A New Lens...

My Interview With Warren G

2009-09-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Above is my interview with the legendary Warren G. His new CD, "The G Files," will be released on September 29th. In the interview we talk about "Regulate...G Funk Era," the highlight of Warren's career, what he feels he still has yet to accomplish, his feelings about letting his children hear his music. We also discuss a new artist he is excited about, the creative process in 213, and who he most admires. We also debut his new song, "Swagger Rich," which features Snoop Dogg and Cass. Enjoy!

My Interview With Wordsmith

2009-07-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

My Interview With The New Boyz

2009-06-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with the New Boyz, who have begun to take over the world with the Jerkin' movement. Their hit single, "You're A Jerk," is climbing the charts. Get to know Legacy and Ben J, the New Boyz, by pressing play on the interview below!

Interview with Dolla (Other Options)

2009-05-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few other streams, in case bandwidth is exceeded on one of the others.

My Interview With Dolla (R.I.P.)

2009-05-18T22:13:00.001-07:00

Below is my interview with Dolla, conducted March 19th, 2008. Today, Dolla was shot and killed at the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles. I hope that this interview will allow you to get to know Dolla as I did; he was a kind-hearted, talented young artist who was trying to make a name for himself the right way. In his 21 years, he lived a dramatic life--a roller-coaster of unbelievable highs and lows that most eighty-year-olds haven't experienced. Toward the end of the interview, I ask him how he wants to die. I think you'll be touched by his one-word answer.

My Interview With Stat Quo

2009-05-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

My Interview With Stat Quo

2009-05-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my interview with Stat Quo. We discuss his new CD, "Smokin' Mirrors," his split with Shady/Aftermath, and his desire to make his own name as an artist. We also discuss Stat's college education, his career choices, who he most admires, and the Hot 97-Funkmaster Flex-Interscope Records boycott. Enjoy!

My Interview With Barack Obama (10-31-08)

2009-05-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

My Interview With 88-Keys

2009-04-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with 88-Keys. We discuss his new CD, a concept album called "The Death Of Adam," which Kanye West executive-produced. We also talk about how Kanye came to be involved in the project, 88's obsession with Polo by Ralph Lauren, his inspiration, his family, and so-called "conscious rap." 88 also debunks my theory of "the two Kanyes." Enjoy!

My Interview with Mike Jones

2009-03-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my interview with Mike Jones. We talk about what Mike's been up to in the 4 years since "Who Is Mike Jones" dropped, his success in the mixtape game, and his life and work before becoming a professional rapper. He debuts his new single, "Next To You," for us, and Mike talks about the record. He also tells us what we can expect from "The Voice," his new CD which is scheduled to drop April 21st.

In the second part of the interview, we talk about the things that inspire Mike, his relationship with the rest of the Houston scene, his family situation growing up, and the role his grandmother played in his life and rap career. We find out who Mike Jones admires most, and the greatest obstacle he has overcome. And--FINALLY!--Mike's new phone number!

My Interview With David Rush

2009-03-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with David Rush. We talk about Young Boss' new name, "Go Girl," and David debuts his new single, "Shooting Star," which features Kevin Rudolf, Pitbull, and LMFAO. We also discuss David's life-threatening kidney disease, which forces him to be on dialysis 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. He talks about "Moon Music," and his mixtape, "Feel The Rush, Vol. 1: Signing Season."

In part two, I find out about David's inspiration, his career moves, and his determination to keep moving, despite his illness. We talk about Pitbull, and how David would like to be remembered. David offers advice for anyone who feels they are up against the odds.

My Interview with Frankie J

2009-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with Frankie J. We talk about his musical family, his early influences, and he debuts his new song, "If You Were My Girlfriend." We also discuss the delay in releasing his latest CD, his ability to reinvent himself, and his future plans.

In part two, Frankie tells us about his artistic influences, his favorite thing to do outside of music, the highlight of his career so far. I ask if there has been a point in his career when he was afraid it was over, and what he hopes to accomplish in his career.

My Interview with Far-East Movement

2009-03-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with Kev Nish of Far-East Movement, the Asian-American hip-hop crew from Los Angeles. Kev talks about the effort the group has put in to amass an international following, their experience working with The Stereotypes (who produced Danity Kane's "Damaged"), and how their ethnicity has impacted their career. In part two, hear Kev discuss inspiration, the Internet, and the "FM" lifestyle. You can find out more about the group at their website, here.

My Interview With Bow Wow

2009-03-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with Bow Wow. We discuss Snoop Dogg, his acting career, play his new single, "You Can Get It All," talk about Hype Williams, his wheels, and the possiblilty of retirement. In part two, hear Bow Wow's thoughts on Chris Brown, his source of inspiration, and the highlight of his career.

My Interview With Colby O'Donis

2009-03-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

Below is my interview with Colby O'Donis. We discuss his career--which goes back further than you may realize--his relationship with Akon, his Latino heritage, and his various musical talents. We also talk about the producers with whom Colby has worked and his current projects. Colby also debuts his next single, "Let You Go."

Interview With Jadakiss

2009-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Below is my interview with Jadakiss. We talk about the new Biggie biopic, "Notorious," Bill O'Reilly, Jada's squashed beef with 50 Cent and his new label, Roc-a-fella Records, and the over-usage of Auto-Tune. He also debuts his new song, "Can't Stop Me," for us. It's the first single from "The Last Kiss," scheduled to be released on March 10th. Enjoy!

World's Coolest Water Fountain

2008-12-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is, without a doubt, the coolest water fountain I have ever seen. It's at Canal City Mall in Fukuoka, Japan.

New Kanye West Mixtape

2008-11-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

DJ Benzi has hit the web with his new Kanye West mixtape, "Sky High." Imeem got the leak first; downloads should hit the hip-hop blogs tomorrow night. Ye's new CD, "808's & Heartbreak," is scheduled to drop in two weeks (12/02). This mixtape is hosted by Plain Pat & DJ Benzi. Enjoy!

DJ Benzi, Kanye West & Plain Pat present: Sky High

Dark Days...

2008-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

If you're unfamiliar with Marc Singer's "Dark Days," it's time you get familiar. This remarkable documentary was filmed by Singer, after he befriended several homeless people living underground, in an abandoned railway tunnel underneath New York City. Singer had never made a film before, but his experience compelled him to share the lives of these captivating characters that society forgot. It is shot in black & white on a 16mm camera.

Barack Obama Interview

2008-11-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Below is my interview with Senator Barack Obama on Halloween, 4 days before the 2008 election.

The Senator and I discuss his busy schedule, his plan to help young people who have chosen NOT to go to college, and the importance of early voting.

He also has a message for people who are unlikely to vote because they believe that decisions made in Washington, D.C. don't affect their lives. Enjoy!

Barack Obama Interview - Barack Obama & Damien

Halloween At Graham Central Station (Flickr)

2008-11-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Interview

2008-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview I did with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, from "Seinfeld" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

We talked about the upcoming election, the candidate she likes best, and the importance of early voting.

Since Julia is a former cast member of "Saturday Night Live," I also asked her what she thought of the big ratings boost SNL is getting from this year's campaign. Enjoy!

Damien

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Interview - Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Damien

Mark Ruffalo Interview

2008-11-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview I did with the actor Mark Ruffalo, from "Collateral," "Zodiac," and who can now be seen in "Blindness." We discuss his excitement about the 2008 Presidential race, his support for Sen. Barack Obama, and the issues that are important to him.

Mark underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor in 2002, so I asked him how he feels about our current health care system. We also spoke about how Obama's plan might be better than our current system.

Mark Ruffalo Interview - Mark Ruffalo & Damien

Frances McDormand Interview

2008-11-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview I did with Frances McDormand, from "Fargo" and "Burn After Reading." We discuss the 2008 election, her support of Sen. Barack Obama, and early voting.

She also talks about the issues facing our country, and not seeing herself as a celebrity. (Frances is married to Director Joel Coen, and has been since 1984.)

Damien

Frances McDormand Interview - Frances McDormand & Damien

Hill Harper Interview

2008-11-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Below is my interview with Hill Harper, who plays Coroner Sheldon Hawkes on "CSI: NY." We discuss the 2008 election, his experience early voting in L.A., and his support of Sen. Barack Obama.

Hill and Senator Obama were classmates at Harvard Law School, where they were pretty close. Enjoy!

Hill Harper Interview - Hill Harper & Damien

Interview with Michelle Obama

2008-10-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, here is my interview with Michelle Obama, whom I spoke to on Tuesday--one week before Election Day.

I asked her when she learned that her husband would be running for President, how she deals with the scrutiny and criticism she has encountered, and if the historical significance of Barack's run has hit her yet.

She talked about early voting, and I asked her about her husband's skills in the kitchen, the promise of an Obama family pet, and the couple's favorite films. Enjoy!

Michelle Obama Interview - Michelle Obama & Damien

Interview with Rosie Perez

2008-10-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is an interview that I did with Rosie Perez, one week before Election Day. (You'll know Rosie from "White Men Can't Jump," "Fearless," "Pineapple Express," and recent episodes of "Lipstick Jungle.")

We discuss the current election, Rosie's enthusiasm for Barack Obama, and the importance of early voting. Rosie also talks about meeting the Senator, her ideas on the immigration debate, and our economic crisis. Enjoy!

Rosie Perez Interview - Rosie Perez & Damien

Interview with Marisa Tomei

2008-10-29T08:49:00.001-07:00

Below, you can listen to an interview that I did with Marisa Tomei, ("My Cousin Vinny," "Untamed Heart," "Slums of Beverly Hills," "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead"). We discuss the 2008 election, her support of Sen. Barack Obama, and the importance of early voting.

Marisa has dual citizenship (in America & Italy), and she has traveled the world extensively, so I asked her to bring a little global perspective to the Presidential race.

Marisa Tomei Interview - Marisa Tomei & Damien

Interview with Tatyana Ali

2008-10-29T08:47:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday, I interviewed Tatyana Ali, who you may know as "Ashley Banks" from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air." (Yeah, she's all grown up!) We spoke briefly about her current projects, the 2008 Presidential election, and her support of Sen. Barack Obama.

Here's a little-known fact: Tatyana is a Harvard graduate, with a degree in Government and Afro-American Studies. With that in mind, I asked her for her thoughts on the historical significance of the race. Enjoy!

Tatyana Ali Interview - Tatyana Ali & Damien

Jason Biggs Interview

2008-10-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview with Jason Biggs, from the "American Pie" movies and "Saving Silverman. We discuss his feelings on the "American Pie" spin-offs, the 2008 Presidential race, his support of Senator Barack Obama, and his reasons for getting involved.

I also ask his opinion on a timely, important question. "Who's hotter: Sarah Palin or Tina Fey?"

Biggs' new movie is called "Lower Learning." It also stars Eva Longoria and Rob Corddry, and is now in limited release. Enjoy!

Jason Biggs Interview - Jason Biggs & Damien

Carole King Interview

2008-10-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview I did recently with Carole King, the legendary singer-songwriter. We briefly discuss her days as a songwriter, the 2008 Presidential race, and her support for Barack Obama. Enjoy!

