December 08, 2009
November 06, 2009
Alert:: FCC Accepting Comments on Proposed Net Neutrality Rules
You can make your voice heard on whether the federal government takes away your right to decide how Internet Service Providers manage your traffic, James G. Lakely writes.
Continue reading "Alert:: FCC Accepting Comments on Proposed Net Neutrality Rules" »
October 22, 2009
Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence, Three Times is Enemy Action
October 03, 2009
The Lottery, Profligate Spending, California's Meltdown, and the Opaque President
August 15, 2009
'Obamacare': Is It Constitutional? (Off the 'Net—Eight)
August 13, 2009
Radical chic returns and Orwell's prophecies come true (Off the 'Net—Seven)
July 15, 2009
Off the 'Net (Six)
July 13, 2009
Off the 'Net (Five)
July 12, 2009
Off the 'Net (Four)
July 11, 2009
Off the 'Net (Three)
July 03, 2009
Off the 'Net (Two)
June 24, 2009
Off the 'Net (One)
June 02, 2009
'Sims 3' Piracy Rampant Before Game's Release
There's more disturbing news today for those who respect property rights and understand the importance of providers receiving economic returns for their goods: piracy of the Electronic Arts Inc. game The Sims 3 reached 180,000 illegal downloads in just four days, May 18-21, prior to its scheduled sale date today, Bloomberg News reports (hat tip to Aleks Karnick).
Fully 41 percent of all PC software installed last year was pirated, the Bloomberg story reports.
As with any good or service, video games, software, and other cultural items won't get made and distributed if people cannot make a living from them. Hence piracy on this level poses a serious danger to the culture and the economy.
--S. T. Karnick
May 05, 2009
Hulu.com May Be Upcoming Target of Antitrust Attack
As is sadly the case for all good things, the video Web site Hulu.com is likely about to come under attack by the government, specifically in the form of antitrust action by the Obama administration.
Socialism's great horde of media apologists has begun a strong drumbeat calling for the U.S. government to go after Hulu, the immensely and increasingly successful source of online streaming media content.
Continue reading "Hulu.com May Be Upcoming Target of Antitrust Attack" »
April 07, 2009
Web 'Superbrain' Predicted 'House' Plot Surprise
Last night's episode of the Fox Network medical-mystery series House included a Big Event meant to shock the show's viewers and send the story line in an interesting new direction, as one of the main characters of the series was killed.
This almost instantaneous accumulation and processing of information makes the web something of a superbrain. Yes, figuring out the plot twists of television shows may not be the most productive use of people's time and brainpower, but this somewhat frivolous achievement does indicate the impressive potential of the internet as a mass information processing tool.
This capability makes the internet simultaneously a potential source of astonishing public benefits and the most powerful generator of nonsense ever created.
An interesting side note (plot spoiler follows): Entertainment Weekly revealed this morning that Kal Penn, who played the character who died in last night's episode, will be leaving the show to join the Obama administration as associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison.
I have no idea what that particular agency is, but I'm quite sure it's a good deal less useful than a good TV mystery series.
—S. T. Karnick
February 19, 2009
Cable Woes Mark Change from TV Mentality to Web Culture
Among the luxuries taking a beating from the recession is a service until recently thought by most people to be close to a necessity: cable television. Subscriber growth among big cable systems fell significantly in the last quarter of 2008.
The three biggest systems—Time Warner, Comcast, and Charter Communications—were hit particularly hard.
In fact, Charter filed for bankruptcy protection after losing more than 75,000 subscribers in one quarter. The Dish Network satellite system lost 10,000 subscribers in the third quarter.
Verizon's fiber optic cable service is doing well, however, as consumers switch from a cable mentality to a Web viewpoint. Advertising Age quotes Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt as observing, "people, typically young people, are saying, 'All I need is broadband. I don't need video.' And obviously they are already saying they don't need wireline phone."
—S. T. Karnick
Are you ready to drop cable TV and move exclusively to Web viewing? Have you done so already? Comment here.
January 19, 2009
Shift to New Media Combats Plagiarism
A highly salutary outcome of the change to new media has been unfairly overlooked while old-media denizens continually complain about the fact that readers and viewers are leaving them behind: the internet is increasingly making getting away with plagiarism a thing of the past.
Most recent case in point: Neale Donald Walsch, author of the bestseller Conversations with God, has admitted plagiarizing another author's anecdote and passing it off as his own on his Beliefnet blog. His blog has been shut down as a consequence.
Continue reading "Shift to New Media Combats Plagiarism" »
January 12, 2009
Internet Blamed for Idiocy of 'At the Movies' Host
The decline of the mainstream media—a very good thing—is the real story behind an interesting L. A. Times article about Ben Lyons, a film critic on the syndicated TV show At the Movies. Critics and movie buffs alike both have nothing but contempt for the 27-year-old Lyons, son of former host and newspaper film critic Jeffrey Lyons.
Jeffrey Lyons was never any great thinker, or even a good one, but Ben Lyons makes him look like Samuel Johnson by comparison. The younger Lyons strikes the viewer as an ignoramus and a jackass, and the producers of At the Movies clearly made a horrendous mistake in hiring him.
Apparently they hoped to get frat boys and other Sports Center fans to watch the show, which only further confirms major stupidity on the producers of At the Movies.
Continue reading "Internet Blamed for Idiocy of 'At the Movies' Host" »
December 10, 2008
Mainstream Print Media Continue Declines in Circulation, Ad Revenues
The decline and fall of the mainstream print media continues apace. S. T. Karnick notes that this is a good trend for the American culture.
Continue reading "Mainstream Print Media Continue Declines in Circulation, Ad Revenues" »
October 09, 2008
Revelations: Communitarianism, the NEA, Detective Fiction
Anti-communitarianism, the National Education Association, and what fictional detectives tell us about ourselves.
A regular feature of The American Culture, highlighting items that reveal trends in American society and culture, compiled by TAC correspondent Mike Gray.
Continue reading "Revelations: Communitarianism, the NEA, Detective Fiction" »
March 30, 2008
'Fitna' Link Shut Down, Replacements Proliferate
As you've seen if you clicked on the link in the story immediately below, the film Fitna was removed from the Livelink site because of threats of violence against the proprietors. We've embedded a new link that should work, as numerous sites are carrying the film, in the grand tradition of liberty that the Internet has already developed.
Those who dislike the film—whether they have seen it or otherwise—are trying to ensure that it gets lost on the internet, by posting other videos with "Fitna" as the title. Those who wish to make sure others can see the film should point them to this permalink: http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/03/post_120.html.
We will monitor the situation and continue updating the link as necessary. If it should prove necessary in future, we'll download the file and save it to our own site.
January 22, 2008
EU Presses Computer Privacy, Thwarts Google
The head of the European Union group preparing a report on data privacy said yesterday IP addresses should be regarded as personal information, at a European Parliament hearing on online data protection, AP reports.
Continue reading "EU Presses Computer Privacy, Thwarts Google" »
November 27, 2007
E! Puts Prayers in Scare Quotes
Here's a good indicator of how the mainstream media look at the religion the great majority of Americans hold. The headline writer for E! News felt constrained to put the word prayers in scare quotes in the headline of a story on actor Dennis Quaid:
Quaid Seeks "Prayers" for Ailing Babies
The article reported on a grave illness facing the newborn twin children of Quaid and his wife, and noted that the actor's representative had sent the following statement to E! News: "Dennis and Kimberly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and hope they can maintain their privacy at this difficult time."
Continue reading "E! Puts Prayers in Scare Quotes" »
November 08, 2007
Legalize Dope, "Price Is Right" Host Says
Following in the grand tradition of animal-rights activist Bob Barker, comedian and The Price Is Right game-show host Drew Carey has joined the public policy fray. Carey, however, has taken up the libertarian banner, producing and hosting a series of videos for the Reason Foundation.
Carey's first video for The Drew Carey Project—Gridlock, about traffic problems—didn't get much attention. But his second, Drew Carey Defends Medical Marijuana, is making up for it
Carey is quoted on the teaser page for the video as saying,
I think it’s clear by now that the federal government needs to reclassify marijuana. People who need it should be able to get it – safely and easily,” says The Price Is Right and Power of 10 host Drew Carey in a new Reason.tv video examining medical marijuana and the war on drugs.
Continue reading "Legalize Dope, "Price Is Right" Host Says" »
Advertisers Moving to Internet—and Fast
Big-name and -money advertisers have hitherto been reluctant to put much money into web advertising, but that trend is reversing fast, according to eMarketer, a leading advertisement tracker.
In 2006 the top 100 advertisers cut their spending on TV, radio, and print by $230 million and raised their online ad spending by $558 million—an increase of approximately 17 percent.
