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Friday, February 08, 2002
Rock Shows of Note As mentioned previously in the Media Diet forum, there was a big, five-band bill at the Middle East Upstairs last night. After hanging out at the bar for a spell, talking to Jef, Steph, and Cheryl -- and making hesitant eyes at a cute girl at the bar -- I made my way with the gang into the Suntan, Circle & Square, Place, Helms, and Victory at Sea show. Man, was it crowded! Filled to the gills. We just caught the end of Circle & Square's set, high-energy math rock performed by a quartet of what appeared to be high schoolers from New York -- one wearing a Les Savy Fav T-shirt, and all of them overjoyed to be there. I wish I'd caught more of their set, but I'll check 'em out later -- didn't pick up their CD because it was four songs for $5. Steep! Then, Placer. Another four piece with an interesting makeup. There was an assumedly drunk steel guitar player who made all sorts of goofy grins and grimaces. Creepy! A female bassist who jumped all over the place and sang in a slightly PJ Harvey caterwaul. And a too-tall-for-the-microphone stand guitarist who sang hoarsely and about as atonally as I do. Interesting, but too crowded, too hot, and too loud! I tried to maintain my stamina, but when Placer finished their set I realized that there was no way I could make it through the forthcoming Helms set. Helms is also extremely loud and dense. Punishing. So, sad that I would yet again miss Victory at Sea, I left. The walk home was cold. Daily Dosage My friend and former colleague Dan Pink, author of "Free Agent Nation," just started a blog called Just One Thing. "Each day, just one thing," the blog proposes. So far, it's a good gathering of stuff. Pink provides pointers to a collection of Jay Leno and David Letterman monologues, the Seattle-based Conversation Cafes, and his favorite email newsletter. Welcome to the world of blogging, Dan. Happy to have you here! Kill Your Television It's old news, almost, but independent television stations in Russia are having a tough go. Just more than a week ago, the Kremlin shut down the last remaining indie TV channel. "TV-6 was brought down by a lawsuit filed by one of its minority shareholders, the state-connected Lukoil petroleum giant, which acted under an obscure bankruptcy rule, since repealed by the Duma (parliament)," says the Independent's Fred Weir. "Last week a Moscow court ordered TV-6 liquidated, even though the network had shown a solid profit and had more than doubled its ratings in the past year." General sentiment is that it was really TV-6's coverage of the military actions in Chechnya and Russian corruption that led to the shutdown. Thanks to Utne Web Watch. Thursday, February 07, 2002
North End Moment While waiting in line for my lunch order at Mangia! Mangia!: Customer: I'd like a chicken sandwich with the works. And a soda. Cook: What would you like on it? Customer: The works. Cook: The works. Customer: Oh! And could you throw in some fries? Cook: We cook food here; we don't throw it. They Want to Pave Paradise Word is that the powers that be at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, want to fill in a lagoon on campus and pave a portion of what students, faculty, staff, and alumni call the Lakefill. If you have any kind of NU connection -- or know a current student or an alumnus -- spread the word. A petition is underway to protest the paving of the lakefill. Walking for a Good Cause My friend Kelly Yan is doing a 10k walk to raise money for multiple sclerosis in April. If you are willing and able, anything you can contribute to this cause would be much appreciated. You can even fill out a pledge form on the Web. See You in the Funny Pages V Charles Brownstein contributes an impressive roundup of some of the best online comics to the current issue of The Comics Journal. Spend some time perusing the piece -- and be sure to visit the comics! Donnas, Na Na Donnas, Hey Hey Yeah, Goodbye From Lookout! Records' Watchdog email newsletter: "With both sadness and excitement, we are ready to announce that The Donnas have indeed signed with Atlantic Records for their next records. Sadness because we will miss dealing with the day to day work of releasing Donnas records, but excited and totally supportive of the new opportunities Atlantic will help The Donnas achieve. Lookout! has worked with The Donnas for the past five years, and we've enjoyed great success together. We will do everything we can to keep the integrity of the Lookout!/Donnas catalog intact. Before the release of the new Atlantic album, we will continue to work 'Turn 21,' and in fact, there are a few exciting Lookout! Donas-related items in the works right now that you should know about. "We know it is controversial for a band to leave an indie for a major, but for what it's worth, we at Lookout! Couldn't be more happy or excited for our girls. And they will always be 'our' girls." Wednesday, February 06, 2002
Blogger? I Hardly Know Her! Paralleling the Great Zine Discovery by the mainstream media in the mid-'90s, the mainstream is finally embracing blogs. Time sports a feature enticingly titled "Pssst. Wanna See My Blog?" mimicking the dismissive cattiness with which the major news magazines welcomed zines -- leading with a RuPaul reference, which only highlights the fringe elements of blogging, not its promise. Similarly, John Dvorak contributes a piece to PC Magazine that -- while half-heartedly attempting to distance himself from the "mainstream media" -- also exudes the giddy cluelessness that mainstream journalists originally brought the Web as he proclaims, "The vanity page is dead; long live the Blog." Whatever. Blogs can still be vanity projects. That said, Dvorak does try to offer some insight on why people -- like me -- blog. Why do you blog? Take the Media Diet poll! Game Show Me the Money!: Kevin Last August, Kevin F. Sherry was a contestant on Jeopardy!. (It would be unfair of