Can I Buy A Vowel?

So, it would seem that the future of new media entertainment is brought to you by the letter "u".

To wit: first came Hulu. Next comes Vudu, a new fangled high tech box that's connected to the Intertube. It delivers hi-def movies to your television.

In a recent article about this magical box with knobs, the New York Times announced: "In a major shift in movie distribution, a high-definition version of the hit ''The Bourne Ultimatum'' will be released through Vudu Inc.'s online service Tuesday -- the same day the DVD comes out."

Google this!

I recently heard that in the third quarter of 2008, Google will release their own phone to the public. My initial response was "ooh! cool beans!" but after letting it set for awhile, I have some doubts about how it will come up against the iPhone. IMHO, had Google gotten into this market prior to Apple's darling, they might have had a competitive edge. As I wonder how it's going to all play out, PCMag.com's editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff just released this prediction for the Google enterprise in 2008:

"Google will win that wireless bid and, with partners, start rolling out Android-based phones, though none will be the dreamed-about Google Phone. Google will never produce a phone of its own. Expect more Google apps, innovations, and non-search-related activity. The next big move for this company with cash to burn? Ownership of a major media company."

Perhaps I should go check out Google's stock. I'm feeling lucky!

WSC Show #34 - Star Trek Day: Naren Shankar and Nicholas Meyer

In today’s episode we visit the picket lines for "Star Trek Day" at Paramount Studios. Of the numerous recordings I got, today we’ll focus on two: one from Star Trek television writer Naren Shankar and one from Star Trek film director Nicholas Meyer. Recorded Monday, 10 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

Podcast Feed Update

For those listeners of the Writers' Strike Chronicles podcast, here's an update:

In an effort to save money on bandwidth costs, I've been hosting my podcast files for free at Archive.org. It seemed like an obvious choice because the work I'm doing is historical. However, if you've noticed, there's been issues with their server from time to time and sometimes the files I upload disappear. *Poof*.

As my audience grows, I need to depend on a more reliable method of delivery. So, I now will be hosting these files on my personal website.

What this means is: I'll be encoding my XML files to reflect the changes and this will temporarily cause changes to your feed. If you subscribe to my feed via iTunes or an RSS feeder previous episodes you may have already listened to or downloaded will repeat. It's not you, it's me. And this is only temporary until I complete the entire update. Because this is time consuming, I'll be transferring this in chunks of five episodes per day. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Oh, and if this language seems greek to you, it was once to me. But no longer. If I can figure it out, so can you. And eventually, if you want to create your own content for the Internet, you will need to. If I can do it, so can you.

Video: RSS in Plain English

Thanks for your patience.

AMPTP...That's So Gross!

From newwben

OK...let me explain. Though this is clever, this is a misrepresentation of the public's response to the AMPTP's "New Economic Partnership". These are actually responses to the viewers first goatse.

Warning: your first goatse is NSFW!

New Media and Higher Education

It's not only entertainment. New media hits higher education. Today Yale University announced they are offering undergraduate courses freely available to anyone in the world with access to the Internet:

Open Yale Courses reflects the values of a liberal arts education. Yale's philosophy of teaching and learning begins with the aim of training a broadly based, highly disciplined intellect without specifying in advance how that intellect will be used.

Oh, but wait. There's more! Stanford University has got free CS education library. MIT's got a few in classes, too. And Berkeley does it with an iPod.

Wendy Boswell from LifeHacker's got gads more college classes listed in her blog.

Oh, and back to that iPod for a sec: the New York Times wanted to know this past weekend "What did the professor say?"

Mix '08 - The Next Web Now

File this under "New Media". Now in its third year, the MIX conference slated for March 5- 7, 2008, promotes itself as an "intimate opportunity for cutting-edge technical, creative and business strategists to engage Microsoft in a conversation about the future of the web." The purpose is to "explore the latest wave of opportunities and help redefine the boundaries between: content and commerce, PC and TV, Windows and the Web."

