There were 89 entries found with "s2":

friday
0 comments

i have a whole thing about how HIMYM is the new SATC, but i haven't had enough coffee to explain it. however, i was at a party the other night and someone told me:

"It gets more right than Seinfeld, more right than Friends, more right than Sex & The City. It's awesome."

I could tell by the glint in his eye he was talking about Neil Patrick Harris.

but right now i just want to celebrate Jason Segal. he writes songs (probably the biggest reason girls crush on him). here's one for the Russell Brand character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. which was a funnier movie than i expected it to be, but has left Kristen Bell, who i loved as Veronica Mars, making crap like this, when she'd probably rather be making a crappy reunion movie. (yes! a nearly breathless run-on sentence!) -- FB

wednesday
5 comments

so women still aren't welcome in tech start--up culture? dudes, consider the following:

smarter, more educated women drink more. check.

promiscuous women cause earthquakes. you betcha.

the navy is cool with adding chicks on submarines, and taking away smokes. aha.

now let me ask you, do you want to get laid or not? -- FB

thursday
1 comment

If you like the Flaming Lips, you may feel like an amateur fan when you read this conversation between Matthew Perpetua of Fluxblog and Mark Richardson of Pitchfork about their 90s-era music--but you'll enjoy it anyway. Richardson, who wrote the newish 33 1/3 book on The Flaming Lips' 1997 Zaireeka, discusses the importance of Wayne Coyne's age difference with Kurt Cobain, the band's early theatricals and their consequent influence on bands like Of Montreal, the contrast they set against 90s grunge grimness and much more. --FD

[Note: I originally wrote that Richardson discussed Coyne's "mild schizophrenia" but that was actually in reference to former guitarist Ronald Jones.]

wednesday
0 comments

French Connection wants you to be a man and wear bunny ears. Check out the images/videos from their Spring 2010 campaign that was inspired by "the absurdity of french cinema." --MM

sunday
0 comments

The monstrous list of 2009 lists leaped up to nearly 700 entires over the weekend. Some new things include WSJ's Year in Photos, Billboard's Artists of the Year, YouTube's Most Watched and Searched For, AOL's Hot Searches, Jezebel's 10 Best Cover Lies, Glamour's 10 Best Dressed, Videogum's Best Viral Videos, and Babble's Best Mommy Bloggers.

thursday
2 comments

The 2009 List of Lists is progressing nicely. Some new things that have been added: Google's Zeitgeist, Yahoo's Year in Review, Pitchforks' Top Videos, and The Millions' Year in Reading. Please email me additions.

saturday
5 comments

So yeah, the End of the Year List of Lists is happening again. [Except this year, I have no time to manage it, so please email me if you'd like to either a) manage it for a small stipend, or b) sponsor it.] It's just starting out, but a few things already added: NYT's 100 Notable Books, Amazon's Best Books, Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction, S/FJ's Best Songs and Albums, Metacritic's Best Music, and Wired's Pop Culture Moments. Be sure to email me if you have more lists.

monday
1 comment

This is pretty great... there's a British game show called Golden Balls that concludes with a segment called Spilt or Steal that directly borrows the classic Prisoner's Dilemma. There are many YouTube clips, but the best has to be this one.

thursday
8 comments

Didn't see this one coming: You've Got (Hate) Mail. Keith Gessen and Emily Gould get the long Vanity Fair dual profile (online only). This graph will determine whether you like this story or not:

At this stage in its evolution, the Web is like an endless novel populated with characters who reveal way too much about themselves, sometimes purposely, sometimes half-knowingly, sometimes unwittingly. It's a junk shop of human emotion and behavior, a forum for advanced people-watching. Day after day as the Gessen-Gould affair unfolded, I turned on my computer and went a-Googling for the latest development. Like any good reality show, it made me sick sometimes, and I tried to tear myself away from it, only to find myself helpless against its crack-like power.
See also: !!!

sunday
1 comment

Lists are a constant stream right now. Some recent additions: NYT's Year in Buzzwords, Violet Blue's Top 10 Sexy Geeks, Archaeology Magazines's Top 10 Discoveries, The New Yorker's Ten Best Art Shows, Entertainment Weekly's Best and Worst, NYT's Year in Culture, and Pop Candy's Top 100 People.

wednesday
4 comments

Some of the lists recently added to the 2008 list of lists: Google's Zeitgeist, Pitchfork's 20 Worst Album Covers, Pantone's Color of the Year, Time's Top 10 Everything, New York Magazine's Year in Culture, Jonathan Yardley's Best Books, Christianity Today's Top News Stories, London Times' 100 Best Records, Salon's Book Awards, Sasha Frere-Jones' Best Of 2008, Mr. Skin's Top 20 Celebrity Nude Scenes, Global Language Monitor's Top Words of the Year, Roger Ebert's Best Films, ArtForum's Best of 2008, PetFinder's Most Popular Pet Names, and Candy Addict's Best Candy.

saturday
1 comment

This AP story about a new satellite launched into space neglects to mention that it's for Google -- to collect more imagery.

wednesday
0 comments

Vanity Fair: Why Do People Love to Hate The New York Times? Quoted: David Carr, Jack Shafer, Jonah Goldberg, and Alex Pareene!

monday
2 comments

A new addition to the canon of totally weird Bjork videos: "Wanderlust". (See also: Stereogum's cover album of Post, with tracks by Xiu Xiu, Liars, Dirty Projectors, etc.)

friday
2 comments

Missed this, from a few days ago: long Bret Easton Ellis profile in LAT. [via]

saturday
0 comments

IndieWire's Critic's Poll (which is sorta the film equivalent of The Voice's Pazz & Jop poll).

friday
0 comments

Culled from the list of lists, here are the best 2007 lists of the past week: Radar's New Radicals, AOL's Top 10 Political Music Moments, Village Voice's Best Books, Ask.com's Top Searches, Art Forum's Best Music, Yahoo's Top Trends in Search, XLR8R's Best Albums, Drawn's Favourite Comics and Art Books, Sports Illustrated's Ten Best Trades, The Economist's Books of the Year, RealClearPolitics' Worst Election Mistakes, Mark Ronson's Albums of the Year, and of course my Top 25 Albums. Also of note: Goody Bag's rant about lists.

wednesday
0 comments

Business 2.0 magazine is officially dead. [via]

monday
0 comments

Long, but great: Vanity Fair's oral history of The Simpson's. Includes interviews with Rupert Murdoch, Ricky Gervais, Art Spiegelman, Barry Diller, and Conan O'Brien.

wednesday
2 comments

New Timberlake vid: "LoveStoned." Points for weird visuals. From the same director, Robert Hales, who did Gnarles' "Crazy."

friday
1 comment

"09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0" -- from 0 to 748,000 Google results. Digg that.

sunday
3 comments

Bjork performing "Earth Intruders" last night on SNL. The music video of the same song. (I'm afraid to say my girl has lost it.)

monday
0 comments

Borders is dropping Amazon as its e-commerce solution in favor of doing their own site.

monday
2 comments

I've been thinking about the Business 2.0 story that I linked to last week about 25 Web 2.0 Companies to Watch. Of those listed, the ones I would bet on include Meebo, Blip.TV, and maybe StumbledUpon. That's it. So what would I bet on? Twitter and Stickam, which weren't even mentioned.

friday
0 comments

The Next Net 25. "Business 2.0 Magazine's guide to the hottest Web 2.0 companies -- and the powerful trends driving them -- in this make-or-break year."

tuesday
2 comments

Apparently the Seattle Times got a lot of negative feedback from the hot barista story that was posted here last week.

tuesday
7 comments

Seattle Times: a local coffee shop is adding "bodacious baristas, flirty service and ever more-revealing outfits to the menu." (Update from the comments: photos. Hot coffee!)

saturday
2 comments

While seemingly everyone builds music recommendations engines around the wisdom of the crowds, Critical Metrics goes retro by instead aggregating good ol' music critics. More importantly, the founder is Joey Anuff, who you might remember as the founder of Suck.com. [via]

friday
0 comments

More '06 lists? M'kay: top 50 music videos from DoCopenhagen; top 5 movie posters from Sam's Myth; best nude scenes from Mr. Skin; the year in books from Slate.com; best books, music, film, and art from Art Forum; and of course a whole lot more.

tuesday
0 comments

Yahoo has released their Top Searches of 2006, which of course has been added to the ever-growing list of lists.

friday
4 comments

In their New Rules of Real Estate cover story, Business 2.0 says that Seattle is a "bubble-proof" real estate market. Yeah! [via]

monday
0 comments

Arctic Monkeys have a new single and video: "Leave Before The Lights Come On".

thursday
0 comments

37 Signals: Khoi Vinh and Jeffrey Veen.

sunday
0 comments

Two clips (1 | 2) from Southland Tales, in which Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a futuristic prostitute. The tagline, pinched from the movie website, which is weird as hell, is "The Internet is the Future. The Future is Just Like You Imagined." Doy, directed by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko), who is interviewed in Cinema Scope about the bad reception the film got at Cannes.

sunday
0 comments

Clerks 2 trailer.

sunday
3 comments

TOYS

GenPets. For real.

FILM

Clerks 2 trailer.

Anton Corbjin is directing a movie about Joy Division: Control.

I noticed that A Scanner Darkly has an elaborate MySpace page. I wonder if they had to pay for the special treatment or if they just hacked it.

MUSIC

A gigantic Bjork box set comes out tomorrow.

Vice: How To Make A Playlist For A Girl. Condescending as fuck, but funny as hell.

WORDS

The Nerve.com Future Issue, which will feature writing from Joel Stein, Walter Kirn, Jay McInerney, Douglas Rushkoff, Rick Moody, Ana Marie Cox, and others.

Updike jumps up and down like a baby (an eloquent baby, I suppose) over Kevin Kelly's NYT Mag book story from a several weeks ago.

TV

Screens (Virginia Heffernan!) is a new tv/internet convergence blog on... yep, NYtimes.com. I'm calling it a "Lost Remote killer." (Sorry Cory, I kid.)

Robot Chicken is on DVD? How come no one told me?

ONLINE

Wikipedia: List of problems solved by MacGyver.

I'm not on Second Life yet, though I know I should be. I've been watching the site pretty closely for years, and it's fascinating that it's finally taking off, though I have no idea why now. Anyway, there's some reportage that Amazon.com is planning on extending their web services to support virtual stores within Second Life.

Finally, a reason to wed.

DRINK

I wonder what would happen if I tried to drink only beverages from Amazon's Sports & Energy Drink grocery category.

ARCHITECTURE

Believe it or not, I've actually read every single Zaha Hadid story over the past few weeks (her Guggenheim retrospective has created more press than anything since Bilbao). The only one I'll bother linking to is Slate's contrarian is she really visionary?

T-SHIRTS

[Broken Image]

sunday
4 comments

Shut up, where have you been?

SARAH SILVERMAN

With recent profiles in Radar, Believer, L.A. Times, and The New Yorker, it seems our hipster pinup has truly made it. Her movie, Jesus Is Magic [trailer], was in festivals over a year ago but is finally hitting mainstream theaters next week. Popbytes has some video clips.

MUSIC

You've heard the White Stripes' version of Tegan and Sara's "Walking with a Ghost," right? Good.

Slate.com: Anatomy of a rock snob.

It's old news, but let's not forget that MySpace has a record label starting soon.

BLOGS

The production blog for the new Danny Boyle film Sunshine.

The CEO for Whole Foods has a blog.

ONLINE

100 Greatest Internet Moments.

Discuss: Would you pay $5/month to use Google?

Interview with our pal Andrew of Rocketboom.

Revver is a new get-paid-to-upload-your-video site.

NYT: Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies | A Journey to the Center of Yahoo.

Yahoo's new Google-ish Local Maps uses Flash instead of Ajax (or actually, uses both). [See also: Yahoo Maps pranks Google.]

WORDS

Financial Times has lunch with Brett Easton Ellis.

McSweeney's has a new online store, and the first thing I notice is a new DVD magazine called Wholphin.

PORN

Just weeks after the new Video iPod comes MyDirtyIpod.com.

sunday
4 comments

While being interviewed the other day, someone asked me about my political affiliations. After stammering for a bit, I said, "Do you know the phrase 'South Park Republican'? I suppose I'm a 'Daily Show Democrat'." You heard it here first.

TV

Metacritic.com (which you might remember was recently purchased by CNet) has added tv reviews. So far, Prison Break has been my favorite show of the year, while critics have Everybody Hates Chris as the best.

So you're watching Lost, right? At first all this talk about the curse of The X-Files / Twin Peaks seemed a worthwhile concern, but season two has been great so far. So "4 8 15 16 23 42," right? The site 4815162342.com has been the best for gossip and theories, including one that concludes that the numbers are GPS coordinates. Damn, that's so... post-Google.

ONLINE

Back when my pal Andy launched Upcoming.org, I asked him what he'd do with all that money when Google bought him out. I was only wrong about one thing. Congrats, man.

Oh hell, Google launched a newsreader.

Blogebrity has more details on the Weblogs Inc deal with AOL.

After weaning myself off Gawker, the comments on threads like this just might bring me back.

WORDS

A full list of Dubya nicknames.

Chuck did a face-off with Bill Simmons last week. It turned out pretty good, except when they talk about blogging.

MUSIC

List: cool musicians who blog.

Ratsin-fratsin Spin.com didn't put up all of Phoebe's outrageous interview with Courtney Love, so here it is.

Pitchfork reviews the new Director's Label Series.

FILM

Hilarious remix of The Shining as a family flick.

Trailer to that new Woody Allen starring Scarlett Johansson.

SHIRTS

No, I Don't Want To Read Your Blog (or hear your demo).

