Metropark
TV
NYT story on upcoming sit-coms set in Iraq, including Spirit of America, "a Fox sitcom about the creation of a Western-style television network in contemporary Baghdad." Oh boy.
McDonald's Israel has done a parody advert [video] of the Pulp Fiction scene about burgers. (I wonder if Tarantino approved this.)
ONLINE
Media Lab Europe is shutting down.
The Age of Egocasting. This is a long essay tracking personal choice in media from the remote control to "egocasting." Unfortunately, it ends with one of those doomsday, Postman-esque scenarios envisioned back in the Republic.com days. (That type of argument should be totally debunked by now. TiVo and other personalization devices cause me to experience more media options, not less.)
Blinkx.tv has essentially come out of nowhere to capture a segment of the future that Google should really own: video search. They've signed up BBC, ITV, Sky and Fox.
NYT: Blogs help reform in Iran.
BOOKS
As expected, Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Blink, is getting a lot of attention. If you have any interest in keeping up with Gladwell, here's the NYTBR review, the Salon review, and a Metafilter thread.
Newsweek reviews the new Murakami novel, Kafka on the Shore.
It appears no one has even noticed that Douglas Coupland has a new novel out: Eleanor Rigby: A Novel.
ARCHITECTURE
Amazing photos of Hong Kong: Michael Wolf's Architecture of Density.
MEDIA
The whole blogging/disclosure/activism debate has so many tentacles to it now that I won't bother linking to everything. Instead, if you care, here's a post that does.
LOCAL
Mark your calendars for the Blogumentary screening Feb. 3, which will include the special guest Dan Gillmor, who is the author of We The Media and who made my blogs of the year list.
Chris Butler is doing a movie about the '90s Minneapolis band Walt Mink. Here's the blog and an ILM thread.
Randomly, people are talking about Husker Du on Metafilter.
Alexis says that a Metropark is coming to the Mall of America. Good or bad? You decide: "Metropark is a new breed of lifestyle retailer inspired by the fusion of fashion, music, and art. We stand for seduction, life after midnight, and the constant pursuit of desire." Well, I guess we'll just see about that....
