[  Mood: Amused ]
I’m twittering. You can find me there, unsuprisingly, as Kaosdevice.

[  Mood: Neutral ]
While I like iO9 man they have some stupid ideas over there now and then. Check out the thread on rebooting Farscape ‘darker’ for example. This isn’t a jealousy thing or anything, but I think RevSF is every bit as good a website as those guys. Unfortunately Rev isn’t part of the Gawker network and doesn’t have that wonderful flux o’cash that (and advertising) brings.

I don’t know if Rev should adopt advertising (in fact I don’t know their stance on it at all). I do know that a lot of talented people give their time freely to provide articles, posts, blogs and so forth to the place. I know I’ve had article ideas but a combination of lifestuff, laziness and lollygaggery has derailed me (I’ve had some RPG reviews I’ve meant to write). Maybe I should knock that off and pitch in.

Still, would RevSF work under the business model?

[  Mood: Amused ]
I was talking with my gal about the new model of the internet, vis a vis Dr. Horrible, etc. and I brainstormed some ways for advertisers to support the new market.

1. Less intrusive product placement. Just don’t make it so damn obvious. We’re smart, we see it, give it a rest.

2. Sponsorship. Blah Blah presented by Blah Blah is a pretty effecty strategy. Networks are already doing it to an extent with the whole ‘limited interruptions provided by’ thing. How about ‘no interruptions provided by’ all the time (instead of rarely)?

3. Remote sponsorship. Pay for the show tied in with your advertising in other media. Newspaper, etc. This goes on already (Gotham Pizza?) for movies. Why not for shows in other media?

Obviously advertisers are going to be part of the equation for some time to come. I’m not sure we can get to a content creator to viewer model without them. There are some folks already doing this; The Film Crew and Cinematic Titanic for a quick example. These guys are pumping out content without ad one (except for themselves). If the Whedons project does it, it will just prove this model can go main stream.

[  Mood: Neutral ]
I’ve been fishing around today, looking at the Chaosium PDF sale, a few new Lovecraft boardgames from other companies, and this and that and it occurred to me; "Who, if anyone, actually has the right to Lovecraft’s IP?"

Arkham House would lead you to believe that they do, Chaosium would seem to claim they have the game rights. Still I see other companies producing Mythos content witho9ut either of their blessing and they seem to be going along happilly free of litigation from anyone.

So if the Lovecraft IP is essentially open source now, how are companies getting away with saying they have sole rights? If not then why are these companies going after those ignoring their hold on the IP to protect themselves financially? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and what research I’ve done hasn’t really given me any sort of clear answer.

Hm…

Addendum: What about the movie rights? I need to go back but I didn’t remember seeing any ‘Thanks to Arkham House’ in the credits for Re-Animator.

There has been a serious uptick in shows on the web last week.We had the incredible, wonderful greatness that was Dr. Horrible but did you also know that we had part one of the Heroes web series and 30 Days of Night web series (on NBC dot com and FEARNet dot com respectively)? The production values on all of them are top notch. Easilly the equal of anything on broadcast television and free for the viewing.

I love original web broadcast content and I really hope (and can’t help but assume it is) a trend we are going to see growing in the future from major media outlets (as opposed to, say, a dude on youtube with a digital camera and some free time).

I really would like to see the between season balance tilt away from ARG type stuff to more original stuff settin the universes of the various shows, or hell, just the production companies trying something new and different during their down time.

Which makes me think of another thing. I really would like to see the death of the traditional broadcasting seasons. This an idea that has way outlived its time. Some of the cable networks (SciFI and Comedy Central for example) completely ignore ‘seasons’ and just start new shows as soon as a new run of material presents itself.

This new model caters to, rather then enslaves, the watching habits of the viewers. Combined with DVR and (let’s be honest here) BitTorrent and the like empowers viewers to control their various media streams, eliminating unwanted content, including advertising. And aye, there’s the rub. Someone has to pay for these shows.

Some of the newer models (Hulu)force embedded but shorter advertising on the viewer for example. This solution is ok, but again the file sharing community is already going around it. Other revenue streams are going to need to be explored. Here is where I test my fortunetelling skills. I think what the Whedon’s did with Dr. Horrible is really going to shake some people up at the studios. I think their DVD sales and iTune sales are really going to suprise some people. At least I hope they do.

It is adventurous exploration of new ways to not only create, but also pay for new media content that is going to pave the way for the inevitable shift in broadcast television/movies/etc. Trying to shiftily adapt the old schemes will only work for the length of time for people to get around them.

Things are changing, I’m glad some content creators out there are realizing it.

[  Mood: Happy ]
Agenda for a summer day:

1.Have your girl and best friend over and whomp up some serious cheeseburgers.

2. Eat, drink beer, have a popsicle.

3. Play D&D that afternoon/evening giving a good departing friend a bottle of some pretty serious irish whiskey.

4. Come home, curl up next to warm adorable girlfriend, go to sleep.

I find the implications of this story to be unnerving. I think you would agree Superdave that here is how dystopias start.

In some ways, right now is a great time to be a genre fan. Doctor Who and its’ spinoffs, a tidal swell of genre movies at the theaters, a lot of new releases on the comic and novel fronts. There is a great deal of wonderful new content out there for the scifi/horror/fantasy/comic fan.

On the flip side the writer’s strike crippled genre TV. Additionally some of the films coming out failed to deliver (I’m looking at you new Hulk movie). Also some writers aren’t coughing up the books we are looking for (get it in gear George R.R. Martin, I love you but my annoyance cauldron boils higher every day). Plus this has been a shake up year in the role play world and a mass die off of many genre producers.

So midpoint 2008 I would say it was a mixed bag for genre fans. Several highs, but some pretty painful lows as well. (Clarke, Gygax and Aspirin espescially)

Here’s hoping the rest of the year will be filled with more genre love and less genre loss.

No details needed, but how did guys get through a hot muggy summer without Cruex or Lortrimin in the ancient and primitive past?

Go about your business now.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
I’m not trying to make any sort of politcal statement or anything, I’m just expressing this as a matter of my personal experience.

Listing to Fox News for any length of time gives me a gawdawful headache.