Continue reading "Advertisers Moving to Internet—and Fast" »
October 08, 2007
Amazon.com Holds Novel-Writing Contest
Amazon.com is holding a contest to find the best unpublished debut novel. The winner will be published by Penguin Books, and Publishers Weekly will assist in judging entries. As Publishers Weekly reports, it's a complicated and expensive-sounding process:
Continue reading "Amazon.com Holds Novel-Writing Contest" »
September 07, 2007
Net Neutrality Is a Very Bad Idea, Justice Dept. Says
So-called Net neutrality, a concept favored by statists, under which Internet providers would not be allowed to price their services according to how much various customers want them but would instead be subject to what amounts to price controls and business plan micromanagement by the national government, has been lambasted by the U.S. Justice Department, which has dominion over antitrust issues, in a comment to the Federal Communications Commission, which has jurisdiction over telecom regulation.
Continue reading "Net Neutrality Is a Very Bad Idea, Justice Dept. Says" »
July 11, 2007
"Hot Ghetto Mess" TV Program Under Fire
At least two companies have pulled their ads from the upcoming July 25 premiere of the Black Entertainment Television (BET) program Hot Ghetto Mess which is based on the popular website of the same name.
Expressing the same attitude as the website, the program will show viewer-submitted videos of stupid things people do, with an emphasis on the black community. It will also feature comedy, pictures, music, and man-on-the-street interviews to "shine a spotlight on prevalent images in pop culture and examine what role they play in American lifestyle," as the BET web page for the program puts it. It will feature, according to the BET site, "shaking booties, thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers."
In short, in showing the stupidity and ignorance of many Americans, Hot Ghetto Mess will do precisely what a good many shows directed at a broad audience do, but will be directed toward black Americans.
Continue reading ""Hot Ghetto Mess" TV Program Under Fire" »
April 18, 2007
AOL a TV Network?
AOL announced yesterday that it is introducing a slate of programs positioning it as a broadband television network.
That seems a very generous description of the venture, given the nature of the programming AOL is presenting. It consists largely of horrible-sounding "reality" shows and commercial tie-in projects.
Continue reading "AOL a TV Network?" »
September 20, 2006
Competition on the Web
As noted earlier on several occasions in this space, big media companies are doing their level best to extend their current broadcast, cable, and satellite hegemony to the internet. Rupert Murdoch talked about his firm's strategy yesterday. News Corp's approach goes against the grain of current trends, which is for media firms to develop connections with internet portals.
Murdoch said that News Corp, the parent company of the Fox brands, is going to use a moden in which web surfers are expected to go directly to the firm's various sites. AP reports:
Rupert Murdoch told an investor conference Tuesday that he didn't see a need to distribute programming or other media content from his News Corp. conglomerate through Internet portals.
Murdoch, asked why he hadn't made deal with large aggregators of online content like Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) or Microsoft Corp.'s MSN portal, said he didn't see that strategy as necessary for building Internet traffic.
"We're not sure the portal model is the way of the future at all," Murdoch told a conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs. "We think people are going straight to the sites."
Murdoch, whose acquisition of the hugely popular social networking site MySpace.com has inspired envy among other media moguls, cited the example of Yahoo's HotJobs employment site, but noted that Internet users might go to any number of other Web destinations that also carry job listings.
Given his history, I wouldn't bet against him.
September 19, 2006
Microsoft to Compete with YouTube
Microsoft is developing an online video-sharing service modeled after YouTube. The Seattle Times reports:
Hopping aboard one of the Internet's white-hot trends, Microsoft introduced a test version of an online video-sharing service Monday night, with hopes it will snatch users away from market leader YouTube and generate revenue through advertising.
Soapbox on MSN Video, released to a select group of test customers, is designed to allow anyone to upload and share original videos on the Web.
Microsoft hopes Soapbox will both enhance and benefit from its other Web services to gain an edge in the explosive user-generated video market.
"The key is going to be getting a lot of users," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "It's one of those services that becomes more useful as more people access it. The biggest challenge will be to get people to use [Soapbox] instead of YouTube or other services."
Microsoft has an existing audience of 465 million monthly users across its various Web properties and aims to integrate Soapbox with its blogging and instant-messaging services, among others.
To keep its ad-funded business growing, it needs not only to grow its audience but also expand each user's involvement with its services, said Rob Bennett, general manager of entertainment and video services for MSN.
This is part of the continuing trend of business giants and government to harmess the Internet, as noted earlier on this site, here, here, and elsewhere.
