HAHAHAHAHA

The best picture I have ever taken. I love NJ Transit.

My girlfriend is going to be pissed...

...when I cheat on her with Google. Google Earth now offers a feature where you can turn the view and look up at the sky...zooming in to various stars and galaxies. How badass.

Info from Google
Lost Remote reaction

Obama Girl

This is going to be one of those interesting things that becomes a footnote in the internet politics books. The "Obama Girl" YouTube clip, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, is easily going to make it into those types of textbooks. It is going to represent the rise of user created content, but the funny footnote is going to be who does Obama Girl actually support. CNN has her leaning towards Clinton. I love good footnotes.

Full CNN Story

Google Sky

This is badass.

"Popular mapping service Google Earth will launch a new feature called Sky, a 'virtual telescope' that the search engine hopes will turn millions of Internet users into stargazers."

Full CNN Article

MAPOR Acceptance

I had a paper accepted today for presentation at the 2007 Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research annual conference. The paper, entitled "Presidential Campaign Web Usage in Times of Tragedy: A Case Study of Candidate Web Responses to the Virginia Tech Shootings" examines the way the 16 announced candidates for the presidency used their websites to address the Virgina Tech shooting. The paper was accepted based on an abstract and once I am done with the full paper I will post it or a shortened version of it here.

Call me an asshole, but...

This is my problem with the world now-a-days. The NAACP is showing strong support of Michael Vick. In a statement today, R.L. White, president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP, said Vick was a redeemable human being and should be treated like one. He clearly said Vick should be punished for his actions, but he also said the NFL shouldn't ban him. (Full Story from CNN)

I'm sorry but where was forgiveness in the Imus situation. I didn't hear the NAACP call for the public to hold their judgment and to remember he is a human being. He made a bad, clearly offensive joke. Mike Vick allegedly killed dogs for fun. I don't mind groups coming out for something they believe in. I don't actually really care that the NAACP is supporting Vick, but it is the constant hypocrisy that really bothers me. And unfortunately this isn't limited to just the NAACP. This extends to political parties, lobbying groups, and countless other organizations. The media and the American public has made it so simple to create these simple dichotomies were two people argue back in forth, that now-a-days I don't think it matters what they are arguing about.

We as people need to start examining these messages, so we can gain an understanding of not only the immediate message, but also the context that surrounds the message and the speaker. I believe this is again a call for all universities to add Media Literacy or some such class to the core curriculum. Students today need to have a greater understanding of media, so they can deconstruct the messages presented through it.

Now I'm going to need a ladder to get down from this pedestal...ohh nevermind, no ladder needed...there are a couple of soapboxes right here I could use to get down.

Facebook Hyperlocal

LostRemote is talking about Facebook's new hyperlocal neighborhood. Actually I guess it is a third party app not theirs, but either way I am going to have to chaeck it out tonight (after I hook up my new Tivo).

Today's the day...

I am writing a new article. It should be interesting and a little controversial. I am shooting to have it done by Wednesday. Hopefully available in the next couple weeks.

Columbus Congressional Seat opening

Rep. Pryce (R-OH) announced today that she will not seek re-election in 2008. Here are some interesting clips from the Dispatch article:

Pryce, 56, said family considerations were the key factor in her decision. Her daughter, Mia, 5, will be entering kindergarten next week, and Pryce said, “My daughter Caroline, who passed away, I missed a lot of growing up, and I don't want that to happen again.”

Caroline was 9 when she died of cancer in 1999. Pryce adopted Mia as a newborn in 2002.

...

Pryce said that it became harder to do the job after Democrats took control of the House this year and changed the traditional Tuesday through Thursday work week to Monday through Friday.

...

Pryce also said that while she had grown a thick skin from her last difficult race against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, whom she beat by a percentage point following a recount last year, the increasing ugliness and rancor of campaigns is taking a toll on her family and friends.

Pryce said she was ready for another close race and the prospect of one wasn't the reason for her departure.

“The ugliness of the election may have played a part in it, but certainly not the closeness of it,” she said.

Full Article at the Dispatch

Holbrook looking for new job

Former OSU President Karen Holbrook applied for the President job at Florida Gulf Coast University today. As the Dispatch pointed out in an article today, this might be a slightly easier job:

Florida Gulf Coast is tiny compared to Ohio State, with slightly more than 9,000 students, 64 degree programs and a $130 million budget.

Ohio State has nearly 52,000 students, almost 400 degree programs and a $3.7 billion budget.

Back to 2007

So I am still in the process of moving, but my cable and Internet were hooked-up today and my new Tivo is in the mail. I never realized how bad TV was until I lived with Tivo for two years and then lost it for three months. What it comes down to is simple: I will never go back to appointment viewing.

Nielsen NetRatings

Nielsen NetRatings Top 10 Internet News Brands for July 2007 (Change from June)

1 Yahoo! News 32,674 (+381)
2 CNN Digital Network 29,757 (+1,436)
3 MSNBC 26,015 (-1,419)
4 AOL News 23,103 (+1,165)
5 NYTimes.com 14,149 (+1,614)
6 Gannett Newspapers 13,812 (+1,533)
7 Tribune Newspapers 12,218 (+180)
8 USAToday.com 10,611 (+2,019)
9 ABCNEWS Digital Network 9,876 (-976)
10 Fox News Digital Network 9,343 (+1,151)

Very interesting. Google News is not in the top 10.

Pointer from LostRemote

Like Saturday at the Masters...

Its moving day. Finally, I should be able to unpack all my boxes and get settled in. I think I'll try to get a couch ordered this weekend. I also think I need more bookselves and a filing cabinet. Other than that I need some small things like a towel rack, a shower curtain, etc.

Also, in today's news the DOW is tanking. For some reason about three weeks ago I predicted to Glenn that it was going to fall to 12,500 before it would really settle. I am sticking with that prediction.

