Teens on Media
The March 2002 issue of New Youth Connections is a special "Taking on the Media" issue and contains several articles written by teens taking journalists to task in terms of covering international events -- and teen magazines for being too obsessed with looks. (To its credit, YM magazine will no longer publish articles about dieting, starting with the April 2002 issue.) The issue also features a critique of hip-hop and R&B videos.

Magazine Me VIII
Why am I learning about this for the first time in the April issue of Esquire?

A Magazine That Scares Us
R.U. Sirius calls himself a zeitgeist idiot savant. In 1989 he founded Mondo 2000, the prescient tech journal whose influence far exceeded its circulation, and now he's executive editor of The Thresher, a fiery new political magazine whose first issue, published several months before September 11, contained an interview with Hot Zone author Richard Preston about biological warfare, excerpt from a new book on the militarization of domestic law enforcement, and an essay asserting that "a modern [American] president has to kill lots and lots of people." We don't know what's in the second issue, but it comes out this month. Brace yourself.

It used to be that I'd know about these things. I must be losing my touch. Since September? Sheesh.

Pieces, Particles
The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks.

The Building of a Bombshell, by Stephen Rebello, Movieline, April 2002 (?)
No one packaged mass seduction like old-time Hollywood, but getting actresses to look the part was hardly an overnight achievement.

Notes from a Parallel Universe, by Jennifer Kahn, Discover, April 2002
Inside the X-Files at the University of California at Berkeley, the line between theory and fantasy, science and supposition, starts to dissolve. The authors of these dissertations are obsessed -- and scientists are nearly as obsessed with them.

Shopping Rebellion, by Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, March 18, 2002
What the kids want.

Top Maine Videos, by Paul Doiron, Down East, April 2002
The only way to find out if any of these widely touted video tapes about the Pine Tree State is worth watching -- or buying -- is to sit down and watch them all. Which I did.

If you work for a magazine and would like to sign me up for a complimentary subscription, please feel free to do so. My address is in the grey bar over on the left.

It's An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World IV
After announcing that it plans to buy Greendale, Wisconsin-based Reiman Publications, home of ad-free, folksy magazines such as Country Woman and Farm & Ranch Living, Reader's Digest Association Inc. also announced that it will not introduce advertising to Reiman's already successful publishing efforts.

Checking Reiman's stable of magazines, I notice that they don't publish any titles that begin with "m." I bet that's why. All the "m" magazines are getting ads these days.

Big Brother Is Watching IV
Attention tourists: In Washington, DC, the National Park Service will install 24-7 surveillance cameras at all major monuments on the Mall. Supporters of the plan say that the cameras will be placed in "public areas where there is no expectation of privacy," but civil libertarians are concerned that camera placement will discourage public protests, demonstrations, and other direct action.

If anything, the Park Service is opening a new open-air theater for the Surveillance Camera Players. Now we can save our protests for posterity!

Comics Commotion
Lev Yilmaz has created 17 Quicktime movies of him drawing comics while narrating what he terms "Tales of Mere Existence." His approach to real-time animation -- drawing while filming -- is quite innovative and attention-holding, and his narration is deadpan yet thought-provoking. My favorite movies so far? "Cigarettes" and "Branding." Make with the clicky click!

Blogging About Blogging XVII
Paul Boutin is brilliant. On Wednesday he threw down the gauntlet and ran the gantlet, posting an entry titled "Bloggers Vs. Journalists." It's the most insightful look at the recent skirmishes between traditional, print-based journalists and columnists and the upstart bloggers practicing "way new journalism." Many mainstream journalists think blogs are quaint -- echoes of the coverage zines received in the mid-'90s ("Oh, look! They're trying to make their own little magazine!"). And many bloggers -- myself included, given what I've posted in response to John Dvorak's recent piece in PC Magazine -- think that mainstream journos just don't get it.

Paul suggests that the two camps are closer than we think and that, like Maddie and David in Moonlighting, we're going to slap each other in the face only to collapse into each other's arms with a passionate embrace. Easily said by a writer who contributes to print publications and maintains his own infrequent blog (Paul) -- and easily digested by another writer who does the same (me). Over the course of the piece, Paul considers the slightly incestuous viral nature of blogging in terms of people responding to people's responses to people's opinions, the value of grassroots journalism on the Web, and the threat blogs pose to opinion columnists. Brilliant.

Thanks to Joe Sizzle for bringing this to my attention.

It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World III
James Lileks' Orphanage of Cast-Off Mascots features more than 20 marketing mascots once used widely in newspaper and magazine advertisements. The problem, Lileks says, is that when products and companies go away, they leave their mascots behind -- unemployed and orphaned. So he's digging into the microfilm archives of Minneapolis newspapers to unearth mascots such as Mr. Coffee Nerves, the Coughing-Fit Brothers, and Happy Egg. If you're interested, you can even adopt them. While it seems that the site hasn't been updated since early 2001, I hope that Lileks continues his fine work. Email him some encouragement.

White Collar Crime
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, writing for the Multinational Monitor, challenge President Bush's 10-point plan to "improve corporate responsibility and help protect America's shareholders" in the wake of Enron, Global Crossing, and Arthur Andersen. Their beef? That the plan includes nothing new -- that the federal government already can, should -- but for some reason -- won't enforce laws already on the books.

Mokhiber and Weissman take the Treasury Department, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (which created guidelines for sentencing corporate criminals just 10 years ago), and Capitol Hill to task, saying that Bush can make all the points he wants -- but that if the government doesn't have the willpower to enforce existing laws, involving the public in the process, chances are slim to none that big business will show the willpower to abide by those laws.

Rabble Rall-ser III
Another Ted Rall roundup courtesy of Jim Treacher. Conservative columnist Alan Keyes contributed a column to MSNBC last week suggesting that editorial cartoons such as Rall's recent work shouldn't be covered by the first amendment. The column even includes the shockingly mutually exclusive subhead "Pornography and Patriotism," which heads a section in which Keyes contends that Rall's work is pornographic, not debate or civic discourse. Rall's work pornographic? I've got your pornography right here, Mr. Keyes.

The Association for American Editorial Cartoonists has released a statement in Rall's defense, and in Comicon.com's Splash section, Rall responds to Keyes' commentary via some Comicon reportage:

The SPLASH tracked down Ted Rall in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where he is currently on assignment for Gear magazine. Rall told the SPLASH: "Alan Keyes has proven that if you scratch some right-winger there's a fascist lurking underneath. His proposal to submit opinions to government censors smacks of totalitarianism of the highest order; he evidently despises everything that America stands for and would love to see a Nazi-style regime imposed here."

Rall went on to say: "Furthermore, his assertion that my little cartoon is weakening America's resolve regarding the war on terror is laughable to the point of absurdity. First of all, any war effort that could be derailed by a political cartoon probably doesn't have much support to sustain it. Second of all, many Americans -- like me -- see the 'war on terror' for what it is. This isn't about making us safer; it's about scoring a few bucks for Bush's rich friends while making more and more foreigners hate our guts. I doubt there'll be any more 'resolve' for this cynical enterprise than there was for Vietnam once the truth gets out."

It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World II
Maybe this is a sickness specific to magazines with names starting with the letter "m," but following in the footsteps of Mad, Ms. magazine, which has been ad free for more than a decade, will soon accept ads. But it's going one better than AOL-Time-Warner-owned Mad. Ms. will become a nonprofit and only accept ads from nonprofit companies.

The magazine, which will soon move from New York to Beverly Hills, hardly a hot spot for feminism, will publish quarterly -- eventually moving to a bimonthly schedule in a year.

Thanks to Clint Schaff for the head's up.

Read Letter Day
An email today from Ben Russell, columns editor for PopImage, reminded me that I haven't visited the site for awhile. Checking in, I came across an interview with Nate Piekos of Blambot Design Services. He shares his experiences designing fonts, lettering comics, and his own self-publishing projects.

Letterers are often the unsung heroes -- sometimes deservedly so given the current state of crappy computer lettering -- of the comics world. Nate has a good head for what works, why, and how others can learn how to do it themselves.

In Your Face, Cyberspace!
It's been awhile since I've been interested in or followed the policy debates of ICANN, the IETF, and the EFF, but a recent Nettime transmission struck my fancy. I reprint the following statement with the permission of its author, John Perry Barlow.

The Accra Manifesto
Accra, Ghana
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
(revised Wednesday, March 13, 2002)

Since its beginnings, Cyberspace has provided new approaches for the benign ordering of human affairs. As we begin to develop institutions to govern the digital world, we must avoid returning to industrial models that have generally failed in the analog world to assure equity, liberty, and human inclusion. Instead, let us build upon the promise of what has already proven effective in this social experiment.

The paramount governing values that have so far emerged in this grand collective enterprise are openness, inclusion, technical practicality, emergent form, decentralization, transparency, tolerance, diversity, and a fierce willingness to defend free expression and the preservation of identity. These are appropriate values. They are working.

They should be allowed to go on working, both in the eventual systems for allocating domain names and numbers and in all other matters of Cyberspace governance. Neither the current operations of ICANN nor the current proposal put forward by its president appear to place much faith in them.

Cyberspace has thus far been an environment where architecture is politics. ICANN has turned this practical formulation on its head by attempting to make politics architecture.

To assist in designing a governing process that will promote these values and thus direct us toward the future and away from the past the undersigned propose the following to the ICANN meeting in Accra:

1. It appears to us that ICANN has so far failed to generate the moral authority necessary to govern an environment where authority must be based on the general respect of the governed rather than its ability to impose solutions by fiat.
   
   
2. It has failed for a variety of reasons. Chief among these are its impulse to adapt existing and mechanical models of government to a social space that cannot easily be coerced into submission. It attempts to impose government instead of proposing governance.
   
   
3. ICANN is overly centralized and, by virtue of its incorporation in the United States and its practical dependency on American contractors, perpetuates the dangerous belief that the Internet is an American environment. We believe that root should not be based in the U.S.
   
   
4. ICANN was established in a gray area of institutional reality that makes it nearly invulnerable to legal or political rebuke. If ICANN were a function of the U.S. Government, at least it could be brought into court and held accountable for unconstitutional behavior. The current structure provides almost no opportunity for redress in the area of domain names and none at all in the area of domain numbering. It's power is vast and growing. Its accountability is small and shrinking.
   
   
5. By abandoning the simple and fair system of "first come, first served" domain name allocation that served the Internet well from the beginning, ICANN has created a quagmire of unnecessary disputes and suppressed expression, and has irrationally conflated trademark law with domain assignment.
   
   
6. Efforts to turn Cyberspace into a traditional democracy, however laudable in principle, may never work well in a social space where it is extremely difficult to define either the electorate or a credible system whereby the people might express their will. Nonetheless, public representation on the board is so important that we can't afford to give up on it. It would be well to remember that democracy is more than a mechanical process of providing that every single member of a constituency has a say. Rather it is a system of governance that seeks the consent of the governed, however that assent is conveyed. To assure that ICANN is democratic in this sense, there must be a low entry barrier to unofficial involvement its decision-making processes, and, possibly, a decentralized, community based system for selecting "at large" board members.
   
   
7. The current proposal before ICANN would fix this problem by inserting existing nation states into a space where they have no natural sovereignty. While this might, at first pass, lend the popular accountability of governments to its processes, it's likely to result in a system as ineffectual as the ITU or the United Nations. Further, given the wave of negative reaction to the Lynn proposal, its adoption would likely further reduce ICANN's credibility.
   
   
8. ICANN, by its cumbersome deliberative processes, already slows the adoption of new technology and might prevent the timely alteration of the technical underpinnings of the Internet in the event of an impending collapse of the system. The addition of even more ponderous governments to the stew of authority would only exacerbate the potential for failure.
   
   
9. The current structure of the root servers, as documented in the MDR meeting, has the servers distributed between government, commercial, academic, and non-profit organizations distributed around the world. Such a structure is highly resistant to capture and leads to the robustness and diversity of the Internet. One possible outcome of the Lynn proposal is that the root servers are contractually bound to a single organization. This inherently is less stable and more susceptible to capture than the current structure which should be protected as a fundamental architectural principle.
   
   
10. The best way to assure inclusion is to derive systems that are easy for those governed to understand. ICANN is already too complex in its practices to admit informed participation. The Lynn proposal would only add to this complexity.
    
    
11. The IETF once provided a good model for governing processes that are well-suited to Cyberspace. It was a system for governance by ideas, rather than by people, laws, or "stake-holders," in that the most elegant solutions were adopted by the consensus of a self-defining community, regardless of the standing of those who proposed them. That the IETF has become less successful in solving problems results less from a flaw in this model than its having been high-jacked by corporate interests. ICANN, in its original design and current state, ignores the value of these proven approaches.
    
    
12. To address these failures, we propose that ICANN decentralize and convey operational authority to the communities that naturally define themselves around the top-level domains, restricting its duties to the resolution of disputes that cannot be resolved within the communities. In other words, we believe that ICANN should become a loose confederation of autonomous domains, rather like the federal government of the United States during Jefferson's time.
    
    
13. Prior to delegating its operational functions to the domains, we believe that ICANN might demonstrate its understanding of these principles by defining at least two new public domains. Among these we suggest .lib (for libraries) and .pub (for entities, whether organizations or individuals, working for the common good). It is our belief that the systems of self-governance such communities are likely to develop might serve to instruct other domains in the ordering of their own affairs.
    
    
14. One of the areas where existing systems of government have worked, to varying degrees of effectiveness, has been in conveying and preserving such human rights as free expression and protection from unchecked corporate self-interest. ICANN might have a continued role in directing itself to the assurance of such rights in Cyberspace. A reformed ICANN might also propose broad policies and technical solutions, but would do so as respected leaders and not as a junta.
    
    
15. The previously existing systems for governance in Cyberspace have shown the practical efficiency of fixing only that which is broken. This is a principle ICANN would do well to emulate.

Cyberspace is not a place. It is a dialog of cultures. We believe that if ICANN were to adopt the above principles, it might, through light-handed arbitration of real, rather than projected, problems, acquire the moral authority that has so far evaded it. We fear that if it fails to consider the concerns that have driven us to make this declaration, it will find itself in the unenviable position of trying to impose its will on a global community with neither a mandate nor force of arms. At best, it will become irrelevant as the citizens of Cyberspace develop methods to work around it. At worst, it will be directly dangerous to the health of the Internet. The chaos that might follow either development will not serve our descendents well.

While many of the undersigned do not accept every single one of the above statements, we are in sufficient agreement with the spirit of this statement that we hereby attach our names and hope that the governing board of ICANN will make a sincere effort to incorporate its beliefs and adopt its recommendations.

John Perry Barlow, co-founder and vice chairman, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Happy Birthday to Media Dieticians
Not only did Cardhouse celebrate its seventh anniversary yesterday, but today's the birthday of Media Dietician Tom Hopkins.

He wished me a happy birthday late last month, and I'd like to do the same here: Happy birthday Tom!

File under guestimonials, courtesy of Tom: "Crikey! I'm having a hard time keeping up with Media Diet. You're blogging warp speed!"

Are you having a hard time keeping up? Discuss.

Weather Report V
As reported previously, it rained and snowed for most of yesterday afternoon and evening, contributing to the puddles and slush along Washington Avenue and on Central Square -- and enabling some rapid traffic splashing. Neil and I were supposed to move my boxes from Anni and Jonathan's basement to Joe's basement -- I'm hopping box hostels -- but the wet created a large puddle behind Anni and Jonathan's house by the basement entrance. Like two inches of standing, slushy, slippery water.

We could've have managed with the rain, but the puddle was too much. So we had to change our plans. Monday might now be moving day. Fingers crossed on the weather.