GADGETS

Just the other day I decided I was tired of having eight remotes to run my house and bought a Harmony 880. And then PVRblog got one too.

MEDIA

Is it my imagination or has Wired News sorta fallen off the radar since they did those lay-offs a few months ago?

Salon.com redesigned. It looks like a mashup of Slate.com and The Huffington Report.

FUNNY

Aziz carries the world's shittiest mixtape around on a boombox.

The Onion: Project Manager Leaves Suicide PowerPoint Presentation.

The most awesome quarters players ever.

Hey, I was "on" the Harry Shearer show (audio) a couple weeks ago.

sunday
4 comments

RANDOMLY FOUND ONLINE

World Beard and Moustache Championships.

55 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena.

24 Different Ways To Lace Shoes.

T-SHIRTS

Free Katie tees.

From the "pro-life store": Former Embryo.

There's some buzz online right now about the American Apparel models being a tad on the youngish side. You can judge for yourself.

MUSIC VIDEOS

Willie Nelson is really the highlight of Jessica Simpson's "The Boots Were Made For Walking" video. No, really.

The new Bloc Party video goes the way of Gorillaz: "Pioneers".

MUSIC

Slate.com: What's the worst ad song ever?

Mashup: Snoop Dogg vs. Led Zeppelin (mp3).

Mondo Kim's raided. Huh?

Liz Phair acoustic tour.

Pitchfork gives DJ Shadow's Entroducing... Deluxe Edition a 10.0.

Pink Floyd reunites with Gilmour, Waters, Mason and Wright.

For those who didn't even hear the music: Eleni Mandell, who sang the song in that Paris Hilton Carl Jr.'s advert, to release "I Love Paris" single.

WORDS

Malcolm Gladwell: My work space.

BLOGGING

NYT has launched their column that purports to be a snapshop of blog talk. Their first topic? Mark Cuban. Hm.

FILM

David Lynch's new movie: INLAND EMPIRE (and yes, it's apparently all in caps).

thursday
6 comments

MAGAZINES

Here I was talking about the Steven Johnson and Tom Friedman excerpts in magazines, but I completely overlooked that I was excerpted in Wired this month. Well, it's a blurb excerpt of this piece I wrote about viral marketing. Here's a picture of the excerpt, which you'll find on page 89 of the current issue on newsstands (the Star Wars one).

TV

No surprise, NBC's version of the The Office is about to get cancelled.

Ladies and gentleman, the most boring tv show of all time.

FILM

Batman Begins trailer.

BLOGS

ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com. "hard" is such a nice touch.

The Guardian pretends to get a peak on the new Huffington blog. And here's a list of 47 of the supposed 250 super-bloggers lined up. In what could be the strangest list of people of all time, we have Bill Maher, Christie Hefner, David Geffen, David Mamet, Diane Keaton, Gary Hart, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harry Shearer, Jann Wenner, John Cusack, Larry David, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mike Nichols, Norman Mailer, Nora Ephron, Tina Brown, Vernon Jordan, and Walter Cronkite.

LOCAL

Over on MNspeak.com, we have news about Best Buy and some crazy ESPN.com guy.

thursday
comments

STRANGELY FAMOUS

I would do anything to make NY Press' 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers (which mentions the word "blog" 19 times -- hoorah!). Well, except move to New York.

Wikipedia's list of most sexually active popes. To make that list, I'd even move to New York.

FOOD

You see this new BK Enormous Omelet? 730 calories, 47 grams of fat -- more than a whopper. Delish, I'm sure.

GAMES

New Sony PSP advert featuring Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out."

MUSIC

As Greg said, Bjork and Matthew Barney are the last people on the planet you'd expect to live in New Jersey. And yet...

David Byrne's online radio station.

TV

No popup ads on my TiVo yet, but I'm ready to be pissed off too....

BOOKS

Cheney's daughter is writing a memoir.

BLOGGERS

This is the weirdest dot-com news we've seen in quite some time. Arianna Huffington is starting something called The Huffington Report, a culture and politics webzine that will have a group blog with a strange cast of characters: Larry David, Barry Diller, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tina Brown, and more.

FILM

Thank god Courtney Love is back. She will be playing Linda Lovelace in a biopic.

SCIENCE

This New Scientist article was a fun read: 13 Things that Do Not Make Sense. Includes the placebo effect, dark matter, and cold fusion.

Slate reviews Make, which I have to confess I had a very hard time reading, and I'm probably the market demo.

LOCAL

To coincide with the smoking ban, City Pages did a printable guide to the only remaining smoker bars in the Twin Cities (all in St. Paul, of course).

Wow, that Strib story on punk rock glasses sure was fun, eh? I'm not going to say anything more than that because I see all the people in this story around Uptown, and I don't want any of them to punch me and break my non-retro glasses.

CP's music writing sure ain't slowing down with Missy Miss flying the coop. First off, Julianne Shepherd calls Beck's newest album his best ever. Whoa there, cowboy! And then there are Bridgette's and Lindsey's nice SXSW accounts, parts of which I got to see with them.

saturday
comments

Over the weekend, I did a segment about online viral marketing on public radio's Weekend America. Here's the audio file (mp3 - 6.3mb).

Although most of us sentient beings think of advertising as predominantly evil (or, if forgiving, necessarily evil), an interesting contradiction arises out of viral marketing -- it's both detestable and fascinating at the same time. In that sense, viral marketing introduces complex issues about how we relate to media, how we want to believe in fantasy, and how we still cling to the notion of authenticity. Sometimes it's strangely addicting (Subservient Chicken), and other times it's like watching your parents dance to Outcast (Raging Cow).

As a compendium to the radio show, below are links to some online viral marketing campaigns. (If they aren't hyper-linked, that means the site no longer exists.) It's a long list, so skim it as you see fit:

Subservient Chicken -- Burger King
http://www.subservientchicken.com
Although it wasn't the first, it seemed to kick-off the trend. It also created spin-offs, including Crystal Clear's Ask Crystal Show and Subservient President.

Chicken Fight -- Burger King
http://www.chickenfight.com
Trying to follow-up the buzz behind Subservient Chicken, this was a game with a boxing bout between two chickens. It was pretty dumb.

Pimp My Burger -- Burger King
http://www.pimpmyburger.com
A recent take-off of MTV's Pimp My Ride. Long but mildly entertaining.

Angus Diet -- Burger King
http://www.angusdiet.com
Another BK one. A fake inspirational speaker and personal interventionalist espouses the benefits of eating beef.

The Beast -- A.I. Artificial Intelligence
http://www.cloudmakers.org
The Beast is the respected grandfather of the movement. The story: Evan Chan is murdered in the fictional world of the movie A.I. Clues are available on the internet on approximately 30 interlinked websites (disguised as universities, businesses, personal homepages, etc.). Over 7,000 people combine their knowledge to figure out the murder mystery.

I Love Bees -- Halo 2
http://www.ilovebees.com
Perhaps the most ambitious example of a new medium called "alternate-reality gaming" (which includes The Beast, above). Participants go to a website to learn what pay phones will be called that week (to make it even more geeky, they're listed by GPS coordinates). When they answer the phone, a message is given with a clue. Back on the website, you enter the answer to a question and then hear a 30-second clip of new material. Sometimes when you pick up the phone, you talk to with a live person, and what you say can be incorporated into the online game. The final episode, which had a War of the Worlds feel, was timed to the launch of the videogame. Millions of people came to the site.

MSN Found -- Microsoft/MSN
http://www.msnfound.com
MSN Found has six fake online personalities in their mid-20s (with profiles more stereotypical than MTV's The Real World) write blogs and post video clips. The blogs contain words ("hypnodragon" and "define vertigious") that are intended to drive you to use MSN Search for clues. The hook is that you're supposed to get interested in the personalities, and then use MSN's new search product to find out more about these people. Strangely, the site doesn't use Microsoft's own blogging software, Spaces.

The 2-Headed Dog -- MTV2
http://www.the2headeddog.com
This came about because of MTV2's new branding strategy to compete with the upcoming music video station, Fuse. The site (now defunct) didn't contain much more than strange visuals of two-headed dogs, but it made you scratch your head if you stumbled across it before the station redesign. MTV hired people to spread the word on message boards, which caused a backlash.

The Lincoln Fry Blog -- McDonald's
http://lincolnfry.typepad.com/blog/
http://lincolnfry.yahoo.com
A Super Bowl commercial about a couple who discovers a McDonald's french fry that looked like Abe Lincoln triggers this escapade. A fake blog chronicles the couple's adventures. After the ad ran, McDonald's decided to sell the fry online, where an online casino (GoldenPalace.com) paid $75,100 for it. So it's like buying someone else's viral marketing scheme to create your own.

Axe Feather -- Axe Deodorant
http://www.axefeather.com
Dumb.

Counter Counterfeit Commission -- BMW Mini
http://www.counterfeitmini.org
This somewhat clever campaign is a fake "detect a fake Mini" site, which contains photos on detecting a fake Mini and a $20 documentary DVD on the Mini counterfeit underworld.

Elite Designers Against Ikea -- Ikea
http://www.elitedesigners.org
Another fakie. Elite designers are against Ikea because their stuff is so cheap. I mean, inexpensive.

HalloweenM3 -- Mazda
http://halloweenm3.blogspot.com
This short-lived experiment from Mazda had a fake blogger talking about the new Mazda M3. The internet community generally disliked this disingenuous attempt. (NOTE: I somehow misidentified this site's name on the radio show. I called it "Raging Cow," which is below.)

Raging Cow -- Dr. Pepper
http://blog.ragingcow.com
Dr. Pepper enlisted six blogging teens to promote the product Raging Cow, a new milk-based drink. The strange thing is that the bloggers aren't paid, yet they enjoy talking about the product -- a clear precursor to the persuaders.

Find The Message -- GM Onstar
http://www.findthemessage.com
17 different words plus the URL FindTheMessage.com are placed on billboards around the country. The goal is to put all the words together to figure out a message. Pieced together from L.A. to New York, it turned out to be "This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation's roadways," which advertised GM's OnStar navigation product. A prize was to be given to whoever figured it out first, but someone cracked open the site's flash file, and revealed the phrase before actual terrestrial sleuths could figure it out.

Pump Up The Movie -- Best Buy / Nokia
http://www.pumpupthemovie.com
It too me a while to realize that this was a fake movie site which includes a "toss the cheerleader" game. (Created by Space150.com.)

Fight Big Overcoat -- Transglobal Vacations
http://www.fightbigovercoat.org
Another one involving billboards.

Rubber Burner & Super Greg -- Lee Jeans
http://www.rubberburner.com
http://www.supergreg.com
These long-gone fake homepages of out-of-touch losers were modeled on Mahir, the dancing Turkish hipster from 1999. Fallon was behind the project. (Sidenote: This one was first brought out into the open by Kottke on Metafilter, which seems like a million years ago.)

Who Ordered Room Service -- Not Bryan Adams
http://www.whoorderedroomservice.com
And now there's even parody viral marketing campaigns. At first this looked like a viral campaign by Bryan Adams for his new album, Room Service. Except he had nothing to do with it.

VW Suicide Bomber -- Probably Not Volkswagen
http://www.boreme.com/bm/JAN05/a/vw-suicide-bomber/fr.htm
Because viral marketing is now so prevalant, there's the danger that people will think parodies are real.

MORE RESOURCES

  • The Viral Awards -- There was even an awards show held a couple weeks ago in New York City.
  • Cripsin Porter + Bogusky -- This is the firm behind many of these, and is generally credited with pioneering the movement.
  • Viral Marketing Manifesto -- Created to fight the backlash and create effective campaigns.
  • The Persuaders -- Great Frontline episode on marketing.
  • Wikipedia -- "Viral marketing" defintion.
  • The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders -- NYT Mag story on BzzAgent, the company behind a kind of second-generation of viral marketing tactics.
  • GOOD BLOGS & SITES

  • AdFreak.com
  • Adbusters.org
  • Ad Rants
  • Ad Jab
  • Adland
  • Adtunes.com
  • Agenda Inc.
  • All Marketers Are Liars
  • Cool Hunting
  • Adweek
  • TRACKBACKS

  • Adjab -- The prominence of viral marketing
  • Adrants -- Viral Marketing Discussed on NPR's Weekend America
  • Rexblog -- All you ever wanted to know about viral marketing
  • FM Gold -- Is It Effective...And Why Do We Have To Keep Asking?
  • Much Ado About Marketing -- Viral Marketing Discussion On MPR


  • friday
    comments

    Back from San Fran, here are some pics from the Wired Rave Awards party. My posse included Alexis, Maud, John (of Dogster), and Robin (of INdTV). Talked to a few people, including Xeni Jardin and Kevin Sites. Now I'm off to NYC, but first, today's links:

    ONLINE

    Wonkette on Howard Stern in Wired.

    MSNBC.com's "Big Picture" for the Academy Awards is always pretty cool.

    Vimeo, "a site for organizing and sharing your video clips." In other words, a video Flickr -- it even includes tags.

    Panels for SXSW Interactive have been announced.

    So Meg and Jason broke up. And Justin quit. And now Jorn is back? Slow down, internet.

    DUMB CELEBS

    How did Paris' Sidekick get hacked? Actually, it was cracked -- by using her pet's name as a password reminder. Brilliant.

    Absolutely everything you wanted to know about George W. Bush's media/culture consumption, from what's on his iPod to his awareness of John Stewart and The Fockers.

    MERGERS

    Reuters is reporting that Apple might buy TiVo. I knew I should've bought stock when it was under $4.

    Rumor that Yahoo is buying Flickr.

    MUSIC

    Video to LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk is Playing at my House." Excellent.

    Beatallica.org shut down.

    SXSW music schedule announced. 1300 bands in five days... how many will I even remember?

