Dilution in the City

Quite the warm hearted Times Square message on a billboard, but Betty, where did you get your trademark dilution education and inspiration from ?

The back of last season's Gucci's New York loving handbag ?

Clearly, NY is no UGLY BETTY, but do the dilution concerns go straight down the drain if you do some textual changes ?

Is Brighter always Better

An exceedingly bright and dear friend recently reiterated that there comes a time when individuals have to learn/learnt that they "just gotta defer". I'm guessing he probably would approve of an oh so classy pair of Neon red Ray-Ban sunlight dimmers for the extra useless distracting brightness.

Personal Trademark Trampler/Copyrighted Virtual Personhood Killer

Cybergame emotions and intense relationships involving copyrighted virtual replicas of real life personalities/ copied characters marrying each other can get a little out of hand and deliberately deleted sometimes.
Personal trademark murderer and copyrighted virtual personhood killer, who would've thunk.....
Consider the arrested jilted lover in Japan who "deleted" her "cyber husband's" MapleStory digital persona, the reason being quoted as " I was suddenly divorced - without a word of warning. That made me so angry".
Interesting how detrimental "anger" can become when playing games with divorce.
Playing games in general is an utter waste of emotions of energy.
So is this virtual representative of someone's personality and self considered a virtual trademark representing the real life individual?
Or a copyrighted creative digital personhood rendering of the real life individual.
How do you register these virtual replicas of real life personhoods so that you got yourself well protected from mis use,bitter reactions/ interaction or personal intellectual property deletion/damage ?
If you register your real life self with both the trademark and copyright offices does this cover any virtual replications of personality/actions/writings and self in digital format created by the same registered owner.
This all encompassing kind of registration comes in handy when being used to often too !

Trademark Intercourse

Quite the confusing trademark relationship.
Are colorful clovers luckier than traditional green ones.
If you're at this pub watching channel four and drinking Irish beer will you automatically get lucky beyond your most colorful lucky dreams ?
Or is the color being used exclusively to emphasize the symbolic nature of lucky clover.

What Color is Your Chandelier

Life logistics travelers , like those elegant, well lit, heavily traveled passageways and or semi-dark annexes/corridors of Grand Central station in various stages of renovation and decoration, have been using chandeliers to enlighten/lead, brighten the way for years. The smarter way to understand the hows and why of life, travel and the law can be confusing for well traveled travelers and or travelers that have taken other less efficent cumbersome ways of travel and subsequently lost some of their innate sense of inner locomotive and logistical direction.

The brightest and most brilliant chandelier in the industry, can be found logistically illuminating, elucidating, enlightening and entertaining audiences in the most astute, innovative and erudite of fashions here.

Whats in A Copyright ?

I'm having a little trouble understanding the inherent logic employed in Professor Lawrence Lessig's "In defense of Piracy" writeup in the WSJ concerning "fair use" and "terribly recorded" original copyrighted songs /amateur music videos on YouTube .
I agree that there are many absurd and frivolous copyright claims in court nowadays . And he does list some interesting change suggestions for Copyright Law. But on the other hand, I've found it fascinating how facts and intentions can be conveniently redirected and neatly filed under the all encompassing protective guise of copyright claim invoking.So the copyright claim misuse swings all six ways when it comes to misconstruing the original intent.

In this particular article though , It’s not clear how capturing “priceless moments” of a kid dancing along to a "terribly recorded " copyrighted song , and making it available to the public on YouTube, for whatever reason, can ever be considered fair use?
I would think that "badly recorded" would by default be considered poor use, cannot be used this way or utter mis use.

The four factors for deciding if a fair use defense exists are as follows:

1) "The purpose and character of the accused use."
2) " The nature of the copyrighted work"
3) "The importance of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole".
4) "The effect of the accused use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."

What does fair use have to do with anything? The fact that there is no commercial gain in this particular instance does not prove in any way that there is no harm on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work(s) in question.
The copyrighted work being the "terribly recorded" song, no not a creative remix , the original song less the orginal optimum listening sounds , in less than optimum listening conditions, in fact “the quality of the recording was terrible” was duly noted, and in a domestic childcare setting. This clearly may or may not affect the opinions/purchase decisions of first time listeners/fans looking for Prince’s songs on YouTube or any kind of search engine that includes YouTube links.

