May 2007 - Posts
Some loose links to accompany my earlier post as I catch up on the week.
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I've been seeing an increase in the phenomenon of admiring pretty girls online who aren't presenting themselves as pretty girls to be admired. That is to say, it's one thing for someone like Keyra Augustina to skyrocket to "Howard Stern says she's got the best butt on the Web" fame with a
bit lot of grainy homemade skirt lifting. But what about a person whose photo just happens to be online? Girl watching (or boy watching I guess) is a relatively harmless and age-old activity, but what about when it runs into the proportion-distortion of the Internet?
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Everywhere I look I run into a campaign to save the CBS TV show Jericho. I was a regular viewer of Jericho, though the idea (major American cities are nuked and a small Midwest town is left to figure out what happened and how to survive) was always more interesting than the actual execution. It would make (and has made) a better book than a TV show. Anyway, the strangest protest I've seen (for this or pretty much any other cause) has been the Nuts about Jericho campaign. They're collecting money to send "deeply discounted peanuts" to CBS as a protest. And it's working out to be literally tons of peanuts PER DAY.
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I'm not a political scientist but when politicians aren't doing what they were elected to do (full version) and no one likes the bills they pass and for that matter a good number of people aren't sure they were properly elected anyway (yes, on both sides), you have to wonder if we aren't seeing the outlines of a crisis. Not that it really matters now that the aliens are here. ...Plus lots more...
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I had planned a reader mail entry today but as I sorted through my mailbag I realized that a lot of it is pitches from new sites. As you know, I'm not afraid of reading a press release or trying a new site, but it really bogged me down today. So, rather than hold up an entire post while I try to figure out if sites like Kyte are worth sharing, here's a mix of mail and other notes.
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As I mentioned last week, I got to talk with Arianna Huffington on the phone today about her new book "On Becoming Fearless." It probably won't come as a surprise to hear that she's pretty easy to talk to. She's not exactly a media newbie. It sounds like I gave her a huge softball in asking about the Huffington Post's plans for the election but honestly I was expecting her to talk about online activism and I definitely didn't think she'd have that whole answer so well prepared.
I'm feeling out the idea of putting this interview series under the banner of "Voices in my Head." This one is the first time I've put it in the intro so let me know if you think it works. I had considered "Will calls people on the phone" which works well with "This is what I clicked" in its obviousness, but the Voices name is growing on me.
Y'know how sometimes someone will get fall-down stupid vomit drunk on tequila and thereafter they have a sick aversion to the stuff? I feel like something similar happens when you have a child. Where before I was generally indifferent to bad-news stories about kids, now I can't even listen to them. Kidnapping and abuse stories didn't used to mean very much to me and now I hit the mute button when they come on TV. So I hate this video. ...Plus a whole lot more.
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Monday turned out to be a really interesting day of interviews, made more so because of the contrast in guests and subject matter. I spoke with Stephen Marshall first about baby boomer liberals compromising their principles to support the war in Iraq and the role of economics and corporations in modern war. Marshall is the kind of passionate guy who can barely move his mouth fast enough to get the ideas out. Then I called David Verklin who is CEO of a major media buying operation. He buys ads and his whole business is about figuring out how to market to you. His voice is clear and loud and you can see the smile on this face when you hear him and he keeps saying my name and referring to "the book." Anyway, even if you don't listen all the way through it's funny to hear how different they are.
Next Monday the voice in my head will be Arianna Huffington. I'll be talking to her at 1 p.m. ET, so again, if there's something you'd like me to include in the interview, drop me a line. Her book is about "becoming fearless." I'll be reading it over the weekend to find out what that means exactly but it sounds like it won't necessarily be 20 minutes of Bush bashing.
I spent some time yesterday debating with a colleague about the erotic (? for lack of a better word) depiction of Mary Jane in a new Marvel-sanctioned Spider Man figurine. There's no question that it's oversexed and even misogyistic but I think the point of debate (which has enflamed some corners of the blogosphere) is whether it works contextually within the world of comics. ...Plus... Could it happen to Christianity? 'Disemvowelling' hostile jerks, and only you can save chocolate.
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The first set of links in today's entry have to do with keeping a home. After trying to think of a pun based on "Home is where the heart is" I finally gave up and just went with "Home alone." Maybe I'll think of a new one on my way home. Today's entry also includes some cool new mapping links and some political items to get worked up about.
