COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS YOUR BEST ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

Now let us praise pirates. But only the creative, funny ones who take the cultural material shoved down our throats and tweak and tamper with them until something entirely new and subversive is created. One of the funniest things I've seen on the net in the last year is a series of GI Joe cartoon public service bumpers from the 80s which have been "remixed" by one Eric Fensler. There's 24 of 'em and they're free for the downloading. You will laugh until you cry, I guarantee it. Pork Chop Sandwiches!!!Body Massage!!!

One of the pioneers of such media mashups is the group Negativland. I saw them perform ten years ago and it was one of the strangest and funniest things I've ever witnessed. Their latest project is a highly unauthorized film called The Mashin' of the Christ that takes footage from 80 years worth of Jesus movies (most notably Mel Gibson's recent gore fest) and combines them to lunatic effect.

There's also a great site called Illegal Art where I originally found those GI Joe parodies. Here you'll find discussion of intellectual property issues, taboo releases like the DJ Dangermouse Jay Z/Beatles mashup, director Todd Haynes suppressed Karen Carpenter Story and much much much more. Don't tell anyone I sent you there...