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They can’t be serious can they?
Blogging, Media, News
We blog, Weblogs, and web logging
Jason Kottke sets the record straight:
No TagsDear New Yorker, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post and others**,
Please stop using the term “web log” to refer to a chronologically-ordered frequently-updated website. The correct term is “weblog”. Furthermore, “blog” is not short for “web log”, it is short for “weblog”.
[…]The original spelling of the term is “WebLog” as seen on Jorn Barger’s Robot Wisdom WebLog page from December 1997. It was never “web log”. In subsequent correspondence (like this Usenet post from June 1998), Barger himself referred to his site as a “weblog” and sites like his as “weblogs”.
Ricky Gervais has decided to start charging for his podcast. According to Journalism.co.uk:
From 28 February users can download the four episodes of The Ricky Gervais Show series two for £3.75 from Audible or from the iTunes store. Individual shows are 95p each and the whole first series is £2.75.
I was a big fan of The Office but I wasn’t impressed with the Ricky Gervais Show. Now I’m even more disappointed.
I can understand why Gervais would want to make money off of the show. But imagine if you had to pay to read Boing Boing or to watch Rocketboom. Blogging, podcasting and vlogging are new media forms that thrive when content is free. And Rocketboom and Boing Boing have managed to make a profit without charging readers or viewers. Advertising has proven to be the key.
Pay-per-download seems like a very old fashioned way of using new media. In the past couple of months I’ve seen the Ricky Gervais Show discussed all over the Web, especially on US weblogs like this one. By putting up a paywall Gervais is cutting off a swathe of listeners, many of them from the valuable US audience that he could have cashed in on further down the road.
As it is, current commentary on the pay decision ranges from this (from a polite American):
You can thank these three English blokes for spoiling what was until now a podcast-world free of capitalism…Speaking as a fan of the first twelve free episodes that just concluded, this, quite frankly, blows.
To this (from a Brit in New York):
One of the great achievements trumpeted about Gervais’ show has been his entry into the Guinness Book of Records for the most downloaded podcast. (Not the greatest of feats for such an infant media form.) It’s safe to say that those download figures are about to take a steep nosedive. It will be interesting to see how many listeners he loses.
***
Harry’s Place serves up more Galloway entertainment. Interviewed in the Algerian El Khabar newspaper, he had this to say about the cartoon row:
podcast, Ricky Gervais
The waiter writes a particularly poignant post:
No TagsIt’s the night before and the restaurant’s crammed with emergency personnel. A foursome walks in and demands to sit the back section. I tell them we’re having a medical crisis and the section’s closed. They don’t care and start arguing with me.
“You’re gonna sit us in the back right?” one of men says. “You’re gonna sit us in the back like we want right?”
“Do you see the paramedics working over there?” I say incredulously.
“Well, we want that table when it clears out,” the man huffs.
Today’s Blogarithms story in Metro features Callalillie. I know that I am not unique in thinking that Callalillie is one of New York’s best kept weblog secrets.
You can check out my story here. But why bother doing that when you can check out her excellent weblog here.
No Tags
I normally wouldn’t post a personal gripe on a conservative blog, but since my friend and site proprietor, PD Berger (as Paul now prefers to be addressed), has written his share of intimate confessions here, I figured he wouldn’t mind if I do the same.
After nearly five years in a steady, meaningful relationship, I recently found myself thrust back into the singles scene. As a Jew in New York City, it was my religious duty to blow the dust off my suspended JDate account and start meeting women again.
As a cartoonist, I figure I should use humor as my weapon of choice in capturing the attention of prospective dates. For some reason, this approach is not working. Below is an excerpt from my latest blog entry, “Into the Void“:
My sorrowfully ineffective method has been to start with a humorous reference to their profile, to show I was actually paying attention. For your enjoyment, I’ve compiled a select list of actual clips from letters I’ve sent to other JDate members. Invariably, I get no response.
Tell me, would you write back?
To the psychologist:
Can I book an hour of couch time?To the entrepreneur who quit law school and her job on Wall St. to start a cookie company:
Subject: I did it all for the cookie
Message: Wall Street, law school, now cookies. You’re in it for the DOUGH!To the “Vice President with Looks”
I typically only date Presidents but I would be willing to lower the bar and make an exception here.To the girl who, well … I can understand why she didn’t write back:
If we went on a date I think I could overcome the fact that you bear an uncanny resemblance to my sister.
You can read the rest here.
Judaism, New York
I leave for Europe in three days. Deadlines loom. Many things need canceling. Numerous things need packing. Blogging may suffer.
My copy of 2005: Blogged arrived yesterday. If you aren’t already aware it’s a kind of Best of British for the past year, compiled by Tim Worstall. (There’s even a post by a certain EiNY.) I’ve had a quick flick through and it contains some writing that goes a long way towards supporting Tim’s idea that someone should really be syndicating blogs to the print media. For a review by Rafael Behr in the Observer, see here.
And if you think 2005: Blogged may make a nice stocking filler then don’t forget about Blog, the book I worked on over the past year. Obviously, I’m biased (I contributed about one-third of the interviews in the book) but I have to say that many of the ideas and insights from bloggers and blogging experts are still being discussed today and will be discussed for years to come. Plus, if you buy a copy my editors will make money which will finance them to pay me for future book projects 
For a review by Hugh Hewitt in the New York Post see here.
Links for today:
How blogging can help the regional UK press (via journalism.co.uk)
Blogging