Carole King Interview - Carole King & Damien

Interview With John Cho

2008-10-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

I recently spoke with John Cho, from the "Harold & Kumar" movies, the "American Pie" movies, and the new "Star Trek" movie. We discussed his experience growing up as an immigrant in America, the 2008 Presidential election, and his support of Senator Barack Obama. Cho also taught 7th- and 10th-grade English at a private school for a year, and we talked about the state of education in the United States today. Enjoy! John Cho Interview - John Cho & Damien

Interview With Wendell Pierce

2008-10-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

I recently had a chance to interview Wendell Pierce, who you may know as Det. Bunk Moreland on HBO's "The Wire." We discussed the success of "The Wire," the 2008 Presidential race, and Pierce's support of Senator Barack Obama. Pierce, a New Orleans native who was in the city when Hurricane Katrina struck, also addresses the Bush Administration's failure to respond quickly, and the need for emergency preparedness and relief. Wendell Pierce Interview - Wendell Pierce & Damien

Interview With Peter Gallagher

2008-10-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

You have seen Peter Gallagher for years, as he plays Sandy Cohen on The O.C. I spoke to Peter recently, and we discussed his trademark eyebrows, the 2008 Presidential Election, and his support of Barack Obama. Enjoy!

Peter Gallagher Interview - Peter Gallagher & Damien

Interview With Jill Biden

2008-10-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview that I did on Wednesday (10/15) with Jill Biden, wife of Joe Biden, the Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate. We discuss the state of the campaign, the importance of education, and her husband's qualifications to serve as Vice-President. Enjoy! Jill Biden Interview - Jill Biden & Damien

Interview With La Sinfonia

2008-10-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview I did with Sony Latin recording artists La Sinfonia. You may have seen them on MTV Tr3s or heard them on Pocos Pero Locos. (This interview is with Arsenal and Vane; Seis was unable to make it, due to illness.) Enjoy!

Damien Interviews La Sinfonia

Interview With Michael Kostroff

2008-10-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

Below is an interview I did with Michael Kostroff, who played the super-scummy defense attorney, Maurice Levy, on "The Wire." We discuss "The Wire," Barack Obama, the 2008 Presidential Election, and celebrity involvement in campaigns. "Wire" fans, enjoy!

Damien Interviews Michael Kostroff

Interview With Eva Longoria-Parker & Adam Rodriguez

2008-10-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

I recently had the chance to visit with Eva Longoria-Parker & Adam Rodriguez from "CSI: Miami." We spoke about the importance of voting, particularly Latinos and young voters. I also asked Eva about her involvement with DeclareYourself.org.

Interview With Kevin Rudolf

2008-10-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote a column in "Pulse" about Kevin Rudolf. Below is my entire interview with Rudolf. Listen as Cash Money's latest Mystery Man tells all...

Kevin Rudolf Interview

Interview With MC Lyte

2008-10-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Damien Interviews MC Lyte

Gotta Love It!

2008-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Lifecasting

2007-04-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Step aside, reality television. There’s a new engine gathering steam on the Reality Turnpike, and it’s doing something that you never could. Remember when movies like “The Truman Show” and “EdTV” were so fictional they were almost far-fetched? Well, thanks to modern technology, those days are gone.

As you may have seen on The Today Show Monday, 23-year-old Justin Kan is the internet’s newest sensation. For 17 days now, he has been broadcasting every minute of his life on the web, and people are beginning to tune in. The Yale physics and philosophy grad turned web entrepreneur walks around, day after day, with a camera strapped to his head, as webwatchers tune in by the thousands to see what Justin is up to now.

It’s not always exciting—like the eight (or ten) hours a day that he spends sleeping, or the countless hours spent in front of his computer. But the show, if you can bring yourself to call it that, has its moments. Like when a viewer called 911 to report a stabbing in his apartment, prompting San Francisco police to burst in, guns drawn. Another time they reported a fire. In fact, the prank 911 calls have forced dispatchers to begin calling Kan’s apartment to confirm emergencies before sending any more officers out. Not to be outdone, the pranksters ordered $63 worth of pizza and had it sent to his door.

As more and more people tune in, his technical team (comprised of his two buddies) is working overtime to keep the site running. I tuned in Tuesday morning, while Justin was still sleeping, and the video server was full. After refreshing my browser a few times, I got the live video feed, and saw that more than 2,000 other people were watching him sleep.

Whether or not this will be the wave of the future remains to be seen. Some claim that it’s a silly idea, a passing fancy. But the kid is smart, and he has already figured out how to turn this into money. It all revolves around product placement. Banners hang on the walls of his apartment, and as the popularity of the site grows, there is no question that more sponsors will line up to be a part of Justin’s world.

As it stands, the programming is kind of dull. But this is just the beginning, according to Paul Graham of Y Coordinator, the company that funded the project. “Ultimately their plan is to have hundreds of people with these cameras. Each would be a channel; viewers would watch whichever was the most interesting at that time,” Graham recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. “With hundreds of people, there would always be something interesting. So why would anyone switch on their TV?”

It’s true. This is reality TV taken to the next level. And it’s difficult to judge it based on the quality of programming provided by this one “channel.” “We want to find people far more charismatic and attractive than me to go out and do this,” Kan told the Chronicle. If you let your imagination take over, you can begin to see how this could catch on.

Take a little time this weekend to point your browser to www.justin.tv, and see for yourself what the future may look like. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be buying up the domain name www.sanjaya.tv.

-From Pulse
April 5, 2007

Rock ‘N’ Roll Retirement

2007-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Watching television can tell you things about your parents that you may not have known. The same is true about flipping through a magazine. What you discover may surprise you when you begin paying close attention to the advertisements geared toward them and their generation.

As baby boomers across the country reach retirement age, major American companies have been forced to rethink their marketing strategies, and redesign them to appeal to a different kind of retiree. You have probably noticed it in the Fidelity Investments commercials, with the lava-lamp bubbles touting their 401k benefits and offering ideas for getting the most of you IRA, as Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-DaVida” wails in the background. The same company has also commissioned the use of Terry Jacks’ “Seasons In The Sun” for an ad, while Ameriprise Financial has hired Dennis Hopper, Mr. Easy Rider, to peddle their financial planning to former flower children.

It feels strange to see the anthems and icons of the Sixties and Seventies being used to sell annuities and retirement planning. But while it may seem to go against the very spirit of the music and the generation that produced it, we have to assume, on the evidence of its continued existence, that it must be working.

Baby boomers are defined as the generation born between 1946 and 1964, conceived in the postwar reunions of soldiers returning home from World War II and Korea to their wives. As a generation, they are known as free spirits—the children of the Sixties and Seventies who questioned authority, fought for civil rights, protested the war in Vietnam, and brought about the sexual revolution. Of course these are generalizations, but they are strong ones, and are not without merit. They have been used to characterize baby boomers since the McGovern campaign and, for better or worse, will live on as the legacy of their generation.

It’s no mystery why advertisers are trying to get into the wallets of America’s largest demographic. They are also the richest. Historically, the 18-49 age group has been the sweet spot, if you will—the group with the largest disposable income. But now, the nation’s 75 million baby boomers hold reign as the country’s most affluent segment. They hold more than 75% of the country’s financial assets, and have an estimated $1 trillion of disposable income annually. In essence, their spending power is simply too powerful for advertisers to ignore.

Until recently, only about 10 percent of advertising dollars were spent on ads targeting the over-50 group. And while that is starting to climb a little, it still isn’t anywhere near the levels that would be proportionate to the baby boomers’ spending power.

The perception among advertisers is that boomers will redefine retirement. Boomers will not go gently into their golden years; they will be more active, more adventurous, more independent, and generally just younger than previous generations of retirement age.

Which means you can expect to see more Centrum commercials blaring Pink Floyd, more Cadillac ads rocking the Stones, and McCartney selling off his share of the Beatles’ catalog to be used in Titleist commercials. Oh, and when that time comes, be on the lookout for more Rock and Roll retirement communities. Mark my words.

-From Pulse
March 29, 2007

Rock Royalties

2007-03-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Our story this week is one of rock gods who have gotten greedy and forgotten their roots. It’s a sordid tale of hypocrisy, avarice, and a quest to keep the little man down. Its very essence is antithetical to the spirit of Rock and Roll—or at least to what the spirit of Rock and Roll should be.

It all began on January 15 and 16 of this year, when a Vail, CO, nightclub called 8150 brought in an all-female Led Zeppelin cover band from New York City named Lez Zeppelin. It’s not clear from reports whether the band played both nights, but the legal fallout from the performance has Steven Kovacik, the club’s owner, ensnared in a lawsuit that will certainly have him thinking twice before booking another live band.

Sometime in the subsequent month, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court against Kovacik—and the list of plaintiffs was a virtual who’s who of Rock and Roll royalty. Listed as plaintiffs: the Van Halen Music Company, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Patricia Bonham (widow of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham). The suit alleges that Kovacik allowed covers of songs written by the plaintiffs to be performed in his nightclub without obtaining permission from the copyright holders or from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), an organization that oversees copyright licenses. There are ten counts of copyright infringement cited in the suit—or ten cover songs played in those two days—and the plaintiffs are seeking damages ranging from $750 to $10,000 per song, plus attorney fees.

Strictly from a legal standpoint, the suit is not without merit. Technically speaking, musicians are required to obtain permission from, and pay royalties to, a songwriter every time a song is performed live before a paying audience. However, that is seldom—or almost never—the case. In most instances, cover performances are simply seen as a tribute to a band or musician’s Rock and Roll hero; it is generally seen as a tribute, the sincerest form of flattery, and no remuneration is expected.

And this is where the hypocrisy comes in. Let’s take a little trip through the annals of rock history. Let’s go back to the evening of June 21, 1966, in a London nightclub called The Marquee. Jimmy Page is taking the stage for the first time with a band called The Yardbirds, a bluesy rock band with a few hits under their belt, a band that Eric Clapton has just left. And maybe they perform a cover that night of an old blues tune by Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf or Bo Diddley. Do you think that they paid the songwriter anything for their performance that night? Probably not.

David Lee Roth was playing the Pasadena club circuit with the Van Halen brothers in 1973—of course, they were called Mammoth then. They weren’t making a whole lot of money, but were building a reputation for being the hardest rocking cover band in the Los Angeles area. That’s right, cover band. Do you think they were paying The Kinks every time they covered “You Really Got Me” in a smoky club on the Sunset Strip? Probably not.

And that is why this lawsuit is so egregious, so preposterous. It is an affront to the spirit of Rock and Roll. And why Kovacik is being targeted, instead of the offending band(s), defies logic. I guess they must figure he has more money.

-From Pulse
March 22, 2007

Read & Release

2007-03-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning started with nothing out of the ordinary—a cup of joe, a shower and a shave. My dad was in town for the WAC Tournament, and we decided to grab some breakfast before he left. As we walked into a popular Sunday morning brunch spot on Lohman, there, under the menu board, something caught my eye. It was a book by Sharon Weinberger called “Imaginary Weapons,” and stuck to the dust jacket was a note that read, “I’m free! I’m not lost! Please pick me up, read me, and help me with my journey!”

It’s possible that you have seen these wayward books laying on coffee shop tables and park benches around town—different titles, each touting its freeness in its own way, and each directing its finder to a website called BookCrossing.com.

Like a kid who found a treasure map tucked into a knotty tree in his backyard, I was intrigued. After breakfast I went home, logged on to BookCrossing.com, and looked up my new book. It had been “released” that same morning—exactly where I found it—by an avid BookCrossing member who has left 159 books lying around the City of Crosses.

Book Crossing is, in its unique way, a social networking site for people who share one common belief: books should be shared, not owned. More than half a million members around the world, from Ireland to Iceland, Angola to Vietnam, are leaving books in conspicuous places to be found by other interested readers. I was startled to learn that New Mexico has almost 2,000 active Book Crossing members, and Las Cruces has more than 200.

The site deserves a few moments of any book-lover’s attention, as there are only a few features that I’ll be able to tell you about. The most interesting is the ability to track every book that has passed through a user’s hands…forever. Sure, books go missing. Someone finds it and doesn’t record it. But curiosity gets the best of most people, who end up at BookCrossing.com to see—as I did—what tales the treasure they now possess has to tell.

The most fun feature of the site allows users to go hunting for books left around their city by other Book Crossing members. For example, 14 books have been “released” in Las Cruces in the last month, with no record of having been claimed, according to the site. From coffee shops and convenience stores to the NMSU Recital Hall, there are books “in the wild” that are waiting to be found. If you’re looking for a way to pass a Saturday, you may want to go hunting for a few that pique your interest. Or take a few books off your shelf at home, register them at BookCrossing.com, and plant them around town to be found by someone else.

And perhaps the best part is that it’s completely free. Book Crossing doesn’t charge for anything except for the optional bookplates, bookmarks and sticky notes that you can include in books that you release. But the site also includes free, downloadable “.pdf files” that allow you to print your own.

If you love books, and believe in karma—even just a little—BookCrossing.com is a site you’re gonna love.

-From Pulse
March 15, 2007

Freeing Bobby Brown

2007-03-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

It’s odd, in 2007, to write about someone who hasn’t been musically relevant in more than a decade. But in today’s world of paparazzi and reality TV, when the most popular pastime is watching stars fall and celebrity marriages crumble, a story on the sordid world of Bobby Brown doesn’t seem so out of place.

Brown seems to be developing a new habit. For the second time this year, he was arrested in Massachusetts last Sunday (2/25) for failure to pay child support while watching his daughter’s cheerleading competition. Déjà vu.

But this is where it gets interesting. After spending three days in the county clink, Bobby was sprung by a Washington, D.C. radio station—of course, there were some strings attached. Clear Channel-owned WIHT, Hot 99.5, agreed to put up more than $19,000 to get the “My Prerogative” singer-turned-reality-TV-star out of lockup. In exchange, Bobby would work for the station for a week, guest-hosting various shows. Station morning host Kane told the radio trade mag FMQB, “We have $19,150 to give to Bobby Brown to pay the child support he owes, which is why he’s still locked up and which is why he has no friends, and a wife that doesn’t love him. We’re willing to do this in return for him hanging out with us for a week and helping out with the community.” During Brown’s stay in Washington, the station offered to put him up in a nice hotel, provide him car service, and “treat him like a king…because he is Bobby Brown.”

While the whole thing smelled like a publicity stunt, Kane said there was more to it. “We’re trying to put this all in a positive light, not just for the media attention, but we’re helping his kids because we want them to be okay and have the money. And we’d love to have him in DC to help out the local community and prove he’s a good guy and all he need[s] is a chance.”

But after Bobby was free, the bottom dropped out. In a phone interview on Kane’s show Friday morning, Brown claimed that there had been a misunderstanding, and furthermore, that the station had not bailed him out. “You paid me some chips to be on your radio station. That’s how it was,” Brown said to Kane. Kane responded, “We didn’t pay to get you on the radio station, we paid to get you out of jail.” Brown then claimed that he was already out of jail when the station money came through—a statement that, when pressed on the issue, Brown conceded was not true.

When Kane brought up the notion that Bobby would be working for the station for a week, Brown began waffling, and Kane became irritated. “I thought we agreed—and our agreement was in writing, that you’re gonna come and you’re gonna be an employee of this radio station.” Brown replied, “No, that wasn’t our agreement,” and hung up on the morning host.

Later that day, the station announced that an agreement was made with Brown, that the original “work for bail” deal was off, and that Brown would be returning the money. “We feel that there are better things that we can do with the money locally,” said Kane.

Once again, as in the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” Boston bomb scare, we come back to the price of publicity. At the end of the day, Hot 99.5 got a week’s worth of free publicity, and the troubled singer can go back to “Being Bobby Brown.”

-From Pulse
March 8, 2007

FreeFest

2007-03-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, a major announcement was made that could forever change the world of summer music festivals, an announcement that could, indeed, bring the notion of exorbitantly-priced concert tickets to its knees. And it came from Sharon Osbourne, of all people.

On February 6, at a press conference at the Concert Industry Consortium in L.A., Sharon announced that, instead of raising ticket prices for Ozzfest again this year, she will raise the price of corporate sponsorships and offer the tickets to fans for free. That’s right, free.

In her statement, she said that “for the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours. We want everybody to make money, but we also want kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience.” In a subsequent interview she did with “The Mercury News,” Ozzfest had no choice but to reinvent the summer-touring wheel. “We were putting offers to all these bands we wanted to tour with and they were coming back to us with exorbitant prices that would have meant we had to put the ticket prices up, which I won’t do. They want $300,000 plus to do an hour’s work onstage. I’m just not doing it. Last year nearly destroyed us, paying, paying, paying, and we just can’t do it again.”

One of the bands for which last year’s Ozzfest paid through the nose was System of a Down, who got $325,000 per show. “They’re taking four years off, we paid them so much,” says Osbourne, “and we’re still working. I’m not doing that again.”

She claims that if Ozzfest continued this year in the traditional model, “we would have no choice but to raise ticket prices again this year. We’re reaching the same point we did years ago when kids no longer wanted to pay for overpriced CDs. As a result, they found alternative ways of getting music. That’s what’s happening with summer touring in this country. It’s out-pricing itself.”

While this year’s headliner, Ozzy, has agreed to do the show for free, it remains unclear how many other bands will get on-board. Sharon remains optimistic. “We know there aren’t any major headlining acts that would tour all summer for nothing, but we’re confident we can turn some of the genre’s biggest bands on to what we’re doing. They could come out and play a date or two.”

On the surface, Sharon’s motive seems almost saintly. But a magazine called “College Music Journal” suggests there may be more to it than meets the eye. In a recent article, CMJ claims that last year’s Ozzfest lost $1.5 million. Any concert promoter will tell you that relying on ticket sales is a nerve-racking gamble, with the odds against you. CMJ implies that Sharon, Ozzy, and the tour’s producer, LiveNation, may be trying to get the money for the show up-front from corporate sponsors, instead of relying on the fickle fans.

Even if that’s so, one fact overshadows everything else. It’s free.

This year’s Ozzfest (or Freefest, as it has been dubbed) kicks of on July 7 in Los Angeles. Further tour dates have not yet been announced, but the cities have. Near here: Albuquerque, Phoenix, Denver and Dallas. Rock fans should keep checking www.ozzfest.com for details on how to get your free tickets.

-From Pulse
March 1, 2007

Subject: Dear John

2007-02-22T21:45:00.000-08:00

For two and a half years I’ve been writing this column. Some weeks, the topics are hard to come by; nothing seems to be happening. Other times, I have an idea weeks in advance. And then there are the columns that seem to write themselves. There are long weekends when Britney Spears freaks out, checks herself into rehab, then checks out and shaves her head.

Regrettably, that is an issue that I’ll have to pass up—or save for another day—because I had already planned a follow-up on last week’s column about online dating.

Last week, I told you about the surprisingly high odds of finding your soulmate electronically, through online dating. But with Valentine’s Day behind us, many of you may be looking for a way to break up with your one-time Valentine. (It’s no secret that many of us have held it together just long enough to make it through Valentine’s Day, so that we don’t have to spend it alone. Oh, and for the goodies too!) But now, maybe it’s time to cut them loose.

It seems to be fairly common nowadays to use text messaging to tell that not-so-special someone that it’s over—which brings us back to Britney. It has been reported that Britney told K-Fed that it was over in a text message he received last November while he was taping an interview for Canadian television. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by cell-phone maker Samsung Telecommunications America found that 11 percent of Americans think that it’s okay to break up with someone using a text message.

With the advances in technology, the traditional “Dear John” letter has also undergone a transition and entered the technological sphere. In these modern times, hearing “you’ve got mail” could mean “I never want to see you again,” as “Dear John” letters have been replaced with “Dear John” e-mails.

But if you don’t want to do your own dirty work—whether by cell phone or e-mail—there are dozens of online sites devoted to helping you jettison that dead weight, and doing it with all of the dignity and respect your soon-to-be-ex may or may not deserve.

You may want to try the Breakup Butler, which will e-mail an audio message to the object of your rejection, alerting them that your love affair is, unfortunately, over. It claims to be a “kind, gentle, proper breakup,” but only if “they can get past the fact that you’re using a dumb/impersonal/cowardly web service like this to deliver the message.” If you would rather the message be unkind, the site offers a not-so-nice message delivered in a female voice. The service is completely free, and can be found at www.breakingupiseasytodo.com.

There are literally dozens of other sites that will deliver the message for you in any way you could imagine, but if you don’t want to get into a situation where you’ll have to be breaking up down the road, you may want to check out the rejection hotline at www.rejectionhotline.com. The site offers fake phone numbers—in more than 80 area codes—that you can give to strangers who come onto you in bars. When the number is dialed, the caller hears a recorded message that lets them know that you’re not interested. (FYI, New Mexico’s rejection hotline number is 505-310-2496.)

With Valentine’s Day in the past, perhaps it’s time to close the door on that floundering relationship. Log on and break up!

-From Pulse
February 22, 2007

Lookin’ For Love

2007-02-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday was the most romantic day of the year. Valentine’s Day is a day for couples, a day for jewelry and roses and candlelight dinners. It’s a day when the love two people share in their hearts spreads to their pocketbooks and finds material representation. Love is in the air, and $100 bouquets of flowers are in bloom—on every office desk, every kitchen table, everywhere you look. For singles, nothing is more monumentally depressing than seeing pink, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate everywhere.

If you are a member of the Lonely Hearts Club who has vowed to have just spent your last Valentine’s Day alone, there is hope. Two weeks ago, the global market research firm Synovate released their results of a recent survey, and they are shocking. The survey seems to suggest that it might be time to swallow your pride, ignore the stigma, and try to find love online.

Synovate surveyed more than 4,000 people from eight different countries, including the United States, and found that very few people do online dating. But for the ones who have tried it, it works very well. Only 15% of Americans have ever used the Internet to find love. But of that 15%, however, more than 2 out of 5 (42%) claim to have met their spouse or life partner online.