Today is beautiful. A bit cold, but sunny, clear, and crisp. I woke with the sun again but stayed in bed enjoying the cool early morning breeze until about 8. Wonderful.

Hardly Working
I just jumped in and out of a naming brainstorm for Fast Company's FastTalk events. Are they gatherings? Experiences? Happenings?

What they aren't are super-cali-fragi-listic-conver-celebrations. We know that much. Thanks to E-Bus for that brilliant contribution.

The Heroism of Lens Men
On the V: The Original Miniseries DVD, there's a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the movie and the meanings behind its messages. Marc Singer, who plays Mike Donovan, a gung-ho TV news videographer, discusses how he prepared for the role, why a TV cameraman makes a good hero, and the role of TV journalism.

"The guy I'm playing is Mike Donovan. He's a person who tries his best to live up to the promise of being a human being. He feels a sense of responsibility toward other people so he doesn't lie down under the yoke when the Earth is being taken over. He fights back. He becomes the strong arm of the Resistance. He does what the man on the other side of this lens does in real life.

"He's a photographer -- a news cameraman is what he is -- and that allows him access into the alien craft and also gives him a nice viewpoint to view all of humanity. Very often, newsmen are allowed to go places that the rest of us civilians aren't able to go, so it provides a good format for this guy to get in where the bad guys are and see what they're doing.

"I had to do some very strenuous special preparation for this. I had to keep down the bubble of enthusiasm and joy so that when I got on the set I looked like a professional and wasn't giggling in front of the cameras all the time. The second thing I had to do was... Our producer Chuck Bowman [?] was very kind in establishing liaisons between myself and real news photographers and real news teams, and in that way I was able to assimilate some of the real aspects of the heroism of these people's professions.

"I don't think that any of us know exactly what kind of heroes are in different trades in our society, but I think that some of the greatest heroes that exist are in the news profession: those people that bring us tapes from destruction in El Salvador ad people who bring us tapes of the Vietnam crisis and things like that. These are people that lay their lives on the line so that humanity can be informed as to what it's doing and how to rectify situations it doesn't like."

Cmdr. Ilana has organized an extensive V-related Web site.

See You in the Funny Pages VII
I've been a subscriber to Modern Tales since I first learned about it earlier this month, and while I visit several times a week, almost every day, it's rather hit and miss. But today -- oh, today -- is why I signed up in the first place. For today Modern Tales gives us a doozy of a double dose: a new "Hutch Owens" page by Tom Hart and a new "Fancy Froglin" page by James Kochalka. Woot!

By the way, I would have said, "Woohoo!" above, but it seems that everybody's saying "Woot!" these days in blogspace, etc.

What the heck does "Woot!" mean? Discuss.

Tick Tock, You... Stop
Two writers for Metropolis magazine mourn the loss of an architectural detail that they didn't ever really like in the first place -- but now miss something fierce: the oversized clock in Grand Central Terminal. They raise some interesting points about how preservation should allow for anomaly and how architecture must have ordinary spaces to have good ones, and the removal of the clock as part of the terminal's renovation got me thinking about things I about the places I've lived:

The movie theater in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin

Lounge Ax in Chicago

The Tasty on Harvard Square

The old Lucy Parsons block on Central Square

The Willow Jazz Club near Ball Square

What do you miss? Discuss.

Awarding Acrimony
More news from Providence: The Providence Newspaper Guild, which has been in conflict with the Providence Journal since the late '90s, is protesting the recent naming of the ProJo as metropolitan newspaper of the year by the New England Newspaper Association. While the Journal crows about the award -- indicating that it's outdistancing the Boston Globe -- Guild members say the award "would come at a most unlikely time -- when this once-award-winning newspaper has taken a very public dive in quality. Such an award would strike every Rhode Islander as bizarre."

Maybe they should all go see Mary Lou Lord on Saturday.

Pulling the Plug II
If it's any consolation to those of us who miss Other Music, Newbury Comics just opened a new store in the Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island. The regional chain is celebrating the opening of its first-ever mall store with a 10%-off sale (for email club members only) and an afternoon Mary Lou Lord in-store performance Saturday. Um, it's not much consolation, really.

Magazine Me VII
Not that I'm out to scoop anyone with Media Diet, but I think it's pretty neat that I posted the finalists for this year's National Magazine Award before the American Society of Magazine Editors announced them. Their news release is dated today, 3 p.m. I posted the finalists almost four hours earlier. It's like I'm a poor man's Matt Drudge or something. We break the news; others fix it.

Weather Report IV
I've been awake since 5:30 a.m. Woke with the sun -- something I've been doing lately as the sun continues to rise earlier and earlier -- and had no more sleep in my system. So I showered, failed to shave, and got into work around 7. The T runs quite slowly around 6 -- the waits were insane.

In any event, I've hit a wall and a lull in the day. I've accomplished quite a bit at work, and I don't really have anything to do this evening until 8, when I need to move my boxes out of Anni and Jonathan's basement and into Joe's. Ah, box hostel hopping.

So I went outside just now for a quick walk around the block. I find that quick walks during the day help me get out of the office -- and help me get organized in terms of prioritizing what I have to do for the rest of the work day. This afternoon, having hit this wall and lull, I'm at a loss.

But it's snowing. It's raining, too. I've been up since 5:30, and it's oddly overcast and beautiful in the North End right now. You should go outside.

Comics at a Loss
Eddie Campbell says that comics are not an art form -- and that they don't even exist. That's some pretty big talk.

Magazine Me VI
Judges for the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Awards gathered yesterday to select the finalists. Here they are:

General Excellence: Under 200,000

Paris Review

Oxford American

American Scholar

City

MBA Jungle

Nest

Print

General Excellence: 200-500,000

Details

National Geographic Adventurer

Texas Monthly

Saveur

Sports Illustrated for Women

General Excellence: 500-1,000,000

Gourmet

Wired

Vibe

Jane

New Yorker

General Excellence: 1,000,000-2,000,000

Fortune

Entertainment Weekly

Vanity Fair

ESPN

InStyle

General Excellence: 2 million and up

Better Homes and Gardens

National Geographic

O

Newsweek

Time

Personal Service

MBA Jungle

Worth

Money

National Geographic Adventurer

Leisure Interests

Vogue

Philosophy

Sports Illustrated

Travel & Leisure

Field & Stream

O

Reporting

Atlantic Monthly

Time

Fortune

Yankee

New Yorker

Public Interest

Atlantic Monthly

SF magazine

Governing

Self

Sports Illustrated

Feature Writing

Atlantic Monthly

Men's Journal

Esquire

New Yorker

LA magazine

Columns and Commentary

GQ

New York

Newsweek (twice)

Oxford American

Essays

American Scholar

New Yorker (twice)

Men's Journal

Harper's

Reviews/Criticism

Atlantic Monthly

Government

GQ

Harper's

New Yorker

Profiles

Esquire

GQ

Harper's

LA magazine

New Yorker

Single Topic Issue

Cincinnati

Time

Gourmet

The Nation

New Yorker

Photography

National Geographic Adventurer

Newsweek

Time

Vanity Fair

Vogue

Design

Audobon

Details

Esquire

Nest

Surface

Fiction

Atlantic Monthly

Harper's

New Yorker

Paris Review

Zoetrope

Online

Beliefnet

Chronicle of Higher Education

National Geographic Interactive

RollingStone.com

Slate

Magazine Me V
Joining magazines such as POV (RIP) and Real Joe that offer an alternative to the general interest magazines aimed at men -- Esquire, GQ, Maxim, etc. -- some folks in Baltimore have launched a new periodical called Adam. Targeting "the original man," Adam can be found at Barnes & Noble, 7-11, and newsstands across the country. A single issue costs $3, but you can subscribe for six issues at an introductory rate of $9.99. The Web site is still pretty skimpy.

The current issue of Adam includes an article titled "21 Ways to Make Your Community a Better Place" by Scott Beale, mastermind behind the Millenial Politics project.

How to Go on a Media Diet
The following was excerpted and translated from an article by Marco Visscher, "Wijsheid is geen nieuws" ("Wisdom is No News") that ran in the March 2002 issue of Ode, an Utne Reader-like magazine in the Netherlands. It was posted without permission on the Nettime mailing list. I do the same here.

Three Suggestions For a "News Diet" (detox program):

Never read today's paper, always yesterday's. This will automatically lead to a certain distance.

Never watch the news on television, but watch it half an hour later on video tape instead. You will find you'll skip over the uninteresting bits and that the sum total of news you watch will drop. (Bonus tip: With everything the news reader says, ask yourself aloud, "Oh, is that so?")

(Advanced technique) Once a week, put your newspaper aside immediately. Do not use for litter box. Do not read; stick to reading yesterday's paper during the rest of the week. Read the extra paper only after two (or three, or four) weeks. You will find that many articles have become redundant or are simply boring. You will have missed nothing.

Translated by Pieter.

One Man's Alternative Media Strategy II
I realize that Sander's recent missive is a rough draft, but I wrote a response of sorts last night. It's not really a rebuttal or critique of Sander's essay, but I used his thoughts as a trigger to consider and solidify my own. This, too, is open to feedback.

Regardless of the laudable and romantic path Sander took to find himself creating and consuming what he terms "alternative media," I take issue with his contention that participating in alternative media -- if you're of the anti-war, anti-imperialist sort -- makes people part of the American Left.

The Left, while continuing to represent some valid and vibrant ideas and ideals, is no longer useful as a political determinant, much less as a productive actor on the societal stage. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the Left has become a cartoon of itself, with the New Left being an oxymoron since the SDS' and SNCC's fracturing and factionalization and the end of the countercultural evolution of the late '60s -- much like the New South has lacked a solid foundation as a concept since the end of post-slavery industrialization. At the same time, many lefty -- my preferred descriptor -- activists (myself included) continue to idolize and idealize some of the more visible participants in the political and social reorganization efforts that took place in the '60s. Even if we go back even further to the initial labor organizing icons of early industrialization for inspiration and education, we are left without a current generation of heroes and leaders. Particularly in the media space.

Let's consider some of the lefty holdovers currently involved in media. Abe Peck, formerly an editor of the Chicago Seed, rests near the top of the journalism department at Northwestern University and -- at least while I was a student there in the early '90s -- was blissfully unaware of zines, arguably the heir to the throne he and his comrades once occupied. Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone, a once-important (politically and philosophically) countercultural outlet, has aged badly along with his magazine, continuing to employ graying lapsed leftists such as the despicably irresponsible P.J. O'Rourke (the Dave Barry of political posturing) as he orchestrates a circle jerk for baby boomer has beens, catering just enough to the younger set to maintain popcult credibility -- and including just enough political content to be consider slightly radical.

Those are the more visible examples. To find true media heroes coming out of the Left, we need to look further afield -- to Paul Krassner and his end-of-the-line diatribes in the Realist; to Bruce Anderson of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, who had to move to the mountains of Northern California to find his political voice and position in a community; and to Fred Woodworth, whose low-tech print shop continues to crank out the Match and which lent Luddite luminescence to the ever-cranky Zine World (now the abominably named Reader's Guide to the Underground Press). These three are on the outside of the outside, often countering even the countercultures that embrace them. And I'd be surprised if any of them considered themselves part of the American Left, even if they have lefty tendencies.

But it's not just the dependence on historic and romantic figures that bothers me about the Left -- and Sander's fascination with it. It's the language and accessibility of the movement. The Left -- particularly the New Left -- has almost always been an academic, policy-oriented, and arcane clique, not speaking in a tongue understood by many working-class people -- and certainly not palatable to the masses. Even anarchy, which should be one of the most easily digestible political philosophies -- self-interested responsibility to the community -- has couched its message either in violence (the window breaking during the WTO protests) or in mumbo jumbo (John Zerzan's ongoing neo-primitive attacks on the beautifully befuddled yet cleverly critical Murray Bookchin). And it's all because of communication, right? Just like Saul Alinsky -- to name drop another oldie but goodie -- said.

Media, then, is the platform on which -- the agar in which -- communication grows and happens. Sander's right that political activists need to gain control of media production. This is how we -- if there is a unified we -- can best get our messages out. But is this access to power through production as cut and dried as Sander suggests: "taken out of the hands of the fat cats"? I don't think so. I also don't think that a unionized and state-run media is the answer, either. A media dictatorship is a media dictatorship. The fall, foibles, and follies of Communism shows just how an appealing and attractive political philosophy (Marxism, natch) can be misinterpreted and inadequately applied.

If we don't follow the traditional leftist track of class warfare, union organization, and state ownership, what are we to do? I'd like to suggest three possible courses of action.

Deprofessionalize journalism
Professional journalism is flawed in two major ways. One, the professionalization of the trade has removed the responsibility of the reporter -- remember, my experience is largely limited to print and print-modeled journalism -- placing the respect, resources, and resolve largely in the hands of the media organizations that employ us and hold our copyrights if what we do is work for hire. As respected as Daniel Pearl might be, he's respected in part because of his association with the Wall Street Journal. This doesn't apply to Pearl, per se, but with comfort comes complicity. This removal of responsibility is made manifest mainly through the myth of objectivity. Objectivity doesn't exist. Fairness and accuracy do. But instead of media pandering to the masses and business owners with a he said/she said namby-pamby waffling, I'd rather see newspapers with a political and social platform, writers with a strident and striving voice, and media with very clear biases. Readers -- media consumers -- should have a hand in creating and contesting those voices and biases.

Because, two, journalism and media production's professionalization has distanced writers and producers from the readers and consumers. I often joke that all journalists do is talk to people others can't talk to -- and then tell others what they talked about. This is true. We should all be able to gain access to our social, political, and cultural leaders. We should all be able to voice our opinions. And we should all be -- regardless of our role and status in society -- visible, accessible, and responsible for the impact we have on the world.

Mini-movements such as community journalism, self-publishing online and offline, and media-driven community organizing experiments are all solid steps toward the goal of media being a socially democratic platform on which people tell each other their own stories instead of waiting for the mainstream media powers that be to give them the nod. Journalists and media producers should help us make sense of the world -- not make cents off the world. And our first responsibility should be to the readers and media consumers, not to an abstract profession or a business's stockholders.

Smash the media state from inside
Another admittedly cartoony corpse of the counterculture, Hunter Thompson, who now writes for ESPN.com but failed to weigh in on 911 for Rolling Stone, put it best: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." If you're at all interested in the ideas and ideals that Sander -- and I -- espouse, get a "real" media job. We saw this happen quite often during the zine boom of the '90s. Mike Gunderloy, who founded Factsheet Five and ran a publishing imprint named after Civil War-era abolitionist and anarchist attorney Lysander Spooner, got a book contract. As did kitcschy popcult commentator Pagan Kennedy. Noel Ignatiev, publisher of Race Traitor, taught briefly at Harvard. Jim Romenesko got a gig at the Poynter Institute. Lookout! and Epitaph records continue to walk the fine line between commercial credibility and punk-rock positivity. Geeky zine maven Chip Rowe holds forth as the Playboy Advisor. And Might alumni David Moodie and Dave Eggers innovatively influenced Spin and Esquire before the McSweeney's phenomenon. (I, not to enroll myself in the same school as the above, work full time for Fast Company magazine, which is published by Gruner & Jahr, a division of Bertlesmann. Please enjoy the irony of that with me.)

Let's infect mainstream media. Let's create workplaces and media that reflect our collective value and values. Let's hold our managers and owners accountable to the needs of the readers, viewers, and other media consumers. Let's use mainstream media to create communities and affinity groups sinilar to those we support with our alternative media activity. Let's show people that they can do what we do, too. As people involved in media production, no matter to what extent, we come from a place of privilege. Let's use that power to help kids living in housing projects publish poetry chapbooks, give radio shows to the homeless and the elderly, and produce records by the developmentally disabled. Alt.media doesn't need to be outsider art, but we do need to consider and tap into outside voices.

