The show is staying right there in my podcast list, waiting for whatever comes next. Truth be told we may well have seen the last of it. Ze is so far ahead of the game when it comes to understanding this medium that even when he resorted to cheap jokes and potty humor it was still a joy to watch. I have no problem proclaiming myself a Sportsracer. Hell, I’ve even joined the ORG.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of press regarding the end of the Show, but this LA Times Article notes that Ze “made enough to pay the rent and then some”. Now granting that his rent is in Brooklyn, which ain’t exactly cheap, this is fine and its how new medians should approach making money on the web. Part of the problem of hiring Hollywood representation and working within that system is that its built on the mass market- salaries and revenues depend on consumption by millions of people. Alternately, you can build a community, share in that community and prove to them that what you do is worth their money. Cut out the money machine because it isn’t built for narrow media.
Popularity: 40% [?]
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If you want one let me know. I personally do not use Joost very frequently. The content is currently far from compelling, and while I do kind of enjoy the interface of the client, and the video does indeed work really well, I find the “channel” model of video distribution to be completely unnecessary in the connected world.
Update: All invites are gone. Sorry to those who didn’t get them. Enjoy!
Popularity: 37% [?]
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Yellow blow = human + seat ejecting from exploding viper. Believe it or not.
Popularity: 28% [?]
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As the wave of video on the net slowly overtakes traditional broadcast as the medium of choice for watching things, a lot of people are trying to get in the game.
One of the chief arguments aggregators and commentators have made regarding the current video revolution is that there is simply so much of it, we must have some kind of mediator who is capable of sorting out “the good stuff”. So we have places like Network2, who accept video feeds based on the notion of “shows” and some relatively vague criteria of “quality.” What these folks fail to realize is that the mediator is dead. Channels are dead. They are hanging on to old paradigms without even realizing it. Update: Coincidentally, this is what is killing Joost, which I’ll get around to reviewing at some point- I’ve been beta testing it for about a month.
The social networks of today- and by social networks I mean social websites, the blogosphere and ad hoc networks of friends and neighbors who create communities on the net- provide mediation through hyperlinking, message boards, email threads and the like. Viral distribution is all that is needed to get a video into the hands of those who want it, and aggregation through a few mediators at the top of a site is completely unnecessary. Will some things be overlooked? Absolutely. I would love to see 54 Hours be more popular than it is. But then that raises the question of whether or not we are truly participating in a way that we could actually see our videos find increased mindshare. By not jumping into YouTube more fully and relying on the podcasting/vlogging methods, are we avoiding opportunities?
Pardon the digression. My point here is that the assumption that filters need to be provided is as dead as the television broadcasting paradigm. With limited bandwidth (both broadcast and temporal), television could only afford what it deemed most acceptable to the most number of people. Contrast that to today’s world of near limitless bandwidth and the ability to time-shift programming to suit your schedule. Why revisit that world by placing boundaries to content that people should be free to discover for themselves? We will create the filters we need through our networks of connected people. By participating in different networks we will witness and redistribute other content. Any new boundary based on these new freedoms is- whether intentionally or not- aimed at limiting access.
Popularity: 46% [?]
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Two this week so far:
Willow and the guy from Freaks and Geeks took an argument break at Red Lobster on How I Met Your Mother, which was even kinda excusable because it really fit in with the general goofy/corniness of the show. Nice “Brought to you in part by Red Lobster” during the credits.
Scrubs is totally using “Zoom zoom zoom” as an “Oh Snap!” replacement. I don’t even know if I’d think it was product placement except NBC really lays it on. There was an episode of Will & Grace that was practically about the Xbox of all things, and the office had the iPod thing, which was well played but nicely coincided with the launch of The office on iTMS.
Zoom zoomzoom zooooom!
Scrubs is now doing the “Chili’s baby back ribs song.”
Popularity: 13% [?]
