20231231-different_versions.txt
I was hunting around Gopher today and came across a solderpunk entry
[0] about using git as an internet archive of sorts. I also have been
hunting and backing up some online videos I've rediscovered after
scouring as well as adding yet another movie to my digital archive
(Disturbing Behavior).

Disturbing Behavior (DB) is a great, surprisingly short movie, and the
deleted scenes make it even better, IMO. I discovered it on A-to-Z
Video, According to IMDB, it had a director's cut of the movie that
has since been lost. I imagine it's mostly just most of the
deleted/alternate scenes (around 8 or so) plugged back in or replacing
theatrical scenes. It seems like they took a truly unique movie about
a sort of mob mentality, Stepford Wives brainwashing flick and turned
it more into a less-cerebral teen thriller. Not that there's anything
wrong with some mindless entertainment, but the deleted scenes really
add significant depth and insight at the cost of somewhere around 10
minutes in a move that's entire running time with credits is about 83
minutes. It's just plain weird that they shortened it.

I've written before about lost comments, specifically those of the
original Winamp creator, and other lost online content. There are even
drop-in replacements for YT videos where certain elements are cut out,
blurred, or otherwise censored. Star Wars is perhaps the most popular
example of creative retconning and censorship. The number of versions
of the Star Wars trilogy I own is frankly weird: 1993 Laserdisc->DVD
port (the 2004 "special feature" and the only DVD release of the OE),
the 1995 VHS trilogy with Leonard Maltin, the 1997 Special Edition
(fullscreen), and the pre-Disney Blu-ray discs. The fact that there
are more versions that aren't just simple widescreen vs. fullscreen is
frankly obnoxious. DB's lost cut really underlines how anything can be
lost and new versions can become the default. A long-standing silent
feud between Disney and myself prevents me from knowing, but I wonder
how much of the original trilogy is altered for their lame streaming
service.

Another instance was when I bought Killing Mr. Griffin as an ebook. I
had read it in high school as an assignment and ended up loving it. I
was shocked when in the ebook I came across an anachronism involving,
IIRC, an Ipod. The book was originally released in 1978, so the idea
of a digital media player in a realistic story (i.e. no
fantasy/sci-fi) just shocked me when I came across it. I did a quick
search and found that the author, Lois Duncan, had rewritten certain
parts for the ebook. I was not pleased, but definitely not going to
protest the book. It just seems wrong to reinvent the setting just
because the world around us no longer reflects the realities of 1978.

Another example is Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag. The simple line of "He
brings a gun to school" is censored on so many different platforms
because I believe it came out right before Columbine. In the USA we
glorify soldiers and higher education but God forbid we mention the
word "gun" in the same sentence as "school." I'm sure it's the music's
fault that gun violence is happening at schools, not the fact that
it's easier to buy a gun than get a passport. But back on topic, I
think it's ridiculous that they vinyl-scratched out that word. Not
that it actually changes the context or that anyone above the age of 7
couldn't figure out the word that's supposed to go there. It's a
skidmark on the song that stands out and takes away from the song.

It all goes back to the title: different versions of ostensibly the
same media. Technically I've been involved in the same practices: I go
back and read previous glog entries and fix grammatical mistakes.
However, it's still a shame when previous versions are irrevocably
lost because the creator or distributor or something else decides it
should be changed or should not be preserved. While some changes are
good, I think it's important to keep the originals alive.

0.  gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/0/~solderpunk/phlog/low-budget-p2p-content-distribution-with-git.txt