Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Archives for January 2007

Major League Baseball Hates Me

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Dear Major League Baseball,

As you know, I am a lifelong San Francisco Giant fan. Since the days of Mays, Marichal and McCovey. However, I now live in the Los Angeles area, so my access to their games is much more limited than it was when I lived in the Bay Area. Boo-hoo for me.

So a couple of years ago, missing you a lot, I came very close to getting your “Extra Innings” package, but in the end, I didn’t. You were very expensive, and I wasn’t quite there finanancially. I was stuck with whatever I could get from the great ESPN broadcasts and those brutally awful FOX broadcasts. But I missed my Giants broadcasts — Krukow and Kuiper, especially. Now I have the scratch, but I can’t, because you — Major League Baseball — have decided to limit the availability of your package to a single provider: DirectTV.

Why? I can only conclude it’s because you hate me, and don’t want me to watch my beloved Giants on a regular basis.

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The Daily Loper – January 24, 2007

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Taller Than Jesus Edition

Todays links of interest:

Washington Tries Its Best To Kill Internet Radio

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Remember that election last November? You know, the one that signaled the need for change. Well, apparently that change doesn’t include taking a more enlightened approach to legislation involving new technology. Earlier this month a bipartisan group of Senators lead by Diane Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a bill that would create a variety of new restrictions for both Internet broadcasters and listeners.

Bill S.256, also known as the “Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act” (PERFORM), would, among other things, require that Internet broadcasters protect their audio streams with DRM technology. Apparently the RIAA has convinced Feinstein that unencrypted audio streams are contributing to the global piracy problem.

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The Daily Loper – January 23, 2007

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Fun With Dick and Nancy Edition

Todays links of interest:

Will Labels Join Party A Decade Late?

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We are now a decade into the digital music revolution, and everybody is on board. Everybody, except of course, those who have stood to profit the most from this — the major record labels.

Instead of realizing that this was the future in the same way that their customers did, the labels have ignored, sued, restricted, and DRMed digital music while futzing with CDs in a zillion ways (except, of course, significantly reducing prices) trying to stem the tide. Nothing — outside of iTunes, which was pared with the iPod — has worked. And iTunes has worked more for Apple than the major labels.

But now, there are rumblings that they are ready to throw in the towel, and embrace the 21st Century. And to be fair, we’re only 7 years into that century: they still had 93 years to go.

So the question on the table is this: are the major labels ready to start allowing unrestricted downloads of .mp3z? Files that will play on any device? Files that I can burn and rip and copy and trade and play on anything and open edit and do all of the same things that I was able to do with cassettes and albums and 8-Tracks and CDs?

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The Daily Loper – January 22, 2007

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Watch This Space For Lopy’s Presidential Announcement Video Edition

Todays links of interest:

Second Life and the Stupid White Man’s Burden, Part One: Anshe’s Ascension

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sl_mrburns.jpgWe at Medialoper take pride in surfing the hemorrhaging edge of cultural analysis, so I’ll be blunt: sex sells.

Especially celebritarian sex, famous pretty people associated with products which may or may not be related to the source of their fame. I still don’t get what Catherine Zeta-Jones has to do with cellular phones, but whenever I walk by a T-Mobile store or see their ads in a magazine, there she is. (Maybe if I watched television and saw the commercials it would make more sense, but I don’t want to know that much.) Though it helps, fame is not required. Like, there’s an auto shop at 10th and Howard in San Francisco called Smog Queen. On their sign is a faded head-and-shoulders glamour shot of what I’m guessing is a porn starlet. The Queen of Smog, no doubt. The sheer gall of it cracks me up every time I drive by. Empirically, what does a hot chick have to do with a smog check?

Not a damn thing. By my math, that’s exactly as much a hot chick has to do with virtual real estate in Second Life. Not that a hot chick can’t do smog checks or sell virtual real estate—they can be found in both fields—but if you create the association in the consumer’s mind, it’s unlikely to hurt sales.

Which brings us to Anshe Chung, the Second Life persona of one Ailin Graef.
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The High-Definition Problem

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As our esteemed nation moves closer and closer to a high-definition world, certain perils are being exposed. Never mind that you’ll see every wrinkle and line. Don’t worry that pimples will be seen where flawless skin once reigned. There are real problems: the one industry that has arguably done more than any other to drive consumer acceptance of new technology is issuing warnings against HD:

Producers are taking steps to hide the imperfections. Some shots are lit differently, while some actors simply are not shot at certain angles, or are getting cosmetic surgery, or seeking expert grooming.

“The biggest problem is razor burn,” said Stormy Daniels, an actress, writer and director.

Ms. Daniels is also a skeptic. “I’m not 100 percent sure why anyone would want to see their porn in HD,” she said.

In other news, Sony has decided to go porn-free with its Blu-Ray product. Apparently mass-producing porn violates long-standing company policy. Sure, the decision will drive producers to other formats, but, hey, policy is policy.

Never let it be said that we don’t bring you all the news you need.

The Weekly ‘Loper – January 21, 2007

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While you were busy announcing your bid to become the next POTUS, here’s what we were looking at:

The Daily Loper – January 20, 2007

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Todays links of interest: