Retired

While you were trying to figure out how to prove that the baggie of coke in your pants pocket really wasn’t yours, here’s what we were looking at:

• The Sad and Twisted Saga of a Political Consultant’s Battle With Nintendo’s Kirby – Dumbass stunts like this aren’t going to help anybody’s campaign in Second Life, and for that matter, they don’t really help out Second Life all that much, either.
• Why Do I Find It So Hard to Commit? – One person’s lament based upon the fact that she doesn’t watch nearly as many TV shows in which she’s interested.
• Some Alternative Emmy Nominations – One person’s lament based upon the fact that he watches far too many TV shows in which he’s interested.
• How to Save The Weekly World News – At dinner last night, both Elvis and Bat Boy were gushing about how they thought that this was an excellent idea.
• One If By Land… – Right. This was really just an excuse for Rox to point out how she’s she’s all moony-eyed for David Tennant.

While you were making fun of people who were queuing up for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, here’s what we were looking at:

• Internet Radio Gets a Stay of Execution – Unfortunately, the mindset that brought it very nearly to death is still very much alive.
• 5 Ways To Improve eMusic – If you’re an eMusic subscriber, it’s worth it to read this just for that great tip left in the comments.
• A Land Where Politics and the Internet Don’t Mix – That would be Japan, where there is actually a ban on politicians updating their websites during election season.
• The Definition of Unwarranted: Appreciating the Slow, Boring Star Trek Movie – Sherilyn makes a helluva case for reconsidering the first Star Trek movie. Also, I’m not sure that it’s actually the definition of unwarranted. That would be appreciation for Enterprise.
• Harry Potter and the Liveblogging of the Delivery of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” – Talk about unwarranted: this entire post, the original premise of which was that it would talk all day for the book to show up. Instead, an awesome USPS worker hand-delivered it to me at 10:30, thereby spoiling much hilarity that was to ensue as the hours ticked away. Or not. Most likely, not. Instead, I spent the rest of yesterday and most of today reading it from cover to cover. What happens? Find out for yourself.

While you were busy asking anybody who would listen why Pujols stayed on the bench on Tuesday night, this is what we were doing:

• Changing The Economics of Publishing: The SharedBook Model – Hmmm…I see a number of bestsellers in Lopy’s future.
• Some Early Observations About The iPhone, Part 2 – In a hardhitting, two-part special report, Jim makes some things up about the iPhone. He now thinks he can write it off on his taxes.
• The Perfect iPod: An iPhone Without the Phone – Does the iPhone point the way for the next generation of iPods? Kirk takes a look at the possibilities.
• That’s What I Like: Peak Oil – Leave it to Tyson to find the bright side of the coming apocalypse.

While you were standing in line waiting to purchase your iPhone, here’s what we’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks:

• DRM for Books: Will Publishers Learn Anything from the Music Industry’s Mistakes? – Actually, when it comes to dragging old media into the age of new media, nobody learns from anyone’s mistakes.
• Harry Potter and The Search For “Harry Potter Spoilers” – Of course, before the month’s out, we will all be spoiled. Forever.
• Make and Craft: A Case Study For Entertainment Companies – And now we understand what’s behind Kassia’s recent interest in Finger Puppet Theater.
• The Scream, or They Do It So We Don’t Have To – Tim digs deep into the wonderfully expressive scream and we all feel better for it. Primal!
• Universal, iTunes, and The Problem with Consumers – Universal is hedging its bets by going month-to-month with iTunes. Is it a smart business move or more evidence that the music industry is clueless when it comes to what consumers want? Yes!
• AllOfMP3: The RIAA Wins the Battle, but Loses the War – Will the RIAA ever get it? I somehow doubt it. They’ve been not getting it for so long that even if they accidentally stumbled across it, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.
• That’s What I Like: Scrabble (or Making the Other Guy Cry for Mercy) – Welcome to Medialoper, Tory! Based on her first outing, I’d say she fits right in.

While you were trying to process the fact that you’d actually gotten a new job after all this time, here’s what we were looking at:

• Preparing For The Summer Blockbuster – While people are obsessing over whether the fifth Harry Potter movie is going to outgross the third Pirates movie, here’s the biggest battle brewing in Hollywood this summer.
• 
  David Chase, Don’t Tell Us If Tony Soprano Is Dead – As long as we are starting useless online petitions to creators of HBO shows, I think I’m going to to start one to ask David Milch what the hell is going on at the beginning of John From Cincinnati.
• Do You Want Spiral Frog? Get Thee To Canada! – Of course, if you don’t currently have a valid passport to get into Canada and actually try Spiral Frog, by the time you actually get one, it might actually have launched here!
• How to Start a Political Revolution Without Breaking the Law – A long, very well-researched look at the legal issues surrounding the use of social media to disseminate political messages.
• TOC: Book Publishers Meet the Future – In a weird way, as the oldest of all of the technologies responding to the digital future, it makes sense that the publishing industry would be one of the slowest. On the other hand, as Kirk points out in his report from O’Reilly Media’s Tools of Change for Publishing conference, an elegant solution to the problem of updating the plain old book can resonate on a emotional level that say, a set-top box for integrating your TV and your computer probably couldn’t.

