Category: Media (Page 4 of 8)

It’s good to see my old employer, VNU eMedia, get into the world of weblogs, and with the right people involved. VNU has launched a pair of blogs, one for Billboard and one for Adweek, in an attempt to reach a larger, younger audience. (Given Billboard’s circulation woes—down from a rate-card quote of 32,323 to a New York Times-noted 20,000 and change—it couldn’t happen soon enough.)

The blogs themselves are hosted on blogs.com and run by outsiders with, I’d imagine, heavy oversight from the appropriate editorial staff.

Billboard PostPlay has potential. It’s staffed in part by the journalists at paidcontent.org, and Rafat Ali’s team is solid. But would someone please tell Billboard’s graphic designer to come up with a more sophisticated PostPlay logo? This one screams 1996, and it’s poorly optimized, too. Not the best way to make an impact online. Speaking of which, could someone at Billboard set up a server-side redirect so the home page actually works?

AdFreak seems to be a midpoint between Adweek magazine and, say, Gawker. Given the VNU copyright in the footer, this is an official site, but the logo and lack of a masthead makes it feel like a parody, or a foil to the similarly good-but-underwhelming AdRants. I kind of like the content, but chalk this one up as a work in progress.

Keep an eye on these blogs, and watch for the magazines’ evolution as well. Billboard’s new print redesign promises an interesting evolution, one that I hope my old friend Ken Schlager, now Billboard’s co-executive editor, will turn into an unqualified success.

“Lost” is, without a doubt, my favorite TV show of the season. While I still watch my slate of bad reality television—something I thought I’d never do, but damned if my DVR doesn’t tape “The Apprentice” and “Town Haul” each week—”Lost” is a rich television drama, full of character studies and intricacies that are a delight to try and dissect.

The best subtlety in the show for me, though, are the names, particularly the prescient and earthy John Locke and French survivor Rousseau. I’m waiting to see the levels of accuracy or irony that relate to this as the series continues.

When I got word that a U.S. version of the phenomenally subtle and wry sitcom “The Office” was on its way, I was worried (see also: “Coupling”). Then I heard that the show would be a twist on the original, and that Steve Carell would be the perfectly cast boss, and I regained some hope.

Then I saw the NBC.com promo page for the series. And now I’m worried all over again.

I’m fascinated by the new NetZero ads spoofing AOL’s current campaign. I know these spots well, and personally, I think there’s nothing more flattering than to have a competitor co-opt your work (obviously you’re doing something well enough that it’s worth re-using). But what’s really catching my eye is how similar a lot of the actors and actresses look. Most of them are obvious (and good) look-alikes, but I’m curious if any of them are the same people, and if so, how much of a clamor this is going to cause.

The ads (both AOL’s and NetZero’s) are online here.

Update: I’m told that full noncompetitive clauses apply to commercial actors, and that any similarities to the original performers is just excellent casting (much to AOL’s chagrin, as well as the actors who are ever more intimately associated with the campaign).

P.S. China was amazing.

There’s a reason Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire is such a big story: Jon was on fire. As usual, Jon was funny, honest, and relatively accurate—all while skewering his hosts for their shortcomings. And then there’s the dick comment.

Read the transcript for all the fun.

Don’t miss this great piece, journalist’s retort and all, by Felix Salmon regarding Nick Denton’s “off the record” email getting printed in Business 2.0. This startled me when I read the article in question, too, and I’m glad it’s been publicly addressed. While I see the article author’s point, I’m not sure I buy it.

Addendum, May 27: Here’s the June 2004 Wired article on Nick and Gawker Media, just published.

And by nothing, I mean nothing.

It is only too appropriate—and wonderfully playful—that the New York Times tapped in-crowd skewerer Choire Sicha to review “Bergdorf Blondes”. C’mon, Choire, you know you love Burberry tartan.

Lots of flap around town lately concerning New York Times reporter Amanda Hesser’s restaurant reviews. Eurotrash has condemned her reviews two weeks in a row, leading others to speculate on her style and rationale.

Nearly lost within the hubbub are two facts: one, Hesser is a temp, holding the position of house critic until the Times picks a permanent replacement (which is good, because Hesser is a good writer, but plainly not cut out for reviews); and two, even if she’s only fair at the gig, she’s a lot better than Marian Burros, who held the position for a few weeks after William Grimes’s departure.

Still, while she has some fair excuses, Hesser is not doing a great job with her seat. And the news that her three-star review of Spice Market scratched the back of a chef who heaped glowing praise on the dust jacket of her last book is pretty damned uncomfortable.

Fundrace’s neighbor search is a great way to scoop lots of interesting information about your neighbors—not only who they are, but what they do and who they support. Look, Ma, Ed Norton lives in my ZIP code, and he’s a Democrat!