me not to mention that Kevin is a young, scrappy, highly employable, and brilliant newspaper journalist. Someone should hire him.) This is his story. How did you become a contestant? To become a Jeopardy contestant, you have to take a 50-question quiz. The Jeopardy folks travel around the country from time to time giving the test, but because I live close to their studios in Culver City, California, I went in and took the test there. I first took the test two years ago and passed. I was placed into the contestant pool, but they never called. My eligibility expired after a year, and I had to re-take the test. I went back to try again in April 2001. Test-takers sit in the audience seats for the show. We got a sheet with 50 blanks, and then the contestant coordinators popped in a videotape. The announcer would read the category and the question, followed by the answer. We would then have seven seconds to write our response on the line given. Fortunately, we just had to give an answer, and not phrase it in the form of a question. With just seven seconds to answer, you can see how the test would fly by. In six minutes or so, it was all over. We handed in our tests and waited for the results. A lot of people say the qualifiying test is more difficult than the actual show because you have to quickly deal with 50 different categories with one question each instead 12 categories of five questions each. A score of 35 out of 50 qualified you to be a contestant. Again I passed. The first time I took the test, about 12 people out of 150 passed. The second time, about six out of 75. After the others left, those of us who were left tried a few mock rounds of Jeopardy. We got buzzers and were judged on how well we handled ourselves and how well we spoke. I was surprised at how some players mumbled and took a long time to answer or select a category. It seemed like they would never get to the show acting like that. We also had to do a quick, impromptu blurb about who we were and where we were from. And that was pretty much it. I was back in the pool. How dd you prepare to compete on the show? I got the call about six weeks before I was going to compete on Aug. 22. I was pretty excited and began a lot of preparation. I checked out some Web sites run by former champions. I read the entire "Dictionary of Cultural Literacy," which helped with literary references, religion, myths, geography, history, and a dozen other topics. I also found a book about the show written by a former producer, as well as a 1990 book "written by Alex" that contained a bunch of questions and answers from past shows. On top of that, I purchased four Jeopardy "What is..." quiz books, each of which had more than 300 pages of categories, questions and answers from past shows. I bought the home board game, which had an additional 48 complete games. And of course I watched the show every day and marked my progress, which helped me remember always to respond in the form of a question. In all, I probably reviewed about 8,000 individual Jeopardy answers. From that, not only did I learn about topics that I was weak on, but I was also able to see phrasing quirks of the Jeopardy writers. For instance, any time the answer mentioned a "cubist painter," the answer would always be "Who is Pablo Picasso?" Anytime an answer mentioned a "U.S. commonwealth," the answer was always "What is Puerto Rico?" It was good to know that I had at least a few tricks that could possibly help. I had to be at Sony Pictures Studios at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Because Culver City is about an hour and a half away from me, I decided to get a hotel close to the studio the night before, rather than trying to brave the rush-hour traffic heading to Los Angeles in the morning. I wanted to reduce the variables that might increase my aggravation. Tuesday night I hardly slept at all. All these questions and answers kept flying through my head. I would try to think of the name of a particular actor, and it would get lost. I had to check my almanac to remember the heads of state of France and Canada. I think I slept from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., then maybe from 5-7 a.m. Not the best preparation before a mental contest, but I figured the other contestants were probably going through the same thing. What was it like at the studio before the show? At 9 a.m., I joined the other contestants on the studio lot. There were 13 of us, including the champion from the last taping series and two alternates, who would step in in case someone finished as a five-time champ or if one of us passed out, I guess. The mood among us all was very supportive. There was no trash-talking or challenges of arcane trivia to undermine our confidence. Everyone wanted everyone to do well, and that was nice. The people came from all over too. Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, Nebraska, Iowa, and Canada were all represented. We all had to dress nicely and bring two changes of clothing. This was in case whatever we chose to wear didn't look good on camera, or if we became a champion. The show tapes five games a day, two days a week. If you win, you have to run back and change into a new outfit for the next game so it looks like 24 hours have passed. Alex Trebek does this too. Eventually a contestant coordinator put us on a shuttle bus to take us to the Jeopardy set in Studio 10. We went into the "green room," which is where they had us fill out forms promising that we had no prior knowledge of the questions, that we didn't know anyone affiliated with the show and so forth. They had comfy couches, snacks and drinks for us to enjoy while we waited. Other than the returning champion, no one knew who would be picked for any of the five shows until 10 minutes before they went on. That made things a little nerve-wracking for everyone, but the coordinators tried to keep us calm. One by one, we all went to get made up for television. Because of the bright lights