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Iwantmedia.com recaps some recent weblog developments and points to some blogs launched recently by media giants.
Quote:
Weblogs — those mostly independent Web sites that link to original content on other sites — could “undermine the hegemony of global media giants,” says The New York Times. Maybe that’s why traditional media outlets are getting in on the act. Fox News just launched a Weblog featuring the work of rotating “bloggers.” The National Review’s site is now offering a staff-run Weblog. The pay area of the ESPN site has added a Weblog of sports stories. ABC News’ Weblog covers political news. The Web sites of newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe and Detroit Free Press have Weblogs on Internet and tech news. The New York Times offers an e-mail Weblog of financial reporting. And the Weblog on The Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal site wraps up the “Best of the Web Today.”
Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly on why Sarah Hughes is marketing gold and why that’s a really good thing. (Just noticed, this is my second point to a sports story today. Actually, this is more than a sports story…or a marketing one.)
After two of the most pathetic losses in its history, Vanderbilt men’s basketball wins back-to-back games against Tennessee and, are you sitting down, Kentucky.
Quote:
(Vanderbilt) pulled off a history-making win by claiming an 86-73 victory over the No. 11 Wildcats. It not only snapped a nine-year, 18-game losing streak against Kentucky (19-8, 9-6 SEC), but more importantly continued a late-season resurrection for the Commodores (16-12, 6-9).
A working trucker wins country song of the year.
The “head of the academy” rants and rants on illegal downloading and ripping by introducing three college kids who’ve downloaded 6,000 songs in three days. When introduced, the students sunk in their seats as if saying, “oh no, my friends are going to think I’m so lame for not breaking 7,500.”
And probably not since sometime in the late 1970s have albums I actually own (as in, actually purchased) won Grammys. Guess it’s because the same album won so many of them. Here are Grammy winners from CDs I’ve actually purchased:
Country Collaboration with Vocals: “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen and Pat Enright (The Soggy Bottom Boys), from the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.
Female Country Vocal Performance: “Shine,” Dolly Parton. (From “Little Sparrow”)
Male Country Vocal Performance: “O Death,” Ralph Stanley, from the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.
Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: “The Lucky One” Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Country Song: “The Lucky One” Robert Lee Castleman (Alison Krauss and Union Station).
Bluegrass Album: New Favorite Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Traditional Folk Album: “Down From the Mountain,” Various Artists.
Compilation Soundtrack Album For a Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media: O Brother, Where Art Thou Various Artists.
Best Rap Album: Stankonia, Outkast (just kidding)
Tomorrow, the journal Nature will report the so-called findings of a couple of yahoos who claim they’re scientists:
Contrary to what had been thought, T. rex was slow of foot. It lacked enough muscle in its legs to produce the forces required for an animal of its huge size to break into a sprint, let alone achieve the 45 mile-per-hour speeds some paleontologists once assumed.
Slander.
Will Vanderbilt ever run out of places to build new buildings? According to The Vanderbilt Register, apparently not.
Last week, I wrote about buy.com’s new print catalog it calls a Magazine. (My take: Probably a good idea, but it’s a catalog, not a magazine.)
Today, atnewyork.com reports that website bizbash.com is launching a 60-page controlled circ publication for the New York business-travel industry (caterers, planners, etc.).
In 1999, I made a presentation at Pace University (my final time in the WTC) to business-to-business publishers on the topic of “migrating to the web.” One of the first things I told them was my belief that it was probably more important for web publishers to be meeting on the topic “migrating to print.”
Buy.com is certainly not the first to attempt the flight to print. Alloy.com is aggressive in the this department, however, they are honest enough to call a catalog a catalog and magazines, magazines.
I strongly believe on-line retailers should explore adding print to their mix. It is a great idea. Some of my favorite direct merchants, consumer and B2B are brilliant at using the two in a complementary, successful way.
But don’t confuse the act of putting out a catalog with launching a customer magazine or newsletter.
Lewis Pennock says he checked out IM buddy ellegirlbuddy and found her mum on questions he thought someone named ellegirl should know about. Maybe a cosmogirlbuddy would be more forthcoming.
Addendum:
Lewis’s conversation.
I ask ellegirlbuddy about Lewis.
Working outside the office today in an Internet-free zone.
Elle Magazine’s ellegirl.com today launched a “virtual buddy” that “delivers information about beauty, fashion, celebs, and more!” (their exclamation point!) From the folks at Active Buddy, the folks behind my favorite virtual buddy, smarterchild. Just add “ellegirlbuddy” or “smarterchild” to your buddy list and peer into the future of fake friends.
