So we have been bookmarking a lot of articles about piracy lately, presumably with an eye towards writing something on the subject. However, we do not currently have an original narrative running through our heads in regards to the subject.

When this sort of thing happens, the results ain’t pretty. The links get buried behind newer links, only to be discovered when no longer topical. They are then decommissioned, and forgotten.

This being Friday, we decided to try something new — we will just dump the whole thing out in the coffee and see what falls out.

So … we have A photographer suing Rhianna, claiming that his photo shoot with the singer provided the inspiration for her latest music video.

India fighting against the copyrighting of Yoga poses by releasing traditional poses as public domain material.

Movie studios managed record box offices in 2010. Again. Still the studios are claiming that movie piracy is destroying their business, meaning that we will continue to be exposed to those ridiculous advertisements before movies and on legitimately purchased DVDs.

Also, 3D Printing has had its first copyright fight.

Perhaps you can sense why we have a lack of narrative forming.

The first two seem (to us) to be fallout of the third. The movie industry — and its friend, the music industry — has such clout that it has managed to warp copyright law into a giant hammer. This hammer is so big that its mere existence creates abuse (the second example), and the continual attempt to end “fair use” provisions creates an environment where artists feel like they are owed for having inspired others.

Let’s be honest — being inspired by somebody’s artistic vision, making a music video on that basis, and not hiring that person in some sort of role for the video is a pretty dick move. But it’s not a copyright violation – or, at least, it should not be. There is a difference between being inspired by and copying something; a video is simply not a copy of a photograph.

And the 3D printing? Well, that’s the future of copyright battles. Before the movies, we are told “you wouldn’t download a car”.

But why not?

Image from seemingly everywhere on the Internet. Original creator unknown.
Webcomic is Red Meat by Max Cannon.

Christmas is over, New Year’s fast approaching, and that means one thing here at the Big Bad Blog: it’s time to count down our top five posts of the year.

5: Feeding Baby

You may see a wee bit of Maggie-content here in the top five this year. Apparently we here in the Topp household were not the only ones to get excited about the prospect of a little Topp.

Karen spent most of the year pregnant, and we both read (voraciously) whatever we could find regarding pregnancy and newborn babies. When I learned that the baby could taste what Karen was eating while pregnant, and that this would influence her food choices later in life … well, I had to write about it, and let the whole of the Internet know.

4: Little Buddha

The only entry in the photoblog section of the blog — which is too often neglected in favour of using Flickr — is the post Little Buddha.

I was on a work trip in Sofia, Bulgaria, and staying in a little apartment. In the apartment was a tiny statue of a Buddha. My mind immediately jumped to the idea of a self-portrait, in a yoga pose, with the Buddha balanced on me.

I’m not sure why I do not get more creative photographic ideas. But when I do get such an idea, they tend to be pulled off well. I love this photo, and am quite happy that it made the top five of the year:

3: Heartbeat/Drumroll, please

These were actually number three and four on the list, neck-and-neck, but I have decided to combine them here, as they are so similar in nature.

In Heartbeat, I announced to the world that Karen was pregnant. In Drumroll, please … I announced to the world that the baby was a girl.

In both instances, there was much rejoicing.

2: Party Briefing: The Conservatives

There was an election in the UK earlier this year, and in the run-up I did some background reading on the three major parties, and shared my findings (and opinions) with the Internet at large.

The article on the Conservative party was far and away the most popular of the three, garnering over ten times the number of views for either the Liberal Democrats or the Labour party.

Here at the Big Bad Blog, we do not know what to make of this. Can hits to our little blog help to predict election outcomes? Or were many of those who voted Tory less sure of how to cast their votes than those who voted for Labour or the Lib Dems, and spent more time researching the party?

While a single election is surely not statistically significant, we here at the Big Bad Blog like to believe that we can see into the future.

1: Tattoos: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Once again, the top post of the year at the Big Bad Blog has far outstripped the others on the list in terms of views. While it certainly cannot compare to last year’s number one, which still holds down all our blog records, this look at lovely and hideous tattoos has simply generated steady traffic since being posted in March — as opposed to the sudden spike generated by the Marshmallow Man that had me worried that the site might go down.

While in Sofia, I bought a new lens.

The apartment I was staying in had this little Buddha statue.

In other words, this — or something like it — was inevitable.

All photos can be seen in a larger size by clicking, as usual.