But let's do all of the above paying heed to some of the lessons learned by mainstream media -- the practice of our trade; the importance of active, well-reasoned, and fair editing and filtering; the possibilities offered by professional presentation (delightful design); and the need to meet people's -- the market's -- needs. The market isn't the problem. The abuse and manipulation of the market is.

Offer viable parallel options
This is where we are now and where we've been since the '20s if not earlier -- and we're still not very good at it. We don't need a counterculture, an under-the-counter culture, or an underground. What we need is a parallel media space that's more exciting, important, and useful than the mainstream.

In creating this, we face two major challenges. One, the problem isn't access to production. As Sander demonstrates, the production tools are available. Through photocopying, desktop publishing, home recording, microbroadcasting (the only aspect of this that's still illegal or -- on the Web -- soon to be), blogging, web printing, and Web publishing, we can already make our own media. The hurdles we face are more deeply rooted in distribution and promotion. I'll address this in a minute. Two, Sturgeon's Law -- that 90% of everything is crud -- is even more true for alternative and independent media. There's a reason why some poets have to self-publish. There's a reason why some bands, including mine, can't get shows. The reason? They're not very good. Viable alternative media needs to move beyond democracy in the sense that anyone can do anything. Oh, they can. I know. I used to review 400 personal Web pages every month. And they should. It's just that the rest of us might not need to know.

My solutions for these two challenges? First, a more collaborative and cooperative approach to distribution and promotion. There's little thanks, money, or glory in it, but it's necessary. Remember Blacklist Mailorder, the record distro MRR ran out of the back room of Epicenter in San Francisco? Hella better and more personal that Interpunk.com. Remember the grassroots minicomics distros Spit-and-a-Half, Puppy Toss, and Wow Cool? More direct than Diamond. Remember Hello Records, They Might Be Giants' CD subscription service? Gone. Luckily, projects like Free Speech TV are still around. We need more affinity groups cross-promoting participants' media products and services. We need more music collectives like Elephant Six and Handstand Command, in which my band, the Anchormen, is active, cross-promoting shows, cooperatively releasing records, and building something larger than its parts -- but still with art and heart.

Secondly, we need to encourage quality and ongoing improvement -- of effort, of production, and of response. Since my exposure to independent and micromedia in 1988, I've seen a hesitancy to criticize alt.media just because it's an alternative. "Support the scene!" people wail. Yes, support the scene. But constructively criticize your compatriots' books, records, zines, comics, Web sites, radio shows, and public-access TV shows. Independence isn't an excuse for being immature, impolite, or incompetent. Instead, it gives us more dire reasons to be ballsier, better, and bigger than our mainstream counterparts. Of course, I think everyone should be supported for doing it themselves, but I think alt.media lacks a culture of constructive criticism. Let's collectively help each other improve -- and hold up the quality creators and positive projects as viable alternatives to the loathsome noise of the mainstream.

You'll notice that none of the above potential solutions mentions the Left, unions, state ownership, or class conflict. I agree with Sander in that my thinking is informed by such elements of what we do. But I think that a true alternative media will be built on collaboration, cooperation, creativity, and criticism much more than it will be bolstered by the ideologies of the Left, old, new, or now.

End note
Riffing on my comments on the flaws of objectivity, I'd like to touch on Sander's consideration of the Right. One, the Right is a construct just like the Left, and it has little currency as such. We need to move beyond bipartisan and bipolar categorization -- past a three-party system in which Ralph Nader is repeatedly held up to represent the Greens -- and toward a society in which multiple viewpoints can be held personally, responsibly, and transparently. The reason why the Right is evil is because they try to hide their evils -- just as the Left is tempted to hide its shortcomings (H. Rapp Brown, anyone?). If held personally responsible, do you think business executives would have let Andersen, Enron, or Global Crossing happen? Two, this comes down again at root to the myth of objectivity. I'm not calling for a fence-sitting subjectivity in which all opinions are equally valid, but a subjectivity in which all opinions and biases are open and clear. Despite the need for media literacy work, people aren't stupid. Increased accountability will increase honesty, and vice versa. If media organizations and journalists take the first step and model positive behavior by putting down their masks and shields -- acting like people instead of institutions -- we'd all be the better off for it. And, perhaps, the rest of the world will follow.

From the In Box: Music to My Ears V
Thanx for the great review and exposure on your site! It is much appreciated, though I was very disheartened to read that Other Music is now gone. What a huge loss. They were very supportive of us. Hopefully the one in NYC will stay open. -- The Duke of Candied Apples, Freezepop

Flogging Bloggers
Heather Hamilton, an LA-based Web designer, was fired from her job late last month for posting negative comments about her employer in her blog. According to the Feb. 26 entry in Dooce.com, someone anonymously emailed executives at Hamilton's company, telling them that she'd posted critical comments about the organization on her Web site.

Hamilton goes on to ask some very insightful questions about the interplay between her personal and professional lives, particularly on the Web:

Should I lose my job over what I have written on my personal Web site, especially if I have made sure not to mention specific places, persons, or events by name?

At what point does my personal Web site, regardless of what I've published on the site, affect my professional life? If I am not responsible for the two colliding (meaning, an anonymous person tips off my employer that I run a personal weblog), is it right that my employer should condemn me for expressing personal dissatisfaction? Would it be any different if someone found a notepad on which I had scribbled things about my job and turned it in to my boss?

I've been considering similar questions this week because of Fast Company's Web feature on blogging, which links to Media Diet because I'm a staffer there. Traffic here has gone up as a result, and I'm curious what FC readers and regulars think of my personal media- and popcult-related side projects.

While Hamilton continued to analyze her situation in her Feb. 27 entry and pokes fun at termination letters, you'll be happy to know that now that Hamilton has more free time, she's back in stride, cleaning her apartment and considering serious matters such as, well, defecation and gender differences.

Music to My Ears V
A three-pack of new record reviews!

Choo Choo La Rouge: "Wall to Wall" CD
What if Bob Dylan led Slot Machine instead of John Holkeboer? We might get this rootsy indie rock, ably presented at the Upstairs Lounge not too long ago. Kicking off with the cyclical and distortion-ridden "Cards," which features some excellent plaintive yet positively confident vocals, this seven-song CD makes me appreciate Choo Choo La Rouge's live act even more. They were good at the Kendall Cafe. They were good at the Upstairs. And they're good on record. I do have to make fun of the chorus' "Whoo-hoo"'s as a trite songwriting tactic -- as opposed to Naked Raygun's "Whoa-hey-oh"'s -- but Choo Choo quickly redeems itself with its alt.country via Munly de Hardy ballad "Worse Mistakes." There's a little Johnny Cash, Robyn Hitchcock, and Lemonpeelers in here, and this CD makes it clear why Choo Choo would fit in on any Boston-area indie-pop or alt.country bill; had I known, I would've booked them with Clare Burson and Gloria Deluxe. Now that I do know, it's songs like the Weakerthans via Neutral Milk Hotel-like "Ragged Dick" and the Spoilsport-plus-"A Simple Desultory Phillipic"-era Simon and Garfunkel-styled "Hearsed and Rehearsed" that'll keep this in heavy rotation. Choo Choo puts the alt in alt.country. Sunny bubblegum pop, beat pop, alt.country -- Choo Choo has it all. I even remember "In the End" from the show." Kudos.

Freezepop: "Fashion Impression Function" CD
A tongue-in-cheek but true take on early-'80s synth pop music a la early Depeche Mode, Yaz, Human League, and -- dare I say it? -- the Kitchens of Distinction. It's not so much parody as it is selfless homage, and it's much better than also-Boston-based Lifestyle. Freezepop comprises the Duke of Candied Apples, Liz Enthusiasm, and the "other" Sean T. Drinkwater, wth Duke and Enthusiasm seeming to be the true aficionadoes. "Lazy"'s vocals, courtesy of the dreamy Enthusiasm, remind me of Papas Fritas, which is a nice vocal nod, and the overall vibe is rather sleepy and happily sluggish. The beats aren't overly aggressive, the bleeps and swells are tastefully placed, and these songs could easily be twee pop indie-rock anthems were it not for their couching in Yamaha-fueled synth pop. The male vocals on "Shark Attack" are a nice touch, riffing off of Soft Cell and White Town (a modren reference!). Many of the songs are mixes and remixes by Kodomo, Commodore Vic, and others. There's even an All Your Base Are Belong to Us remix, ably taking Freezepop out of the past and into the future. Again, this is much more than a kitschy return to the past. Freezepop's retro reproductions -- even the Pizzicato Five-like remix by Kodomo -- are honest, earnest, and appreciative kicks in the pant of Synthpop. I'll be listening to this a lot. Robotron vs. K-Rad. Servotron vs. Pracky Pranky. Brilliant. Archenemy Record Co., P.O. Box 802, Boston, MA 02134.

Matters & Dunaway: "Midtech" CD EP
Andre Obin and Thomas Gallagher collaborate on this five-song CD of intelligent dance music that's at times reminiscent of Greyboy and other times reflective of Medeski, Martin & Wood. This music was recorded last fall entirely on a Yamaha MD8, bringing together the best of live performance and sequencing. Surprisingly -- to me -- the pieces are all relatively short -- 3-6 minutes -- which helps my attention span immensely. Bass riffs are a big part of the first two tracks, "Movement" and "Spidercheck," and there's a certain Beastie Boys aspect to Matters & Dunaway's compositions -- I could put in the Beastie's DVD and hear Ad Rock freestyling over much of this -- but for the most part it's rather laid back and just on the edge of ambient ("Honduras" is almost all ambient IDM plus some misleading skronk.). DJ Spooky is invoked as the synths swell and the beats kick in. Overall, impressive. But "Stars in the Lake" is most interesting of all. Be sure to wait for its Trans Am-like opening leading into some Sea and Cake-styled guitar noodling. This track leads me to think that these might be suggestions of songs, but there's enough promise that, given a live band and a little more edge and risk, Matters & Dunaway could be a truly great project worth following.

All three of the above records were purchased at the now-closed Other Music in Cambridge. RIP.

Blogging About Blogging XVI
The Media Diet counter has been live for a month as of today. And the stats to date are pretty interesting:

2,080 total visits and 1,571 unique visitors

54 hits a day on average -- not a lot, but I'm proud

Mondays and Tuesdays almost tie for peak days

Media Dieticians also belong to the Late Riser's Club -- traffic begins to pick up at 2 p.m.

People coming in from .com and .net domains are neck and neck

Thanks for coming by!

From the Reading Pile VIII

After School
This tidy little pocket-sized accordion of a comic sports a woodcut-printed cover and is limited to an edition of 100. Bruce Orr considers children's many after-school activities, drawing in a heavily inked rendering of Robert Lewis' style on one side -- and accelerating to adulthood on the other side to show how playful activities contribute to adult behavior. There are few surprises, but the comparisons are valid and quite emotional. An excellent look at how personalities develop. The physical design slightly reminds me of a bus passenger-related comics accordion printed by Pipifax or Bulb in Europe, but I can't find it, so who knows. Worth a look. Maybe Bruce should move up to Boston! $3 to Bruce Orr, 1601 S. 8th St., Philadelphia, PA 19148.

Batjam
The Picnic stocks a lot of Neil's Jam minis, but this is the first issue -- self-published in October 2001 -- that's inspired a Media Diet buy. Obviously and admittedly based on Batman, this 16-page edition presents an interview with the cartoony hero about his job, hobbies, sidekick, frustrations, and abuse at the, um, feet of others. If this is as deep as Neil Jam gets, I'm not sure I need more, but it's a good introduction to Fitzpatrick's artwork, humor, and pacing. I wonder if Neil knows Kevin, who does Supermonster. $1 to Neil Fitzpatrick.

Doris #11
This 36-page issue begins the Doris ABC's, an encyclopedia set, and goes into the C's. Doris is a little self-conscious about writing about "things I'd feel dumb writing about otherwise; like anarchism and Zimbabwe," but the premise is a welcome departure from her usual perzine narratives. She writes about intential community building, the academic nature of some idealist writing (which makes anarchism inaccessible to many), certainty, Murray Bookchin, direct action, polygamy, abortion and the body politic, the definition of pregnancy (quickening), racism in healthcare and how it spawned the American Medical Association, homemade boats, mucus, books and zines Doris has read, the threat of robbery, ladybugs, her sister's farm (an interview that would've been at home in the current issue of Cometbus), human compost, and other topics that don't necessarily start with the letters A, B, and C. Another quality issue of Doris with personal and productive writing. The framing concept works quite well. $1.50 to P.O. Box 1734, Asheville, NC 28802.

Scenery #13
This "examination of some things we've held to be self-evident" and "illustration of ways we shape our identity" combines sketchbook excerpts and handwritten travel-oriented personal writing that reminds me of the work of Jeff Zenick. Mike travels to Spain and tells stories about his crazy friend Eli and his roommate Josepha, makes a mistaken comparison between British lad mags and Esquire and GQ (Maxim is more like it.), and discusses his commute in Granada, feeling lost in a cemetery, language barriers, the horrors of art commissioned by royalty, shoplifting, and rude travelers. The writing is hella better than that in most travel-oriented perzines -- opting for transparent narrative rather than self-aware, self-righteous judgment -- and Mike's sketches? Absolutely beautiful. Be sure to check the small spire on p. 3, the phone booth on p. 21, and the interrupted rooftops on p. 22. Why haven't I seen this before? $3 to Tree of Knowledge, P.O. Box 251766, Little Rock, AR 72225.

Strawbaby
Another relatively overpriced mini -- After School cost $3? -- this 28-pager features cute brut comic art and watercolored sketchbook excerpts featuring angry children, diapered infants, notebook paper animals, heavy use of hash marks, musclebound ducklings, giraffes, plaintive babies, and the Smart Dog. Amy's art reminds me slightly of Gary Panter and Mike Diana, as well as a Paper Radio-influenced Ron Rege, Jr. I'd like to see a proper comic by Amy, but I doubt I'll pick up another sketchbook mini such as this. Good unified idea, but little else. $3 to Amy Lockhart, 585 Eastvale Dr., Gloucester, Ontario K1J 6Z4 Canada.

Supermonster #14
Entitled Gloriana Comics, this 96-page edition of Kevin Huizenga's minicomic is quite a bargain compared to many zines and self-published comics. With a full-color cover, the comic was drawn between the winter of 2000 and summer of 2001. It opens with "At Work," a two-pager featuring Wendy Caramel-Ganges, one of the issue's ensemble cast, who joins Glenn in the 25-page "The Groceries," in which they envision the future of their unborn child. The piece is drawn in a delightfully cartoony style and, while heavy on dialogue, reads quith smoothly, interspersing foreshadowing with conversation about Wendy's sister's relationship ups and downs. The narrative flow is interrupted by "The Sunset," which itself uses an interrupted phone conversation as the framing conceit for a meditation on the setting sun, complete with a foldout that's equal parts Chris Ware and Greg Cook. Nice pratfall ending! An existential appreciation of a blood-red moon -- and another telephone conversation -- couches Huizenga's scientific explanation in some nice Ron Rege, Jr.-esque imagery, as well as some Scott McCloud-like process comics analyzing the physics of vision. "The Moon Rose" even has a punchline! Lastly, "Basketball" evokes John Porcellino as Huizenga portrays the recollection of a game in Illinois. Hella impressive, Supermonster combines solid storytelling, unintentional cute brut imagery, process comics, and other notable elements to weave several pieces together in a narrative whole. One to get. Immediately. $3 to Kevin Huizenga, P.O. Box 12299, St. Louis, MO 63157.

