World Watch OnLine: The UnOfficial Buckaroo Banzai Mailing List
# 141 (16 July 2000)
Submissions: WWatchOne@aol.com
Editor: WWatchOne@aol.com
Homepage: http://www.worldwatchonline.com
Calendar: http://members.aol.com/wwatchone/web/2000cal.htm
FAQ: http://www.figmentfly.com/bb/bbindex.shtml
Official BB site: http://www.banzai-institute.com

Number of subscribers: 511
(NOTE: anyone who doesn't have an "@something" behind their name 
is from 'aol.com.')

Contents:
Greetings
Re: Scanning the novel
chock full of infinity goodness
scanning an out of print book....
At The Auctions
Dragon Tales

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Greetings,

Well...like most everything lately, my plans to work
on the List over the week didn't go through. So once
again, in the coming week you'll probably get a note
saying you've been added to this thing at eGroups.
Replying to that should keep you from being added if
that's your desire.

Meanwhile, I *finally* cobbled together a July calendar
today and posted it. I'd wanted to do something a little
different for this month, but after a week or so of
fighting with my scanner, I thought maybe I'd better go
ahead and do something. URL is up near the top of this,
and I think I've put it on the links page at eGroups.

Still haven't straightened the scanner out. 
Wonder if the new antivirus thing I was
trying (the free InnoculateIT) screwed it up. The carriage
will work its way down the page, then everything freezes
up. Sometimes I can pull up the 'Close Program' menu and
shut it down, and sometimes it automagically reboots my
machine. Any thoughts? 


Later...
ArcLight

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Subj:	 Re: Scanning the novel
Date:	7/9/00 11:01:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	madmax66@erols.com (madmax66)

Not being a lawyer or savy in the ways of the legal profession I have to
ask if  there a time limit involved? If something was not available for
over 16 or so years would something fall under public domain? Would the
workprint, something which people buy either online or at cons and not
give out for free, fall under the same guidlines?

The reason I bring up the time limit issue is that there usually a set
period of time
where one can bring something to trial. Would this apply?

On a side note, is an online version of the script available? In the
attempt to avoid any legal trouble, what online resources are available
(NOT e-bay) are available at tracking down the book.

MM

**** It will be a *long* time before the book enters
public domain. (exactly how long I'm not sure - been
awhile since I did any copyright work) But as far
as the script goes, there's a copy at the World
Watch OnLine site, and a link from there to Strike
Team Renegade's site, which has a transcript of the
famed editor's workprint. (both of which are also patently
a no-no in the eyes of copyright law. - ArcLight ****

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Subj:	 chock full of infinity goodness
Date:	7/13/00 5:33:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	azset@yahoo.com (Greg Pizzino)

        Two new references this week.  One from
Sunday's "Liberty Medows" comic (a character is called
monkeyboy) and the other from (I think) the new
Vertical Horizon video which has the phrase "Wherever
you go there you are" printed on the passenger/driver
divider thingy.  
         Also, a suggested event for the BBCon based
on the discussion a few issues back about putting
Buckaroo in White Wolf Inc.'s world of darkness
universe.  How 'bout a combat tournament pitting
buckaroo and the BBI's against the WCL and Lectroids
using white wolf RPG rules (I'd suggest an actual rpg
game but thanks to time constrictions...)?


=====
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, 
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
-Shakespeare, "Sonnet 147"
                                       /)
                                      <OC
                                       \)

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Subj:	 scanning an out of print book....
Date:	7/14/00 1:21:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	tachyon00@yahoo.com (stacey hoskin)

Something that opponents of the 'Scan the Novel' campaign don't seem to
realize, is this: The book is out of print. 

To successfully sue someone in court, the injured party would have to
show any losses due to the duplication of the work in question.

**** Eh...kind-of. Sure, showing losses would help the owners 
nail whoever was doing it, but that's not really a factor.
It's still illegal, period. Now whether or not it's *wrong*
is something each person has to decide on their own, I think.
I'm in the "it's been out of print for 15 or so years so it's
better to be able to download a copy than pay $50 or more (none
of which will end up in the copyright owner's pocket) at some
used book store" camp. - ArcLight ****

Since the product is currently not being offered by the owners, nor has
it been in the past decade or more, the owners of the copyright would
be hard pressed to show that damage to their profits has occured.

I don't think it's fair to lump all writers in with the statement:
"Writers get EXTREMELY annoyed when people distribute more than "fair
use" excerpts from their work, even if the book is out of print."

I would be glad that somebody was able to read my work and not have to
pay the extortion fees the so called auctioneers are charging. In fact,
I'll go you one further. I used to be in a band signed to a major
(RCA). The records are currently out of print. When a fan emails me, I
send them mp3's of the songs they want. I'm not making money off of
them anyway, so why not?? It's a happy fan, in my books...and that's
better than money.

Another example would be of the author of the "Tank Girl" novelization,
which in fact was much better than the film. The book is out of print,
and is likely never to return. (an aside bearing mentioning: In light
of the fact that the mid season replacement series, "Buckaroo Banzai",
never aired, and there have been no official updates on The Richter
site since Christmas, it may be safe to say that the Banzai tv
experiment has derailed...and that means if there ever was a chance of
the book seeing reprint, it's gone, at least for now.) Anyway, back to
the Tank Girl story. The author put it up on his own website, in it's
entirety. 