September 17, 2006
CBS Premieres New Show "Jericho" on Web Before Broadcast Debut
In another manifestation of the trend of major media outlets using the internet to promote their programs, CBS has authorized yahoo.com to show the entire premiere episode of the new TV series Jericho, on demand on the web, commercial-free, for several days before it appears on broadcast television.
The program premieres on Wednesday, September 20, and until then you can see it on the Web here. The page also includes clips and promotions for other CBS shows premiering this fall.
The network's decision to show an important program on the Web before its broadcast debut appears to me a rather significant event in the development of the internet as a broad-based medium.
And in entertainment and aesthetic terms, the premierie episode of Jericho is well worth watching.
September 07, 2006
A Magazine for the Modern Lady's Hectic Schedule
Here's a publication no one should be without: Four Weeks is a new monthly magazine that includes a variety of articles in four categories customized for the four weeks of a woman's menstrual cycle.
In week 1, the magazine informs us, ladies like things to be "Fun, Familiar," and in subsequent weeks "Exciting, Exotic," "Indulgent, Introspective," and "Cautious, Caring," respectively.
Also of great interest is the magazine's Hormone Horoscope, which deftly combines two things of utter inscutability into an easily understood guide to life.
Thanks, gals!
September 01, 2006
UK Cracks Down on Violent Pornography
The United Kingdom is cracking down on violent pornography, after a campaign led by the family of a 31-year-old teacher killed by a man obsessed with watching websites showing necrophilia.
The Home Office said on Wednesday that it will "make it an offence to own images featuring scenes of extreme sexual violence," according to Reuters:
The new law would outlaw any material that featured violence that was, or appeared to be, life-threatening or likely to result in serious and disabling injury.
This type of material was already illegal in the United Kingdom, but websites were ignoring the law and the government was doing nothing about it:
Although it is already illegal to distribute or publish such images under the Obscene Publications Act, the material has become increasingly available via the Internet.
"The vast majority of people find these forms of violent and extreme pornography deeply abhorrent," Coaker said.
"Such material has no place in our society but the advent of the Internet has meant that this material is more easily available and means existing controls are being by-passed -- we must move to tackle this."
Presumably, the government will now enforce the law fully and equally. We'll see.
August 23, 2006
Sony Grabs "Amateur Video" Site
As I noted just this past week on this site, the democratization of the media through technological change will probably be only a temporary phenomenon, as the 'Net will ultimately be harnessed by governments and corporations for their own benefit. Today Sony will announce its latest contribution to this process: its acquisition of Grouper, an amateur-video website along the lines of YouTube. The New York Times reports:
Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to announce on Wednesday that it has acquired Grouper, a Web site featuring videos contributed by users, for $65 million.
The deal marries one of the biggest and most powerful movie studios, which regularly spends more than $100 million on a film, with a Web site that provides free access to short and often inexpensively made videos on topics like pets, sports and music.
Michael Lynton, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, said the investment was a bet that material posted by users would continue to be a big draw online.
“My sense is that user-based content is a form of content that’s going to last,” Mr. Lynton said. “It’s a bet, no question, but it’s a bet worth making.”
Despite its emphasis on letting users share homemade videos, many of the most popular clips on Grouper are slick short productions, including music videos and commercials. . . .
Grouper will promote Sony’s content and seek to build communities of users around Sony movies and television shows, Mr. Felser said.
Of course it will. That's the whole point of the transaction.
August 22, 2006
People on a Plane—with Snakes
The box office performance of a "high concept" film such as Snakes on a Plane is typically based not on the cleverness of the concept but on whether there is actually a good movie in it. Die Hard and Speed, for example, had characters we could care about, and the films put them in situations where they had interesting choices to make. Those that don't have these things usually fall off at the box office even if they get a good opening weekend.
Interestingly, the least entertaining and involving parts of Snakes on a Plane are the two big action scenes in which the serpents attack the passengers on the plane. The snakes operate in a riidiculously implausible manner, even if we accept the filmmakers' premise that pheromones released on the plane would make the creatures more aggressive. These snakes are much more than "more aggressive"; they're positively malevolent and volitional. That's not at all believable—and it's not the slightest bit necessary, for the film is interesting enough without sci-fi snakes.
The first 40 minutes of the picture are devoted to scenes setting the stage for the big action sequences. The central conceit is that a young man who witnessed a murder by a powerful gangster in Hawaii consents to testify against the killer and is duly to be flown to Los Angeles to appear in court. That leads to the scheme to release hundreds of snakes on the plane and cause it to crash. OK, better plans have been devised in this world, but we'll let it go, shall we?
