"For many years, these works have inspired audiences around the world by conveying values such as courage, friendship and perseverance."

"Because of this, many fans feel concerned when images from these works appear to be used in political or military contexts that may differ from the intentions of the original creators or rights holders. This petition seeks to convey the voices of fans who, precisely because Japanese manga and anime are so widely loved around the world, hope that their cultural value and context will be respected."

Says an online petition seeking an end to the use of anime in political satire, quoted in "Trump draws anger in Japan with ‘disrespectful’ cartoon fakes/Fans of anime have called for action against the US president, who posts AI-generated clips of himself as their comic-book heroes" (London Times).

I'll just express my opinion in blog tags: "free speech" and "lawsuits I hope will fail."

This made me think of the old Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates case. Wikipedia:

"Chester coming out of the pouch for his first hop. He doesn't stay out long, but he was brave and that was a great first hop."

"It’s ok Chester, I don’t like to stay out long either. Introverts unite!"

Kangatarianism.

I learned a new word (and a new concept):

Kangatarianism is a recent practice of following a diet which excludes meat except kangaroo on environmental and ethical grounds. Several Australian newspapers wrote about the neologism "kangatarianism" in February 2010, describing eating a vegetarian diet with the addition of kangaroo meat as a choice with environmental benefits because indigenous wild kangaroos require no extra land or water for farming and produce little methane (a greenhouse gas), unlike cattle. Advocates of kangatarianism also choose it because Australian kangaroos live natural lives, eat organic food, and are killed "humanely". For similar reasons, Australians have discussed eating only the meat of Australian feral camels ("cameltarianism").

That's from the Wikipedia article, "Kangaroo Meat," which you either know or don't know why I'm reading. For those not yet up to speed: "Chef fired after serving kangaroo meat to Nebraska students" (Fox News):

On Oct. 10, a Potter-Dix Public Schools cafeteria served a chili including a mixture of beef and kangaroo meat, according to the release. Head Cook Kevin Frei told Superintendent Mike Williams that the kangaroo meat was added because “it is a very lean meat.”

While the superintendent stated that he does not believe that the kangaroo meat was unhealthy or dangerous because it met USDA standards for sale, the district vowed to not serve food of this nature again. “If a family wants to eat exotic foods, they can do so on their own time — not at school,” Williams said.... “It is without a doubt not a normal staple of our diet and will not, nor will any other non-staple foods, be a part of the potter-Dix meal program.... I apologize for the anxiety and any harm that this has caused individual students and /or families.”

I agree that parents should always know what animals the school is feeding to their kids, but I don't like the way the solution is always to fire the employee. Why didn't the head cook know how people in his town would react to serving "mystery meat" that turned out to be from an animal people in the area don't normally think about eating? Maybe he is too foolish and reckless for the job, but I feel for him.

What he did is not as bad as putting meat in a dish that people believe is vegetarian or presenting pork as beef or beef as pork. The cook had rational reasons for using kangaroo meat rather than other meats. Kangatarianism makes sense to some people. But if you're a cook in Nebraska — or an anything, anywhere — you can be too rational. You've got to have a feeling for how irrational people react to unusual things.

I have exactly one other association when it comes to kangaroo meat: It's what "This American Life"'s Ira Glass fed to his strange, dangerous dog:

[Our rescue pit bull Piney] needed a strict and disturbingly expensive diet of one protein and one starch for 8–10 months until he would become allergic to it. Then we’d have to switch to another protein-starch.

We’ve gone through a series of food combinations: there was pork and tapioca, then rabbit and sweet potatoes. We would go to the store once a week to pick up 6–8 rabbits and the guy at the store would say, “So, are you havin’ a party?” You don’t want to say, “No, I’m buying eighty dollars’ worth of rabbit for my dog.” You feel like an ass. And it’s weird to be feeding an animal that’s cuter than your pet to your pet. After that we went to bison, which I thought was extinct, and switched to kangaroo about six months ago. There’s a butcher out in Woodside, Queens, that you have to go to for kangaroo....

