I Just Want to Know Where I Live Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Bruce Boxleitner Joins Heroes
  Posting this because I know that some of the ‘Loper women will be happy at the news, because they used to moon over him during the "Scarecrow & Mrs. King" days. And because of that, I’m almost ashamed to report that I’ve noticed that spoiler-boy Ausiello got the female lead of that show wrong.
• RIAA: DRM not dead and likely will make comeback
  RIAA spokesperson predicts DRM-limited subscription music services are the future of the industry. Never mind the fact that subscriptions services are the one area where digital sales are declining year over year.
• Mamma Mia! Papa John’s raking in the dough online
  The Deliverator will be at your door in 30 minutes or less.

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The NBC programming that went missing from iTunes last December has finally turned up in the Zune marketplace. Fans of The Office, Heroes, and 30 Rock can once again pay to download episodes of their favorite programs — provided they own a Zune and a Windows PC.

Given the Zune’s miniscule market share it’s curious to see any network choosing Microsoft’s media platform over iTunes for paid downloads. When NBC pulled its programming from iTunes, network officials sniffed at the relatively small sales the Apple service had generated. By comparison, sales in the Zune marketplace are bound to redefine the term “nano”.

Clearly this move isn’t about selling digital content online. NBC seems to be more interested in punishing Apple for exercising control over iTunes pricing than it is in actually expanding the market for legal downloads.

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I Am Not Your Horse to Water (Water) Edition
Todays links of interest:

• Microsoft May Build a Copyright Cop Into Every Zune
  As if the Zune wasn’t unappealing enough already.
• CBS Digital Chief: Networks Must Embrace ‘User Editors’
  Working with the public instead of against it might be a good thing…
• David E. Kelley may depart ‘Mars’
  Best news we’ve heard yet about the "Life on Mars" remake: the eternally overrated David E. Kelley may be leaving. So it might have a shot at ending up more like "The Office" instead of "Coupling." In the meantime, may we please have our DVDs of the BBC version?

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The biggest running joke is all of rock music, of course, has become the imminent release of the next Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy which is due to come out, either any day now or never. Even Syd Barrett was able to make a couple of solo albums after he went crazy, Axl.

However, Neil Young fans know that the wait for Chinese Democracy is nothing compared for how we’ve been waiting for Archives, the career-spanning box set that he’s been promising since — shit — Guns N’ Roses was just becoming the biggest band on the planet. We’ve been waiting for so long that his length of time that Archives can cover has actually doubled.

While some performance CDs have been released (the awesome Live at the Fillmore East and the not quite as awesome Live at Massey Hall, the bulk of the material assumed to be on Archives has only been available on bootlegs. Well, yesterday, Neil has made his latest announcement concerning Archives. The first 10 discs are coming out this fall. Whoo-hoo! On Blu-Ray. D’oh!

So despite the fact that I’ve been looking forward to this for nearly 20 years, right now I’m kinda disappointed.

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Stop Yer Complaining Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Neil Young to release archive on Blu-ray discs
  This is the sort of thing that will ultimately lead us to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon. The first box includes 10-discs (10 Blu-Ray discs!) of material.
• Family Guy creator seals megadeal
  This is the TV equivalent of that Barry Zito deal.
• McCain pledges more conservative judges
  You know those people who say "How much worse could it be with McCain as President than [Hillary or Barack, depending on whom they currently support]?" This is how much worse.

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Neon Sign From God Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Digital Television Transition Funding - Do Americans Have a Right to TV?
  I’m doing just fine without your so-called TV, thank you. Also, can’t wait for the TV riots of ‘09.
• Just Look Them In The Eye And Say … POGUEMAHONE!!
  5 discs worth of rare and unreleased Pogues. Awesome! However, looks like its only going to be an import here in the colonies, to which we thank the gods for the mp3 blogs.
• Indie Filmmakers Brace for Hit from Recession
  Either that, or the dawn of new media options will create a huge opportunity for independent film. In fact, the first documentary from the ‘loper team is being discussed right now.

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Dear Hulu,

I don’t have much time today, but wanted to extend an olive branch of sorts. Don’t get me wrong: we still have some fundamental disagreements to work through. For example, I cannot buy into your business model, and I hope you understand why you’re wrong to consider Hulu.com as a rival to your regular channels instead a complement.

However, you have been very good to me during these weeks without a regular television option, and I feel I should return the favor. You have made a tiny tactical error that I believe can be quickly remedied. It’s just my way of saying thank you.
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Crooowwwwww! Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Free Comic Book Day May 3rd 2008
  So what are you doing tomorrow?
• TV Dramas Feeling Brunt of Strike Fallout
  More analysis on why ratings and viewership has declined since the end of the writers strike. This one is getting warmer…
• Studios not willing to accept actors? demands
  Will SAG go where the writers caved?

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Tom Servo! Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Apple’s iTunes sells movies on DVD release date
  While there are obviously fundamental differences between music and movie downloads, this is still a huge huge deal. The only way that anybody is going to know if movie downloads are the next big revenue stream is if they have a level playing field.
• The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time
  This is a few weeks old, but still worthwhile. Though they should have included "The Grungies."
• McCain: "Mission accomplished" banner not Bush’s fault
  Sure, because as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, there was no way he could have asked for it to be removed, had he thought — or cared — that it was in error.

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Gypsy! Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Feds: School bomb plotter wanted to kill Jesus
  Such a brilliant plot. The Feds are, no doubt, questioning him to determine if he should be hired by the Department of Defense.
• RIAA Sues Project Playlist
  We need a new category: RIAA Lawsuit of the Day
• Days of lavish TV upfronts are gone
  We’ll hardly miss them.

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