The Dime: My two cents -- after taxes and inflation

"America: Now, slightly Socialist-leaning"

2009-04-11T12:37:00.006-04:00

According to a new Rasmussen Reports survey, only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism

Moved to Wordpress

2009-04-08T00:36:00.003-04:00

It's just cleaner ...

see?

well, that and i'm a sucker for pages, tabs, categories, etc.

watch this space -- no crumbs

Distriction: Head's Up

2009-04-06T19:07:00.003-04:00

Wisdom in the weirdest places -- and the most apropos times

... it made my week nonetheless

watch this space: the cynic in me has to point out the riot control/opiate-of-the-masses angle of inspirational adverts on the ever-"moving-momentarily" Metro car -- points for PR and practicality

All-Time Vilest Villans in Pop Culture ... Honorable Mention: MTV

2009-04-06T00:36:00.015-04:00

Really? Well, seeing as it is pop culture I've got a few honorable mentions after the jump ...

"Honorable" Mention(s):

Ringtones:

Now anyone can be an artist -- I'm looking at you Soulja Boy

Obviously no culture there, but I think I can hear the Pop -- wait, no ... no, that's just what's left of his career -- thought I had something there, alas

Tweens:

they dictate the next big thing in pop culture -- and are every marketer's dream demographic ...

Tweens. They're a hot market, they're complicated, and there are two in the White House: Sasha and Malia Obama. What do tweens consider cool? Music was at the top of the list, followed by going to the movies. "Being smart" ranked third tied with video games followed by electronics, sports, fashion and protecting the environment, according to a report.

so, i guess be on the lookout for vampires that protect humans, are really cool, and are immune to garlic, wooden stakes to the heart, and sunlight

MTV:

case rested. Reality TV -- my bad "Reality Drama," thanks MTV! Just what I wanted ... like the gift, that keeps on ... keeps on giving ... and taking

Case not rested, MTV deserves more than that. MTV is the baddest most vilest villain on the Pop Culture block; it owns the block, it's bigger on the block than Jenny -- and that's big. That said, the state of pop culture reflects on MTV; the state of pop culture now is about bank statements, not making statements. Thanks MTV.

Watch this space: someone call Andy quick, and better call Edie for backup; Pop is only a few weak fads away from life-support -- well, that or a permanent conservatorship a la the one and only ...

Distriction: Day Tripper Deluge

2009-04-05T23:31:00.000-04:00

No better time or place to people watch than right now in DC ...

Watch this space: Hold the phone, we may not need Cheney's cardiologist just yet; DC is showing signs of life again

Twitter, you're a lifesaver! -- Literally.

2009-04-04T12:51:00.003-04:00

So now it saves lives too ...

and that's why Google and the Times are paranoid

Don't discount the power of people who follow stars on Twitter.
A woman who used the micro-blogging network to announce her plans to commit suicide by tweeting actress Demi Moore was later found by authorities and taken in for evaluation after followers of the actress reported the incident to police, who said this is an unprecedented use of the network.

Watch this space: especially if you are a paramedic -- and as if you're not already

The Silver Post

2009-04-04T11:58:00.000-04:00

The big 5-0

I'm up there like Madge

Cent ...

and the cops ...

Watch this space: until the Golden Anniversary

Rolling Stone: Bringing you the hottest artist -- of 2008 ... finally

2009-04-03T19:31:00.006-04:00

Rolling Stone finally managed to get arguably the most fascinating figure -- of last year -- on their latest cover ...

it only took Lil' Wayne 3 Grammys, 1 million copies of Tha Carter III sold -- in a week ... in 2008's music industry, and 10 years in the game to get the cover. It is difficult to live up to the Jonas "Clean Teen Machine" Brothers and Taylor "Very Pink, Very Perfect" Swift though -- which is why they got their first covers months ago?

I must admit, the most disappointing part of the long-overdue cover is the lack of originality -- per usual Rolling Stone-as-of-late. Print media is suffering, but it doesn't take millions of dollars to portray an artist's persona ...

