Duets

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Netflix is just one more example of “the long tail.” I wanted to watch Duets last week but the guy at the video store looked at me like I was crazy. “We don’t stock the really old movies.”

If you work at Blockbuster, 2000 probably seems like eons ago. So I had Barb move it up on her Neflix list and the DVD arrived in yesterday’s mail. IMDB users rate the movie 5.7 out of 10 but I loved it both times I’ve watched it.

Huey Lewis plays a professional karaoke hustler who reconnects with his daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) and a bored suburban businessman (Paul Giamattie) turns outlaw karaoke singer. But the most amazing performance was Andre Braugher’s.

Huey Lewis obviously performed his songs and it sounded like Paltrow did. But can Andre Braugher really sing that well? Probably not.

Favorite line: “Sorry, I’m going out for a pack of cigarettes.”
Most erotic scene: Maria Bello pulls on her undies. Sweet Jesus.

On being normal

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“…learned that the people in front of me are going at their own speed, probably for a reason. They’re not trying to get in my way as I rush past. I need to stay out of theirs. And I need to be grateful that I can rush past again. I need to appreciate normal.”

— Jeff Jarvis

“…so freaking happy I can’t even describe it. And when I speak to a packed ballroom, like today, I feel reborn. It is pure joy, and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Every day feels like a gift now. And that, my friends, is the rarest neurological disorder of them all.”

— Scott Adams

Podcasting audience to hit 50 million

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Mark Ramsey asks: How much are you investing in podcasting vs. HD radio? And points to research comparing the two. As near as I can tell, the radio guys are putting the same old shit on their HD channels while podcasters are doing a million different things. At work they keep telling me, “It’s not about blogging and podcasting.” Uh huh. [via Tod Maffin]

Online dating service for farmers

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FarmersonlyCity folks just don’t get it! That’s the tagline for FarmersOnly.com, the online dating service for “sincere, down-to-earth people who respect and chesrish the rural lifestyle.” It’s the brainchild of Jerry Miller and the site appears to be red-hot. Getting lots of MSM coverage.

I spoke briefly with Jerry this afternoon. Andrew McCrea did an interview with Jerry (AUDIO: 4 min MP3) and he wanted to take a listen. How good is his idea? He’s been contacted by the producers of American Idol in connection with a new reality show they’re developing that sounds like “Who Wants to Marry A Farmer?” They want to tap Jerry’s database. I do NOT doubt the folks behind American Idol.

This is what I love about the web. There are lots of online dating services and match-makers but Jerry saw an unfilled niche and ran with it.

Documentary films: Super Size Me, The Smartest Guys in the Room

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Watched two documentary films in the last few days. Super Size Me and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. I was very disturbed by both of these films. Gonna be a long time before I eat another Big Mac (or Sonic Coney, for that matter). My take-away from Enron? Our country is hopelessly corrupt and greedy. And maybe…just maybe… we do not live in the best country in the world. (Gasp!) Don’t bother looking for the Comments link. I’m not in the mood to listen to a bunch of “patriotic” horse shit. If you have something to say, start your own blog.

 

Audio broadcast flag bill proposed

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Tod Maffin says a proposed new bill will be the “death of radio.”

It’s 2012. You turn on the radio. Some song is ending. The DJ introduces the next song and you only hear the opening second of it, when suddenly, a voice cuts in and says:

“I’m sorry, but since you indicated your household has more than four people in it, and you haven’t licenced your home for ‘public performance’ of musical works, we are unable to play this song.”

 

This just became a very likely reality thanks to U.S. lawmaker Mike Ferguson. He’s introduced an audio broadcast flag bill that would let the FCC force radio stations to provide “so-called “flag” technology be used to prevent content on HD Radios and satellite digital radios from being re-distributed.”

Cool. I can’t wait to buy a new HD radio with this cool feature. Worser and worser.

Road Trip

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Light (no?) posting for a couple of days. Off to Tulsa for a last visit with my brother and his family before they return to Indonesia. Gonna miss ’em. Probably won’t see them again for 2 or 3 years. Next trip will be to enroll Ryan in college. We’ve had some good visits and they’re ready to go “home.”

www.JaneYouIgnorantSlut.com

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Older readers will remember the “Point/Counterpoint” segment on 60 Minutes. The liberal Shana Alexander would sqauare off against the conservative James J. Kilpatrick (they tried it again in 2003 with Clinton and Dole but it sucked).

My pals Darin, John and Scott are talking about doing a podcast based (loosely) on this idea. Darin is somewhere out in William F. Buckley land and John sort of neo-sixties liberal. I think Scott will serve as moderator. I’m trying to be supportive but… I don’t know. We’ve heard so much polticial talk in recent years, it feels like it’s all been said. Which suggests a different approach.

The lads make a list of the 25 most important issues facing the country. They each go into a studio and record 2 minute rants on each topic and plug the audio files into an online database (at “JaneYouIgnorantSlut.com”).

Visitors select a news story from one of the top five of the day (“George Bush visits Afghanistan and Pakistan”)…click a button…the website generates ten questions and randomly selects 10 rants from each pundit…and strings it altogether. Instant podcast!

The guys won’t have to sweat over a hot microphone every week and no one will ever know.