The movie "The Happytime Murders" uses "Sesame Street" puppets in a way that is "explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating."

The Daily Beast reports on the lawsuit brought by the "Sesame Street" company to stop the distribution of the film, which, of course, it did not license or authorize in any way. The film is directed by "one of Jim Henson's family member."

“Sesame seeks an injunction that forces Defendants to cease and desist their trading upon the goodwill associated with Sesame Street in furtherance of box office receipts,” the lawsuit says. “The promotion of The Happytime Murders should succeed or fail on its own merits, not on a cynical, unlawful attempt to deceive and confuse the public into associating it with the most celebrated children’s program in history.”

I assume "deceive and confuse" relates to trademark law. Is it deceptive and confusing or will pretty much everyone know it's a send-up, a satire or parody? When do the rights to characters you've created give way to the right of expression of those who want to make fun of them?

[ADDED: I’m now thinking the headline to this post misstates the facts. I think there’s just a Muppet character that is not a “Sesame Street” character and the poster slogan “No Sesame. All Street.”]

[MORE: I put up a new post with the "restricted" trailer for the movie that makes the overlap with "Sesame Street" very clear. Having seen that — not saying I liked it, but having seen it — I think it's easily within the zone of satire that should be protected.]

This makes me think of "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" — "a 1987 American short biographical film portraying the last 17 years of singer Karen Carpenter's life. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film uses Barbie dolls as actors, as well as documentary and artistic footage... [and] an unauthorized soundtrack consisting mostly of the hit songs of The Carpenters."

"Superstar" was never distributed because it was stopped by claims of copyright in the music. But what about the use of Barbie dolls?

... Haynes detailed Karen's worsening anorexia by subtly whittling away at the face and arms of the "Karen" Barbie doll.

This is only tangentially related, from Woodward and Armstrong's "The Brethren," an account of the Supreme Court in the early 70s:

The National Lampoon, a humor magazine, had just released its February issue. The centerfold was entitled “Amicae Curiae”—Friends of the Court—and it depicted, in a color cartoon, all nine of the Justices engaged in a variety of sexual activity. 

View image here...

The Chief, naked except for holster and pistol, was on the floor licking the boot of an otherwise naked young woman. Brennan was standing in front of two very young girls holding his robe open. Stewart was measuring the throat of a young woman with a ruler, apparently in preparation for oral sex. Rehnquist, clad in a woman’s bra and red garter belt, was parading before the others cracking a black whip.

"Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos."

The system judges where things are by reference to the ground, and when the kangaroo is "in the air, it actually looks like it’s further away, then it lands and it looks closer."

"A 7-year-old Australian boy miraculously survived an attack by an aggressive kangaroo using a defense method... 'the kangaroo roll.'"

"'You put your hands around your neck and you roll up in a ball'.... The boy proceeded to put his face down and scream for help."

Miraculously? How dangerous are kangaroos? Here's a Slate article from 2012 (after 3 kangaroos escaped from a zoo in Germany):

Although the last recorded death came in 1936, there have been several kangaroo attacks in Australia in recent years, some resulting in serious injuries.... The best defense is to keep a safe distance and try to create a barrier between yourself and the beast. Even holding up a large tree branch can be helpful. If the kangaroo approaches, turn your body sideways, exposing a narrow profile to the animal and protecting your face and organs. Raise your hands and lean your head away from the animal to minimize the chances of being scratched across the face by the kangaroo’s nasty claws. Retreat, but do not turn your back and run. A kangaroo can easily chase you down, kicking as it hops.

At the internal link, 2 of the stories show kangaroos attempting to drown somebody's dog:

November 2009... 49 Year old Chris Rickard was walking around his property together with his dog, a blue heeler named Rocky. They stumbled upon a sleeping kangaroo, who woke up and tried to get away, chased by the dog Rocky. The kangaroo them jumped in to the water and the dog followed. In a self defence move typical for kangaroos the kangaroo grabbed the dog with its front paws and held it under water to drown it....