So It’s not exactly a textbook case of “transformative use”, as in a transformed piece of work featuring new views, understandings and or insights.
It’s the exact same original work (song), only terribly recorded, and made available to millions of viewers to watch and listen to in a somewhat harsher, fuzzier, barely, audible and less than favorable light. Let’s not forget the marketing and branding music videos that songs are creatively ensconced in. Did Prince originally record his song with dancing babies in a house ? I don’t think “transformative use” is the correct claim here. Other than ruining the song, a badly recorded amateur music video does not transform the work in this way.
And let’s not forget this fun fact lawyers and men of all ages :
“The Supreme Court has said that a “transformative work” is one that “adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning or message”. (Citation upon request).

And I don’t think it qualifies as a derivative work either. According to Mister J Thomas Mcarthy, “in order to be a derivative work, the new work must be more than merely “inspired by” a prior work".

A terrible recording of a song in a house is definitely not more than "merely inspired", I would think thats way less than inspired.

I believe it should be the registered copyright holder's choice, on as to whether or not he allows copyrighted songs he originally created ,to be subsequently made available on YouTube as poorly recorded amateur music videos by others .

October Morning in the City

Every morning I fall in love with NYC all over again and even harder.
There is so much to be ecstatic about in NYC, taking in the scenes/scenery on the way to wherever you're goin, like work, can make you happier than doing ecstacy.
Bryant Park's flower gardens are still blooming like an ordinary midsummer morning.
If you're looking for a sunny space to catch a quickie early morning or mid-day lunch tan, Bryant Park is the grassy knoll you want to be spacing out on. Dont forget to take in the thriving floral masterpiece of a park sidewalk garden. The garden designers did a really impressive job this year.
Lots of roses, the butterfly bush, phlox, and many other colorful plants,and still blooming merrily.
If you're feeling especially down you can also take a quick spin around under the twinkling lights, on the Merry Go Round. Dont worry, be merry, its all good, and Goethe the statue will be watchin over you.

Also, dont forget to check out the ethereal waterfall exhibit before the weekend is over.
Its the last weekend for viewing. See here for specifics and viewing options.
Thank you Mayor Bloomberg for everything you've done/are doing for NYC.
It really is the best city on earth.

I Heart Esquire's Choice For Influential Men

Particularly, the part where Esquire includes Noah Feldman as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21's century. Read all about this smart choice here.

Lipstick in the City/ Kisses on a Necklace/ in the Loft

My favorite building name in NYC, at this time, is the The Lipstick Building.

The Lipstick Building is the perfect architectural branding story, complete with the powerful trademark potential and East River views.

The name always reminds me of my favorite song title , Country music singer George Ducas's "Lipstick Promises". I hardly remember the song or any of the actual lyric content but I love the word combo"Lipstick Promises" descriptive word combinations dont come any more perfect than "Lipstick Promises".

On a brighter/brasher unrelated note, If you're writing your life script using one of those earnest brightly colored lipstick fonts, what better way to reward the attempt towards bright and brash consistency with the complementary indoor/outdoor Kiss resin love seat. Your loft will feel that much more bold, intimate and inviting .I've been saving up for this resin beauty for a while now. It was love at first sight and sit. Happy, like sitting, standing or running is really just a state of being mostly.
Deep down though, I've always had this empty feeling right near my heart. The place where only a certain sapphire studded pendant can really touch the surface.

I've been saving that material space on the outer surface of my heart for a certain Kiss necklace I've fallen head over heels in love with.

I just know once I've saved up enough dollars, this jewelry purchase will just make me feel all warm and sparkly inside.

It's a hearthrob of a pendant, the coveted Kiss necklace , all prettily decked out in sparkling pink sapphires.

In life its all about depth, love and uhm purchases that make you happy !

And for the rest of the days, until then there is Absolute / Smirnoff.

The Art of Perpetual Procrastination

I thought this WSJ article "How to Put Off Work -- Constructively" by Cari Tuna, on philosophy professor John Perry's "structured procrastination" - was an interesting read.

What Time Is It When You Photograph Time Instead of Spending Time ?

Many different times in different contexts and eras standing still in digital time format.