The lyrics are bizarre but Christian’s interpretations of them were in places so funny I was laughing out loud.

I loved the holy vivid on the bleeding mountain. I couldn’t work out what it was so I paused it and went back and then I went… vivid… like the permanent marker and it is holy… brilliant!

The fiery turtles and the firing of the turtles into the building were cool, as was the caking awfully cake contest but the best scene was “He took a gate from the staple in the stairs”

You could see the Aspergers brilliance in some interpretations though. I take it he has the genius IQ that comes with most Aspies? “beyond mysterious bursts” was very clever as was “fighting blood from a spilled cup in bitterness” and “Oh there are parcels choosing ashes!”

He told me this morning to tell everyone it was not his best work, that his other animations/videos are heaps better. He also wants to do something about the black patches through the instrumentals.

Yes his IQ is very high and we too love his Aspergery sense of humour and perceptions on life.

Recent blog post: In Dread Response, Misheard Lyrics and our son Christian

Just wanted to say as the Drummer of In Dread Response we were all amazed that someone had taken the time and the energy to make an awesome video for one of our songs. I personally have watched it roughly around 10 times and love it!
On another note I'm not sure why you wouldn't want him listening to our music!

LOL! What an absolute crackup, what a hard case kid!

I am so glad you like it, it will totally make Christian's day that you stopped by. He puts a massive amount of effort into his animations and video productions so he was really stoked to see you had discovered it and were enjoying it.

As for why I am not keen on my kids listening to your music… Sean's Bebo page and the band's Bebo page both feature profanity. I am aware that your lyrics are not riddled with them, however, there is more to a band than just their music. While an adult might just enjoy a band’s CD and leave it at that, teenagers want the whole package; they want to know the names of the band members, snippets of information about them, if they really like them they plaster their rooms with their posters, they visit their websites, they examine the lyrics, they copy their hairstyles and fashion sense and they adopt their examples – this is why the opinions of Hollywood celebrities on political or environmental issues is sought after and given weight despite such people frequently having zero expertise on the subject.

Now I couldn’t care less about genres, posters, hairstyles and the like, I am happy for my kids to express themselves and work our their own sense of style but I am not hugely impressed by adult band members who know their websites are read by hordes of teenagers who choose to put profanity on their sites. I am trying to raise children who can make their points and express themselves and provoke others to think using well thought out, considered, english; I don’t need other adults influencing my kids by setting the very example I am trying to counter, I have enough of that to deal with from the other teenagers they hang out with and frankly I expect more from adults in positions of influence over teens.

Sorry to sound like my mother but you asked LOL! :-)

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Its is a great and creative vid !
I like In Dread Responce very much and this is the ultimate vid for this song they sould never make an other.
Give my regards to Christian.

He has a definite talent. In Dread Response have apparently requested he create another video for another of their songs. I am quite happy for him to do this but if they use Christian's work in any promotional capacity then they can expect to hear from me in a legal capacity if they fail to recompense him for his intellectual property.

Christian is following this post so he will see your comments and he very much appreciates feedback on his work.

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Madeleine,

Stray question -- does Christian play chess? It seems that, with his constellation of abilities, that might be something he would enjoy and be good at.

He is not very into it but he is very difficult to beat when he does play it. He has no difficulty holding multiple steps in his head and multiple variances of outcomes based on the potential range of moves you might make.

Recent blog post: Maverick Philosopher on the Historical Atrocities Argument

"In Dread Response have apparently requested he create another video for another of their songs. I am quite happy for him to do this but if they use Christian's work in any promotional capacity then they can expect to hear from me in a legal capacity if they fail to recompense him for his intellectual property."

Just FYI, while we love the video and think it would be awesome if he made another one, no one from the band to my knowledge has asked him to make another video.
As far as intellectual property goes, did Christian contact the band before using their music? Again not that I am aware of as I was never informed.
Lets just be careful about slinging threats around ok?

"the band's Bebo page both feature profanity." I would like you to quote where our Bebo page features profanity where written by us. This can obviously not include comments from other people as we have no control over what they say. Your son only has to turn on the TV during the middle of the day to hear not only swearing but see things that you would deem "unsuitable" for him. If you let him on the internet you have to be prepared at what he might see, otherwise maybe it's best to remove the internet, the TV and hey... even the newspaper has "unsuitable" stories in it!

What a fuzz about someone being creative, and Alex your right, if you don't want your kid to be exposed then cut of the resources.
I have 2 kids myself and I try to raise then as happy people but you can't block everything from them (they have to learn somethings also)

Let's be clear. I have a background in intellectual property law, I have seen things go pearshaped, often from loose arrangements made before either party achieved any kind of fame.

My understanding was that Christian had been asked to make a second video. Clearly IDR have appreciated the first one. I had no reason, until you left this comment, to doubt the accuracy of this understanding.

So, as a parent with a background in helping a major New Zealand company deal with pear-shaped intellectual property disputes I have instructed Christian to ensure he keeps track of any such requests and I made my "mamma-bear" growly statement above which as you couldn't hear the tone it was made in you are now reacting more prickly to than you should be.

I was not seeking to threaten anyone, more I was trying to gently remind to the adult parties involved to keep an eye on the potential legal implications and to advise that someone is doing that on Christian's behalf.