At the risk of reactivating a holy jihad between rivals Mac and PC and the communities they serve, my gut tells me this is a way for Ballmer to pick your brain and get a toe-hold over Job's corner on the market. And not to sound all Eeyore on you, but I've tested a Zune. There's a very good reason the Ipod is a winner in my book and that is: ease of use and elegance of design. It plays well with any file, whereas a Zune does not (this was my frustrating experience from a year ago this month so your mileage may vary).

Anyway, I'm a Mac grrl, so this ain't my thing. But maybe it's yours. Apples and oranges and all that jazz.

Errata

Errata: In the "WSC Bonus Podcast for 12/11/07" episode, I said that "5,000" pencils were going to be delivered as part of the Pencils2MediaMoguls campaign. I meant to say "500,000".


Yes, that would be pretty pathetic if United Hollywood's efforts to gain fan support would have only resulted in a mere few thousand pencils as opposed to half a million.

The truth is, I knew the correct number. My script shows me I did, too. However, in my v.o., I fucked up my line. Had this been an important breaking news story, this would have been perhaps a devastating mistake with far reaching implications.

This is a good example of why citizen journalists only make up a part in the gathering and sharing of news and information in a digital age. In my interview with Bill Froehlich, I was concerned that untrained and wholly amateur citizen journalists would come up against issues of accuracy when reporting.

However, one acquaintance made the point that the real issue in reporting, whether one is a professional or amateur journalist is "ethics" and cited the case of Dan Rather.

Fair enough. Nonetheless, I need to get better at this. I could also do with a fact checker.

Internet TV comes into focus

From The Week Daily comes an article about Internet TV that really captivated me. If I had to pull out only one single quote that summarizes what my biggest question has been since the start of the strike -- namely why are writers striking against the ConGlom's when the Internet offers an opportunity to D.I.Y. -- here's a highly cogent response that I can actually grok:

"Networks are still the most efficient way to create and distribute high-budget programs to mass audiences. But the Internet makes it possible to profitably reach smaller audiences with niche programming."

The piece also pulls focus some other good questions such as: How soon will that future of Internet TV arrive—and what will it look like? Who’s going to make this magic box? What can Internet TV do that current TV can’t (another fantastically grokable opinion)? Will networks become obsolete?

The answers to these and many more really good questions are covered. Read the entire article here.

I read it here first!

So far this morning, I'm getting my news today from bloggers. I wanted to verify the following information, so I ran a search in Google news, but to no avail. So either this story is being broke on a blog (and not just any blog but the Huffington Post) or the story is either false or incomplete (but somehow I doubt that).

Here's what I read:

SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles -- education workers who include teacher's aids, cafeteria workers and crossing guards -- yesterday fired former Clinton spokesman Chris Lehane from a consulting contract in support of the WGA .

Read Jane Hamsher's entire post here.

UPDATE: As of 2:43 p.m., United Hollywood blogs about this development. So, I'm guessing this is my second source and therefore it must be true.

WSC Bonus Podcast for 12/11/07

This is a special WSC bonus podcast targeted specifically for today because it contains information regarding the United Hollywood’s Pencils2MediaMoguls campaign. The idea is that since the start of the strike fans were asked to buy pencils to send to the six media moguls who run the six corporate conglomerates to demonstrate their support for the writers of their favorite TV series.

In this episode, I speak to Jeff Berman with United Hollywood. At the time of this recording, he was reluctant to give the details about where over 500,000 pencils were going to be delivered. So, I waited to release this episode until the information became available on-line.

Here’s the skinny:

Today at 11:30 a.m. the pencils will start being delivered. The staging ground for this event will be Johnny Carson Park, located at 400 Bob Hope Drive in Burbank, just across the street from NBC.

Writers slated to appear include: Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Joss Whedon (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), Alfred Gough (Smallville), Miles Millar (Smallville), and others to be announced.

For more updates, be sure to log on to UnitedHollywood.com

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

Relevant to our conversation, here's a primer on Web 2.0:



And also:



Read Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2006.