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Do you watch TV? Have cable? No? Yes? Who cares? Well, obviously everyone who doesn’t have it cares, because everyone I know who doesn’t have cable or a tv seems to bring it up constantly. I’m not talking about everyone, and I’m certainly not talking about my fellow teamforcers. There are any number of perfectly valid reasons to not have a tv. However, bragging about it as though the mere fact of your not watching tv is such a tired, useless cliche. But I have real reasons to call you out on it too! As a person who lives in society, who is an American, and who like most of my peers is driven to understanding in some way why we live the way we do, why wouldn’t I watch TV? I know what you’re saying, “TV is a nick name, and nicknames are for friends, and television is no friend of mine!” Be gone with you! How about instead of criticizing something outright why don’t you participate in it first, then get back to me and tell me how you feel. If you are working out some kind of cultural critique, political manifesto, whatever, and you really believe you are looking into the way Americans live and work, you damn well should be checking out whats on TV once in a while. It’s how people are informed! Don’t look at me like I’m crazy when i tell you i heard John Kerry is a French War Criminal Wind Surfer! I heard it on the news! You can’t begin to critique until you understand what you’re critiquing.
I’m so tired of people doing whatever it takes to prove they’re better than most people. We’re all people and we’re all in it together, flaws and all. What good does it do to simply step aside and say your better than the rest. If that’s the case then get the fuck out my brothers and sisters! People aren’t SHEEP and they aren’t CATTLE, they are social beings who do in fact look to each other for guidance and understanding, but they are also INDIVIDUALS! Imagine that!
So lets all get together and do what we can for this place instead of critiquing from afar. Its a lot more fun I tell you. How else are we going to talk about the new season of Veronica Mars?
Popularity: 15% [?]
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How I Met Your Mother:
Mildly interesting premised almost entirely ruined by bad sitcom acting, timing, filming etc. After enjoying Scrubs and Arrested Development for so long, a “multi-camera” sitcom like this seems incredibly crass, staged and just fake overall. With that said, the one guy from Freaks and geeks is in it, Allyson Hannigan is in it and Doogie Howser absolutely steals the show as the womanizing “Barney”. I may watch it again but ultimately the format itself ruins it. I HATE CANNED LAUGHTER!
Kitchen Confidential
Looking back, I’m not even sure this was really funny- it played out like a half hour drama. That may be a good thing though- despite some braodness in the characters, they’ve got a really good jumping off point for drama and comedy with a great mix of types (the rube, the irishman) and setting. We’ll see if they can stay with it but I’d definitely watch it again. Single camera format makes for a much better show.
Arrested Development
Picks up where last season left off, and is great because of it. This show is amazing!
Total mentions of the word “blog”- 2 so far. I’ll update the count as they come. This either confirms my conspiracy theory that their are television production talking points that are supposed to be integrated broadly across shows, or that the two comedies I watched are either trying to be edgy (How I met your mother) or are edgy (AD). It helped that Doogie is the one who said it. The dude invented blogs!
More to come…
Popularity: 13% [?]
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One of the most interesting things resulting from the horribleness of this past week has been the effect its had on reporters and politicians. Many reporters were suddenly faced with the task of actually asking unscripted questions and running with material they had not been given a template to deal with- the result being panic and anger on so many newscasts out of last week. Similarly, politicos so used to scripting reality were caught time and again either lying or so unprepared to deal with what was happening they showed just how carefully constructed their world is. With reporters demanding stronger answers than the canned soundbites they were getting, many politicians revealed themselves to be simply not up to the task of public administration.
I’d like to also mention that during the bush speech where he talked about sitting on Trent lott’s porch, he also weirdly started talking about Houston in the same context as rebuilding New Orleans, and then completely veered off course with the unnecessary and really kind of awful “Houston’s where I spent many of my years, where I had a lot of fun, maybe a little too much fun (heh heh).” I can understand why it isn’t quoted, but it was so weird. Kind of insulting really- why the hell was he making a joke about his alcoholic youth at a time like this?
Popularity: 11% [?]
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The first episode of the new season of Battlestar Galactica is upon us! Good episode sure…but season opener? I was hoping for a little more. Read on….
(more…)
Popularity: 13% [?]
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