There Is Nothing!
Cheryl tells me that Marc is Amy Lockhart's boyfriend, and besides their residing in the same province, the shared cute brut style indicates that that's not outside the realm of possibility. Marc's art is largely resonant of Robert Crumb by way of Peter Bagge and Ron Rege, Jr., and this half-legal, 40-page comic collects strips from the Coast, an alt.weekly in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Exclaim!; and the titillating Vice. Even Canada's answer to Factsheet Five (RIP), Broken Pencil (organized geographically a la the Hudson Luce F5), has run Marc's stuff. And good stuff it is! His character Saul reminds me of Creem magazine's Boy Howdy beer bottle character, bolstering the Crumb comparisons. "Thar Is Nut'n!" made me laugh out loud with its to-do list containing "Put things into other things" and "Discover inner self" items. "Where!?!" is a surreal nod to Joe Matt and David Lynch's comics. Marc also pokes Big Boy, psychoanalysis, abstract art, love, winter, mythology, meditation, rock 'n' roll, comics artists (hisself!), zinemakers, Japanese pop culture, free stuff, and literature. While the Crumb influence is occasionally jarring, I'd rather read these alt.weekly strips from 1995-2000 than anything ever done by Kaz. "Life Is a Highway" is the best example of Bell's cute brut leanings. Awesome stuff. Amy could take some cues. $4 to Marc Bell, 1016 Dalhousie Dr., London, Ontario N6K 1M7 Canada.

It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World
Remember when Mad magazine didn't have any ads? Now that AOL-Time-Warner owns the long-running humor magazine, not only does Mad contain ads -- for things like Corn Nuts -- the media conglomerate is starting to license Alfred E. Neuman for use by other businesses, such as Land's End and PepsiCo.

The innocence of childhood has now ended.

Comics with a Cause II
George Bush has become even more of a cartoon in recent days with the advent of an Indian comic strip that portrays our fearless and peerless leader as Dubyaman, a "deranged superhero destined to skid on the banana peel of his own ineptitude."

In an odd bit of self-reference, the Times of India has even reported on the strip, which runs in its very pages. Seems there's an art exhibit featuring examples of the artwork, which I've had trouble finding online.

Rabble Rall-ser II
About 10 days ago, Jim Treacher emailed me a link to several Clip-Art Nonsense comic strips he wrote and drew in response to the recent 911/Ted Rall brouhaha.

"Did you notice the discrepancies in [Rall's] story about the third panel -- with the widow whose husband's throat was slashed -- between his appearance on the O'Reilly Factor on March 7 and the Editor & Publisher article March 8?" Jim wrote. "He still seems to be making up his mind over whether or not he was targeting Daniel Pearl's widow."

One Man's Alternative Media Strategy
Sander Hicks, founder of Soft Skull Press, wrote the following raw, rough first draft as a statement for the Alternative Media primer for the upcoming Version 2.0 conference, scheduled to take place in April in Chicago. Sander is about to go on tour with his band White Collar Crime -- and a new newspaper featuring similar material and reporting. He welcomes your feedback, especially if you are experienced in the subjects addressed.

I'm best known for starting Soft Skull Press, a alternative book publishing company. But you know, the current global situation compares so closely to 1991, the year of my first foray into alt.media. When the Gulf War started, I was part of a collective that formed to publish an alternative newspaper. Our college's official newspaper parroted the complicit position of the corporate media, so creating an alternative was a logical, fun choice. But we didn't stop history from repeating itself. Eleven years later there's a new Bush in the White House, and a similar war for oil going on in Central Asia.

We need to stop the crimes of big business, war and poverty. From "The New Xaymaca" newspaper to Soft Skull Press, I think I've learned a few lessons that amount to a media strategy, so here goes:

If being an anti-war, anti-imperialist thinker is what brought you and your friends into alternative media, then just admit it, you are now a part of that fabled entity called the American Left. This means that your media strategy is also going to also be a political strategy. But instead of being a member of a political entity, it's your role to be a part of a production entity: You're more like a union than a party. That means that a certain degree of ideological diversity and flexibility is a must. So I guess my first political point is that anarchists can learn a lot from socialists, and vice versa. (And this applies to all schools of thought and analysis.) To the anarchist/socialist debate I would say: Rather than divide into sects, let's try to find a balance between spontaneity and discipline, between direct action and committed organization. It's not either/or, it's both.

That said, I think it should be a life-long media strategy of a united left to seize state power. There, I said it. At the same time, I'm an anti-totalitarian leftist. Look, a strain of anarchism has to be included in this worldview. The media has to taken out of the hands of the fat cats, the right wingers, the weak moderates, and the lame-o's. We've got to put it in the hands of the common people and then let them run with it. Can this be done? Am I dreaming?

Yes. In China, the Communist Party actually paid for the industries it took over, through government bonds.

But how can you guarantee that a state-run media won't become a propaganda vehicle for the government, some Soviet joke? Here's a quick example, freshly extricated from real world capitalism. The New York Times is a publicly held company, but the shareholders don't get to have influence over editorial decisions. The Times made rules beforehand saying we want the benefits of public ownership, but we can't have editorial decisions dictated by outside interests. In the same way, the entire corporate media establishment should be transferred into the hands of a new American workers' state. It would have to be a part of its charter that the state did not interfere with content. That workers' state could set up some infrastructure, some funding, and just let it go.

Too risky? Well, what are the alternatives? We have a system right now that is a dictatorship. The Rupert Murdochs, the Roger Ailes, the Bill O'Reilly's, the Heritage Foundation, the Wall Street Journal, the sold-out 60 Minutes, and all the rest show us what a free market gets us: a bunch of puppets. Right-wing mediocrity. Instead of hard-hitting reporting, we get excuses for the crimes of capitalism, we get cheer-leading for oil wars. It's time for the power of the people.

I recently debated this guy, a real rabid anti-communist. I won on points, in a 11 to 9 decision, and then he emailed me all bitter. Said that Marxism was akin to fascism because I called the middle-class values and ruling class "the bourgeoisie." He said I shouldn't use this piece of "hate language." Boy, he was really scared by class struggle analysis, wasn't he? If you crack this code and see history as a long story of class exploitation, then this really gets under certain people's skin. I remember the trend five years ago was to accuse anyone slightly on the Left of "class war" if they brought up issues of poverty or the need for a social safety net. That trend now over, the strategy of the Right has shifted over and become its opposite: They are now trying to appropriate class struggle for their own ends. I guess they realized the power of the analysis; they figured they better appropriate it (before the young North American globalization movement grabs the weapons of class analysis). So now Bill O'Reilly's shtick on Fox is to constantly make reference to the integrity of his "lower middle-class" roots. In a recent appearance at Columbia, I watched Chris Matthews go on about how great the "war" in Afghanistan is, because it's a "real blue-collar war" because "it's so GUT" it's so simple, and Bush is leading us around using emotions anyone can understand.

The simple truth here is that this government is the enemy of the people. Pick an issue. The environment, the recent deregulation of communications, the continued deregulation of the energy industry. The war on terrorism is a sick joke. It would be a better world with media with the ability to be critical, thoughtful, piercing, objective, forthright.

Making viable media alternatives is a must. Offset printing a newspaper on a "web" press is actually pretty damn cheap. Web sites are even cheaper. What's hard is staying alive in a world trying to crush its dissenters. Because once you really get to a scale at which you threaten them, they will stop thinking you're cute and they will try to kill you. I saw this personally when Soft Skull did the Bush biography Fortunate Son.

It's time for self-defense. Let's all get in top physical condition. Let's all study military strategy and tactics. Let's all read voraciously across the spectrum of radical left politics. Let's learn from the mistakes of Stalin and Mao and put together a new American socialist alternative.

How I've Been Spending My Time II
Kewlbox just released a new game that combines extreme sledding with South Park-like character designs. It plays left to right, is quite clever, and is a lot of fun. Because Boston's not had much snow this winter, it's also a good reminder of how fun winter can be -- if there is snow.

The game is available for PC's as well as Mac's.

Life's all downhill from here.

The Best of the Web
I'm a nominating judge for the Webbies again this year, in the Community category. We're starting to discuss candidates for the nominations, and I'd like to pick your brain. If you can recommend any Web sites and services that meet the following description, email me, and I'll consider it for the mix.

Community: Sites creating and facilitating online community, connectedness and/or communication around shared interests. These sites can target either a broad-based or niche audience.

Thanks for your help!

News You Can Abuse II
Media Dietician Clint Schaff encouraged me to let folks know about two new Adbusters campaigns:

Corporate Hot Seat offers an "uncommercial" calling the very existence of Phillip Morris into question. Adbusters' Media Foundation is currently raising funds to run the ad and stage other Phillip Morris protest activities.

Adbusters is also rethinking its plans to stage money-drops April 1 at the world's stockmarkets and is currently brainstorming other direct actions that could take place.

The Comics Art of Architecture
Ninth Art recently published a round table discussion of the role cities and architecture play in comic books. The Web site's editorial board sets the foundation by asking whether the urban landscapes -- such as Gotham and Metropolis -- featured in comics-based narratives serve as the foundation for or the background of the stories. Riffing off of the fact that most Marvel comics are based in New York City, Andrew Wheeler suggests that urban settings (New York in particular) reflect the hope and idealism -- some might add escapism -- inherent in superhero comics. He even goes so far as to invoke St. Augustine's presentation of morality: city (man-made) vs. garden (God-given). "If there's one place where evil is most likely to fester, it's going to be in the cities, therefore that's where the heroes are required," adds panelist Antony Johnston.

Guestimonial
Don't know when I last jotted you a note. Too long, I'm sure. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I love Media Diet. I take it in at least twice a week, and I have read probably 90% of it since late January -- and even some archives beyond that. I just love your accounts of the random people you meet at parties, on street corners, and what not. Even if I didn't know you already, it makes the reviews and other "official" readings much more accountable. Keep up the good work. -- Rick Weller

Blogging About Blogging XV
Henry Jenkins directs MIT's comparative media studies program. He also heads the Games-to-Teach project, which my childhood friend Kurt works on.

Anyway, I said all that to say this: Earlier this month, the MIT Technology Review, via MSNBC, shared Henry's thoughts on blogging. He analyzes blogging's rise in the midst of the dotcom meltdown and posits that blogs -- grassroots infomediaries -- and other DIY Web media might be the next phase of the digital revolution.

Blogging About Blogging XIV
The Fast Company home page today is all over the blog phenomenon. The following features are highlighted:

An interview with David Weinberger about his unified theory of the Web

A conversation with the author of the Weblog Handbook

My visit with Evan Williams during the 2001 CoF Roadshow

A roundup of FC contributors and their blogs -- including yours truly

John Ellis' recent column about blogging

Full disclosure: I work for Fast Company. And I often tinker with Media Diet while at work.

Make Your Own Media II
My friend Maura has published a book. You should buy it. While you're at it, you should also buy the book I edited, "This Day's Wait," by Dan Buck. We'd sure appreciate it.

Online at the Trident
One of the best newsstands in Boston can be found at the Trident Booksellers Cafe on Newbury Street. They also serve a mean cup of coffee -- and an excellent veggie burger. In addition, they're run by Buddhists who used to live in Vermont! (Let's just say it's my kind of place.) Now they offer wireless Net access. The project is part of the Newbury Open Network, and Tech Superpowers Inc. hopes to offer wireless networking to other shops and restaurants in Boston's Euro-tinged shopping district, as well.

All in the Family
Ad Age features an interesting article about how AOL Time Warner's biggest advertising client is... AOL Time Warner. While it's common for newspapers and magazines to include house ads, AOL Time Warner's cross promotion of other media properties within the company indicates a concerning concentration on keeping media consumers within the family of AOL Time Warner products -- as well as the sorry state of advertising in general. House ads and cross promotions may save AOL Time Warner money... but if they're their own top customer, what about outside ads paid in real money?

Who Watches the Watchdogs?
Fox News reports on Web sites that monitor the follies and foibles of major newspapers such as the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nervy, Pervy IV
Media Dietician GVZ reports: "Nightline just did a story on the Suicide Girls Web site that you mentioned. According to Nightline, Suicide Girls has earned $80,000 so far. They must be getting cheated by whoever hosts their site because in their Punknet interview they implied that they weren't making any money. Interesting."

Additionally, Laurent recently interviewed Missy from the Suicide Girls in his Mondo 2000-like cyberculture Webzine La Spirale. The interview touches on the empowering potential of porn -- or "naughty pictures without stigma" -- and Missy's photographic inspirations.

Weather Report III
For the last couple of weeks -- and two weekends ago -- we had 60-degree weather in Boston. This weekend I went to Richmond and Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was 80 there. Today in Boston, it's snowing. Big, cotton candy wisps.

The Movie I Watched Last Night XII
Tuesday: From Hell
Johnny Depp, increasingly one of my favorite elastic actors, does an impressive job portraying a laudanum- and absinthe-addicted near-psychic inspector investigating the Jack the Ripper case in Victorian London. Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell and directed by the Hughes brothers, the film holds up relatively well as an adaptation of the book, although the movie was underpromoted and not billed as the intense, complex tale it is. Combining elements of the Ripper mythos, a conspiracy theory involving the royal family, and the political mysticism of Freemasonry, "From Hell" doesn't have the impact of Moore and Campbell's original work but goes far to dramatize the Ripper killings in a new and innovative way. The violence is handled tastefully, and Ian Holm's casting as Sir William Gull presages the ability and intensity he brought to the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Business Boners
The April issue of Business 2.0, formerly E-Company Now!, runs down the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business. Darwin in action. And I don't mean the magazine.

Rock Shows of Note VII
I feel kinda weird reviewing one of the Anchormen's own shows, but last night at the Upstairs Lounge was so much fun! There was a Bruins game, so traffic, parking, and pedestrian activity was crazy, but once we were loaded in, everything was A-OK.

First up, Spoilsport, who I quite enjoyed when they played at the Hi-Fi in Jamaica Plain. Last night, they were even better. They're still a little rough around the edges -- they need to tighten up and develop some more stage presence before they make a really good live band -- but the mix of the stage, the increased volume, and the crowd full of friends did them well. They covered the Go-Go's "Head Over Heels" again, played "Boys on the Beach" or whatever it's called, and revisited several of the songs they played at the Hi-Fi -- including the country-tinged number about taking the train home to a loved one. They also debuted several new songs, always a good thing.

Next up, Hip Tanaka, who -- while they certainly didn't disappoint -- were a pale shadow of the band I saw play at the Abbey. I don't know if their set was lighter on the silliness, sloppiness, and spazziness that I had so enjoyed in their garage-tinged power pop previously, or if I was listening through rose-colored ear plugs because I was a little bit beery at the Abbey, but last night was a lackluster set of standard college rock with some psychedelic elements. But they did bring a bunch of friends, and they seemed to have fun. Still, I think I might need to give them another chance before I write them off.

Then, us. Obviously, I can't review the Anchormen objectively, but we rocked! It was so much fun. Tom didn't break a string. I didn't forget a substantial amount of words. And Chris was spot on with his banter and commentary as always. One friend overheard an audience member say, "I've never had so much fun!" (I kinda feel sorry for that one.) Another woman said, "You guys were hot!" And people -- including the folks who booked the show and were working sound -- let us play several more songs after the set ended because of the enthusiastic crowd response. I've got to get one of those athletic glasses holders so my specs stay on my head, though. They were flying all over the place!

As a footnote, I also met a woman named Alex, who's playing with the idea of "opening a cafe/ media-oriented haven in Union Square." That's in Somerville, son. She's also the new Boston coordinator for Media Bistro. That in itself might be enough to drag me back to one of those media mixers to meet and mingle with other area editors and writers. The ones I've gone to previously have been pretty lame. Fingers crossed that Alex does a bang-up job.