in the studio, any white person without makeup would come accross as ghostlike. So we all got some makeup to give us some color, smooth out blemishes and remove shininess. The makeup lady told me I had nice skin. Next we moved onto the actual set, where we learned how to operate the little screens that sit on each podium. You have to sign your name with a little wand at the start. At the end of the show, the screen goes blank, and that's where you put your Final Jeopardy wagers and questions. We also got a quick lesson in how to work the buzzers. They resemble clicker pens, but with the thickness of a fat magic marker. Once a contestant chooses a category and dollar amount, the answer appears and Alex reads it. Once he finishes speaking, two rows of lights, one on either side of the game board, go on, indicating that the contestants can now buzz in (you never see these lights on TV). If you buzz in before the lights go on, you're locked out for half a second. So you have to have good timing to make sure you ring in after Alex finishes talking, but before your opponents. Often you'll see people clicking their buzzers furiously to ring in. We were told to click the stick repeatedly, in case someone else gets locked out. If the person who rings in gives the correct question, you move on to another answer. If the person gets it wrong, those lights come on again and the other contestants can ring in. We took turns at the podium, going through easy categories to get the feel of the buzzer and the timing of the lights. Each person answered three questions, then stepped aside for the next person. One thing all the contestants had to do was come up with a series of interesting anecdotes, so that Alex would have something to ask us about during the little chat sessions he has after the first commercial break. No matter where the contestants went during the day, we were always under tight security, a lasting result of the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s. We always went from place to place in a group. When some contestants went to smoke, a coordinator went with them. When we broke for lunch, we had a special table set aside in the Sony comissary just for us. The point was to make sure that we did not have any contact with anyone who might know what the questions and the answers for the day might be. That included Alex and the writers. That's a lot to take in. What was it like during the taping -- and during the game itself? A little before noon, we went back into the set area. The audience had already been brought in. I had my own special cheering section, with Mayrav Saar, Glenn Gaslin, Steve Lynch, Rick Porter and Eric Carlson, who braved Spirit Airlines to fly in for the day from Chicago. It was comforting to see them out there for me. The morning audience got to see three shows taped. Then the set broke for lunch and a new audience came in to watch the last two shows of the day. Any contestant not competing sat in the audience. Jeopardy has a few changes for the 2001 season, its 18th since it began in its most recent incarnation. The most obvious is that Alex Trebek has shaved his moustache, on a whim, he says. The show also has hired four young folks to travel around the country to provide video clues for the show. They're called the "Clue Crew," and did things like "Hi, I'm here at the San Diego Zoo. This animal here..." and so forth. The clips seemed to slow the show down a bit, and they seemed designed to get younger people interested in Jeopardy. Although no one mentioned the words "Regis" or "Millionaire," one of the contestant coordinators said they like the attention that the new quiz shows get, because it also draws attention to Jeopardy, which many people had begun to take for granted. She also said they all love the Jeopardy skits on Saturday Night Live. The show also has improved its prizes. A long time ago, the show gave "prizes" like Rice-A-Roni to the second- and third-place folks. More recently, the second-place person won a trip, while the third-place person got a TV, stereo, or some kind of electronics thingy. But they've upgraded again. Now the first-place person still keeps the cash, while second place gets an international trip and third place gets a domestic trip. So that was pretty cool. It was difficult to tell the selection process exactly, but it seemed that each show had a male and female contestant selected to go up against the champ from the last show. Once those two were picked, they would select slips of paper that had either "2" or "3" on them, indicating which podium they would stand at. Then the makeup lady polished them up, and the microphone guy clipped a pager-sized box to their belt with a tiny wire microphone that clipped to a blouse or lapel. To make sure everyone looked about the same height, shorter players stood on wood blocks at the podiums. The show is taped in real-time, meaning that they start off just like on TV, take a few minutes for a commercial break, come back and continue until 30 minutes have expired. All the contestants agreed that the show just flew by, and most couldn't even remember their categories or answers. Sometimes there would be a glitch (Alex accidentally read the response in the question) or a disputed response (Is "William the Orange" the same as "William of Orange?") and the show would stop. The contestants would turn their backs to the game board, in case another answer was revealed. The producers would get everything fixed and they'd start again where they left off. During commercial breaks, Alex was a bit corny. He would wander around stage, making comments and answering questions for people in the audience. He seemed a little goofy, but I guess you have to find ways to amuse yourself after doing that kind of job for 18 years. Announcer Johnny Gilbert has a great voice, and always keeps his enthusiasm high for his opening "This! Is! Jeopardy!" Other times, though, he just played emcee, answering crowd questions and