Day 140: Writing the Final Frontier While Trapped in the Bureaucratic Trenches
- mainemoviepirate
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
ACTUAL ENTRY - 11/09/21 - Tues -
Didn't seem like I slept, but I must have. Tried to lay back down, but it didn't take. Back in the library, gonna work on Outer Justice. Found a cool book on Elon Musk, by Ashlee Vance. Gonna be my 3rd Lib Book. Couldn't get much done on OJ, just copied some notes. I want to do a really good 1st Book, like the old SCI-FI movie Outland, but good. And then go into the shadowrun type stuff. Slowly develop it over time.
LUNCH: Quite good CK Sandwiches, garlic mac, peas, brownie (couple bites). Salad, No reserve. At the end of the line, CJ jipped me. NBD.
Went outside to read my book, didn't stay long. They called census. Worked Orphan Works, a new memorandum incorporating section 108 of the copyright code, going to write it up and send it to Steve. I need OW in the appeal. That is a must. I learn more about the law every day. I'll get there.
No new FOIA responses, Brewer should be next. LOL. I can't wait.
SUPPER: Peppersteak (w/GROSS veggies), WH RICE (some BIRD FUND), Peas again. Bread (In reserve) (half to outside bird fund).
Got an email from Trina, will shoot one back tonight or tomorrow. Wrote more on OW paper, do more tomorrow. I should do more but lack the energy for it. Think I'll try to CRASH. Answered her. I miss T, and the puppies, and Bailey. and young fellas, and Mia (who I've never met). Oh well, this world.
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You're in my seat - Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it's back but not with a Bang. I might go down. MAYBE NOT. Probably crowded.
Four Years Later -
Looking back, I was deep in the creative and legal trenches with the "Two O's": Outer Justice and Orphan Works.
Outer Justice was an idea I’ve been throwing around for years. Back when I was doing indie films and TV, I came really close to shooting this space legal drama on a zero budget. I am so glad I waited. With the technology available today, I think I could shoot at least a decent pilot using Augmented Imagination for the special effects—even though back in 2021, I had no idea that AI would play such a huge role in production. My focus for OJ in prison was to write and publish five or six Kindle books, structured as if they were a TV series. I still might do this. I have entire notebooks filled during my time inside, packed with partial scripts, scenes, and drawings, all focused on the partially telepathic Judge Dark and his quest for justice. Plus, given my real-life experiences with the criminal justice system, it is fun to imagine how it will evolve in the future and how justice will be served in the final frontier.
Then there was the second "O": Orphan Works. I’ve mentioned it a few times in this journal, and the more I researched it—or rather, researched the sheer lack of knowledge about it in both the legal realm and the general public—the more it made me realize how important and narrowly focused I have to be with this aspect of my case. I still believe it needs to be my primary advocacy goal: clarifying the Fair Use of Orphan Works and proposing fixes to the Orphan Works problem in general. I am going to publish the memorandum I wrote on Orphan Works, Fair Use, and Section 108 of the Copyright Code. I gave it to Steve before the appeal, but he chose a "simpler" defense. I am also working on combining all my research on Fair Use and Orphan Works to publish a longer white paper, which will become a chapter in my upcoming book, A Footnote in Copyright Law. Hopefully, that book will finally tell my version of the case and my thoughts on copyright law as a whole.
The final thing in this entry was the teaser of the Brewer PD's first FOAA response. That is a battle that is still ongoing today in 2026.
As for C.J. stiffing me on the extra chicken sandwich—it wasn’t his fault. The kitchen CO kept a tight count on the chicken sandwiches. C.J. stood for “Cool Joe.” We had two Joes at Camp Devens. The other Joe was "O.J." We clashed a couple of times, so he was definitely not cool. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but C.J. sat me down one time and wanted the whole story of my case. After I told him, he said, “Wow, I never heard a story like that. And you're still fighting your case?”
I said, “Yeah, I have trouble letting go of stuff.”
He replied, “You’re like a bulldog.”
Guilty as charged. Just ask the Brewer PD, the Maine State Police, and the Maine Attorney General.
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