Having time to surf the web I cam across the fantastic resource of the Kill Your TV media activist archive out of Brisbane, Australia. There are several interesting docos (check out the Lab Rats film Tunin’ Technology to Ecology) on the site and a rather interesting film by David Cox; staring STELARC and Marie Hoy entitled Otherzone (click to see)……. Made in 1998 it is still fresh and topical.

A quiet time has begun for this blog. Summer time is reading and playing music in the streets. I can be found most good weather days playing the didgeridoo outside the Victoria Galleria in central Umeå.  
We (Funkservice International) shall be playing Trästock festival next weekend; Main stage Saturday 24 July at 15:30. I shall return to blog Urkult festival  and Paris trip in August. Enjoy the sumer rain!

It is on the web (An there for I believe it to be true and real). I have been awarded a Wallenberg Scholarship for modern language research in English for 2004-2005. The official word is located
HERE
I would like to thank the many who have helped me along the way, too many to list.

Sam, the star of Sams Orkester


I was in a film called Sams Orkester (Swedish title) as a member of the band. It was filmed in Umeå Sweden in the summer of 2002. I had a walk on part and several close up shots in the final cut. I also did actually play the didjeridu as featured in the soundtrack (all the other musicians were dubbed in later). It was a great experience and the band that was created for the purposes of the film continues on today as Total Groove.
Sveriges Television 2 (SVT2 the national television network) will be showing Sams Orkester on Friday 16 July 2004 at 19.10. The film only runs for 10 minutes so don't miss the start!

As to open source material on the web it seems that the copyleft movement is gaining some ground, in Canada at least:

"Canada's Supreme Court ruled in a landmark judgment that Internet service providers (ISP) do not have to pay royalties on music downloaded by customers.
In a unanimous 9-0 decision Wednesday, the court ruled that ISPs are not responsible for material web surfers download.
The court ruled that companies that provide access to the worldwide web are "intermediaries" who are not subject to copyright law. "
Sydney Morning Herald

With new laws coming into force in Sweden from January 1st 2005 concerning the illegality of downloading music (i.e. it will be illegal after this date to download copyright bound material from P2P internet sources) there seems to be a wide stretch of discrepancy in regard to international digital copyright interpretation. In an April 1st ruling Federal Court Judge Finckenstein (a former Commissioner of Competition at the Competition Bureau Canada) ruled:

“I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P (peer-to-peer) service.” - Federal Court Judge Konrad von Finckenstein 1 April 2004

Meanwhile Warner, BMG, EMI, Sony and Universal control 90 percent of the Swedish music market. The government is attempting to introduce greater competition in to the economy in general but with millions of songs being downloaded in Sweden today, where broadband internet connection is common, the new laws are unlikely to effect the present situation (especially when Swedes pay $US20 for a CD).

A final mention of Marlon Brando (1924-2004) who died this morning……a great actor and activist. His 1973 refusal of an Oscar for The Godfather as a protest against the treatment of Native Americans by the State should be remembered as a moment of affirmative direct action:




"Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I am an Apache and I am the president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.
I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you, in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently, because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterward, that he must very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry... [audience gasps] Excuse me... [some boos and some clapping] and on television in movie re-runs, and also the recent happenings at Wounded Knee.
I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will, in the future, in our hearts and our understanding will meet with love and generosity.
Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando."