Today's Mighty Oak

Newspapers are dying, and have been for 28 years

Metblogs Global Conspiracy May 7, 2009

Tech Crunch is reporting on a video from 1981, discussing daily newspapers foray onto the Internet as a distribution method.

It’s a common misconception that newspapers are simply late to the Internet game. As this video shows, some of them (including some of the major ones now failing) have been thinking about this stuff for 28 years.

Over and over again we repeat that newspapers are dying, and that citizen journalists are stepping up to fill in the void of local news.  The article talks about the new Kindle coming out and the deal they have with daily newspapers The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (and rumored deals with The Boston Globe and The Washington Post).  Is the Kindle the electronic medium that will save the newspapers?

This week on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s podcast, “Tech Talk,” they discuss that idea.  And while they don’t think the Kindle will be the savior to the newspaper industry, the feeling is that it could hold them over until they get a grasp on a business model that will be profitable.

But in the meantime, we have citizen journalists.  And while newspapers have large staffs and are able to cover all the news, the beauty of citizen journalism is that each person may cover one or two specific topics, but in those topics, find the passion that they need to dig deep, sometimes deeper than professional journalists have the luxury to.  Citizen journalists may not have distribution deals with the Kindle, but with the growing popularity of netbooks and Internet-enabled phones, and entire cities now being blanketed with wireless Internet, there certainly is room for both to work with one another, complimenting each other’s strengths and filling in each other’s weaknesses.

Make sure to head over to Tech Crunch to read the article and watch the video, and count your blessings we now have 21st century technology.

Update: Maybe I’m jumping into this story at just the right moment, but two more stories on this subject grabbed my attention this morning.  First, yesterday’s “Culture Gabfest” from Slate and secondly the Financial Times reports on the story as well.  Also a correction above adding The Washington Post.

(h/t to PR Junkie)

First Amendement Rights, right?

Metblogs Global Conspiracy May 1, 2009

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Welcome to a can of worms.  And to be quite honest, there will be many, many posts that come back to the words above.  But for now, I’d like to draw your attention to a story coming out of Phoenix.

Jeff Pataky’s website, Bad Phoenix Cops, undoubtedly caught the attention of the local authorities.  Any organization or company with an ear to the Internet and social media would have been aware of a similar site directed towards them.

But what happened next is what sets this story apart.

Pataky’s house was raided and his girlfriend was handcuffed for three hours (he was out of town).  Files and computers were seized under warrant.

Terry Heaton says it best:

But here’s what really bothers me. In justifying the raid, Phoenix Assistant Chief Andy Anderson called Pataky’s site “an unaccredited grassroots Web site.”

As opposed to an accredited grassroots web site?  The Internet is (at least, we take it for granted to be) such a free medium, or minimally, with an understanding that in the U.S. it is fairly free, it allows citizen journalism to blossom.  But that growth is only allowed to continue with the understanding that it is a medium to express thoughts, to investigate and to connect, as long as none of the above damage or harm another person.

So what does this case mean?  Is it setting a president that without an accredited press badge, citizen journalists don’t necessarily have their first amendment rights?  Will we see a rise in amateur press badges (photoshop can be a wonderful thing)?  Do we even need press badges?

And I do have to do some more research into this case, but what does it say about the professional press as well?  Are they coming to Pataky’s aid?  Or in the death throws of the newspaper industry (to be just a bit overly dramatic), can this be seen as a victory for the traditional press?

Citizen Journalism, a silver lining?

Metblogs Global Conspiracy April 29, 2009

One of my very good friends, Teri, takes a look at a recent article by The Big Money and ties in Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody” with the idea that everyone is a media outlet.

Teri writes,

I think this shift from specifically-defined goals [in the publishing industry] to allowing ourselves some breathing room is not only acceptable, but welcomed.

Is citizen journalism the silver lining to the newspaper industry’s slow demise?  I would agrue yes.  Maybe not the only silver lining, but certainly a welcomed addition to the various mediums we already have at our disposal.  I do think it has been a natural progression, the ability for people to quickly share their thoughts, report on what they’re seeing and doing, would have come about even without this downturn in the newspaper business.  Maybe the loss of newsprint just helped it along a little bit.