    FILM

    Trailer to A Scanner Darkly. Looks like another Linklater smash.

    Google adds a new category (sorta): Movies.

    DESIGN

    When Multimedia was Black & White.

    Macromedia gallery of Flash Apps on Mobile Devices.

    WORDS

    Dave Eggers interviewed in Onion A/V.

    The first page of DeLillo's White Noise annotated.

    BLOGGERS

    Rappers and Bloggers, seperated at birth.

    Slate.com has started a column called Today's Blogs, similar to the Today's Papers concept. Dumb thing: no permanent index page to link to or bookmark.

    FASHION

    New t-shirt: paris made me change my number.

    New blog: Purseuing, "a blog obsessively covering purses, bags, totes, clutches, and just about anything else you can carry on your shoulder." (See previously: Wrist Fashion.)

    LOCAL

    Did you see the detailed piece that Pitchfork did on The Current? Good stuff, including some speculation that the model could spread.

    State Of Minnesota Too Polite To Ask For Federal Funding.

    Diablo Cody -- yes, she of the defunct Pussy Ranch -- is the new associate arts editor at City Pages. She brought back the blog.

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    GOOGLE

    Someone slow them down. Just launched: Google Maps.

    Kottke noticed that Google switched their Dictionary.com link to an Answers.com link. (How does he always noticed things like this before anyone else?)

    Wanna buy an internet company? About.com is for sale. Bidders include: Google, Yahoo, NYT, and AOL.

    DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

    CNN just reported that Marcia Cross is a lesbian. She will come out in The Advocate, and apparently her character (Bree Van De Camp) will come out on the show.

    The DVD version of Desperate Housewives will probably include some nudity and stuff.

    SEX + VEGETARIANS

    The PETA Super Bowl advert that was rejected.

    Vegan Sex Shop (dot-com).

    MUSIC

    Banned 50 Cent video. I can't believe MTV won't air orgies.

    FILM

    Waxy's annual investigation into the Oscar-nominated films leaked onto the internet.

    Wired News reviews the documentary 24 Hours on Craiglist (trailer), which chronicles the outcome of more than 80 craigslist postings from a single day.

    ONLINE

    Economist: The economics of sharing.

    Interview with Stewart Butterfield on Flickr.

    MARKETING

    Business 2.0: MTV2's Two-Headed Dog Isn't Paper-Trained.

    TV

    If you missed Rumsfeld on Meet the Press last week, you missed quite a doozy. Lisa Rein has it.

    LOCAL

    Malcolm Gladwell is reading tonight at the Edina Barnes and Noble at 7:30.

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    ONLINE

    Google has added the "Local" tab to its homepage. I'm a heavy user of Google Local, so it's great to see it up front. (Who wants to bet on Video, Print, or Scholar being the next to move to prime time?)

    BLOGS

    New Calcanis blog: AdJab, from the author of The Media Drop.

    Lizzy Spears responds to the cat fight accusations between her and Gawker.

    Jay Rosen from Pressthink is the latest blogger writing a media book. Tentative title: Gatekeepers Without Gates.

    Ask Jeeves has purchased Bloglines.

    MARKETING

    In the future, only car companies will make movies. Here's some new crazy thing from Mercury.

    MEDIA

    Barb's most recent AJR column starts with a story about a guy watching The Apprentice. That guy is me. (Oh yeah, the column is about RSS. It's good.)

    Being on a panel with Dan Gillmor last week was pretty cool. His recent post on how to improve editorial pages is a good example of how he's infiltrating newsrooms.

    Chris Anderson has an interesting take on abundance economics affecting the notion of objectivity.

    I really wanted to go, but couldn't make it to Poynter's Web+10 seminar. Here's a collection of audio clips.

    MUSIC

    DJs will probably do amazing things with these: John Bonham drum outtakes.

    Extremely cool: Band Fonts. Expect all future emails from me to be in the Kix font.

    With mixed effects, NYT tries the sociological approach on the Montreal scene, in which you're supposed to feel sorry for Canadians who speak English.

    TV

    Video of Joe Klein on the Daily Show.

    Biz Week has a series of articles on The Future of TV, including one on IPTV.

    GoDaddy.com has both the Super Bowl ad they showed and the one that was turned down.

    NYT: The L behind The L Word.

    A new show from BBC about the media called The Desk has some buzz. The creator of the magazine Wallpaper, Tyler Brûlé, is brains behind the show.

    FILM

    Trailer to a Klaus Nomi documentary.

    Cinema Bed. Gimme.

    IPOD

    Newsweek: Does Your iPod Play Favorites?

    Slate: How to make your iPod an audiophile's dream.

    CNET: My iPod beats satellite radio any day.

    Salon: Hallelujah, the Mac is back.

    GAMES

    Onion A/V talks to Will Wright and Howard Scott Warshaw.

    Gamespot reviews Playboy: The Mansion.

    Cool video of augmented reality technology.

    LOCAL

    MNDodgeball.com.

    Today in literature, Sinclair Lewis was born in Sauk Centre.

    Anyone visited the Mill City Museum? Completely by accident, I drove by it the other day, and it looks kinda cool. Designed by the local firm MS&R.

    If you haven't noticed, the Cesar Pelli library is starting to take shape. BTW, I hear the Walker is reopening in April.

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    LOCAL

    Chuck has a post about yesterday's Blogumentary screening.

    IDEAS

    Since everyone else is interviewing Malcolm Gladwell, why not ESPN. Probably the best conversation that I've ever read about the Super Bowl.

    MEDIA

    Buy Might magazines through the 826 Valencia site.

    Strange yet cool Flash thing at BBC: Onelife. You feed your little dancing boy some booze, coke, weed, E, shrooms, or speed -- and then you watch him dance. Pro-drug or anti-drug?

    ONLINE

    The Absolute Bottom 50 Blogs. #50: MyBlogAboutHowLameIThinkBlogsAre.com

    Ikea chat bot.

    I've been complaining for a while that Amazon doesn't offer special deals to heavy users of the site -- people who spend, say, a thousand bucks a year there (who you lookin at?). A small step is Amazon Prime, which gives a year of free two-day shipping for $79. (But if this takes away free shipping for the $25+ orders, I'm gonna be pissed off.)

    Oh goodie. MSN is launching a gigantic ad campaign for its new search engine. And if you're into that kind of thing, MSN redesigned their homepage -- and it's even using strict XHTML.

    In Business 2.0, a profile of eBay's global expansion. Almost half of its business is now from outside the U.S.

    BLOGS

    Yahoo Japan launched blogs, so you can probably expect it in the U.S. soon.

    The Associated Press is starting a blog called Bad Language.

    In addition to the all the new blogs, MediaBistro changed their entire front page into a blog.

    Wonkette has hung up the typewriter while she finishes her novel. Choire Sicha fills in.

    TV

    Martha Stewart has been hired by Donald Trump.

    Wired's profile of Comedy Central.

    MUSIC

    For you music journalists who will be interviewing Beck when his new album comes out this spring: The Secret Life of Beck Hansen - A Guide for the Professional Journalist. Who will be the first to get him to talk about Scientology?

    The new Index (the one with the real Yoshimi on the cover) has a one-page blurb on Kim Gordon, but the picture of her is priceless.

    Coachella lineup announced. Surprisingly '90s.

    Audio-Video Mashup of Monkees' "I'm a Believer" and Beatles' "Paperback Writer."

    iPoditude.com: The iPod Blog.

    The Flickr Song.

    Pitchfork: The Top 100 Singles: 2000-04.

    MUSIC VIDEOS

    Kinda cool 360-degree video. The music is by a band called Two Lone Swordsmen.

    Death Cab For Cutie's "Title & Registration".

    FILM

    "The first film to be made from a Don DeLillo script, Game 6, had its premiere at Sundance a couple of weeks ago." More info.

    Michael Tortorello reviews the documentary Game Over, which recounts the 1997 Deep Blue versus Gary Kasparov match.

    Flashback: trailer to Godard's Maculin, Féminine.

    Another maybe-interesting documentary: Inside Deep Throat.

    MARKETING/BIZ

    Top brands of 2004. 1) Apple 2) Google 3) Ikea 4) Starbucks 5) Al Jazeera.

    Business 2.0's 101 Dumbest Moments and The Smart List.

    DESIGN

    MediaBistro interviews the legendary Roger Black.

    LOCAL

    CityPages.com is doing a redesign, and here's a screenshot of what it will look like. Hm, looks busy.

    Yo, yo, guess who's blogging. Your mayor (and it's not fake -- PiPress article).

    I think I'm on Jim Walsh's side on our new radio station. "Predictably, and sadly, within hours of the station's launch last Monday came the bitching. It wasn't this enough or that enough. It was too soft or too hard. The porridge wasn't just right." My friends like to debate The Current, and that's what I like most about it. Plus, it does things like interview Low.

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    TV

    Petition to make the Daily Show an hour long.

    The Sunday Times Arts section chooses video filesharing as its cover story. While pondering recent developments in media control -- including MythTV (basically a homemade DVR) and Videora (basically a mix of RSS and BitTorrent) -- the article takes the now-common tone of "tv executives don't want their industry to be the next Napster." But, as usual, there's little substance on what they might be doing about it. (And not even a passing note on Google Video or Blinkx.) It also mentions EFF's Television Digital Liberation Front, a protest against the upcoming broadcast flag mandate.

    Coming to a DVD nearest you: the first season of Dynasty (April 19 release).

    NYT: Class issues in The Apprentice. Glad to see the grad schools are still churning out people who talk like this.

    BizWeek: Microsoft May Be A TV Star Yet.

    Waxy has more on the A9/OC connection, including video of the episode.

    MEDIA

    So you always wanted to get into the news business? Now's your chance: Al Jazeera is up for sale.

    ONLINE

    Elizabeth Spiers' Fishbowl NY is supposed to launch today. NYT exaggerated in calling it a "face-off" between it and Gawker. UPDATE: It launched along with other new MediaBistro sites, including Fishbowl LA, Fishbowl DC, and Unbeige. UPDATE UPDATE: Denton has launched two new ones too: Gridskipper ("urban travel") and Lifehacker (tech tips).

    iPod Stories (dot-com). Wired News has the story on the man behind it. He likes the word technotranscendent. Good line: "The iPod is no longer just an instrument or a tool, but a part of myself. It's a body extension. It's part of my memory, and if I lose this stuff, I lose part of my identity."

    NYT Styles puts blogging moms on the cover with a profile of Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com. And the San Francisco Chronicle profiles Anastasia Goodstein of YPulse and a recent INdTV hire.

    FILM

    Have you heard who's set to direct Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections? Robert Zemeckis.

    In a somewhat strange case, some people think Clint Eastwood is a bigot for his Oscar-nominated Million Dollar Baby. Roger Ebert isn't one of them.

    MUSIC

    M.I.A. seems to be the most hyped artist of the moment. Her new album isn't even out until next month, yet she's appearing on music blogs everywhere. NYT had her do a playlist this week.

    Wanna hear a track from the upcoming FisherSpooner? Sure ya do.

    MUSIC VIDEOS

    Another new Beck video: "E Pro". (This one's directed by Shynola, not the one that I pointed to the other day.) It rocks.

    Guardian: Top 20 Music Videos Ever. "Thriller" isn't #1!

    BOOKS/IDEAS

    NYTBR gives the backpage to Steven Johnson to ruminate on software that helps the writing process. His blog has more info on the software. Recommended.

    Bookforum takes an extensive look at copyright.

    The Guardian has an excerpt of Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

    GAMES

    There's a lot of talk in the game industry about introducing more narrative into games. Clive Thompson at Slate.com argues the exact opposite. Excerpt: When a game has a story that "ends" after 40 hours of play, you have to throw it away -- and go spend another $50 on the next title. That's movie-industry logic, not game logic. Chess doesn't "end." Neither do hockey, bridge, football, Go, playing with dolls, or even Tetris.

    Some details on Katamari Damacy 2. (I highly recommend playing the first one while very wasted.)

    DESIGN

    Probably the coolest Flash slideshow that I've ever seen.

    POLITICS

    Ever wonder what Newt Gingrich has been up to? Really, you do? Well, WaPo has a long profile for you.

    LOCAL

    Everyone and their daughter was at the Melodious Owl / Olympic Hopefuls / Faux Jean show on Saturday. The queue outside could have you waiting in the cold for up to an hour, but I was lucky enough to have friends sneak in the back. I guess that's what happen when there's nothing going on in January and the Strib puts you on the cover.

    NYT looks at the age-discrimination suit going on over at Best Buy. Interesting tidbit: the average age of its 5,000 employees is 29.

    What is the only state that has never had a tv series located in it? North Dakota.

    Following a Blogumentary screening, I will be on a panel at the U of M St. Paul Campus Theater. The author of We Media, Dan Gillmor, will be there too. More details.

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    ONLINE

    I know, you already know: Google Video Search.

    The 2005 Bloggies site is back up. (It was down most of last week.)

    ANT is out. It allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds that automatically download video.

    Amazon has added a new feature onto its A9 search engine that lets you see photos of the location you're trying to find. (Only available in 10 cities right now.) Here's how they did it.

    That Wired Firefox story is now up. So is the faux-memo-from-the-future that imagines Linus Torvalds dropping Bill Gates a note.

    TV

    Two Johnny Carson Clips You Won't See on CNN This Week.

    Prices are dropping! The entire first season of Buffy is on sale at Amazon for $15. That was short-lived. It's back up to $30.

    MUSIC VIDEOS

    Beck, "Hell Yes". Directed by Shynola.

    The Postal Service, "We Will Become Silhouettes". Directed by Jared Hess (director of Napoleon Dynamite).

    Death Cab for Cutie, "Title & Registration".