After all, what really makes a high-concept thriller successful is how the characters react to the situation, and especially the need for them to show courage, honor, and other good character traits. Snakes on a Plane has plenty of that, with some characters acting honorably, others meanly, and others developing better character through the course of the story. What is most pleasing is that the characters actually manage to surprise us just a little bit once in a while. The film has a solid performance by Samuel L. Jackson at its center, and it has the right amount of humor, meaning not too much. Snakes on a Plane also has enough action-film cliches to choke an anaconda, but the filmmakers' willingness to let us see human character in action makes it worth seeing.
August 21, 2006
"Snakes on a Plane" Falters; Genre Confusion to Blame?
The greatly anticipated comedy-thriller Snakes on a Plane drew in the most money in movie ticket sales nationally over the weekend, though actually not. Snakes would have come in second (to the Will Farrell comedy Talladega Nightsi) if not for the distributor's decision to include Thursday night figures in the total. New Line's head of distribution said it is common policy for studios to do that, and the head of distribution at Sony, which released Talladega Nights, declined to comment to AP. (See AP story here.)
Analysis: The $15.25 million that Snakes on a Plane brought in over its first weekend is a decent amount of money but must be considered a failure given the amount of advance interest that had allegedly been sparked in the film. The film's strong concept, which so greatly piqued many people's interest, may have worked against it as far as actually luring people into theaters: One could very well feel that one already had experienced all that was of value in the film just by hearing about the concept and seeing the trailers, commercials, and TV promo teasers.
I think that another problem with the film was even more serious: a conflict of genre expectations. Snakes has the concept of a Bruce Willis-style suspense thriller, which is a sure formula for success: Die Hard on a plane full of dangerous snakes. The promotion that grew up on the internet, however, saw the film's central idea as throughly comical (which it most certainly is)—and too much comedy undermines the ability to create suspense. Comedy is important to have in a thriler, but too much will make it impossible for audiences to take the concept with even the minimal seriousness required to enjoy modern-day thrillers with their outlandish premises.
I believe that this genre confusion is the main reason for Snakes' lackluster victory at the box office.
The film will certainly do all right overall and will turn a profit, but it most likely will not turn out to be the kind of phenomenon people expected.
I'll write about the film itself in a day or two.
August 19, 2006
Fox TV Stations to Stream Net's Programs
Fox Entertainment has announced that its 22 owned-and-operated TV stations will air popular primetime programs as ad-supported, on-demand streams on the web on the day they air on television, Variety reports.
Nine stations began doing so yesterday, with the rest of them to follow as the technology is adopted there, according to Variety:
The new initiative, dubbed "Fox on Demand," puts the network's own spin on the video streaming trend by allowing local stations to stream network shows the day after they air on television.
The first stations to participate are some of the biggest Fox affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, Washington, DC, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Birmingham and Greensboro.
Fox digital media president Peter Levinsohn called the initiative the "next logical step" following a digital media deal signed with its local affilates earlier this year.
"We look forward to extending 'Fox on Demand' offering to our entire affiliate body," he said.
The free, ad-supported shows are sponsored by Toyota as part of a campaign for the youth-oriented Yaris subcompact.
Initially the service will offer select episodes of "Prison Break" and "Bones" including episodes from last season and new episodes the day after they appear on TV.
The service will also include older series from 20th Century Fox, "American Dad," "The Loop," and "Stacked."
To see the programs, viewers will have to download a proprietary video player. The effort is part of an overall digital upgrade of Fox-owned TV stations and an attempt to find ways to target advertising more effectively:
Fox execs said the decision to offer shows locally allows the advertising to better target local markets. It also gives stations a greater incentive to promote the network's shows outside of primetime.
August 17, 2006
The (Temporary) Democratization of the Media, Through Technological Change
It's all too common for writers and analysts to characterize the internet as reponsible for pretty much everything that happens today, but it is true that new information technology is making significant changes in how we gain access to culture. Video-sharing services such as YouTube, for example, definitely constitute an important new channel for information and entertainment programming, and one that younger persons find particularly appealing.
Lots of people are visiting YouTube, as AP notes:
Officially launched last December, this video-sharing service already plays more than 100 million clips per day with more than 65,000 video uploads added to its mammoth inventory. And those rates are skyrocketing.
The significance, of course, is that as the cost of making motion pictures is now a minuscule fraction of what it was during the previous century (and is approaching zero), and the cost of distributing them is now essentially zero, everybody can get into the act. As the AP story puts it:
Where does it end? "As more people capture special moments on video," its Web site declares, "YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow."
YouTube (slogan: "Broadcast Yourself") isn't the Internet's only video-sharing service. But it's the reigning brand, the talked-about phenomenon, and a mighty good example of the multiple roles now greeting yesterday's couch potato. These are get-up-and-do-something roles as artist, journalist, pundit, self-promoter, exhibitionist, prankster, weirdo and wag.
Now you, too, can be a TV producer and a TV programmer. Scheduling? That's in your hands on the receiving end, since clips are on demand, arranged in categories or searchable by various "tags." And you can be a distributor: E-mail any clip to your friends.
Ratings? Instant. Every clip appears with a running count of viewings, as well as how many viewers deemed it "a favorite." Not that anything is canceled for not being a hit. Unlike a network constricted by its two or three hours of prime time per night, the capacity of YouTube would appear to be boundless. No need here for one thing to be dropped to make room for another.
YouTube and other such sites constitute a quintessentially Omniculture phenomenon. In the Omniculture, everything happens, and now everything appears on video. AP notes:
So what can you see? Make no mistake, a 10-second video aptly titled "Bunny the Dog Rubs Her Butt Against the Ground" isn't the stupidest, skeeziest or even briefest clip available. Nor is "Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot" the most whimsical. Or two pairs of fingers dancing to the tune of "Get Down Tonight" the most charming.
You find video testimony, as well. Katrina-themed clips from hurricane victims. Lebanese and Israelis supplying their images of war.
Meanwhile, broadcast images are being plucked off the air and granted an on-demand afterlife. The impromptu back rub that President Bush gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G-8 Summit last month? It's right here, for screening anytime. So is co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck having a hissy fit on ABC's "The View." A search of "David Letterman" turns up more than 1,000 clips.
YouTube and other such sites are even influencing TV programmers' decisions. As I noted earlier on this site,
Forthcoming TV programs are increasingly appearing on peer-to-peer networks, evidently without the owners' permission. Pretty much everything ends up on these file-sharing networks, so it's no great surprise that yet-to-be-aired TV programs are turning up, but the downloads, and the underground publicity surrounding the programs, are actually affecting TV networks' programming decisions, the Wall Street Journal reports:
. . . In June, a TV pilot called "Nobody's Watching," which the WB network had passed on, was leaked to the video-sharing site YouTube. It generated enough of an audience online that NBC decided to pick up the show for development.
Half a million people watched the program on YouTube, which naturally caught the NBC programmers' attention. This will surely become more common as the media recognize the value of free sites as testing grounds. As the AP story notes:
At about the same time, NBC and YouTube forged a strategic partnership that, among other things, lets NBC hype its fall shows on YouTube. What more proof do you need of new media's appeal than when the mainstream media jumps on board?
NBC is learning one of the new rules YouTube has showcased with its free-for-all policy: Exposure, not payment, is what counts. Spreading it around is key.
And NBC, along with the rest of mainstream media, will have to abide by a new cultural reality as set forth by Chris Anderson in his current best-seller, "The Long Tail": "A once-monolithic industry structure where professionals produced and amateurs consumed is now a two-way marketplace, where anyone can be in any camp at any time."
This truly is a time of greater democratization of the communications media, comparable to the period in Europe immediately after the invention of the printing press. Nonetheless, the reality is that such new technologies are harnessed for political and social control as soon as possible. As with the invention of the printing press, the outcome will include both enjoyment and turbulence, and the world will change greatly.
If history is any guide, the democratization and liberty of the 'Net will ultimately be harnessed by governments and corporations for their own benefit, but as with the printing press, there will be effects that they can neither control nor predict. And that is all to the good.
August 16, 2006
More Broadcast TV Moves Online: CBS Enters Market
CBS TV will begin offering free, streaming, next-day video of primetime shows online this fall, the LA Times reports.
According to the Times story, CBS will have the most online primetime programming of any broadcast network, offering seven programs, nearly a third of the net's primetime schedule.
CBS is making several of the network's most popular shows available, plus one new one, the Times reports:
The company will make available "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami," "CSI: New York," "NCIS," "Numb3rs," "Survivor" and its new drama "Jericho," about life in a small Kansas town after a nuclear blast. Episodes will be available online for four weeks after the initial network broadcast, except for "Survivor" and "Jericho," which will be available the entire season.