Watch this space: Rolling Stone: still gathering moss

(News)paper Chase: From downsizing to digitizing

2009-04-03T00:27:00.006-04:00

The ongoing saga of how to sell the story -- resuscitate the ad revenue lifeline for print media -- is more often than not becoming the story itself.

While the newsprint and newsroom personnel downsize ...

“In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets become no-newspaper markets,” said Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the industry.

[...]

Nearly every large paper in the country prints fewer pages and fewer articles, and many have eliminated entire sections. Bureaus in foreign capitals and even Washington have closed, and papers have jettisoned film criticism, book reviews and coverage of local news outside their home markets.

[...]

The steady trickle of downsizing that sapped American papers for almost a decade has become a flood in the last few years. The Los Angeles Times still has one of the largest news staffs in the country, about 600 people, but it was twice as big in the late 1990s. The Washington Post had a newsroom of more than 900 six years ago, and has fewer than 700 now. The Gannett Company, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, eliminated more than 8,300 jobs in 2007 and 2008, or 22 percent of the total.

online expansion is a window of opportunity for companies looking to transition in the technological age -- to adjust and adapt to, instead of avoid, the digital domain ...

The death of a newspaper should result in an explosion of much smaller news sources online, producing at least as much coverage as the paper did, says Jeff Jarvis, director of interactive journalism at the City University of New York’s graduate journalism school. Those sources might be less polished, Mr. Jarvis said, but they would be competitive, ending the monopolies many newspapers have long enjoyed.

though it may not be greeted with the warmest welcome ...

Many critics and competitors of newspapers — including online start-ups that have been hailed as the future of journalism — say that no one should welcome their demise.

“It would be a terrible thing for any city for the dominant paper to go under, because that’s who does the bulk of the serious reporting,” said Joel Kramer, former editor and publisher of The Star Tribune and now the editor and chief executive of MinnPost .com, an online news organization in Minneapolis.
“Places like us would spring up,” he said, “but they wouldn’t be nearly as big. We can tweak the papers and compete with them, but we can’t replace them.”

the transition is seen as an inevitability

A number of money-losing papers should “have the guts to shut down print and go online,” he said. “It will have to be a much smaller product, but that’s where we’re headed anyway.”
Industry executives who once scoffed at the idea of an Internet-only product now concede that they are probably headed in that direction, but the consensus is that newspapers going all digital would become drastically smaller news sources for the foreseeable future.

Again, the print media needs to break down the barriers between itself and online news media. Print needs to start from the ground up in the digital sphere, and that begins with interacting with online journalists -- and yes, bloggers -- to get acclimated to the new world of online news journalism.

Even Howard Zinn can attest to early Pilgrims' alliance with Natives in the U.S. That collaboration was integral to the settlers survival -- much like an alliance on behalf of the print media with the online news media community is integral to the newspaper's survival.

Naturally, as the settlers gained manpower, capital, a manifesto, and regained enough sanity to remember why they ventured here in the first place, they went from friends to forefathers of a new nation built on the backs of Nativ-- I mean morals and ideals of true Patriots. I see print doing the same; I see print's future relying on a collaboration with bloggers, online journalists, etc., to gain the basic grasp of this new medium. More importantly, I see that as the "cut losses" in time and revenue before rebranding and rebuilding the corporate print news empire online.

Print media needs to start from the ground up. Many companies -- obviously the increasingly paranoid, but rightfully so, New York Times -- take the fear-of-the-unknown route and choose to valiantly play on the sinking ship. There's nothing wrong with humbling yourself and starting from square one; for the print media, they've got nothing -- and so nothing to lose.

Watch this space: especially you advertisers, it's for sale -- still

Call me Casper the Friendly Ghost-Tweeter

2009-03-30T22:38:00.008-04:00

I could say it better myself -- but not just yet

What's the solution? These people all need professional help. But since they're unlikely to spend the time they need on the psychiatrist's couch, they'll doubtless end up hiring assistants adept in social media. Ghostwritten Twitters are the hot new Hollywood must-have.

