How To Do Visual Comedy
Using Edgar Wright as a positive example, Tony Zhou laments the lack of good visual comedy in American comedies and provides examples from Wright's films (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, etc.) to show how it's done properly.
Hilarious Reactions of Children To An Apple II
Kelly Hodgkins writing for TUAW:
Watch the hilarity that ensues when you take an old Apple II and place a bunch of kids in front of the command-driven machine. Working without a mouse or the Internet, the kids are both baffled and astonished by the computer's rudimentary operation. Their reactions are recorded as part of the REACT series from TheFineBros.
Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Chad Smith Have "Drum-Off" On Tonight Show
Justin Page at Laughing Squid writes:
On a recent episode of The Tonight Show, comedian Will Ferrell and his doppelganger, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith went head-to-head in an awesome drum-off challenge. The musical battle ended with Ferrell pulling out his secret cowbell attack and the entire Red Hot Chili Peppers band coming out on stage to perform “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”TheReaper) The challenge was initiated during a reddit AMA that Will was taking part in a while back. Will agreed to battle Chad as long as they could raise $300,000 for Cancer For College, which they did.
How Apple Can Solve Freemium Creep: Make a Freemium Ghetto
It’s time for Apple to put its foot down and tell non-free apps where they belong. It’s time they were sent to the Freemium Ghetto.
...
Outlining his proposal:
All apps now belong to one of three types: Free, Paid, and Demo (freemium). This simple reorganization would improve the app-shopping experience immensely. Thanks to the Freemium Ghetto, “Free” would become a safe word on the App Store. There’d be no more need to question if that game you just impulse-downloaded wanted to sucker you in with hidden costs. Apps would wear their intentions on their sleeves. The App Store would feel less like the casino it resembles today.
More honest labeling would give paid apps more of a chance to succeed. Given the choice between an app labeled “FREE” and one that costs a buck, it’s obvious what most consumers will pick. But if the decision is between a demo of one app and a full version of another, the choice is more even-handed.
I really like this idea. Go read his entire proposal to get a better idea of what he means.
Carl unleashes his powers in the lobby of NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Carl Kasell On His 60 Years In Radio
Any Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! fan will know that this past weekend was the last show in which Carl Kasell was the announcer voice on Wait Wait. I grew up listening to Morning Edition on NPR and hearing Carl's voice every morning. For the past 16 years I've been a fan of Wait Wait and I will miss hearing him each week.
Obama Backs Away From Net Neutrality Campaign Promises After FCC Vote
Haley Sweetland Edwards writing for Time:
Barack Obama was crystal clear during the 2008 campaign about his commitment to ensuring equal treatment of all online content over American broadband lines. “I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality,” Obama told a crowd at Google in 2008. “Because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose.”
At a 2007 campaign forum, he went so far as to specifically promise that his Federal Communications Commission appointments would defend the principle of a “level playing field for whoever has the best idea.” “As president, I am going to make sure that that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward,” he said.
But on Thursday, the President made no public statement when three Democrats he appointed to the FCC voted to move forward with a plan to allow broadband carriers to provide an exclusive “fast lane” to commercial companies that pay extra fees to get their content transmitted online. Instead, White House aides released a press release distancing the President from the decision.
Typical. I stopped being surprised about this President failing to keep promises to the technology industry long ago in favor of corporate lobbyists'special interests. This is ENTIRELY the President's fault for appointing former cable/telecom industry lobbyists to the FCC that are supposed to be protecting the public from these very people. You can release all of the bullshit press releases you want. Its too late for "distancing yourself".
Pragmatic Podcast
Do you listen to podcasts? If so, you should be listening to Pragmatic. Their most recent episode, I'll Take The Gold-Free Extra Oxygen Cable Please is a wonderful example of the type of episode you can expect from this podcast. Hosts John Chidgey and Ben Alexander do an excellent job of picking engineering or tech-related topics and breaking down the specifics behind how something works.
For instance, this week's show goes into the details of audio and video cables. I always knew that "gold plated" cables were a ripoff and thus bullshit. Thanks to this week's show, John and Ben have explained just exactly why that is. Over the past four months of listening to this podcast I've grown to love it more with each episode, and it has been promoted to my "must listen to" playlist in my current podcast listening app of choice. You should go subscribe to Pragmatic right now.
A few other great episodes you shouldn't miss: