Kerry Sipe, online news coordinator for The Virginian-Pilot is using wireless technology to file minute-by-minute Weblog updates on court proceedings in the trial of John Allen Muhammad (DC sniper). Something no other reporter in no other medium is doing because cameras are not allowed in the courtroom.
Web-based video ads to dominate.
A recent Yankee Group report says the 30-second TV ad will soon lose top billing as our most valuable marketing vehicle and be replaced by Web-based video advertising. More at CyberJournalist…
David Weinberger on Kill Bill
“Tarantino’s love of movies is infectious. But what he loves about them isn’t their literary capabilities, the way they can show us people and events changing each other, and the rest of that important yada. No, QT loves their syntax, their rhetoric. And that’s what Kill Bill is great at: a samurai sword being re-holstered, a nod that launches an attack. It’s like a “That’s Entertainment” that shows not the greatest tap dance sequences in the history of movies but the greatest gestures.”
How things are (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).
We tune in by show brand, not station brand
From Tod Maffin’s upcoming editorial in Strategy Magazine about the future of television advertising, broadcasters, and the cable companies:
“…we’re at the end of the generation where people lock onto a station and keep with it for an evening. Today, our loyalty is to specific shows, not network or station brands. Nobody stays home to watch Fox TV; we watch Trading Spaces, then flip to This Hour Has 22 Minutes, then flip again. Digital television’s on-screen TV Guides and PVRs just reinforce the behaviour. We tune in by show brand, not station brand. ” [via Lockergnome]
Why Rush’s TV show flopped
Mark Whicker, writing for The Orange County Register, calls talk shows “a crack in the mirror of America. The reason that mudslinging works on the radio is simple: On the radio, Limbaugh is speaking to the dittoheads, the disciples who swallow everything. On TV, Limbaugh has to address the population as a whole.” [MercuryNews.com]
SanDisk Cruzer Mini
I’ve been wanting one of these little doo-dads for a while and finally broke down. “The SanDisk Cruzer Mini is the fastest and easiest way to move your data. Cruzer Mini is Hi-speed USB 2.0 certified for fast data transfer (also compatible with USB 1.1). Store all your data, pictures, music and more on this pocket-sized device and then easily transfer files between your laptop and desktop.”
Scary week.
Our oldest pup got really sick on Monday of last week. Took her to the the local vet and by Wednesday it looked like we might lose her. Thursday morning Barb suggested we take her to the MU vet school where they found a nasty thing on her liver and did emergency surgery. Still not out of the woods but looking better every day. When I get really sick, this is where I want to be taken. This is great facility with really smart, caring people.
Death by Hollywood
As a long-time fan of NYPD Blue, I had to give Steven Bochco’s first novel a read. The publisher had to do the usual margin and leading tricks to get this up to hard-back page count (what would have been wrong with a 150 page novel?). But Death by Hollywood is a tasty little snack.
By and large, we’re nothing more than well-paid pimps who represent our poched-out clients as if they’re beautiful young virgins, offereing them up to a bunch of jaded johns who know better, but these are the only whores in town. As the saying goes, denial is not a river in Egypt. It’s a river in Hollywood, and it runs deep, and brown.
On deck: Deception Point by Dan Brown; and Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Volume one of three. Each in the 1,000 page range.
Acquaintance or friend
“The dividing line is communication, I think. A friend is someone to whom you can say any jackass thing that enters your mind. With acquaintances, you are forever aware of their slightly unreal image of you, and to keep them content, you edit yourself to fit. Many marriages are between acquaintances. You can be with a person for three hours of your life and have a friend. Another one will remain an acquaintance for thirty years.”
— Bright Orange for the Shroud, John D. MacDonald (page 15)