Or the Beastie Boys are taking this opportunity to get some publicity for a long forgotten first album.
As Iâve stated a ton of times on this forum, I am a woman who works in engineering. Iâve worked in this industry for a long, long time. Iâm not an engineer but I do know a lot about engineering and computer science just from working with some top notch engineers for most of my career - usually with emerging technology. Iâve worked with only a handful of women engineers in my career, and I am tired of women not having a voice in the process of designing new technology. So, I guess youâd think Iâd be GoldieBloxâs biggest fan. But Iâm not. I find their advertising really obnoxious. If you want to promote girls becoming engineers, Iâm sorry but an Arduino processor or a circuit board does not come in pink or blue. Any girl can pick up one up and play with these things. What we really need is teachers who will get everyone in the class involved in engineering projects. What we need are engineers who come into the classroom and explain the career and show kids what they do. We need more after school groups that get kids into fun engineering projects - boys and girls. And mainly we need for the teenagers to understand that they need to select this major by the time they complete high school as it is nearly impossible to go back and get an engineering degree as an adult (I know, Iâve researched it). You canât half-way through college realize that you really want to be in engineering because itâs an entirely different track from liberal arts. So we need to get kids educated about this career choice in a real way. Hey, go ahead and buy your kid GoldieBlox, fine, but that isnât the real solution in my opinion.
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Maybe you should start giving your nephew music for gifts.
If the Beasties want their legacy to be associated strictly with their music instead of selling products they do not use or endorse I think theyâre entitled to that.
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Are you available to just come over and hang out with my kid? Sheâs just four but youâd be a good influence.
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Maybe! I think girls do like electronics and do enjoy Kinex. I had one female engineer tell me to have my daughter do things with complicated instructions like Kinex or making dollhouses. Itâs not that hard to keep girls or boys interested in this stuff - itâs fun!
But how many kids, boys or girls, know about engineering in time to get the degree?
There is a great program with Lego Mindstorm robots that is geared toward girls that is nationwide. Look for it. My daughter took the class when she was about 9 at a Y. Loved it and met other cool girls who also loved it.
Goldieblox to me is like those products that say itâs good for the earth to buy more recycled stuff rather than just not use the stuff in the first place.
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I refused to believe Keith Richards will ever die. I donât think anything can kill him at this point.
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Scav I think you are operating on a very different notion of what parody means than I am. GBâs song was specifically a parody of the Beastiesâ in that the lyrics and singing directly of the former sharply contrast the misogyny of the latter. On the other hand there is no specific work that the original parodies, and no artistâs identity it draws attention to. Simple sexism is not parody: itâs simply sexism.
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I think this Verge article does a better job at highlighting the new facts
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the GB parody came to the attention of the BBoys by an ad agency that was coordinating a contest for ads to win a timeslot during the Superbowl. It seems the ad agency was double-checking to see that the music rights had already been cleared. Given the Superbowl is where people go to watch advertising in between violent intermissions, I can see how the BBoys would not have liked to be part of that.
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the BBoys recent filing includes trademark claims as well, which seem to be a cleaner argument for them to win. I would not be surprised to see this decided on the trademark issue (either through settlement or decision) while not touching the more interesting copyright issues .
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Actually, satire tends not to be fair useâitâs parody that directly comments on the work being quoted that is fair use.
True.
But the going broke part still stands.
Yeah, nobody remembers License To Ill. Itâs completely faded to the mists of time in everybodyâs memory.
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Of those three tracks, Shake Your Rump is precisely what I canât stand, Gratitude has a great intro until the vocals start up 44 seconds in, and the instrumental-only Transitions is like taking a magic carpet ride through a hurricane of pleasure rainbows⌠in my urethraâŚ
Yeah, their vocal stylings are a huge issue for meâŚ
From the lawsuit:
WHEREFORE Plaintiff seeks judgment awarding it the following relief:
a) An order declaring that Plaintiff does not infringe any valid copyright owned by Defendants relating to the song Girls;
b) An order declaring that any alleged use by Plaintiff of the song Girls in its parody video is privileged under, and protected by, the Fair Use Doctrine;
c) An order enjoining Defendants from asserting any alleged copyrights against Plaintiff in connection with the GoldieBlox Girls Parody Video;
d) An order awarding attorneysâ fees, costs, and expenses incurred in connection with this action to Plaintiff;
e) An order awarding such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.
How exactly do you read points D and E and come to the conclusion that GoldieBlox was not asking for any money?
Has Goldieblox actually withdrawn their lawsuit?
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Confession: bought a huge tub of Kinex from a charity shop âfor my sonâ for his last birthday. He turned 4. Guess whoâs enjoying the crap out of building with them for the next couple years until heâs really ready to play with them? Me (AKA mom).
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I did that. Itâs fun until they start listening to music thatâs cooler than yours. Then you feel oooooooold.
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Can you point to other examples of how the Beastie Boys are against remixing and reinterpreting? @IronEdithKidd pointed out that the band was okay with âSquirrelsâ. The band is clearly not okay with their songs being used in advertisements, which is the situation here.
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Theyâre not asking to profit from the lawsuit; theyâre simply asking that, if theyâre right that their use was fair use, they not be required to pay for the privilege of establishing that they are within their rights to use the song. If the Beasties immediately settled, they almost certainly wouldnât have had to pay any of these costs, because GB was not asking for any money.
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Naw, I just pick up what I like from them and dance in the kitchen too. New cool music is still cool music.
YES YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!
My little girl is only two and a bit, and loves princesses, ponies, and pretty much anything with a significant refractive index. That being said, weâve faced questions when she wanted the black plastic monster truck toy at the toystore âOh, is this for your brother?â (nope) and from the in-laws âWhy did you buy her that?â (because we went to the toystore specifically to get her a toy, and thatâs what she chose).
We could certainly argue that some tools are really designed for men, but other than that, tech has no inherent gender. If young girls want to engineer, I agree that it shouldnât have to be some âpink/girlifiedâ set of construction blocks. Yeah, have pink blocks available, but also have available the ânormalâ colors. You may find a surprising number that need to use some of the pink blocks as wellâŚ
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Thanks for the edit 
I fixed it. Apparently correcting the use of âsatireâ and âparodyâ only to swap the terms in the next paragraph might be a bit confusing.