In an effort to better understand online daters, the survey asked those who had used an online personal ad or dating service what attracted them to other users. Of the American respondents, only 27% said it was “their picture or how they look.” 39% said it was their “personality in their written description,” while 33% said they “met basic criteria such as hobbies, statistics, etc.”

But there is still that 85% who haven’t tried online dating, and there are a few reasons for that. 30% said they wouldn’t because it could be dangerous, 42% say they would just rather see someone in person first, and 22% just don’t think the Internet should be used for dating. Oh yeah, and then there is the social stigma attached to online romance. More than one-third of the people who aren’t online daters believe that “only desperate people” go to the Internet to find their love connection.

The safety issue is certainly a valid concern. A separate study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that online daters generally had good experiences, but 57% believe that “a lot of people who use online dating lie about their marital status.” That is reinforced by Synovate’s findings. 84% of Americans believe that people are dishonest in their online dating profiles. If you want to try online dating, but are concerned about safety, all of the online dating sites offer simple rules that can help keep you out of harm’s way. And compared to going home with some stranger you met in a bar, how dangerous is it?

I actually know two people, both women, who found their soul mates online. One is a girl I went to high school with, and one is a lady I work with. Both married their online love, and remain married today. Of course, there may be more I don’t know about. If you are single and looking, why not ask the couples you know how they met? You may be surprised how many began as broadband love connections.

-From Pulse
February 15, 2007

Aqua Teen Hunger Farce

2007-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

By now you probably have heard about the marketing stunt that brought the fair city of Boston to its knees last week.

It all started last Wednesday morning, when a guerilla ad campaign for the Cartoon Network’s show, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” was perceived as a citywide bomb threat. A city worker notified police after spotting the first device Wednesday morning. It appeared to be a circuit board bearing the image of a cartoon character giving the finger to passersby. By 1 p.m., emergency operators were getting calls reporting more sightings of the mysterious devices—devices that, when you really looked closely, kind of looked like a Lite-Brite. Remember Lite-Brites? The ‘80s toy with backlit colored pegs that could be arranged to look like a fish or frog or a fairy? Could the terrorists really be so cruel as to turn our own toys against us?

Soon the city was locked down. Highways and rivers, public transportation, businesses and bridges were closed for investigation. Pandemonium ensued. For hours, the city was at the mercy of bomb squad officers and the Department of Homeland Security.

And then they realized what they were dealing with. The “suspicious devices” were just flashing signs designed to generate a buzz for the upcoming “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” feature film, which is scheduled for release on March 23. Two men placed them around the city, nearly two weeks earlier. Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, were reportedly paid $500 for their part in the campaign. Both were later arrested and charged with planting a hoax device and disorderly conduct, charges to which they both pleaded not guilty.

In a press conference on the courthouse steps following their arraignment, the two contributed a little more to the circus atmosphere that had engulfed the city. On the advice of their attorney, they refused to answer questions about their role in the melee. Instead, they offered to answer reporters’ questions about another burning issue. “What we really want to talk about today—it’s kind of important to some people—is haircuts of the 1970s,” said Berdovsky. When reporters refused to cooperate, the two feigned indignation. It was like a scene from Monty Python.

Nine of the devices were found in Boston, a crime for which Turner Broadcasting, parent company to the Cartoon Network, agreed to pay the city $2 million. The company took out full-page ads in the Boston newspapers on Friday, apologizing for the bomb scare and conceding that their actions were careless and irresponsible. (It should be noted that Turner Broadcasting is owned by Ted Turner, who was once married to “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, a communist and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. This “coincidence” is something that the Liberal Media is reluctant to point out.)

Many say that Turner should’ve known better than to try a campaign like this in a “post-9/11 world.” But why, in a post-9/11 world, does it take 12 hours and $500,000 to determine that these things WERE NOT bombs? And why did it take two weeks for Boston officials to find them? And Boston wasn’t the only city “under attack.” The campaign was carried out in 9 other large American cities. In New York, 41 were found. Philly had 56. Are those cities less prepared than Boston? Or more reasonable?

In a world where companies are paying $2.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial, Turner got a week’s worth of 24-hour news for about the same price. Now that’s cheap advertising.

-From Pulse
February 8, 2007

Exposed

2007-02-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

She seems to be everywhere. If there’s a Hollywood party, she’s there. If there’s a red carpet rolled out somewhere, she’s on it. If a single starlet should be chosen as the poster child of the jet-set crowd, it should be her. She is famous because of her last name; she is famous because of her extravagant lifestyle. And sadly, she personifies success and fuels the aspirations of today’s youth.

This week, a new website made headlines by exposing the most private details of Paris Hilton’s personal life. And it’s not pretty.

How does a person like Paris end up in a situation like this, with so much of her private life posted online for the world to see? Well, according to legal documents filed by the heiress this week, it was all because of a misunderstanding. It started two years ago, after a burglary caused Paris and her sister, Nicky, to move from one L.A. mansion to another. Paris and Nicky put a lot of their belonging in a storage unit—a storage unit that Paris claims the moving company was supposed to pay for. When the storage company didn’t receive payment, they tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the heiress to collect the $208 she owed. Eventually, the contents of the unit were put up for auction and sold for $2,775. The buyers, realizing whose stuff they had purchased, turned around and sold it stuff to an Internet entrepreneur for $10 million—for a profit of $9,997,225.

The man who paid $10 million for Paris’ property—6,000 square feet of it, to be precise—catalogued, itemized, digitized and uploaded every last piece of it, and for about $40, looky-loos can peruse every morsel for 60 days. Or until the Hilton lawyers get their way and the site is taken down.

The items are shocking, even by Paris Hilton standards, and are not suitable for young eyes or the easily offended. Paris seems to enjoy being naked, judging from the abundance of photos and video. She likes doing drugs, too. One video shows her and her “billionaire-buddies” snorting cocaine—and A LOT of it—off of a friend’s chest. Another shows her smoking a pipe while extolling the virtues of marijuana. Paris’ passport, driver’s license, medical records, address book, love letters, and journals are also available. In essence, her life just became an open book.

And so much for denying a relationship with Girls-Gone-Wild-creator Joe Francis. Video footage of the two, as well as footage, captured by Francis, of Paris in a bubble bath, is available for all to see on the new website.

As I took the site’s free tour, I began to analyze my own curiosity. Truth be told, I began psychoanalyzing myself. What drives our curiosity about people like Paris? It’s more than voyeurism. There’s something about seeing these filthy rich pop-culture icons living dangerously and carelessly, compromising their own integrity, and self-destructing. I don’t get any gratification from it, but it’s interesting. It’s baffling, almost incomprehensible. People like Paris seem to have it all, but lack responsibility, integrity, and accountability.

I guess it makes me appreciate the life I have a little bit more.

-From Pulse
February 1, 2007

Be Wary of False Idols

2007-01-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

With the new season of American Idol underway—What is this, season six? With the sixth season of American Idol afoot, life around the water-cooler is back to normal. Actually, it’s a little better than normal, with the god-awful, two-hour audition specials that seem to air every other night. We have a bumper crop of talentless nobodies to gossip about, instead of the usual one or two talentless nobodies (and hotel heiresses) that normally occupy our brains’ gossip centers.

It’s only natural that everybody is talking about American Idol, since almost everybody is watching it. During last Tuesday’s season premiere, 15 percent of the country tuned in—not 15 percent of those with TV’s—15 percent of everyone. According to the Nielsen numbers, the last 30 minutes of Idol had almost twice as many viewers as the shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, and CW—combined. Tuesday’s Minneapolis-based auditions drew about a million more viewers than did the season five finale last May, Taylor Hicks’ Idol crowning.

This season, there has been a lot of talk about a perceived heightened cruelty of the judges. Simon Cowell, who has never sugar-coated anything, has been taking flak from critics, fans and Rosie O’Donnell alike for claiming that one pop-eyed contestant looked like a “bush baby.” Cowell is anything but apologetic for his remarks. On Saturday, he told the Television Critics Association, essentially, that he is just brutally honest, and adding, “If you don’t want to hear that, don’t show up.”

But the situation is a little stickier than that. There were two standout recipients of the judges’ insults. Jonathan Jayne, 21, and Kenneth Briggs, 23, met in line at the Seattle auditions and became fast friends. When the time came for them to audition, they were both pretty bad. Jonathan sang “God Bless America” while Randy Jackson chuckled. Then his new friend Kenneth stepped into the spotlight and performed “Tearing Up My Heart.” That’s when Simon told him the looked like a “bush baby.” Jonathan later told a reporter for Access Hollywood and the Free Republic that, while he was upset that Randy was giggling during his audition, he was really upset by Simon’s remarks to Kenneth. "They treated him horribly,” he said. “I just didn't like what they said about him. That really made me kind of ticked off that they were treating him like that."

Now there is speculation that Jonathan is developmentally disabled. If this is the case, can we, as viewers, condone their exploitation? I understand the desire to drive ratings, but where is the line?

I’ve always enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) Simon’s criticism of the fully able, yet untalented, would-be contestants. But it seems to me that we have to hold the producers accountable for the product that eventually reaches the airwaves—in other words, what makes the cut. And I’m not alone. Many bloggers and posters on AI message boards are claiming that last Tuesday’s show was uncomfortable to watch.

It would be interesting to study the psychological motives that drive people to watch American Idol. Because, let’s face it, we don’t usually watch because we appreciate great singers and want to see all of the contestants succeed.

-From Pulse
January 25, 2007

YouReport

2007-01-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

There’s a new watchdog in town, and it’s you. Yes, you, with your video-capturing cell phone. Who would’ve guessed that Time’s Person of the Year would also be leading the pack in news journalism? When news happens, you are there, quick to draw your cell-cam and capture for the world events that may otherwise go unnoticed. When Saddam was hanged, you were there. When Kramer’s career went down in flames, you were there. When an Iranian-American student was unjustly tasered in the UCLA library, you were there. When news happens, you are there, ensnaring the events that shape our world in your tangled web of grainy video and garbled sound.

Of course, in the days following the execution of Saddam Hussein, cell phone video of the hanging swept across the web like a California brushfire. The video has been condemned as much for its existence as for its content, which shows the taunting of the former dictator on the gallows and a post-mortem clip reveals a gruesome, gaping wound on his neck. Authorities are now calling for the prosecution of the man who captured the footage, in a classic case of “shooting the messenger.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking at a press conference on Monday in Ramallah, said that she hopes those responsible for the video will be punished. “We were disappointed that there was not greater dignity give to the accused under these circumstances,” she said. Let me remind you that, if not for the fear of terrorist attacks, the hanging would’ve happened in a soccer stadium in front of at least 10,000 cheering fans. “I hope that those who are responsible for the way that came out will indeed be punished,” Rice said.

I think that video, which I haven’t seen, was a good thing—not because I enjoy the macabre, but because it immediately subverts any conspiracy theories that would have immediately began to swirl. “Saddam is alive and well in Acapulco,” or “The execution was actually staged by the Baathist Saddam loyalists, who released him, and now he’s living in Bahrain with Michael Jackson,” or “That fat guy in a ski mask was really Elvis Presley.” The cell phone video eventually made public the hanging that was originally going to be public.