WSC Show #33 - Interview with Alan Katz

In this episode, I meet up with Alan Katz following the "It's All Written" reality television show rally in Burbank. Recorded Friday, 7 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

As mentioned in our conversation, the Internet is a series of tubes:



From MediaSpinner

OurMedia Retools, Revamps and Reinvents

Video failed to load? Download here instead.

OurMedia is the Nikola Tesla of the personal media revolution in that it launched weeks ahead of YouTube. Yet just as Tesla's competitors -- namely Edison and Marconi -- get all the cred, so too does YouTube explode on the Internet while OurMedia does not.

It's worth noting that wireless communication (of which Tesla patented) is one of the reasons for why the entertainment industry is at an impasse today. Oh, but then again, there'd be no moving pictures without Edison.

Wow...those dudes are still fighting it out posthumously? Whatever guys...get over it!

Anyway, back to the topic: two years after its launch, today OurMedia's founder JDLasica announced that the service "is in the process of reinventing itself as a community of professional, semi-pro and amateur media makers showcasing their best videos and podcasts."

Check out OurMedia here.

After meeting Harlan Ellison on the picket lines today, I get the feeling that he would absolutely hate this site. I can hear him now: "Fucking amateurs!" And yes, Harlan. True that.

WGA Strike - NBC - Disney - EdgeCast - YES Interactive - NBA Silverlight - IMEEM - MediaBytes 12.10.2007

From Media30dotcom

WSC Show #32 - Anne-Marie Johnson and Alfre Woodard

In today’s episode we wrap up our series of recordings at the “It’s All Written” reality show rally with a conversation with Anne-Marie Johnson from the Screen Actors Guild. We'll also hear a speech that Alfre Woodard gave at the rally. Recorded Friday, 7 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

I Call Bullshit!

I like this guy HuffPo blogger Gary Rosen who's latest post puts it out there, keeps it real, and asks the question: "How eerie are the parallels between the behavior of the AMPTP and the behavior of the Bush administration?"

He writes:

"Using the pretext of an external shock to the system (in the case of the AMPTP, the rise of the internet -- in the case of Bush, 9/11), they have moved to grab power and achieve long-held goals (getting rid of "the guy who tried to kill my dad" -- getting rid of the residual system). Eschewing the warnings of the "reality based" community and the lessons of history (Vietnam -- the music industry), the AMPTP and the country at large have been driven down a self destructive path by hard liners (Cheney, Rumsfeld -- Time/Warner, Fox, Nick Counter) who view contempt as a virtue."

Oh word, Gary. And it gets even scarier!

Reuters reported last month: "The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission wants an agency decision by year-end on whether to ease limits on how many media outlets a company may own in a single market...."

To put it simply: It's a decision to grant even more media consolidation to the ConGloms. In a word: monopoly.

That decision will be made on December 18th, 2007. If it is passed, the ConGloms get a pretty nifty Christmas present. They gain more power, they get a tighter hold on controlling news and information and...and...yes...the sky will fall.

But you can do something to prevent this. Call to action: Stop big media now!

WSC Show #31 - It's All Written Reality Show Rally

In today’s episode we’ll hear more speeches from “It’s All Written” informational picket and rally to gain industry standards for writers at FremantleMedia. Featured are speeches by WGA president Patric Verrone, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, producer and film director Paul Haggis, associate producer of "America's Next Top Model" Kai Bowe, and senior producer of "Temptation" Aaron Solomon. Recorded Friday, 7 December 2007 in Burbank, CA.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

As mentioned in this episode: "Hollywood Workers Rally for an End to Writers' Strike" from the LAist

Wow...WGA Virtual Picketing in Second Life

From the LiveJournal community of wga_supporters comes this post:

A group of like-minded avatars teleported over to NBC 1 today. NBC 1 is the main island owned by NBC/Universal in Second Life. We had an excellent hourlong picket. There are plenty of industry-owned locales in Second Life. Expect this to be a regular weekend event. All are welcome!

