Stealing My Stuff
Another Rant by jefF!
Update:05/2004
As I write this, it's been a few years
since writing the rant originally appearing on this page. While the rant
still applies and I believe any and all of you should read it if you
haven't already, I'm adding in this foreword just to simply remind
everyone what my requirements are for using my pictures in
publications/websites, etc.
Terms and Conditions for using the
pictures a/o writings from this web site.
Anyone is free to use my images for the goodwill and promotion of
YOURSELF or YOUR CAST for the betterment of Rocky Horror in general,
provided the following requirements are met
1. YOU GIVE ME
CREDIT!
This is imperative. NOTHING pisses me off more than seeing my pictures
somewhere and I am not credited with taking them. I have NEVER asked for
any financial compensation or special consideration to do this - I ONLY
WANT CREDIT. I prefer to be credited either as jefF@midnightmadness.org,
or jefF from Midnight Madness, or simply
"jefF" (with little
"j", big "F", as I've digitally signed my work with
for the past several years). Beware some of the pictures on this site
were taken by other people as well, such as George from Midnight
Madness. If in doubt, e-mail
me.
2. A link back
to the page you got it from.
Though not necessary, it would be nice. Also mailing me, jefF@midnightmadness.org,
to let me know where you use them too is also a nice thing to do, just
for my curiosity. I do this so people can see what I do and get to know
me, and that helps me desire to continue to do this.
Unlike most sites, I DO currently
allow hotlinking to
my images here, HOWEVER it comes with
the stipulation that it MUST be used ONLY
on a primarily Rocky Horror related page/site,
and with the caveat that YOU DO THIS "AT YOUR OWN RISK"
as I am free/prone to rename things and move
things around on a whim, so your links to dozens of my pictures may
suddenly break because I simply want to change the name of a directory
or files (or even shitcan hotlinking altogether). I certainly would not recommend hotlinking on pages/boards/blog
comments/etc. that you can not edit (as
someone that hotlinked an image of mine in all of their posts
on a message board, but now has nothing to show for it but my cast logo
popping up on all of their posts, will attest to).
3. You DO NOT
use the images for any malicious intent.
E.G. You do not use them to make fun of other people,
Rocky Horror Casts, or Rocky
Horror in general. Before you go quoting me "fair use /
parody" garbage, you better do your homework and be sure it
qualifies, as MANY times it simply does not. This is a good example of a
parody using one of our images. The following original rant
is a perfect example of what will NOT fly with me...
best all,
jefF@midnightmadness.org
My Original Rant from 12/2000
With the posting of
my photos from the 25th anniversary Rocky Horror convention in Vegas I
think it's time for a review and a rant.
Okay so what exactly is stealing my stuff and what isn't? In the past I've had
people steal my custom logos, backgrounds, and one ninny even stole my whole Ultimate
Links Page and put it on their site (the idiot even left my personal
comments in it with my name and everything!), but so far I haven't minded much
with this stuff.
What do I mind?
I've been taking pictures for various RHPS
functions for a while now. I do it because people like to see themselves in
action and doing something they love, and I love to help them with that. I've
never made a big deal about it when I've found my work on other people's pages
and I don't know about it, though it doesn't really thrill me if they don't give
me a credit or a link. Again I have to ask you, if you are going to take
pictures from me PLEASE just say that I took the picture and/or link back to my
page. I've never asked for any money or special consideration or recognition to
do this. I do it so people actually come to my page or get to know who I am. I
very much enjoy being a part of this community and Conventions are a big part of
it. When you take my work and put it on your page without saying it's from me you are doing completely the opposite of what I'm trying to get from this.
Not only am I not getting the recognition for my work, but they are not even
trying to find my stuff because it's on your pages! This isn't to say that I
mind that it is on pages other than my own. ALL I WANT IS CREDIT.
Credit. That's it.
Plain and simple. Nothing more.
If
you are a member of the RHPS community and you see a picture or two that you
like on my page (be reasonable, if there are more than a few just link to the
page on my site), you don't even have to ask me (though I would like to know
where my stuff is, so e-mail me to tell me if you can) just follow my
instructions here and it's yours to put on your Rocky Horror web site, or
personal site IF you are a fan of Rocky Horror (you'll see why I make this
disclaimer in a second).
Understand, this is my last effort as far as telling people this. The picture on
the right is an example of how all of my Vegas pics were going to look this time
around. As it turns out this is a royal pain in the ass to do, but if I keep
finding my stuff on other peoples sites with no credit I am going to pull every
picture off of my site until I can mark them all like this. I really don't want
to do that though.
But the rant is not really about this as I consider this a very small
issue. Now onto the nitty gritty...
So I was making the rounds in the newsgroup to see
if there were any Vegas picture sites that I might have missed to add the URL to
my page and I came across post from Liz
from SOTF in one of the threads on the newsgroup and decided to check out her site to
see if she had any pics or links. There I found one of "the infamous
fliers" on her web page. For those of you who haven't heard the tale, there
is currently an individual (I believe it's several people, but one in particular)
that has been harassing the RH casts in California and in Los Angeles in
particular. It is also believed that this same person is the one responsible for
posting religious rhetoric all over Rocky Pages guest books (why our site still
doesn't have one). This person has obviously had some traumatic experience in
their life and feels that they must make up for it by passing their own form of
misery onto their fellow man by doing the "Christian" thing and
harassing innocent people behind the veil of righteousness and morality. One
of the actions that this person has taken to is distributing harassing and propaganda
fliers around Rocky Horror theaters. What follows here is one of those...
