Bloggasm

It’s a light list today, but here are some media-related links for your amusement:

1. After months of rumors that it was going to happen, Tucker Carlson gets the ax.

2. How internet alt porn turned into a big business.

3. Clinton’s campaign sends out a negative press release attacking Obama. Then Obama’s campaign uses a clever way to respond to it.

4. Black reporter and cameraman show up and report the news and racist rednecks attack them while shouting racial slurs.

Here are some media-related links for your amusement:

1. A gay porn company has been exposed in an HIV scandal, resulting in several DVDs being taken off the market.

2. Apparently The New Yorker is on a hiring binge, welcoming in two new writers: Ariel Levy and Kelefa Sanneh. Since that’s my dream job, I’m definitely jealous.

3. If there was an award for melodramatic blog posts, this one would get it. Will a Gawker media blog cause a string of suicides? Not likely, though he does make some good points.

4. This article isn’t about media or journalism, but should be read as an example of what excellent new journalism is.

5. Why it would be stupid for a media company to try and buy up an A-list blog.

Here are some media-related links for your perusal:

1. I’m posting this one just for the headline: Gay Porn Twins Arrested for Robbery Spree

2. Here’s a brilliant smack-down of Ben Stein’s silly documentary arguing against evolution. The best part is the retelling of how the movie reviewer was invited to the screening and then showed up after they tried to take away his invitation.

3. Well, I was as surprised as any to see that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was dating the Canadian hot female version of Godhatesfags leader Fred Phelps. But before I even got a chance to post about it, they broke up and their online cyber sex leaked onto the internets.

4. Amazon was among the first to create a “if you bought this item you might also like this item” feature. Netflix has taken it to a whole new level by creating a contest with a million dollar prize for the person or team that improves its recommendation system by 10%. Though many of those in the lead are mathematicians, a retired psychologist may take home the prize.

5. Apparently the title “Washington Post Media Critic” is a code phrase that means right-wing blogger.

6. You know you’ve read one of these NY Times articles. The journalist points out a “growing trend” that you didn’t know existed. Sometimes it just gets ridiculous.

7. Blogging is good for your social life.

And then finally, posted without comment:

Some media-related links for your amusement:

1. What news outlets can learn from the porn industry. Let me just say that I agree with all the points made in those links. This is precisely why I announced not too long ago that I would begin covering the porn industry in this blog.

2. Tobias Buckell talks about freelancing full time and the importance of getting out of the house and socializing.

3. Ebook sales for the Sony Reader are still outpacing the sales for Amazon’s Kindle.

4. The perils of taking a press release and flipping it without making any follow-up phone calls.

5. Yes! Facebook is taking measures to cut down on the spam effect of its platform applications.

6. Those internet trolls that plague message boards? A court ruled that they can remain anonymous.

7. From Gizmodo: “If there was ever a time for a band to try going completely independent, this is it. Why give over 90% of your income away to greedy sleazebags when you can sell your music online without the middleman? This industry needs to be burned to the ground and built back up again; it’s broken and it seems less and less likely that it’ll be able to be fixed”

Some media related links for your amusement:

1. If you become a (real or imagined) media celebrity, does this automatically mean you should shut up about politics?

2. First they came to steal music, but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a music seller. Then they came to pirate film and television, but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a film or television producer. But then they came to steal online porn, and I said “oh fuck.”

3. Are you a book reviewer who regularly receives advanced review copies of books? Don’t even think about giving them away to anyone, you might have to give them back to the publisher.

4. The NYT catches even more flak for hiring Bill Kristol: “So I pulled a stack of Kristol’s signed editorials from the Weekly Standard and his Time columns. Setting aside his point of view, with which I mostly disagree, what struck me most about them is that they read, without exception, like they were written in a hurry, by a person whose fluency cannot conceal what is superficial judgment and reporting. Kristol had nothing to add in perspective or voice to a great many other conservatives that any casual consumer of the category will find in print, online, and on the air.”

5. Racism has never been funnier: “At least that’s what Daily Show correspondents John Oliver, Jason Jones, and Rob Riggle wanted last night’s crowd to think at Southpaw in Brooklyn, where they celebrated the release of A Practical Guide to Racism.”

After news that the Golden Globes were canceled because of the Writers Strike, there’s speculation now that the Oscars will be canceled as well.

But what’s this? The porn industry’s version of the Oscars went off without a hitch? I guess this means that porn writers aren’t included in the current strike.

Writers for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report: Do you think you can write a fascinating scene about a repair man having to fix the sink of a lonely house wife? Can you devise puns centered around modern repair-man tools? I have the perfect gig for you.

1. The greatest science fiction porn of all time

2. I’ve heard of elaborate Facebook pranks, and I’ve reported on some here, but I think if you manage to trick the entire French media into believing your prank then you get to take home the gold medal.

3. I use Google as much as the next person, but let’s face it, their algorithm has some serious flaws.

4. A former editor for The New Republic has died. Luckily for him, he stopped working there when the magazine still had some credibility.

5. Why you shouldn’t exercise to indie rock

6. When I heard that The Virginia Pilot was for sale (Disclaimer: I work for a competing newspaper), the last thing I was expecting was for Pat “700 club” Robertson to consider buying it.

7. Some interesting Twitter messages that have emerged from the presidential press bus.

8. The blogosphere increases its influence on the 2008 presidential election.