I'm leaving the internet scene for a while.

Jack is coming back to America tonight. We're taking a week vacation to the south where we wont have internet access much at all. But after that, I obviously plan on spending basically all my time with him. I haven't seen him face to face in over a year, and I'm extremely anxious to. We might pop in once in a while onto Youtube or onto my Stream ([link]) and ([link]) to say hi to everyone and to tease people XP But we're probably going to be very busy over all. I won't be working on videos or much drawing on the computer at all. I mean I might be gone a week, maybe a month or 3 months or more. I can't say for sure.

All I can say is to those who have been fans, friends, and people I can just talk to generally and have a nice time I thank for being there and supporting me over this year. If it weren't for all you guys and the friends I've made, I think Jack and me would have gone mad with depression. It's been a very entertaining year on the interwebz. I am a bit down on the lack of communication with the friends and fans I've made, but this take priority by far. The only ones who can't understand something like that are just immature children, so there's nothing really to worry about without laughing off I suppose!

I hope everyone has a great summer, I know I will.

Viva la RE

-Leggy

Hey there every peoples!

I know maybe a lot of you don't care, but I figured here on D.A. I draw a load more of my friends and Stream-related stuff, jokes, inside jokes, things we do together etc. So I figured I may as well tell you all about the new website I got up and running!

See, Freewebs is a biotch, and only allows 20 navi links in the navi bar. (Navi Link, >_> XD) But yeah, on my normal website and the fan work website were starting to run outta room, so I deleted the Stream related stuff (except the actual Stream itself) and made an entire website dedicated to just that! It's not fully done yet, I still have a big page left to create as well as a profile, peoples heights (XD) and a few other smaller things too; but as of now I feel it's completed enough to show to everyone! Like I said I know not many will care, maybe the fans (who are usually over obsessed or fickle) then other people who like 'Teh Stream' (2.0) and assume that means they're 'IN' even though they don't really get the concept at all or disrespect the real, original members and use the name as if it's theirs and.... sigh, well yeah. XD

Like I said, I'm sure not many people will care; when you stop and think about it only a handful of people are fans of 'Teh Stream' and half of them are usually a bit crazy and turn on you at the drop of a hat XD But I mean, I guess it was more of a dedication to my friends too, really. So far all who've seen it really liked it and we got all warm and fuzzy XD Enough rambling though! Basically, if you're interested in learning anything about Teh Stream or the official, original Admins and friends, you can check it out.

Here ya go! [link]

**FIXED LINKS**

Okay. Apparently this is a scare going around that in a nutshell says that people WITH copyrights might get screwed over and have their work literally stolen, and it will be perfectly legal. This is all copy and pasted from a website I've been told about. Read through if you want. I heard this was attempted to be passed as a law but was denied many times. But now it's brought up again so... if you're an artist of any kind and hope for a copyright someday when you make it big, then try and stop this bullshit law from going through. Contact info is listed below, as well as more detailed explanations of what could happen. Tell your friends.

Originally from:
[link]
[link]
[link]
Contact your U.S. Elected Officials here: [link]

***EDIT***

Here is a counter argument [link] as a response to the other article.


Here is a petition to sign about this bill: [link]


***END EDIT***


Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art


"As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress.

In fact, it PISSES ME OFF!

As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you've ever created!

An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission.

If you don't like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with the Illustrators' Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork.

Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.

What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries.

These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work.

It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away.

With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense.

This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk!

If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.

In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS!

Why is this allowed to happen? APATHY and MONEY.

Artists have apathy and corporations have money.

We need to be heard in order to protect our incomes, our creations and our careers. GET OFF YOUR ASS!

That means writing letters to our congressmen and representatives. That means voicing your opinion about how we need copyright protection, as we've had since 1976, that protects everything we create from the moment we create it. This is the case around the world.

However, an Orphan Works bill is also in the works in Europe. I was speaking recently with Roger Dean, the famed artist of the Yes album covers, and he is greatly concerned with what will happen if Orphan Works bills become law.

"This will devastate the livelihood of artists, photographers and designers in a number of ways," Dean says. "That at the behest of a few hugely rich corporations who got rich by selling art that they played no part in the making of, the U.S. and U.K. governments are changing the copyright laws to protect the infringer instead of the creator. This is unjust, culturally destructive and commercial lunacy. This will not just hurt millions of artists around the world.

