December 2008
UNHAPPY NEW YEAR! Time Warner Cable To Lose... →
editorlisa:
Time Warner Cable is dropping all Viacom stations if they can’t reach a renewal agreement by 12:01 tonight. That means no more Daily Show, Colbert Report, The City… no more Bromance!!! I know you really care about Bromance.
MTV is running a crawl encouraging subscribers to call 1-800-762-3786 to urge TWC to negotiate, but I can’t seem to get through. Either they are flooded with...
pgwp:
postpunk:
Jesus and Mary Chain - Just...
80 '08 (And Heartbreak) No. 15: Beyoncé, "Single... →
Or: we are sorry that Beyonce is not your kind of feminist.
I guess the fact that I have no idea what people are referring to with today’s “Tumblr drama” means I unfollowed the right people, huh?
80 '08 (And Heartbreak) No. 18: Kanye West's... →
This is part of what I wanted to say during the recent Kanye debates, but I guess it’s still only a hiccup, and a fuller post is probably necessary. And possible—hey, what am I doing these days? The essential point is that the Kanye experience is a lot richer if you consider the visuals along with the music, and that’s not superficial. He’s a great example of how style...
In retrospect
It was silly to expect us to get anything done on the first uninterrupted day we had to play Rock Band 2. I guess we did do laundry. And showered! But mainly, we played about 6 hours of video games.
For the record: yeah, it’s really enjoyable to play “Rebel Girl” in a video game.
Stanley Crouch's slow transformation into Andy... →
Schmance
I am not so sure I am down with this whole “beer is the new wine” thing. First there was the New Yorker article about Dogfish, which tried to make me feel guilty for not liking extremely bitter things. Hey! Balancing flavors is one of the most basic elements of concocting consumable things for humans. I’m not saying it has to be sweet, I’m just saying the bitterness has...
Coming down last night
On the George Washington, Manhattan is absolutely invisible, not even the whisper of light pollution sounding through the fog, cables disappearing into unenforced gravity. Traffic streams down the West Side Highway like souls trudging through purgatory, a gray, amorphous tunnel breathed out into the mist by passing cars. A new arrival would never know there was a river to the right, would wonder...
'Gilmore Girls' producer sues WBTV →
But the producer is not Amy Sherman-Palladino or Daniel Palladino. An interesting little glimpse into what went down behind the scenes on that show, leading to the creators getting kicked off after the sixth season. Coincidentally, the WB claims that the only season the show ran a profit was the seventh, the one without the creators attached. (N.B. This is not actually interesting to anyone but...
tothemaxxx:
“Hot Caught” by Eagle and Talon
...
Man, That's a Lot of Holes →
Another Long Tail perspective, from 30 Frames. Makes the point that the theory was supposed to apply to retailers, not content producers, and more than contradicting Anderson’s original theory this might just point out that not everyone benefits from the long tail. Worth a read, if you aren’t like “stop posting about this” by now.
Two good reasons why reports of the death of the...
johnbrissenden:
Neither of the authors of the research on which the Times story is based is an academic. One is chief economist of the MCPS-PRS Alliance, responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of writers and publishers from recordings of their music. The other is head of the world’s largest mobile billing company. Both organisations have a vested interest, just like the RIAA, in the...
The Long Tail Isn't So Long After All →
twentysix:
barthel:
Here’s a story you won’t hear much about elsewhere: turns out the vast majority of digital music doesn’t sell a single copy, which means that the “long tail” peters out real quick. This post meant to be more in-depth but just got ranty, because I am really fucking sick of seeing content devalued in favor of imaginary economic models.
I think your idea that the long tail...
The Long Tail Isn't So Long After All →
Here’s a story you won’t hear much about elsewhere: turns out the vast majority of digital music doesn’t sell a single copy, which means that the “long tail” peters out real quick. This post meant to be more in-depth but just got ranty, because I am really fucking sick of seeing content devalued in favor of imaginary economic models.
"Mama Mia" is the top-grossing film of all time in... →
Meryl Streep points out that no one seems to know this, and wonders if this is because it’s a “women’s movie.” Meryl is probably right.
80 '08 (And Heartbreak) No. 32: The End Of "TRL" →
Another take on the end of TRL, this one talking about MTV’s planned obsolesence and what their abandoning of chart pop might mean for the future.