Back From AEJMC

As you can probably guess I am back from the AEJMC conference in Washington D.C. Overall it was a very good conference and I hope to submit various pieces of research to it in the future. You can catch various panel discussion from AEJMC on C-SPAN over the next few days.

How to Catch a Predator Caught in a Mess

A number of major media are taking long looks in to the NBC francise "To Catch A Predator." Today, The Dallas Morning News had a fairly lengthy article examining a recent sting in Texas, which lead to 20 arrests and one suicide. All 20 arrests were thrown out "because of evidence problems. Esquire, which hit stands today, also has an article about the case and 20/20 is apperently working on a piece also.

I think this all very interesting, because I have always had some problems with the idea of this show. First, from a journalistic standpoint I think it seriously crosses the line from reporting on news to creating news. This is a clear violation of the SPJ's Code of Ethics;

"Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it".

Second, I always thought this was on shaky legal ground. The whole innocent until proven guilty is sort of thrown out the window by Chris Hansen and his team. I am all for arresting these men, but ruining their lives on a national scale before they are convicted of anything...hell, before they are even officiallly charged with anything is bothersome to me.

Is AOL at all relevant?

As I have mentioned in the last number of posts, I have been hanging out at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference. Well yesterday I went to a panel session entitled something like...YouTube Effect: Virual Marketing and blah blah blah...The panel was pretty good and mixed a couple academics with a couple of industry experts. What was interesting to me was there was an exec from AOL on the panel. I'll have to look up his actual title in the program at some point, but he said his job was essentially Director of Programming for AOL Video.

What he said was run of the mill kind of internet video stuff, but what I took away is that AOL is not relevant at all anymore. I mean seriously. He was sitting on a panel entitled "YouTube Effect." AOL does not seem to be coming up with any new or creative ideas. Example: the only new thing he talked about was minisodes, which MySpace made big. What can I say I am still sort of amazed that a company that played such a large role in revolutionizing media can become so irrelevant a decade later.

Anti-NFL vests

The AEJMC passed a resolution today condemning the NFL for their new proposed practice of requiring sideline photographers to wear vests, which have corporate logos on them. They join the RTNDA, NAB, NPPA, SND, and others who have spoke out on the proposal.

Regardless, I believe the NFL is going to go through with it, because they sort of got the photogs buy the balls. The NFL is the only organization that can grant access to these games and the journalist have to cover it because it is newsworthy. Unfortunately, the journalists can choose to boycott the games. A news organization cannot choose to not cover a bona fide news event.

Fred Thompson

ImWithFred.com got a facelift. It now, as my thesis predicted*, conforms to the websites of the other major players.

*My thesis, among other things, predicted that all the websites would end up looking just about identical.

AEJMC Day One

So I have successfully made it to Washington D.C. for the 90th annual* Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference. I started looking through the program and I must say I am a little disappointed in the low number of political comm stuff, but there is a good deal of very interesting journalism panels. Here is one I found:

Community Journalism Interest Group
Refereed Paper Research Session: Online Expressions of Community Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher
-Weeklies and the Web: A Study of Newspaper Managers and the State of Their Online Editions*
Jennifer Wood Adams, Auburn
-Media Roles and Audience Engagement: Relationships Between Perceptions of Journalists’ Functions and Uses of Interactive Features Deborah Chung, Kentucky
-Connecting Virtual and Geographic Communities: Toward a New Model of Journalism in Bluffton, S.C. Heidi Fedak, Kansas

There is also a panel lead by former Ball State prof, Dr. Bob Papper, entitled "The Future of News," which includes Bob Garfield, from PBS's On The Media, and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

So although this conference seems to be lacking on the poli comm stuff. I should be able to find something to do.


*I am not sure if it is actually the 90th, but I thought that is what I saw

Ooooh...snap

Slate.com is reporting Rudy Giuliani's daughter, Caroline, self-identifies herself as a liberal on her Facebook profile and was even a member of one of the various Barack Obama Facebook groups.

AEJMC

So tomorrow I head off to the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington D.C. I am unfortunately not presenting anything at this conference, but am just going to see how it works. I have yet to be to a national conference and am looking forward to hopefully higher caliber presentations and papers. I will be primarily looking for papers on new media and politics or journalism. I hope there are some good papers looking at online social networking and politics, but I am not going to hold my breath. Either way, next year I plan on submitting papers to the conference, so this will be a good learning experience.

New iMacs

Apple (AAPL) did in fact announce new iMacs. They are all aluminum and sexy, but not a huge leap forward.

Jersey

So I made it to Jersey yesterday. We are heading to Youngstown today and then heading to Columbus on Sunday.

Apple Releasing new iMacs

CNN Money is reporting:

"Apple Inc. (AAPL) on Tuesday is expected to announce a long-awaited upgrade to its Macintosh computers.

Apple representatives weren't commenting Thursday beyond saying the company has scheduled a press event for Tuesday to focus on its computer lineup, and it will feature an appearance by Chief Executive Steve Jobs.

However, it's widely expected the company will unveil its first lineup of new iMac computers since the company initially adopted Intel Corp. (INTC) processors in January 2006."

2008 and Online Social Networking

A new study coming out of the Bentley College political science department looks at the use of online social networks (OSN) in the 2008 presidential campaign. The full study is going to be presented at the upcoming annual conference of the American Political Science Association, but by looking at the press release from Bentley it is not a very in-depth study. It seems to just look at very simple frequencies and does not apply these to any solid theoretical foundation. As an example, the study compares Facebook and MySpace friends to poll standings and web traffic and finds:

"First, the Paul, and to a lesser extent, Obama, examples show that a dominant online presence does not necessarily convert to a commensurate standing in offline polls or campaign contributions. Similarly, a weak online presence relative to other challengers need not preclude reaching the top of the polls, as Giuliani's numbers show" (para. 4).

This is a little too ambiguous of a finding for my comfort level.

They do successfully examine the various presidential candidate's OSN profiles and start making a list of characteristics of this new genre of communication.

