Where "Eaten Alive" messed up?

I finally got to see the video that made headlines for all the wrong reasons in the past one week! That “Eaten Alive” broadcast on Discovery where a naturalist and a wildlife filmmaker, Paul Rosolie, was supposed to enter the belly of a giant Anaconda and yet survive. If you haven’t heard of this, you are seriously missing something! Whether he entered the belly or not is another story altogether!

If you enjoy watching wildlife channels like Discovery, Nat Geo or Animal Planet and you were completely oblivious to the promotions, you would have loved this show. Seriously! This show starts with Paul Rosolie and his team of experts searching for what Paul claims to be one of the biggest Anacondas alive in Amazon. Their hunt passes through the dense forest of Amazon right up to the floating forest (which, by the way, is awesome – not for a vacation, but for viewing purposes). On the way, they come across relatively smaller Anacondas, Alligators, Electric Eels etc. Later, they realize they could not find that giant Anaconda and had to make-do with a relatively smaller one. Paul, in his hi-tech suit, tries to grab the Anaconda’s attention. Anaconda gives it, grabs the head of Paul, starts swallowing and slowly reaches his shoulders when Paul snaps. His team comes to his rescue and, well, that’s it. To be fair to Paul, he attempted something unique and he and his team deserves due credit (assuming you still haven’t seen the promotions). Technically, Eaten Alive lived up to its name. Paul was eaten alive. 

Now see how they promoted the show - 

This is exactly where they messed up – promotions. They heavily promoted eaten alive to the extent where curious viewers (me included) were expecting Paul to be inside the belly of the snake and will remain there till help is called for / snake decides to push him out. But neither happened. Instead Paul called for help immediately when the Anaconda reached his shoulders. With due respects to Paul for even attempting such a feat, fooling viewers was just not what the doctor ordered! When the promotions were being aired in November, I initially felt they were crossing the invisible line which they are not supposed to cross and decided never to watch / support such an initiative. But these promotions totally gripped me like an Anaconda normally would do to its prey.

Discovery also got some serious negative publicity (but publicity, nevertheless) from various wildlife conservationists / organizations. They were contemplating banning the show altogether. Entering the belly of any animal alive, let alone a giant anaconda goes against the basic right of the animal to live. The animal may get killed during the “stunt”, may be seriously injured and in any ways, won’t be benefited at all. Paul Rosolie defended the stunt claiming they are doing this to generate awareness on reducing numbers of Anaconda. Quite an ironic argument, I must say. If you want to generate awareness, you could have done it with anaconda facts and figures, reasons why their count is reducing, and how viewers can contribute towards this cause. 

Another area where I feel they goofed up was that the “eaten alive” part of the show was smaller in comparison to the “search” part. The search for the biggest Anaconda was shown for almost an hour and the actual stunt was just about 15 minutes. They could have easily reduced the viewing time from over 90 minutes to less than 45 minutes by just concentrating on what they intend to show. As a viewer, you had to go through virtual treks and informative discussions on Anaconda to reach the climax, which was primarily the reason why you decided to view this.

The first show of “Eaten Alive” turned out to be more like “Tasted Alive”! Overall, a decent enough show killed by its own promotions! If eye-balls are what they were looking for, they got it right. But will they sustain it? I doubt.

Whose copyright is it anyway?

Although we all know what copyright means, I still thought of asking someone who’s second only to God in more ways than one – Google, our academic and professional savior! This is how Google responded – 

So, copyright is “the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material”. I think this definition is exclusive and covers everything that needs to be covered from an ownership perspective. That’s what we thought till a few days ago. Until Wikimedia posted this as part of its collection – 

Here's the Wikimedia link - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Monkey_selfie. I don't know if I can share it - copyright issues, you see. If they have removed it by the time you click on this link, your loss. Oh no wait, you can still Google the pic. That's how our Internet works.

So, what’s the background? – A British photographer, David Slater, was travelling through one of the Indonesian jungle when he bumped onto some monkeys. The monkeys started playing with his photography equipment including the camera. One of them found the button to click photos. Excited by the reflections / flash, it started playing with it – completely oblivious of the fact that it was clicking its own images – defined by a human term called “selfies”. There were 100’s of photos clicked, most of which were blurred except for some which was shared by Wikimedia. 

Where’s the problem? – Photographer Slater feels he own the images and Wikimedia should not use it without informing him. In other words, the image is copyright protected. But Wikimedia is refuting his charges stating that the image is not a copyright of the photographer simply because he did not click it. And if at all anything, it belongs to the Monkey! Obviously Slater has pressed charges against Wikimedia and Wikimedia is standing firm with their own set of arguments. 