"On the other side of the coin, what argument will a U.S. court have with a Chinese company that insists it did its research in China and found nothing? If the cost of this is onerous for a U.S.-based artist, what will it be like for artists and small businesses in emergent economies?"

If an artist whose work is as famous as Roger Dean's is concerned with this legislation, it should be of great concern for all of us.

The people, associations and companies behind the Orphan Works bill state that orphaned works have no value. If that were true, no one would want them. However, these same companies DO WANT your work, they just don't want to pay for it. If someone wants something, IT HAS VALUE. It's pretty simple.

Some major art and photography associations, or I should say, the managers of the associations, support this bill. The reason they support it is that they will operate some of the registries and stand to make a lot of money. Some have already been given millions of dollars by the Library of Congress. Follow the money and you will see why some groups support this bill of legalized theft of everything you have ever created.

Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans?

Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn't do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates.

For years we've heard of Hollywood fighting with China to protect copyrights and stop the pirating of DVDs. Our government has worked with the studios to protect their investment.

Our government is NOW WORKING AGAINST US by allowing our own fellow citizens TO STEAL OUR CREATIVE WORKS.

It will be easy for them to get away with it unless we make ourselves heard.

Your calls and letters do work. I've seen many instances in which a single letter made a difference in public policy. Tens of thousands of calls and letters help even more.

This is not empty talk. I have written letters to my congressmen and I will do so again. I do what I can to let every creator know about terrible legislation like this... thus you are reading articles like this one and you can listen to interviews I've posted online.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR:
Go to [link] to quickly find the phone number, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator.

Forward this article to every creator you know and urge them to take a moment to protect their very livelihood. I am giving everyone the right to reprint this article in any form to help spread the word to protect our creative rights.

Instead of sitting around watching TV tonight, TiVo that show, write a letter and make yourself heard.

Letters to our government officials don't have to be long, but they should be heartfelt. A good story helps. Tell them who you are, how this legislation negatively affects you and that you want them to vote against the Orphan Works legislation. It's that easy!

If you don't, you will have only yourself to blame when you see other people making money from your art and you don't see a dime.

Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. "When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living," says Saviuk. "If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living."

"It would be impossible for me to register all my art," continues Saviuk. "It would put me out of business."

You can listen to my complete interview with Alex online. Think this doesn't apply to you? Maybe you don't license your artwork? How about this?

Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos... legally.

You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.

That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.

It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.

That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?

Do you think the U.S. Copyright Office is here to protect you from this legislation? Think again.

Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership shares his notes from a recent meeting with David O. Carson, general counsel of the Copyright Office.

Brad Holland: If a user can't find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn't the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work?

David O. Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries.

BH: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register?

DOC: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest!

This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON!

None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations.

The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can't create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They make contributions to congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you need to write your senators and representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It's that serious.

Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don't work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee:

"Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success."

A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned.

Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won't be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you've ever created.

This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it's not forced registration, but you won't have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can't stand for it!

There are many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on.

For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists.

This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW!

This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past two years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it.

Roger Dean sums this up well. "Where are the colleges and universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?"

GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LIST
To be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill and when to contact your legislators, send an e-mail and ask to be added to the Orphan Works list.

AUDIO INTERVIEW LINK
I have recorded a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership regarding this bill and what it means to us as artists. Please listen and learn more about how you may lose ownership of all your art and photos. This article and the recorded interview are available for anyone to use in print or online. Please forward this information to every person and group you know so that we can work together and protect our creations and livelihoods.

Mark Simon is an award-winning animation producer/director and speaker. He speaks around the world on subjects about art, animation and TV production. His copyrighted companies may be found online at [link] and [link]. He may be reached at marksimonbooks@yahoo.com.

Portions of this article use information and phrasing provided by the Illustrators' Partnership.




Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com."

~The Relationship~

My dear friend Mj made an extremely smart point to me last night.

The past two weeks, I've been pretty doubtful of myself on the subject of my relationship with my fans, friends, and those in between.

She told me that it's like a classroom. A huge online classroom with people of all ages, but anyway... In the situation, I was compared to as being the 'teacher', and the fans my 'students'.