    LCD Soundsystem, "Daft Punk Is Playing at my House".

    BOOKS

    Do you need another Malcolm Gladwell interview? Okay, here's one at Nerve.

    WORDS

    Wikipedia: Heavy metal umlaut. Take that, Encarta!

    FILM

    Hal Hartley did something or other that got the attention of Wired News.

    David LaChapelle made a movie about krumping, which is mix of clowns and hip-hop.

    Yahoo heads for Hollywood. And here's an interview with the mastermind.

    Top 50 Movie Deaths.

    Crispin Glover asks too many questions.

    LOCAL

    The 89.3 The Current blog had 265 comments on its first post-launch post.

    CP's story on the Art Shanty, which a few of my friends are part of.

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    ONLINE

    WaPo introduces new vlogging software called Vlog It. Looks interesting. (Sidenote: have we already reached a consensus to call it vlogging?)

    New site: Mappr. Uses Flickr API to map out recently uploaded photos.

    DESIGN

    VillageVoice.com has redesigned. I like the colors, but not the double-horizontal subnav. It's unfortunate that the blog component got bumped over to the far-left rail.

    TV

    You watch Arrested Development, right? Of course you do, but did you know that Portia de Rossi is shacking with Ellen DeGeneres right now? Of course you did, but did you know that Will Arnett is married to Amy Poehler? Of course you did. Nevermind then.

    Because of the timely intersection of three things -- new year's prognostications, last week's CES, and the ascendency of vlogging -- everyone is talking about The Future of Television. It's impossible to link to all the buzz-buzzing right now, but here are a couple: Buzzmachine has a post on how to explode your tv in four easy steps and The Long Tail has one about distribution models. And there's Steven Johnson reflecting on what he wrote in Emergence. As always, LostRemote has a constant flow or related links.

    Diablo Cody writes about Project Runway, my current fave show. I love it when Heidi Klum pushes the losers off the stage with an Auf Wiedersehen that has twice the gravitas of Trump's You're Fired.

    MUSIC

    The sheet music to Super Mario Brothers.

    Sasha in The New Yorker: When I'm Sixty-Four.

    MEDIA

    Letterman: Top Ten Proposed Changes At CBS News.

    OJR has a good roundup of the business and legal complexities of the online distribution of the homemade tsunami video.

    NYTimes.com sent out its most-viewed stories of 2004 via email. Here's the list:

    1. Magazine: The Girls Next Door (January 25)
    2. Magazine: Without a Doubt (October 17)
    3. Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad (August 20)
    4. Movie Review | 'Fahrenheit 9/11': Unruly Scorn Leaves Room for Restraint, but Not a Lot (June 23)
    5. Frank Rich: On 'Moral Values,' It's Blue in a Landslide (November 14)
    6. Iraq Videotape Shows the Decapitation of an American (May 12)
    7. How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence (October 3)
    8. Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq (October 25)
    9. Editorial: John Kerry for President (October 17)
    10. How Scientists and Victims Watched Helplessly (December 31)
    Interesting that two magazine stories top the list, and it includes one movie review and one editorial.

    LOCAL

    According to CP, TCF Bank pulled advertising from the Star Tribune after the Nick Coleman column that criticized the blog Power Line.

    CP blurb on the Ron Jeremy appearance.

    Add Mark Cuban to the people complaining about Randy Moss.

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    CELEB

    On Gawker today, I played Santa to the celebs of 2004.

    TV

    Found online: Desperate Housewives T-Shirts. Including I ♥ Bree and Sex in the Suburbs.

    ONLINE

    Waxy has gathered an amazing collection of first-person videos from the Asian tsunami.

    Question posed on Ask.Metafilter: Have you ever dated a Suicide Girl?

    Long L.A. Times story on Iraqi bloggers.

    FUTURE OF MEDIA

    Great Future Tense interview (RealAudio) with Matt Thompson about EPIC, a vision of a personlized media source that aggregates newspapers, blogs, and social networks.

    Business Week on vlogs here and here. I think we'll see scads of new video bloggers in 2005, and maybe even a celebrity or two arise out of the movement. There's now also Vloggercon 2005.

    Terry Heaton on 2005: A Year of Trouble for Broadcasters.

    Business 2.0 predictions.

    ACADEMIA

    NYT tries to grapple with the age-old newspaper look at MLA by getting all meta about it: Eggheads' Naughty Word Games. Fave paper titles this year: "t.A.T.u. You! The Global Politics of Faux Lesbian Pop" and "'Dude! Your Dress Is So Cute!' Patterns of Semantic Widening in 'Dude'."

    Count me (and apparently many others in the media) among those who had no idea Susan Sontag was shacking with Annie Leibovitz for many years.

    MUSIC

    My pals Ross [Pioneer Press] and Melissa [City Pages] did a great episode of MPR's Midmorning (RealAudio) where they discuss their favorite albums of the year.

    Steve Perry Fan Fic. Scary.

    LOCAL

    This has all sorts of potential: Slanderous Minneapolis, which is basically a "Minneapolis Gawker." The author appears to be anonymous.

    In one of those battles you wouldn't mind if everyone dies, Nick Coleman goes after the Power Line guys.

    Over at 89.3, it looks like the new station will be doing artist interviews. Could this end up being our own little KCRW?

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    MEDIA

    Yipe. Tucker Carlson is quitting CNN and moving to MSNBC. (Note: The blog TVNewser gets the scoop first.)

    Poynter.org has a New Media Timeline (from 1969 to 2004) that would have been much better if there were a single-page version that you could print.

    ONLINE

    NYT Mag on blogs, privacy, sex, journalism, and identity: Your Blog or Mine? The thesis: "In the age of blogs, all citizens, no matter how obscure, will have to adjust their behavior to the possibility that someone may be writing about them." Perhaps I'm too blithe about this topic, but I rather enjoy a world where everyone is a walking reality tv show.

    Here's a story idea for one of you cute little intrepid journalists out there: What ever happened to Apple girl Ellen Feiss? Actually, you could do a whole series of former internet celebs, including Mahir and the Star Wars kid.

    PEOPLE

    Who's the Time Person of the Year? Not bloggers. Of course, plenty more "of the year" action in the constantly growing list.

    Guilty pleasure of the week: pics of our favorite home video experts, Paris and Pam, out shopping.

    TV

    Ursula Le Guin: How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books.

    FILM

    Looks like Uma and Travolta do another dance scene somewhere in Be Cool (trailer).

    MUSIC

    PJ Harvey says she will never play live again. Me either.

    Michael Jackson's "Thriller" done with Legos.

    TECH

    Apple is working on a cell phone that works with iTunes.

    Days after donations to Mozilla fund a two-page ad in the Times, the biz section raves about Firefox.

    LOCAL

    Dave has posted the Maxim "story" on the Rogue Taxidermists show at Creative Electric.

    The news all my friends were talking about this weekend: MPR is launching a new music radio station. Looks like it has all the potential in the world... or it could completely suck. Not sure what to make of this: "Our staff will be hanging out in clubs, searching the Internet, reading the music magazines and streaming music from around the globe to find the best music for you." They've also started a blog.

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    ONLINE

    I believe this is what they call a meme. Remember Subservient Chicken? Sure you do. Okay, check these out:

    All takes on the original. Watch it spread...

    Found on Amazon: Wonkette T-shirts! Also, it looks like C-SPAN has posted video of her appearance at ONA last month.

    EDUCATION

    Hot for teacher?

    FILM

    New Blogumentary trailer. (Previously: my interview with Chuck Olsen.)

    Trailer: The Interpreter, with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.

    GAMES

    The NY Observer: Xbox Invades the Bedroom. Gender discussion over Halo.

    TV

    My house has been obsessed with America's Next Top Model, and tonight Eva won. Yaya was robbed!

    The NY Observer asked an eclectic group of media people (including our pal Cory at LostRemote) "What would you do with CBS?"

    MUSIC

    A Danielson Family movie?

    STYLE

    On Style.com: The New Goth. Uh-yeaaaaah.

    ART

    Art Forum Diary, which Greg.org describes as "an art world reality TV show, where the magazine's editors and contributors compete for the Walter Benjamin-inspired title of Greatest Flaneur." Yum!

    LOCAL

    Peter's always-excellent Local Music Yearbook is out on City Pages. Dylan wrote the Top 10 Local Albums of 2004. And Melissa did the Top 10 National Albums.

    Local radio news: Radio K's "Cosmic Slop" is done, and so is Kate Sullivan's "Pop Vultures."

    monday
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    Let's get this party started.

    As usual, I'm collecting the "Best Of" lists this year. Last year, The Times wrote about it, so I'm obliged. The lists seem to be coming in a bit slow this year, but here are some highlights so far:

    Words of the Year from Merriam-Webster.

    Top 10 Games of the Year from New York Times.

    Books of the Year from The Guardian.

    The Year's Best DVDs from Rolling Stone.

    The Coldest People In Hollywood from Film Threat.

    Pictures of the Year from National Geographic.

    20 Best North American Neighborhoods from Project for Public Spaces.

    See Entire List: The Best Of 2004 List (a work in progress).

    Am I missing one? Email me.

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    LISTS

    Every year, I put together a massive collection of Best Of lists. (Previously: 2003 and 2001 -- okay, almost every year). A few of you have emailed me recently to ask if I'll be doing it this year again -- and of course I will be. Today is officially the start of the season, as NYT Circuits published their Top 10 Games of the Year and Rolling Stone has The Year's Best DVDs. Let the lists begin...

    ONLINE

    Seen this one yet? A website outta Texas that lets you do target practice online: Live-shot.com. Gotta love those red states.

    Ask.Metafilter.com answers What are some good pop culture blogs?

    TV

    The final season of Buffy came out on DVD this week.

    FILM BUT NOT FILM

    High Tension looks like another mediocre horror movie, but ya gotta love the song playing in the trailer -- Sonic Youth doing The Carpenter's "Superstar," which is one of the best covers of all time.

    Pulp Fiction writer Roger Avery sues Microsoft over a video game about yoga. (Only Microsoft would steal the worst game idea ever.) And he has a blog chronicling his lawsuit.

    PUBLISHING

    Whoa, talk about future-dating a story. Frank Rich's Sunday column is already online with a dateline of November 21.

    MUSIC

    If you missed it, Vanity Fair launched a website this week. Check out the oh-so-1995 list of links. There's a long profile of kindler, gentler Eminem.

    SEARCH

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, Google launched an academic search engine.

    TORTURE

    New Scientist has a very interesting interview with chief interrogator in Israel's security service.

    COMEDY

    Decent Chris Rock interview in The Onion.

    FOOD

    Cooking With Cum (Dot Com). Uh-huh.

    TECH

    Whoa, Mel Karmazin has jumped to... you never would guessed this... Sirius Radio.

    LOCAL

    The Rake started a blog.

    Lindsey wrote a funny piece about the Minnesota RollerGirls and Peter has some great pics.

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    ona

    People like me (go ahead, try to image that category) are innately suspicious of media moguls. Or at least that's what I like to say. In reality, I probably just lower the bar for all CEOs, and then like to feign "pleasant surprise" when I discover they know what they're talking about. Okay, I'm a punk.

    For instance, you (watch me shift the blame from me to you) probably wouldn't expect the President of the stodgy Associated Press to be able to cite Lawrence Lessig, Craig's List, Technorati, RSS, TiVo, and MoveOn.org in one breath. And, again if you're like me, you're left unsure if that's reassuring for digital media when he does.

    Tom Curley, the President and CEO of AP, was the keynote speaker at the Online News Association conference here in Hollywood. Unlike previous presentations, Curley took this opportunity to get somewhat theoretical ("the message is the medium") and a bit boosterish ("established brands will continue to be important"). Overall, he set the pace for the stage we're at in this industry -- excited, but cautious; intrigued, but slightly jaded; smart, but wary of being too smart.

    Curley outlined a "critical but subtle revolution" that he labeled "Web 2.0" Tired? Yes. Cutesy? A bit. But when he starts tossing around quips like "content will be more important than the container," you're both impressed that he gets it, but also wonder if Wonkette might be typing a dismissive screed in the back of the room. (Programming note: Wonkette takes the stage tomorrow. I hope she's at the bar tonight though. How do you think Ana Marie likes her martinis?)

    "You can no longer control the containers. You have to let the content flow where the users want to go," Curly says, and I quickly glance around the room to see if everyone see the importance of this.

    Beyond theory-speak (at one point, he even used the word disintermediation), Curley seemed to come down pro-blogger but anti-search engine. Perhaps that's just the old canard of knowing your audience. Bloggers are everywhere here, and Google (who some newsies still conceive as an foe of online media) is nowhere to be seen.

    More updates coming...

    Additional Notes & Quotes From Curley's Keynote:

    + "In Web 2.0, discrete pieces of content -- stories, photos and video clips -- all categorized and branded, will be dis-assembled from whatever presentation you create and magically re-assembled on the PC desktop, the mobile device or TV set-top box, for consumption on demand."

    + "If this sounds like all the predictions you've heard all these years, you're almost right."

    + "A story is sum of many valuable parts."

    + "The news as a lecture gives way to news as a conversation."

    + In the Q&A period, someone quoted Curley's use of the word disintermediation. This is so disintermediated.

    + When someone from the DenverPost.com thanked Curley for AP's clickable election maps, the crowd clapped. Let's hear it for clickable maps!

    + PaidContent.org Post.

    + Official Conference Blog.

    + AP story.

    + ONA Posts Entire Speech (thereby pretty much ruining my entire post).

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    Last year, I went as the little AOL guy for Halloween. Yeah, him: This year? I'm going as a Spam Filter. My nerd is bigger than yours.