The Hussein video may be the highest-profile among a recent rash of phone-captured news, but it is certainly not alone. It’s quite possible that racist tirade unleashed by Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer) wouldn’t have been the news story it was if it hadn’t been captured on an audience member’s cell phone.

Week after week, we are seeing more of these videos make their way to television news, and they are almost always shocking. And while most people don’t carry around a video camera at all times, most people do have cell phones. According to a recent study by InfoTrends and The Yankee Group, about 70 percent of Americans have cell phones, and about a fourth of those have video capability. Of the estimated 55.5 million cell phone users with video, one-third claim they use it at least once a week.

Overall, that’s almost 6 percent of Americans who use their cell phone video recorders once a week, and that number will only rise as video-capable phones fall into more hands. We certainly haven’t seen the end of this trend.

Keep those phones handy, and when news happens, you’ll be there.

-From Pulse
January 18, 2007

Words of the Year

2007-01-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

As the first few weeks of 2007 continue to slip past us, there are some who are still putting the finishing touches on 2006. Among them is the American Dialect Society (ADS), which convenes early each year to discuss the previous one. It’s a tradition that tends to serve them well, raising their public profile, as they decide on their “Word of the Year.”

And while it usually gets them a lot a press, there is nothing official about their word of the year. You won’t necessarily find it in a dictionary, but you are likely to hear it on the streets and around the office. It may not be as historic as Merriam-Webster’s annual list of new dictionary inclusions, but it certainly says something about us, culturally.

The ADS is primarily comprised of scholars, linguists, and wordsmiths—both amateur and professional. It was founded in 1889, and has ever since been devoted to studying the evolution of the English language. That is their official charge, but we generally only hear about them after their annual meeting, when their “Word of the Year” is decided upon.

The society last year decided upon a word coined by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert as 2005’s Word of the Year. “Truthiness,” which Colbert defined as “truth that comes from the gut, not books,” edged out “podcast” and “intelligent design” to receive the honor. Colbert went on to state, “I don’t trust books. They’re all fact, no heart.”

Last Friday, Society members met in Anaheim, CA, and made their decision on 2006’s “Word of the Year.” And for Las Crucens, it hits a little close to home. On Friday, the ADS decided on “plutoed” as its word for 2006. The word, as defined by the ADS, means “to demote or devalue someone or something,” a reference to the one-time planet’s recent downgrading by the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.

I shouldn’t have to explain the local connection to lifelong Las Crucens. But, for the record, Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered our solar system’s ninth planet in 1930, taught at NMSU for 18 years and lived in the City of Crosses of 42 years, until his death in 1997.

“Plutoed” beat a host of other nominees, including “YouTube” (as a verb, “I wasted my day YouTubing”), “murse,” a man-purse, and “macaca,” a word that has come to describe discrimination against American-born people of foreign descent.

The Society also voted on words in other categories. Winning the Most Useful category, “climate canary,” defined as “an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon,” defeated “data Valdez,” “an accidental release of a large quantity of private or privileged information,” as in the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 in Alaska.

My favorite word was the winner of the “most creative” division. A “lactard,” or a person who is lactose-intolerant, won that distinction. Kinda reminds me of a word that I coined in 2006, actually. I referred to myself, in a particularly moment of technological ineptitude as a “technotard.” (Feel free to use that one as your own.)

-From Pulse
January 11, 2007

2007 Resolutions

2007-01-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

A new year is here, and new years come with a lot of traditions. Whether it’s Dick Clark or bowl games, parades or black-eyed peas, we like to adhere to time-tested ways of ringing in the new year. As we say goodbye to the year that was and gracefully slip into 2007, the year is greeted with another “Pulse” tradition: our 3^rd annual New Year’s resolutions for other people.

• Kate Moss: If the rumors about her weekend marriage to no-good rocker Pete Doherty turn out to be true, Ms. Moss needs to put “annulment” at the top of her “Things-To-Do-In-2007” list. And I’m talking about a Cher-and-Gregg-Allman, Britney-and-that-first-guy, lickity-split, ink’s-not-dry, pre-honeymoon annulment.

• Eminem: I know love is confusing and love can be strange, but NO MORE MARRYING KIM. Not for the kid, not because she’s changed, and not because she lost 3½ pounds or doesn’t eat Skittles anymore. Not for ANY reason. Let’s try to go all year without a wedding and/or a divorce. Whaddya say?

• Mark Foley and Pastor Ted Haggard: Find a new job.

• Katie Rees, former Miss Nevada USA: Ditto.

• Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Haley Joel Osment, Mike Tyson, John Michael Montgomery, Nicole Richie, George Michael and Tom Wopat: The new year brings new opportunities for you. This year, rework your budget and factor in a personal driver. Celebrity DUI’s may have been big in 2006, but Mel Gibson ruined that for everyone. If Billy Joel can clean up his act, so can you. Let’s go for a no-repeat 2007.

• Naomi Campbell: 2007 is going to be a good year for you, as soon as you check yourself into anger management classes. As a culture, we are tolerant of bad behavior from supermodels. (See Kate Moss.) Second order of business for the new year: a cell phone endorsement deal.

• Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Heather Locklear, Richie Sambora and David Spade: Great work in 2006, but in the new year you should be looking for syndication and distribution. Your tangled web of marital meltdowns and backbiting NEEDS a network home. Talk about a show that has it all. Collectively, you could breathe the life back into reality TV. Get Mark Burnett on the phone. Now!

• Heather Mills: Enough already. Every time you open your mouth, someone else begins hating you, and your divorce settlement gets smaller. Enter 2007 in silence, and see if things don’t get better. Sign up for some Jennifer Anniston classes, and stop being so darn hateable.

• Celebrity Scientologists: Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and the rest of you. If you want to believe in alien saviors, that’s fine. Really. But when you can’t stop talking about it, the rest of us kinda start thinking you’re crazy. And it’s not really an anti-Scientology thing. We look at Kirk “The End Is Near” Cameron and Stephen “God Hates Porn” Baldwin the same way.

I’ll leave you with a quick reminder of last year’s advice. If you are going to make a resolution for yourself, keep it to yourself. It reduces accountability, and you won’t be hearing “I told you so” in March. Happy new year.

-From Pulse
January 4, 2007

Person Of The Year

2006-12-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

First, let me congratulate you on your recognition as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

Now, let me say that I think it’s bunk. You didn’t do anything to deserve it, short of creating a MySpace page and uploading a 42-second video clip of your cousin taking a softball in the crotch. Oh, and your little blog—no one reads it. You deserve to be Person of the Year like K-Fed deserves a Grammy. Like Andy Dick deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Like Britney Spears deserves Mother of the Year. Pardon my candor, but you don’t deserve it anymore than I do.

Shame on the editorial staff at Time for copping out, and shame on them for stroking our already-over-inflated egos, as if we aren’t already self-important enough. It is a cheap ploy designed to sell a few more copies of their much-awaited Person of the Year issue—a designation that once meant something.

Charles Lindbergh was the first person to receive the honor, when it was called “Man of the Year,” in 1927—the year he became the first person to ever fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic. (Let me again remind you that you won it this year, for sitting on your couch with a can of Pringles, and watching Futurama reruns on Cartoon Network. Good job.)

I mean, really. Time’s Person of the Year is a distinction that has been given to every U.S. president since Harry Truman, except for Gerald Ford. Dozens of world leaders and humanitarians—names like Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Rudy Giuliani was acknowledged in the months after the attacks of 9/11. People of influence. Last year, Bill and Melinda Gates shared the honor with Bono. This year, my neighbor Kenny shared it with, well, everyone else.

This isn’t the first time that Time has named a large group “Person of the Year.” For example, in 1966 it was given to everyone 25 and under. That decision is defensible, considering the role played by American youth in the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the anti-war movement.

Sometimes objects are named Person of the Year. In 1982 it was the computer. In 1988 it was “Endangered Earth.” The fact that Time can’t find a person to crown Person of the Year either speaks to the deficiencies of their editorial staff or to those of mankind. I certainly hope it’s the former.

There has been a lot of talk in this debate about Adolf Hitler, who was named Person of the Year in 1938. It’s important to remember that it’s not about being the best person; it’s about wielding the most influence over the year’s events. With that in mind, perhaps al-Qaeda would have been a more suitable group to choose. Or, as Time did in 1950, it could have gone to the American fighting-man, our men and women of the services. And they could have done it with few objections.

At some point over the next couple of weeks, you may find yourself staring at your own reflection in the foil-gilded cover of Time. It’s a cheap ploy designed to sell magazines. As you consider whether or not you want to give Time’s editorial staff that satisfaction, you may want to consider this: Paris Hilton could be looking at the same thing.

-From Pulse
December 28, 2006

’Tis The Season

2006-12-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

I won’t say that I understand where Scrooge was coming from, but for those of us over the age of 15, the Christmas season is a stressful time. Between decking the halls (with more boughs of holly than your neighbor) and enduring the maddening crowds at your local one-stop shopping mecca, it can be difficult to approach the holidays with the same pie-eyed wonder that we did when we were young.

For me, it started shortly after Thanksgiving this year. It started in the holiday home décor department, standing before rows of Christmas lights. As I stood there, between grazing, pre-lighted reindeer and seven-foot inflatable snow globes, I had a decision to make. Would I allow myself to be outdone by the neighbors again this year, or would I spend my Christmas bonus on reindeer, snow globes, candy canes and carousels that would just take up space in the garage for the next 11 months? I threw in the towel, and bought enough lights to adorn the rooftop—seven strands—and some of those icicle light thingys for the front porch. Guess I won’t be winning the United Way home-decorating contest this year.

Then came the office holiday party, which can typically be tricky things, and the annual gift exchange. Because I’m in radio, and work for a company that owns four stations, my office party is never short on entertainment. Imagine 20 or 30 people with, let’s say “strong personalities,” and their dates, packed in to a small banquet room at a very nice restaurant with an open bar. It’s always entertaining, but I often wonder how so many of us are invited back, year after year.

Of course Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas shopping. This year, I managed to pack all of mine into three stress-filled days. Finding the perfect gift for someone is hard enough, but doing it while creeping through aisles crowded with unfriendly people should have its own Excedrin headache number.

Then there’s holiday traffic. Leaving the crowded stores and hitting the crowded streets is too much for most people to deal with in one lifetime. I’d love to see the statistics on holiday fender-benders, because in my three days of shopping, I probably saw twenty accidents. Nothing can put you in the holiday spirit like hearing the words, “Merry Christmas, honey. I wrecked the car.”

So let’s assume you survive the shopping and the traffic, and you make it home with your presents. Then comes the wrapping--paper and ribbon and bows and tissue paper and newspaper and tape and gift boxes and gift bags and gift tags and scissors, strewn from one end of the house to the other, peeling off price tags, remembering gift receipts, hunched over a workspace that’s too low, paper cuts and backaches—for days.