In a classroom, there can be two types of teachers. There's the 'hip', cool, fun, young joking teacher. Hangs with the kids, talks their talk, gets along with all of them. Treats them more like friends, rather then pupils. In turn, the students like them, but can take things a little too far. "Oh, Miss So-and-So is cool, she won't mind if I do this!" ('this' being something either bad or discouraged in the 'classroom' ) In other words, chaos.

Then, there's the strict teacher. Firm but fair. To the immature, they can be seen as an asshole, a prude, or just uptight in general. But these are the 'classrooms' that usually have order; while the immature snicker and jeer behind the teachers back, it's generally a calm and happy place. As long as unprovoked, the teacher is calm and kind and treats the students fairly; even if not 'cool' or overly friendly.

If you can't understand the point trying to be made, I'll put it as blunt but fair as I can.

I cannot be best friends with everyone.

There is a border between friends and fans.

This doesn't mean I hate anyone, or treat people ' poorly' on purpose. I know there's a lot of people who are sour over the fact I don't talk to them as much as they feel I should. Not only do you have to consider that I have my own life and my own friends on here who I've known for over a year, but just as Mj said... it's a delicate relationship that can't really be stepped on. Not by me, or the fans. If I was BFF with everyone... I'd be expected to do a lot. Fine you can go ahead and call me mean, self centered, selfish, whatever. But I have to lay down the line somewhere.


~My Situation~

I'm not ALWAYS too busy to do things, like check up on comments and emails. I do in fact go through and read them, it's not as though I completely and utterly ignore them. It's the responses that becomes time consuming. It's not easy to answer 30 + emails a day, not to mention the things I receive here on DevArt. I've even had to abandon things like my websites forum; which now I check once every few weeks if I'm lucky. Literally combine all the things I have to check on here that await replies... you're looking at over 5 hours on the computer per day, JUST answering stuff and nothing else. And that's not even an exaggeration. (granted it may leave one or two days open, tops, for online activity other then answering things, but still).

I'm not trying to say this to sound high and mighty, or even that I want so much attention. It's a delicate subject really. While it's almost any artists dream to be 'discovered' in whatever way, the attention still hits me by surprise and is not always easy to handle. But it's not like I want to give it all up either, because I'm grateful for it, as I said, it's almost like a dream come true, even if only on the internet. I'm not the best, but I try my best, and I'm thankful for the support given to me.

But at the same time, there's many people who want to talk to me, personally. Maybe they realize it, maybe they don't, but it's an indirect contest really. Who can grab my attention the most? The people who wish to befriend me and speak to me personally, maybe they really just don't realize that they aren't the only one. There are many others, and while they don't see it.... I do. I see every comment and email and gift. Some people are simply kind hearted and honest. Others only SEEM that way. And others are pretty blunt with their selfish desires.

I simply cannot talk to and reply to everyone 24/7. It's even difficult to do over a long period of time. I don't know if anyone can understand the guilt I feel when I only reply to some comments/emails, and I just get tired... tired of repeating the same thing or just answering to people in general and need a long break. it's not fun leaving hopeful people in the dark. And so, I have to say all this.


~Gratitude and Disgust~

Then there's the sneaky people. I know how the cliche` 'thing that annoys Leggy' is people asking favors, whether it be "Put me in a video!" or "Make me your best friend!" or "Draw me something!" While these type of questions can get tiresome... at least those people are honest with what they want. It's the sneaky people I cannot stand.

You can go ahead and give me your own thoughts on this, whoever you are. But there are some people who do or say things only in hopes of being given a favor in return. I don't know if my thought on this is selfish or not. But I view the things I receive... whether it be a Subscriber/Watcher, a fan video, a fan art or just anything that is basically given to me, I consider it a gift or present. I consider it something the person did for me because they -wanted- to, as an act of kindness. The sneaky people however, they do these things only to boost their own chances, either with befriending me or getting a favor from me in return. And that's not what a gift is. A gift, as I said before, is given out of kind selflessness.

I even consider the videos/drawings I made as such. I made them for fun, for people to enjoy. I never expected anything in return. Not fans, not art, not tributes, nothing. I did it because I wanted to, because it was fun and because I wanted to share my viewpoints and humor with other fans of the RE series. I can only assume as much for the kind things people give to me. Out of kindness and simple trying to make someone feel good... not expecting some sort of reward in return. The most I can give is adding the nice things I've received into my favorites section. It's my way of letting you know that I appreciate what you do. It's much easier here then on YT, considering the 500 limit set to video favorites.


