THE B-SIDE} The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 3B WEB NOTEBOOK YouTube sifts through legality to become video-clip Eden By Punit Mattoo Daily TV/New Media Editor Rare live performances, NBA highlight reels, obscure homemade films and even University stu- dents dressed as Pac-man meet in what has become a new sort of Internet video-clip heaven: YouTIbe. More popular - yet much less publicized - than Google Video, YouTube stands out as another Inter- net venture accelerating the evolution of video on demand, and Hollywood is just starting to notice. What started as a simple way for co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen to share video after a frustrating attempt to show dinner clips to friends has turned into one of the most popular sites of its kind, streaming nearly 15 million videos daily. Hurley previously worked at PayPal - the popu- lar Internet billing site - on a project used to beam money wirelessly, during which he learned how easy it is to share content along the multimedia avenue. With an investment from venture capitalist firm Sequoia, YouTube was born last year in Hur- ley's garage before launching last November. While fairly popular at the time, YouTube's exposure among the younger set exploded overnight after the TV premiere of "Saturday Night Live's" "Lazy Sunday" rap late last December. The clip's notoriety grew with each mention on blogs, e-mail and television, cementing its place in the pop-cul- ture lexicon and reviving interest in a show many had long since abandoned. Network heads at NBC Universal, however, faced the catch-22 so many record companies faced with Napster: Allow the sharing of copyrighted material to generate necessary buzz, or turn your back on those who brought you back into the limelight. Ultimately, the network issued an order for You- Tube to remove all versions of the clip in question and any other copyrighted material. You'bbe immediately complied. With a user policy specifically disallowing visi- tors to upload any copyrighted material, YouTube does not claim any infringement responsibility unless a copyright holder contacts them with a com- plaint. They then decide if the accusation is valid and remove the file immediately if need be. But the process leaves room for abuse by copy- right holders, Law Prof. Susan Kornfield said. "Online service providers like YouTube are going to react to a notice by just taking it down so they feel that copyright owners have the upper hand, because if they leave it now, they better be right," she said. "If you're a provider, you don't want to be on the phone with your lawyer all the time," she added. Regardless of the ever-expanding legal issues, media coverage and growing appreciation of the medium for web users' personal expression has helped the site reach astounding numbers - nearly 15 million videos streamed and 20,000 uploads per day - quickly surpassing Google's video collec- tion and the more established ifilm.com. Likewise, recalling memories of Napster's evolu- tion, corporate America has begun to take a positive interest in new technology and its potential benefits. YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan even revealed that large corporations such as Nike have secretly posted ads in an attempt at viral marketing, confus- ing their own legal departments. Companies have also entered into more official collaborations with the hope of catching even a slice of YouTube's rapidly growing audience. "Just as we have opened up opportunities for people and their personal contents, we potentially might open up for professionally produced contents on an official basis," Hurley said. MTV2 premiered clips from the new season of "The Andy Milonakis Show," while various bands and record labels have uploaded music videos with descriptive tags (much like photo site Flickr.com), allowing fans to locate them easily. With Hurley's adamant position that YouTube will remain a free service for all users, collabora- tions have become increasingly necessary to main- tain the expensive servers hosting videos. But will media companies, reeling from the sting of low ratings, lackluster sales and decreasing box-office receipts, abandon their long-standing fear of the Internet's uncontrollable nature? Sites have already popped up with easy step- by-step tutorials that teacher users to download the videos from Google and YouTube onto their hard drives - so what's to prevent them from becoming a Morpheus or Limewire in disguise? "With any open system, you're (going to) have a small percentage of people who take advantage of that," Hurley said. "We're constantly improving that and putting more flags and technology in place to control any kind of violations on our site." YouTube has responded in part by implement- ing a 10 minute maximum on uploaded videos and decreasing copyright-complaint response time. Legal distractions aside, YouTube is pushing forward with new innovations to enhance the com- munity. Networking sites like Myspace.com and Facebook.com continue to grow in popularity at an unprecedented rate, and YouTube looks to become the media epicenter of the Internet. It's a possibility Hurley attributes to company's small size and progressive thinking: "If you have a larger business like a Google, those guys move a lot slower, and we're going to be able to innovate faster and concentrate on the user," he said. "At this point, the larger companies are copying us - not necessarily developing for the user, just copying us." * FILM Continued from page 1B "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (Universal) We got California, we loved Luda in Miami. But suddenly no one from the original cast is around, and we're in the cramped, miniature streets of one of the most overhyped cities in the world? And no Luda nor Tyrese? We'd make some joke about being stuck in neutral, but this franchise should get jacked for parts. (June 16) "The Devil Wears Prada" (Fox) Based on one of chick-lit's most widely revered volumes, "Prada" details the