    POLITICS

    Is it a surprise that the New Yorker endorsed Kerry? Yes, because this is the first time it has endorsed anyone.

    LieGirls.com

    BLOGGERS GONE MAINSTREAM

    Couple things I missed from earlier this week:

    Salam Pax is in America.

    Ana Marie Cox got a six-figure book deal (third item).

    IDEAS

    Listen to Malcolm Gladwell (his new book, Blink, is not out until 2005).

    POP

    Suicide Girls interviews Sarah Michelle Gellar.

    MUSIC

    Yo, politicos, Eminem's Mosh video. (Director notes.)

    What do you think Pitchfork gave the Pavement re-release? Crooked 10.0.

    The Wired Creative Common is out. Track list.

    I'm not sure why, but Alex Ross posted his piece about Radiohead from 2001 that ran in the New Yorker. And I'm not sure why I'm telling you either, other than it's sorta memorable. (Another flashback: Thom Yorke and Howard Zinn hang.)

    DESIGN

    The Frank Gehry Furniture Collection.

    T-SHIRTS

    Stereogum crafts some Ashlee Simpson tees.

    JON STEWART

    Yeah, he was on 60 Minutes last week too.

    LOCAL

    Did anyone else notice the city has been lighter ever since the Wilco show? I didn't even go, but I feel like everyone's walking around in some sort of happy-stoned-haze.

    Jim Walsh follows up on last week's story about the PiPress reporters suspended for going to a Springsteen concert with unprinted letters to the editor. (Update: PiPress responds.)

    monday
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    Today, I want to touch on a few topics related to game culture -- and how it intersects with movies, music, and digital communication. I know, that intro sentence sounds about as fun as an a capella Bjork album (oh wait!). So instead of getting pedantic, let's look at the gaming landscape by pointing out new phenomena in digital entertainment, with a focus on how gaming is influencing all media. This isn't necessarily a cohesive essay with a single objective, but I hope it's more than another "Synergy of The Matrix" piece. Let's just call this a Scrappy Collection of Thoughts About Various Gaming Trends that have been of recent fascination to me:

    VIDEO MODS

    I won't try to convince you that the mashup of a teen-goth BloodRayne 2 video game and a teen-goth Evanescence music video belongs in the canon of required cultural material for our time. In other words, don't sigh if your TiVo missed Video Mods, a new series on MTV2 in which video game characters and landscapes are used to create music videos. I guess the worst thing that one could say about Video Mods is that Viacom is blatantly ripping off Machinima to attract video game advertising to television.

    Even if that's true, it's also much more.

    But first: a part of me wants to tell you that the convergence of these mediums is the perfect metaphor for the current state of the music industry. This cynical critique would go something like this: little pac men (consumers) run around a contested maze (Virgin Records) gobbling up indistinguishable dots (songs/albums) and ghosts (musicians). It's a sociological Flatland out there, in which demographics are empty ciphers with unlimited purchasing power -- the same goddamn person buys (or downloads) Outkast, Evanescence, and Creed. À la carte pop culture icons are sculpted with the same care that goes into creating Sims characters -- complete with readymade identities that become obsolete faster than you can blurt "Friendster." Identity is the currency of the music industry, and it's a free market economy of Pokemon cards: I'll trade you a "Britney Reinvented #24" for a "Cleaned Up Christina #9." Virtual video game characters taking over the role of musician is nothing more than the next step in the MilliVanilling of the music industry.

    But, like I said, I don't really buy that mojo. Perhaps there is a kernel of truth in cynically looking at pop culture icons, but I think it ultimately misses a key point in understanding the attraction of Video Mods. For evidence, take a look at The Sims 2 video mod of the Fountains of Wayne song "Stacy's Mom."

    The Sims is the top dog of this medium so far. Not only is it the highest-selling series of all time, but it has come to represent a watershed creative moment in the industry. So why, one might ask, would "Stacy's Mom" score the grand prize of The Sims mod?

    I honestly have no idea. But I think you'll see a clue by looking at the storyline behind "Stacy's Mom." You might say the Fountains of Wayne song is just a MILF romp imagined by a horny adolescent. But in reality, it's not even that -- it's actually sung by thirty-somethings who are themselves projecting a tweener dream. Basically, it's a wish fulfillment nostalgia fantasy from guys old enough to be Stacy's Dad.

    So now, what is The Sims? That's more complex, but one could say it is an interactive world where players bring to life characters outside their normal demographic makeup. In other words, it's a giant role-playing fantasy.

    Starting to see a trend here? Let's move on....

    PLAYBOY

    In the age of Suicide Girls, it's amazing that Playboy is still around. And it's amazing that I bother to mention the publication in a video game rant. But even as I say this, I realize that for the first time in my life, I bought an issue of Playboy last month, simply because the magazine has done a remarkable job of staying relevant in a digital age. For instance, the Google guys interview and the Washingtonienne spread reminded me that the magazine could still be relevant.

    Or maybe these are just the last gasps of breath of a dying Boomer ideology. I'd entertain that argument too.

    Anyway, when Playboy announced they would be doing a photo spread of characters from video games, you could instantly picture a digital historian somewhere writing this event into a timeline of important virtual character events (chronologically right after reality TV and right before the holodeck). Hackers modding Lara Croft into a pinup is one thing, but the mainstream culture industry getting sly with virtual sexuality says a lot more about where we are. This single layout might actually become the best indicator of the mainstreaming of a number of (previously) fringe activities and concepts: virtual sexuality, video game culture, user-modified content, reality blurring. And a new video game, Playboy: The Mansion, a Sims-like romp through Hef's mansion, will take this even further.

    WAR GAMING

    Forget sex, war is where it's at.

    A lot has been said recently about the relationship between the industrial war complex and video games (such as in articles in The New York Times and Wired). When the Army created the game America's Army to recruit soldiers, it seemed that Ender's Game truly was going to happen. I'm working on an article for publication about this theme, so let's breeze past this topic for the moment.

    SIMS 2

    Every night over the last week, I've sat in a room with a computer and TV, playing the recently-released The Sims 2 and watching late night talk shows. Something important changed last night: I turned off the TV and started watching the show that my Sim character was watching on his television.

    I don't think I can even articulate how hyper-real this is.

    REALITY GAMING

    The spurt of ironic glee about Flash Mobs last summer was more than a hipster punchline. It illustrated how gaming was leaking from the pores of society. The products of this spillage have included Big Urban Game (Minneapolis) and PacManhattan (NYC). And the glut of competition-based reality shows (Survivor, The Apprentice, Fear Factor, etc.) are all just extreme versions of reality gaming. (One could also argue that these Reality Games are a sort of tame suburban version of more serious planned events like the Seattle WTO Protests. That's for a different essay though.)

    THE VIDEOGAME REVOLUTION

    Anyone who has played even five minutes of Zelda will find PBS's new two-hour special The Video Game Revolution a bit tedious. I suppose it serves a valid purpose -- to provide a historical framework of popular video games. Too bad it's as engaging as a two-hour Pong match.

    But what interests me is what this documentary represents in this moment in time. It seems we have reached a period in gaming where we can reflect on the past equipped with the gear found in the toolbelt of historical analysis: summary, bricolage, and nostalgia. The Video Game Revolution implicitly declares video games as a real object of pop culture study. Of course, this should not be surprising given the rise of academic programs designed to study gaming. Something about this evolution reminds me of 1990s-era Camille Paglia promoting the notion that universities should start rock music programs. I have mixed feelings about whether turning an academic eye to rock really does anything for musicians or fans or society, but I do worry an accidental effect of academizing a discipline in the past couple decades: studying it is synonymous with taming it. (I know many people in academia who are studying game and play, and they all get sour-faced when I suggest this possibility.)

    WATCHING TV AT WORK

    Many companies have planned events on Fridays that provides employees a break from work. But what our workplace does is truly unique. The idea started innocently: let's use our in-house online video streaming technology to deliver a movie to employees on Friday.

    Thus was born The Friday Matinee.

    Here's how it works: every Wednesday, an email goes out to a dist list of programmers, designers, engineers, and editors. It contains a list of movies, and the community votes on which one it will watch. On Friday at 2:00, the intranet streaming servers are fired up and the 'play' button is pushed on the DVD player. This is where it gets interesting.

    If you walk around through the darkened cubicles at this time, you will see dozens of programmers donning headphones and staring at their computer monitors. They are simultaneously performing a number of tasks: writing code, watching The Friday Matinee, and IM-ing their colleagues about both. In other words, people are working, being entertained, and communicating all at the same time. There's something about this collapse of mediums and lifestyles that suggests a complicated future of media and entertainment.

    CONCLUDING

    This last example has nothing explicitly to do with gaming, but it illustrates something that's happening in our times: people are hacking mediums together for their own purposes. The provocative questions are just starting to come out: what happens if you mix film with instant messenger? what would a music/game hybrid look like? how could role-playing influence traditional one-way entertainment?

    In an average day, I perform numerous activities which have nothing to do with gaming explicitly, but which feel somehow game-like. These include blogging, creating a playlist for my iPod, programming my TiVo, Googling girls on my cellphone at bars, and learning the hacks behind Yahoo Internet Messenger. If there's one point from all these examples, it's that "gaming" might become so pervasive as to become invisible.

    Game on.

    monday
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    CELEBRITY JOURNOS

    The blogosphere likely won't shut up about the Times Mag story featuring Wonkette for quite some time.

    Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart seem to be competing for Ubiquitous Fake Journalist of the Year. 60 Minutes today saw Mike Wallace do a long profile of O'Reilly; Time did 10 Questions for Jon Stewart. Rolling Stone did an O'Reilly profile; Annenberg released a survey that indicates Daily Show viewers are more politically aware. Slate did How To Beat Bill O'Reilly; CBS MarketWatch suggests Jon Stewart should moderate a presidential debate. And on and on... or you can just see them head-to-head.

    ONLINE PUBLISHING

    I'm not sure why more people didn't point to Jim Romenesko's cool new blog Starbucks Gossip when it launched last month. The Times this week picks up on the "Should You Tip Your Barista?" thread.

    Gawker's Russ Smith interview is surprisingly full of good observations about alt-weeklies, meta-media moguls, and a dead counter-culture press. See also: a short interview with Esquire's sex columnist (and Daily Show correspondent), Stacey Grenrock Woods.

    Last year around this time, I was talking about how Wired magazine has nicely reinvented itself. I've been less happy with the mag this year, but WiredNews.com (the website) has made some excellent editorial decisions lately. Two new columns, Sex Drive and Media Hack, have been required digerati reading. The most recent Sex Drive talks about The Sinulator, a vibrator which connects to a USB port and can be controlled remotely.

    Ultragrrrl reveals (or so it seems, but maybe it's a joke) that the person behind the recently defunct TMFML (which even got a NYtimes obit) is.... a hot scenester girl?

    CONSUMPTION

    Kobayashi (the hotdog-eating guy) to retire?

    Malcolm Gladwell put his awesome analysis of ketchup (I kid you not) online. Previously printed in the New Yorker.

    The Times follows up Slate.com's analysis of vodka (I love this series from Slate) with a look at Cîroc, the vodka that was "disqualified" from the Slate contest because of "trying to pass itself off as a vodka."

    Elle Macpherson has a new line of lingerie called Intimates. The ads, airing in Australia and the UK and featuring a knife-fighting supermodel, are causing quite a controversy. Yeah, I know, you wanna see them.

    James Poniewozik brilliantly looks at the niching of America in Time: The Age of iPod Politics.

    DESIGN

    Good Bruce Mau interview. (Deborah Solomon seems to have become America's best interviewer.)

    FILM

    When I saw a trailer link for White Noise, the movie, I freaked out and called everyone I know. Or at least I started to. Then I saw "Genre: Paranormal thriller," and thought you motherfuckers ruined my favorite book! Turns out, this movie is unrelated to the book. But there was a rumor a year ago that DeLillo's White Noise would be a movie. Anyone have the scoop? (IMDB has Barry Sonnenfeld as the director of a 2005 release.)

    From the Wong Kar-Wai profile in the Times Mag: "The kind of person who might once have proclaimed Jules and Jim or Wings of Desire his or her favorite movie now rates Wong Kar-wai at the top of the list." Which stings a bit, cuz I used to call Wings of Desire my favorite movie, and now I usually say Chungking Express.

    Times: What's Your Take on Cassavetes? The five-disc collection looks so luscious.

    MUSIC

    This is the year Le Tigre is gonna hit the mainstream. Stop it, I'm serious. There's an exciting profile in the new Spin and the word is finally out about Kathleen Hanna's relationship with a Beastie Boy. And Stereogum has an MP3 of Le Tigre's cover of the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited," which is gonna beat the Jazzercise knickers off Britney's "My Perogative." Best. Song. Of. 2004.

    U2's new single, "Vertigo," from the forthcoming album is available here. (Good song.)

    REM's entire new album streaming here.

    Sinead O'Connor: "Stop making fun of me." Okay.

    TECH

    Last year, Business 2.0 infamously gave its "Hottest Technology" award to social networking software (Friendster, MySpace, Tribe.net, Orkut, etc.). This year, it goes to VoIP (Subscription Link). Runner-ups include Satellite Radio, Open-Source Databases, and Concept Mapping.

    GAMES

    Everyone is waiting to see what Steven Johnson says about Sims 2.

    LOCAL

    While in Fargo a few weeks ago, I got in a conversation with someone who was contributing to the creation of 100 North Dakota Books, a list of -- you guessed it -- 100 notable NoDak books. The person was trying to keep Chuck Klosterman off the list. Didn't happen.

    If you missed it, RatherGate can be attributed to a local blogger, Powerlineblog.com, which is part of the Northern Alliance collective. Strib has a story.