talking through every second of down time. His ability to chatter was impressive, if repetitive. But how did you feel? Being on the show was great. I learned a lot in preparing, and am pleased overall. Did I have fun? You bet. But my palms were incredibly sweaty, and the makeup lady had to keep dabbing my forehead to wipe the sweat. This all happened in August. How long did you have to wait to see the show on TV? My show was on Friday, Oct. 19 last year. Everyone's local time and station was different. Because of Monday Night Football, ABC stations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets bumped their five days of Jeopardy to a Tuesday-through-Saturday run. In those markets, I was on Saturday, Oct. 20. Media News by Email Just like you can now receive Media Diet via email, you can also now receive Jim Romenesko's Media News via email. In the interest of full disclosure, Jim used to publish the wonderful zine Obscure, which has morphed into the Obscure Store and Reading Room. I also used to edit him when he contributed to and I worked for Online Access magazine (RIP). Third Time's the Charm? So I'm finally interested in spending time -- or going out -- with women who aren't my ex, and my record's not too good thus far. After two attempts at making plans with two different women, I received the following responses: D'oh! Third time's the charm, right? I mean, I'm happy to hang out with these women platonically and all, but sheesh, crushes crumbled! Magazine Me III There's been quite a bit of coverage and discussion lately about the new magazine aimed at "cool Jews." Heeb: The New Jew Review was written up in today's Globe (story not available online, for shame), and writer Jim Sullivan considers whether the name is offensive. Even though Heeb has come under fire by the Anti-Defamation League and Howard Stern (yawn), Sullivan seems to settle on the positive side of the defamation fence: "Heeb has a leg up." The magazine hit the stands yesterday, so take a look for yourself. Is Heeb an offensive name for a magazine? Take the Media Diet poll! See You in the Funny Pages IV Jason Little just put up three new episodes of his Bee: Shutterbug Follies strip. Game Show Me the Money!: William In mid-January, William Jarry was a contestant on the 30th anniversary episode of the Price is Right. This is his story. How did you first connect with the Price Is Right? I was going to Las Vegas anyway with my buddy Jeff, who called me about three weeks earlier to say his work friends cancelled on him, but he still wanted to go. I jumped on the opportunity. We had no idea about the Price is Right until three days before we left, when Jeff was home sick from work with a sprained ankle and happened to notice the ad while watching the game show in its regular time slot. Because we were going to be there on Jan. 17, the day they were taping, we decided that, if nothing else, it would be a great distraction from losing our shirts in the casino! Why did you want to be on the Price Is Right? What person doesn't want to be on national TV, especially on the 30th anniversary primetime special of the world's number one game show? Jeff and I were both fans from our childhood (What kid doesn't grow up watching the Price Is Right?), so it seemed like it would be a blast, even if we only got to be in the audience and didn't get called down. Did you have to go through any kind of application, interview, or screening process? Not really. But getting tickets for the show was another story, though. We got there at 1 a.m. Thursday (having not slept since Tuesday night) to find thousands of people already in line. They were supposed to start lining up at 6 a.m., and then pass out 900 tickets at 10 a.m. (There were also 600 tickets that were comped out to VIP's, for a total of 1,500 people in the Samba Theater of the Rio Hotel and Casino). Unfortunately, there were more than 10,000 people there -- some who had even slept there from the night before -- so our chances looked slim. There were also about three or four different lines, with everyone in them claiming to be in the "correct" line. Jeff and I had come with a friend of a friend who lived in Vegas, Amanda, so the three of us split up and each took a line, communicating through cell phones if one started moving. We also did a little sneaking and cutting in line -- guerrilla tactics were necessary for this situation. At 6:45 a.m., one of the lines started moving into the theater. I was in the right line, and my friends were gone! I called Jeff, he held my spot, and I ran to get Amanda, who at this point had made friends with five cute girls from Utah and a random guy named Steve from Kansas City. We joined forces, ran back to get Jeff, and unfortunately never caught up to him. The crowd was so huge, and people were pushing so much that they dropped the gates to the Theater, brought in security and the State Police, and then told everyone the show was sold out -- and that they had to go home. Meanwhile, Jeff was the last one they let in! I went back to the casino with Amanda, almost in tears for not making it through, and called my mom at 7:15 a.m. to give her the bad news. They were all pulling for me back home. Then I got the call. Jeff had borrowed a cell phone from inside the Theater and told me that he got ticket 555, and he was the last one in, so there were at least 345 tickets still available. The cops lied to get us out of there because of the fire hazard! I knew we still had a chance, so I went back to the box office gate to find 300-plus people still there with the same idea. People were threatening to sue the hotel with a class action lawsuit. Old ladies had literally beaten guards with their canes. It was a mess. We hooked up with the Utah girls again, and then I got the brilliant idea to pimp them out to security guards. You always get further by being nice to people. Some were married, so I had them take off their rings, then go butter up the guards to figure out the