This Week in the Northeast: April 27, 2009

Metblogs Global Conspiracy April 28, 2009

This Week in the Northeast takes a look at what’s going on in the Metblogs network in the northeast U.S. and Canada (while possibly taking some liberties with geography).

Frank takes a look at a hidden treasure of Montreal, the Redpath Museum:

When I reached the second floor, I was completely blown away.  It was like finding a hidden treasure.  A full natural history museum complete with a dinosaur skeleton.

Dhaval checks out a production of Exit the King in New York City:

Susan Sarandon’s fan club must have been in the audience because despite a lousy and monotonous delivery, she received the greatest praise. . . which leads me to believe that the matinee going public in NYC is hungrier for the stars than the actual content of what they go see.

And in Washington, D.C., Patrick discusses the many diseases currently floating about: measles and the swine flu:

Last week measles has been spreading around the area and the city has been working hard to keep it under control. So far it appears the best we could do is to direct it towards another state. I’m not a big fan of Missouri anyways.

“I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met.”

Yesterday's nut April 26, 2009

Quick update for everyone.  I’m working on finishing up my script for Script Frenzy.  Right now I have 13 pages left to go.  I’m hoping to finish it off today, we’ll see how that goes.

Last weekend was very exciting, here’s what happened: Thursday night I went to see RENT, which was amazing.  On the way out I also saw two drag queens, which I thought was very appropriate.  The next day I headed to a wedding out in Latrobe.  I google mapped the church, and got one in Ligonier.  I asked my friend who I was carpooling with to do the same, just to double check it, and we got the same place.  So, with fondue set in hand we headed out the door.  We get to the church and see very few cars, and instead a sign for a pork dinner.  Figuring we made a mistake we get back in the car and head to Rt. 982, which as it turns out, was where the church was.  We missed the procession, but that was it.

The reception was very nice, and we found a couple other people who did the same thing we did.  I crashed on her floor in Greensburg and then work up to go to Camp Anawanna in Amity (Washington County).  My GPS apparantly thought that I should take a bunch of one-lane, dirt roads through the back of Amity.  On the first day of trout season.  So that was an adventure!  Afterwards I met a friend at Washington Crown Center for lunch at Garfields.

All in all, an exciting weekend!  This weekend I was up at Heritage painting stuff to get ready for Conclave and summer camp.  It was a lot of fun, I’ll be going up a couple more times to help out.

Two pieces of media, the first, it looks like Trident is trying to get in on the Improv Everywhere scene with this rendeition of “Single Ladies” in England:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5zphusLw

And it’s kind of done by this point, but Funny or Die put together a reaction to the Gathering Storm ad, and it not only includes Sarah Chalk (Scrubs), but also George Tikay!  I also have no idea if I spelled either of their names correctly, probably not.

You were right in front of me-a mask of silence

Yesterday's nut April 19, 2009

Media heavy update for everyone.  So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the movies, with commentary from me of course!

First up, I promised it, and here it is, a number from Silence, the Silence of the Lambs musical.  Obviously, it contains strong language and is just not safe for work (NSFW):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPnQ77a1UVk

And in an almost complete 180, here is the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (movie/book six):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BDVbxop-eo

Now for things a bit more serious.  I have fun stories about this weekends festivities, and that recap will be coming soon.  For now, though, I’ll add some comments about the start to my weekend: Thursday night.  We went to see RENT, which was amazing!  I am so glad I got to see it while it was in town.  We hit up Tambalinni’s beforehand for dinner, which was very nice.

Leaving the theater, in the crowds of way too many people, i was passed by two drag queens.  Which I thought was very appropriate.  Which kind of brings me to my serious point (and more chances to put more videos in this post, I might be going for a record).