    The Frank Stone Gallery is doing some great work. The Poster Offensive exhibits were both good. (And the parties were fun too.)

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    ONLINE

    Bruce Sterling did a fashion photo series called Milan or Tehran?, which I guess is trying to say something about globalism, but I don't know what (hot chicks in scarfs are universal, perhaps?).

    McSweeney's: Email Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying To Give Out Over The Phone.

    I was interviewed by the NY Times a few weeks ago because of a article I wrote about the defunt scandal known as Plain Layne. The Times angle was mostly about fake celebrity bloggers. The whole topic came up again last week when the Quentin Tarantino blog surfaced, and then quickly sank. The next day, a secret weblog from Julian Casablancas' girlfriend rose, and then also died (screengrabs). It makes you wonder how much of a nano-celebrity you could be and have a fake blog made in your honor. ("No, I'm really Craig Kilborn's cousin!")

    FILM

    Somewhere in my mind is a top ten list of events that I'm sad not to have talked about here over the past six months, and Vincent Gallo is definitely not on it. The controversy seems to be wrapping up today with Roger Ebert telling "the whole truth" about Vince.

    New movie trailer alert!:

    Silver City. John Sayles political parody starring Chris Cooper.

    Finding Neverland. Looks like Tim Burton meets Merchant & Ivory (ergo, bad) with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.

    Closer. Another entry in the hot genre of the moment -- let's call it the "romantic deceit thriller" (see also: We Don't Live Here Anymore). Starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen, but really starring cool Suzanne Vega and Damien Rice songs.

    The Yes Men. More liberal-docu-essaying.

    And did you see Hero this weekend? It's either the best movie or the worst movie of the year.

    WORDS

    Rumors on Bret Easton Ellis' new book (involving the return of Patrick Bateman). And here's the cast list for the upcoming film version of Glamorama.

    David Foster Wallace on RateMyProfessor.com. ("Very neurotic and tends to chew tobacco and spit in a cup while lecturing.")

    Neal Stephenson interview in Wired.

    MUSIC

    Shatner has a new album, produced by Ben Folds.

    Somewhat funny parody of the director's commentary concept: Britney Spears on SNL. (Speaking of which, the new video of Britney covering "My Prerogative" reportedly cost $7.2 million "to market and promote" a "happening, rather than just a video." Apparently, she's taking cue from Axl and getting faux-married to her quasi-celeb mate in the video.)

    Does anyone else suspect the only reason the MTV Video Awards were in Miami tonight was because the Republicans took over NYC? Best moment? I guess when Nick "Newlywed" Lachey and Paris "Simple World" Hilton appeared on the stage at the same time, and suddenly you had a vision of reality tv worlds colliding like a nuclear reaction. Yeah, boring awards this year. Blame the FCC.

    OLYMPICS

    Olympic Medal Count by population.

    Get it before Fark does: titty twister polo.

    SEX

    Everything I ever learned about sex and porn I learned from the Sunday Times' story What Women Want To Watch. Shoes, eh? Yeah, me too. Totally.

    KY Jelly: it'll fit.

    MEDIA

    Has anyone else been watching Maureen Dowd blah-blahing her new book on the talk show circuit? I'm not sure what it is, but something about her reminds me of Sofia Coppola -- demure but cunning, cute in a you-can't-be-seriously-be-that-coy kinda way.

    New York Mag saucy feature on the Bush Twins.

    MARKETING

    The Apprentice cast on Friendster.

    When Halo 2 finally comes out, will anyone think that ILoveBees.com was a viral success? Well, since Subservient Chicken did so well, who knows.

    Speaking of... the same ad firm that did those BK ads tried to recently get Paris Hilton to become a BK spokesperson in a David LaChappelle spot (featuring her own music!). It didn't work out, but Paris Hilton is trying to trademark her own logo (a tiara).

    SCI-FI

    The Guardian asks scientists to pick their Top 10 Sci-Fi Authors and Top 10 Sci-Fi Films. C'mon, no Gattica?

    LOCAL

    Everyone's fave sexy local blogger, PussyRanch has hung up her blogging tassles and closed the ranch. She's a little oblique about what she'll actually be doing now, but her recent work at City Pages has been quite good (check out the piece on the new Gotti ("one tough biscotti") reality tv show).

    Last week, The Times did a story about online fantasy leagues, which gave major mentions to Best Buy and Fanball (two local companies). This week, the Strib basically does the same story.

    There goes the neighborhood. Strib gives a major feature to Psycho Suzi's.

    Cool or uncool? Hot or not? Sen. Norm Coleman's wife, Laurie, has given the Post approval to post sexy lingerie pics of her.

    saturday
    comments

    Need a body double. Simple can't keep up. Who won Iowa and New Hampshire? Who, you say? Here's what we've got:

    WORDS

     Salon is serializing Dave Eggers new novel.

    FILM

     Gothamist reports on the casting to the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film, which includes Martin Freeman from The Office, Zooey Deschenal, and Mos Def. In other news, NBC is gonna try to adapt The Office. Ahem, no comment.

    POLITICS

     GQ profiles Joe Trippi.

    PUBLISHING

     Michael Wolff leaving New York, off to Vanity Fair, which sucks because now I'll have to start buying Vanity Fair.

    WORDS

     Another mainstream "theory is dead" story.

     Huh, there's a Name of the Rose board game.

    ONLINE

     SXSW web awards finalists announced. I'm trying to get down there this year, but it's looking iffy.

     I need a metaster too.

     Busuiness 2.0's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.

    CONSUMPTION

     I bought a red Danish couch named Opus today. Hello, modern world.

     New cut-n-paste agitprop flick: The Corporation.

    MUSIC

     Res feature on Air that includes an excellent videoplayer. Go buy the new one, Talkie Walkie.

     Slate.com: Why Is Airplane Music So Universally Bad? NYT: A Better Night's Sleep, Flat Out at 35,000 Feet.

     A very large collection of insects in rock and roll cover art.

     Billy Corgan (or his 15-year-old sister) is blogging.

    TV

     The Voice gives The L Word a rave. So far, so do I. And the Joan Jett wannabe is my fave.

    CELEBERITY

     Tallying the celebrity endorsements.

     Alex Trebek, genius driver.

     If you missed it, someone uploaded a quicktime video of the Paris Hilton appearance on SNL a few weeks back.

    LOCAL

     Have you been reading Melissa's new don't-call-it-sex-and-the-city-ish column at CP?

     Fog of War finally opens here this week.

     Shhh... don't tell anyone else about our entrepreneurial genius.

    tuesday
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    Surrounded by the cute girls in my posse, I turned into a skanky aloof hipster (note the shifty eyes and cell phone/pda in my pocket). Hey Pete, what night was that, anyway?

    WORDS

     During that Times interview the other day, I said a ridiculous number of brilliant things about list-making as an attempt to make sense of a fragmented world. And then Louis Menand stole all my ideas and wrote them in The New Yorker. Yep.

     The Speech Accent Archive consists of audio files of 295 people reading the exact same 69 words. So? Well, they all speak with different accents. So? Shut up, it's cool.

     Looks like Umberto Eco has a new book. The Guardian says it's "inaccessible for its semiotic jargon and graphs," which is a good sign he's back in form.

    POLITICS

     The 15 finalists in MoveOn.org's Bush In 30 Seconds contest have been announced. Some funny ones, some reactionary ones. Judges for the finals include: Michael Moore, Donna Brazile, Jack Black, Janeane Garofalo, Margaret Cho and Gus Van Sant.

    TECH

     Salon's tech predictions for 2004.

     New stuff Apple announced today: GarageBand and iPod Mini. And here's some stuff they didn't announce (Wired).

     While getting a couple fillings put in today, my dentist told me he's going to CES. Yes, my fuggin dentist. Rafat from PaidContent.org and Peter Rojas from Gizmodo are there.

    MEDIA

     Ziff-Davis is going to launch a new tech magazine: Sync. Doomed to suck.

     Somewhat interesting that The Guardian reprinted Osama bin Laden's comments in its "Comments and Analysis" section of the paper. (Also interesting that I didn't actually read all of Osama's words, but I read the entire mediocre MeFi thread.)

    MUSIC

     Ryan Adams leaves a goofy-attempt-at-being-nasty message (mp3) on Jim DeRogatis' (Chicago Sun-Times music columnist) voicemail.

     New documentary: Sounds Like Techno.

    DESIGN

     Adult Movie Posters of the 60s and 70s.

     The 2005 Mustang looks totally retro. (Sorry for the car link. I drive a 2000 'stang.)

     The "Reflecting Pools" design was chosen for the WTC Memorial.

    FASHION

     Gimme.

    LOCAL

     Bye, bye, Flash Mobs; hello Action Squad. Minneapolis urban adventures!

     I'm looking for a good Flash Designer/Developer for a big project. If you're all that, find me.

     North Dakota Blogs.

    thursday
    comments

    I took the Drink-o-Meter, and it told me I've spend $59,579.52 on booze. That's it?

    ONLINE

     Disturbing Auction collects strange things being sold on eBay.

     It's the end of an era. Plain Layne says goodbye. Like a swimming pool in a cornfield, This is how I'll remember her.

     Google has a new feature whereby you enter the word "define" before the search term and it will try to provide a definition of the word. Example: define motherfucker.

    TV

     D.C. is not watching K Street.

    FILM

     Wired's okay Wachowski Brothers FAQ.

     Sixteen Candles, the sequel. Ducky.

    MEDIA

     Story on the Media Deconstruction Kit.

     I'm really not sure why this interests me, but here's Spin's Media Kit (pdf). Contains all kinds of demographic information like media age and income.

     Tina Brown's new column in the Washington Post. Ho-hum.

    POLITICS

     Profile of Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's campaign manager who got the governor blogging.

    WORDS

     Seattle Weekly: Why I Heart Chick Lit.

    ART

     Huh, there's an Escher museum?

    MUSIC

     Great. Punk is in the Style section again. Slideshow.

     Someone should do a study about the disproportionate number of rappers who make the New York Times business section. This week, it's Outkast for pimping pitbulls.

     It's been a while since I could say this, but The Voice's music section this week is all about stuff I like. Matos does The Rapture and Basement Jaxx, and there are Decembrist and Shins reviews. Christgau gives Bjork and Rancid both an A-. Plus, there's this odd thing about MP3Pro.

     Calling The Strokes neocons might be a tad much, but I enjoy the thesis of this Joe Hagan piece in Newsweek.

    FOOD

     Underground restaurants? Sign me up.

    TECH

     Steve Brill is working on a Verified Identity Card.

    LOCAL

     You know Famous Dave of Famous Dave's? He's, uh, famous now.

    friday
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    MEDIA

     Dan Savage interview.

     Is Keep Media new? Started by the guy who founded Borders, subscriptions give you access to 140+ magazine archives.

     Time Warner (nee AOL-Time Warner) unveils a new logo.

    TV

     AvantSoap.tv is a script created by camera phones.

     K Street is in trouble.

    MUSIC

     Front page of Apple.com: "Hell Froze Over." iTunes for the PC is out.

    RESISTANCE

     NikeGround.com is not from Nike. It is from the design pranksters at 0100101110101101.org. I suspect it will get sued soon.

     I have to admit that the first time I read this Wired story about antisleep drugs, I went looking online for Provigil to see if I could order it. (Could not without a perscription.)

    TECH

     CNet's fancy Digital Living section.

     I so wish I could have gotten a major in video games.

     Wired's Gadget Lab.

    WORDS

     New Voice Literary Supplement.

    FILM

     NYT review of Gwyneth playing Sylvia Plath.

    LOCAL

     Wellstone World Music Day.

    wednesday
    comments

    Busy day, just a few quick local links:

    LOCAL

     The UofM Design Institute started Big Urban Game today. I won't try to explain, just click the link. (Here's The Rake talking about it.)

     In the middle of this profile of The Onion is a reference to potentially bringing the paper to town.

     Peter's history of First Ave. story rocks.

     Two of the bands that I just might have voted for in the upcoming City Pages yearly "Best New Band" contest just might be playing at Triple Rock on Friday.

    friday
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    TV

     The Third Season of The Simpsons on DVD (which many say is the best) came out this week. Because I own the other two, am I obliged?

    FILM

     Trailer round-up: Human Stain (Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise) | My Life Without Me (Sarah Polley, Amanda Plummer, Deborah Harry) | Duplex (Ben Stiller, Drew Barrymore) | Somethings's Gotta Give (Dianne Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves).

    MUSIC

     Some new videos: Blur | Beck | Grandaddy | Hot Hot Heat | Massive Attack | Natacha Atlas.

     Generations merged.

     Snag the new Strokes single here.

     Fucking poseur.

    WORDS

     A nifty girl bought me Nalda Said a couple months ago, and I still haven't read it, but The Stranger reviews it.

     The Times profiled a fave of mine, Orhan Pamuk. Go read The Black Book right now.

     Swimsuit issue stars Albert Einstein.

     People are kinda talking about Laura Miller ripping into the new Chuck Palahniuk.

     "Those who bought Radiohead also bought The Atkins Diet For Dummies." I want this book so bad. Here it is in practice.

    GAMING

     I like the headline, cuz I know it's true: Adult Women Like to Play Games. But Reuters means video games.

     Dude, I never woulda left colllege if Video Game Studies were a major.

    INTERNET/TECH

     How to and how not to crop a photo for HotOrNot.com.

     In PC Mag, Dvorak tells the story of DivX, which I didn't know. Not that it's stay-up-all-night reading, but it's an interesting history for geeks.

     The mind goes wild with possibilities: lie-detector for cell phones.

    LIFE

     Burning Man Bingo. See also: Burning Man Definition.

    DESIGN

     Designers show off their business cards.

    wednesday
    comments

    No time to blog today. Someone just told me the International Foosball Championships are being held at the downtown Hilton Hyatt. Must practice.