Oh, another side note. After the show, a woman came up to the stage and asked me, "Are you in the Tribe?" I had no idea what she was talking about. "Are you tribal?" Still, no idea. "Are you guys Jewish?" Huh? Oh! We have a song about Harry Houdini and his wife that includes the line, "You are a Catholic, and I am a Jew." That, coupled with a joke Chris made about me just having my bar mitzvah (after Jef said he thought my voice was getting lower) -- and something I said about trading my yarmulka for a green plastic St. Patrick's Day bowler -- led her and her friends to think we were Jewish. Maybe we can capitalize on that somehow. We've already considered doing an album of Christian punk-rock cover songs so we can get on Tooth & Nail. You know, they've got the distro nailed down, and evangelical Christian kids active in youth groups are just starving for good music they can listen to without being criticized and ostracized. I mean, come on, they've got, what, POD and Beanbag? Please.

Pulling the Plug
Does anyone have any news on the recent closing of the Other Music on Harvard Square? Word is that the store is closed, gutted, and decorated with a sign on the door that -- paraphrased -- says they decided to go back where they came from and that all record sales are on the Web anyway. At least we still have Twisted Village just around the corner. Thanks, Wayne and Kate, for your stick-to-it-tiveness.

Other Music's closing is distressing, however. They'd just started spinning records at River Gods off Central Square, and it's slightly disconcerting that the Boston area couldn't support a shop like Other Music. Maybe it was the rent. Oh, well, I'll miss it, that's for sure.

Comics, Commerce, and Colleagues
Griping about people who take smoking breaks at work, Patrick Keller challenges comics readers to bring comics and graphic novels to work -- and to take reading breaks, perhaps leaving finished graphic novels and other items behind for coworkers to discover. It's an interesting idea, but Keller's column spends too much time discussing how he finally became able to conquer his reading pile by reading on the throne -- the porcelain throne, that is.

Garbage Collection
TomPaine.com features a look at high-tech trash and electronics waste, describing several state initiatives calling for electronics and computer manufacturers to take responsibility for the reuse and recycling of old computers and components. Last fall, I visited a Hewlett-Packard recycling center in Roseville, California.

Nervy, Pervy III
Marc Punknet interviews the folks who run Suicide Girls on the newly developed site, which features frequent articles, reviews, and interviews. The interview addresses the site's economics, what kinds of emails the Girls receive, and the online -- and offline -- community that's sprung up around the site.

Sorry for the Silence
I was in New York City for some business development meetings and a Company of Friends party sponsored by Jameson. A quick 24-hour trip, and it's good to be back in Boston. I didn't have Web access for most of the day, hence no Media Diet entries. But I have some stuff to say today and will soon do so.

The Nine Lives of Copy Cats
Andy Oram penned a delightful call for people to sidestep the recent DMCA and SSSCA legal sideshows by stopping the copying. "If the Internet developed its own media," Oram contends, "there might be less to fight over."

It's a worthy challenge. Why repurpose existing media -- or copy existing media forms -- online? Oram also discusses four qualities that online media have -- and which could give the Web the upper hand. Online media is changeable, convivial, open, and topical.

"Convivial," huh? Now that's interesting.

Corollary: Rules for Fools II
Friday night, while M@, Miss Mary, and I were waiting in line at the B-Side Lounge, M@ jokingly yelled, "Cheese it; it's the cops!"

A la Macros, it's probably always funny to actually say, "Cheez-Its; it's the cops!"

P.S. M@ and Mary's friend David really, really looked like David Cross. Looked like him, sounded like him, had a wicked sense of humor and taste for music. But three things set him apart from Mr. Cross: he has a full head of hair, his last name isn't Cross, and his DVD hasn't been delayed until June.

North End Moment VI
Moments ago, I found two more Web page porn printouts trapped against the chainlink fence in the back alley. Both blondes. Then, after a quick trip to Bob's for a soda, I came back to find two maintenance men from the old folks' home behind the Scotch & Sirloin building picking up the trash along the edge of their parking lot -- and the alley. The printouts were all gone.

Made me remember my first porn moment -- and lest I continue this recent rash of porn-related entries -- I'm going to recount the story to get it out of my system. I was in grade school. My friend Nathan and I were playing in the fields and sand dunes by his house out on the edge of town. And in the tall grass, we found a Hefty garbage bag full of old Playboy and other magazines, some coverless. We dragged the bag back to his treehouse and hid the magazines under the comic books we kept in a little cardboard treasure chest like the kind you find in dentists' offices. Some of the old Playboys featured Harvey Kurtzman's "Little Annie Fanny" strip -- my first exposure (no pun intended) to Kurtzman and Will Elder's work. This was also the first time I'd ever seen naked people, really, and I was curious: Does everyone have black spots -- circles and bars -- obscuring their private parts?

Lest you still be curious: No. The black spots were used so some magazines could work around postal code classifications. People don't have them.

Rules for Fools II
Rule No. 4: If you don't want crumbs in your bed, don't eat crackers in bed.

Yes, last night I got a little peckish around 12 and thought, "Huh! I'll eat some Cheez-Its!" That was a bad idea for two reasons. One, I had to be hella careful not to get crumbs and cheese powder in my sheets and blankets. Two, if you do eat Cheez-Its before bed, be sure to brush your teeth before you fall asleep. Because, well, let's just say that I didn't taste so good come morning. Blech.

This dovetails into my most recent self-improvement plan: Cooking and eating at home, and packing a lunch for work. Today, Day Two, things have gone pretty well. I had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and a banana before leaving the house this morning. And I packed a colby and bologna sandwich, some sea salt and vinegar potato chips, baby carrots, and an apple for lunch today. Woohoo! So far I've eaten all but the apple for lunch, and I'm saving that for an afternoon snack. Yesterday went well, too. Sandwich for lunch. Mac and cheese for dinner. I even did the dishes promptly.

My parents will be so proud!

Junk Food Tech Tools
Thanks to Pure Content, I came across a story from BBC News about some UK-based hackers who have fashioned a directional antenna out of a Pringles can to track down wireless computer networks in London's financial district.

Gives a whole new meaning to computer "chips."

Joystick Cinematography
They don't actually use joysticks, but the folks behind the Ill Clan, make movies using networked video games such as Quake. Paul "Ill Robinson" Marino, Machinima director and producer, says that even Steven Spielberg (no less!) has used an "ILM-modified version of Unreal Tournament to create shots for AI." Cool beans.

On the Move
Jon Lebkowsky, formerly of Whole Foods and Whole People, has relocated back to Austin, Texas, from Colorado. He, Jeff Kramer, and Matt Sanders have recently launched a new enterprise, Polycot Consulting, which focuses on knowledge management, online community development, and other practices. Currently working with UT-Austin and Whole Foods, it looks like they've got a good thing going. Be sure to check out John's white paper on e-commerce and community.

Mailing List List
A friend recently forwarded me an invitation from Ian Jindal soliciting members for a new mailing list concentrating on electronic publishing. Media Dieticians might be interested in checking it out.

I thought you might be interested in a new mailing list dedicated to the business of electronic publishing. The purpose of the list is to act as a meeting place for the many professions and skills involved in electronic publishing in its broader sense: from content to technology, from marketing to project managers, across all platforms -- Web to SMS to iTV.

From my own experience I know that often the brightest sparks fly when professions meet (!) -- exchanging ideas and views, of course! We hope to replicate some of that enjoyment by inviting experienced people to post opinion pieces on a regular basis. Should you be one of those opinion-holders, please do not be shy in letting me know! This list will not, of course, compete with the many excellent specialized community lists. Rather, we are inviting leading contributors from those lists to share their ideas and views with us.

I haven't received any messages yet, so the jury is still out, but this might be a conversation worth joining.

The Movie I Watched Last Night XI
Sunday: Slaughterhouse-Five
Based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel, this slow-paced film tells the story of a man who's become "unstuck in time." The resulting narrative is a pastiche portrayal of Billy Pilgrim's life, centering heavily on his time in Dresden, Germany, during World War II. While the political content -- the scene in which Billy encounters a Harvard historian who's writing a book about Dresden is particularly telling -- and the time-travel philosophizing -- time is just a collection of random moments strung together, with no moment more important than the others, but every moment more important than the whole -- is interesting, as an entire story, the movie falls flat. There are some parallels to Breakfast of Champions, in which the lead also encounters an alien/god-like being who controls his fate. But while that ultimate authorship question drives much of "Breakfast" (and provides a most surprising ending, at least in the novel), here it's almost an afterthought -- the Trafalmadore sequences are among the most belabored -- and we're left to revel in the more mundane moments -- Billy's reunion with his bride to be, the optometrists' convention flight, etc. There are some excellent cinematic moments here, but they, like Billy, have become unstuck.

North End Moment V
In the back alley this morning, fluttering in the wind on the ground up against the chainlink fence: two Web printouts of pictures of naked women. Both brunettes.

Looks someone's taking their work home with them.

Nervy, Pervy II
Turns out that the Suicide Girls have a predecessor -- Supercult. It doesn't seem to be as playful as Suicide Girls -- which has such a strong sense of humor -- and it's not as fully fledged. The photography's not as good. The girls aren't as cute. And there's no indication that there's a wider community -- no discussion forums, no way to connect with other members. Still, there's some super-cute indie-rock, punk, and goth girls here.

One interesting tidbit is that Supercult helped Big Wheel Records find some delicious indie chicks to model for the cover of the Totally Travis CD. Some outtakes from the photo shoot are featured on the site.

Nervy, Pervy
I think I'm in love. While I first discovered the amazing roundup of cute, creative, indie-rock kids at the Makeout Club awhile ago, just this afternoon I came across the seductively sultry indie-rock, punk, and goth girls of the Suicide Girls. Sigh. And oh my!

It borders on porn -- I'd call it erotica -- but it's my kind of whatever it is. These girls have attitude, and it strikes me that these are the kind of women you see at shows, on the T, in the record shop -- and crush on instantly. Indie-rock girls are super cute. So are the Suicide Girls.

Rabble Rall-ser
Ted Rall's in the public eye again -- contributing to attract controversies a la the Spiegelman/Hellman brouhaha -- this time because the New York Times pulled a 911-related cartoon from its Web site earlier this week. Editor & Publisher says that Rall refuses to apologize to the 911 widows -- and calls their publicity seeking "cynical, crass, and gauche."

Blogging About Blogging XIII
Blogger upgraded its architecture last night, and there was some downtime. So I've not been able to tend to Media Diet at all so far today. Gosh, I've missed it. My productivity was probably slightly higher than normal, but three cheers for Evan making the changes!

Cover Story
The back page of the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine features an awesome assortment of magazine covers that were designed as part of a 1942 campaign. I love the fact that even the Shadow pulp and Wow Comics participated -- and that there was a magazine called Think.

We're Not Gonna Say It!
According to the current edition of Rolling Stone magazine, former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has signed on with MSNBC to do voiceovers. Word is they give him scripts and say, "Dee it up for us."

How I've Been Spending My Time
There are too goofy little video games that I've been geeking to lately. One, Snood, a Puzzle Bobble and Bust-A-Move knockoff for the Mac. Two, a game my friend Dan just sent me today. (Thank you, Dan!)

"Viva Los Straitjackets" is a Tetris-like game for PC or Mac. Ever heard of the band, Los Straitjackets? They star in the game. They're like the Justice League of America, except they wear Mexican wrestling masks and speak in Spanish.

Here is the premise of the game: Hidden within an ancient mountain temple, the king's jewels have mysteriously come to life! Armed with their mystical masks and killer guitar licks to protect them, Los Straitjackets must save the day by stopping the possessed jewels from multiplying like mad! Hurry! The jewels sense your fear if you're not careful.

My productivity plummets yet again.

North End Moment IV
While waiting in line for my lunch order at Mangia! Mangia!:

Customer: I haven't read the newspaper for four days. I buy it every day, but I never have time to read it!
Cook: Fess up. You're illiterate.
Customer: It was our little secret, but now the cat's out of the bag. I look great though, holding it upside down.
Cook: Yeah. And looking at the pictures. They don't put in as many pictures as they used to.
Customer: Yeah. Too many words!

Weather Report II
From Dummies Daily:
My-Cast gives you extremely specific weather forecasts, updated eight times a day and covering a four-mile radius around any point you choose. The service has recently added satellite imagery to put even more weather information at your fingertips. After you register and pinpoint the areas you want to monitor, you can check back anytime for updates or take advantage of their email service.

I just signed up for email notifications about weather at home and at work. Pretty neat stuff. The service will even tell you if the weather will affect errands, going for a walk, playing volleyball, and participating in other activities. You can also sign up for watches, warnings, alarms, and other more crucial reports about pending inclement weather.

The People Behind the Pages
A Fast Company reader whose title is supposedly Father Czar of the Church of Anarchy recently exchanged a series of amusing emails with one of the people we profiled several years ago. Reads like a bit of Subgenius fun.

Killed by Death
An article that Ken Gordon wrote about, well, me, my work at Fast Company, and my other media-driven community organizing work, was recently killed by the Improper Bostonian. If you'd like Ken to query you and your publication, let the bidding war begin!

In Bed with Head Executives II
In today's Globe, Eileen McNamara contends that the Harvard Business Review has bigger ethical problems than editors wooing their sources. McNamara charges that HBR lets sources read and edit stories about themselves before publication, and that the elite business journal fawns over executive subjects while insisting that they don't do "celebrity CEO profiles."

To quote David Lee Roth, she's got a point there. Actually, she's got two points there. McNamara also suggests that this brouhaha is the result of uneven gender politics. "A single woman has a relationship with a powerful, older, married man," she writes. "He gets a round of high-fives from the boys at the country club; she gets a pink slip." Would this be such a big deal if the editor were a man -- and the subject a woman? I wonder whether it'd be an even bigger deal.

From the In Box: Books Worth a Look II
In response to my review of Guillaume Apollinaire's "The Amorous Exploits of a Young Rakehill":

Glad I could point you toward life's finer things. -- Neal Pollack

The Movie I Watched Last Night X
Tuesday: The Twilight Zone #1
Three episodes of the long-running, five-season TV show created and narrated by Rod Serling. It would've been nice if the DVD's provided the shows in episodic order, but these three episodes over the course of three years watch quite well together. In the first episode, "The Night of the Meek" (air date Dec. 23, 1960), the Honeymooners' own Art Carney plays a Christopher Lloyd-like rummy rent-a-Santa who makes a wish on Christmas Eve -- and gets it. Carney plays opposite a sinisterly smarmy store manager played by John Fiedler. In the second ep, an until-the-end wordless "The Invaders" (air date Jan. 27, 1961), Agnes Moorehead, who'd previously acted in a play using only words, offers an exhaustingly overwrought portrayal of a simple rural woman -- or so you think. The invaders turn out to be something quite other than what viewers expect. Lastly, a young Robert Redford plays a wounded police officer in "Nothing in the Dark" (air date Jan. 5, 1962) whose appearance catalyzes an elderly tenement resident's coming to grips with death. The DVD extras are all text-driven, which is a disappointment, and the clunky eyeball navigation tool is tiresome, but the information included -- such as the Reviews and Credit section -- prove quite enlightening. For example, I didn't know that there was a Twilight Zone coffeehouse at one point. Talk about a theme restaurant! "Waiter, the Fly is in my soup." Also, Serling started the Twilight Zone to escape sponsor censorship after writing an episode of Kraft Television Theater that dealt with the "cutthroat world of corporate business." And "The Night of the Meek," the show's only Christmas episode, was also the only ep shot on video tape instead of film. The visual difference is quite remarkable, but the process was so laborious the show was never shot on video again. While they could certainly fit more episodes on a single DVD, the Twilight Zone holds up quite well.

What are you watching?