~Conclusion~

I hope this made sense to everyone, and I'm sorry it was so much to read. Sometimes I'm just not sure if everyone can understand exactly what I go through, and the decisions I must make along the way. I know they're not always the best choices, but some of them I simply must do. I must take a stand and let it be known that I just simply cannot help every single fan I have. And yes, I understand not everyone is the same, like some sort of clone army of faceless people. We're all different, we're only human.

If you don't want to read all this or didn't understand, I'm basically saying I can't be everyones best friend.

Some of you may see me as more of a friend then I can actually offer. And I'm sorry for that. But I can't always be there, I can't always hold your hand, I can't solve your problems, I can't always help. It's nothing personal, or that I don't want to or care.... I really just can't. I can only wish you the best.

This really is just a big classroom. I have to be firm.

I can't make everyone happy, but I can at least keep order in my own life, as well as the pupils who are willing to be mature about it and understand the rules and why I am the way I am.

Those who jeer and snicker at my strictness, whispering dirty thoughts and rumors are simply the students who have, and will learn nothing, and thus be left in the cold with their failure; and only have the teacher to blame for their own faults.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read and listen.

-Leggy


***EDIT, PLEASE READ***

I also have to mention something that maybe I didn't make clear.

I'm a little tired to read back in my journal, but to some people I may have come off as really generalizing all my fans as simply that 'everyone' only wants my attention or simply be put in a video. That's not the case and I'm sorry if it came off as so.

I know not everyone is selfish, and I know not everyone simply wants favors of me, or my attention. Like I said before, I usually really do READ all my emails... it's the REPLYING that can become very weary. Not only to those who ask favors or attention.

There are some people, as it was put, that only want to have a simple conversation of common interests and beliefs. It's another reason why I can feel so guilty about my neglect in responses. I can remember back in the day it was much more simple to keep up- I'd have maybe 10 different conversations going on in pen-pal-like emails, all about something different. Now, I have probably around 100 in depth emails as such, where if I replied with a one-word answer, would only be insulting to the sender.

So while not every email is about personal favors and desires, it doesn't make it any easier or less guilty to be unable to reply to everyone; even those who simply want a nice conversation.

I mentioned it on one of my comment replies; but that's one of the reasons I made my forum. My opinion isn't the only important one. I know some people are interested in my opinion, but since I can't always give it, you can always talk about your interests and viewpoints with others who love the same subjects as much as you do!

Here, I'll even post the link. You don't need an account to be a part of it: [link]

And I'm sorry if not all the topics you want are there, if I can I'll add more later, and like I said, I haven't really had the time to keep up with it anymore. There's a nice big section about Resident Evil, as well as a mini section about Super Smash Bros. and other games, and then some of the top sections you can talk about art, videos, or anything you want to share.

(I hope that doesn't come off as self-promotion, I really do just want to help though, it's the most I can think of; Thank you)

Yo! This place is way more calm and civil then Youtube is. Although I haven't been on much of ANYTHING lately I suppose. I've been pretty busy. I DID have an idea for a Valentines-like video, but I just became really busy between my birthday, spending time with friends, my job, and simply keeping up with the fans. In fact, I'm gonna make another poll I think.

But yeah, I'm still gonna be pretty busy. I'm sure it's safe to say here but... I am busy with one thing and it is a video. BUT! It's not exactly a video like normal. I'm not gonna get into detail, and it probably won't be ready for like another month or a few weeks maybe. But yeah, it's gonna keep me on my toes for a while.

So, thanks everyone for the nice birthday wishes! And if you've sent me questions or greetings or even pictures on Youtube, I'm really sorry I haven't answered at all lately. It's not easy keeping u, in fact it's virtually impossible to reply to every email and comment I get, that is, unless I'm expected to sit here for 24 hours straight, wait a few days and do it all over again. Fucked! But yeah, I hope it's not an inconvenience to anyone. I'll make more videos once I'm able, and have the motivation.

Please be honest on the poll! I'm curious.

-Leggy

Teh Stream Gang:


Mj......... Zero....... Rich...... Vix....... Leon..... Envy...... Ryman