*biographical information
*issue position information
*excerpts or clips from speeches, appearances, press coverage
*campaign photographs or videos
*comment blogs posted by visitors
(para. 10)

And they note some characteristics of OSN communication by presidential candidates, which are different from normal online communication (ie. candidate website).

*personal interests and activities, favorite music, movies, and books
*campaign events: Mike Huckabee is the one exception who announces them
*solicitations for campaign contributions: Sam Brownback and Kucinich are the two exceptions, generating $200 and $6, respectively through Facebook.
(para. 11)

I believe the 2nd and 3rd points of difference are referring to the lack of solicitations and campaign event info on candidate's OSN profiles. I think the press release is worded a little awkwardly.

Also of note, I am currently in the design process of 2 studies looking at the effects of OSN's on the 2008 presidential campaign. These are being co-author with Dr. Young Mie Kim, Assistant Professor of Communication at The Ohio State University. I will try to update the blog as these pieces of research go forward.

Neat-o

Here is another impressive interactive feature by the folks at the New York Times. This one looks at where the 2008 presidential candidates are getting their money.



I just can't say enough about the good things the New York Times are doing in the interactive realm. I mean seriously...they are by far the best of any of the mainstream media of weaving news and new media. Love it.

My Current Life

So I have successfully moved from Muncie, Indiana to Columbus, Ohio. I am living in the Short North. This is the area just north of downtown and just south of campus. It is a great neighborhood to live in. There are a number of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and art galleries, within walking distance of my apartment. I am actually subletting a friend's place for the next couple weeks and then I will move into my more permanent place on August 15th. I start my Ph.D. program at OSU on September 19th and am really looking forward to their program. I have already been able to start to get involved at OSU by jumping on a couple research projects.

The next couple weeks are going to be incredibly busy. I am flying out to Newark, New Jersey on Friday to spend the weekend with my girlfriend and help her move out of New Jersey. We will be taking our time driving back and I think she'll stick around Columbus until Monday. Then on Wednesday I head out to Washington DC to attend the AEJMC annual conference and hang out with my buddy, Glenn Luther. I'll get back to Columbus on Sunday and will be moving that next Wednesday. Busy. Busy. Busy.

Over the next couple weeks I hope to be able to keep blogging when I can and let everyone in on the research I am working on. Stay tuned.

Media and The Stock Market

So I am just thinking out loud here, but is it possible that the increase coverage of the stock market and the economy is leading to a more volatile market. I mean over the last couple weeks we have seen the market bouncing up and down like a yo-yo. I am sure part of that has to do with the sub-prime fallout, corporate credit situation, etc. But over the last 20 years...hell even the last 5 years...we have seen incredible changes in the amount of finance news available to everyone. We have also seen incredible changes in the amount of trading and the speed of transaction. Could all of this be leading to a much more volatile and fickle market?

So we meet again...

Well I think I am going to try this again. I honestly can't promise I'll keep up with it, but I am going to give it another whirl. I think blogs are an interesting way to test ideas and meet people within your field. Unfortunately, I think they are also a lot of work to maintain and a drag on my everyday life. However, it is very important to me to keep writing and testing out my ideas, so here goes nothing.

The Media Dork

For now the blog is down. I hope to get back to it at some point. I will e-mail everyone I know if I start updating this again.

Frankfurt

(ed. note: I wrote this few days ago but I have not been able to get blogger to work for the last couple days. I had a crappy internet connection in Milan.)

From Paris, I headed to a friendly face and a great city. I headed to Frankfurt, Germany to stay with Tomas Herzberger. You might remember him from such places as the Digital Storytelling program in fall semester. Tomas showed me around his truly wonderful city.

I must say going in I was picturing Germany, especially Frankfurt, as very grey and bland. Really solid, functional architecture and just a very plain city. What I found was a relatively new city with an interesting mix of both exciting, progressive architecture and old city feel. Frankfurt is obviously much newer than most European cities. Most of it was destroyed during the war.

Anyway, Tomas was a fabulous tour guide. As soon as I met up with him at Frankfurt Main train station, we went out to the Frankfurt football field for the public viewing of the Germany-Italy world cup match. About 35,000 fans showed up to watch the match on big screen TV's in the center of the empty field. It was very interesting to me, an American football fan, to see just how big this is. Ohio State football has a pretty big following, but this is a whole country getting together to cheer on one team. It was great until the 118th minute when Italy scored the first of two goals in overtime to win and advance to the final. That was very disappointing.

Through out the next couple of days we did a number of very interesting things and I got to see alot of the Frankfurt area. First we walked all through downtown Frankfurt. We did everything from going up to the top of a modern skyscraper to looking at roman ruins within the city. The next day we when for a driving tour outside the city. We went through the hill country north of the city. This area was beautiful and reminded me a little bit of Shanedoah National Forest, except the hills weren't quite high enough. Coming out of the hill country we drove along the Rhine, which is the German wine country. Again just an amazing area. I really enjoyed. My last day in Frankfurt, we again went downtown. Tomas took me for a short tour of HR, Frankfurt's public television and radio facility. It was much nicer than any TV station I have seen in America, but I guess I have not seen too many stations that produced a lot of local content. Either way, it was a huge 20 building campus. My stay in Frankfurt ended with a nice homecooked meal. Tomas is more than just a tour guide. He is also a hell of a chef.

We went to breakfast in the morning and then I jumped the train to Milan, Italy, where I currently am. I will be here until tomorrow and then I head to Siena, Italy, where I will be staying for 6 nights.

Long week...

So needless to say it has been a long week. I have been having troubles finding time to do everything and as you can see the blog got relegated a back seat, but I have been keeping a very extensive journal.

