************************************************************** * * * CYBERSPACE * * A biweekly column on net culture appearing * * in the Toronto Sunday Sun * * * * Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer * * Free for online distribution * * All Rights Reserved * * Direct comments and questions to: * * * * * ************************************************************** Back in January 1999 I reported on the near death of the popular International Lyrics Server (www.lyrics.ch). The International Lyrics Server let users search through a data base of over 100,000 popular songs lyrics. On January 14, Swiss police, responding to a criminal copyright violation complaint filed on behalf of eight music publishing companies, shut down the International Lyrics Server. Luckily for those searching for the words to the latest Barenaked Ladies song, the site's founder Pascal de Vries didn't walk away from his creation. While simultaneously trying to fight the criminal charges, he entered into negotiations to secure the rights to republish song lyrics with the Harry Fox Agency, which represents the interests of thousands of music publishing companies. The negotiations were a success and the site is back up. Sort of. Not many song lyrics are actually available yet. It seems the Fox Agency has to approve each song before it's posted. This could take a while... Meanwhile, there's a smaller lyrics archive at www.bigfoot.com/~songlyrics that might hold you. So It Goes Speaking of lyrics, a nearly two year old cyber-hoax has taken on a new, odder dimension. On June 1, 1997, Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune published a cute little parody of a commencement address. It began with the now immortal and sage advice "Wear sunscreen." A month later, for reasons unclear, the text of her column started getting passed around via email. The email claimed it was a transcript of a real commencement address given by the compound-sentence avoiding humorist Kurt Vonnegut. Lots of people seemed to get flustered when the hoax was revealed. Vonnegut's wife received the email and was fooled by it. Vonnegut, winner of some of science fiction's highest literary awards, actually loathes computers. The hoax didn't do a lot to change his opinion on the social benefits of automation. Just as the matter was settling back into obscurity, a musician named Baz Lurhman has released Schmich's text set to a funky musical beat. Lurhman's "(Everybody's Free) To Wear Sunscreen" single has been climbing the dance charts. Schmich's text is pretty clever (you can read it at www.wesselenyi.com/speech.htm), although it doesn't really sync well to music. Still, lines like "Keep your old love letters / Throw away your old bank statements" and "Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room" deserve to be celebrated in song. It's better advice than "get jiggy with it" or some such drivel. If you really want to read Vonnegut's most recent commencement addresses, see www.duke.edu/~crh4/vonnegut/mit.html. Star Bores In a column back in February 1999, I noted Toronto Star Wars fans were fully prepared to line up a month before the May 19 release of the new Star Wars film. The line started May 5, not quite a fully insane month before the release. Those unable to join the line "fun" and hoping to live vicariously (something you seem to do more when you're older) were disappointed to find that the Toronto line page at starwars.countingdown.com/lines was underutilized. Other than some note about a pre-line "bash" at Swiss Chalet (was someone's grandmother organizing this?), there weren't a lot of exciting details made available. The Electric Bean cybercafe's line web cam at www.electricbean.com/lineup.html promised daily photos although only a few dismal photos were ever posted. And they didn't even look like Star Wars fans, more like squatters on Parliament Hill. Nary an impromptu lightsaber battle. Cool Text If you plan to spend a few hours lined up around a block waiting to get into see /Star Wars/, here's some neat text files you can download to your Palm Pilot and read to occupy yourself in line. In 1994 cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling wrote an interesting non-fiction book called /The Hacker Crackdown/. As the title implies, it's a book about hackers and law enforcement officials. Sterling simultaneously released a "literary freeware" version to the net. It's a great read and you can download the complete work at lonestar.texas.net/~dub/hackcrck.html. Bill Maher's TV show /Politically Incorrect/ is one of those shows I'd like to stay up late to watch but the demands of a day job prevent me from catching it. One can read the amusing transcripts at abc.go.com/pi/forum/word_index.html.