The programming will be ad-supported, according to the Times story:
"There will be the possibility of targeting ads," said Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media.
He said the ad mix could be changed to reach specific demographic groups. "We may even be giving viewers the option of what advertising they want to see," Kramer said.
An interesting feature will help people to cheat their employers:
CBS' broadband channel, Innertube, will have a "boss button" so people goofing off at work can tap a key to have the audio drop and their computer screen flip to an image of a spreadsheet if their supervisor is nearby.
The boss button recognizes that "prime time" for broadband entertainment is during the traditional workday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. rather than from 8 to 11 p.m., when TV viewership is at its peak.
Now that's what I call technological advance. . . .
August 15, 2006
Film Critics Under Fire
An article in today's Los Angeles Times observes that the reputation of the American film critic appears to be at an all-time low:
The new trailer for Paramount's upcoming numskull comedy "Jackass: Number Two" is full of quotes from reviews of the first movie. There's just one tiny twist: The studio uses the vitriolic reviews attacking the first film ("A disgusting, repulsive, grotesque spectacle" says an aghast Richard Roeper) to promote the new picture.
With a sly, leering note of triumph, the narrator intones: "Unfortunately for them, we just made 'Number Two.' "All in all, it's been a rotten tomato of a summer for America's embattled film critics. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" broke box-office records left and right, despite a yowling chorus of negative reviews. M. Night Shyamalan cast Bob Balaban as a persnickety film critic in "Lady in the Water," then gleefully killed him off, allowing a snarling jackal-like creature to do the dirty deed. . . .
It's no secret that critics have lost influence in recent years. A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that among 18- to 24-year-olds, only 3% said reviews were the most important factor in their movie-going decision making. Older audiences still look to critics for guidance, especially with the smaller, more ambitious studio specialty films. But during the summer months, with studios wooing audiences with $40 million worth of marketing propaganda, critics appear especially overwhelmed, if not irrelevant.
The article goes on to suggest a number of reasons for this disdain for film critics, ultimately opting for the one thing that explains everything these days, the Internet:
The media have been full of stories questioning the relevance of print critics in an Internet era that has ushered in a new democratization of opinion. The prospect of babbling blogmeisters being the new kingpins of cinema has left many critics in a sour mood. Reviewing a collection of critical essays by the long-time Village Voice jazz critic Gary Giddins, Time film critic Richard Schickel contrasted Giddins' work with "history-free and sensibility-deprived" bloggers who regularly "blurb the latest Hollywood effulgence." . . .
According to New Line marketing chief Russell Schwartz, "younger moviegoers want the immediacy of text messages or voice mail. A review from one of their peers is more important than a printed review from a third party they don't know, which is how they would describe a critic."
When in doubt, blame technology. Certainly the changes in information delivery have altered the way we approach things, and even how we see them. In particular, the breakdown of media hierarchies—the declining influence of the top-circulation newspapers and three TV networks—has flattened the playing field and made it possible for a pajama-clad blogger to reach as many people as a large media organization, or more. That observation has already become a boring truism. However, the phenomenon surely has had an effect of "democratization," but it is interesting and important to note how the process works: it simply reduces a sense of authority and forces writers to earn their readers' attention with everything they write:
What we're seeing is not so much the death of criticism as the death of the culture of criticism, the culture in which a critic such as Pauline Kael — despite writing for a small circulation magazine like the New Yorker — could have a huge trickledown influence, not just with the chattering class, but with filmmakers and executives who hung on her every word, either in agony or ecstasy, depending on the verdict.
What today's film critics have to deal with that Pauline Kael didn't have to worry about is truly serious competition. Kael could pontificate her nonsense from her safe haven at the New Yorker, and her obedient claque of followers at newspapers and magazines around the country would duly parrot her views, and nobody could gainsay them because, as has been wisely said, freedom of the press is for those who own one.
Kael won her following through networking and bluster and because her worldview fit the tenor of the times perfectly. Her militant leftism, atheism, intellectual elitism, advocacy of hedonism, obsession with novelty and hatred of tradition and formulas, belief in the primacy of emotion over reason in the arts, and the rest of her odious, fatuous opinions were cultural Red Bull for postwar American pseudointellectuals. I'll write more about Kael some other time, but for now the important thing to bear in mind is that Kael was influential regardless of whether her reviews made any sense. (They didn't.) Kael's goal was nothing less than to contribute to social change by undermining what she saw as outmoded, irrational, bourgeois values.