We are all budget experts now →
Here’s a tip to reading stories about state budgets: if they want to lay blame at the feet of something without telling you what percentage of the budget this thing accounts for, stop reading. This particular douchebag, a former Giuliani drone, wants to blame New York’s budget shortfall on unions. This is bullshit. Yes, public sector employees make more money than private sector...
"Don’t we want to live in a media environment... →
maura:
you would think the answer to this would be a no-brainer “yes,” but apparently not. why am i hearing echoes of the whole “music should be free, because it costs nothing for me to grab it off the internet and therefore costs nothing to make, right?” debate here?
So aside from demonstrating yet again that soupsoup is a megadouche, I guess this has some interesting things to say about...
Keep in mind that none of this is sarcastic
Rachel: There's a big exhibition going on at the FDR museum!
Me: In Hyde Park, New York?
Rachel: It's the 75th anniversary of the New Deal!
Me: We have to go on our way back!
My cover of “Purple Rain.” Enjoy.
Man said 'wombat rape' led to accent change →
I would post an excerpt, but really there’s no part of this story that isn’t golden.
Patterson on Bill Moyers right now
The governor said that Goldman Sachs executives deferring their bonuses this year will cost New York $213 million in tax revenue. That’s the situation we’re in right now. The moral decision is not always the decision that’s best for the common good. We need to acknowledge that.
Extinction-Level Television Event →
Very good article about the demise of network TV and the negative consequences thereof, sort of. More evidence than consequence, really. But nicely marshalled!
I don't really understand this sentence
When much of the critical conversation this year focused on Brooklyn’s nü-primitivism coldly capitalizing on globalism, TVOTR proved that the borough can give us so much more than Keffiyeh scarves.
Not to say that I think it’s wrong, I’m just unclear what it’s referring to. (Which makes sense, given that I neither lived in Brooklyn nor participated very actively in the...
Dirty! Rotten! Filthy! Stinkin'!
lastbutnotleast:
So, earlier this week Mike Barthel asked “…if the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band have been overstated…” Well, now we have an answer from the NPD group: nope.
“Year-to-date through November, the music and dance genre was the best-selling genre in video games, representing 16 percent of total software sales for the year,” according to Anita Frazier, NPD’s video games...
A radically condensed history of postindustrial...
homeofthevain:
When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.
The man who’d introduced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if he did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after...
Xmas miracle
A Postal Service official in Washington, after an initial, limited acknowledgment of a “privacy breach,” said that at one of the programs, not New York’s, a man whom a letter carrier recognized as a registered sex offender had “adopted” a letter. When postal officials confronted the man, the official said, he said he was sincerely trying to do a good deed, but postal inspectors nonetheless...
FYI
As I secretly hoped, my Of Montreal post has provoked a pretty good discussion. The instigator:
the concept of this album is completely fucked, and i refuse to even listen to it because of that. i’m sorry if you think i’m being overly pc here but the idea that a member of the most privileged group (heterosexual white male) in american society could even begin to capture what...
Watchitsbedtime:
katyperryblog:
Just another day at the office. Yawn.
This reminded me that I was offered some freelance work at MissBehave in the New Year. It’s almost the New Year. Writing my email now to cash in… Thanks, K.Per
I don’t think I want a Tumblr anymore?
No no no (warning: CNY content)
I’ll do Mr. Kamiya one better, though. Not only is Pottersville cooler and more fun than Bedford Falls, it also would have had a much, much stronger future. Think about it: In one scene George helps bring manufacturing to Bedford Falls. But since the era of “It’s a Wonderful Life” manufacturing in upstate New York has suffered terribly.
On the other hand, Pottersville, with its nightclubs and...
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Rachel: When my kids are 5 or 6, they're only going to have costumes.
Me and Anna: ...
Me: I'll buy them a couple actual outfits.
Rachel: Why?!
Anna: Uh, so they're not scarred for life?
Rachel: Oh, every parent scars their kids.
Anna: That is the stupidest thing you've ever said.
Cute Things Falling Asleep →
allcreatures:
It’s ridiculous how easily some of these animals fall aslzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Rachel: “Someone made a website just for you!”
80 '08 (And Heartbreak) No. 39: Of Montreal Get... →
I make a decent case for why SL spoke to me, much more so than “Hissing Fauna,” and argue that their ability to be argued about was one of the things that made Of Montreal fun this year.