Anyway the last time I posted here I was in Amsterdam. Now I am two stops away from there. After a couple nights in Amsterdam, I caught the train and headed southwest to Paris. I stayed in the Montmartre section, about two miles northeast of city centre. It is also home to the famous Sacre Coeur church. Sacre Coeur is on the top of a large hill and provides one of the most breathtaking views of Paris. Every night hundreds of tourists and locals head to Sacre Coeur to sit on the hill, watch the sunset and drink wine. It was an amazing area to stay in.

While in Paris I was able to go out and see alot of the sights, but also meet a number of very interesting people. The art in Paris is great. In the four days I was there I was able to go to both the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou (modern art). The Louvre, as you can guess, was mindboggling. I am not a huge fan of the Mona Lisa and I had never gotten what all the fuss was about, but to see, from 6 feet, the most famous painting in the world is an experience I will not forget. Le Centre Pompidou on the other hand had a lot of art I was very excited to see, including Picasso, Braque, Dali, etc. But they also had another huge section of video art and other new media kind of art. It was very, very cool. Although I must say Warhol ruined video art for me. I also did all the other tourist kind of things. I went to the the Arch de Triomphe and the Tour Eiffel. It was all very nice. But most of all I liked sitting around the cafe's reading my book, Kerouac's Lonely Traveler, and people watching.

The people I met were amaying. Most of them ended up being Americans living in Paris, but either way they gave me a view of Paris I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. For example, it was pointed out to me that the French are not really rude as much as just proper. The have systems. You should start every conversation with Bonjour Madame...then start talking. Too many people break that system and just start talking. This throws people off and they tend to be rude after that. I don't know. I still think they were a little rude. I also got the oppurtunity to be driven through the 12 point circle that goes around th Arch de Triomphe. That was incredible.

Anyway, this is dragging on to long. Paris was good to me. I then left Paris and headed down to Frankfurt, Germany to hang out with my friend Tomas and watch some World Cup football. I will try to post about my experiences in Germany tomorrow or Sunday.

Also I am leaving tomorrow to head to Milan, Italy. While in Milan I plan on seeing The Last Supper and watching Italy in the World Cup final. I am hoping they win. I think the party in the streets of Milan would make some great pictures.

Amsterdam pt. 2

I think I am starting to gert my bearing. I finally had to sleep. I had not slept much on the plane, so I needed a couple hours. I slept for like an hour and half, woke up and took a shower. Now I feel like a new man in a new country.

This afternoon I walked all through the city. It is a very interesting city. Unfortunetly due to mischeduling I will only be here until Friday afternoon, but I need to come back here to catch my plane back to the states at the end of the trip. So I could always head back here early.

Either way I hae no clue what I am going to do this evening. Should be interesting.

Amsterdam

I have successfully conquered transalantic flight and have arrived safely in Amsterdam. I plan on relaxing and reading alot on this trip. I choose with Erneest Hemmingway's classic novel "The Sun Also Rise." Its major theme seems to be doing nothing in Europe. Any more later. I think I will wait until tomorrow to hit the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum.

Update

I am sitting in Panera eating a French Baguette, thinking next week at this time I'll just be eating a baguette. As you can clearly noticed I have not updated the Media Dork in quite a while. That is for a number of reasons, but mainly because I am lazy. Therefore in the upcoming fall I will not attempt to keep blogging. I just don't see it as something I will keep up with. What I plan on doing is designing a website and start doing weekly-ish columns or rants. I think this will work better, but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, it has been a long time since I posted here, so I thought I would update everyone. In a terrible twist of fate, on May 29, 2006 I lost my mentor, my teacher, my role model, my friend...my Father. Robert M. Geidner lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at 51 years old. He was a scientist, a teacher, and a father. His science background is what lead him to hospital labratories, where he worked for nearly half his life. At the time of his death he was the lab manager at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. One employee remembered him as "the best boss they ever had" and another as "the best and cheapest psychologist." His love for chemistry is also what led him to his latest passion, winemaking. He made a variety of types from Merlots to Ports to Zinfandels. Benson Mills Winery was in its infancy, but Dad had big dreams for it.

Although chemistry was his passion, it was teaching that was his true nature. His love of teaching is what guided him as a cub scout master and a scout leader. He guided and taught hundreds of boys, including my brother and I during those years. Those years also provided me with the fondest memories I have of my Father. The weeks we spent backpacking through Shenandoah National Forest or canoeing on the French River will always be etched into my mind. They represent some of the happiest times in my life and I am truly blessed to have shared them with my Father. Unfortunately, Dad was not able to reach his dream of teaching at the collegiate level. He was offered a position teaching a chemistry class for the 2005-2006 school year at Villa Julie College, but he had to withdrawal due to his first surgery. Villa Julie again offered him the same position for this upcoming school year. He was amazingly excited for the opportunity.

As a Father, he was not overbearing. He did not nag us. He simply led by example. I cannot remember a time he said I needed to read a book or study. But I also can’t remember a time in which he was not reading at least one book. At the time of his death, he was reading at least 6 books. They ranged from books about winemaking to Bill Bryson’s “A History of Nearly Everything” to a biography of DaVinci. I think it is because of this example that both my brother and I value reading so much. I also share his dry, sarcastic sense of humor and his overall outlook on life. I learned an immense amount from my Father and although I wish I had more time with him, his life will forever serve as beacon and example for my life. And for that I will always be grateful.

With everything that happened I have spent the last six weeks out here in Baltimore at my Dad’s house. I had to postpone my trip to Europe, which was supposed to be from May 21 to June 20. It is now June 27 to July 26, which means I leave tomorrow.

I take off from BWI tomorrow at 1:35 P.M. and land in Amsterdam, Netherlands at 7:00 A.M. on Wednesday. I plan on staying in Amsterdam for a few days and then head over to Paris. From Paris I will head down to the French and Italian Riviera. I plan on stopping in Nice and the Cinque Terra. After that I will head to Siena, a favorite of my Fathers and then over to Vienna and Prague. After Prague, I will head over to Germany to hang out with Tomas. Then back to Amsterdam and back across the pond.

