All This Glee Bullshit

Normally I don't get all political and troll-y and straight up bitch about too many things here. I like my blog to be a mostly happy place about gaming and funny stories, or an introspective tool to get my thoughts out there in the hopes that someone else feels the same way and they won't feel alone.  I like it to be a place where people can come read things and feel better or just shut their mind off from real life for a minute.  Unfortunately, there is an injustice that has me and other nerdy music lovers all steamed up right now and it's time for me to vent. 

What has us so enraged? I have four words: Glee vs. Jonathan Coulton. 

Courtesy of Paul and Storm

Now, I don't claim to be a lawyer or have any more knowledge of entertainment law than your average actor/singer/artist. Nor do I pretend to know anything about music/sound engineering. I only know what details JoCo has released on his website and/or his Twitter or what info is available in the press. (If you live under a rock and have no clue what I'm talking about, you can read about it in Wired, Forbes, or *gag* CNN.) But I do know that fucking around with the legal line of someone's intellectual property is no joke. I've been burned by it myself. And with the ever-expanding universe of the internet, that line is getting blurrier and blurrier, which is why I try very hard to properly attribute pictures, etc here. (If you ever find a mistake in any attribution or wish me to remove something that belongs to you, please let me know.)

I will be the first to admit that I was a "Gleek" from the start. I watched the first season religiously and bought the soundtracks. But, halfway through season 2, I started rolling my eyes more and more at the lazy writing, and I could almost see money-hungry executives lurking in the shadows of the supposedly encouraging and uplifting "message" of the show. Between the increasingly laughably poor writing, obnoxious character arcs, and conflicting morals of the show, I finally lost interest. But I still enjoyed watching the occasional clip of the songs on YouTube. But now with this whole messy business with Glee most-likely completely ripping off JoCo, I don't even want to do that anymore. Whether or not Glee executives overstepped legal bounds when they "covered" JoCo's cover of Baby Got Back remains to be seen. What I think is disgusting is the moral implications of this whole fiasco. For a show that claims it's all about art and pursuing dreams and being true to yourself, Glee has fallen sickeningly short of the moral par. 

Yes, I just made a golf reference. A. Golf. Reference. This is how angry you're made me, Glee.

Or maybe this hullabaloo is what TV executives are helping orchestrate. Supposedly Glee's ratings have been slipping, and maybe they're hoping a good old fashioned scandal is the way to boost them again. If this is the case, I think this bodes Glee's swift downfall. But again, what do I know? I'm just an actor, a blogger, a nerd, a Coulton fan, a music fan, and a former (and I can't stress that enough) Glee fan.

Do I think my words will change the world? No. I'm 99.99% certain that the executives at Fox or whatever are not going to read this and exclaim, "By God she's right! How wrong we were. We're monsters! Oh the humanity, what have we done?!?!?!" (I imagine old fat white men in their big fancy corner offices above the studio lot swooning and fanning themselves a la Scarlet O'Hara when they say this.) But it makes me feel better. It also adds one more little voice to the growing tornado of enraged fans that will hopefully grow loud and (civilly) obnoxious enough to make some changes in favor of the "little guy" in the intellectual property fight. So if nothing else, I stand with Jonathan Coulton, and I'll see him in March at PAXEast!

And so I leave you all with this: Thanks MovingPictures, this made me laugh heartily. Also, if you would like to help something good come out of this ethical injustice, you can buy JoCo's cover of Glee's *spit* cover of his cover of Baby Got Back on iTunes or straight from his website. He'll be donating all the money to charity. And spread the word!

Or if my angry words aren't your cup of tea and you want to read a much classier post about this from an actual lawyer, I will direct you over here.

In Case You Wanted More Opinions...

I probably sound like I've been bashing NYCC in my previous blog posts, well, I kind of have. Now, in NYCC's (minuscule) defense, I was tired, I was coming down with a cold, and I was on my period all weekend, so I was bound to be a little testy. However, the main issues I had with the show lie strictly with the management/execution of the show (i.e. ReedPop) and the Javits Center, not the comic con community. I was very disappointed, mostly because PAX East (a con I adored) is also managed by ReedPop, yet the 2 shows were run very differently.
Let's start on a positive note so I don't sound like a whiny troll with nothing better to do than bitch and moan about stuff, k? Ok.

Good stuff about PAX East:
-I got to visit Boston for the first time, and Boston is a tolerable bus ride away from NYC, where I live, so it was easy enough to get to and fro.

-The Boston Convention Center was massive (almost too much so) and easily accommodated all who attended/participated. That being said, we did not get into every panel we wanted to, however there was an abundance of alternative yet equally-as-awesome panels we could choose as 2nd or 3rd choices.

-The "Enforcers" or volunteers/staff who helped keep everything running smoothly were energetic, informative, and had great attitudes during the 3 day weekend nerd extravaganza.

-The convention center food was not terrible and not too badly overpriced.

-We did not have to pay for a single autograph/picture.

-There were show-sponsored concerts that were included with admission (and they rocked).

-Most people seemed to follow "Wheaton's Law"

Not-So-Good-Stuff about PAX East:
-The Con was held the weekend of DST kicking in (a la "Spring ahead") so we lost an hour Sunday morning after the concert, which translated into 1 less hour to sleep, which translated into thousands of sleep-deprived convention-goers. Sunday looked a bit like the Walking Dead (minus the blood and entrails). But it was soooo worth it.
JoCo summed it up best at the end of his set on Saturday night/Sunday morning: "It's late at night. It's spring forward night which I think it means it's already Wednesday, so we're all fucked." Indeed, sir.

-We did have to take a cab to the bus depot from the convention center as there was no other mode of transportation, but it was fairly inexpensive.

-Convention center food was pretty much the only option for sustenance.

Good stuff about NYCC:
-It was held in NYC, so it wasn't much longer than my normal morning commute to attend, plus I was familiar with the train/bus routes already, and I got to sleep in my own bed at night.

-Overall, it was fun...ish.

-Bought some cool toys/merch

-Got some autographs/pictures from some cool people.

-We saw some great Cosplay

Not-So-Good Stuff about NYCC:
-Many non-follower's of Wheaton's Law (Worst offenders: the 3 douche mongers who cut in front of 1000 people in line to see the Masquerade).

-Lack of organization/information from the staff

-Lack of information provided by the show management/organizers

-Paying for autographs sucks ass (apparently $30 is the new $20)

-Etc, etc, etcNow, this all having been said, I understand that organizing and executing a large convention of these magnitudes (or larger) is not easy. I know that it takes the show management team loads of planning all year long and that at the end of the day, it's not possible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. I know all of this because I happen to work for such a company (who will remain nameless to protect their identities and my job). So having an insider's view of the convention/trade show management process, I think I'm qualified to be a little picky about the conventions I choose to attend. I don't plan to attend NYCC in the future, unless I can be a guest on a panel or possibly qualify as press with my blog. However, after my scathing reviews, they may not even want me there...