The Daily Loper – October 24, 2006

What? What Did You Say? Edition

Today’s links of interest:

• eBay: Arrested Development – Gob’S Screen Used Segway W/Coa
  It’s hard to accept that this show is never coming back.
• The CW rocks to "Songs" – Scripted skein to focus on all-girl rock group
  See? If y’all don’t start watching "Veronica Mars," this is exactly the show that is going to replace it.
• Hazards: A Study Gauges the Risks for Ears With iPods
  Number 1,111,999 in studies on how loud music causes hearing loss.
• Songs for sale – line by line
  In which songwriters actually try to make a profit.
• A TV Comedy Turns an Unconventional Weapon on Iraq?s High and Mighty: Fake News
  If ever a country needed some fake news, it's Iraq.
• It’s time for the good movie glut
  Apparently the Academy can’t be trusted to remember good movies during the year, so consumers are faced with all the good stuff during the holiday season…you know, when you’re shopping and cooking and dealing with the in-laws.
• NBC quits at 8 ? a dark hour for TV?
  As the veneer peels…
• TV themes’ swan song?
  We are truly nostalgic for everything.
• 2 groups challenge easing of media rules
  Only the insane think that media consolidation is good for niche programming. Of course, now that niches can be accessed in new and diferent ways, will the losers be the big monolithic companies who peeled off their audiences?
• Peter Bradshaw confesses to a growing addiction – YouTube
  Critics who formerly wondered if YouTube-esque sites can replace traditional media…discover the answer might be yes.
• Newspapers won't say who won a debate. They should.
  Fair and balanced does not mean that everything is equal.
• Government defends 1998 anti-porn law
  Whereas others, like online publishers, note that lack of specificity and ability to equally enforce the flawed law could redefine the word "arbitrary".
• JUDGES ASKS JURY TO DECIDE IF THE ISLAND WAS A RIP-OFF
  Only to those who actually paid to see it.
• Paramount and AOL Ink a Deal to Bring Movies to the Web
  Once again, price points are too high and DVD burning non-existent.
• What if book publishers started to sue libraries?
  Please, don’t give them any ideas.
• Scarlett Johansson Singing Tom Waits Only On Pütz!
  This. Is just weird.
• Conan episode to air in ’skelevision’
  Oooooooooh, scary!
• Sony’s BDP-S1 Blu-ray player delayed again…again
  Can you really have a format war if nobody shows up?
• How to mend a Picasso painting
  This right here, by the way, is a point for digital art. You never hear about a multi-zillionaire accidentally poking a hole in a .jpeg.
• Running for office? Better run from Colbert
  Wanna beat Colbert? Show up in a bear costume and flanked by Helen Thomas.
• Apple?s iPod turns 5
  iPod . . . iPod. Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. And you say that Apple manufactures it? Strange, you’d think that I’d have heard something about that.
• The iPod Revolution
  The iPod is five. That’s ancient in modern terms.
• YouTube users keep dialogue running
  Because, unlike so many media companies, YouTube gets that the web is a conversation.
• The Starbucks Aesthetic
  In which Starbucks gets the last laugh as people flock in for coffee and culture.