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Just when you felt secure in your low-to-medium grade anxiety about global warming driven flooding and mega storms science finds new global quirks to freak you out. Like the earth's magnetic poles going haywire and leaving us to wander around directionless and fluctuations in gravity that will fling us into space. (OK, you have to provide your own hysteria, but the headlines are real.) ...Plus... It's got a widget! That's what I call a footnote, and how much is that football club in the window?
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On Monday I'll be doing a couple more of those audio interviews. Stephen Marshall has a new book, but I also look forward to talking to him about his other projects and the Guerilla News Network.
David Verklin's book is called "Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here: Inside the 300 Billion Dollar Business Behind the Media You Constantly Consume." He's an ad buyer, so it'll be interesting to hear what he has to say about the current state of the media.
If you've got questions or comments you'd like me to include in either of these interviews, post them through the comments box on this entry or mail them to me at the address on the left.
(A regular Clicked coming in a bit.)
I attended the second annual Brooklyn Blogfest last night. That's a little too local for you to care about, but I did hear a few points worth sharing. It happens that Brooklyn has some issues like toxic spills and greedy land developers that for some reason aren't covered well in the newspapers here, so there was a lot of bashing of mainstream media at the Blogfest. Robert of the Gowanus Lounge expressed his frustration most strikingly, accusing local papers of "abdicating their responsibility." But through it all what was apparent to me was that the room was full of people who have taken responsibility themselves for paying attention to their own neighborhoods - and what's more, they are doing a good job of it. Even if newspapers were capable of the kind of coverage blogs collectively provide, why would we want to turn the clock back on local citizen reporting? Isn't there an argument to be made that it's often citizens who are abdicating their responsibility to actually participate in their own community? The flourishing of local blogs isn't a sign that something is broken, it's a sign of something working.
The first speaker last night was Steven Berlin Johnson, whose hyperlocal hub Outside.in is definitely not too local for you to care about (in fact its local-ness is what should make you care about it).
He offered the interesting observation that the neighborhoods with the greatest number of blogs also are the ones experiencing the most intense gentrification. It seems like a pretty logical conclusion that neighborhoods with the most amount of change are likely to have a greater number of blogs discussing that change. It makes me think of the spike in the number of new blogs following 9/11. To what degree can we credit a general cultural shift with inspiring those new bloggers? It also puts the framing of blogging as an agent of change in a different light. Do blogs really make things happen or are they a response to something already happening?
I deliberately waited until my free margarita wore off before writing this to make sure it still seemed like a good idea. Blogs as symptom of change: discuss.
There's a new crop of blog entries criticizing the media for misrepresenting "the people." Perhaps it's because the election season is heating up. But the Internet doesn't appear to have improved anyone's grip on the public mind so treat these pieces with caution. Plus... A Desktop Defender replacement? What makes a crime a show trial? What's a fan's work worth? and more.
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Leaving Seattle...
Overall it was a good trip. I never quite adjusted to the time change and felt out of sorts the whole time but Seattle's a nice place with nice people.
To the guy on 520 who was so irate because I didn't let him change lanes in front of me I apologize. I forgot where I was and drivers where I live make you work for it.
Also thanks to Andy and the Emergency crew at Evergreen Hospital for their careful attention.
"A Chinese student was removed from Clements High School in Fort Bend, Texas after parents complained he had re-created the school grounds in a game and uploaded the map for his friends to play." It would be a shame if the only lesson the country took from that event is that it's justifiable to be suspicious of a quiet Asian kid in class and Asians acting "strange" cannot be taken too seriously. ... Plus ... Playing two games at once, lemon cookie reps, and my friendly neighborhood Spider Man
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I spent the day chasing the sun across the country in a day that can only be described as governed by Murphy's Law (although once in the air things did go pretty smoothly and we even got free champagne because Delta is celebrating some business milestone). I did actually have an entry set up for today and had hoped to publish it some time before whatever ungodly hour it is right now. I should have it ready in a bit.
On Monday there was an item on Digg about a set of numbers that were the key to cracking the encryption on HD-DVDs and a note that the blogger had been sent a cease and desist letter to take down the numbers because they're top secret. I added this link to my notes but ended up leaving it out of yesterday's post because I only barely understand what the number is for and it seemed a bit too hacky for Clicked. Well, wouldn't you know, the story blew up.
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I can't shake the feeling that a seemingly unrelated collection of headlines about how our society regards women are somehow all about the same thing. ...Plus... Mr. T bashes soccer wussies, help me Jack Potter you're my only hope, and how many solar panels can you fit in the world's largest wind turbine?
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