Music for the Movies
Tonight at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline, "The Strangler's Wife," a new feature-length 35mm movie by Cityscape Films with executive producer Roger Corman screens. Local band Cul de Sac scored all of the music for this film -- except a cool "live" appearance in the film by Rock City Crime Wave.

Outside of the music, "The Strangler's Wife" is eminently local. The film was shot mainly in Jamaica Plain, and it's loosely based on the story of the Boston Strangler. A soundtrack recording will be released at some point in the near future. Here are the screening details:

"The Strangler's Wife" (35mm, 2002)
By Cityscape Films and Roger Corman's New Concorde
Soundtrack by Cul de Sac

7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 6
Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard Street, Brookline, Mass.

Flip a coin if you're torn between this and the Neal Pollack signing at the Picnic.

Free to Be on TV
Ever wonder how to become a TV actor? 18-year-old Hassan Nicholas tells all as he details his acting history -- from doing a voiceover on a Superman cartoon to playing an alien reptile on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He describes the tools, resources, and help you need and walks readers through the Audition from Hell.

Thanks to Utne Web Watch.

Email I Would've Sent My Ex-Girlfriend IV
This is slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I felt like writing a top-10 list late last night. I'd certainly never actually email my ex this. But, d'ohh! I'm putting it in Media Diet? Go figure.

The Top 10 Lies I Tell Myself About Why We Broke Up and What's Going on Now (Nothing)

I didn't ask you out for the first time because C. told me he thought you had a crush on me.

Lately, you always call me from your folks' house -- or from outside my *69 call return or caller ID zone so I can't tell if it's you.

I didn't cheat on you, thinking that you'd cheated on me.

You don't reach out to me now because you think I don't want to see you.

You weren't clear about how you felt. I wasn't clear about how I felt.

You don't love P.

You love P.

We aren't compatible.

We are compatible.

This matters.

The Movie I Watched Last Night IX
Sunday: Lurker in the Lobby: The Best of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Vol. 1
These 10 short independent films ad music videos are all based on or inspired by the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft. While most of them draw on the same BBC-styled production values and the more generic, plodding elements of most Lovecraft-inspired work, there are some bright spots. John Strysik's "The Music of Erich Zann" is perhaps the best work on the tape, aptly casting Zann and featuring an adequately fidgety soundtrack. Aaron Vanek and Andrew Hooks' two attempts to adapt "The Outsider" are cliched and cartoony, as id Ted Purvis' still impressively panoramic "McLaren." About midway, the tape improves. The sloppily overdubbed "From Beyond" features some deadpan dialogue but an interesting concept, paving the way nicely for Anthony Reed's "The Hound," which, while not as well done as Strysik's film, comes closer to capturing the iconography and suspense of Lovecraft's writing. Then the fun begins. The UCLA Enigma Sci-Fi Club offers an amateurish but ably sarcastic look at the Campus Crusade for Cthulhu movement in its "Cthulhu Wore Tennis Shoes." And the Lovecraftian heavy metal band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets throws in two music videos, which end the festival with energy and humor. The videos also show the range of approaches people take to Lovecraftian film. "Worship Me Like a God" incorporates Lovecraft's cultic, savage, and insane side, while "Color Me Green" riffs on the imagery while making fun of the process, a la the fruit loop segment. A fun, if not slightly slow and stilted collection of short films made in the '90s.

What are you watching?

Books Worth a Look II
These are the books I read in February 2002. Not as many as last month -- about half, I think -- and I've started to mix in some larger comics collections from the mid-'80s and other eras. As I continue to read comics TPB's, I'll include them in the book reviews, not the occasional zine and comics reviews. I'll also try to limit the comics-related books to independent, historically interesting, or otherwise important and innovative works. I wouldn't want to start reviewing Garfield collections, now would I?

The Amorous Exploits of a Young Rakehill by Guillaume Apollinaire (1907)
Written by the poet and critic when he was in desperate need of money, this is straight-forward porn -- or erotica. Roger gives a proper rogering to his sister, his aunt, the bailiff's wife, her sister in law, and several maids. There's a bit of a pregnancy fetish, and Apollinaire's repeated references to the odor of urine is bizarre. Recommended by Neal Pollack in the Week.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.

Colonia: Islands and Anomalies by Jeff Nicholson (2002)
A departure from Nicholson's previously simple and cartoony style, this collects the first five issues of Colonia. The comic is a rich tale of three people who slip into an alternate reality populated by pirates, mermaids, and fish that can join together in human form. Jack makes a healthy hero, and there's enough mystery and character development -- not to mention a talking duck -- to hold you spellbound.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.

Fast Eddie, King of the Bees by Robert Arellano (2001)
A wonderful Dickens-meets-Shakespeare science fiction take on Boston. Eddie is a delightful character, and his near Oedipal complex contributes some interesting twists and turns as he grows up as a contortionist and pickpocket, tries to find his parents, is adopted by a plumber turned politician in New Jersey, and accidentally becomes the patriarch of an underground community. Awesome!
Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.

Impresario: Malcolm McLaren & the British New Wave ed. by Paul Taylor (1988)
This is a catalog to an exhibition at the New York Museum of Contemporary Art in 1988 showcasing McLaren-related art, film, music, clothing, and other work. The essays here look at McLaren's stylistic appropriations, management of the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow, shops shared with Vivienne Westwood, political theater, and exploitation of youth and their culture. The tip of the iceberg here.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Fair.

Kafka Americana by Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz (2001)
Lethem and Scholz collect five short stories that previously appeared in Crank!, Gas, Starlight, and McSweeney's. Positing Kafka as pervert, superhero, screenwriter, insurance salesman, and painter, Lethem and Scholz offer Paul di Filippo-like pop culture pastiches that maintain Kafka's existentialism while adding a postmodern neo-sentimentality. Also reminds me of Rick Veitch's comics writing. Dark, pale shadows of a preferred past.
Days to read: 3. Rating: Good.

Metacity/Datatown by MVRDV (1999)
Based on a video installation produced in 1999 in the Netherlands, Winy Maas' conceptual look at the computer modeling of urban development and the resources needed for a growing population is an innovative wake-up call that our needs exceed our capacity. Drawing on stats in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and the Netherlands, Maas blends hard data with poetic computer graphics to make his case.
Days to read: 4. Rating: Good.

Mr. Monster Vol. 1 by Michael T. Gilbert (1996)
A full-color collection of Gilbert's Mr. Monster comics published by Eclipse in the mid-'80s. Gilbert and Alan Moore look at Gilbert's Golden Age influence and new superhero storytelling. And William Messner-Loebs provides art for several Will Eisner-infused issues. The stories are simple -- man fights monsters -- but there's some humor, and this highlights one of the first indie comics wave's figureheads. Sloppy color repro disappoints.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.

The Mystery of Man by Hilton Hotema (NA)
Similar to Alice Bailey's "Consciousness of the Atom" and the work of Madame Blavatsky, this slim, photocopied volume attempts to uncover what life is. There are some interesting ideas here: Matter doesn't exist, we share the world with other beings we can't see, we don't need to eat, and our consciousness is only a part of a larger whole. Still, rather esoteric, even for me, and not very well documented or reasoned.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Fair.

Oddville! by Jay Stephens (2002)
This collection of comic strips collects material originally published by several alternative weekly newspapers in 1995 and 1996. A flying baby, Jetcat, a grunge band made up of zombies, a giant radio-controlled robot, gargantua monkey, and a girl named Melissa engage in wacky hijinks as the city figures out how to deal with the flying baby. Funny and tender -- a good look at Stephens' earlier work.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.

Outlaw School by Rebecca Ore (2000)
Abused by her mother and forced to take behavior-modifying drugs at school, Jayne opts not to join the judicious girls and instead goes to a residential treatment center. There, she meets Ocean and embarks on a career of underground education and computer programming. A passable cyberpunk novel rife with commentary on education and the socialization process.
Days to read: 3. Rating: Fair.

Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom by Bill Schelly (2001)
A personal and charming account of Bill Schelly's immersion in comic book fandom starting in the mid-'60s. While Schelly wasn't part of the first wave of fandom, his experiences provide a worthy parallel. In addition, the book serves as a solid history of Schelly's zine -- and the fan network that was supported by self-publishing and letter writing. A good addition to the history of comics fandom!
Days to read: NA. Rating: Good.

Zot! Book 1 by Scott McCloud (1997)
An absolutely beautiful full-color collection of the first 10 issues of McCloud's wonderful comic, originally published by Eclipse Comics starting in 1984. McCloud presages some of the theories espoused in his later analytical works. At the same time, he lays out a fun tale of time travel, heroism, love, politics, and self-realization. They don't make 'em like this any more.
Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.

What are you reading?

From the In Box: Rock Shows of Note VI
I really liked VD's guitar melodies. They were interesting to listen to, yet sort of... "lazy" and relaxed. I guess "mature" might be the word. I imagine the front guy (who I imagine comes up with the melodies) as someone who likes to play guitar, but maybe likes writing good songs a little bit more. -- Neil Curri

Blogging About Blogging XII
Please take a moment and appreciate the beauty of the little search button over to the left. Now Media Dieticians can search the contents of Media Diet and Media Diet alone for secondary references, related resources, and the like. I'll probably keep using this arcane titling scheme -- the title above means that this is the 12th entry in a series of posts all about the self-referential aspects of publishing Media Diet -- but now it's less so you can keep track of entries' context. Because you can find that using the little search thingy grinning at us coyly on the left. Now, make with the clicky click!

And it's free. Courtesy of Atomz. They're my newest friends.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Seriousness III
I just got a copy of the article that the Atlantic axed. If you'd like to check it out, email me.

In other Eggers-related news, the new McSweeney's just came out. You can learn more about it -- you can even subscribe. It, like the preceding editions, is beautiful. I do miss the indicia, however.

After you've accomplished the above goals, you can go see -- and meet, even! -- Neal Pollack at the Picnic in Cambridge, Mass., the evening of Wednesday, March 6. 7 p.m. to be exact. If you want to more than press the flesh, like, well, hear Neal read or something, you can do that, too -- 5:30 p.m. for you early birds who have no jobs and avoid the T, tomorrow, March 5, at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Seriousness II
Karl Wenclas, erstwhile figurehead of the Underground Literary Alliance, a cranky and contrarian voice in the zine, small-press, and mainstream publishing worlds, contends that the New York Post missed the real story about the Atlantic canceling the Eggers/Baum feature following the realization that Eggers' sister committed suicide last fall. Ian Spiegelman of the Post begs to differ.

I agree with what Spiegelman says in his letter of response: The real story -- sad news that it is -- is that Dave's sister is dead. And it doesn't seem to me -- if it's true that the Atlantic learned of Beth's suicide from someone in Eggers' camp -- that Dave had a hand in the nixing of the piece. It was a decision that the Atlantic's editorial staff made. Besides, Dave kept his sister's death a secret for three months. Why break that secret now to kill an article in the Atlantic? And as far as Wenclas' contention that the suicide is a media hoax engineered by Eggers? Please. That's not something you joke about.

Wenclas says that the 10,000-word spiked story is the "best look at the Eggers phenomenon that's been written." His compatriot Michael Jackman tells me that the ULA broke this story with its zine "The Killed Story" (available for the usual). "The real story, we think, was that anybody has enough power to bully others into submission and how craven today's writers are," Jackman emailed me. "As for the propriety angle, why is propriety a concern in literary criticism where it wouldn't be in journalism? These are all good, productive questions to ask, but we're being met with silence on it."

Perhaps the ULA will make the killed story available for DIY distribution. I'd certainly like to read it.

From the In Box: Rock Shows of Note VI
Yes, Greg, myself [Ryan], and for a bit Kevin (violinist), were part of Weeping in Fits and Starts. That was basically Greg's band of multiple musicians (myself being the exception) and multiple song styles. We then formed a true "band" once we captured Mike (drums) and started to collaborate on the songwriting, ultimately attempting to define our style. -- Ryan Veilleux

In Bed with Head Executives
The editor of the Harvard Business Review learned a hard lesson recently: Don't sleep with your sources. (I'm overstating the case, but it's a lesson worth learning.) While reporting a Q&A with former GE chair Jack Welch, Suzy Wetlaufer reportedly became romantically involved with her interviewee. HBR scrapped the less-than-objective article and assigned other staffers to hurriedly re-report the piece for its scheduled February publication.

Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News.

From the In Box: Music to My Ears IV
I was doing a Web search for Mistle Thrush (Valerie Forgione in particular), and I stumbled across your blog. It looks familiar -- perhaps I've been there before!

I was surprised you used the word "goth" in the review. I can't remember Mistle Thrush sounding even remotely "goth" since 1994. Do you have the "Agus Amarach" album? I highly recommend it. "Drunk With You" seems to have a completely pop/rock vibe to me. You mentioned that "Give A Little" might be destined for the most airplay. "Small" is on WBCN's regular rotation list. I'm not sure about other radio stations. I am intrigued about your "they are not original" comments -- yet you can't peg them. If they sound like a lot of other bands wouldn't they be easy to describe since you've heard it before?

In your review of "Drunk With You" you asked what fans of Mistle Thrush listen to. I have been a fan of Mistle Thrush since 1994. Here's my short list:

Sparkola: "Climbing Out Your Window" (MP3 single)

Rose Polenzani: everything on her self-titled CD "Rose Polenzani"

New Bohemians: "The Live Mauntauk Sessions"

The rest of what I listen to is on my online radio show.-- Susan Kaup

Thanks for your email, Susan! And for the music suggestions. You've been listening to them much longer than I have (I still occasionally confuse Mistle Thrush with Turkish Delight, for shame!), and certainly seem to have a deep appreciation for what they do.

I guess what I was driving at in the review is that Mistle Thrush falls into a weird grey area for me. While I'm not entirely familiar with or fond of the music they play (I can take it or leave it, truth be told), I definitely feel like the band has gothic elements to it -- and not in the industrial sense. Just as Morphine, while not a goth band, had gothic aspects to their sound. And, while Mistle Thrush's music is interesting and enjoyable, I don't think the band is particularly innovative or ground breaking. So even if I can't name drop a bunch of bands that bump up against them, if I'm not surprised or really excited about what they're doing -- new to me doesn't mean it's new. If it sounds close enough to what I do know and am familiar with, I feel fine saying they're not totally original. Maybe it's just because they're kind of a melange of styles... or because I haven't tracked their development as you have.

Cartoon! Cartoon!
In other Evan Dorkin-related news, word is that he'll be teaming up with Dean Haspiel to do a four-issue Fantastic Four miniseries. Perhaps inspired by the at one time highly controversial Coober Skeber #2 from Highwater Books, which enlisted a whole mess of mini-comics makers, self-publishers, and DIY wunderkind to take on their favorite Marvel heroes (which might have eventually lead to the beautful Bizarro project by DC), thus continues the trend of independent comics creators stepping into the mainstream in new and innovative ways. Think Jim Mahfood and the Fantastic Four or whatever. Michael Allred and Iron Man or Cat Woman, not to mention X-Force. Woohoo! Go, Evan! Go, Dino!

Mention Me! IV
Daniel Landolt-Hoene recently mentioned Media Diet because of a review I wrote of his minicomic Bus Tips. Since October, he's been blogging about his comics, art, and assorted DIY media, mostly with a Vermont angle.

From the In Box: Music to My Ears IV
Wait'll Nate (the dude that wrote the songs [for X]) sees the likening to Weezer. He hates them. Heh. -- Andy Jungwirth

Read but Dead IV
This is hilarious. Even though the Industry Standard's been dead and buried since August, AOL's Time division continues to rent its old subscriber mailing list -- and former subscribers continue to receive Standard-related marketing messages via email. The email's are purportedly sent by the now-defunct magazine, although the spam does include a disclaimer that says the Standard is not affiliated with the offer. AOL picked up the subscriber list for $500,000 at a bankruptcy auction last September. The price former readers are now paying? I wonder.