The county has been exploding (in a good way) over gay marriage the last couple weeks.  I’ve said it before, gay marriage is our generation’s segregation.  Not that I am trying to compare the two (well, I guess I kind of am), but in their own way, each is a civil right’s issue that I think defines an entire generation. Not that I think it’s an issue that needs to be forced down everyone’s throat either, especially religious organizations. They are free to make their own choices and set their own rules (hence the separation of church and state), but there are those that would (and do) go for marriage equality. And besides (another disjointed thought), many people say that a civil union is the same as a marriage. And while the government can grant civil unions, and I think they should, if they are so equal, why don’t those opponents trade their marriage for a civil union. Didn’t think so.

So what I find amusing, is now that Vermont, Iowa, Washington, D.C. and Seattle have made progress, the crazies start coming out.  Case in point, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM, which always makes me think of the lol cats and anytime they eat something going, “nom nom nom.”).  You’ve probably seen their storm ad that is floating around.  I’d like to bring your attention to some parodies instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mQVT2SC3M0

Not bad, kind of dry in the delivery, but a fun spoof nonetheless.  Even better however, is this one from the Colbert Report.  Ok, I think I got it to embed. But no promises.  Follow this link just in case, it’s worth it!

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition’s Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

In the original, NOM talked about their 2M4M campaign (Rachel Maddow has a great clip looking at that phrase, as well as teabagging). And what really cracks me up, is that they started that campaign, without securing the domains!  So now, 2M4M.org is a site supporting equal marriage rights (also running on Joomla by the way!).  I like the justice of that.  Here is their funny little sketch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CkFGe3JJDc

I think it’s this video, but I could be wrong, that brings up one of my favorite arguments about gay marriage.  Opponents will often say that gay marriage will make straight marriage less meaningful.  Very sarcastically, I like to agree.  That yes, allowing gay marriage will totally make Brittney Spears’ 55-hour Vegas marriage less meaningful.  Sigh. So I keep coming back into this post to add things (and clean up and fix the code), and I just want to interject one more thing in here, because now I’m all riled up. I think the travesty is the fact that a straight couple can walk into a courthouse, flat out say they don’t love each other and are just getting married for monetary purposes, but my gay friends can’t get a marriage license when they finally find the person they want to settle down with. Again, sigh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dKMhYSX20

Ok, I’ve been up on my soapbox for too long.  And have posted way too many videos (I lied, there’s one more coming up).  Of course I’m biased, so this post obviously leans one way.  I do think it’s an important issue, and it’s exciting to see the tide turning.  In addition to the states and cities listed above, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that other countries around the world support marriage equality, including South Africa, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain (I think I got that list right).

So anyway, this was my little bit of activism.  It’s not very often that I do and public protests of any kind still scare the crap out of me.  Quick aside, when asked if I was going to go to the March for Life in D.C., I replied no.  Which was responded to the fact that they get counts ahead of time so that the city knows how many people to expect.  Which in my mind is so they can have enough tear-gas on hand.  That’s just how my mind works, and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon, so I’ll stick to this blog for now.

And a bit lighter fare, today’s title comes from a song from the Daredevil soundtrack by The Calling (a favorite band of mine) called For You.  I’ve really liked this song for a while, I think a big part of it is the full orchestration.  Anyway, check out the video below if you want to listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDoIsOcuzY

That’s it for now, thanks for reading.  Catch everyone later!

Good Friday, 2008

Yesterday's nut April 10, 2009

Ok, quick post for everyone.  More is coming, including a Lego rendition of one of the numbers from the Silence of the Lambs musical.  I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.  Hurts a little, doesn’t it?

 I headed to Maundy Thursday service, which is my favorite day of the liturgical calendar, and it was very nice, and ended with a chilling chanting of Psalm 22 during the stripping of the altar.  I got home and found out that another classmate from high school died.  I had a couple classes with him, and he was always very kind to me, but not someone I really hung out with.  Sad nonetheless, we’ll see what comes of this.

And, as promised, here is my typical Good Friday picture:

How’s THAT for sarcasm? What, too much?

Yesterday's nut April 4, 2009

Quick update as I sit here in Panera Bread. First off, they actually got my order correct! This might be the first time it has happened here at Miracle Mile. I would have liked something besides the chips, but that’s ok.