If we agree with what the photographer believes, then we are opening a can of even bigger problems. Following are some of the scenarios where we will have to relook if Slater is legally correct - 

1. I publish my blog posts from my laptop. So, the content I create is my copyright. Now, what if a fellow blogger creates his content using my laptop? Whose copyright is it?
2. Assume Virat Kohli got dismissed for a duck in a cricket match. The next batsmen, Rohit Sharma, asked Kohli for his bat. He then goes on to make a century. Whose century is it now? Kohli, Sharma or the bat?
3. Assume I worked on a PowerPoint presentation for a business contest using a sample template shared by someone - xyz. I am the only one who worked on it, so the content part is totally mine. Then I submitted the presentation to the contest authorities. But since the template was owned by xyz, PowerPoint automatically makes xyz the "owner". Whose PowerPoint is it now? Me, xyz or Microsoft? (Actually, this falls under “Work for Hire” where the owner owns the work and not the workers)
4. During school exams, I gave my "extra pen" to a person - xyz - who went on to top at the university level. Irrespective of my result, who topped the university? Me, xyz or the pen?

I know the examples don’t exactly match the situation of the photographer. But don’t you feel compelled to think about these too? So, who do you think the image belongs to? Now, don’t say “God only knows”!

PS: This post is written more at the sarcastic level and is intended to be read with a pinch of salt and some selfies too. 

PhotoBlog: Unexpected visitor in Goa

We met him outside Fort Aguada. He was small, beautiful and was only interested in getting away from the public eye. I did some research on him. He's know to a select few as "Ahaetulla nasuta", but most commonly known as "The green vine snake". More details about the snake can be found here.

PhotoBlog: Random pics at Bannerghatta (Bangalore)

After publishing pics of Crocodiles, Deers, Turtles and Snake in my blog, I started having nightmares especially from other animals in the park. They voiced their displeasure and warned me of dire consequences if I don't post anything about them. You know how it is, don't you?

So, based on popular animal request, here are some random pics I took at Bannerghatta Biological Park -

Here's a monkey doing what it does best -

Talk of owning the place! -

Not really. I guess he's searching for food. I just found his missus resting on top of a hill -

There's a cunning guy -

Life with full of thorns all around. And yet, he's so composed - 

A small guy I befriended -  

Here's me signing off with my newfound buddy. Ciao - 

For the entire Bannerghatta Biological Park series, click here.

PhotoBlog: Snakes at Bannerghatta (Bangalore)

This is what I was craving for, when I decided to go to Bannerghatta Biological Park - Snakes. I feel snakes are the most under-rated and under-estimated animals. By the way, I like them on TV and not actually in front of me - for reasons best known to mankind.

And who better than capturing the King himself!

Skin has been shed. But where's the king? Guess he's acting pricey - 

There he is, but where's his head - 

And I have my answer (enlarge the pic to view clearly). Isn't he looking directly at me? - 

OK. He's coming down. He means business - 

Coming down - 

Guess its time to show the hood - 

And he happily went inside his 'home'. No more show guys. King Cobra needs to rest. Ciao! Am very happy to have captured King Cobra (on my camera, that is)..

For more Bannerghatta Biological pics, click here.

PhotoBlog: Turtles at Bannerghatta (Bangalore)

Clicking pics of Turtles was fun indeed. And this is why - 

Look at their attitude - Head held high!

Ohh, that's all of them together! 

Close-up -

Climbing the ladder of success the human way (by crushing others) - 

Some know how to have fun (enlarge the pic and check the smile of the turtle)

For more Bannerghatta Biological Park pics, click here.

PhotoBlog: Deers at Bannerghatta (Bangalore)

Deers at Bannerghatta were always together - and is always the case otherwise too. It was not easy for me to take a close-up till one of them actually came near me and posed!

Maybe this guy came to know that I was focusing on him!

One of them had an health issue. So the park authorities came and took him away. Guess how everyone reacted - 

Finally a closeup - 

For more Bannerghatta Biological pics, click here.

PhotoBlog: Crocodiles at Bannerghatta (Bangalore)

Crocodiles are known to be lazy when their tummy is full. Their full tummy coincided with my decision to visit the park. Throughout the day, they remained at the same place with eyes open with nothing to do at all. 

Oh, what an awesome feeling if you are inherently lazy too!

That's the pose he had throughout the day - 

By the way, it was difficult to take the pic with my camera held high. You can see my shoes in the pic! Talk of amateur photography!

Another view - 

Finally I realized I can take a side view pic. Look at the big guy, all smiles - 

For more Bannerghatta Biological pics, click here.