Anyway, that is the plan, but who knows if it will stick. I will try to post here as often as possible, just to let everyone know that I am alive and what country I am in.

Good news...

For the first time in the recorded history of Cancer the annual death toll from the diesease has gone down. According to CNN, "The number of cancer deaths dropped to 556,902 in 2003, down from 557,271 the year before, according to a recently completed review of U.S. death certificates by the National Center for Health Statistics."

Full Article


Donate Here. Donate Often.

CNN.com

CNN is getting crushed in the ratings by Fox, but online they are cleaning up. According to an article in the New York Observer, CNN.com is bringing in at least 12 million dollars per month in advertising. That is nearly an extra 150 million dollars CNN is bringing in per year.

I wonder when local TV stations will start believing me and start understanding there is money to be made off these here fandangled internets.

Holy crap!!!

There is actually an issue in which I, Nick Geidner, agree with a bunch of evangelical Christians...the environment. In a news conference today, a group of 86 evangelistic minister came out against the administrations policies on global warming prevention. Way to go.

Full Article

NFL Censors the Stones

"The NFL, which produced the (halftime) show seen on ABC Sunday night, silenced Jagger's microphone during sexually suggestive passages of two of the three songs the band performed before an audience of 90 million television viewers."

Full Story
.

Apple announcement

Apple announced today that they will be releasing 1 gig Nano for $150. They also announced that the iTunes store will start carrying some of Showtimes programming, including Sleeper Cell, Weeds and Fat Actress. It doesn't look like they are going to be offering "the L word", at least yet.

Full Story

Whopperettes

This is so cool. You can make your own Whopperette commercial. You get to pick your own condiments and everything. Hilarious.

The PIT

ThePitPodcast.com is live. Also the second episode of the PIT, Politically Intense Talk, is up. This week, Mark, Chris and I discussed primarily the legacy of President George W. Bush. I think it went fairly well and if you get a chance try to check it out.

Google taking over world...

Another story about Google buying up "dark fiber" and creating an alternative internet. This one is from the London Times.

Full Article

Watch Epic.

USAT Super Bowl ad meter

USA Today 18th annual Super Bowl ad meter is now available at their website.

Top 5

1)Bud Light - A secret fridge stocks Bud Light.
2)Budweiser - Young Clydesdale dreams big.
3)FedEx - Cave man uses prehistoric overnight delivery.
4)Sierra Mist - Sierra Mist can't clear airport security.
5)Bud Light - Men pretend to work on rooftops, but relax instead.

Worse Spot - Gillette - Razor brand unveils 5-blade system.

Full List

Lost Remote

Way to go to Lost Remote! Instead of doing a regular postgame advertising wrap-up Lost Remote managing editor, Steve Safran, decided to live blog the commercials and give them his initial three-word reaction.

Here are some of them:

Blockbuster: Online too late
Burger King: Busby Berkley? What?
Bud Light: Survivor - The Office
Sierra Mist: Kathy Griffin. Enough.
Bud Light: Is still watery
"16 Blocks": Die Hard IV

Full Article

1984

The famous "1984" Apple commercial, which is by far my favorite commercial ever, is getting a lot of press lately. The famous ad actually ran as a paid commercial only once ever, during the halftime of Super Bowl XVIII. It is a badass spot.

View the spot.

CellFlix Winner Announced

The CellFlix 30-second film festival announced their winner. The winning short "Cheat" was can be viewed at the CellFlix site. I think it is a solid story and makes good use of the 30-seconds.

I like the idea of this...

NBC is going to stream the unaired episodes of the recently cancelled, "Book of Daniel." I think this is just a great idea. Seriously, why not? They already made the episodes and bad ratings for the nets still means that...what...there are probably 100,000 people that liked the show. Might as well make it available. If nothing else it brings people to the site, so people can see NBC's other promotions.

Full Article

Washington Post

WashingtonPost.com has put up the full video of yesterday nights State of the Union. They put the video right up in the top left corner of the page. A big step for a newspaper to use video as, essentially, the main art.

Future of Media

"Built on the basis of owning a press or broadcast license, the world's media empires suddenly seem less potent in the Internet age.

Future revenue models are becoming murky as advertising funds get divided among a multitude of indirect competitors, all of which have instant, inexpensive access to a means of distribution." -Full Article

The International Herald-Tribune sits down four global media leaders and looks at how they think the future of media is going to work. Interesting read.

They talked about everything from hyperlocality to interactivity. Gerhard Florin pointed out something that I found very interesting, "unlike music, for example, people playing our games are not also reading a newspaper." Florin addresses the whole issue of concurrent media exposure in a matter of seconds. As the Digital Middletown research shows people are always doing multiple things...ie. watching TV and using the internet...but with video games they can't do much. Interesting.

USAT new media article

USA Today has an interesting article today about how various newspapers are using new media. It also talks about hyperlocal news, which is an interesting idea, and just the changing profits of the newspaper industry.

Pointer by Lost Remote

NYT terrible headline

Lost Remote points to a nearly offensive headline that covered the print edition of the New York Times today. It read, "ABC NEWS ANCHOR IS BADLY INJURED BY BOMB IN IRAQ | LATEST BLOW TO NETWORK | Cameraman Also Injured -- Field Reports Were a Ratings Strategy."

That is terrible in so many ways. This is the latest blow to the network? I hope they are not referring to the death of Peter Jennings as one of the other blows to the network. Neither of these, Peter Jennings's death or the injury of two journalists reporting from a warzone, represent blows to the network. If anything they represent huge blows to American journalism. The loss of Peter Jennings was not a loss to the network, but a loss to the country. And the attack against journalists in any warzone is terrible and should not be looked upon as a simple thing that might cause Disney to lose a rating point worth of ad dollars. Journalists risking their lives to try to report stories of grave international importance should never be minimalized to shares and rating points.

This was unquestionably terrible reporting by the New York Times.

