Good Ideas, Bad “Ideas”
One of the problems I run into on a daily basis is having too many ideas. Not that I have so many, but regarding the Wren’s Nest at least, everybody’s got an idea. Rather, everyone has an opinion, and sometimes they confuse these with ideas and tell me about them.
Example: “I have an idea! Disney should do something about the Wren’s Nest! After all, Song of the South is one of the top 100 grossing films of all time, the Splash Mountain ride is based on Song of the South, and Disney still makes a lot of money off of the memorabilia.
Since Disney has refused to release Song of the South on videotape or DVD, they have effectively kept the stories recorded by Joel Chandler Harris in the dark to millions who otherwise would have been exposed to them. Meanwhile the Wren’s Nest, a veritable treasure from the past, barely scrapes by until it reaches the point of closing for lack of money to pay the electricity bill.
Disney should really do something about this.”
This is not an idea. It’s a diatribe sandwich. Opinion –> Loose Assembly of Facts –> Opinion Repeated + probably some sad-sack head shaking.
Then, there are the ideas that aren’t so much ideas as fantasies.
Example: “I have an idea! The Wren’s Nest should put on a concert series, a weekly movie on the lawn, and a handful of weddings per week. Then you should restore the house and the grounds. Then you should have a parade. And crown me as the queen. Then attendance would increase.”
It’s not that these “ideas” are bad, they just aren’t all that feasible over the next couple of days.
Once in a while, I do come across a good idea that is feasible, valuable, and totally do-able.
Example: On April 14th at 10:00 am, the Wren’s Nest will host a writer’s* cleanup day. Writers will (a) (community) service the Nest; (b) drink free beer; (c) eat free food; (d) experience live music; (e) network (does that mean hang out?) with other writers in this most glorious / appropriate of settings.
Thank you Duck and Herring.
Beer from Twain’s and food from Steinbeck’s would be best. Maybe, just maybe the owners of Twain’s and Steinbeck’s read this blog. Want to help, dudes? Err, ladies?
Sounds good, huh. I’m glad we can agree on something. If you are a writer or know someone who’s a writer, you’re invited. Tell like-minded or like-employed folks! Free beer!
If you aren’t a writer or know people who aren’t writers, y’all should go hang out …somewhere else.
*yes, bloggers count.
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Amber Suitt
Program Director
Lain Shakespeare
Executive Director
6 Comments to Good Ideas, Bad “Ideas”
So, oddly enough, I was thinking about the whole Disney/JCH issue on the plane yesterday. What is the copyright situation with the stories? As in, how did disney get the rights to them in the first place? Does disney have a trademark on Briar Rabbit? If so, couldn’t you get one on Bre’r Rabbit? Consider sending in your story/info to BoingBoing.com- great readership and they have a lot of IP specialists who comment on the site. Lain, when I become the best Copyright/Trademark attorney in the world (or at least south of the mason-dixon) I promise to take your case pro-bono. You’ll just have to wait 3 years while I learn all this stuff. . .
Erin, here’s what I know about the copyright situation: in 1939 the Harris family sold “the rights” to Disney for $10,000.
I have the contract in my office; however, our copyright lawyer-in-residence respectfully declined to go over it with me since his firm represents Disney.
So, I haven’t taken much time to look at it. Whether or not that’s wise, who is to say, but in the mean time we have other things to attend to such as paying the bills and rocking as hard as possible all the time.
If anyone out there wants to take a look at it, by all means be my guest. But until I become best friends with a top Disney official or meet a little someone known as “Oprah,” I’m not going to sweat it.
Oh, and Erin. Sorry to ignore your boingboing comment: great idea! I’m actually listening to the podcasts of Cory Doctorow’s class at USC about DRM and copyright law. For those of you who are novices at this whole internet thing, boingboing.net is one of the most popular blogs out there. I’ll submit something to them if one day I go on a Disney tirade.
[...] We’re making a comeback, bigtime, and you can help. Visit us! Be it for a tour or for our bloggers/writers cleanup (near the end), we just want you around. If you can’t come, tell someone else that we’re still around. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, maybe a summer internship is in order. [...]
I found it, yes, I found this wonderful movie, Song Of The South, on dvd AND at a price I can afford! The quality is great, I’m happy and I know my grandchildren will be happy, also (I bought 3 of them)!
Oh, you can contact me at mikem311@comcast.net or go to http://www.songofthesouth4me.net/ and get it from them, directly.