The influence of Pauline Kael has been huge, and the smugness and elitism she brought to the world of film criticism have only begun to be eroded, largely by critics from the political right. Naturally, Kael's influential followers and their descendants are livid about it, as exemplified by the furious salvoes against Debbie Schlussel fired off earlier this year by Roger Ebert's web editor on Ebert's website.
The absurdity of Ebert's assistant characterizing Schlussel and Ann Coulter as "pundits" is absolutely astounding. Ebert has made millions of dollars as a TV film pundit, giving his opinions on why he likes or dislikes this film or that, but let an attractive, right-wing female venture into the sacred territory of film criticism and we find that having thoughts about what movies actually mean is a contemptible thing.
That is the real problem with film critics today: Their complacency and lack of contact with either their audiences or their ostensible subject matter. When critics attacked Dead Man's Chest (which I thought was a terrific film), they didn't just disagree with the audiences. They were wrong. There is plenty of meaning in Dead Man's Chest, and the fact that the criticisms focused on superficial matters (such as the amount of money it cost to make or whether the film brought anything "new" to the series) shows a positively grotesque and unacceptable ignorance of the basic principles of the aesthetics of narrative art. Audiences clearly understood that Dead Man's Chest was well worth watching, even if most people could not have articulated the film's themes or deeper meanings. But they understood intuitively that the film was meaningful, for without meaning there is no comedy nor adventure.
A reasonably intelligent critic will recognize that narratives are all about testing and revealing the character of imagined human beings, and the sensible critic will approach a film or novel from that perspective, seeking out what it tells us about ourselves and how the aesthetics of the form are being used to achieve these things. In so speaking to us, films, dramas, books, and other narrative art cause us to identify with their characters, sympathize with them, puzzle out their motives, and critique their actions. Most major film critics today, however, still follow the Kael formula, seeking to foster social change by pushing their readers to films that will "challenge" them, meaning movies that will undermine the principles of the bourgeoisie. That is why critics push filmgoers away from movies like Dead Man's Chest and toward Brokeback Mountain. It's all about changing the world by changing people's minds.
Although often doing so in the guise of being neutral but highly informed consumer guides, film critics of today typically use their positions as platforms for criticizing the values and ideas their audiences hold dear.
That is why the public can't stand them.
August 14, 2006
Theft or Canny Marketing Ploy: You Decide
Forthcoming TV programs are increasingly appearing on peer-to-peer networks, evidently without the owners' permission. Pretty much everything ends up on these file-sharing networks, so it's no great surprise that yet-to-be-aired TV programs are turning up, but the downloads, and the underground publicity surrounding the programs, are actually affecting TV networks' programming decisions, the Wall Street Journal reports:
A new television show called "Jericho" has a small but dedicated group of fans, who've been buzzing about the show online. The reaction has been surprising -- considering that CBS won't air "Jericho" until late September. Viewers are responding to a leaked video of the pilot that's been flying around the Internet.
Networks have increasingly been experimenting with giving viewers early looks at coming shows on their official Web sites, as well as on iTunes and through DVD rentals. But recently at least 10 unaired pilots have been leaked -- apparently without the networks' permission -- to so-called peer-to-peer networks that allow users to download files stored on each others' computers. In many cases, the pilots appear to have been "ripped" from official DVDs made for reviewers and company executives.
It's unclear whether the leaks resulted from security breaches or quiet efforts to promote the shows. In either case, Internet leaks can sometimes pay off for TV shows. In June, a TV pilot called "Nobody's Watching," which the WB network had passed on, was leaked to the video-sharing site YouTube. It generated enough of an audience online that NBC decided to pick up the show for development.
At least four of CBS's fall pilots have been circulated on the Web, a development that CBS spokesman Chris Ender calls "both flattering and frightening." He adds: "We're pleased that there's an early demand for our shows but the marketing benefits can't excuse what is illegal theft of our programming."
Translation: Oh, please don't throw us into the briar patch!
July 27, 2006
Another File-Sharing Network Bites the Dust
Sharman Networks Ltd, the makers and distributors of the hugely popular file-sharing network Kazaa, have settled a lawsuit brought by the music and movie industries, agreeing to pay $115 million.
Most of the money will go to the music industry, and a smaller portion to the movie companies, according to the AP story. Kazaa will become a pay-to-download service along the lines of ITunes.