I’m here working on my script for Script Frenzy. For our book club, we decided to do a writing a la carte month, and three of us are doing Script Frenzy. I really don’t like writing scripts, but it’s all in good fun, and I promised Jim that I would do an insane writing task with him. I haven’t been able to find any kind of progress meter like there is for NaNoWriMo, but I have this cool icon:

 

 

So for April, I’ll be writing a 100-page script. I’m going to be writing the script for a web series, taking a look at the ten commandments, and what the world be like if there were 11, and everyone actually followed the eleventh.

I just got my transponder for EZ Pass, so I’m very excited to try that out, I just need to find out if it will work on Rt. 66.

Other than that, it’s been a very productive weekend so far, and it’s not even halfway done! I’ll be meeting up with friends later this week, which will be nice, and more work on my script. I’m hoping to have 25 pages done by the end of the Sunday (right now I’m on 14), so we’ll see how that goes.

The only other thing really going on is over at Metblogs, I’ve been posting a lot lately, so make sure to check it out, you can see my posts over in the widget on the left.

One more thing, I’ve been following the craziness over at Slog, and they’ve picked up the story about the crazy 9.12 project.  Well, Stephen Colbert has his own project, which I fully support, the 10.31 project!  Not much there yet, but we’ll see what comes from it. 

That’s it for now, have a great one everybody!

Airplane crashes: the silent killer

Yesterday's nut March 29, 2009

Alright, update for everyone.  First off, here is the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NOkQ4dYVaM

Looks pretty cool, although it’s been so long since I’ve read the book that I don’t remember the plot at all.

I headed to the Pens game when they played the Kings.  We won, which was awesome, although the seat wasn’t the greatest, mostly due to the pillar in front of me.  It really wasn’t that bad though, I could see all the ice except for a little strip so I couldn’t complain.  I got to wear my Monroeville Zombies jersey, which a bunch of people recognized (I loved watching the double takes and then instant of realization).

On Friday, a bunch of us from work headed to Hofbräuhaus on the south side.  The beer was amazing (I suggust Dunkel), which they make on site.  The food was also really, really good, although I think some of it was a bit over priced.  The place was absolutly packed, which typically would turn me off, but this was just a lot of fun.  Every fifteen minutes or so, the band would lead us in a toast, and the entire place would erupt in singing, making it a half bar/half concert feel.  I do suggest checking it out, go sometime for dinner, although the wait is pretty long since it is so new.

My winning NaNoWriMo book from 2007 was just self-published (it took a while to get the free publishing worked out), and I got my copy in.  Here is the cover art that I made for it:

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I am going to be doing their sister project, Script Frenzy.  A friend of mine is doing it and I offered to write with him during April, so I’ll be writing 100 pages during the month, this time of a Web Series.  I wanted to do something different, and I figured that this would be a good way to do it.

Yesterday, a friend of mine came in from Chicago and I headed up to Cranberry to spend the day with him.  His brother brought his PS3 and I got to play Little Big Planet, which was really, really awesome!  If you have a PS3, I highly suggest you check it out.

That’s it for now, have a great one!

a horse can never be so dead that TRIGO won’t beat it just a little more

Yesterday's nut March 27, 2009

Quick update, more to come soon, including some great links and some cool media.

I did my federal taxes last weekend and am just about done with my state taxes as well.  Still have to sit down and do my local ones, but it does feel nice to at least be two thirds done.  And of course, it’s always fun that the entire country gets math homework!

Starting April 1 (when we’re having an easter egg hunt and pacake breakfast at work!) I’m doing Script Frenzy.  Our book club is doing an “a la carte writing month” instead of reading a book, and I offered to do Script Frenzy with a friend.  I think I’m going to be writing a web series, to do something different, although I have a lot to flesh out this weekend to be ready for the official start.

My neighbor from college is coming back into town this weekend from Chicago, so I’m going up to see him and hang out for a while, and tonight, a group of us from work are heading to hofbrauhaus over on the South Side.  I’m very excited, hopefully it isn’t too terribly crowded.

Otherwise, things are good, very busy, but good.  More to come soon!

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