Sen. Joe Lieberman is the Fredo of the Democratic Family. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is from Nevada. He should take Lieberman out for a fishing trip on Lake Mead. I'm just sayin...
I’m always interested in how creative people will take advantage of new means of production and distribution. Our networked infrastructure and ever cheaper and more powerful processing power have upended business models and changed the relationship between artists and producers.
A higher level of evolution comes when people take advantage of the new means of production or distribution to enhance interactivity. Perhaps they allow and engage with comments or crowdsource the financing of their projects.
But the most interesting is when the content itself, the production, changes because of new capabilities. The first TV shows were just radio host talking. It took a while to really take advantage of the visual medium.
I’ve just found the most interesting example yet of this change in the art itself on YouTube. It’s a “forking” or choose-your-own-adventure style series whose conclusion is up to the viewer. At the end of each clip, you face a decision about how the plot is to advance. It’s a very old and simple concept, but until now, we haven’t had a way for people to employ it on a large scale.
The people who’ve been promising “interactive TV” said this would come a long time ago, but their implementation depends on mass upgrades of cable boxes across hundreds of millions of households adopting a common standard. Meanwhile, a few months ago, YouTube added features allowing producers to embed video links within a clip, and these guys have run with it.
Check it out.
Now think of all the interesting technologies and social media tools out there and how the art itself will adapt to the new capabilities. Let me know if you’ve found some interesting examples.
Listen to the statements quoting the TSA agent. “I HAVE POWER. I HAVE POWER.” This is seriously scary. The government is probing us, softening us up for more and more aggressive police tactics. How do you combat this?
Friday I was so annoyed that I couldn’t get my Tivo to record our Google Pop Culture and Politics panel as it was aired by C-SPAN. I completely forgot that this event took place at Google, and thus, is on YouTube. I’m an idiot.
Anyway, here’s the 45 minute video of our panel. They cut the opening Onion News Network video I showed right after my intro, but you can see it here. I haven’t replayed the entire thing, so they may have also cut the second Onion video I showed, which is friggin hilarious.
Highlights:
My hot shirt. Seriously, you know you love that shirt. Jill Sander baby! Bought it myself
Christopher Hitchens. Look at his beverage. That ain’t ginger ale
Lizz Winstead. My hero. Twas an honor to tag team with her against our cable news-defending moderator
After the panel, the Google folks got short one-on-one interviews with all of us. Here’s mine.
Last Wednesday, I spoke on a panel during NYC’s InternetWeek. It was put on by OneWebDay and Susan Crawford. The topic was participation and politics online. It was actually really good! I spoke about the ClintonAttacksObama wiki at Jack & Jill Politics, and the audience and other speakers brought some really great thoughts and insights to the table.
I shared the stage with Andrew Rasiej (Founder, Personal Democracy Forum) and Jay Rosen (Professor, NYU Department of Journalism and creator of OffTheBus at HuffPo). The moderator was Allison Fine (Author, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age)
Marc Scheff is a friend of mine from college who’s doing his thing as an artist. He recently wrote and posted this on his website
For the first time in my 31 years, I care about politics. I see a candidate who has the capacity to inspire and motivate people, like I have never seen. There are many like me, who had given up and resigned themselves to a government that is willfully out of touch. I’ve seen these people get up and move because they believe we can do this together, now. Obama is great, but what people are willing to do in his name is nothing short of incredible. That is something in which I do believe.
I created this portrait, and video. Please spread the link, share the youtube, and get out the vote for November.
Inspired by his previous work with will.i.am on the viral web video “We Are The Ones,” acclaimed music producer Andres Levin has united many leading figures of the Latin music and film community in an all Spanish language video in support of Barack Obama.
Song produced by:
Andres Levin
Guitar by:
Alejandro Sanz
Additional music and programming:
Didi Gutman
Good and Evil
Assistant engineer:
Ray Aldaco at Fun Machine
Video produced by:
Scott Spanjich
Pilar O’Leary
Directors:
William Garcia (Miami)
Karen Fischer (NYC)
Christian Suau (Puerto Rico)
Jesse Dylan (Los Angeles)
Bob Teitel (Chicago)
Executive Producers:
Andres Levin
Scott Spanjich
Associate Producer:
Alex Migoya
Talent:
Alejandro Sanz
Paulina Rubio
John Leguizamo
Jessica Alba
Kate del Castillo
Cucu Diamantes (Yerba Buena)
Pedro Martinez (Yerba Buena)
Andres Levin (Yerba Buena)
George Lopez
Luis Guzman
Don Omar
Voltio
Lila Downs
Lin Manuel Miranda
Frankie Needles
Huey Dunbar
Nydia Caro
Ivonne Caro Caro
Brazilian Girls
Carlos Marín and family
Carola Gonzalez
Viva Nativa
Jose Alberti
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