Full Lost Remote article

Google Earth

Just so everyone knows Google Earth is now available for Mac. I downloaded it the other day and it seems to work fine on my PowerMac with Tiger. Of course you can get it by googling "Google Earth."

Auto Ads

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article, actually from Friday, about how auto ads are running from newspapers to the internet. The article is chalk full of interesting stats about exactly how much the newspaper industry is losing.

Woodruff/Vogt Update

CNN is reporting, "ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman suffered "very significant injuries" but are in stable condition after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the commander of the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, said today. Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were in a convoy of U.S. armored Humvees when attacked Sunday, ABC said."

Full Story

Lost Remote has also had excellent continuing coverage of this story.

The PIT is open...

Chris Flook, Mark Bell and I recorded the first episode of The PIT, Politically Intense Talk, today. I think it went rather successfully. The topic of the week was social services and government use of taxpayer dollars. We talked for about twenty minutes and everything went pretty good. There were no huge areas of dead air and I think we came off as humorous, yet knowledgeable.

This is our first one, so if you do listen to it please feel free to give us any feedback...We could definitely use it. For now The PIT podcast will be available here, but we will soon be launching thepitpodcast.com, so keep your eye open for that. It will also be available, in the next week or so, through the iTunes store.

Go to The PIT Podcast

Bob Woodruff & Doug Vogt

Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, ABC cameraman, were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq. CNN is reporting, "ABC said the two have head injuries, and Woodruff was undergoing surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad."

Our hearts are with all the journalist in Iraq, who are just doing their job, trying to report the most accurate account of the story as it happens.

Google Pontiac

So apparently at the end of a new Pontiac ad the announcer say, "Don't take our word for it, Google "Pontiac" to find out!" and has the Google search page on screen. Very interesting.

Full Article. Thanks for the pointer Kevin.

New iBook Coming?

Engadget says people are talking about a new iBook. They say it will be equipped with an iSight and the new chipset. It might also be 13-inch and at a sub-1000 dollar price point.

Full Article

Ohio Republicans Falling Apart

Rep. John A. Boehner's affiliations with for-profit colleges and trade schools, and private student lenders is being questioned as he runs for House Majority Leader. The Washington Post says, he "...has been an outspoken advocate for each interest, and has used his chairmanship to push legislation that would boost profits by millions of dollars." This is the thirty-eighth Republican politician from Ohio who has been questioned about ethics violations in the last eighteen or so months. Well maybe not thirty-eighth, but you get the point.

Full Article

Prediction

Well as many of you know my thesis is going to use scenario forecasting to try to predict how new media is going to effect the political process. I figured I would start doing some forecasting right here at the Media Dork. Here it is:

2006 is going to be a huge midterm election.

What can I say? I'm a genius. Seriously, 2006 is shaping out to be very interesting. CNN has a poll today that says, "A majority of Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate in November's congressional elections who opposes President Bush, and 58 percent consider his second term a failure so far..."

And it is interesting to think of how 2006 will set-up 2008...a year where there is no succession candidate on either side of the aisle. Should be an interesting three years of politics.

I included that pic of Bush just because it makes me laugh.

New Coffee Pot...

I got a new coffee pot and grinder the other day. How exciting is that?

Answer: Very.

Remembering Challenger

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

From Reagan's address to the nation the day of the tragedy. It also happens to be one of my favorite lines from any speech in the last twenty years. The Challenger tragedy happened twenty years ago today.

Spot Runner

Honestly, I don't really understand exactly how this works, but on first investigation Spot Runner looks very interesting. I think...it is cookie-cutter style advertising, which can be used and customized by any company. Interesting idea.

Podcast

So it is finally happening...the Nick Geidner media empire is now expanding into audio. Starting this Sunday afternoon two of my classmates and I will be recording a podcast. It is tentatively titled, "P.I.T. - Politically Intense Talk" or just The Pit and it will cover a wide variety of topics, but its main concentration will be politics.

I will be providing more info as it occurs.

Booo...Oprah

I think what Oprah did to James Frey on her show today was inexcusable. She is generally known for her compassion and ability to connect with people on human level and to invited a recovering drug addict on to your show to make him look like an ass, so you can save some face is terrible. He lied and she was hurt and offended by his actions, but he is a human being. And to boot, he is a human being going through recovery from a serious and deadly addiction. She will not cause his relapse...but she is sure as hell not preventing it.

What I am working on...

So I have been busy. The third week of my second semester of grad school is just about over and I think I have a solid idea about what I am going to try to work on this semester. I figured I would share:

602: Introduction to Digital Storytelling 2 - Research project on thefacebook.com. We will be trying to figure out if facebook creates new communities and a new style of internet relationship.

630: Story Design and Development - We are working on an interactive website for the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

614 (Comm): Contemporary Rhetoric - In this one we are looking at the rhetoric of American social movements. This should help greatly with my thesis, which I will probably be writing next semester.

670 Independent Project - I am doing a research project looking at how tv stations are using websites. If they are using them for just promotion or are they using them as an separate news source.

I am also still working as a graduate assistant for NewsLink Indiana and as always preparing for my thesis.

MTV Division

"Viacom-owned MTV said one unit will focus on short-form video, music and news content for broadband, wireless and other digital outlets. Another will try to maintain and expand MTV's television presence." Full Article

This seems to be backward in comparision to any other media company, such NBC's news operation, which is slowly but surely combining everything...tv, web, etc.

Humoring my brother...

Here is a little photoshopping I know my brother will love.

Wonkette-for-a-day

My Brother, the LawDork, will be in drag tomorrow...trying to fill the shoes of Ana Marie Cox at Wonkette.com. Cox is taking time off from her award-winning blog to work on her second book. She has found someone to sit-in on a more permanent basis, but for this week she has been giving her site and her editor position to a number of guest bloggers, my bother being included in this seemingly elite list of left leaning political bloggers.

So make sure you check out Wonkette.com tomorrow. Because slowly, but surely the dorks are becoming king.