deal. Sure enough, a guard named Vito let Brittany know that they were waiting for people to leave. At about 10-11-ish they would unleash the remaining tickets to those who waited patiently. So the Utah girls had Uno with them, and my whole crew sat on the floor nicely, while staying in touch with Jeff on the inside. Sure enough, at 11 a.m., Vito comes by and gives us a nod. We get right up to the front of the line, and then about 15 guards form a human chain blocking about 300 people in to get onto the show, and everyone else out! We went in, screaming like crazy with excitement, and received out golden tickets (I was 781 -- barely in!) and name tags -- we were in the audience! We got outta there and had a couple hours to kill before we had to meet back at the theater. We got Jeff and grabbed a bite to eat. I guess that the producers would be hiding in line to try and see who was crazy/fun to have on the show, and I figured these "interviews" we had to do would be a screening process so they didn't pick a "dud" for the show. I told everyone -- the Utah girls, Jeff, Steve, and Amanda, that no matter what, we were going to go nuts in line, and we did. We stopped at the hotel, and I grabbed my bright orange soccer shirt with my name on the back for recognition, and we headed to the interviews. We waited in line from 2-9 p.m. to get into the theater, and all the while I was starting "Team Utah," "Bob Barker," "Line 7" (the line we were in), etc. chants, and getting hundreds of people all riled up. We were so crazy we actually got interviewed for Channel 4 news and The Las Vegas Sun while we were in line. If they noticed us, I hoped the producers did, too! Finally, we went through the metal detectors, ran into the Theater, and met with two producers who literally only asked "What's your name, where are you from, and what do you do?" I knew this was my chance, so I screamed and jumped in front of them, shouting "I'm Bill, and I came all the way from Boston to see Bob Barker! I'm a musician!" I figured if I told them I was an investment banker, they might think I could do numbers too quickly or well, so I went with the pity for the musician -- stereotypically poor and dumb -- perfect for the show! (I actually do play drums, so I wasn't lying either). They asked me what instrument I played, and then I ran off screaming, jumping, and going nuts. I made it up to my seat -- on the second balcony, and then just waited for the show to begin while they showed us clips from past anniversary episodes. While I was waiting for the show to start, I saw the producers combing the aisles, looking for the people they picked -- where they were sitting so the cameras would know where to go when the chosen were called. I didn't hear it, but Denise, one of the Utah girls, heard the producers two rows in front of us say, "There he is, the guy with the orange shirt. It's him." I didn't believe her, but just sat there with my stomach going crazy like I would throw up. At that point, I also had had to go to the bathroom for five hours. I couldn't move. I was so nervous! What was the actual experience in the game show's studio like? Sure enough: "William Jarry, come on down!" was called after the first pricing game, and I exploded! I hugged everyone I was with -- then ran up the stairs to the elevator, escorted by producers and assistants to an elevator, taken downstairs, then set up to run down the aisle. The place was unbelievable! It was so big. The people were going crazy. The stage was just like on TV -- it hasn't changed in 30 years at all! Everyone in the audience was so happy for me. They were all trying to slap me five as I ran down the aisle to contestant row. I was so nervous, excited, everything -- it was just too much to handle. The excitement in that room was indescribable. It was really hard to think straight when pricing items to get out of contestant row and on stage. There was a lot of pressure, so it took me a couple of bids, but I made it. From the stage, the audience looked massive. I could barely see my crew letting me know what game was next, and what to bid on -- they were signaling Plinko though -- I got to play the most popular game on the Price Is Right! There were tons of people with Plinko shirts in the audience. One guy even had a Plinko rain hat complete with chips hanging from it. People went wild! Bob was great. He was all business though. It was tough to say, "Hi," to your friends because he wanted to keep the show rolling. Apparently taping usually takes only 45 minutes, but becuase this was a special show and he was taking time in between each game to answer questions from the audience, it took more than two hours to tape. Bob led me through the game, I won my chips, and I swear I almost dropped them when Claudia handed them to me. She was so hot! All of the Beauties were outstanding, especially up close -- that made me really nervous! I did my thing, I won a few prizes (a camera, a boom box, and a water pik), plus $2,500 playing Plinko. I also won an arcade game (Mr. Driller 2) to get up on stage, so all total I won $6,181. After my game, I stopped to start to fill out my tax forms, and then had to get up and run out to the bathroom finally, almost in the middle of taping! People were high-fiving me all the way into the bathroom -- it was great to see everyone happy for me, rather than jealous that they weren't the ones picked. I was pleasantly surprised! I came back, did the forms, got the assistant's number so she would send me autographed pictures from all of the Beauties later, then finished the show. I went over $1 on my spin, so I didn't make it to the showcase showdown, but because I was on stage, I did get Bob to sign my name tag! On the way out of the Theater, my crew met up with me again, we went crazy, and took a few pictures for the CBS Web site. Then, I swear, people wanted me to sign autographs! I had made so many friends in line while going crazy, that everyone was happy for me. After