Archives for November 2007

The Daily Loper – November 20, 2007

November 20, 2007 by Lopy

How Do You Say “I’m OK” To An Answering Machine Edition

Todays links of interest:

The Filth and the Fury 101
A curated look at the books, images, and sounds that defined the early punk era. Sure to elicit ‘loper arguments.
Senators, Presidential candidate talk tough on ”Manhunt’
Ahh, you know that we are bearing down on an election year when pandering politicians talk tough about Video Games perhaps being misrated instead of trying to solve, you know, actual problems.
Yahoo, Sony BMG Team Up For User-Generated Content
Yes, because when you’re 15 years old, and you just want to make a video of you and your friends dancing around to your favorite songs, you’re going to stop to make sure that the artist who made that music is a Sony BMG artist. In addition, you are going to want to be sure to IM or email or text all of your friends and say: "look at the video we made from our favorite Sony BMG artist that we uploaded and you can watch on Yahoo’s DRM-encoded player!!" By all means, let’s make sure we legalize every ounce of spontaneous fun right out of the experience.

Amazon’s Kindle: The Price of Free EVDO and Proprietary DRM

November 19, 2007 by Kirk Biglione

I’m a minimalist by nature, which is why it’s so unfortunate that I share office space with the Booksquare lady. I live in fear that a long overdue earthquake will hit Southern California, triggering a catastrophic bookshelf collapse. When that happens, I will almost certainly be crushed to death by Kassia’s “to be read” shelves.

Nothing would make me happier than replacing every book in my life with a single digital device capable of accessing every book ever published through a high speed wireless connection. If anyone wants to see ebooks succeed, it’s me. And yet, I am deeply skeptical about Amazon’s new ebook reader.

On a superficial level, the Kindle looks almost perfect. Amazon has obviously spent a fair amount of time engineering an electronic device that affords readers something approximating an analogue reading experience, while seamlessly connecting with Amazon for book purchases on-demand (a dangerous feature that really should be accompanied by the sound of a ringing cash register).

Unfortunately, there are more than a few problems with Amazon’s initial product offering. Those problems will almost certainly limit the appeal of Kindle, making it a niche product for early adopters and gadget freaks.

The Daily Loper – November 19, 2007

November 19, 2007 by Lopy

I Don’t Have a Lawyer. Have Him Call My Doctor Edition

Todays links of interest:

Why I Strike
OMG you guys, Mindy Kaling — one of the 23,876 reasons we miss "The Office" already, and it’s only been four days — is totally writing about her mixed feelings about going on strike.
Strike: Conan Back First?
Both Conan and Jimmy Kimmel are being pressured by their networks to come back. Of course, Letterman and Leno are too big, and noone really cares that much about Craig Ferguson or Carson Daly. Apparently NBC has offered Conan the Devil’s bargain of broadcasting his shows at 11:30 if he comes back. Niiiiice. For some reason, this offer reminds us of that time when the town of Springfield was promised that it would be put on the map if it would just invest in a monorail.
Amazon debuts Kindle e-book reader
Kindle is finally here, which, no doubt, means that Amazon is hoping you burn your books and buy drm-protected digital replacements. Stay tuned for team coverage as this story develops.

The (Bi-)Weekly ‘Loper – November 18, 2007

November 18, 2007 by Jim Connelly

While you were busy adding new Facebook applications, here’s what we were looking at:

