Robert Smigel

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From Kevn Kelly’s comments on the Technium about copyright law and the public commons:

“It is in the interest of culture to have a large and dynamic public domain. The greatest classics of Disney were all based on stories in the public domain, and Walt Disney showed how public domain ideas and characters could be leveraged by others to bring enjoyment and money. But ironically, after Walt died, the Disney corporation became the major backer of the extended copyright laws, in order to keep the very few original ideas they had — like Mickey Mouse — from going into the public domain. Also ironically, just as Disney was smothering the public domain, their own great fortunes waned because they were strangling the main source of their own creativity, which was public domain material. They were unable to generate their own new material, so they had to buy Pixar.

A tragedy of the commons occurs when members behave selfishly and deny the commons what is due. As Disney shows, when members keep their creations out of the common pool for others to exploit, their gain is only short lived. Mickey Mouse, Superman, and eventually Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker all belong in the commons. The world will be a better place when they are.

We should repeal unreasonable intellectual property laws, to keep the incentives for a period no longer than the life of its creators (how can you be invented if you are dead?). But in the meantime, imagine what the creative public could do with these works, and weep — because nothing like that will happen for a very long time.”

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Inside the Disney vault, with Robert Smigel:

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"Each year, between 7,000 and 8,000 college students and recent graduates work full-time, minimum-wage, menial internships at Disney World." (Image by NASA.)

From “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,” Ross Perlin’s fun inside look at the Disney World intern program, just published in Guernica:

“At Disney World, interns are everywhere. The bellboy carrying luggage up to your room, the monorail ‘pilot’ steering a train at forty miles per hour, the smiling young woman scanning tickets at the gate. They corral visitors into the line for Space Mountain, dust sugar over funnel cakes, sell mouse ears, sweep up candy wrappers. Mickey, Donald, Pluto and the gang may well be interns, boiling in their furry costumes in the Florida heat. Visiting the Magic Kingdom recently, I tried to count them, scanning for the names of colleges on the blue and white name tags that all ‘cast members’ wear. They came from public and private schools, community colleges and famous research universities, from across America. International interns, hailing from at least nineteen different countries, were also out in force. A sophomore from Shanghai greeted customers at the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A. She was one of hundreds of Chinese interns, she told me, and she was looking forward to ‘earning her ears.’ Disney runs one of the world’s largest internship programs. Each year, between 7,000 and 8,000 college students and recent graduates work full-time, minimum-wage, menial internships at Disney World. Typical stints last four to five months, but the ‘advantage programs’ may last up to seven months.” (Thanks Longform.)

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Mickey Mouse debuts in 1928:

The great Robert Smigel takes aim at the Mouse House:

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Hug a Ginger today.

It's "Kiss a Ginger Day." Hooray!

On his new Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien has the indescribable William Shatner on as a regular guest, but it’s Adam West who was Conan’s first love. Before Seth MacFarlane got his filthy paws on the self-mocking erstwhile Caped Crusader, the late-night host was sort of obsessed with West. From a 1997 Rolling Stone interview :

“I maintain that the television series Batman is one of the most brilliant pieces of American art in the last 30 years,” says O’Brien. The article recalls how a young Conan and the ever-brilliant Robert Smigel teamed with West on a network television series that never got off the ground.

The article continues: “In 1991, O’Brien and fellow Batman obsessive Robert Smigel, his friend from SNL, made a pilot [called Lookwell]  for NBC. Of course, it starred Adam West.

Smigel: “We were so happy. We had to fight so hard to get Adam West to be the guy.”

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