that, I took my whole crew out for a steak dinner at the hotel (The restaurant manager actually served us!), then I ran into Claudia in the hall! She gave me a couple of autographs, plus her exclusive modeling photos, and then invited us to come to the casino and the club with her later! We actually spent the night in Club Rio with the beauties, Rod Roddy (who was kind of an ass -- he wouldn't sign autographs at all), and a couple of producers, who I was sure to thank for the opportunity. Bob wasn't there -- he's getting a little senile so I'm sure he needed his rest. It was funny during the show -- you could tell he'd forget a couple things here and there and they'd have to do a little retaping. Anyway, sure enough, our friend Vito was the guard at the VIP section, so we had no trouble hanging out with the stars for the rest of the night, before finally going to bed at about 6 a.m. -- from being up for about 48 hours! Tuesday, February 05, 2002
Blogging About Blogging VIII I met a fellow named Jish while in the Bay Area last fall, and he runs a nifty little Web ring for bloggers appropriately called, ahem, Webloggers. I just added Media Diet to the mix, and if you do a blog, I suggest that you look into it! Imagine: a blog ring. Of course, now that I've spent some time popping around blogspace using Webloggers' Random Site link, I've come to the conclusion that, just as is true with zines and personal Web sites, most blogs suck. Jish, of course, is not at all responsible for this. Blogging About Blogging VII You've probably heard about the Webbies, but do you know about the Bloggies? In January, folks nominated and voted on blogs and blog-related sites in categories such as best merchandise, best meme, best Webcam, best design, and best blogs in Australia, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the US, and Canada. This guy named Wil Wheaton won in many different categories. Many, many different categories. So why haven't I heard about him -- or the Bloggies -- before? As a response to the Bloggies, there's also the Anti-Bloggies. Will the self-referential circle jerking and metablogging never stop? Leaving a Bad Taste on Your Bookshelf Kevin Bowen has appropriated -- and collected other appropriated -- children's book covers over at Something Awful. Some are silly. Some are sick. All are something awful. The Movie I Watched Last Night IV Outland Sean Connery's accent is more noticeable than it is today. There's a tough-talking female doctor character who reminds me of my friend Brett's mom. And the Serpico-meets-Aliens plot outline makes for a good heroic and slightly family-oriented story. The special features on the DVD are crummy though. "The Making of Outland" is all text, not a documentary. Ditto for the special feature about how the crew modeled the miniature mine. Lame extras. Good movie. What movies have you seen lately? Near-Death Experience I'm being overdramatic, but I almost got hit by a car last night. I was walking home from work, just after getting off the T at Central Square. Towing a suitcase from last week -- lazy me left it at work for a week after a quick trip to New Jersey -- and carrying two courier bags, I neared the intersection of Green and Magazine streets right by the bus station. There's a crosswalk there, and a stop sign as Green Street intersects with Magazine Street. There was a car coming to the intersection, but it was quite a ways back, with plenty of time to stop at the intersection. I step into the intersection, start walking across the street, and the car doesn't stop! I jump-step ahead to avoid getting hit as the car crosses the crosswalk at probably 20-25 miles per hour. "Dude, stop sign!" I yell, pointing. Another pedestrian also yells, "Stop sign!" at the car, driven by an older man who is yelling at me from inside the car. He continues yelling at me as he pulls through the intersection, almost getting hit by a bus pulling into the station before he eventually crosses River and Western streets at the light to go wherever he was headed. Lessons learned: I should've reported the dude. Nevertheless, I was extra, extra careful at the next two intersections, looking both ways even when it was a one-way street. Cars are coffins. Monday, February 04, 2002
Near-DIY Distribution The Slush Factory, a wonderful independents-meet-mainstream comics journalism site I just started reading, currently features an interesting interview with Tim Stroup, one of the founders of Cold Cut Distribution. Stroup weighs in on ignoring the comics of Marvel, DC, and Image; what it's like working with 500 small-press publishers; and how they continue to compete when Diamond holds 95% of the comics distribution market. A good look inside a small-scale but big-hearted comics-related company. From the In Box: Your Local Use-Paper Thanks, dude! We did get a lot of good feedback, and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste. Back in the pre-Internet days we used to have this section called Reader Feedback, AKA Reader Feed Bag, where we would have the interns record comments from callers. This is much more efficient. -- Peter Howe Your Local Use-Paper In a rare -- but exciting and intriguing -- inclusion of readers' voices and ideas in a newspaper article, the Boston Globe today ran a story headlined Readers React to Cellphone Study. Reporter Peter Howe contributed a piece rounding up commentary gleaned from the 130 calls and emails the Globe received in response to last week's look at the Boston area's wireless network coverage quality. Kudos to Howe and the Globe for drawing on the experiences and knowledge of its readers. Books Worth a Look For Christmas, my folks game me a Reader's Journal published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. I've been keeping track of the books I read, writing mini-reviews. Here's what I've read in late-2001 and in January this year: The African American Press: With Special Reference to Four Newspapers, 1827-1965 by