Every tweet will be media-coached. Every blog will be relentlessly edited — and then have typos inserted for authenticity. (Is that why someone pretending to be Rachael Ray consistently misspelled the cooking-show personality's name on a Yahoo blog?) The kids who are pretending to be celebrities on Twitter today will no doubt get paid to do it in the future.

Watch this space: never underestimate the substance beneath the stylish smoke and mirrors, there's jobs to be saved -- and plenty more to be made -- in this digital age ...

My twitter can die happy and go to twitter heaven now ...

2009-03-30T01:07:00.003-04:00

Eastbound and down ...

means I'm on the up-and-up

See, there's hope for the bullied kids yet ...

2009-03-29T23:42:00.008-04:00

Glenn Beck. Rising star. -- no, that's not right. Glenn Beck, rising star?! -- that's more like it.

I mean with a glam-fab head shot like that, how could he not be a rising star? Not to mention his on-screen presence ...

Plus he's been doing it for years. It hasn't always been easy, but he had to take what Diddy calls the "Rihanna Road," where progress is a slow process. Beck's been nose to the grindstone forever, I suppose it is about time he see the fruits of his labor ...

Not everyone can support Global Warming as the world's biggest scam ...

or stand on the same pedestal of political pre-eminence as Ann Coulter ...

or make candy bars come out of their butts?

or be creepy ...

all the time ...

but that's called moxy and moxy makes it to the top.

Watch this space: Especially, if you've never seen a star on the rise. I've been watching this space forever, but I liked it better when it was called Public Access Television.

Distriction: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

2009-03-29T22:59:00.006-04:00

... and the flurry of finger pointing a la British investigative journalism puts a possible smudge on the as-of-yet snow white reputation of the second daughter, Ashley Biden -- but more so on her father, "Can-I-call-you-Joe" Biden

Biden -- Mr. that is -- is an adamant supporter of the anti-drug campaign, specifically -- you guessed it -- the trafficking of cocaine from Columbia

Since becoming a senator for Delaware in 1973, Mr Biden has pushed for harder penalties for cocaine possession and trafficking and last year sponsored a new bill aimed at curbing the smuggling of Colombian cocaine into the US in submarines.

Say it ain't so Joe! even if it is so joe, there's worse things she could do ... her last name could be Dupre

In related news: sports

British print media: 2; Young American public figures: 0
Disabled list: Michael Phelps, Ashley Biden

American print media: we lost count; British public figures: 0
Disabled list: Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Kate Moss, Pete Doherty, Russell Brand, etc.

Distriction: Springing back from cy-bernating slumber

2009-03-28T21:23:00.017-04:00

This weekend welcomed the Cherry Blossom Festival, DC's cultural introduction to Spring -- and the perfect way to wake from a late winter hibernation from the digital domain.

A brief greeting after my semi-extended stint away from the blogosphere. I took some time to rest and refuel my creative reserves -- similar to a bear's hibernation for the digital age, more tech and less time.

So, I'm back now: like Bipartisanship a la Britney ...

black ...

babies ...

Bush (W.) -- a la Barack ...

the sound of dot-com bubbles bursting ...

and dot-com bubbles broadening ...

Scientology -- a la Palin's people ...

bracketology ...

and those beautiful cherry blossoms.

A week (end) in review -- in case you missed it

The Quarter: Title Mag

2009-03-21T11:30:00.010-04:00

The kid's alright ... Title Magazine Editor-in-Chief Catherine Bui stopped by the Motel to let us in on her latest work:

The Quarter is a fourth of a dollar and the Fourth Estate went from promoting public opinion to profiting the private sector -- but a quarter is still a fourth and it's always a pleasant surprise to see the vanity press resurfacing. Now, the point, over at MdM a visitor sent a link to their magazine -- and I had to pass it along. So, here is an introduction to Title Magazine

At it's core, Title Magazine is an independent culture magazine on the upstart. For it's first issue, I was blown away at the clean design, and diversity of artwork and editorials. If only I had this kind of get-up-and-go as a teenager -- or a young adult at that.