And then the family shows up. Because that’s what the holidays are about, right? Family? Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews. And cooking—turkey and dressing, rolls and cranberry sauce, gravy and pies.

Christmas is a wonderful time. But it takes a lot of hard work, and sometimes the people around you don’t make it any easier. I know it’s hard, but this Christmas try to remember what it’s all about—love and peace and patience and goodwill. I know it’s hard, but don’t ruin it for the rest of us.

-From Pulse
December 21, 2006

Windows Vista

2006-12-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Every time Microsoft releases a new operating system, the computer industry becomes aflutter with anticipation, and the lives of millions of computer-users around the world have their lives turned upside down until they realize, a) that they can use it, and b) that it makes things better.

In July 2005, Microsoft unveiled the first beta version of the operating system that will replace Windows XP. It’s called Windows Vista, and among those of us who have tried it, reaction is mixed. This week I had a chance to give it a day in court, and quite frankly, I like it. And I think that, for the most part, you will too.

I guess I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it’s supposed to be safer and more secure against the cyber-badguys. Microsoft has developed a unique new way to encrypt everything on the hard drive, and it can only be decrypted by an on-board microchip, making it impossible for “the evil-doers” to access your hard drive. It’s called BitLocker, and can even protect against offline attacks. Of course, it also relies on Windows Defender to protect against malware, just like Windows XP. And Internet Explorer 7, which you may have already downloaded from Microsoft.com, ramps up security against malicious software using anti-phishing filters and other key features. All of these are supposed to come together to make your desktop a little safer. How well it will work against the ever-evolving hackers remains to be seen.

But what is most striking about Windows Vista is the visual appearance. It is certainly sleeker and more streamlined than the visually stale XP. While it’s similar enough to XP to ease the transition and minimize techno-shock, the new features struck me as an immediate improvement. Chief among them are the “gadgets,” which can be pinned to the right side of the desktop for quick and handy access. You can add a clock (the round kind, with hands), a handy notepad for reminders, or feed the latest headlines, weather information and stock prices directly to your desktop. In the future, more gadgets will be available for download from the Microsoft website. When it comes to practicality, they all beat the pants off that irritating Windows Dancer.

With Windows Vista, searches are made simpler, too. I hate to say it, but the new search features are eerily reminiscent of Google. In my short playdate with Vista, I found the search results to be better organized and more likely to find exactly what I was looking for than XP ever offered.

But computer guys are having a harder time adjusting. The version I used belonged to Mike Stout of The Only Company, a computer support and service company in Las Cruces. Stout is also a beta-tester for Microsoft, and has encountered a few problems with the new system. “It’s a little harder to find the features that I need to access.” (These are presumably not features that the average user would typically use—or understand. Things like registries, administrator settings and networking features. You know.)

Overall, I don’t think the launch of Vista will be as unsettling to the average user as, say, Windows 95 was. It is currently being manufactured, and is scheduled to hit shelves on January 31, 2007.

-From Pulse
December 14, 2006

Controversy: The New Black

2006-12-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to say when it all began, and perhaps one would have to go all the way back to James Dean, or Marilyn Manson, or Jayne Mansfield. Perhaps earlier. But recently, the scourge known as “celebrities behaving badly” has reached epidemic proportions. Quite frankly, it’s a problem.

First, there was the Michael Richards/Kramer debacle. For the benefit of our cave-dwelling readership, Richards was performing his stand-up routine at The Laff Factory in L.A. a few weeks ago, when he claims he was heckled by a couple of African-American members of the audience. The bigoted tirade that ensued would be enough to make Mel Gibson blush. More on that later.

And then there was Britney Spears. Nothing says “I can be fun too” like appearing sans-underthings, night after night after night. Last week, Ms. Spears was photographed slithering out of a car with new BFF Paris Hilton as her skirt slid up around her waist, revealing much more than Miss Manners would deem “ladylike.” And it has happened THREE TIMES in the last week or so. If Spears is following in her mentor Madonna’s footsteps and trying to hyper-sexualize her image, Britney’s “commando-era” could be a messy, well, mess. (Remember Madonna’s “Truth or Dare” and “Sex?”)

Danny DeVito wasn’t going to let the controversy gravy-train leave the station without him. The pint-sized producer/actor appeared on “The View” last week to plug his new movie, “Deck The Halls,” and was clearly schnockered. Stumbling onto stage like Otis, Mayberry’s town drunk, DeVito admitted to partying all night with guy-pal George Clooney. DeVito escaped virtually unscathed, somehow. Barbara Walters, the show’s “den mother,” later said that he was welcome on the show any time he wanted to come back. And co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck called DeVito a “fun drunk.”

Rip Torn, on the other hand, is not. The 75-year old character actor cursed and berated officers and refused a sobriety test following a January fender-bender, was charged with DUI, and acquitted in October. Well, the Men In Black star was picked up again after another crash. Officers again are alleging he was tipsy behind the wheel.

And last but not least, Gwenyth Paltrow was quoted last week by a Portuguese magazine as saying: “The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans.” The American actress, who now resides in England with hubby/Coldplay-singer Chris Martin, quickly denied the quote, telling People magazine that she feels “so lucky” and “so proud” to be an American. In an ironic twist of fate, Paltrow’s new movie, “The Good Night,” in which she shares the screen with Danny DeVito, will premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival.

According to the first rule of PR, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If you’re looking for proof, let’s look at the most egregious offense. Amid the press coverage of Michael Richards’ outburst, sales of the Seinfeld Season 7 set spiked. So far, it has outsold Season 6 by 75%, and Season 5 by 90%. It remains to be seen how the other “newsmakers” will fare, but if the trend continues to hold, we could start to see more celebrities doing whatever it takes to get their names in the gossip columns.

-From Pulse
December 7, 2006

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

2006-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Have you recovered yet from your Black Friday whirlwind madhouse shopping bonanza? While standing in the produce aisle, are you still fighting the urge to start throwing elbows like Charles Barkley in the paint? Now that the chaos is over, it’s time to debunk a few myths and set the record straight.

Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. It got its name because companies see it as an opportunity to skyrocket their sales into profitability, or out of “the red” and into “the black.” And although 74% of consumers think that Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, a recent poll conducted by MasterCard shows that Black Friday didn’t even crack the top 5 busiest shopping days of the holiday shopping season in 2005. Early reports indicate that Black Friday sales climbed this year, up 6% from 2005, but that still may not be enough to turn the myth into a reality. This year, with Christmas falling on a Monday, experts are predicting that the Saturday before will be the season’s biggest shopping day. (FYI: If you’re looking to avoid the madness, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the slowest retail day of the holiday shopping season.)

Online sales slipped on Black Friday, which I believe is to be expected. After all, bargain-surfing in front of the computer doesn’t provide the same kind of rush that one gets from storming the doors of a department store at 5 a.m., racing to the season’s hottest item—the Elmo TMX, for example—and snatching it from the hands of a stunned, pie-eyed child. (I know, it’s a little extreme, but it happens.) Many people need the adrenaline rush that Black Friday shopping provides in order to put them in the shopping mood and carry them through the season.

And that’s exactly why the Monday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed “Cyber Monday.” When employees return to work and are sitting in front of their computers (with a faster internet connection), online sales spike. According to the myth, Cyber Monday is the busiest online shopping day of the holiday season. But in reality, it was beaten last year by December 12, the last day many online retailers offer free shipping for delivery before Christmas.

This year, Cyber Monday may live up to the myth. Brace yourself; the following numbers are staggering. This year, Cyber Monday sales were up 19% from last year. At noon, online retail sites peaked out at 2,145,558 visitors per minute. By 7 p.m., traffic was still at over 2 million hits per minute. (YouTube, eat your heart out.) And that traffic was driven by good reason; many online retailers were offering door-buster deals. Amazon, for example, was offering Xboxes for $100. They had 1,000 available at that price. Those sold out in 29 seconds.

Whether you do your shopping at brick-and-mortar retailers or online, there is something to the myths of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They may not be the busiest shopping days of the holiday season, but the deals can’t be beat.

-From Pulse
November 30, 2006

Giving Thanks 2006

2006-11-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

So, Turkey Day is upon us again, and while we’re scurrying around to prepare next week’s leftovers, let’s not forget the spirit of the holiday. Thanksgiving is more than the bird and the beer, the football and the family. Take a moment while the rolls are in the oven, or while Mariah or Sheryl Crow are performing at halftime, to reflect on the things for which you are thankful.

Each Thanksgiving, as the turkey thaws and the relatives arrive, it has become a tradition for me to prepare a list of these things. I encourage you to do the same.

· I am thankful that CBS is standing up for themselves against the FCC, and challenging the $550,000 fine levied against them for Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl performance. The commission, which once believed that images that were “fleeting, isolated or unintended” should not automatically be considered indecent, has since abandoned that reasonable stance, and CBS is fighting them in the 3^rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The heretofore unchecked, unbalanced Commission is now being taken to task, and for that I’m thankful.

· I am grateful that I didn’t buy stock in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. after learning that the company would run the O.J. Simpson special, “If I Did It.” In the special, which was scheduled to November 27^th and 29^th, Simpson discusses, “hypothetically,” how he would have killed his estranged wife and Ron Goldman, if he had done it. News Corp’s publishing arm, HarperCollins/ReganBooks, planned to release an accompanying book (just in time for the holiday shopping season.) Both projects have been shelved after an uprising of contempt, led partly by a site, DontPayOJ.com, launched by Goldman’s family.

· I am thankful that the hip-hop world has Jay-Z again. The music mogul cut his retirement-as-an-artist short, and released his new CD, “Kingdom Come,” on Tuesday. Jay-Z raises the bar for other rappers, and the music world is richer because of the king’s return.

· I’m glad that Paris and Nicole seem to have settled their differences. According to E! Online’s Hollywood Party Girl, the two were seen earlier this month arriving at a party together. Nicole even introduced Paris to someone as quote, “my best friend.” You know, everyone deserves a best friend, and those two certainly deserve each other.

· On a more serious note, and again this year, I think we should give thanks to our troops, fighting for our freedom in the Middle East. They’re putting their lives on the line, spending the season away from their families so that we can be with ours, and for that I’m appreciative.

I am also thankful for my family, my friends, and a job that I love. I’m thankful for the opportunities that I have been given, and for my health. This Thanksgiving weekend, set aside a moment or two to genuinely give thanks for the things that you may take for granted throughout the year. We really do have a lot the be thankful for.

-From Pulse
November 23, 2006

Fly Naked

2006-11-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

If you’re planning on traveling for the holidays, you may want to go Greyhound. Sure it’ll take longer—a lot longer—but, according to new reports, you’ll have a better chance of arriving at your destination with luggage in hand.

On August 10, the Travel Safety Administration banned the carry-on of all liquid and gels, which resulted in a pretty steep increase of checked baggage. As checked baggage rose 25%, the airlines seem to have buckled under the pressure to keep track of it all. As a result, 107,731 more people lost their bags in August than in August 2005. That’s an increase of 33%.

In September, things got worse. 92% more bags were lost in September than in September 2005, with more than 380,000 passengers arriving at their destinations empty-handed—pretty grim odds for anyone planning on flying home for the holidays.