exploits of Andrea (Anne Hathaway) as she watches her dream job become a nightmare at the hands of one fabulously sadistic boss (Meryl Streep). After "Brokeback Mountain," we know Hathaway has great ... let's say acting skills. And the ladies love this stuff. They love it. (June 30) "Superman Returns" (Warner Bros.) The Man of Steel will soar again. Despite a supposed curse on the role that led every recognizable actor to shun the part, despite a costume palette that might be more useful as a visual aid to teach preschoolers their primary colors - hey, even despite the incom- prehensible casting of beachy-blonde Kate Bosworth as a mousey-reporter type - we've only got this to say: Supes, welcome back. (June 30) "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (Disney) Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are all back on deck for this sequel to the improbable summer hit of 2003. It's the story of Captain Jack Sparrow returning to Port Royal along with all those zany mannerisms the kids seem to love so much. Yes, it's drenched in more-of- the-same, but with a cast this good- looking, does it matter? (July 7) "Lady in the Water" (Warner Bros.) Austere suspense stylist M. Night Shyamalan takes an uncharacteristic step back from our collective nightmares with this self-touted "bedtime story" that follows an everyman landlord (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a sea nymph (rising star Bryce Dallas Howard, "The Village") in his complex's pool. Sweet fairy tale or dark old-school fable, the calming trailer promises a cool, quiet retreat in the height of a very loud, very celluloid-bloated midsummer release schedule. (July 21) "Miami Vice" (Universal) Mark July 28 on your calendars. That day (which shall forever live in infamy) social barriers shall be struck down, boredom and apathy lifted and, of course, hundreds of butts kicked - for that day, "Miami Vice" will open everywhere. When Jamie Foxx's smooth meets Colin Farrell's suave, the streets will thump with an electric vibe and there shall be no dawn for crimi- nals. (July 28) "Snakes on a Plane" (New Line) It's a geopolitical thriller with a boldly subversive anti-authoritarian subtext. Sorry, that's every other quasi- literate suspense action film to hit the screen in the past decade. Samuel L. Jackson's latest offering cuts through all that pretense and right to the big sell: There's some snakes. They're on a plane. (Aug. 18) "The Science of Sleep" (Warner Independent) Gael GarciaBernal (sultry star of "Y tu mama tambien") headlines mind-trip afi- cionado Michel Gondry's ("Eternal Sun- shine of the Spotless Mind") expectedly complex Sundance starter, chronicling a man held captive by the people in his dreams. Expect a smorgasbord of visual camera tricks and a wildly convoluted plot with just enough an idea of where it's going to sustain itself through a fea- ture film - not to mention an art-house following that will no doubt embrace the film as the ultra-chic hipster of summer independent cinema. (August 4) "Apocalypto" (Touchstone) The biggest question mark on the summer release schedule, Mel Gibson's bizarre-looking followup to "The Pas- sion of the Christ" - once again filmed in any variety of long-dead languages - seems destined either to be the sea- son's big surprise or to dive with merci- less fury into box-office infamy. Either way, we're there, if only to discern the inevitable monotheistic undertones the suddenly divisive writer/director/super- star manages to slip into his hyper- detailed rendering of the fall of the Mayan empire. (August 4) "World Trade Center" (Para- mount) It will have been exactly five years and 11 months since Sept. 11 when Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" is released. Some are wondering whether America's had sufficient distance to commercialize the tragic day. Still oth- ers are wondering if Stone is the man to frame America's memories of Sept. 11. We're wondering of Nicolas Cage will play the same tired not-so-badass he always does. (August 11) "Clerks II" (Weinstein) Just when you thought your inner potty-mouthed, counter-cultural, comic-book cynic had finally with- ered up and died, Kevin Smith has arrived to perform a bit of CPR. Fresh off the crushing defeat of "Jersey Girl," Smith is returning to his roots by releasing "Clerks II," a sequel to his low-budget ode to con- venience-store malaise. Go forth, ye snarky message-board geeks, and let the hyping commence. (August 18) MUSIC Continued from page 1B The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers (Third Man / V2) Due May 16, The Raconteurs combine some of Detroit's finest - garage-rocker Jack White and power-popper Brendan Benson - with the Greenhornes's rhythm section to release an album that's been in the works for years. Hope- fully, The Raconteurs's debut will live up to the lofty expectations and "Steady as She Goes" will become a summer anthem, mak- ing this the best Detroit one-off since that Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow collabo. (May 16) Fuse-In: Detroit Electronic Movement (Detroit, MI) Fuse-In: terrible name, great idea. