Category: Mainstream Media

Long form magazine articles are online to stay, here’s why

Posted on July 16, 2011July 16, 2011 by Ewan Spence

The Independent asks if "snappy websites will kill off lengthy magazine articles", ironically in a lengthy magazine article: Time’s Josh Tyrangiel argued that the culture of rapid-fire news on the internet meant that Time magazine’s distinctive essays were just "too long" to work on its website. In his view, the web had rendered the entire form obsolete. A lot depends on how you decide what killing off means. While I’ve not got my hands on any solid data for the whole internet, the online world of the Eurovision Song Contest, with a number of websites, a measurable number of dedicated

Why not play "Harry Potter and the Dad’s Army Ending"?

Posted on July 15, 2011July 15, 2011 by Ewan Spence

Here’s something fun you can do when you’ve finished watching the latest Harry Potter film – join in the credits with the Dad’s Army ending. Simply shout "Dead!" or "Alive!" for the character played by the actors as they pop up. Bonus points if you can get "First to die!" chronologically correct. While it’ll never be as good as the original (below) it’s always going to put a smile on your face. PS: Not suitable at the Alamo Drafthouse unless you ask for permission in advance.

Step 1, tweak BBC Charter… step 3, profit!

Posted on July 14, 2011July 14, 2011 by Ewan Spence

The Big Brother Corporation (that joke tm Spike Milligan) reports that the international version of the site, BBC.com, is reporting a profit two years ahead of schedule . Which is nice, but I’d like to see how much expenditure they have going out for the content and other areas beyond the quoted "…multimillion pound rights payment for us to run the BBC.com business". It’s a good news story, but can we dig a bit deeper? No matter what, I am looking forward to something out of this story, and that’s the arrival of some faux licence fee outrage from the

Where does our licence fee go?

Posted on July 13, 2011July 13, 2011 by Ewan Spence

The Guardian have one of those nice graphs breaking down the UK TV Licence Fee, but I think there’s a far better way of saying where it goes. Or singing it. Mitch is also playing the Fringe this year, Stand 3 at 3pm 5-14 August.

Dear movie industry, have you learned from Napster?

Posted on July 12, 2011July 12, 2011 by Ewan Spence

Bill Wyman (no, of NPR, not the Stones) lays it al out in depth over on Slate. The trouble facing the movie industry right now is the same one the music industry had to confront 10 years ago. This is the summing-up sentence I referred to above.The easiest and most convenient way to see the movies or TV shows you want is to get them illegally… Again, to belabor the obvious: The illegal version isn’t just free. It’s better. Update: This is really a "blog post to which the answer is no", but Tom Sizemore points out on Twitter the

Schadenfreudegasm as The Daily Show take on The News of the World

Posted on July 12, 2011July 12, 2011 by Ewan Spence

I’ve been waiting for this. Even with a rather over the top Jon Stewart, it delivers. pay close attention to the audience reaction. Non Geo-locked clip at Gawker.