Thanks to Interesting People.

Rock Shows of Note VI
If you haven't check out the Washington Street Center's First Sunday music series yet, now might be a good time to head to Somerville's own co-op artist's space. Last night, the series, which focuses on solo and scaled-back performances by people in some of Boston's most interesting indie-rock bands, highlighted three acts.

I missed half of Matt Henry's set, but what I saw impressed me. He talked a little bit about how indie-rock lacks the concept of standards -- which other musics such as country and jazz draw on for good effect. He even performed a couple that he proposed as possible standards: Daniel Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle" and a song by the Magnetic Fields.

Next up, Verona Downs, the reason I went to the show. I could be wrong, but I think folks in the Downs -- or VD, as sitting-in Emily, kept calling them -- used to be in Weeping in Fits in Starts. Anyway, they actually played with Daniel Johnston last November. Nice continuity! Their laid-back set featured dreamy and pretty pop that included an excellent violin presence. I was also impressed by the excellent guitar interplay, especially in the really detailed note-by-note sections, and -- despite her vocals being mixed too low -- Emily's backing vocals added a much-needed touch. Word is that VD is looking for a new female bassist and singer. Interested? Email them.

Last up, Jonathan Donaldson, taking a break from his band project, the Colorforms, to perform a solo set of belabored '60s-style pop. I say belabored because I detected a level of pretension to his songwriting, and his singing style never really gelled with me. He also played several too-long songs with too many parts, which at times led me to think he'd moved onto another song when he was in fact still playing the same one. Granted, he positioned the pieces he was going to play as unfinished songs he wasn't totally comfortable with, but sheesh. Near the end of his set, he threw in a couple of numbers that hit me harder than the earlier songs, which leads me to believe that, giving another listen, I could grow to like his stuff. Just didn't thrill me last night.

Leaving the center, I thought I'd missed the 91 bus and started to walk home -- only to have the 91 glide past ghost-like as I neared the top of the hill. Still, the night was young and warm, and the walk home did me good. It's not that bad a hike from Central to Union Square.

Email I Would've Sent My Ex-Girlfriend III
Hey. On the walk to the T this morning, I saw a girl wearing a skirt exactly like the skirt you bought, hoping I'd be really jazzed -- but that I didn't really like at first. I never should've said anything! It was a little different than yours -- pink instead of orange stripes, I think -- but I thought of you. Hope your morning's going well!

See You in the Funny Pages VI
One of the more impressive Web comics projects just hit my radar. From an email:

"Modern Tales, the first professional Web comics site focused on top-tier alternative and indie creators (James Kochalka, Tom Hart, Gene Yang, Scott Kurtz, etc.) launched this past weekend to tremendous success: More than 200 people subscribed to the site in the first 24 hours, proving once and for all that people will pay for truly high quality original Web comics, when given the opportunity to do so."

And from the Web site:

"Modern Tales is a collective of Web cartoonists dedicated to presenting the best, most polished, most meaningful, and most interesting Web comics to a small but discriminating -- i.e. paying -- audience. We believe that our project is the first step in creating a viable, albeit low-key, Web comics industry. We're not some crazy dotcom. We're just folks, like you. We want to make a living, or at least a little bit of money, doing what we love. You probably do, too."

Until March 8, you can sign up as a charter subscriber for $1.95/month or $19.95/year. I just did. This is lower than the rate mentioned on the Web site now, so be sure to use the above link if you're interested in subscribing to what promises to be quite an interesting effort.

Silver Screen, Glass Ceiling?
The Guerrilla Girls, a media activism group, unveiled a billboard Friday criticizing the male domination of the Oscars.

Thanks to Utne Web Watch.

Music to My Ears IV
A five-pack of new record reviews!

Arab on Radar: "Yahweh or the Highway" CD
Issued on Chicago's noise rock and free jazz haven Skin Graft, this CD from the Providence, Rhode Island, band is a wonderful assortment of angular Fat Day-meets-God Is My Copilot no wave. Call it the new no wave a la Pracky Pranky, the Flying Luttenbachers, and the much-missed anarcho-ensemble Math. Written between late 1999 and early 2001 and recorded by Weasel Walter, no less, the CD features churning bass, relentless percussion, and short, sharp shocks of guitar. Eminently interesting stuff -- not a record for background listening, but for attention. The vocals remind me of Couch Flambeau, which earns Arab punk points, and the saxophone on "God Is Dad" rocks. While this is a record to pay attention to, it's not a CD to belabor over or hold onto. The songs are all relatively similar, and they tend to run together. But instead of being a sign of monotonous mediocrity, it's an indication that Arab on Radar is larger than its LP's. The band is a sound and a thought process, one revealed by bits and pieces through the eight songs herein. Lyrically, the message is just as convoluted and misconstrued. With vocals delivered as poetry, songs touch on masturbation, reproduction, misplaced affection, homosexuality, tactics in the sack, and abstinence. But is Arab (as in Arab Strap On) a band about sex like the hardcore hip-hop project Double Dong? I'm not sure. The sex is there, but it might be too dangerous to provoke a dalliance. Arab on Radar, P.O. Box 603124, Providence, RI 02906.

Backstabbers Inc.: "While You Were Sleeping" CD
Gosh, these gents from New Hampshire are angry. Hardcore crust with shouted shouty vocals and plenty of sludgy aggression. It's not quite my bag, but I appreciate the energy, the anger, the technical skill, and the straight edge-like liner notes in which the band explains its lyrical content: angry takes on small-town life, responsibility, dead-end jobs, and fake friendship. While I don't totally dig the Backstabbers sound, I love "Concrete Evidence Supporting the Educational Valie of Snuff Films (When It's a Secret Everyone Knows)" and will listen to it again and again and again. They'd fit right in with the straight-edge crustcore scene in Quebec. "Buy That Fucker a Graveyard Dance (File Under Hostility Version 2.0)" oddly reminds me of Propagandhi, even. Hook these boys up with Mike Patton or John Zorn, and let's get cranking. Backstabbers Inc., P.O. Box 122, Dover, NH 03821-0122.

James Coleman: "Zuihitsu" CD
An all-star Boston free-jazz recording featuring James Coleman's theremin therapies with the able assistance of Greg Kelley, Tatsuya Nakatani, Vic Rawlings, Bhob Rainey, and Liz Tonne. Tatsuya's bowed percussion adds a lot, but this isn't your stereotypical theremin as sci-fi shenanigan or classical contrivance record. James gives his theremin(s) a working over on these 15 uneasy pieces, and the result is an intriguing yet incredibly restrained example of what the theremin can do. The record's even more interesting in that it's an example of what can happen when the theremin is given equal weight in an ensemble -- not a solo instrument, and not a demented detail -- and it is in these moments that James shines. The theremin is an instrument like any other. Get used to it, and get to using it.

I Don't Wanna/X: split cassette
On the first side, a Green Bay, Wisconsin-based lo-fi punk band doesn't want to go upstairs, pop zits, play A#, be your dog, or write songs about being in a band. It's a clever gimmick -- take the Ramones/Queers/Donnas protest song schtick and up the ante with a Scared of Chaka-like garage aesthetic -- but it doesn't go much further than that. On the flip side, a band that's not the X you might know and love chips in with eight more basement recordings. "Saturday Girl" is a poppy song about a girl sporting thin vocals but enough hooks and melody that I'm convinced. And the other songs? Reminiscent of Sweet Baby, the Ne'er Do Wells, and the Potatomen enough that despite the crummy recording and lame Weezer-like "Ooh!"'s, I'm tapping my feet and bobbing my head. The chorus to "Cultural Desert Fox" is a fine example of this, and "Carrie" might be their most fully formed pop song. The boys show their true colors a little with a cover of Green Day's "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield," but let's not hold it against them. Of the two sides, X marks the spot. Blank Tapes, 618 N. Ashland Ave., Green Bay, WI 54303.

Mistle Thrush: "Drunk with You" CD
Recorded between the end of 1998 and mid-2001, this record is a long time coming. The Boston-based fourpiece combines tempered goth rock and indie pop to create a dozen sogs that draw on the songwriting styles of Yatsura, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Chumbawamba, and other dissimilar musical groups. The songs, while a bit long for my tastes, are extremely good vehicles for the vocals of Valerie Forgione, the band's gift to the world. "Fanfare Spark" is an awesome love song, and "Lillies"' chorus makes for some dreamy, laidback cacophony. But Mistle Thrush is hard to peg. Like Over the Rhine, the band is amazing but slightly akimbo to most commercially or independently popular bands. They're enjoyable, slightly hard to describe, not totally original, and not entirely marketable. Those aren't bad things, but it's sad that a band as interesting and impressive as Mistle Thrush might not ever find a totally comfortable niche, even among fans. "Give a Little" might be destined for the most airplay. I mean, if you dig Mistle Thrush, what else are you listening too? Tell me. Because this is dark love rock, akin to Morphine, in which Mistle Thrush looks at intimacy, identity, and loss. And I'm left wanting more but not really recognizing what I've just been given. In a perfect world, this'd make the "Dawson's Creek" soundtrack. Mistle Thrush, P.O. Box 35485, Brighton, MA 02135.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Seriousness
Dave Eggers' sister, Beth, committed suicide last November. And once the Atlantic Monthly learned that that had happened, it killed a story it had planned to run about Dave and Gary Baum, Webmaster of a "Friends of Eggers" site that published some caustic commentary by Beth challenging Dave's take on their parents' death, who took care of whom afterward, and other familial frustrations. Beth later recanted her remarks on Dave's own McSweeney's site. The piece was nixed because it was a light-hearted view of Dave and Gary, and after learning about Beth's death, "it just wasn't funny any more."

Ravaging Radio
Net radio took a hit last week when the Copyright Royalty Arbitration Panel decreed that Webcasters pay a fixed fee per song per listener. That fee would be 0.07 cents if the song were simulcast on the radio -- and 0.14 cents if only broadcast online. The U.S. Copyright Office has yet to OK the decision, but if it goes through, it'll hit Web-only broadcasters especially hard -- quelling the development of online media... and cementing the future of traditional, mainstream, corporate media organizations that are already on the air... not just online.

Jewelry and Journalism
TomPaine.com reprints a Phoenix New Times article today about the pressures that media mergers bring to bear. Among them, writes Robert Nelson, is an ever-increasing interest in featuring only the most beautiful and handsome newscasters, an encroaching "convergence" in which consumer reporters refer to the advertising circulars tucked into their sister newspapers, and a decline in the health of the market for ideas as the oddballs, eccentrics, and rebels who used to work as journalists are pushed out of the newsroom.

Robert doesn't say much that's new in this piece, but he says it with wit, energy, and solid reportage. And, he says he's got blackheads and a receding hairline, so I don't think we'll see him on TV any time soon.

Fast Fiction II
While catching up on some old correspondence last night at home, I came across some stories that Dan Buck sent me back in 1998. They didn't make it into the book I edited, but they're good. So I'm publishing them here.

Clear
After being shot four times in the feet, Lori wept that her toenails would grow back crooked.

"What'll I do," Lori cried, "when they do?"

When they did, she shot herself in the hands.

"This way everything will be straight," Lori said, "when it isn't."

But the next problem was how she could see clear to straightening her eyelashes.

So Much
Gerold got drunk and smashed his foot in the car door. Three days later, he got drunk while he was recuperating.

"What? You want to go and get drunk again?" Gerold's third wife, Jeanie, said. "Wasn't once enough?"

"I have to," Gerold stammered. "This way it won't bother me so much about feeling better about feeling worse about feeling better."

Well
Burt felt mad and a little sorry that he met Lora. She was always putting him down.

"If you don't stop," Burt said, "I'm going to smash your nose."

When she didn't stop, he hit her on the chin.

"I thought you were going to smash my nose!" Lora said.

"I would have if you hadn't," he said, "raised yourself above my fist."

"That's what you get for the friends you don't keep," she said.

"You're my only friend," he said.

"And with the bruise you gave me," she said, "I'm not that well kept."

That's what I'm talking about.

Search and Enjoy III
In the Washington Post today, Leslie Walker writes about search engines -- how advertisers pay so their listings show up near the top of results; how Microsoft Network, Yahoo, AOL, and Terra Lycos all outsource their search services to the same company; and how Google is struggling to catch up. A good analysis of one of the Web's most widespread -- and understoried -- services.

Thanks to Interesting People.

Music to My Ears III
A five-pack of new record reviews!

Binge: "One More Cup" CD
Opening with a heavy-metal chunka-chunka guitar riff, this nine-song CD doesn't really remind me of the Binge I saw at O'Brien's. Binge plays passable hard rock, with bassist K.T. Gelwick's vocals being a high point. But for the most part, I find this boring. Maybe it's Paul Marrochello's guitars or the able arrangements that don't leave much room for risk or surprise. Then there's the lyrics. Maybe it's Binge's concept or gimmick, but I can only listen to so many songs about drinking, Johnny Walker, whiskey and coffee, beer, and Mescal before I disconnect. That said, "Lou," which I found irritating at the show, is quite a song -- the backing vocals are well placed, and K.T.'s emotional escalation is done to good effect. At the same time, while the introduction to "Be Gone" indicates that Binge isn't all hard rock and heavy metal, the song strikes me as what might happen if King Diamond were fronted by a woman. The screeching delivery doesn't work as well here, and I now remember why I was irritated at the show. The dark rock of "My Cancer," a song that addresses frustrating relationships, or the faster-paced "Chlorine," which features some interesting vocal effects and good backing vocal placement, might be the most palatable songs -- if you write off Binge's goth-tinged cover of Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero." And I only say that because the blistering punk number "Something More" is so far outside of Binge's oeuvre. This might very well be my favorite song. More of this, please! Binge, P.O. Box 35439, Brighton, MA 02135.

Darryl Leigh Blood: "This Isn't Goodbye" CD
Darryl's moving to Los Angeles, and he recorded this nine-song CD as a sort of farewell. I scabbed my hands the night of the listening party in Jamaica Plain, but I'm really hearing this for the first time today. And it's good. The five-piece (largely encompassing Darryl's eight-track recordings) performs beautiful pop that reminds me of a sleepier Brett Rosenberg, Brian Wilson's pop arrangements, and the DIY masterpieces of Graham Smith and Kleenex Girl Wonder. There's a hesitant aspect to the music, at times tinged with country, and Darry's vocal delivery evokes a quiet Church or even Simon and Garfunkel. The violin sounds on "True Hearts" and McCann Melton's slide guitar on "Unsettling Sweet" are especially nice, as is the banjo-cello interplay on "All Confused." For the most part, Darryl's lyrics are a less-pretentious, personal, and DIY take on Robyn Hitchcock's elliptical poetry. An extremely well self-produced recording capturing many excellent dark pop songs. Be sure to check out Darryl's compilations and other projects on Black Apple.

Clare Burson: "Undone" CD
Clare has moved from Boston to Nashville, but let's consider her a local a little longer, shall we? On the edge of Cambridge's Club Passim singer-songwriter school, Clare blends pop and country in an extremely adept and honest way. These five songs, which make the CD doubly expensive at $10, are excellent examples of Clare's songwriting, and one song even involves T-Bone Burnett on piano, banjo, and drum machine. I had a crush on Clare while we worked together, and he singing certainly doesn't help -- Clare's emotive, halting, interruptive, and melodic vocal styling reminds me slightly of Dar Williams, whom I also adore. Clare's delivery is almost arhythmic at times, which makes many verse lines scan in an off-kilter yet interesting way, and the music is slightly disinterested and sleepy pop country (for lack of a better description) that is energetic and personal enough that, regardless of whether you listen to the CD or see Clare perform, you'll feel like you know her and want to know more. In fact, go see her play in Nashville or Boston -- the CD is short and doesn't quite capture her allure or talent. You can sign up for her mailing list to learn more about her current activities.