Charles Simmons (1998) This near-academic "history of news coverage during national crises" looks at how the Chicago Defended, Pittsburgh Courier, Black Dispatch, and Jackson Advocate reported on abolition, the black vote, and black sentiment during world wars I and II, as well as the civil rights movement. Balances accomodation with militance in the light of government suppression -- and serves as an indictment against Percy Greene, publisher of the Mississippi-based Advocate, which fought civil rights efforts in lieu of kissing up to the white power structure. Days to read: 2. Rating: Good. American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush (2001) Steve was active in the DC hardcore scene, booking shows and touring with No Trend. His extensive oral history of hardcore as an outgrowth of and response to the negative aspects of punk includes many reproductions of fliers and record covers of the time. He focuses on some of the most important bands -- Black Flag, the Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys -- and analyzes the difference between the different scenes -- LA, Orange County, San Francisco, DC, Boston, New York City, etc. A must read. Days to read: 10. Rating: Excellent. The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen (2000) An extremely lucid and useful handbook on how to further buzz within social and commercial networks. Rosen takes an action-oriented approach to developing contagious products and accelerating natural contagian by working with network hubs, seeding conversations, telling better business stories, and pursuing viral marketing efforts. A crucially useful, well-organized how to! Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent. Bread -- and Roses: The Struggle of American Labor 1865-1915 by Milton Meltzer (1967) Picked up off a shelf in the lobby of an apartment building in Mexico City, this heavily underlined book details the earliest days of the labor movement in America. Drawing on newspaper accounts primarily, Meltzer celebrates some of the unsung heroes of labor, focusing his attention mostly on notable strikes, riots, and court cases. Also heavily dependent on the activities of formal unions. Days to read: 60. Rating: Excellent. Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell (1987) A collection of short stories drawing on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Dedicated to Fritz Leiber and Robert Bloch, Campbell's style is more similar to August Derleth and Stephen King than Lin Carter and Brian Lumley. Some stories are barely inspired by Lovecraft, which makes for a nice blend of contemporary horror and mythos pastiche. Might be a good introduction for people not into Lovecraft already. Days to read: 5. Rating: Good. The Executioner #277: Dirty Mission by Mike Newton as Don Pendleton (2001) Mack Bolan throws in with a couple of lefty humanitarians to quell the stateside assassinations of Colombian exiles speaking out against an oppressive regime. There's the requisite overly verbose hardware descriptions, the romantic interest (who isn't obtained in this book), and a sneaky attack on some thoroughbred horses. Easy reading. Days to read: 3. Rating: Good. Fandom Directory #19 edited by Mariane Hopkins (2000) This 525-page directory of science fiction and comic book fanzines, fan clubs, retail shops, and Web sites is a geek's paradise. Into Star Trek and wanting to learn Klingon? Read this. Obsessing over some random actor on Babylon 5? Come here. Mostly media tie-in fandom, but some pleasant subculture, comic, and zine surprises. The geeks of the geeks. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent. Forming: The Early Days of LA Punk edited by Exene Cervenka (2000) The catalog to an exhibit of photographs, fliers, and album covers at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica, California, in 1999, this slim book compiles many iconic art examples from the era. The associated essays draw parallels to situationism, fluxus, and dada, including several reprints of writing by Slash's Claude Bessy and a timeline that puts the 1976-82 scene in a social, political, economic, and cultural context. Better to have seen the exhibit, I think. Days to read: 1. Rating: Fine. Fury: Fictions and Films by Clive Holden (1998) Collecting a novella that interweaves three divergent narratives about three connected characters during a blackout, five short stories, and two mostly poetic representations of two of the author's experimental films, this book is short -- 170-plus pages -- but strong. Heavily Canadian in character, the writing reminds me of Jack Kerouac or J.D. Salinger, as seen with the Weakerthans' strong sense of the importance of place. Days to read: 2. Rating: Excellent. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino (1968) Cloaked as a religion and inspiration book, this slim volume is really a romanticization of sales and marketing and an apology for mercenary commercial behavior. That said, it does encourage people to donate a portion of their profits to the poor -- and it offers some solid self-help suggestions regardless of whether you're in sales. Renewal, love, persistence, mindfulness, and humor are all good traits. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (1999) Odd. While reading this, I was enraptured. But two days later, I could hardly remember a thing about the book! D these have lasting value? The character of Gilderoy Lockheart makes for some great comic commentary n publicity, fame, and celebrity. And Dobby the house-elf portends that Harry's fame is far flung. Good ending with giant spiders, Moaning Myrtle, a basilisk, and the ghost of a young Voldemort. It all comes back to me now. A great read. Days to read: 2. Rating: Excellent. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (1999) Not as satisfying as the last novel, this volume has a convoluted Who Done It? ending that ropes in a new lackey who will probably have a role in the future. Not as mythic as previous books, this introduces lycanthropy as an element and ups the ante on the quidditch match descriptions. Not as funny as the last book, either, as tensions test even the best of friends and enemies. Days to read: 3. Rating: Excellent. How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (1990) This slightly dated book published by Writer's Digest Books breezes through a sci-fi how to in 137 pages. Amidst digs on Analog, Star Trek, and hard SF, Card expands on various kinds of stories, the rules of world creation -- space travel, etc. -- the difference between science fiction and fantasy, and how exposition works differently in SF than in other genres. Card's commentary on abeyance is especially useful. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. Make the Music Go Bang!: The Early LA Punk Scene edited by Don Snowden (1997) Basically an excuse to publish some of the scene-specific photos of Gary Leonard, this book comprises almost a dozen reminiscent "essays" by long-time scene stalwarts, including X's Exene Cervenka, Los Lobos' Louis Perez, and the editor of Slash. While a solid romp through the people and places of the era, the book's a little shallow and mostly succeeds because it shows how various subgenres came together in ways other communities and scenes couldn't sustain. Days to read: 6. Rating: Good. Mutts: Sunday Mornings by Patrick McDonnell (2001) Beautiful color edition of McDonnell's amazing comic strip, all from the Sunday funnies. The color is vibrant, and the full-page detail art adds a nice design element. While his commentary on animal shelters can be cloying, McDonnell's portrayal of how pets interact with their owners, as well as with each other, is poignant, powerful, and damn funny. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent. Overcoming Addictions: The Spiritual Solution by Deepak Chopra (1997) By highlighting how addictive substances and activities such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, and work affect our mind body balance -- drawing on Ayurveda -- Chopra hones in on the root causes of addictive behavior and offers some solutions. These solutions are rooted in concentrating on positive alternative experiences, mindfulness, and conscious choice. This book has already helped me. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web by David Weinberger (2002) The co-author of "The Cluetrain Manifesto" goes off on his own and crafts a well-reasoned and forward-thinking look at why the Web really matters. Considering how the Web changes our philosophical consideration of space, time, perfection, togetherness, knowledge, and matter, Weinberger contends that the Web can amplify humanity's social nature, offering a good measure of hope for the future of technology and business development. Days to read: 7. Rating: Good. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (1961) "The most famous science fiction novel ever written" starts out as a martian comes to Earth tale and quickly evolves into an Ayn Rand-like commentary on politics, organized religion, property, and polyamory -- complete with Jubal Harshaw, a Howard Roark-like character who turnd out to be the real hero. A bit preachy at times, but impressive in its ideas and narrative. Days to read: 4. Rating: Excellent. Strange Sisters: The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction 1949-1969 by Jaye Zimet (1999) Awesome book highlighting the cover art and text from lesbian-themed pulp novels. The author's collection is impressive, and her comments are insightful and humorous. Sections analyze the use of the female gaze, how the books were marketed to men, the sleaze element, and other themes -- use of butches, body image, and so on. Good resource listing. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer (1951) Hoffer's near-academic sociological and psychological study looks at the appeal of mass movements, qualities and characteristics of potential converts, the relationship between united action and self-sacrifice, and the important actors in various stages of a movement. Hoffer concentrates on fanaticism and draws parallels between Nazism and Christianity. A useful handbook for organizers, but not overly hopeful for positive success. Days to read: NA. Rating: Excellent. Victory Chimp by Neil Hagerty (1997) Imagine Lancelot Link as written by William S. Burroughs, and you've got a good idea about this book. Interstellar espionage story about an intelligent chimpanzee, written in a beat-meets-dada wordplay style. Some of it works well, and some does not. A vanity book. There's a change to first-person narrative at one point, but the ending -- the wrestling lectures -- were excellent. Days to read: 2. Rating: Fair. We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen (2001) More than 160 people contribute their stories to this oral history of the LA punk scene. More balanced and in depth than "Make the Music Go Bang!" (reviewed above), this book considers the scene's precursors, genre-specific splits, and eventual evolution -- largely influenced by the hardcord insurgence from Orange County. The book also takes on the scene's entertainment industry ties and negative aspects, something "Make the Music Go Bang!" glosses over in the name of positive recollection and nostalgia. Days to read: 2. Rating: Excellent. Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract by Bill Jensen (2001) The author of "Simplicity" weighs in with his analysis of the new work relationships possible in the post-New Economy, -recession, and -911 world. Written mainly for managers, "Work 2.0" concentrates on new work assets; personalized work tools, resources, and processes; peer-to-peer value and social networks; and extreme leadership. Equal parts call for grassroots leadership development and a customer service approach to management. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good. What are you reading? |
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