Catherine Bui has her finger on the pulse. For a junior in high school this is an excellent example of how to present oneself as an asset to the cultural online media community. Title is a portfolio of visual and editorial pieces. Moreover, it displays a strong grasp of the digital sphere to produce an original online magazine of this calibre. Beyond the personal positioning though, Title is just a great publication for the culture and arts crowds.

I anticipate great things from Catherine & Co. A personal favorite within the inaugural issue was this foray into "Underexposed Photographer," Nick Asokan's work.

In my day, we had school newspapers; obviously, times have changed. It's great to see pockets of passion within the next generation of journalists and future media figures.

Title Magazine is an example of positive perpetuation: Bui's initiative is the kind that makes you, too, want to "Follow your dream."

Watch this space

Distriction: A is for American -- all day

2009-03-19T19:58:00.006-04:00

To the victors go the spoils ... no matter how unpredictably fleeting

watch this space: while you can

Distriction: We're Dancin'

2009-03-19T19:47:00.005-04:00

To Justice's request, "Do the D.A.N.C.E.; 1,2,3,4,5" DC's American University basketball takes one from their hometown's Commander and says "Yes We Can."

Watch this space: it's my alma mater

Distriction: Ba-sham-rack O'bama

2009-03-17T21:29:00.001-04:00

The Hill was alive with the sound of Gaelic today -- and the green garb to boot -- as President O'Bama welcomed his "brother from another mother" -- land, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen

It's all fun and festive until the water is flowing from your faucet ...

Green might be having the best day ever: White House fountain, Ba-sham-rack's tie, Dow arrows, AIG Exec's pockets, sprouting soon-to-be-Springtime grass ... fitting and fresh.

Because I'm busy that's why

2009-03-16T23:16:00.010-04:00

Like N.E.R.D. said "It's time for some action," so while I'm out studying the world in 4 minutes just know I've got the wiings to stay fly. Schoolwork, work work, life work: only work if you work them

In between inspiration: synthetic ...

and organic ...

I work hard now so I won't have to settle for situations involving Sarah later.

Though it's still not too late for her to employ my no-fail two-step plan: magazines and manners, remember them -- keep those in mind and it should be easy sailin' for Palin. As for where that tugboat is going exactly, I'm sure I don't know; but there's bound to be a loyal fleet of good ol' boats following.

Watch this space: Will discuss after I TiVo it ...

photo credit: munzz

Distriction: DC HIV/AIDS Rates Surpass West Africa

2009-03-15T12:25:00.002-04:00

Because it's not just a third-world problem, it's a problem on Third and Maryland Ave too

More imperative -- but innately intertwined -- with the "Anti-Journalism" movement is the need to debunk the (mediated) HIV/AIDS mythologies within the U.S. For example: toting Africa as the world's AIDS haven. HIV/AIDS -- like hunger, like poverty, like inadequate education -- does not stop at our doorstep. The sooner we come to terms with social pandemics -- and take accountability and ownership of them as our own -- the sooner we can solve the problem.

As the Obama Administration aims to reconnect the U.S. with our international partners, it is key that we as Americans look -- beyond politics, to people -- at shared experiences between ourselves and our fellow global citizens -- flaws and all.

Hopefully, this sparks an expansion initiative for the Project Red -- who's brilliant campaign stimulates charity, capitalism, and consumption ... all in one! The brand's mission to "fight AIDS in Africa," would provide worlds of support -- literally -- to fight the AIDS within the U.S. as well. Even a campaign to establish sub-projects -- country/region specific extensions within the larger "Project Red" umbrella -- would present the gravity in sheer breadth of the social crisis, but more so the solidarity behind the solution.

Watch this space

So much for the free Aqua Dots ...

2009-03-14T22:50:00.009-04:00

Now I'll never get to be on Evil's speed dial; thanks, Rachel -- but, seriously, thanks

Progress is a slow process, but someone out there is reading this blog -- though I didn't think it would be a Burson-Marsteller watchdog group -- an audience is an audience.