I have a copy of the BB novel. I love it. Everyone should read it. Not
everyone can, without paying sick amounts of cash. None of that money
is going to Earl Mac Rauch anyway, and that is the only economy that
would be damaged by the conversion to a pdf file of the novel.

Yeah, it might be theft to scan, or to own a scanned copy of the book. 
Each one of us who had one would buy the real thing were it available.
The people who own the copyrights know that, and I don't think they'd
act on it unless people were selling the electronic copies. If EMR
thinks differently, it would be nice if someone could ask him how he
felt about people having to pay 50 bucks to an auctioneer as opposed to
reading a free electronic copy. What version is likely to get more
people to read your words?

I'll say one thing...it would really suck if EMR turned out to be a
greedy capitalist who had nothing in common with BB, his character that
is so beloved for the philosophies that came from EMR's own hand.

bbi# 415 voodoo klohn

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Subj:	 At The Auctions
Date:	7/16/00 3:24:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	alandsmith@uswest.net (BBI Dragon (Alan Smith))

At The Auctions
with BBIs Dragon & Crazy Horse

Bootlegger exposed and auction stopped!

That's right! We have successfully exposed a bootlegger of the
"Letterbox version" of  TABB and eBay stopped the auction because this
violates their policies. YES!
But get this!?!
A few days later an "Extended version" is up for auction by a different
seller, the same damn thing as we all know, but eBay gives us this,
"Thanks you but... we need to hear from the copyright holders...".
What's with this?!? We replied and tried to explain that this latest
item (Extended version) was the very same item as before (Letterbox
version), different seller & title but the same item...

Oh well, now we wonder what they will do when we spot the TABB sound
track on CD. Seeing as there isn't one officially licensed and stamped
with the Institute's seal of approval (or anyone else's), those should
violate eBay's polities as well. But will they have to hear from the
'copyright holders' before stopping obvious bootlegging again?

TABB video auctions

The average last week in 12 auctions was about $24.75 with a range from
$13 to  $33.50. One copy with a starting bid of $9.99 didn't get a
single bid, the descriptions included "Video was a rental and plays
great.", I can't figure why it didn't sell. Simple competition maybe?

Otherwise the BB auctions were the same old stuff, patches, comics, vhs
tapes, Starlogs.

Hope next week is more interesting!

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Subj:	 Dragon Tales
Date:	7/16/00 3:53:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	alandsmith@uswest.net (BBI Dragon (Alan Smith))

Hello all,

This will be a quick one this week, just two fast items to touch on.

HELP please. We need discussion topics for BBcon as well as individuals
or a causal group of people that would be willing to lead a Q & A
session of anything interesting, personal and Banzai related. Do you
have knowledge in a particular area and wouldn't mind keeping a chat
room rolling along for an hour or so? It's really easy. Just have an
outline in your head or on paper, subjects within your topic, and keep
the conversations going.

On At The Auctions. The public and private chatter on this feature is
running 50-50. there are still a good 500 of you that we haven't heard
from. Most of the criticism seem to be focused on the shire length of
the article. Please note that Crazy Horse and I have cut At The Auctions
way down. We got a lot carried away with the whole idea in the first
several weeks. Now we have settled into 2 to 4 items including updates
on past auctions, the average selling prices of the VHS and letters to
winners and sellers.
Just like watching TV, if you don't like a show, change channels. Here,
just scroll down. I even do it with some posts here and to the egroup.

That's it, catch you next week.

Always True Blue,
BBI Dragon

Random novel quote:
10:00 P. M. - A special advance recon patrol led by Pinky Carruthers
boards Casper Lindley's helicopter. Scooter will remain behind. As we
prepare to roll toward Yoyodyne, a second helicopter appears overhead,
bringing the Secretary of Defense. Immediately upon arrival, he attempts
to bring his entourage abroad but finds his way barred at gunpoint by
Perfect Tommy.
Perfect Tommy: Only you, Mr. Secretary. Those are the orders.
Secretary of Defense: Who the hell are you?
Perfect Tommy: Perfect Tommy.
Reno: And I'm Reno.
Secretary of Defense: Reno who?
Reno: Reno Nevada.
Secretary of Defense: Well, let me tell you something Mr. Perfect Tommy
and Mr. Reno Nevada. I'm the secretary of Defense, the eyes and ears of
the President of the United States of America! In loco presidentis!
Which means I'm in charge here!
Perfect Tommy: No, you're not.
Reno: Let's go.
Secretary of Defense: Where's Buckaroo?
Reno: He's at Yoyodyne.
Secretary of Defense: Then I'll go to Yoyodyne myself. I'll see what the
hell is going on. I sure as hell can't get the time of day from you
bozos.
(The Secretary starts to return to his helicopter when Perfect Tommy
jumps him from behind and pulls him back to the bus, to the speechless
shock of his retinue and bodyguards. Waving his Israeli Uzi in their
direction, he forces the Secretary of Defense on board, and I order the
doors closed behind them.)

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