Ten Commandments

"The Anderson City Council approved a church group's offer to erect a monument honoring the Ten Commandments on the City Building's front lawn.

With the council's unanimous support, the congregation of Lone Oak Wesleyan Church in Anderson began raising $12,000 to build and maintain the granite replica."

Full Article

This is a fresh story from the Herald-Bulletin in Anderson, Indiana. It should be a very interesting story to follow. Well...ya know...since it is probably unconstitutional and all.

AP News Alert

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. says it is buying longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion.

Apple Ad

"The Intel Processor, for years, has been trapped inside dull little boxes, performing dull little tasks…. Today it will be set free; it will get to live life inside a Mac. Imagine the possibilities."

That is a good ad. Thanks for the pointer Glenn.

Disney/Pixar

It might be announced, as early as today, that Disney is buying Pixar. The Disney board of directors are meeting today to discuss the topic. From some estimates, if they just do a stock swap with Steve Jobs, he would be become the largest individual stockholder in Walt Disney. So, needless to say, this is going to be a huge deal.

ABC News Vlog

Bob Woodruff has a pretty cool 7 minute video tour of Google's headquarters on ABC News video blog. Check it out.

Throw Away Your Television

"PASADENA, Calif. -- The new president on "The West Wing" will be a real short-timer: NBC announced Sunday it was pulling the plug on the Emmy-winning political drama after seven seasons in May."

Full LA Times Article

A sad state of affairs. I guess I'm going to have to find a new show to watch.

Random Thought

When entering a drag show I should be a sign that reads:

"YOU ARE NOW ENTERING A CONFUSING PRONOUN TERRITORY"

Good Quote

"The World has no friends."

A sign in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newsroom. Unfortunetly, a sign like that would never hang in a newsroom now-a-days.

Concept Mapping Will Drive Me Crazy

So I am going to try to use concept mapping extensively to help generate and organize ideas for my thesis. Concept Maps are definitely very useful, but I think it is going to end up driving me crazy. They have the ability to never end, because there is always another relationship you can find. It is like if I started doing a map of everyone I have ever met and who I met them through. There would always be at least one more person I hadn't thought of yet or one more connection between two people that I hadn't noted.

Warren Zevon's The Wind

After watching Boston Legal last week, I couldn't get Warren Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart" out of my head. It was the perfect fit for the amazingly emotional closing scene centered around one of my favorite actors, Michael J. Fox. The next day I bought the album off iTunes and I am just amazed. It is hands down the most beautiful, emotional and meaningful album I have ever heard. Hands down. Bar none.

Featuring some of Zevon's best friends, including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh, Don Henley and many others The Wind was released on August 28, 2003 to critical and commercial acclaim.

Ten days later Warren Zevon died of lung cancer.



Donate Here. Donate Often.
Fuck Cancer.

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is going to be super interesting this year. [ed. note: I want to officially apologize for super/super thing in the previous sentence.] With companies paying over two million dollars for a single spot, we are guaranteed to see a rise in the way these companies try to pull people back to their websites. I'll go as far as saying, every ad (+/- 3) that runs in Super Bowl XL will contain a reference to the companies website in either the VO or in the form of an on screen graphic.

We will also see a rise in the number of ads that are really just trailers for a companies website. A few companies, such as Nissan (I believe), have tried this in past by literally having the end of the commercial, or the third act of the commercial's storyline, available only online. But I think we will see different uses of this during this years game. Companies are going to want more for their money than just the thirty seconds or minute they get on air.

Amazon

Bill Maher and Amazon.com are launching a thirty minute web-only program. "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher" sounds like basically a talk show format and "will feature Maher and guests from the worlds of books, music and film."

Full CNN Article

Nice Little Optimistic Study

"Teenagers have some seemingly high expectations about what technology might bring over the next decade, according to a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study." -from CNN article

According to this study, young people basically think technology is going to be a cure-all, which is nice. I hope technology holds all the answer, but in my opinion we have to be very careful what questions we ask.

Late Edition

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said today, on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, that he will not be making any official decision about a Presidential run until after the midterm elections. I think everyone should make a pact to not announce their candidacy until after the midterms and more important until after I finish my thesis.

Senator Trent Lott (R-MI) also state that he will be announcing if he is going to run for Senate again on Tuesday.

Quote of the Day

"The way to succeed is to double your error rate."

-Thomas J. Watson, Founder, International Business Machines

This is just a solid quote and it sticks to the theories put forth in "The Medici Effect," which is one of my favorite books on the subject of creative thinking and innovation.

I knew the day was coming...

I always knew it would happen eventually. I knew film would die, but it is still sad to see it go. Nikon announced on Thursday that it is discontinuing the production of nearly all of their film cameras. They will only continue making their ultra-high and low ends, the F6 and the FM-10. So sad...

Full CNN Story.

iPod Media Center

Griffin Technologies has released a $99 Home Media Center for the video iPod.

"Attach TuneCenter to your television and stereo for viewing photos, watching video, listening to your iPod music library or internet radio. With the included 14 button remote, TuneCenter turns your iPod into a complete Home Media Center. Just dock the iPod into TuneCenter, and let the entertainment begin." - from the Griffin site

Griffin Press Release

Edmund Burke

Never read Edmund Burke's "Speech to the Electors of Bristol," interesting speech if you have a minute or two spare.

Ohh...the slumbering fourth estate...

On The Media's Bob Garfield on newspaper coverage of the Sago Mine tragedy, "The Fourth Estate was simply trapped in the fourth dimension, the inescapability of time. The real miracle is that it doesn't happen more often."

I concur and this just in...Dewey Defeats Truman.

Full Article.

Anti-climatic

So today was the day. Howard Stern launched on Sirius satellite radio and I didn't really hear anything about it. Alito, missing journalists and a numbered of other stories clogged the news cycle and Howard Stern and his launch on Sirius was nowhere.

