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Old Man Narrates Young Girl

2011-11-22 · John · watch on YouTube · Internet & YouTube · news analysis

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

From an English teachers' conference in Chicago, John explains the two audiobooks of The Fault in Our Stars as copyright working well, then argues that copyright is complex, that fair use limits once cut a Millay quotation from Looking for Alaska, and that the bills before Congress (SOPA) would deepen the advantage of those who can afford lawyers.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting and 'man bra' gag; John at a crowded English teachers' conference in Chicago and what came before it

  • ★★ John is in Chicago at a very crowded English teachers' conference, enjoying talking about books with teachers and signing his name again. — 00:00:05 · Chicago
  • ★ Before the conference John had a very luxurious bath, rode an elevator with a child of the brothers and a stroller, visited the Bean, ate breakfast where the hostess was a nerdfighter, and met Chicago traffic. (playful) — 00:00:16

00:00:35 — Narrating The Fault in Our Stars at Brilliance Audio: Kate Rudd's real audiobook and John's box-set version; shared audio rights as copyright working

  • ★★ Before Chicago, John was at Brilliance Audio, his audiobook publisher, narrating The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:00:35 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★★ There will be two audiobooks of The Fault in Our Stars: the real one narrated by Kate Rudd, available everywhere, and John's, only in a physical limited-edition box set from DFTBA. — 00:00:41 · The Fault in Our Stars, DFTBA Records
  • ★ John says Kate Rudd sounds exactly like Hazel and her recording is brilliant, while he sounds like a 34-year-old man, which makes for awkward moments. — 00:00:49 · Hazel Grace Lancaster
  • ★★★ Two audiobooks are possible because Brilliance shared the audio rights with him innovatively; John says that is how copyright law works when it works. — 00:01:09 · DFTBA Records, copyright > «nice people, sometimes with lawyers, get together and figure out what's fair»

00:01:24 — Reply to Hank's copyright video: the bills are crazy, copyright is complex, Creative Commons is not practical for everything

  • ★★ John says Hank, in his last video, correctly called the copyright measures before Congress 'a steaming hot slice of crazy'. (playful) — 00:01:24 · United States Congress, copyright
  • ★★★ John argues copyright is complex: posting a quote from his book on Tumblr is fine, posting the whole book is infringement, and where the line falls is ill-defined. — 00:01:34 · copyright, Tumblr
  • ★★ John doesn't think Creative Commons bypasses these problems: he is a fan and both brothers have released songs and zombie novellas under it, but it isn't practical for everything. (hedged) — 00:01:47

00:02:00 — Example: in 2004 Penguin lawyers cut a Millay quotation from Looking for Alaska under fair use; today he could pay

  • ★★ John offers the Looking for Alaska cut as an example of the complexity of fair use and its chilling effect on discourse. — 00:02:00
  • ★★★ In 2004 Penguin's lawyers decided the character Alaska quoted too much of an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem; fair use allowed only two lines and John couldn't afford to pay the estate. — 00:02:06 · Looking for Alaska, Penguin Books

00:02:42 — Copyright privileges those with money; the bills would increase that inequality without stopping piracy; SOPA would make the internet a little worse

  • ★★★ John argues copyright law currently privileges people like 2011 John, who can pay an estate $500 or so, and punishes people like 2004 John, who could not. — 00:02:42 · copyright
  • ★★★ John says the legislation before Congress would increase that inequality: YouTube, Google and Tumblr can afford lawyers against Viacom, he can't, and it won't stop already-illegal wholesale piracy. — 00:02:54 · United States Congress, YouTube, Google, Tumblr
  • ★★★ Disagreeing with the alarmists, John suspects SOPA would only make the internet a little worse, but says the internet needs to be better and SOPA doesn't push that way. (hedged) — 00:03:09

00:03:24 — 'Man bra' callback; continue the conversation in comments; sign-off

  • ★ John invites Nerdfighters to continue the conversation in the comments. — 00:03:26 · Nerdfighteria

Humor (significant)

  • John opens chanting 'I'm a man, I'm a zebra' and slides into the next rhyme. — 00:00:00 > «I'm a man bra. Oh wait, that's something else.»
  • Listing what came before the conference, John recalls his hotel bath. — 00:00:18 > «and before a bath so luxurious and wasteful that it made me wonder whether luxurious and wasteful are synonyms»
  • After praising Kate Rudd for sounding exactly like Hazel, John describes his own narration of the teenage narrator. — 00:00:53 > «I sound like a thirty four year old man making for some awkward moments»
  • John agrees with Hank that the bills before Congress are a steaming hot slice of crazy. — 00:01:27 > «which is now apparently a vegetable»

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