Where Some See Lemons: More On The Writers Guild Strike – As new media changes the overall current of how money flows, writers and other creatives can use it to create their own productions outside of traditional studio control.
Six Unanticipated Consequences Of The Writers Strike – Are you missing your fix of The Daily Show yet? How about The Colbert Report? Or the other late night shows? Just curious.
MLB and DRM: A Match Made in Hell – Even if he had nothing absolutely to do with this, I blame Bud Selig. Imagine how popular Baseball would be right now if we’d had a good commissioner for the past decade.
Making Us All That Much More Stupid: Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room – What happens when a bunch of smart film-lovers take the MST3K concept and apply it to a live audience showing? Find out.
Gearing Up for TOC 2008 – The O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference for 2008 is sooner than you think.
360 Deals: The Musical Merry-Go-Round – The music industry finds newer and deeper ways to screw up-and-coming artists who are willing to gamble on losing their long-term viability for some short-term success. Unless, of course, I’m wrong and Paramore is the biggest band of 2012.
Writers Strike Deathwatch: The Office – This is just the first of our favorite Primetime shows to be affected by the WGA Strike. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last. Oh, and hey NBC? I’ve seen the first three episodes of quarterlife. It’s not your savior.
Music Executive Makes Startling Deathbed Confession: “We Were Wrong” – Gee, ya think?
Reasons To Be Thankful 2007 – Strangely enough, none of them have anything to do with either technology or pop culture. How shallow.

The Daily Loper – November 16, 2007

November 16, 2007 by Lopy

Capulets and Romulans Edition

Todays links of interest:

Beowulf reviewed … in verse
Hee.
Ripple Effects of the Writers’ Strike
Consequences that we didn’t think of. Maybe you wanna go out and get a "Live Music Are Better" bumper sticker while you still can.
My Bloody Valentine Reveals Reunion Shows
These shows are, of course, in support of their upcoming album: "Iraqi Democracy."

Reasons To Be Thankful 2007

November 16, 2007 by Rox

I’m really not liking very much this week. As a matter of fact, most things are making me slightly crabby. So, since Thanksgiving is next week, I’m copping out on our regular “That’s What I Like” post this week and giving you a list of the things in my life that I’m thankful for.

I’m thankful for my job, except when I hate it, which I know several people will say is all the time. I’m thankful for the roof over my head, though I do occasionally wish it were a different roof – one with a backyard and a second bathroom. What I wouldn’t do for a second bathroom!

The Daily Loper – November 15, 2007

November 15, 2007 by Lopy

Dunder Mifflin Zero Edition

Todays links of interest:

Huge day of updates leads to 50+ Apple bug fixes
50+!! Who the hell do they think they are, Microsoft?
Bonds indicted on perjury, obstruction of justice charges
Well, at least it happened after he left the Giants. Also, thank gods that they’ve finally caught the one guy who used steroids and lied about it! Now Major League Baseball is safe again!!
Speaker’s office denies ‘10,000 letters’ impeachment rumor
But just to be safe, go ahead and send one anyway.

Music Executive Makes Startling Deathbed Confession: “We Were Wrong”

November 15, 2007 by Kirk Biglione

With the major record labels on the brink of extinction, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman has made a shocking confession. Bronfman told a group of mobile phone executives that the music industry was “wrong to go to war with consumers”.

From his remarks, it’s clear that Bronfman isn’t just talking about the RIAA’s plan to sue consumers into submission. He’s also talking about the opportunity the industry missed when it failed to embrace digital distribution and develop new business models in response to consumer demand:

The Daily Loper – November 14, 2007

November 14, 2007 by Lopy

Keep It Simple, Stupid Edition

Todays links of interest:

Gene Simmons: college kids killed music biz
Ah, now we know the culprit.
Poll shows support for writers
Of 1000 Americans polled, only 4% supported the studios. Even George Bush’s numbers aren’t *that* bad. Not to make any comparisons, but we’d bet that you would find greater support among Americans for Satan, Osama Bin Laden or Paris Hilton. As a matter of fact, any TV show that got those numbers would be immediately canceled.
Fan website agrees club takeover
This might just be the greatest thing ever. An English Premier league club is going to be run via vote over a website.

Writers Strike Deathwatch: The Office

November 14, 2007 by Jim Connelly

Remember a few months ago when NBC announced that they would air 30 half-hours of The Office? Here at ‘Loper HQ, where The Office runs neck-and-neck with Battlestar Galactica as our consensus favorite TV Show, there was much rejoicing at the anticipated bounty of hilarity and pathos that we were going to receive.

Well, not so much, as it turns out. Among the many many ironies created by the Writers strike is this: The Office is the first of the scripted prime-time shows to run out of of episodes, which means that this week’s episode is the last ep for, well — quite possibly, ever.