Jack Guynn, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (which covers a big chunk of the southeast), spoke at Nashville’s Downtown Rotary Club at noon. Not only do I agree with his take on the economy (see quote, below), I am pleased to say he can speak plainly. No Greenspanian obtuseness.
Quote:
As for where all this takes us, I think the economy’s going to return to sustained positive growth by the third quarter of the year. The recovery, though, is likely to be more moderate than we’re accustomed to seeing. That’s because consumer spending and housing are not likely to provide the usual kick we’ve seen coming out of previous recessions and because there’s still considerable uncertainty surrounding investment spending.
Advertising Age follows-up with an analysis of last week’s release of second-half 2001 magazine circulation report.
Am I just noticing a feature for the first time, or is the ability to search for phone numbers via google new? Just type in a name and city. You can remove your phone number if you want. I did. Indeed, there are lots of cool special search features on Google. My prediction: Within in a short time, look for a Goggle IM feature.
Interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal regarding Clear Channel’s use of “voice tracking” and other means to give the illusion to listeners that a DJ is live and local despite the show being taped thousands of miles away.
Quote:
Mr. Michaels says that he himself usually can’t tell when a show is voice-tracked from another city and when it’s live. “I don’t think it’s at all wrong or deceptive to put together terrific programs that reflect local communities and sometimes use talent who may physically be somewhere else,” he says. He compares the radio shows to films, which wouldn’t be “nearly as much fun if the camera kept turning around to show you it was just a set. I don’t know that the radio experience would be as good if we said every five minutes, ‘By the way, I’m not really here and I taped this 20 minutes ago.’ But that’s all part of the magic of creating entertainment.”
Why does one need to deceive? It seems to me the highest rated programs on the air these days are syndicated, in which no effort is made to be local: Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, etc. When it’s not the national feeds from NPR, I listen nearly exclusively to a local station that plays lots of non-mainstream local music, but the vast majority of radio listeners are tuning into cookie-cutter music from look-alike, sound-alike pop artists, so what do they care if something is local or not?
Sad, but true.
Real-time blogging of the (thank-god-they’re-over) Olympics closing ceremony:
They first have dinosaurs look over into the stadium, then Kiss, Earth Wind & Fire, Gloria Estefan, Donny & Marie, Willie Nelson. Is this a salute to things we thought were extinct?
Mary Carillio, shut up. Don’t talk over Harry Connick Jr. to explain what he’s singing. This ain’t tennis. In fact, while I’m thinking about it, shut up the next time you cover tennis.
How old is Dorothy Hamill? 46? Man, that Vioxx seems to be working.
An ivillage.com commercial? A dot-com commercial? This IS a salute to things we thought were extinct!
Scott Hamilton, show us YOUR quad.
The ten-man Italian flag-spinning team? Is Ed Sullivan channeling this show?
No comment on that fashion model not appropriately dressed for 20-degree weather.
Elisa, the Italian Madonna? Isn’t Madonna the Italian Madonna?
The new K-Mart commercial (directed by Spike Lee) is great. Too bad K-Mart isn’t.
Mitt Romney. Is this guy from central casting, or what? Didn’t know him two weeks ago. A Mormon with a Harvard MBA and law degree. Bain & Co. founder with the deep pockets of a gazillionaire. Smoother on TV than Tom Brokaw. Will probably run for governor this November in either Utah or Massachusetts. That’s right, that Massachusetts…where he almost unseated Ted Kennedy. Or he could pick a dozen other states. Tennessee, maybe?
The crowd on our couch gives thumbs up to the balloons with the Cirque de Soleil escapees dangling from them.
Home Depot wins a gold medal for best Olympic marketing break with the success of Derek Parra. Speaking of Olympic marketing. I found the “cute” Chevrolet commercials amusingly executed, but funnier still for their depiction of themselves, the world’s biggest spender of advertising dollars, as a couple of guys who are hanging out in Salt Lake doing guerilla marketing. Funny inside-marketing humor.
Jackson Pollack painted ice with those pogo jumpers on steroids. Now that’s entertainment.
Christina Aguilera’s pants? Are those allowed in Utah?
To the American athlete who yelled at the camera, “Hey, I need a job,” I hear they’re hiring at Home Depot.
That’s it?
Happy trails to you.
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