I am going to go out on a limb and say Sirius made a dumb, dumb decision paying Stern what he is getting.

The problem with 24-hour news...

I was sitting around the apartment reading and I had CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on, but muted. I saw this super, "Construction worker rescued after falling into deep hole." So I thought to myself, "Really...Is that the story your going to have on at the bottom of the hour...Really???" So I popped on the audio and listened in. I mean there must be a better reason why they are covering this story, especially right at 4:30pm.

Nope...some construction worker, in Las Vegas, fell into a thirty foot trench. That was it that was the whole story and CNN ran with it for a good minute - minute-twenty with a live shot from a Vegas station and everything. I think this is the problem with 24-hour news.

Another Good Quote...

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future."

-Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in Physics

I found this quote very funny and interesting, considering my masters thesis is predicting the effects new media will have on the 2008 presidential election.

Great Quote...

"Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures. They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. That is the deeper problem of violence-laden television."

-George Gerbner to a Congressional subcommittee on communications in 1981.

George Gerbner, dean emeritus of the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, died on December 24th. He is remembered for his research on the effects television violence on society. The above quote was included in the NYT obit and I thought, "Wow, can that be directly applied to 24-hour news and the Bush '04 campaign."

Censorship...

"BEIJING, Jan. 5 - Microsoft has shut the blog site of a well-known Chinese blogger who uses its MSN online service in China after he discussed a high-profile newspaper strike that broke out here one week ago.

The decision is the latest in a series of measures in which some of America's biggest technology companies have cooperated with the Chinese authorities to censor Web sites and curb dissent or free speech online as they seek access to China's booming Internet marketplace." Full NYT Article

That is creepy and apparently Yahoo has also complied with China. They gave information from a Yahoo mail account to the Chinese government, which led to the imprisonment of a Chinese journalist

What 2006 Will Bring...

Inspired by my brother's post looking back at 2005 and always a fan of sibling rivalry, I decided to one up him by not looking at what happen last but by writing about what I want to accomplish this coming year.

I mean don't get me wrong I did do a lot in 2005, but no point in dwelling on either the positives or the negatives of last year. Let us leave it at I made it through 2005 with my health, my sense of humor and a decent GPA.

2006 should be an interesting year and my goals my seem lofty, but that is why they are goals...to motivate me.

First and foremost I plan on starting and finishing my thesis, pursuant to completing a Master of Arts in Digital Storytelling from Ball State University. This is by far my number one priority for 2006. The one sentence that I wrote last semester will consume a large part of my life for the next year and I truly do look forward to it.

Next, I want to continue running and I want to take it to the next level. I have decided to start training for and want to try to complete a marathon this year. I am thinking the Chicago marathon on October 22 is my best bet, but that is still up in the air. I also want to try to run in the Columbus Distance Classic half marathon and the YMCA Muncie Mini Marathon. Again who knows if my life will allow me to run in all of those races, but as I mentioned these goals are lofty.

I also want to travel. I have always been busy with work and school and everything and I have really not traveled as much as I would have liked to have by this point. So I am going to try to fix that. One of my longtime friends, Kevin, and I are already planning on heading over to Germany during my spring break. So far our general idea is to hang out in Frankfurt for a while and maybe also hit up Berlin and Prague. It is still in the very early planning stages. I also want to head to Baltimore/Washington area again for a long weekend to hangout with my Dad and another longtime friend, Glenn. And I can even guess where I'll travel to during the summer or next fall. I can only plan a trip or two at a time.

Another thing I'd like to do this year is simply meet more people and learn more about people. I tend to get comfortable with a very small group of very close friends and keep everybody else at a distance. I think I want to meet more people and I want to try to figuratively kiss the prettiest girl, because you'll never regret trying to kiss the prettiest girl and getting shot down. But you'll always wonder what if...? That is not directed at any girl in particular. I just think I need to try something different.

I also have about a dozen books I'd like to read and a number of projects I'd like to work on over the next year, but those are boring and I think I'll put those in different lists. So look for a reading list and a things I'm working on list to be up here soon. Anyway, if you wasted your time reading all the way down to here...I think you realized that I also need to work on my writing this year.

I'd like to thank the Academy...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen Jon Stewart to host the 2006 Oscars. Good choice...way to go.

Full Article.

Did the BCS get it right?

I have been a huge fan of major college football ever since our hometown coach, Jim Tressel, left my alma mater and when down to Columbus to coach The Ohio State University Buckeyes and during those last five years I have always hated how the Bowl Championship Series works. But now I sit here on Thursday thinking that I have seen three of the best days of football in my life. Of the four BCS games, the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and the Rose Bowl, three of them were with in three points and came down to the last seconds or over time. The only game that wasn't with in three points was a battle between two of the most storied teams in college football, OSU and Notre Dame, and it really was still a game up until five or six minutes left in the forth. So my question is did the BCS get it right? Were these the best eight teams and best four games they could be?

Also a sidenote about the BCS...You can purchase highlights from the four BCS bowl games from the iTunes store. I looked quick and the Fiesta Bowl file is over seventeen minutes and is priced at the iTunes regular $1.99.

Gigabeat

Microsoft announces the Gigabeat at the CES, which Cory Bergman of Lost Remote is blogging from. Check out both of them.

The Gigabeat is basically a portable a/v player, like the iPod, but it connects up to the media center PC. Therefore you can take stuff from TV straight to your portable player. Tivo and iPod is proposing the same thing, but there isn't at seamless...at least that is what I've heard.

Every Newsies Dream...

David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was able to realize every newsies dream when he stopped the presses after about half their run was printed. This was due to the "Joy to Horror" West Virginia miners story.

Although it came through sad circumstances, it is still fun to picture him running into a huge printing press room, hitting a huge red button, and yelling, "Stop the Presses."

Poynter's Full Story

Letterman vs. O'Reily

Letterman to O'Reily: "I have the feeling about 60% of what you say is crap."

Full Clip