While you were desperately trying to get that fracking Journey song out of your head, once and for all, here’s what we were looking at:

• Goodbye, Dear Television, Goodbye – Kassia says goodbye to her TV for the summer. I would suggest she try Big Love, Rescue Me & Flight of the Conchords (if it’s as good as all of the reviews say) now, and Eureka, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Life on Mars a little bit later. But that’s me.
• A Modest Proposal For the Next Season of 24 – . . . and then, at the end, a twist! Everything is fine. Jack Bauer has no worries at all! They’ll never expect it.
• The Day Analog TV Died – “And they were singing: ‘Bye, bye to American Idol’, no more Chevy product placements or that mean Simon Cowell. And Paula Abdul was drinking whiskey and wine, saying ‘Seacrest went and got his hair dyed.'”
• A Curious Addiction – Kassia discusses why she likes Talking Points Memo.com and reveals that her grandmother didn’t like Richard Nixon for exactly the same reason Roxanne doesn’t like John Madden.

While you were going to jail, getting released from jail, and then going back to jail, here’s what we were looking at:

• What Do The Simple Folk Do? –

  Sing it if you know it!

  I want to live like common people,
  I want to do whatever common people do
  I want to sleep with common people
  I want to sleep with common people
  like you

• Campaigning In A Global Village – Compared to other countries, the U.S. politicos in Second Life have been pretty conservative. Not so surprising, really: most of our politicians are just trying to not make any huge gaffes.
• Potpourri: The FCC, Steve Van Zandt, The New York Yankees and Mick Jones – Sopranos finale tonight! I’m so excited that I’m actually going to watch it in real time. Also, while I’m not one for anti-West Coast Sports big media conspiracies, I have to note that even though my TiVo told me yesterday that the FOX Saturday afternoon game was going to be Athletics-Giants, they ended up showing me Mets-Tigers. Gee, thanks?
• 9 Reasons Why I Like The A.V. Club – Reason #10: all of the nice comments we got from the A.V. Club folks about this piece.

While you were recovering from what seemed like your first day off in forever, here’s what we were looking at:

• What I’ll Do On My Summer Vacation – It’s Summer time! And for one exec, that means that it’s time to discover how that whole website thingy could be a bit of a help.
• Apple Launches iTunes Plus: Downloads Without DRM – I actually took a look at the iTunes Plus today. Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why some albums by, say, The Rolling Stones are Plus, and some aren’t. We trust that will change.
• Google’s Next Five Killer Applications – What’s next after Street View? Find out, in a Medialoper Multiverse exclusive!
• Goodbye Gilmore Girls – Rox celebrates the life of what may end up being a weirdly iconic show. One thing I’ll miss: no more scenes of Lauren Graham and Kelly Bishop squaring off.

While you were busy capitulating to the worst President any of us will ever see in our lifetimes, here’s what we were looking at:

• A Small Piece of Advice For NBC Re: The “Friday Night Lights” DVD – Get it out there, now! I did read this week in the Chicago Tribune that they might be releasing it this summer, but there were no further details than that.
• Mike Gravel Meets The Metaverse – The instantly controversial Ronin Kurosawa takes on the Gravel Campaign in Second Life. Perhaps he should do a test run of his NI4D in Second Life itself — let the majority choose how its run — and see how that works out.
• They Wanna Bite The Hand That Feeds Them – Reason #459,098 that that music industry has pretty much not just lost its way, but it’s lost its way to finding its way.
• Better Than The iPhone: The Lightning Phone! – Somebody actually asked in the comments section if this was a hoax. To which I respond: of course not. We here at Medialoper do not traffic in hoaxes.
• Your Pocket Vibrator and You – Fun Fact: If Sherilyn had done her “That’s What I Like” about text messaging as actual text messages, it would have had to be broken up into 38 separate messages!

While you were flocking to Sacramento to see the whales (so many things wrong with that scenario), this is what we were doing:

• Customer Service Through Litigation: The RIAA Institutionalizes Its Business Model – A refresher course in how not to treat customers. Not that the RIAA will ever understand.
• Joost Invites From Medialoper – Joost gets Kirk’s stamp of approval. And believe me, those are not easy to come by.
• When Is FREE Video-on-Demand Not Free? – The answer – Always. Duh!
• An Ode To A Dinosaur: The Upfronts – I hate this time of year. One of the networks inevitably breaks my heart by canceling one of my favorite shows in favor of something that probably won’t last more than three episodes next fall. Yes, I’m talking to you FOX and CW!
• No Crying for The Death of Veronica Mars – Please see my previous comment on how this time of year sucks.
• That’s What I Like: Rare Book Clubs – I sure do wonder what these “books” are that Tyson’s always talking about. They sound interesting.