Now, as a guy who’s a little math-deficient, I know that the numbers and percentages can seem a little overwhelming. But here it is in plain English: the airlines can’t keep up with all of that extra luggage, and luggage-loss is on the rise. Think of it as “luggage lotto.”

It seems a little ironic, in fact. The airline industry places such strong emphasis on “keeping an eye on your bags at all time,” “don’t leave your bags unattended,” “don’t let any weirdos pack your bags for you,” and “don’t let anyone—friend or foe—anywhere near your bags.” A person is given the distinct impression that they would be best served by shackling their luggage to their leg. But then, when you hand your bag—carefully packed and carefully watched—to the airline’s baggage handlers, they lose it like a second pair of reading glasses. They lose it like an Enron pension plan. They lose it like Pete Rose in Atlantic City on his birthday. Like Oprah after New Year’s. Like Britney did K-Fed. But I digress.

The TSA relaxed its ban on carry-on liquids and gels a little on September 26, but the more lenient restrictions may only confuse the casual flyer. It remains to be seen how these changes will affect the amount of lost luggage.

There’s a way to help clean up this mess, you know. As it stands, tracking down lost luggage costs the airline industry about $2.5 billion a year. The front-runner in the fight to increase the winning odds in “luggage lotto” may seem to be the least likely. McCarran Int’l Airport in Las Vegas is bucking the trend and installing radio-frequency ID tag readers, and tagging all outgoing luggage. The RFID technology allows bags to be tracked immediately, and is more effective than the industry-standard barcode system. And while RFID can’t guarantee that your bags will be waiting for you when you get home, it can automatically alert you by text-message if your bag doesn’t make your flight. You can avoid wasting time at the claim carousel, and call to arrange delivery of your luggage. The ID tags would cost the airlines between 10 and 20 cents per tag, and could collectively save them more than $700 million a year.

If you plan on flying for the holidays, brush up on the what’s-not-allowed list, and if possible, pack everything in your carry-on. Unless you’re a gambling addict—then, roll the dice and pray for sevens.

-From Pulse
November 16, 2006

Holiday Craze

2006-11-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

With Halloween behind us and the holidays looming, cash registers are lying in wait with eager anticipation to officially ring in the holiday shopping season. But this year, the traditional Black Friday—the Friday after Thankgsgiving—will come a week earlier for some.

On November 17, Sony will release their latest gaming console, the PlayStation 3. This time last year it was the Xbox 360 that had gamers’ hearts aflutter. I remember passing lines of gamers as I walked into Best Buy last winter, gamers who camped overnight in sleeping bags outside of the store to be the first on the block to have the year’s coolest toy. This year Sony is a shoe-in for the most-sought-after gadget, and next Thursday you can expect to see the same kind of insanity, I would imagine.

If you’re a gamer, I suppose the PS3 is worth getting all worked up about. There are two versions, according to the Sony website. Both configurations use Blu-Ray Discs, Bluetooth wireless controllers, four USB ports, and a microprocessor called the Cell Broadband Engine, developed exclusively for the PS3, which utilizes eight cores to distribute the processor workload. (Traditional consoles have used “single-core” processors, which are slower and less efficient.) However, one version will cost $599 and one will run $499. The costlier model comes with Memory Stick/SD/CompactFlash slots (similar to the ones found on the front of many computers) and a 60-gigabyte hard drive. The cheaper version comes without the slots and a 20 GB hard drive. Both models will impress gamers enough to have them digging out those sleeping bags.

The “Sleeping Bag Effect” is a reasonably new phenomenon. Remember the Tickle-Me Elmo craze that swept the country during the holiday shopping season of 1996? Of course you do. It all started with Rosie O’Donnell showing one off, which ignited a brushfire of demand—demand that (legitimately) far exceeded the supply. Insanity ensued, and soon the $12 toy was selling for thousands of dollars on the “black market.” The Cabbage Patch craze of 1986 was similar, but pales in comparison to the Elmo fiasco.

Now, as Christmas 2006 looms, manufacturers have developed a do-it-yourself equation for the “Sleeping Bag Effect.” By undersupplying the market during the prime-shopping season, they can generate a higher demand for their product. As demand rises, the high prices seem less significant, which helps pay for the development of the technology. The demand-side insanity helps drive press and publicity for the product, and soon everyone knows about the year’s hottest gadget.

In the months following Christmas, prices will likely drop as more PS3’s hit the market. But even that knowledge will do little to curb the “Sleeping Bag Effect.” No self-respecting gamer will want to wait until April or May to get their hands around their own PS3 controllers. Ahem, Bluetooth wireless PS3 controllers.

-From Pulse
November 9, 2006

Honeymoon’s Over

2006-11-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

YouTube is slowly beginning to lose its luster. And if they don’t act now, the video-sharing site’s future may be at stake. On Monday, Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom, ordered that all Comedy Central content be pulled from the site. Users attempting to view clips of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report and South Park were met with a simple message: “This video has been removed due to terms of use violations.”

Comedy Central’s content on YouTube has, since the site’s inception just over a year ago, been one of its largest draws, and its removal may set a new trend among the owners of copyrighted content posted by the site’s millions of users. In the beginning, most companies saw YouTube as a helpful tool, a vehicle for free promotion. “Getting it off the Internet is no different than getting it off TV,” Jon Stewart recently told an interviewer. But when the site was recently sold to Google for $1.65 billion, I suspect that the suits at Viacom began to realize that someone was getting very, very rich off of their product.

It all boils down to two factors: site traffic and advertising revenue. No, scratch that. It all boils down to one factor: Money. YouTube users, according to the terms of use, are not allowed to post copyrighted video on the site, but with 20 million unique visitors per month and 65,000 videos being uploaded daily, it is impossible to police. When copyright holders ask YouTube to remove the copyrighted material, YouTube must then contact the user who posted it and have the videos removed.

While, to the average YouTuber, it may seem like Viacom is raining on the parade, they are actually just trying to protect their product. And, I suspect, the plug-pulling won’t stop with Comedy Central content. The media giant also owns MTV, MTV2, BET, VH1, CMT, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, Paramount Pictures, Showtime and the Sundance Channel, to name a few.

With YouTube’s future at stake, and all eyes watching, this would be a good time for the bigwigs at Google/YouTube and Viacom to call a meeting to hammer out an agreement to share advertising revenue. YouTube already has similar deals in place with most of the major music companies, including Universal Music Group, and several of the U.S. television networks, including NBC and CBS.

There are two ways this can be done. The first would allow users to post Viacom-owned content without restrictions, YouTube to continue to sell advertising on the site, and then break Viacom off a small percentage of the ad revenue. The other way would be a trade agreement, allowing Viacom to advertise its new ventures on YouTube. (For example, banners reading “Don’t miss ‘The Real World: Guantanamo,’ this Thursday at 10!”) Either would be mutually beneficial for both companies.

If nothing is done to settle this little dispute, however, it may very well mark the beginning of a slippery slope toward YouTube’s demise, and Google’s $1.65 billion dollar albatross.

-From Pulse
November 2, 2006

Freegans: Urban Foragers

2006-10-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

First there were vegetarians. Then there were Vegans. Now, a movement that started in New York City but is spreading across the country is taking it to another level. Known as “Freegans,” the radical organization is figuring out how to function in a capitalistic society without participating in it.

One Freegan describes the movement as a “renaissance of hobo culture, infused with ideas from the movements for anarchy, radical environmentalism, animal rights, anti-globalization, anti sweatshop, voluntary simplicity, and primitivist (advocating a return to precivilized living) movements.” In essence, Freegans refuse to participate in the economy in any way.

In anthropological terms, they are foragers, modern-day hunters and gatherers. Rather than buying their food, they rely on the large amounts of fresh-food waste that are common in metropolitan areas. Yes, they are dumpster-divers—a term they embrace—and they do it by choice.

Anyone who has worked in a retail or food-service position can attest to the enormous amounts of waste created by retailers. “With food being discarded by retailers, the vast majority is still entirely usable. In many cases items are discarded simply because a newer shipment has arrived and they need to create shelf space for the new items,” says a Freegan. “Many prepared food sellers and bakeries advertise that the goods they sell are made fresh every day, so they are obligated to discard everything that goes unsold—usually the majority of what they produce that day—even though it is still perfectly consumable.” Some businesses object to the foragers, but others are very accommodating. “[Some] direct us to the best things that have been tossed, and sometimes even give us stuff that they are going to throw out before they toss it so we don’t have to rummage for it.”

But it’s not just food that Freegans don’t buy; virtually everything they need can be found by looking in the right dumpster. They also forage for their toiletries, magazines, furniture, rollerblades and bicycles, music and videos, kitchenware and appliances. If they need a sofa or bookshelf, they simply wait for large-trash-pickup day in the suburbs and find one.

Freeganism is very exchange-oriented—it’s a trade society. Utilizing the “free” section of Craigslist and other websites like Freecycle.com, and with organized events called “freemeets,” participants exchange items for free. If a needed item cannot be found for free after all avenues have been exhausted, Freegans will try to buy things second-hand, which they claim doesn’t lead to increased production and also reduces waste.

As a philosophy, Freeganism is an overarching and comprehensive attempt to remove oneself from a worldwide economy that its practitioners find oppressive and unjust. It’s also about reducing the “waste-stream.”

For more information, log on to the most comprehensive Freegan website, www.freegan.info.

-From Pulse
October 26, 2006

Brown Boy

2006-10-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

There’s more to Brown Boy, a newcomer to the world of Chicano rap, than meets the eye. The first single from his debut album, the title track from last year’s “Livin’ Shady,” was a track about cheating with a confessional tone. It got quite a bit of radio play on Top 40 and hip-hop stations, but his true breakthrough came with the album’s second single, “Superman,” which shot up the Billboard charts with a meteoric quality, and continues to grow with each passing week.

Without a doubt, the California native is turning heads, and without the resources available to artists with major record deals. Brown Boy’s story is truly a testament to the value of a few good songs. Fellow rapper Mr. Capone-E, in a recent interview with “Pulse,” expressed his respect for the new kid on the block. “The thing about Brown Boy…he just popped out of nowhere. He came with a single, and people started requesting it—where people are putting millions and billions of corporate dollars into marketing to make an artist blow up. And Brown Boy comes with a good song, and shows that there’s a fan base for it.”

It’s a remarkable story about a remarkable man, who, early in his career, is taking his role model status seriously. For some artists, hip-hop is their golden ticket out of a bad situation. It is the one basket where all of their eggs are kept. But for Brown Boy, his new career in hip-hop is just one of his paths to success. I caught up with him and we talked a little about the other side—the little known side—of Brown Boy.

“I have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and I was working as a teacher for two years, and I was working voluntarily with the probation department, where I was just hanging out with the kids, talking to them, trying to get them out of trouble. And trying to get them to stay in school and stay drug-free,” says Brown.

Art is a fickle venture, and is generally not one to plan your retirement around. I was struck by Brown Boy’s grasp of this. “You’ve definitely got to have a backup plan. You’ve got to stay focused and you’ve got to live [in] reality. Tomorrow’s never promised, so you live for today, enjoy today. But just in case it doesn’t work out, you have something to fall back on,” he says.

