Friday, 22 June 2012

Copycat alert !

Imitation: its the sincerest form of flattery - or is it ?

Imagine my surprise, astonishment and bemusement at discovering a copy of my blog which has been set up by someone else!  I was googling images of the film I WAS HAPPY HERE when I saw my own images and text but in a different blog - someone had taken the majority of my posts and copied them into this blog:  http://a-starisborn.blogspot.co.uk/ and taken the trouble to re-format the pictures to fit their template - it looks quite nice actually on their black background - but leaving my text as I had written it.  
My piece and pictures on Cary Grant & Randolph Scott
I don't even know what language this is - maybe Finnish or Indonesian? Perhaps they (he or she? ) doesn't understand English and just likes the pretty pictures - as some of these items are so personal to me - like my post on North Kerry where I grew up, or my Antonioni reviews and scans, so how could anybody else use them? There seems to be no way of finding out or contacting whoever has been doing this.
My musings on art
They seem to have stopped though in Feburary 2012 - so maybe they are not doing this any more. I have reported this to Blogger anyway, so lets see what happens next. This is the problem though with putting stuff (one's own images, scans or opinions) on the world wide web for anyone to see, as we don't know how others will view or use this material.   A star is born - moi ?  Here are some photos I took of some their pages of my originals - practically all of my blog since 2010 is on there - so everything I was doing was being diligently copied into this other blog !  Words for once fail me ....we live in a world of fakes of course, so now there are fake blogs too.
My Antonioni scans
My piece on North Kerry, Ireland where I grew up
My Dirk Bogarde rarities


On reflection I now feel like taking a break from all this - 620 posts may be enough, though I had several others planned, but if its all going to be plagarised, maybe I shouldn't bother. 
I should focus on other projects like a book I have been planning. 
I have enjoyed my 2+ years on here and the opportunity to wax lyrical about movies and people I like - 
Dirk, Sophia, Monica, Romy, Anouk, Lee, Susan, Delon, Sorel and all the others - Antonioni, Hockney, Joni, Marilyn, Kay Kendall, Belinda, Sarah, 
and that '50s, '60s, '70s era etc.
So thanks to my regular viewers and for the feedback. I may be back.
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4 comments:

  1. EMMA23 June 2012 at 07:37

    Michael it is most disconcerting to be plagiarized & readers here understand how vastly upsetting it is for you as it emanates from an unknown source. The strangest form of any flattery, lacking accredited acknowledgement of your skill and artistry.

    This person is unable to create what they so admire, your long-term expertise of expression in an art form needed for enhancement of our mythological dreaming into many life forms for collective understanding of our human foibles & our very magical beingness. You write & illustrate this from many angles so very well.

    I have really appreciated your forum & would prefer you not decide to leave without first persisting a little in the pursuit of the offender via whichever avenue is open to sort this out responsibly.

    Perhaps others will add to this feedback making a difference to your decision making. By all means write your book but this forum reaches many. We all need to know whether we are valued for our contribution & your skill in relating diversity of information is the ongoing benefit.

    The pictures are indeed part of your friendly inclusive overtures to us all. Keep going please in whichever mode is possible.

    Thank you Michael, do not despair. You are in a unique position to comment on a broad spectrum of film history which your words always convey to the many, & the many more.
    Best Wishes, Emma.

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  2. Michael O'Sullivan23 June 2012 at 08:19

    Why thank you Emma for those marvellous well-chosen words. I just feel bemused by it all at the moment. I have reported the matter to Blogger here so will see what they can find out. The person has not done this since Feburary so maybe they have stopped or given up. All very peculiar. Copying my posts about movies and performers is one thing, but what would people where ever it is make of stuff like my musings on where I grew up, etc.

    Thanks again, I imagine I will be back before too long ...

    Michael

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  3. Michael O'Sullivan23 June 2012 at 17:04

    Perhaps all blogging is a form of showing off ("see what I can do"...) and taking somebody else's and passing it off as your own must have some benefit for whoever it is - like cheating at exams there must be something in it for the doer.

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  4. Poseidon311 July 2012 at 21:16

    I know that a lot of information and (especially) imagery gets swapped around from place to place (though I try not to pilfer from the sites of my friends!), but it is truly disturbing to see one's work appropriated and reposted elsewhere. I had one of my posts (on The Big Bus) COMPLETELY LIFTED IN ITS ENTIRETY, including all of the pictures I'd made, research, etc... and plopped into someone else's blog. I left a comment (not a very nice one), but of course the comments were moderated, so only the webmaster got to see it and never responded. Anyway, I feel your pain, even if it is on a lower level. Chin up!

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