    Okay, maybe just a little:

    MUSIC

     If you missed it, Liz Phair's Letter to the Editor to the Times in response to her getting torched is really... something. I don't think anyone has tracked back Liz's reference yet, but I think she probably Googled Meghan O'Rourke like I did and found this article in Slate. Make sense? I didn't think so.

     So yeah, the new Spin.com... it looks almost bloggish, doesn't it? A calendar, comments, light graphics. It's even written in PHP. How... indie?

     What rock critics have been waiting for: Christgau's Radiohead review in The Voice.

    WORDS

     Bookforum has relaunched with a Calvino cover. The Voice has details.

     Harry Potter: gay.

     Slate: What's Wrong With L.A. Lit?

     Quiz: Famous First Words. Give me a gold star, I got every one right.

     On this day in 1961, Hemingway committed suicide.

     Book Magazine: Chick lit sucks. (I'm summarizing.)

    FILM

     Boston Globe: Girls Just Wanna Have Guns.

     Marvel's Master of Kung Fu being made into movie by Woo-ping Yuen.

     The hell? Eros is new "erotic ensemble drama" directed by three of my faves -- Steven Soderbergh, Wong Kar-wai, and Michelangelo Antonioni -- starring Robert Downey Jr. Out next year, apparently.

    MEDIA

     MediaLife Mag picks some really bad stuff for their list of Best of the Best. We'll let you by with Marketplace just cuz no one else would think of it, but c'mon, fucking Blender?

    TV

     VH1 has another goddamn list: 50 Greatest Teen Idols. See also: Chuck's 4,000-word tirade on watching VH1 for 24 hours.

    TECH

     USA Today goes to lunch with Bill Gates.

     Amazon.com employee weblog. Dumb, so far.

     Chicago Tribune architecture critic reviews the Apple store. Maybe these Apple stores can be the new Prada? Or not.

    LOCAL

     Chuck Olsen was interviewed by the Strib in an article on blogging.

     If you missed it, the entire list of bars that will be open until 2:00 starting this weekend. Woo-hoo, we're not prudish Lutherans after all!

    I blame you if I lose this foosball tourney.

    wednesday
    comments

    I hope no one in downtown Oakland saw me waving the new laptop around like a couple of rabbit ears looking for a wifi spot. I also hope that you didn't see me wandering down Valencia in San Fran, looking for 826 Valencia, but unable to remember the numbers "826." And I would be pleased if you didn't notice me on the plane watching episode after episode of Six Feet Under on DVD while simultaneously reading Google Hacks. It's good to be home.

     I don't even know where to categorize this in my feeble blog mind. The Gannett tv station in Cleveland did a story about a military firefighter who legally changed his named to Optimus Prime. That would warrant a link on Fark.com. But now, the website for that tv station has given him a blog. The hell?

     Stop the presses. The Pope published a book of poetry.

     Transcript to the interview that got Peter Arnett fired. Maybe he and Geraldo can get a gig together. (Actually, here's his debut column for the Daily Mirror, where he says, "I am still in shock and awe at being fired.")

     USA Today thinks education is going to hell because of IM.

     Eggers new magazine: Believer. Here's a L.A. Times article.

     Iraqometer.

     An oddly-detailed but appropriate photo correction from the L.A. Times that led to the photographer's dismissal.

     I wonder if Maxim killed Gear.

     Oh hell. The Minneapolis International Film Festival started today. I've got absolutely no time for this.

     Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is now out on DVD.

     I highly recommend this Terry Gross interview with Joseph Cirincione from the Non-Proliferation Project. And if you don't believe those fuzzy-headed liberals, try this Time piece, which backtracks the Bush agenda to Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz' philosophy. Scary shit.

    tuesday
    comments

     Judging from Entertainment Weekly's Top 25 Simpsons episodes, it looks like 1993 was the hey-day.

     Fascinating story on how Carson Daly's voice is cut up and put into a database of sound which is then recomposed into a radio program ("Carson Daly Most Requested") that is broadcast to 140 radio stations -- 11 of them as a "local" program.

     L.A. Times thinks the indie film is dead.

     New Yorker on Tokyo Toys.

     Hunter S. Thompson has a new book. He's interviewed in Salon.

     The naked Courtney Love photo shoot for Q magazine.

     Conservative rag National Review tears into Derrida, the film and the man. "He is not now, nor has he ever been, a philosopher in any recognizable sense of the word, nor even a trafficker in significant ideas; he is rather a intellectual con artist, a polysyllabic grifter who has duped roughly half the humanities professors in the United States."

     Only locals will get this one, but I have to post it anyway: Boycott Chino Latino Online Petition. People are still apparently angry about the "Happy Hour: Cheaper than a Bangkok Brothel" billboards around town.

     Kevin Lynch (Chief Software Architect at Macromedia) joins Jeremy Allaire (Chief Technology Officer) with his own blog.

     BigChampagne.com measures what music people are downloading on the internet.

     On attending the DVD Premiere Awards.

    monday
    comments

     Work thing I made: Watch The Super Bowl Ads And Vote For Your Favorite.

     In Wired: Killing Kazaa.

     Interview with Phillip K. Dick's son.

     Richard Linklater (Slacker and Dazed and Confused) has a new short film, Live From Shiva's Dancefloor, which debuted at Sundance. In it, Timothy Levitch (famous from The Cruise, the best essay on NYC since Delirious New York) says the WTC site should be turned into a park full of free-roaming bison.

     Review of new Sam Fuller autobio, A Third Face.

     David Fincher will direct Lords of Dogtown, originally a skateboarding feature story published in Spin that Soundbitten has posted.

     Witold Rybczynski on Why We're All Venetians Now.

    wednesday
    comments

     Fred Durst continues to prove his literary brilliance when it comes to landing pop nymphets. If only Britney would write back we'd have a modern Abelard and Heloise on our hands.

     Waxy's Mickey Mouse satire landed him in the Boston Globe and the NY Times.

     New rumor: Joe Millionaire is actually a millionaire.

     These online marker things are always fun to play with. I'm not sure why.

     If you haven't read enough about Get Your War On, then here's one interview (NY Press) and another (L.A. Weekly).

     Republican Babes of the Week. Past winners: Bo Derek, Laura Ingraham, Shannen Doherty, Ashley Judd, Kathy Ireland, and Emma Caulfield. Sorry, this really amuses me.

     New Taschen book: Movies of the 80s.

     Instapundit now on MSNBC.com.

     Read or listen to Walter Isaacson on On The Media.

     Voice: How 'Reason' Came to 'Suck'.

    monday
    comments

    I'm not working this week -- my first vacation since September 2001. What will I do with myself? Probably watch movies and play with FlashComm. Maybe buy an xBox. I'm such a nerd. But that also means it's a week of link crack:

     A few weeks ago, I had dinner with Nathan Shedroff, one of the big voices behind the Experience Design movement (this interview is a good introduction). I enjoyed his book, but if I were to recommend one in the field, it would be Trains of Thought, which is a mix of cognitive psychology, structural thinking, and phenomenology. The experience designers have boldly attacked the field of information architecture, and a recent spat between Shedroff and a leading IA proponent is full of frisson. My take on this dispute is that it's exhilarating to finally witness something in this industry that actually gets people excited enough to use exclamation points.

     This is cool. A Dutch film called Necrocam is available in entirety online. The website gives you the tone, but the Times article gives the context.

     More on The Sims, this time from NY Times Mag. Same issue has a Steve Ballmer profile.

     The new Tate Magazine has an interview with Matthew Barney.

     Archive Your Life, brought to you by Microsoft.

     I know, this is totally old news from last week, but I gotta get in the Ellen Fleiss interview somewhere. What a cool kid.

     Nerve and Film Comment both have Parker Posey features this month. Nerve is more funny (Note: The word "indie" will not be used in the following introductory paragraphs about Parker Posey. When the word's usage cannot be avoided, a small picture of Jim Jarmusch will appear instead.) but Film Comment is more poignant (She played indie film itself in You've Got Mail and Scream 3. She was the pin puncturing the sentimental or idiotic, seemingly hell-bent on teaching those complacent big stars who surrounded her a thing or two about the value of irony.)

     More dot.com destruction news. The once mighty Razorfish has been purchased by some design firm in Salt Lake City called SBI.

     Finally, the Bush Twins can throw away their fake IDs.

     Goodie. The Right is getting back into the cultural wars! Here's the Wall Street Journal's utterly petty attack on Kurt Cobain and here's The American Prospect's showing its contempt for Michael Moore.

     If you're into chess, check out The Atlantic's recent article on Bobby Fisher's Endgame.

     Terminator 3 site is up.

     Darwin Mag has another Jeff Bezos interview.

     Lou Reed's next album will consist entirely of Edgar Allan Poe's words.

     The new Sonic Youth video for "The Empty Page" debuted on 120 Minutes tonight. I'm pretty sure the club scenes were filmed at the First Avenue show I was at a few months ago.

     The lineup on the Discovery Channel tonight: 9:00, "Changing Sexes: Male to Female"; 10:00, "Big as Life: Obesity in America"; 11:00, "Dwarfs: Little People, Big Steps". Discover, fer sure.

    wednesday
    comments

    Lots of smack for the minions today. In triplicate. Feast:

    MOVIES:

     Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh. My. God. Kyra Sedgwick & Parker Posey & Fairuza Balik in the same movie?

     Nerve interviews Brett Easton Ellis on the movie version of Rules of Attraction. "One of my only complaints about the movie was that it was so much colder and harsher than the book. It's like Kubrick directing a college film."

     Protest: Tolkien Towers vs. Twin Towers.

    INTERNET:

     Republicans copy the Switch campaign. Also: some new Switch people: Gianni Jacklone | DJ Qbert | Fabiola Torres.

     Interview: Marissa Mayer, Product Manager, Google.

     I thought about going to PopTech this year, but didn't. WiredNews reviews it.

    MUSIC:

     Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy, picks his 10 record tracks he could not imagine living without. It includes Teenage Fanclub, Springsteen, and Prince's "Sexy MF."

     Music geeks use Lost in Translation to esoteric results.

     Elephant 6 Is Dead.

    TV:

     ConspiracyChick.com was mentioned on this week's Alias, and a geocities site was faked for last week's Buffy.

     Watching The Simpsons in Thailand.

     Final episode of Push, Nevada airs this week. That million is so mine.

    RADIO:

     The excellent recent "Classifieds" episode of This American Life is available (audio).

     Lynn Hirschberg of Rolling Stone hosts this week's Studio 360.

     All Thing's Considered (NPR) had a 13-minute piece (audio link) on Minnesota's senatorial race between Paul Wellstone and Norm Coleman.

    BOOKS:

     A Canuck won the Booker Prize. (Three Canadians were nominated this year.)

     Michel Houellebecq: innocent.

     Penguin Classics is being redesigned.

    tuesday
    comments

     Buffy postage stamp from Altay on eBay.

     Radio K is one of the crowned jewels of Twin Cities music -- esteemed next to the Replacements and that purple guy. For as long as they've been on the dial, there has been the rumor that there was an FM signal on the way. And it looks like there finally will be. Well, sorta.

     NPR has a History of Breakdancing.

     When testing a new online application on various devices, I commonly make the joke at work "yeah, but does it work on my fucking refrigerator?" Looking at the refrigerator of the future, I guess it won't be a joke in too much longer. ("You expect me to user-test that?")

     I'm not sure why Slate.com thinks celebrating Miles Davis' late period is unique (everyone except Stanley Crouch has been doing that for a half-decade), but they do. Still, I doubt I'll fork out $250 for the 20-CD box set.

     Ball State has a theatrical production about Lizzy Borden in which you vote for the outcome with a wireless e-book given to you when you enter. You also use it to research background of the play during the play.

     Facets, the best VHS/DVD source in the world, has redesigned their website. It needed it.

     Overly-long article about Ikea from Business 2.0.

     Times photo-sound-essay of the Strokes.

    thursday
    comments

     Here's a cool find. In January of 1996, a student at Stanford was asking the comp.lang.java group for advice on setting HTTP headers for a "web robot." That student was Larry Page, who is now president of a very big web robot known as Google. Some guy named Joseph Millar provided an answer on the newsgroup, but, well, he ain't famous now.

     Decent Wall Street Journal interview with Shawn Fanning, the creator of Napster.

     You won't get it unless you're part of the community, but this is the best Metafilter thread of all time.

     In college we all loved John Frusciante and hated the Red Hot Chile Peppers. Slate.com gets close to understanding why.

     Cleveland Free Times and New Times Los Angeles shut down by Village Voice Media and New Times, respectively.

     Tina Brown's debut column in the Times of London.

     New Scientist has a good design/usability interview with Donald Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things.

     Matos reviews Lifter Puller in Village Voice and nails the Minneapolis aesthetic perfectly at the same time.

     Really good new issue of Shift, which contains a BrokenSaints article.

    thursday
    comments

     The Guardian compares the Roman Empire to the American Empire. Meanwhile, Saddam pulls the plug on Survivor: Baghdad. And the Atlantic Monthly looks at possible outcomes of a war with Iraq.

     The Mike Tyson spot that FOX pulled off the air, plus other current commercials of note.

     Just Switch, monkey.

     TalkingPoints says Christopher Hitchens is leaving The Nation.

     The New York Press annual "Best Of" issue is out, and rather than actually organize the content, they put it all one one gigantic page.

     The New York City Anti-Hipster Forum, "a blog dedicated to all the absurd and annoying things New York City hipsters do, say, wear, and probably, think." Nate questions his placement.

     One Year Ago Today I had three links on my blog about how America was reacting post-9/11. Interesting to look at upon reflection.