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival returns for another year under the new moniker and new organizers. The fete coin- cides with Kevin Saunderson's 20th anniversary as a house and techno DJ, so if you like that sort of thing, come by Hart Plaza and celebrate with the international electrophiles, local fans and the homeless. (Memorial Weekend, May 28 - 29) Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival (Superfly / AC) (Manchester, TN) Camping on a farm. Radiohead headlining their first American festival since Coachella. Waf- fle House. $200 festival passes. Which one of these things doesn't belong in Tennessee? Trick ques- tion - Bonnaroo encompasses them all. With the scheduled line- up, cross your fingers for a Bright Eyes/Cypress Hill duet. (June 16 through 18) Sufjan Stevens - The Ava- lanche (Asthmatic Kitty) On July 25, Sufjan Stevens will release The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras From The Illinois Album. Mostly leftovers from the 2005 sessions for Illinois, these are songs about Saul Bellow, Adlai Stevenson and Ann Land- ers that got cut when Illinois was pared down from a double LP to a single disc. There's no official word on the next state Michigan's wandering troubadour is tackling, but look out Oregon, New Jersey and Rhode Island! (July 25) Pitchfork Music Festival (Pitchfork Media) (Union Park, Chicago) Never been to Chicago at night? Well, the city's got it good in terms of summer concerts/fes- tivals. Now the permanent home of Lollapalooza, the Pitchfork Music Festival returns once more at the end of July. Spoon, Silver Jews, Diplo and more for the price of a Dave Matthew Band concert T-shirt - indie kids, brace your- selves. (July 29 - 30) Ben Harper/Damian Marley Summer Tour (Meadow Brook Music Festival, Rochester, MI) Absolutely no drugs will be consumed during this tour. None. America's favorite pseudo-soul, pseudo-rock son meets the actu- al son of reggae's messiah. Wait for the tour to come to Rochester right smack dab in the middle of Welcome Week. Dear frosh: Wel- come to Jam Rock, bitches. (Sum- mer 2006) Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (Star Trak/Arista) The instant rock-slanging grati- fication of 2000's "Lord Willin' " cooked the Virginia duo of Pusha T and Malice to the edge of super- stardom. Then we waited and the spotlight cooled. And now it's 2006, and we've been hearing for more than five years when Hell Hath No Fury is dropping. Thank heavens Clipse released two gut- ter-and-glory mixtapes in "We Got It 4 Cheap" Vol. 1 and 2. No official release date yet, but it's time to get excited again. (Sum- mer 2006) EICKE Continued from page 1B So, one night, my sleepy best friend heads upstairs to his bedroom, and the two of us decide to stay in the basement to watch "The Mask of Zorro." About mid- way through (about where Catherine Zeta- Jones looks around the wall in the low-cut dress with her boobs all pressed together), she grabs my hand. This is it. Then, after Zorro has done his thing - after all the swordplay and the flipping and the swinging, with the credits rolling and the flame-bursts bursting and a Latin guy crooning about how he wants to spend his lifetime loving "you"- she turns to look at me. And she says "you know, I don't bite." How nice it is of her to reassure me, I think, and she jams her rubbery tongue into my unsuspecting mouth. For years prior, at idle times of the day, I'd been making out with the back of my hand in anticipation of this moment. But I'd never used tongue. I'd romantically pre- sumed my first kiss would be soft and slow - with warm, moist lips that would stick a little bit when you would pull away like the caramel strands of a broken Twix. Well, kind of like that. Yeah. I know. Too much "Saved By the Bell." But this is nothing like Twix. This feels as if someone has shoved a pink handheld eraser in my mouth with a sweaty palm. We never kissed again. As it turned out, I could've simply waited another month or so. Because then I kissed a girl whom I'd bumbled after for more than a year, and that was everything I'd ever expected - goose bumps and shit - and I staggered back to my Bra- vada in the moonlight, dizzy from what had just happened. So there's this desire to hold off for something "special," as womanly as it may seem to some people. That's why I don't want to "go to a frat party and point." I'm convinced I could wait a little and do bet- ter, as I should have done for the kiss. However, the "holding off"thing doesn't really qualify as an excuse, because I did find myself legitimately in love - twice - and I refused to apply any pressure. And by "apply pressure," I mean ask. Why? I don't know. Fear of rejection? Maybe. One girl was profoundly frightened of get- ting pregnant. The other girl was just as frightened about pregnancy and also not too excited about the pain involved for the female party (she was also a virgin). And I didn't want a "Yeah, I guess. If that would make you happy" response. I was look- ing for a "Yes. Please do me." I guess that doesn't happen. Girls aren't the only ones who feel pres- sure. Males are bombarded, too, with pres- sure to lose our virginities - mostly from the media. Virility, like it or not, is directly correlated with number of times laid.There are movies. There are TV programs. There are Snoop Dogg albums. Often, watching something like "Springer Break," I feel as if there are very few of us left. But I take comfort in the few. In fact, I live in an apartment in which seven of nine people are virgins. And we are a happy bunch for the most part. Nothing is wrong with us - well, you know, nothing major. We're all a little weird. One of us doesn't like cheese. Another farts frequently. Another writes biographies of cross-coun- try runners he's never met. But we're all happy. And we're all seniors. And we're all virgins. So I'm not completely alone. Maybe it's a perceptual thing, then. Maybe not everyone on the street has reached this supposed culminating act of adolescence. Maybe those guys chor- tling at orientation were just the same as me. Maybe there'd been no floozy and no hammock and no obscuring foliage, and maybe those guys were laughing with ner- vous eyes and turning stomachs just as I was - with reddening cheeks in warm- ing rain. Maybe I'm not weird. Maybe it doesn't even matter. Some will read this and think it's laud- able. Some will read this and think it's lamentable. Some will read this and think it's a thinly disguised personal ad. But no matter what they think, I'll know that col- lege has been an awesome ride for me. Maybe it could've been better with some sex thrown in, but I can't worry about that. The pumas outside the Natural Science Museum can growl all they want. That is, after all, what pumas do. - This column, in different form, was originally written as an essay for John Rubadeau's English 425 course. E-mail Eicke at dramone@umich.edu.