Friday August 25, 2006
The Final Insult
According to recent Nielsen numbers, the shrinking city of New Orleans has fallen 11 spots to become the nation’s 54th largest media market. Since the ability to influence advertising and television programming is one of our few remaining freedoms, I think this is sad. And it will be bad for TV.
As a result of the new rankings, buttoned-down burgs like Oklahoma City and Wilkes-Barre will now exert a greater influence on the developing fall schedule than the Big Easy. This cannot be right, and I don’t see why we have to sit by and watch Mother Nature gerrymander the ratings system that has served us so well for so long. I would like to urge four media markets to each step forward and pledge 26,043 of their television households to New Orleans, restoring the city to its rightful place as the country’s 43rd largest media market—right in front of Las Vegas. I mean, Las Vegas already has a CSI!
If the Nielsen people won’t go for this—and of course they won’t—there is a workaround. We just need to smuggle five People Meters into New Orleans. Just five. That’s all. And for the best impact on programming, I propose that all five be smuggled out of Salt Lake City. Come on, people. Are you with me?
Posted by jim at 12:11 AM ||
Thursday August 17, 2006
Three Little Dots: Points of Interest
I’m ambivalent about the song, but I love the video for Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill.” It was created by the Portland animation house Bent Image Lab with a technique inspired by the aerial photographs of Olivo Barbieri, who shoots actual landscapes in such a way that they appear to be miniatures. Beautiful stuff. … I’m also a sucker for the new Grand Theft Auto-inspired ad for Coke, in which our antihero turns over a new leaf. It was created by London animators Smith & Foulkes, who made a great British ad for Honda a few years ago that won the Grand Prix in Cannes. … Onion writer Joe Garden has started a blog about records—the vinyl kind. … Meanwhile, slash icon John Hodgman has started one about everything else.
Posted by jim at 11:23 PM ||
Wednesday August 16, 2006
Park Slope Lost and Found
Alexandra found the following artifact on the sidewalk out here in child-rich Park Slope:
Still, everyone knows little Jacob and Emma get a few extra passes at the monkey bars if you palm the CIT a twenty.
Posted by jim at 10:44 PM ||
Thursday August 10, 2006
The Rules
We all sense—if only vaguely and uneasily—that reality television is warping our moral compass. The situation has been made even worse by a recent series of disqualifications based on arcane contractual “rules” that we’d never even heard about before. It’s easy to get all turned around about right and wrong. And since we’ll all be on one of these shows eventually, here’s a guide to what’s in and out. Justice isn’t always fair, but it is always heavily hyped in the promos.
| SHOW | YOU MUST LEAVE IF YOU … | BUT YOU CAN STAY IF YOU … |
| Last Comic Standing | … send an email. | … do 20 minutes of “my wife is a nag.” |
| Project Runway | … are hiding “fashion how-to” books under your bed. | … put a basket on a model’s head and pretend that it is a hat. |
| Flavor of Love | … throw the first punch. | … poop on the floor. |
Posted by jim at 09:40 PM ||
Wednesday August 09, 2006
Dance with the One Who Brought You
Former Harper’s editor Lewis Lapham is apparently launching a new “historical journal,” humbly titled Lapham’s Quarterly. To run the thing, Lapham is looking for a few good interns, per this Craigslist posting. Will they be paid? Of course not. “The positions are unpaid, full-time, and until the end of the year.” Careful Romenesko readers will remember all too well the Great Harper’s Unpaid Intern Flap of 2001. Guess you gotta stick with what works.
Posted by jim at 04:55 PM ||
Wednesday August 02, 2006
Three Little Dots: Covers and Song
PRINT (I’ve got something in an upcoming issue) charts the conventions of chicklit cover art. … Dana at #1 Hit Song is hanging up her HREFs. Sadness.
Posted by jim at 11:05 AM ||
Tuesday August 01, 2006
Gear Candy
If Encylopedia Hanasiana had an official Flash game, Gear Taker would be that game.
[via Backwards City.]
Posted by jim at 08:44 AM ||
