The Sando Presents

I’ve been making a bunch of remix comics based on the Section 92a cartoon by New Zealand’s gift to comix, Dylan Horrocks

Here’s some  of them.

Continue reading …The Internet!

On Wednesday I get to take down the sign at HAPPY Bar that says “All recording is prohibited” for an entire hour. It’s terribly exciting as any large festival, like The New Zealand International Comedy Festival, that has a lot of media coverage tends to have fairly restrictive conditions surrounding what can and can’t be done in regards to performances under their control. Thankfully after some discussion with the Comedy Festival people, I was given the permission to go ahead and release my multimedia sketch show Emissary as a Creative Commons document, (specifically the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand License) and allow my audience to record my stuff for their further remixing pleasure. So yeah, I’m pretty stoked that Emissary is the first show to be released under the Creative Commons license in the seventeen year run that the Comedy Festival has had.

The reasons why I want to release Emissary are pretty varied, but there are a couple of pretty big reasons:

1. Emissary is about the internet, and how I am part of it. Morally I couldn’t just riff on the internet without saying it was okay for other people to do the same. Well, I could, but that would be a dick move.

2. I want people to feel like they have a measure of ownership over the satire and amusement that was produced for them, and I want them to feel like they can use it, that they can share it and that they can build upon it. You buy access to an event with a ticket, you should be allowed to have a record of it under your own control too.

3. Remember Section 92a of the Copyright Act? I had started piecing together the show when the Labour Government had just flagrantly lied that the public had not bothered to consult with them on the bill. I was still writing it when the protest at the Bee Hive happened because the new government were just as asinine as the last. Possibly more so. That got me steamed, and I realised that if I didn’t actually step up and release my stuff in a way that allowed others the same rights that I desperately wanted, I would be at the mercy of what ever small to middle sized industries (like a teen with a bottle of scrumpy, it don’t take much) bought out New Zealand politics. The license is a toasty little jacket that keeps me from freezing in the open air of the public domain and suffering heat stroke inside copyright.

4. Some of what I’m doing is satire. New Zealand is no Guatemala, where you can be thrown into jail for a twit or seditious Youtube video and I’m no Jonathan Swift, but gosh darn it we kiwis have a healthy respect for the law. This way if one of my ideas takes off the other nerdly and diligent kiwis will be able to share the idea, and an idea can only grow if people have access to it.

And that’s why I use that Creative Commons thing for Emissary.

For National Pie in the face day, myself, my visual biographer (David Coyle) and Doctor Matthew Arrowsmith tested which pies were best for getting in the face. What I discovered actually shocked me. Because the traditional cream pie was actually incredibly nasty. Getting hit with one of those lactic bombs was enough to destroy me for half an hour. A shaving cream pie was effective enough, but god, it burnt my eyes. One time my little brother sprayed rexona 24 hour anti persperant into my eyes, I remember trying to wash it out of my eyes, and having clumps fall out of them. TO be fair, it wasn’t as painful as the deoderant day, but still… not too pleasant.

What you are seeing in the photo is a steak and cheese pie test. Make sure that you cool your pie down somewhat otherwise you will scald your face. I’d suggest if you are to be using a meat pie, that you make sure it’s a well known brand, like Mrs Mac’s or Hangi in a Pie. They seem to have more disturbing texture to them, and it makes the pied question, just for a second, that maybe their face has exploded. That’s the sort of fear I am after.

Emissary tickets can be bought here. It will be a fun night