July 2004...  Christine Canham was walking her four golden retrievers around Dunlop Ponds in Canberra's northern suburbs when her dog, Summer, had a run-in with a kangaroo who then held him under water and drowned him. Drought conditions have made the kangaroos change their usual behaviour and become active in daytime and fiercely defend water sources and feed patches....

"Beaver Dam Common Council voted to not allow kangaroos to be considered service animals after a woman brought her kangaroo into a McDonald’s."

Only dogs and miniature horses from now on.

ADDED: From the image-search annals of "therapy kangaroo":



That's not the Beaver Dam kangaroo.

That's the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma kangaroo, who "rides in a car seat, is dressed in a shirt and pants each day and is rarely away from his doting caretaker."

"Woman with kangaroo asked to leave McDonald's/Woman claimed kangaroo was service animal."

The news from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

"Hooroo, where's the poo?"

My favorite headline today.

ALAN Cooper specialises in ancient DNA. When he came to Australia in 2005 to be director of the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, he was keen to find and analyse the droppings of the country's megafauna, creatures such as giant marsupial diprotodon and the giant short-faced kangaroo, which became extinct more than 45,000 years ago.

Karl Pilkington!

There's a little article about this hilarious man in today's NYT:

Karl Pilkington has debated the merits of eating a kangaroo's penis for breakfast, envisioned a wristwatch that counts down the time left in a person's life and proposed a new population control system in which elderly women give birth at the moment of their deaths. He has mused on topics ranging from caveman "bear pants" to dishwashers on Mars, and reported "news stories" about the triumphs of chimpanzees as bricklayers and television talk show hosts. In so doing, Mr. Pilkington, a 33-year-old unemployed radio producer from Manchester, England, has become the object of a global Internet cult, a Guinness world record-holder and the unlikely harbinger of a technological revolution.

Mr. Pilkington is the breakout star of "The Ricky Gervais Show," a podcast presided over by Mr. Gervais, the British comedian behind "The Office" and "Extras," and his co-writer and co-director, Stephen Merchant. In its brief, 12-episode run this winter, the program, available on the Web site of The Guardian (guardian.co.uk/rickygervais), has racked up nearly three million free downloads, the most ever for a podcast, according to the Guinness book. While these numbers reflect the international popularity of Mr. Gervais, the program's title is a bit misleading. The show is almost entirely devoted to the esoteric ramblings of Mr. Pilkington, whom Mr. Gervais has called both "the funniest man in Britain" and "that little bald-headed Manc idiot."

Of course, you've listened to these podcasts, haven't you? If not... you're so lucky! You have so much fun ahead of you. Gervais alone is great, but Gervais talking to Pilkington -- sublime!

I love the way the two are so completely dumb and smart at the same time. Like, in the 12th podcast, when they start talking about Wittgenstein's remark that if a lion could speak, we wouldn't be able to understand him. Gervais restates Wittgenstein's point so crisply that it's clear how smart Gervais is, and Pilkington starts down a thoroughly Pilkingtonesque line of thinking: it would depend on the lion, maybe you could understand a lion in the London zoo, better than a worm at least, what could a worm tell you, even if it is English, etc. It's so purely stupid, yet you'd have to be quite brilliant to be capable of saying it.

...

Somewhat related: I talk about that Wittgenstein quote, Koko the Gorilla, and Mardi Gras.

Some Madison things.

1. Madison has its own minimum wage now, after a judge today rejected the argument that only the state can set the minimum wage. So now the state minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, and the city minimum wage is $5.70. The minimum wage will rise to $6.50 in 2006 and $7.75 in 2008.

2. The local paper, the Capital Times, has an editorial today calling on Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl to object to the presidential election results from Ohio. The paper thinks it would be a good idea to "focus attention" on the "irregulaties" that occurred in Ohio.

3. A 150-pound red kangaroo was found hopping along the highway near here, and no one seems to know where it came from. The poor thing must have been cold. It's been snowing like mad. They're taking him in over at the zoo.