The Bad Guy

Hate to tell you this, but people have been making "legal backups" for 6-7 years already And I believe that backing-up-if-you-already-own-it was declared legal a fair while back too Under the DMCA backups were not legal if you had to circumvent copy protection in order to create your backup, now it is... so long as you're doing it for something that's considered obsolete.

This DOES NOT give anyone the permission to download roms or anything of that nature that were previously illegal. What this does do is allow a person to legally break copy protection on software for obsolete systems in order to legally make a backup for his own personal use. "On October 28, 2003, the Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works" Read the full text of the addendum here: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

Hopefully someone will take notice of this, because this is going to be a long rant on something that I consider very important to the future of the tape trading community at this site and various others. Plain and simple, the tape trading community currently sucks. As I'm sure some of you may have noticed, most tapes being traded around are several copy generations old and were copied onto low grade six hour VHS tapes at the EP setting. Needless to say, nearly everytime a copy like this is sent out, it again is copied and traded, again and again until the end of time. VHS tape when copied, especially in a setting like EP, causes the quality to lessen an incredible amount every single time. Even the originals wear down significantly over a short amount of time. At the current rate of things, in just a few years, most of the circulating tapes will be of far less quality than they are now. As such, here is what needs to be done: 1. Low generation (preferably master copies) tapes need to be located. 2. These tapes need to be transferred to DVD-R. 3. The DVD-Rs need to be copied (Digital copies are lossless) and distributed. On the surface, this may sound difficult and it probably will be, though I believe it is necessary to the survival of trading of professional wrestling. I wish to point out, that this is not impossible. Here is a story that you may wish to hear: Just a few years ago the Nirvana bootleg community (traders of audio and video shows) consisted mostly of high generation tapes, mp3s, and vcds. Currently, thanks to a mass organizing it is possible to locate the best circulating audio on cd-r and the best circulating video on dvd-r in an easy fashion. The way of trading that is used by that community is the same one that I would advise here. It's called B+P or Blanks and Postage and here is how it works: 1. Person A has a show that Person B wants. 2. Person B contacts Person A and asks to make a B+P trade which Person A agrees to. 3. Person B sends an padded mailer with a DVD-R inside it, as well as a stamped mailer for Person A to send it back in. 4. Person A, at no expense to himself, makes a copy of the disc and puts it back in the already stamped and addressed mailer that was included. 5. Person A and Person B now both have the same show without any quality loss and at minimal expense. At the current moment I do not have a DVD-R/W drive or a video capture card, however, I am sure that someone here most certainly does and can help with this project. I would be willing to contribute low-generation or master copies of various shows under the condition that my tape would be returned to me and I would also receive a DVD-R of the show. - Andrew "The Bad Guy" Harris

My collection: http://home.insightbb.com/~lue/

1. Vince Russo tells Goldberg that he has to redo his entire winning streak by Starcade if he's going to get a title shot. Goldberg agrees that he can do this, the problem being that to accomplish that he would have needed to win several matches per day. 2. Shawn Michaels repeatedly botches the finish to the Summerslam '95 ladder match as Scott Hall does everything he can to make it appear that he can't get back in the ring. 3. Not really a botch... but on an old Coliseum Video, there was a Hulk Hogan Vs. Typhoon match. As Hogan entered the ring he ripped off his shirt and threw it into the crowd where some guy caught it and started celebrating. All of a sudden... boom, the guy behind him hits him over the head and takes the shirt. The camera quickly cuts away. 4. I can't remember which match, but it was a rather important WCW match (around 2000-2001) where the referee apparently was not instructed on the finish and only counted two before pausing and then the bell proceeded to ring. 5. '97 Slammies, Vader (I think it was him...) was chasing Owen Hart who had given himself a slammy award which Vader felt he should have won, Vader proceeds to fall directly on his face. 6. Kevin Nash returns to the ring and just seconds into it he tears his quad. 7. Raw is Espanol.

1. Kevin Nash - I've been a huge Kevin Nash mark since I started watching wrestling again back in late '96, I even marked out for Glen Jacobs as the fake Diesel since I thought the gimmick was so cool. 2. The Undertaker - Lots of people who still mark out for Undertaker, so I don't think there is any explaining to do. 3. Lex Luger - When I was originally watching wrestling ('91-'93) this guy was my hero. I remember jumping up and shouting the first time I saw him slam Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid and was incredibly sad when he never won the belt. The biggest wrestling related mark out of my life also was due to Lex Luger when he won the WCW Championship from Hulk Hogan in '97 only to lose it six days later. 4. Giant Gonzalez - His complete lack of talent entertained me greatly. 5. Vince Russo - I mark out huge for Vinnie Ru. I aspire to someday have Goldberg beat me up and drive me into the middle of the desert and when we get there Bret Hart will come from behind and smack him in the back of the head with a shovel. Desert shovel beatings = Ratings. 6. Gail Kim - I don't think she is anywhere near as bad as a lot of people make her out to be and am legitimately entertained by her matches. Plus, I mark for the music. 7. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart - Neidhart appears to be legitimately insane, and I mark for the beard stroking. 8. Tank Abbott - Not a wrestler anymore, but I marked huge for him though he must be one of the worst wrestlers to ever step in the ring. 9. Vince and Shane McMahon - Already explained by others. Who doesn't mark out when Vince does something like accuse Linda of having a demon infested womb, or talk about how he prostituted out his own daughter to get people to sign contracts. --- Moves I mark out for, for no apparent reason: 1. Boot Choke 2. Swining Neckbreaker 3. Shoulderbreaker 4. Triangle Choke 5. Figure Four 6. Back rake 7. Fistdrop

Normally I'm quite negative about the WWE, but I actually really enjoyed this match and thought everything, minus the announcer's match, was good or at least better than it had any right to be. Dudleyz/Resistance & Conway: ** Test/Steiner: *1/2 HBK/Orton: *** Lita/Trish v. Molly/Gail: **1/2 Kane/McMahon: ***3/4 Jericho/RVD/Christian: **** Announcer Match: 1/2* HHH/Goldberg: **1/2

Cool Guys: Nova - It was in 2000 at an ECW show. The security guys were being assholes and saying that if you didn't buy a twenty-five dollar shirt right then that no one could get through. Nova just waved me and a bunch of others through and signed things and talked. Really cool guy. Vampiro - Signed autographs and talked to everyone after a 2000 WCW Thunder taping. The F.B.I. - Another 2000 ECW show. All of them were extremely nice with Sal E. Graziano probably being the nicest of the bunch. Greg Valentine - Charged for autographs but was willing to have pictures taken and talked to everyone. Great guy. Assholes: [At least when I met them] Bobby Heenan - He just muttered under his breath and never made eye contact with anyone. I've heard that he can be a really nice guy at times, though. David Flair - Just walked right past me and didn't even acknowledge my existence when I asked for an autograph. Chris Chetti - Signed with Nova at the ECW show I mentioned earlier. He refused to even speak or make eye contact with anyone.