The Fibbie Monster

So when I was a little kid, my brother used to tell my weird stories sometimes.  One of them was the Fibbie monster.  You know that warning at the beginning of the videocassette.  He told me that if you fast forwarded through it, a monster called the Fibbie monster would come and eat you.  It was an interesting way to warn a little kid about international copyright law.  My father was an antique dealer, still is in fact.  In order to do his job, he goes to yard sales( boot sales, trunk sale, pick your local jargon) and flea markets(swap meet).  During these outings he comes across Videos, DVDS, CDS, Records, and other media, all of which might be carrying the Fibbie monsters warning.  Now sometimes, he comes across bad bootlegs or illegal copies.  These, he NEVER buys.  Those people are not paying at all for the material purchased.  It is legal to buy and resell used CD and DVD’s in the US.  But the illegal bootlegs are bad for the economy and hurt the artist and the buyer.  A few may have been thrown in bulk lots along the way.  There was one dubbed over in a foreign language.  There was one with an alien in it. (A person had snuck a HandyCam into the theater.)  I never went into a music store into I was in high school (about 14).  I only bought a few CD’s wholesale.  The ones I bought were meaningful because they were the ones that I took time to pick out.  That still applies.  The music and movies that I buy today online are things that I take time to pick out or to complete my collection.  Something that is off the beaten track maybe, or that I want so badly that I want it the day it comes out.  The stuff that everyone has I can get my hands on quite easily and doesn't seem to mean as much.  But it all goes back to that little eight year old afraid of the Fibbie monster.  I pay, or make sure that someone does anyway, for my media.  I certainly appreciate my music, my movies, and most definitely my books.  But then that, as they say, is another story.