As a role model, Brown Boy’s primary message is the importance of a good education. “School is basically the way to go. Whether you want to do make-up or whether you want to do music—I mean, you’ve definitely got to go after your dreams, but definitely have an education to fall back on. It’s the key. Because when music’s done, I don’t want Brown Boy to be working at McDonald’s or working construction. I want to have some kind of a career where I can use to focus back on the children coming up these days. They’ve looked up to me [as a rapper,] at the same time they can look up to me [if I’m doing] a different profession. It’s very, very, very important to stay in school.”

Brown Boy will be performing at the Too Hot, Too Fast, Too Low Concert & Custom Car Show this Sunday at the El Paso County Coliseum. For my full interview with Brown Boy, log on to www.lcsun-news.com/pulse.

-From Pulse
October 19, 2006

Mr. Capone-E

2006-10-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

California-born rapper Mr. Capone-E is no newcomer to the rap scene, but his new single, “Don’t Get It Twisted,” featuring Twista, is showing a lot of promise. Will it be enough to expose him, beyond the niche fan base of Chicano rap, to the larger audience of mainstream hip-hop fans though? Well, that’s the idea.

I caught up with Capone-E in a phone interview last week, and we talked at length about the struggle to get mainstream exposure. “There’s two worlds out there,” says Capone-E. “You’ve got the Chicano rap fans and then you’ve got the mainstream fans. Now, mainstream fans, they’re programmed. The see it on TV, they hear it on the radio all the time. So, in their minds, that’s what’s the best thing. Chicano rap hasn’t gotten to that stage yet. It’s barely breaking into radio. And now that it’s on the radio, people are going, ‘Oh, now it’s on the radio. It must be hot.’ But it’s been selling on the streets, the real fans out there have been buying this music for years now. [Being on the radio] is broadening the fan base.”

But while many may be unaware of Mr. Capone-E and his struggle to expose the Chicano rap game, his huge core fan base remains loyal. “I have a strong fan base that’s waiting for me, they’re sitting in the cut, just waiting for me. [When a station says Mr. Capone-E will be playing a concert,] whether I get played at the station or not, gente from everywhere show up out of nowhere. I have people that tell me when I do shows that they have come from hours away, states away, to come to the show because that’s the closest show they can find me at.”
As an artist, Capone-E is beginning to find mainstream success. As “Don’t Get It Twisted” continues to climb the charts, he still manages to find time to run his label, Hi-Power Entertainment, which has a large roster of up-and-coming Chicano rappers. “With Hi-Power, basically, I’m the vision behind it. There are other people who help push [resources] into it. But with [the label], I’m just doing the street thing and catering to my gente, my fans out there. [Before, we didn’t] have our own voice, and now we have our own voice. And I know in Las Cruces, there are a lot of people out there who have been waiting for stuff like Hi-Power to come, and here it is. It was my dream a kid for something like Hi-Power to come along, and it never happened. So here I have the opportunity to make stuff happen, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Through the course of my long conversation with Mr. Capone-E, we kept coming back to his recipe to success, time and again. Start by building a loyal street fan base, then use the resources that you generate to through CD sales to expand that fan base to the mainstream. “There are going to be even bigger things in the future,” he says with the confidence of a prizefighter.

Mr. Capone-E will be taking the stage at the Hot 103 Fall Jam this Saturday at Club Beverly Hills, at 150 Hermosa. Also on the bill are Lil’ Flip, Marcos Hernandez, and local rappers The Teem.

To hear my full-length interview with Mr. Capone, point your browser to www.lcsun-news.com/pulse. It’s worth checking out.

-From Pulse
October 12, 2006

New School

2006-10-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

The University of California, Berkeley, is taking a great leap forward—a move that, mark my words, will set a new standard among public universities. In a statement released last week, the school announced that it has partnered with Google Video to make several courses available online, free for the entire world to view. The union between Google and Berkeley is the logical extension of the university’s webcasting program, which has offered streaming video, live and on-demand, of select courses and symposia on its website since 2001.

In a time when, more and more, entertainment is becoming available on-demand, it’s interesting to see the same approach taken with education. In our broadband age, more music, more television shows, and more films are becoming available online. Entertainment companies are working around the clock to figure out how to make their products instantly available to a broader audience, and how to do it profitably. And soon, I suspect, we’ll begin to see more universities striving to provide education on-demand, a trend that has been dubbed “coursecasting.”

Berkeley is not just blazing the trail of education on-demand; the university has figured out how to do it without lessening the value of its product. It’s no secret that education is free—universities sell credits and degrees, and Berkeley is no different. By making select courses available online, even in their entirety, is not exactly giving away the farm. On the contrary, the merger with Google helps strengthen both brands.

Googlers probably won’t have access to Berkeley’s advanced courses in nuclear engineering, but currently a half-dozen courses are available in their entirety. Among those are “Physics 10: Physics for Future Presidents,” and an information systems course called “Search Engines: Technology, Society & Business.” The latter offers a lecture by Google CEO and Berkeley alum, Eric Schmidt, who is particularly excited by the partnership. “Google appreciates the opportunity to partner with progressive universities like UC Berkeley to make undiscovered lectures and entire courses available to our users,” Schmidt said in the company’s statement last week on coursecasting. “UC Berkeley’s content, much of which wasn’t easily accessible online, will enhance the comprehensive and diverse range of offerings by Google Video.”

The attention that Google is receiving from this merger couldn’t come at a better time. As online video content is seemingly dominated by music videos, groin-kicks, humorous lip-synching videos and television clips, Google seems to be broadening its appeal. According to a report released in May by Hitwise, a company that tracks online traffic, Google Video has consistently come in fourth among online video sites. As YouTube has climbed to the top spot, MySpace has slipped to the number-two spot, with Yahoo! Video coming in third. This could be the kind of unique content that could help Google tighten the race.

To view the Berkeley classes and symposia currently available, log on to http://video.google.com/ucberkeley.html.

-From Pulse
October 5, 2006

MySpace: The Mag

2006-09-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, rumors began being bandied about the blogosphere that MySpace was in talks to create a magazine. That’s right, a good old-fashioned ink-on-paper magazine, geared toward its members. And while, at the moment, it’s nothing more than an idea (exacerbated by rumor), the idea of “MySpace: The Magazine” is interesting on several levels.

According to a brief article that appeared late last month on AdAge.com, MySpace was in talks with Nylon magazine to create a publication that would “likely cover standout MySpace members and their interests, from music to their social scenes.” In case you’re unfamiliar, Nylon is a fashion/music/lifestyle magazine that targets 18-24 year olds—the same demographic with which MySpace struck gold. In fact, the two entities have already worked together once. Nylon partnered with MySpace in May to put together the Nylon Music Issue. The issue bore a cover that touted “Listen to this magazine on MySpace,” where interactive features allowed readers to stream music reviewed in the mag.

Whether a magazine that is centered around the “MySpace lifestyle”—a term that is, very nearly, an oxymoron—would succeed is something that remains to be seen. If history is any indicator, the future ain’t exactly dazzling. eBay Magazine hit shelves in 1999, and was designed to serve as a serial handbook on the online auction craze, a tangible, interactive tool that would strengthen the eBay brand by establishing a rapport with online amateur auctioneers. In essence, it was a marketing tool intended to drive traffic to the site. The magazine folded in December 2002, after a little more than a year in production.

Similar site-oriented print magazines have also fizzled after short shelf lives. Pets.com tried it briefly. Garden.com published Garden Escape Magazine for a short time, and Yahoo! Internet Life folded after a six year run. Of the many dot-com outlets that have attempted to expand into print, there are virtually none left.

So why would MySpace be any different? The social networking site’s slogan is “A place for friends.” That is, and always has been, MySpace’s appeal. It’s a place where you can find old friends and make new ones. There are a lot of sites out there doing the same thing, but obviously many feel that MySpace does it best. This isn’t about brand allegiance. There is no loyalty to MySpace: The Brand. The site’s users want to connect with their friends, and MySpace is the instrument that allows them to do it. Which is exactly why MySpace: The Self-Serving Magazine wouldn’t work.

If the premise is to showcase the “standout members,” why should the reader rely on the magazine’s editorial board to select those members, when all 113 million of them can be checked out for free online? I honestly don’t get it.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation bought the MySpace brand in July of 2005. If this magazine ever sees the light of day, it will be a good indication that Murdoch doesn’t understand the product that he bought, like a man trying to figure out how to use his new voice-activated remote control. Up next—MySpace: The Breakfast Cereal.

-From Pulse
September 28, 2006

CSI: Fact Or Fiction

2006-09-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes for a better story than when fact and fiction come face to face. Except for when it happens twice…in one week.

And that’s just what happened—first last Tuesday, and then again on Friday—on the sets of CSI: New York and CSI: Miami. In stories that were almost too startlingly similar to be chalked up to coincidence, dead bodies were found on or near the production sites of the sister shows.

It started last Tuesday, while the cast and crew of CSI: New York shot on location at an apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles. (Oh, come on. You didn’t think it was actually filmed in New York, did you?) As cameras rolled two floors above him, a building engineer knocked on the door of a fifth-floor tenant who was late paying his rent. When there was no answer, the engineer let himself in and discovered, according to press reports, the tenant’s “mummified” remains.

Weird, right? But then on Friday, as crew members for CSI: Miami filmed helicopter shots near Biscayne Bay, just outside of Miami, another dead body washed up on the bay’s shore. A homeless man discovered the body and alerted an off-duty cop who was working as security on the set. No signs of trauma or foul play were evident. According to Detective Delrish Moss, who responded to the scene, “Unfortunately, it’s not unusual during certain times of the year that people who have fallen into the bay, either homeless or people who were asleep or in some cases boaters who had a mishap, fall into the bay and turn up days later.”

Needless to say, there has already been a lot of speculation as to whether or not this might be a publicity stunt. As a rule, conspiracy theorists are wack-jobs. But consider if you will that, by the time the news really broke, it was Monday. And CSI: Miami’s fifth-season premier was Monday night. Hmmm.

Now I know it’s far-fetched. And I know that the World Wide Web is a seedy place, replete with lies and rumors, like the world’s largest water-cooler surrounded by unreliable halfwits and gossip-mongers. That being said, according to a post on the L.A.-based online gossip rag, Defamer.com, the apartment-building “mummy” is bogus. A so-called “informant” claims that CSI producers contacted his friend, who is in charge of developing a Beverly Hills condominium site. “They said they wanted to shoot on the site and when asked what it was they’d be shooting, they said they wanted to plant a dead body and ‘discover’ it,” says the source. “Because the fear was that the location would receive a bad rap and potentially dissuade investors, they said absolutely not and sent CSI on their way.” According to the source, the CSI producers offered to pay the complex $2,000 to use the site.

You can make what you want of this. I think it seems strangely coincidental, but, as they say, fact is stranger than fiction. And of course, it’s so obviously a publicity stunt that it just might not be.

-From Pulse
September 21, 2006