Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

EveryBody Wants a You Tube, or Do They?

With word that CNN and AOL are putting up their own YouTube like video services, everyone is all excited. I think this is the beginning of the possible end. Once the networks jump on this, then all of that ... er...um... borrowed video footage will soon be the subject of lawsuits. Say bye, bye, YouTube.

Internet As A Way To Get Voice Over Work

Roy Blumenthal is pitching is voice over talents via the Internet and his blog. Very cool idea. I wonder if we'll see more entertainment artists setting up their own viewing/listening mechnisms instead of going the agent or service route. (Although Roy does advise that the best way to hire him is through his agent on his blog.) Agents and managers are unfortunately necessary leeches in show biz. Maybe we'll see a move down the line that stops some of the blood sucking. I also follow Roy's blog Coffee-Shop Schmuck for his Tablet PC artwork, both here (he's got a link to his Flickr feed int the Tablet PC Artists in the right side panel) and on GottaBeMobile. Good stuff.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday morning reading to share. (Again, I'm being lazy so this is being posted on Sunday afternoon.)

Why don't CEO's use blogs more, The New York Times asks. The premise seems to be that their jobs are about communicating. WRONG PREMISE. CEO's, like politicians, are rewarded for moving their lips and not saying anything. That's why they have PR departments.

Case kinda in point of the principal espoused above: Ray Ozzie's speech to Wall Street Financial Analysts. Ozzie does say a few things, but they are wrapped up in a few enigmas and in some cases only really revealing if you don't already know the definitions.

Speaking of communication, Jeff Jarvis points out that CBS is finally going to take a stand against the FCC on the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. This whole FCC puritanical bent really makes me laugh on one hand and want to smack someone with the other hand. The blatant hypocrisy and pandering is beyond farce. Jarvis also notes that PBS is on a high horse trying to protect the integrity of a Ken Burns documentary of World War II, where, heaven forfend, some soldiers actually use foul language. Yeah, and the next thing you know we'll be shocked when civilians are injured, killed, or otherwise abused in a war zone. Er... wait a minute.

Is this a V-8 moment or what? Turns out there might be oil off-shore in Cuban waters. Think this will change some things around.  Think quite a few retired politicians aren't thanking their lucky stars that they are off the stage.

Wonder if this will ever see the light of day really? Turns out there is lots of creative and Enron-like accounting going on regarding our spending in Iraq. Did anybody really think this wasn't going on? And they wonder why we have no trust in government.

Poor Mel Gibson. A little too much Mad Max. Bit by the old alcohol made me do it bug. Watching the news this morning I heard three different reports use the slang "F-ing" to describe what Mel apparently uttered. Simple question here for the FCC and the naughty language police.  What is the fundamental difference between that slang phrase and the real thing?

And just for fun, FilmCritic.com's Top 50 Movie Endings of All Time.

Happy Birthday to Marc Orchant

Happy Birthday to good friend and fellow Tableteer, Marc Orchant. Here's to many more!

Microsoft to Charge for Beta

Pleading bandwidith issues I'm sure, Microsoft has decided to charge for downloads of the Office 2007 Beta (no I won't use the silly name with a small 's'.) Yeah, it is only a $1.50. But it reminds me of when Daniel Synder, (in my Top 5 list of the most foolish sports moguls) took over the Washington Redskins and decided to charge fans to watch summer practices. A practice that was quickly backed off to a degree after the PR furor.

Now, I'm sure there are valid issues for this. As I recall Microsoft claims the demand almost brought down the Internet when they publicly released the Beta of both Vista and Office 2007(still resisting.) But this just seems silly to me.

I wonder if we have to pass through the WGA barriers before they will aceept our $1.50.

More Dell Hell

Yikes! Another report and more photos of a Dell Laptop that burst into flames. It will be interesting to see how the Dell Blog responds to this after these photos came to light.

Via BoingBoing

Elastic Loaves: How To Know When You're Losing The Battle

Pizza is now an "elastic loaf" in Iran. Some call it World War III, some call it a re-birth of The Crusades, some call it a clash of civilizations. But when you're so damn afraid that everything you've built your culture on is losing the battle then what do you do? You retreat behind silly language and cultural games. The latest? Iran's president now wants to ban the use of foreign words and has declared that government and official agencies need to use modified Persian words. When a "chat" becomes "small talk" you know we are dealing with small minds.

Of course he's not the only one. Can you say English as an offical language?

Via MSNBC

Apple And Lanugage: When Is 4 More Than 2 + 2?

Four score, foregone, forever, forget about it. Language is such a funny thing isn't it? An Apple spokespeson just learned that the hard way. Making a statement about the lifes span of iPods, she claims she stated they are designed to last "for years." Well the Chicago Tribune reporter wrote "four years."

Josh Isn't A Fan of Web 2.0

Good friend and brilliant developer Josh Einstein isn't a fan of Web 2.0 and all that it promises. Take a look at this post and see why and what he has to say about Client 2.0

Scott Adams' Solution To The Middle East

Scott Adams as a unique solution to the problems in the Middle East. Air Conditioning. He bases this on his own expeiences in our recent heat wave issues. Too funny.