     I had fun stumbling through my mediocre French skills while reading Emmanuelle's Beck article.

     A few days ago I linked to HelpMeLeaveMyHusband.com. Now there's a parody: HelpJesusSavePenny.com

    tuesday
    comments

     Gay Robots? (Includes HAL, C3PO, Rosie, KITT, and Data.)

     Life of Numbers is an amazing synthesis of symbolic logic, mathematical design, and interactive technology. It maps the popularity of all integers between zero and one million. "The resulting information exhibits an extraordinary variety of patterns which reflect and refract our culture, our minds, and our bodies." If you dig it, dive into the other works at Turbulence.org.

     2002 Hugo Award Winners announced. Neil Gaiman wins.

     The other day, I was searching for an ACLU logo. Believe it or not, I don't think there is one, but I did stumble across a funny flash animation from Working Assets, about privacy in a post-9/11 era. Although I'm politically aligned with them, the animation (with sweeping strings and frowning statues) seems a little heavy-handed.

     120 Years of Electronic Music: Electronic Musical Instrument 1870-1990.

     I just noticed that MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art & Design) has an extra-cool session coming up on anime and manga: Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits.

     New Flaming Lips video: "Do You Realize?"

     China Blocking Google.

     "Sorgatz is the 67,680th most popular last name (surname) in the United States."

    wednesday
    comments

     At the Sonic Youth show last night, I kept wondering what 18-year-olds think of this band. Is it the same way I think of Springsteen and the Dead and the Sex Pistols or is it the same way as I think of Neil Young and Dylan and the Minutemen. (Know what I mean?) Anyway, I don't give a damn what Amy Phillips says (or, for that matter, what other say in response), Sonic Youth is still the best show I've seen this year.

     Simon Peter says this is me.

    wednesday
    comments

     I suppose everyone has one day of the week called "tv night." Mine is now Wednesdays. No, Buffy isn't moving timeslots. Rather, Bravo has mustered up back-to-back programming made for media dorks like me. First there's the much-discussed tv drama Breaking News. It's slightly more campy than a CSI or Law & Order, which makes it both more entertaining and more eye-rolling. Here's a review and a preview. That bit of tv media spectacle is followed by a newspaper drama, Deadline, which mimics the life of a New Yawk tabloid like the Post. This one's more star-studded, and includes the lovable Oliver Platt and even-more-lovable Bebe Neuwirth and simply-adorable Lili Taylor. Between the two, there have been three episodes so far, and I'll just say that mimesis is not what it's all about.

    monday
    comments

     This might be cooler than the day that I learned Mathew Barney and Bjork were having a kid: Wong Kar-Wai directs DJ Shadow video.

     While we're at it, here's an interview with Traktor, the people behind those ESPN ads, Fatboy Slim's "Ya Mama" video, and Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At?" video.

     Hmmm, curious: blogs.salon.com.

     Wired News profiles Karin Spitzer of No-Time.

     Scoobie Davis media pranks Ann Coulter.

     Coming soon: SMS TV.

     Blasphemy! The Voice slags Sonic Youth.

     Forbes maps the billionaires.

     NoMoreEnrons.com has a movie that explains it all.

     The hardest game ever. (But, yes, there is a way to win.)

     The Times looks at the new Metroplis.

    monday
    comments

     Back when I was part of the microcosm known as "rock critic culture" (yes, Virginia, there is a such a scary thing) I wanted to write about the typology of rock critics. Someone (actually, Nate Patrin, who apparently lives here, though I don't know him) finally has. Your Guide to Spotting the North American Rock Critic includes the categories Keeper Of The Canon, Indie Thug, Pop Thug, The Zeitgest Obsessive, The Intellectual, Gonzo, The Diarist, The Creative Writer, The Sociopolitical Major, The Harmless Shill. [I was the ones in bold.]

     Would You Have Invested in Microsoft in 1978, when these were the 11 employees at the software giant?

     New magazines coming to a newsstand near you: In Touch, The American Conservative, Justice, American Curves, Chic Simple, Living Room, Budget Living, Common Good, and Style 24-7.

     Anil Dash has a little ditty about the differences between white people and black people in movie theaters. It's a little essentialist, but otherwise on-target.

     New R. Kelly song: "Heaven, I Need A Hug".

     Bin Laden is apparently alive and looking for more face time.

    thursday
    comments

     Fascinating. The place I get coffee every morning is majority-owned by an Islamic bank.

     In other conspiracy news, did you know that the back of road signs have hidden embedded codes to tell NATO/UN military where to police and patrol in a national crisis? Me either, but they have proof.

     It's been so long since we've had a good literary mystery. Is Michael Crow William Vollman?

     AFI's Top 100 Most Romantic Movies.

     Yum, sushi-wrapping robot.

    friday
    comments

     Quiz time. Which of these magazine titles is an actual "Maxim clone," due to hit newsstands soon? Razor, Stun, Controversy, Swung, King, or Smooth. Answer: all of them. The world just got a little dumber.

     I'm looking forward to next month's Shirin Neshat exhibit at the Walker. There's also three days of Lord of the Birds, a performance that involves film, music and theater. (For more on Neshat, see this slideshow and this interview.)

     This would be the best Celebrity Death Match ever, but it's actually real: Noam Chomsky vs. Bill Bennett. (Thanks TJ.)

     Couple CQ reviews: SF Bay Guardian | New York Times.

     New issue of XLR8R (the hip-hop issue) is out, with Blackalicious on the cover.

     Porno-Graphics are odd little flash parodies of online pornography (don't worry, it's rated PG, and a little funny).

     Interesting navigation scheme: Anke Bauer. You navigate by shooting objects in the cross-hairs. (Anke Bauer is a German illustrator.)

     I'm gonna feel guilt about this for a while, but I just laid down $650 for a phone. Okay the new Nokia is more than just a phone -- it's a PDA, a phone, an email client, an SMS client, a game port, a flash application, and some other things. Yet, still probably not worth 650 frog skins. A review.

     And of course, the Friday fun game: Pee In The Urinal (you have to sit through an animation to get to the game).

    sunday
    comments

    The Hugo Award Nominees have been announced. Buffy gets a mention for Best Dramatic Presentation.

    Michael Paterniti takes the proposition that Florida is actually a really complex place, and turns it into a long New York Times Magazine essay.

    thursday
    comments

     Every time I think I might get meta about this medium (i.e., write about the structural language of blogs themselves), the episteme fails me. So I'll try to illustrate by example. Peter Maass is a writer at the New York Times Magazine who I enjoy reading. He has a blog. It's never great, and never bad, but it ususally gives me a clue into what the New York Times Magazine might be doing next. To people like me, that's interesting. Anyway. He's in Pakistan this week. He writes that he just had his first encounter with Brain Masala. He writes: "Quite popular in Karachi, and not at all bad; soft in texture and gentle in taste, much like tofu, though high in cholesterol, I'm told." That's it. That's why I like blogs. When whatever he's writing for the New York Times Magazine comes out, I will be thinking of Brain Masala.

     The Replacements were going to reunite, but someone ruined it. Who? Axl-Fucking-Rose, that's who.

     According to NME, The Smiths are the most influential band of that last 50 years, and the top eight are all from England. My personal poll: the best unregarded Smiths song: "Sweet and Tender Hooligan."

     I spent last night stuffing my roommate's band's new CD in envelopes to be sent to radio stations. That's a plug.

     Where's Osama? Your government thinks he escaped.

     Forget the Mini, I'll wait for the new VW which gets 235 miles per gallon.

     Woo-hoo! McDonald's is losing money!

     Another good biomorphic Bjork video: "Pagan Poetry" (large load-time).

     The "woodchipper house" from the movie Fargo is on sale at eBay.

     Salon has a dumb column about women who wear glasses (which doesn't once make reference to Tina Fey or Ashleigh Banfield).

     Movie rumor: David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room) to direct Mission Impossible 3. Poor guy is really slipping.

    monday
    comments

    It's Music Day, here at Fimoculous.

     NY Times Magazine has a music issue, featuring Moby, Mingus, The Breeders, Barry Manilow, and Beck's 198-Track Mind. Kevin Kelly's piece about how we will get music in the future is also worthwhile, and Chuck has a piece about a Guns 'N Roses cover-band.

     Cornershop will be releasing their highly-anticipated new album, Handcream for a Generation, in April. Here's a video.

     I had a magazine diatribe a while back and I didn't mention how I even miss corporate-sponsored magazines like Request. This is a great reason why: The Punk Rock Quincy Episode (with video).

     Sia Michel has been named the new editor in chief at SPIN. A certain sign that it's going to continue its pattern of suckiness is this quote: "I don't think you can ignore a band like Creed." Yes, Sia, yes you can.

     Gallery of defaced Britney posters in NYC subways.

     Me! Me! Me! I want to go so bad! Ted Nugent Kamp For Kids.

     Newsweek reviews The Osbournes.

     The Top Ten Gayest Songs Ever! Pac Man Fever?

     It's not online, but the new issue of Magnet is pretty good. "The History of Shoegazing" rocks.

     35 Things Every Rock Critic Should Know.

     For reasons that I certainly can't appraise, even Slate.com is writing about Dan The Automator.

     "No Future: U.K. Punk And The Philosophy Of Émile Durkheim".

    thursday
    comments

     Gene Simmons and Terry Gross trash-talk.

     Movie88.com is a site from Taiwan that lets you watch streaming movies for only a buck a piece. Fun selection, mediocre quality, and almost certainly illegal.

     I might compete: First Annual Google Programming Contest.

     If the U.S. government kills your brother in an accident, how much do they (okay, we) compensate the family? $1,000, apparently.

     If I had the surveys application working, I'd have you vote on which picture you like more: this one or this one.

     Textz.com has texts from all the biggies, including Kafka, Zizek, Baudrillard, Debord, Tolstoy, Poe, Neal Stephenson, Erik Satie, and My Bloody Valentine.

     Neumu's gramophone has posted an MP3 of Low's "In Metal".

     Two interesting magazine stories from MediaLife: Bust Is Back | Spin Editor Quits To Start New Mag.

     I'm apparently not one of the Top 25 Web Personalities.

     I guess someone had to make a gallery of girls posing with mandolins.

     MSNBC apologizes for misspelling Republican consultant "Niger Innis."

     BBC.com has a snowboard game tied into its Olympics coverage.

     Poynter analyzes NYTimes Portraits of Grief.

    wednesday
    comments

     Madonna and child.

     This collection of bootlegs from 2001 has beaucoup whack MP3s on it. For instance, The Strokes meet Christina Aguilera and Nirvana and Destiny's Child.

     The 50 Best Companies To Work For, according to Fortune, who I wouldn't trust with a $3 Enron retirement fund.

     There's a rumor that Dan the Automator and Dr. Octagon will be doing the next Beck album. Woo-hoo!

     Jesse, Jesse, Jesse. Poor boy, never got shot at.

     WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC, but also somehow bold and funny: The Ultimate Breast Test. Playboy has put 36 playmate bare-chests online and asked a simple question for each pair: REAL or FAKE? I guess if you play it right, you can find out if any playmate has been, well, enhanced. I suppose the reason I'm fascinated by this (and it's not because it's erotic, cuz these decapitated heads really aren't, er, titillating) is that Playboy has gone so far as to actually gather and reveal this data. (Oh yeah, I got 30 out of 36.)

    friday
    comments

     More news in the Nirvana and Courtney battle. Courtney has somehow convinced Cobain's mom to say that her son "despised" Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. The remaining members of Nirvana have been battling with Courtney over an unreleased Nirvana track, "You Know You're Right." I finally decided I wanted to hear it. Here are two MP3s: "You Know You're Right" (a live Nirvana version) and "You Know You're Right" (a live Hole-unplugged version). It doesn't seem like much to be fighting over.

     The funny thing about content management systems is that they create weirdness where you can never expect it. Like, putting the date of a story in the URL doesn't seem like a bad idea, right? Well, it is if you're writing an obit. Look at this Dick Schapp obit. He died today, but by looking at the URL you can see he had his obit written into the content management system on Oct. 19.

     Hmmmm... giving me ideas: Minnesota Law Summary: Adult Name Change.

     I'm not sure if it was spam, but I received a weird email today that asked to look at Reflektions.com, "'invasion of privacy' featuring backwards navigation." They've turned the "disable back button" trick into an art form, or something.

     A map of The Simpsons' Springfield (found at BoingBoing).

     Even Google can review the year. Check out the timeline. Yup, added to the list.

    thursday
    comments

     I'm so proud. I'm smarter than Miss America.

     Does it make me callous that I'd like people to compare the design/interface of different major media news websites' "Special Coverage" pages? ABCNews.com | CBSNews.com | MSNBC.com | CNN.com | NYTimes.com | WashingtonPost.com | BBC.co.uk. (Here's mine, but frankly it's feeble by comparison.)

     A while ago, I used radio to make a point about why free internet content would survive. I made a passing reference to alt-weeklies lending more proof to my theory. OJR has penned the article basically summarizing the points I never got around to making.

     The stories you can be thankful you missed. Condit? Yates? Poundstone? Who?

     I'm going to link to it, even though I haven't read it it yet, cuz I trust it will be interesting: Clay Shirky, "In Defense of Cities."

     Christopher Hitchens can certainly be a bitch, can't he?

     To Howard Zinn: "What would you do if you were president?" The answer.

     Three supposed pacifists who no longer are: 1, 2, 3.

     No one ever could get Conrad right.

     Warning: Geek interface stuff: "Contextual dynamic searching." That's what I'm calling it. I'm intrigued by this sort of web page search that generates "more stories like this one." I noticed that the NYTimes.com just added similar functionality, in the "Related Articles" box.

    That's wasn't so bad, was it?