and re-adapted. Perhaps that's the real beauty of Shakespeare and why it has lingered around for quite some time, roughly 400 years... In any event, I think the whole concept is an area we approach with some caution, dipping one fingertip into the pond-- waiting for something to bite it off.But when that does/does not happen, perhaps we feel relief and are ready to invest some more...Who knows?!

-jess