Who knew LJ had such a group? And like, an innovative use of SL. Ha...your world, your imagination and all that. I wonder if, when the day comes after the strike is over, any sims will be hosting a TV night in their virtual living rooms and serve virtual pizzas with virtual beer?

Foxtrot

Click on image for bigger size. Cuz size matters, you know.

Quote of the Day

Have you guys read the article featured in my previous post?

Check it!

"Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment. Key to this evolution is consumers' basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy politics can only dream of." -- Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory

Who the fuck needs the AMPTP?

"Circular Media" - The Future of Entertainment

A recent study done by The Future Laboratory on behalf of Nokia predicts that by 2012 one of four entertainment items will be generated and edited by users:

The study, entitled 'A Glimpse of the Next Episode', carried out by The Future Laboratory, interviewed trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviors and lifestyles signposting emerging entertainment trends. Combining views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world, Nokia has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years.

Read more in this article from CNN Money.

WSC Show #30 - Tenacious D at the Writers' Strike Rally 12/7/07

This episode begins at the WGA's “It's All Written: Reality & Game Show Rally" that took place in front of FremantleMedia in Burbank. For the next several days this podcast will feature speeches and interviews conducted on-site but for now, since it’s Saturday, I thought it would be kinda nice to take a break and listen to the set performed by Tenacious D that kicked off the rally. Recorded Friday, 8 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

Note: if you want to hear a better quality copy of this episode, visit Archive.org.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

From AlonzoMosleyFBI

ROFLMAO on this one, which was produced a wee whiley back. Kinda hearkens to this vid that came out a few weeks after the strike: A World Without Writers

WSC Show #29 - Interview with Sarah Jane Cunningham

Today I speak with writer Sarah Jane Cunningham at the picket lines in front of Warner Brothers Studios. Recorded Tuesday, 4 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

Hollywood Unions: Why This is Their Fight Too

From wgaamerica

Technical Difficulties

Another post to announce that the embedded .mp3 player used on this site is down again. It's offered for free by Odeo, so like I really can't bitch about it because you get what you pay for.

Your best bet to get the latest podcast episodes of the Writers' Strike Chronicles is to simply subscribe though iTunes.

Another workaround is to click on the files where they are hosted at the Internet Archive another free service. BTW, the IA is an official library according to the State of California!

Refresh this post for updates as to when the Odeo player is back in service.

Word On The Street: Don't Mess With Paul Shaffer

From gllafc

It's A Small World After All

Calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new contract? Apparently writers world-wide are and they are showing solidarity in the WGA struggle as witnessed in the following videos:

Jeff Chester on big media conglomerates

Clip from the film "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". Executive Director Digital Democracy Jeff Chester discusess big media conglomerates and how they dominate debate

Hulu Update

Hulu recently launched an HD Gallery featuring a selection of High Definition video clips at 1280 x 720 resolution.

You'll need a fast connection and a fast machine to watch HD Hulu. Check out their system requirement here. In a nutshell: a connection of 2,400 Kbps or higher (not your average home user speed) and the latest Adobe Flash Player 9 to stream these High Definition bandwidth clogging clips. Needless to say, this leaves out those who will be using this service on a Wii , aPS3 or an Xbox not to mention an iPhone.

Flash Player 9 is free to download here. It's the secret weapon that Hulu claims will make them the YouTube killer. No more crappy YouTube flash videos, baby. It's HD, baby...HD.

WSC Extra - A Strike Supporter Weighs In

In this short recording, a strike supporter literally came out of nowhere to give me this sound bite and then disappeared. I was told by a bystander that the man was an author now living in France, but who knows? Thanks for the quote though, dude.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com

WSC Show #28 - Interview with Dee LaDuke

Today I visit with Dee LaDuke at the picket lines at CBS Radford Studios. Dee is the author of the book “Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients”. As a Bay Area resident, Dee commutes at least once a week to Los Angeles for work. Because of her proximity to Silicon Valley, I wanted to know her take on the impact of new media and its affect on the digitization of the entertainment industry. Recorded Tuesday, 4 December 2007.

Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com