As for Christian using IDR's intellectual property in his creation I have spoken with him about that, well before you raised it. In his defence, he is a minor, he has Aspergers syndrome (a recongised mental disability - a bit of a joke since his 'disability' is genius IQ but it meets the criteria), these two factors are usually successful in claims of ignorance of the law. Further he was not seeking to make a profit, rather just entertain himself (and apparently IDR) and he ensured proper referencing and aknowledgement was made as to who owned the music within his clip. Finally, tacit subsequent permission for the use of the music has been granted by the act of the video being placed on a band member's page and by the comments left above. I am confident Christian is on safe legal ground.

So in short, please understand that I am both trained in law and I write for a forthright styled blog in which I engage in debate and that the written word is hard to ascertain tone and impossible to ascertain body language. I posted this post because I was happy and appreciative that IDR had apparently liked Christian's post. Further should IDR wish to officially use Christian's work or commission an additional video I would support that.

Please take that sentiment away with you first and foremost and view my other comments as secondary. I take my role as mother very seriously that is where the secondary comments are coming from, nothing personal. :-)

As for the swearing. The band's "In Dread Response says:" box on their official Bebo page had a variant of F*** on it at the time I wrote the original comments. It is my understanding that only owners of the site, which I presume are IDR members in this instance, can edit that section of the page.

My won might well be exposed to swearing by way of the media and exposure to other people. I did not deny this, in fact I conceded it originally in what I wrote:

"I am not hugely impressed by adult band members who know their websites are read by hordes of teenagers who choose to put profanity on their sites. I am trying to raise children who can make their points and express themselves and provoke others to think using well thought out, considered, english; I don’t need other adults influencing my kids by setting the very example I am trying to counter, I have enough of that to deal with from the other teenagers they hang out with and frankly I expect more from adults in positions of influence over teens."If you read what I wrote and in fact if you look to the video clip and the fact I posted it on my own blog, you will see that I permit my children to be exposed to such things. Are IDR not playing my daughter's birthday party next month?

I was not speaking of that. I was speaking to the responsibility that band members, who are adults, who possess teenage fan bases possess. Now some bands choose to ignore that responsibility and some do not. I simply said that those that engaged in the former do not impress me and I would prefer my children to not listen to them. A preference is not identical with a command.

Finally I remind you that I was asked by a band member to elaborate. This band member could not have been blind as to the sort of blog he was on and the sort of person I clearly am. There are nearly 3 years worth of evidence all over this blog as to what sort of answer he could have got so caveat emptor LOL! I was actually very restrained :-)

Again, please do not take hostility away from this exchange. You are clearly not used to walking in the debating world that I live in, fair enough, most 'normal' people are not LOL. Just understand that disagreement on a point is not the same thing as dislike. There is nothing emotive meant.

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Bruticus, nothing in my original comments suggested I was the type of parent who wants to block or hide my children away from every little thing I disagree with, see my comments above. As for these sentiments being a "fuzz about someone being creative;" with respect, swearing is not "creative" any idiot can swear. Further, the potential for a band to profit from the work of a teenager with a mental disability with no consideration to that teenager's legal right to royalties for his own "creative" work is equally not what I would call "creative" nor would I brush it off as mere "fuzz." A responsible parent should ensure that this issue has at least been put in the minds the adult party’s concerned so as to ensure no one can later on say “that never occurred to us” (which is frequently what gets said in intellectual property legal disputes).

To see my point, if IDR became famous and they were up for a Grammy for their video for Scarecrows in the Sky and that video included bits of Christian’s work or lets say their music came to the US music industry’s attention because Simon Cowell spotted Christian’s video on You Tube, loved the imagery and the music, and offered IDR a big contract; there would be legal issues if some sort of royalty arrangement or contract with Christian had not been worked out or at least been put in everyone’s minds. In my line of work, it is my job to think that far ahead. Will IDR ever reach that level of fame? Who knows. Does Simon Cowell surf You Tube? I don’t know.

None of us can predict the future but it is not impossible or that far fetched (well maybe the Simon Cowell thing was). According to my kids IDR is the next big thing. The point is that such things should be considered now before they become complicated, this isn’t threatening, this is common sense. I have had plenty of experience dealing with the ensuing legal mess created by a failure to think of and adequately sort out these things in advance, it is really ugly, time consuming and frustrating for everyone – not to mention expensive.

This whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

I posted a blog entry saying “hey, how cool, IDR like my son’s video. Here is the video and here is a link to the band” (something I didn’t have to do – keep in mind that with MandM’s page ranking, every link to another site raises that site’s profile within Google and the other major search engines).

I made a passing “mother’s” comment about the appropriateness of IDR’s music and poked fun at myself for making it.

I was asked by a band member to elaborate.

I elaborated. I also made a passing reference to the IP issue being on my mind.

This was taken as a threat. [Note: legal threats are not things said on blogs, legal threats are made on lawyer’s letter heads and they arrive in your mailbox or are hand served] Comments were made about me sheltering my kids and taking things out of proportion.

This was a misunderstanding.

I support Christian making this video. I support him making more should IDR wish him to or grant permission for him to use their music to do so. I support the concept of IDR using Christian’s work in their videos. I wish IDR all success in the music industry.

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