Everything this guy does breaks me up.
And Hodgman is everywhere right now.
He is the Bill-Gates-like PC in the hilarious Apple computer Get-a-Mac ads.
His bits on the Daily Show are classic. Here’s one where Hodgman explains Net Neutrality. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Smugly, I was not one of the millions who watched viral videos on YouTube from Lonelygirl15.
Even Om Malik thought she was for real.
Turns out Lonelygirl was a 19-year-old actress in a carefully scripted new kind of internet “TV show”.
There must be dozens of similar videos in production right now. Don’t believe what you see on the internet.
I tuned in last night for the season finale of Rock Star: Supernova.
There’s something I like about that show. Dave Navarro is great, and I am intrigued with the twist that all these hard-core, heavy weight rock stars are so … nice.
No surprises. Edgy Lukas Rossi won the contest. He will front Supernova on the coming 2007 tour.
The token female in the final who’s name is already forgotten was the most talented as usual — but could she really lead that band? Hard rock is mostly a boys club.
I like The Amazing Race, of course. Travel adventure.
So You Think You Can Dance is a great concept and a showcase of talent I would otherwise not see.
But the future is in the direction of shows that feel less formulaic and scripted. For example:
These lowest budget productions remind me of the best of the video blogs of MoBuzzTV and Rocketboom.
Gourmet chef Dave Adlard tipped me on to The The Thirsty Traveler series on TV hosted by Kevin Brauch.
I had never heard of it.
But I got my hands on the “cookbook” — if you can call tinkering in the kitchen with vodka, tequila, single malt scotch and other fine alcohol, “cooking”.
It’s excellent.
MoBuzz is now my favourite video blog. Check this episode discussing the use of the internet to “shame” those with whom you disagree:
Net-Shaming from Craigslist to Creeps
7 minutes long, high speed connection needed. Far better is to subscribe via iTunes.
Karina Stenquist is the latest of my bevy of internet tech divas. I download her daily.
She’s the English language host of a video podcast out of Spain.
Sassy, irreverent — Stenquist is compelling. Check MobuzzTV.com or search for MobuzzTV on iTunes.
Democracy Player for Internet TV – best release yet! – Cory Doctorow
Normally I watch on-line video with iTunes. But, in reality, iTunes is an audio player with video capability reluctantly tacked on as an afterthought. (That may change this week.)
After one use of the new open source, free Democracy Player, I think I will switch when possible. (Far, far more shows are available on iTunes.)
“Want to see the future of Net video? Download the open source Democracy Player” – Wired Magazine, May 2006
If you want to give it a shot, you need to download their software. It is very easy to use. No learning curve.
Democracy – Internet TV Platform – Free and Open Source
screenshot sample
It’s funny because it’s true.
Videos by vMix Member:Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
New season of Family Guy starts tonight!
I love this TV commercial. Makes me want to buy a Nano.
Click PLAY or watch the video clip on YouTube.
music – Rock Group Rinôçérôse, “Schizophonia” (track : Cubicle).
I have long appreciated Adbusters.
Adbusters offers … activist commentary from around the world addressing issues ranging from genetically modified foods to media concentration. In addition, our annual social marketing campaigns like Buy Nothing Day and TV Turnoff Week have made us an important activist networking group.
Ultimately, though, Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment. We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons.
Big issues. Surprisingly, Adbusters has a sense of humour.
I want to make clear that adbusters is not really about “busting ads”. They have their own website visuals that almost look like ads:
Adbusters are about educating folks about useless consumption. Stupid consumption. Manipulating children to empty consumption.
As for me, I actually want better advertising. For example, I really want to know when new Lonely Planet travel guidebooks are published. But in 2006 neither the Lonely Planet website nor Amazon offer this functionality. I wish they would email me a daily advertisement on new travel guides.
Instead I get a daily dose of an ad for Clean and Clear zit cream with my MTV video podcast. A waste of their time and mine.
Is money the answer?
What would happen if you gave homeless man $100,000?
That’s the question posed by a Showtime documentary called Reversal of Fortune. Ted Rodrigue lives under a bridge in Pasadena and agrees to participate in a documentary about the homeless, though he doesn’t know he’s goint to get any money.
He finds it unexpectedly in a dumpster half way through the film.
Reversal of Fortune (2005 film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I quite liked Ted Rodrigue before he got the money. He had adapted to decades of living on the street and had a “life” of sorts.
As you probably guessed, money was not the answer for Ted. You could say it ruined his life.
Rick McCharles 