When I first saw this, my first instinct was to make fun of it (a parody
if you will), and that's what I'm about to do...
An open letter to the person who put this flyer together,
Okay first, when did you quit school you bible thumping hillbilly southern Baptist
hick? If you are going to slander people, why don't you pretend that you have
half a brain on your head and make an educated effort at it, or at least realize that you
are an uneducated moron and get someone to do it for you so as not to make your
close minded cause look as misguided and ignorant as you are. Why is it that
people who do this kind of crap are always so stupid?
~First off the document as a whole. RHPS performers are not "having sex" when they
perform. They are mimicking the actors on the screen. Basically, you aren't
seeing anything that already isn't on the screen in the first place, you dolt.
There is no unclothing to nudity, no penetration, no exchange of bodily fluids
(not that I've ever seen in a performance anyway). So if you believe that this
is "having sex", well then you go to it buddy boy. Find whatever woman
/ beast that feels sorry enough for you to "have sex" with you and do
it day and night like this. Have all the "sex" you want and I will
sleep well tonight knowing that you are the last of your lineage. Be sure to
educate all of your friends on this sexual technique too.
~Your capitalization is horrible and totally arbitrary. Capitalization of the
words; having (is there a special way they're "Having"
sex?), people (are they special "People"?), offensive (all right I'll give you this, you've got an obvious moral
/ superiority complex and I suppose you have to capitalize "Offensive"
to perpetuate it), illegal (hmmmm, must be very "Illegal"), minors (must be talking about members of baseball's
"Minor" League, I suppose). They actually capitalize this twice (also
in request #3), so I guess they really mean it!
But they don't capitalize
illegal again, so I guess this isn't as bad. :-(
So you have 3 requests, hmmmm.
Let's see #1 is a request, okay...
#2 is not a
request, it's a statement or a question (and a statement with very bad grammar
in fact, or a question with incorrect punctuation)...
#3 okay, it's a request
but it is so filled with errors it's not even funny (see above starting with
"First off..." and below).
Lessee... going back to #2... hmmm, still not a
request. So you only have 2 requests. It doesn't surprise me that you can't
count to three.
And on request #3, I love how you had to drop the size on the font about 8
points. Might want to actually plan out that document and make sure it all fits
next time before you start.
Then there is the picture; it says it's Liz "Having sex" at the "Nuart."
Actually, it's Liz performing at Denver Con in 1999 and the picture was
taken at the Mayan Theater there, and how do I know this...
It's why this is on this page as part of my rant.
The picture; it's mine!
Even though I've taken easily 20,000 pictures at RHPS in the past decade, I can
always spot a picture that I've taken, and sure enough when I went to check my
archive I found...
Here is the original picture. I think you'll have no doubt that this is indeed
MY picture (albeit distorted in the flier - I'd expect nothing less). I shot it
in Denver in 1999 and it was part of my Denver Con page. Now this image was on the
Sins of The Flesh web site (the cast
Liz is a member of). Due to a little oversight, I wasn't credited with the
picture on their page, (so let this be another side lesson to all of you as to
why I'd like to be credited for my work on your pages because this born again
village idiot using MY stuff to rip into something I love obviously pisses me
off). However, I seriously doubt that the person who stole it off of the web
site would have asked me permission to use the picture as you didn't ask the
Sins folks either, so I have a
message...
(enter not so nice jefF)
Let this be a warning to you and all of you so called Christians, right wing
activists, moralists or whatever the fuck it is you want to call yourself. I
don't care if you want to practice your close minded, racist, sexist, elitist,
or whatever views in the privacy of your own home or gatherings, but the second
you bring it into public, you open yourself to come under fire from anyone (and I'll
be at the head of the line to do it). And when you use MY material to do it,
you've opened yourself up to a lawsuit buddy. You have associated MY ASS with
your fucking ignorant ways now, and you've used MY COPYRIGHTED AND PROTECTED
material to do it with. Let me tell you, there is almost nothing on this
earth that gets me more aggravated. If you want to get your ass sued, this is
easily the best way to do it. I have a ton of legal ground to stand on here and
if you think I won't pursue this, think again. I might not be able to stop
your views, but I can sure stop the way you choose to spread them. Not with my
work asshole! Want to see which one of us can cause more trouble for the other?
Try me.
You pick on and slander people that I care about who are just having fun and
hurting no one and preach to them about doing the right and moral thing and what is legal,
and yet you go and clearly break the (International
Copyright) Law because it suits you and your cause? You, my dear mental
friend, are what they call a hypocrite. Wanna practice what you preach first, or
are you so warped and self centered that you believe that your cause justifies
your actions? It's like those idiots who bomb abortion centers and kill people
to try to stop it. Sorry, any means to the end does not justify ANY wrong doing.
You are an idiot. Get a life and stop bothering people. At the VERY LEAST least
stop using me to do it or be prepared to suffer the consequences.
Sincerely,
jefF - Midnight Madness, December 16th, 2000
Mail Me MMRHPSCast@aol.com
or jefF@midnightmadness.org
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