Looks like I'll need some image consultation to get back in Burson's good graces. So ... now would be a good time to call Burson-Marsteller so I -- they -- can spin this post about themselves to themselves.

Tweeting Made Easy: We Follow

2009-03-14T20:39:00.009-04:00

Per T.I.'s suggestion: "They don't know which way to go/I'll make it easy follow me." Twitter launched a site rendering "I have a Twitter, but I don't know what to do with it now that I'm there," a thing of the past. We follow is a "user powered Twitter directory," -- a Twitter search engine, of sorts, using hashtags as keywords to find and follow fellow Tweeters of a feather.

To add yourself to the directory enable/follow @hashtags, then tweet @wefollow three 1 word tags that describe you/your twitter page (i.e. @wefollow #blogger #music #dc) ... it's just that easy!

Obviously the big tags at the mo are (in very particular order) celebrity, music, tech, news -- and yes this is an apt reflection on priorities within the Twitter community.

After a winded round-the-world "Twitter is no threat to G" lecture series, Google is resting its voice and opting to Tweet instead of talk for the time being ... If you can't beat em, define yourself in three tags or less and enter the directory like everyone else ...

Speaking of Twitter -- which is becoming the modern day equivalent of "How's the weather?" -- I'll make it easy ... for you to follow me.

Watch this space: Old man Google's Tweets are speaking louder than his words -- for Twitter to be such a non-threat, We Follow got the leader to G Follow pretty quickly

"Anti-Journalism" 101

2009-03-14T00:03:00.003-04:00

Journalists need the work, educators need the break, and students need the media literacy training.

Educators have been teaching students how to read and write what is printed for centuries. Now, in a time of unparalleled transition, ex-journalists are re-entering the classroom to teach students how to read what is in between the print -- and in between the blurred lines of news/entertainment. News literacy is increasingly important in social and personal development -- with more time being spent in front of a television or computer screen over textbooks. Where "the media" is replacing teachers, textbooks, and tutors; former media professionals are becoming teachers and tutors, explaining how to decipher through the tech-books of mainstream news/entertainment.

Some say we are drowning in information and starving for knowledge -- I conquer. However, initiatives like this one at Stony Brook set blueprints for a new media that aims to inform -- not inundate.

Watch this space: more to come ...

iDaft.com: MCPD 1000 - Music Production 2.0 (Sampling Methods)

2009-03-13T21:20:00.007-04:00

Kanye University is hoping to rise through the U.S. News & World Report "Liberal Arts" college rankings by introducing an entree of innovative courses over the next few semesters. The first of which -- Music Production 2.0 (Sampling Methods) -- takes a hands-on approach to teaching its students the art of sampling, in a way only Kan the Louis Vuitton Don could.

Using iDaft, professors literally put the power of production right in the palms of their pupils.

Students mix, mash, chop, screw, smother, scatter, and cover vocal stems from Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. The end result could be something completely -- kind of -- original or just a tweak of Kanye's stab at the electro-classic.

Word around the rumor mill is that the scholar assembling the best product gets contracted for an official remix on Ye's next album: Twelfth of Nevuary. But wait there's more! -- Because the rumor mill never stops churning -- some would-slash-have say-slash-said next semester's course will be more streamlined, some might say ... Aerodynamic?

The good news is you don't have to be enrolled in KU to take advantage of the learning tools. You too can be a Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger uberproducer -- which is the rough equivalent to "half-as-good-as-Kanye-thinks-he-is" or "twice-as-good-as-people-give-him-credit-for."

Kanye University is accepting applications for the Fall 2009 semester on a rolling deadline. So take your time, prep your portfolio, and drive slow.

Distriction: Coming coming ... back back ... to DC DC

2009-03-12T12:58:00.005-04:00

Short stint in Atlanta sadly coming to a close, but we all knew the return was imminent ...

While I'm Mid-Air, a little something to get the DC mode going for the rest of you: Distriction: City Soul

See you on the other side.

Mode: on