Pracky Pranky: "Easter Eve" CD
16 minutes of art-damaged noise from the Paper Radio set. People involved might include Jacob Ciocci and Jessica Ciocci, but who can tell with these fellows? Eerie synthesizer stylings, drum beats and manic tribal drumming, flute, atmospheric guitar, vocal effects, loose strings, yelping, monotony, bleep-blorky keyboards, laughter, Fugs-esque singing, animalistic grunting, more laughter, whistling, drum stick clicking, sleepy singing, and distortion make up these 18 ideas and suggestions of songs. What K-Rad is to electronica, Pracky Pranky might be to lo-fi pop or DIY noise, but I suggest you take this as seriously as Paper Radio does.

The Brett Rosenberg Problem: "Pop Riot!" CD
It's taken me awhile to get to this CD despite having seen Brett and his sister band Army of Jasons play several times. What we have here are 12 solid power pop songs in the vein of the Replacements, the Kinks, and maybe even the Who and Cheap Trick. Dave Aaronoff, formerly of the Shods and another Kinks-influenced popster, sits in on organ for two tracks. The music is energetic and catchy. Brett's vocals are extremely well performed, and this CD cements Brett as one of the most energetic and productive additions to the Boston scene in quite awhile. "What Do You Want Me to Do?" "I still Know You Better," and "New York" stand out. Shay would love this record. Look for a new CD soon.

From the In Box: Today Is My Birthday
Not to worry, dude! Be happy, and look forward to being almost all the way out of your 20's, the decade of hell: I'd say about 75% of the people I know who got married in their 20's are now divorced; from all reports most young folks who recently made their first million before the age of 25 saw it vanish in a puff of smoke before the age of 28; a messy apartment is a point of pride of an active and involved life; and being a whippersnapper is overrated. Better to be solid, certain, smart, and a grownup doing good work that you care about, I say! Cheers! -- Tom Hopkins

Poop Star
Every day, I receive an email from Slate called Today's Papers. It's a brilliant bit of Net journalism, looking at the stories that the major dailies lead with -- and other select features that warrant attention. Like reading the Economist or the Week, Today's Papers is a daily injection of the best of many, many newspapers. I don't read it every day because I don't always have time, but today I did -- and, boy, am I glad! Slate, via the Washington Post, disses Alanis Morissette:

The WP's Style section ponders Alanis Morissette, who according to the paper, "never wavers from total self-involvement." That may explain why the singer elicits such a strong reaction that she's become, "the Hillary Clinton of pop." As one detractor put it, "What I feel for her isn't simple hate. It is an all-encompassing repulsion not unlike what you might feel if you woke up to discover a four-pound cockroach using your toothbrush."

Bump, set, spike!

From the In Box: Today Is My Birthday
Happy birthday! As I approach my own 29th birthday (later this summer), I share your sense of melancholy. Seven years ago (!) there was that rush of being fresh out of school and feeling like a wunderkind of sorts. Now I'm obsessed with every story I read about another successful 24 year old who has just sold his first script or a 27 year old who has been named vice president of whatever at a major studio. But I guess I've been feeling old ever since Madison Avenue gave up trying to market to Generation X and instead turned its attention to Gen-Britney. -- Michael Schneider

From the In Box: Today Is My Birthday
Received a friendly email from Elke Sisco Zimmerman, who publishes Elkit in Wonderland. Recent writing there touches on the currency change in Europe, MTV Germany's "20 Years MTV" special, and cars.

Now we know there are Media Dieticians in Brazil and Germany, too!

The Atlantic Under Attack II
An editorial in the Boston Globe says that the rejection letter the Atlantic Monthly sent a middle-aged internship applicant was ridiculous and mean.

Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News.

News You Can Abuse
In British Columbia, about 20,000 Vancouver Sun readers received their morning paper last Thursday with a counterfeit front section headed the Vancouver Scum. The prank paper was produced by Guerrilla Media to "raise questions about the BC Liberals’ devastating cuts and the corporate media’s minimal coverage of the impact of these radical changes."

Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News.

Today Is My Birthday
I turn 29 today. And I'm kinda sad about that. I'm not married. I haven't made my first million. My apartment's a mess. And I'm no longer the young man who's accomplished a surprising amount. My knees even creak. My left knee, to be exact. But it's a beautiful day in Boston -- balmy spring-like weather! Last night, I had fun at Paddy Burke's with some friends, I met a super-cute girl, and I had a good post-breakup conversation and confusing affectionate goodnight with the ex-girlfriend. I've already talked to my folks this morning, and I've gotten several nice birthday emails from friends and members of the Company of Friends -- even one of my credit card companies sent me a birthday email. Finally, there's an awesome show tonight -- the Indie-Rock Mini-Circus at TT the Bear's. Not bad for a Tuesday!

Those are hints. Because you can help make my birthday even better. "How?" you may ask. A good question. Let me make the following suggestions:

Email me.

Sign up for the Media Diet mailing list.

Visit and post something in the Media Diet discussion forum.

Mail a mix tape to the address on the left.

Buy yourself a gift -- the Dan Buck book I edited or an Anchormen CD.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Heath, happy birthday to me.

Ministry of Misinformation?
According to Harper's Magazine's Weekly Review, the Pentagon is organizing a new propaganda department called the Office of Strategic Information. This office will "feed news items to the foreign media in an effort to manipulate public opinion," the Review says. "Such items will not necessarily be true." Plans also involve computer network attacks on media organizations that the Pentagon deems "counterproductive."

NetWork
Charlie Park just sent me a reference to a column Semantic Studios' Peter Morville wrote about social network analysis. In the article, Morville considers knowledge management and knowledge work through the lens of the "social fabric that connects people to people and people to content." Useful reading in the context of my recent talk on networking.

From the In Box: Mention Me! III
I love FC, and I love Media Diet. I won't burden you with praise, but suffice it to say that I am grateful that I'm not the only one in business that loves punk. Just last night, I went to a show here in Richmond, Virginia, with four bands -- two great and two mediocre. The great ones were Five Flew Over (high school kids playing amazing punk with slight pop-punk overtones) and Brandtson (emo/punk from Ohio... the reason I went to the show in the first place). -- Charlie Park

Indeed. In the mid-'90s it was heartening to see so many zinemakers getting pro work in media and publishing. Now we just need more folks influenced by punk ideals to get jobs in business. I'm lucky to work with a guy who was active in the DC hardcore scene playing in Iron Cross and No Trend. We've also got several team members who are active in their own bands.

Now, I'm just guessing, but it might be so that Five Flew Over got their band name from a single released by the Angelic Upstarts in 1983. The song was a B-side to their song "Solidarity." Similarly, folks can learn more about Brandtson on the Web.

North End Moment III
In the back alley behind the Scotch & Sirloin, part of the wall has been repaired with a bolt and a cement patch. Just now, I noticed that in that bolt hole, someone had placed a 1998 D nickel with the Washington side facing out. The value of the building in which I work just went up five cents!

From the In Box: Clothes Whore
If you don't mind, please enlighten Media Diet readers a bit "about the state of the economy -- and the potential of a new form of personal and professional networking." What did you have to say at BC? -- Clint Schaff

Well, here's the rough draft of the remarks I prepared beforehand. I didn't totally stick to them in their entirety -- and I went on plenty of tangents, but this'll give you a rough sense of what I talked about.

Who am I? I'm Heath. Social Capitalist for Fast Company magazine. I’m not a journalist. I’m a community organizer. Title? It’s not about human capital or intellectual capital, it’s about social capital, the value of relationships. Also, there’s room for a more mindful capitalism and business, one that recognizes its impact on people, places, and progress.

Context of the not-so-new economy:

FC was as much a booster of the boom as it was a product of the boom: We presaged the wave, rode it for a spell, and are now edging out of the shallows for the next wave

We leaned a little too far in the direction of the Net Economy, which many mistook for the new economy, and took a hit with the rest of the tech publishing sector

The economic downturn -- hardly a recession given last year’s increase in GDP -- helped us refocus on some of our core themes: leadership and innovation. Those will never go out of style.

According to the NYT today (last Wednesday), the business world -- particularly the advertising and marketing world, where media gets its money -- is tired of thinking outside the box. People are safer inside the box. We should make fun of the people outside of our box. The box is better. Is this true? Even though it’s harder to be an innovative leader these days given tight budgets and hesitant mindsets, it’s still pretty uncomfortable inside the box. Maybe it’s not a matter of being in or out. Maybe it’s the size of the box. Or whether there’s a box at all.

When times are tough, people are being laid off, and the job market is tight, this is the time when it’s especially true that you are who you know. Personal connections are more important now than before in the boom -- for support, for leads, for learning, for collaboration.

But networking gets a bum rap, and for good reason. Books on the topic:

Power Networking: 59 Secrets for Personal and Professional Success

How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Savvy Socializing in Person and Online

Networking for Everyone

Networking Smart

Here’s My Card

I’ve read these books so you don’t have to, and believe you me, they’re chock full of silly and questionable advice:

Always wear a name tag on the side of your chest opposite from the arm you shake hands with. That way you won’t eclipse who you are when you meet someone.

Take a stack of business cards to a networking event and leave them on table tops. Nobody can refuse free stuff, even if it is just your card!

Too many people mistake networking for schmoozing, looking for work, personally and profesionally targeting people you think can help you. In my experience coordinating the Company of Friends, Fast Company magazine’s 43,000-member global readers’ network, I’ve learned a lot about a new way to network -- a way to build better relationships within and without our organizations and companies. I’d like to share some of those ideas and lessons with you tonight.

The network isn’t about you. If you enter "networking" situations with a mememe attitude, you might get want you want in the short term, but you certainly won’t build long-term relationships. The network serves itself, and we are all just nodes. So while you consider what you need and what you need to do it, be open and receptive to the needs of others. If you meet someone -- and then meet someone else you think they need to know -- make that introduction. People should pass through us, and if you foster those connections, you can become the go-to guy or gal. That will only serve to further your own personal network. Be a person who knows people.

Reciprocity doesn’t have to be immediate or even direct. Back to the network being its own beast. If you help someone and they don’t quid pro quo you right away, no worries. Help someone else. Chances are that as your network grows -- and you continue to fuel its fire -- connections and collaborations will come to you via avenues that, while not direct, were paved by your previous connections. You’ll get what you give.

Be visible, accessible, and responsible. Networking will only work if you’re out there. At work, in class, at events, online. Don’t be shy. Don’t hide in the corner or lurk. Push yourself. The more you push yourself, the more you’ll be seen and heard. The more open and accessible you are, the more people will come to you or think of you. And if you think about the responsibilities we have -- to respond, to assist if we can, to connect -- you won’t be seen as a flake or a fake. If someone contacts you -- and you have no idea who they are -- talk to them. You might be that person tomorrow.

Networks increase in value as they overlap. Too often, we seek our own kind. MBAs, technologists, personal trainers. This is a mistake. Seek outside experiences to broaden your network horizon. If you’re able to step across the overlap between distinct networks and worlds, you’ll increase the size of your contact pool -- and you’ll open yourself up to some new ideas, perspectives, and connections.

There are people behind pages. Newspapers, magazines, the Web. It’s not about the pages that make up the media object, it’s about the people behind those pages. If you read something and you have a question, contact the person. If you think you can add to a bigger picture, contact the person. If you know someone they should know, contact the person. Make the media your own by getting behind and inside the stories that interest you. Journalists are some of the most connected people in the world, and while many professional journalists may think it’s not their job -- or objective -- to connect people, grassroots journalists do. Think about what media and medium can mean. A psychic -- someone that spirits pass through. A substance in which organisms -- or a culture -- can live and thrive. The materials used in art.

Those are some of the things I’ve learned. But what do we do next?

Having spent some time looking at BC’s online tools for alumni, I have some ideas:

Make sure your contact information and professional situation is up to date. Sure, it’s about the school being able to hit you up for donations. But it’s also about being visible and accessible. People can’t track you down if you’re out of date. And if you want to touch base with others, you owe it to them to be similarly accessible.

Keep in touch with some of the folks in your class. Sounds dumb, but when folks leave school, they move. And you can now have friends all around the world, working in different industries, working on different things. Use those divergent paths and professions to foster overlapping networks like I mentioned.

Go to a local or regional alumni event. I’m guilty of skipping these just like anyone else, but as powerful as our pre-existing relationships are, as powerful as online connections are, the power and potential of the face to face and the local is still the richest.

There are more than 132,000 BC alumni. That’s a lot of smart people. Tap into that group mind.

From the In Box: Fast Fiction
The following appeared in Warren Ellis' Feb. 24 email column "From the Desk of." It is reprinted with Warren's permission and blessing.

Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, the British small press movement was based around the Fast Fiction stand at the Westminster Comic Marts. The Comic Marts were super-mini convention dealers' rooms, basically, held once every two months.

Fast Fiction was a mail-order clearinghouse for small press publications. The Fast Fiction stand at the Marts sold small press comics. All comers. They took a percentage of sales to pay for the table. So a great many people's production time was based around the Marts. You'd have something out every two months.

It became the absolute focus of the British small press movement. They called it Fast Fiction because that's what they were selling, as far as they were concerned.

Small press self-publication is the fastest possible reaction to an idea in all of comics. You have the idea, you make it, you print it, you get it out there. The vast majority of comics Fast Fiction handled were whacked out on photocopiers the week before the Mart.

If I have an idea for a comic right now, the chances are that the earliest you'll see it is eight months from now. Maybe. Takes a year for a Vertigo comic to go from pitch to publication.

If you have an idea right now, you could complete it to the same level of finish and have it out two months from now. Can take a matter of days to do a minicomic (or a "stripzine", as they were called, back in the Dark Ages here).

The aesthetic is similar to a band turning an idea into a cassette or a CD in days. Fast Fiction.

Here we are, nigh on 20 years laters, and there are other options available. There's desktop publishing and printers. There's floppy disks and CD burners. There's cheap home photocopiers. And, of course, there's the Web. I could do a 12-page comic in a day, scan the bastard, and have it broadcast before I went to bed. (I'm not going to, but the
point is, I could if I felt like it.) That's beyond fast fiction. That's Superfast.

Superfast is primarily the speed from completion to broadcast. If you feel like being punk about it, it can also be the completion time itself. There have been a few fun pieces in the Superfast section that were whacked out while the idea was still hot, that still communicate the idea clearly despite the rawness of execution. But in giving yourself (as Larry Young suggested)
something like APE as a deadline -- which is what I think of when I think of Fast Fiction -- or in knowing that you can get it on the Web and in front of the world within moments of the piece's completion... that's what I think of as Superfast.

Nowhere Girl is Superfast. It was broadcast within hours of being finished.

Superfast; a thought.

The Superfast section at the Warren Ellis Forum is a free space for people to plug, annouce, and even display Superfast comics. 2,000 people go through the WEF each day -- and it's not the same 2,000 people every day. -- Warren Ellis

Fast Fiction
If you're familiar with the book I edited, Dan Buck's "This Day's Wait," you'll know I have a penchant for short, short stories. Pure Content just reminded me to check out Michael Swanwick's Periodic Table of Science Fiction, in which Swanwick's writing a short, short story about every single element known to man. And I recently learned about JP Press' new short, short story periodical Quick Fiction, which is currently seeking submissions between 25 and 500 words in length. Throw in the National Novel Writing Month project, in which participants work to write a 200-page novel in 30 days, and Warren Ellis' Superfast comics creation project, and you've got the makings of a trend!

Mention Me! III
Checking out what sites and blogs refer folks to Media Diet, I've been pleased to note that people are starting to build this humble little project into their links lists! Shouts out to Charlie Park's Pure Content, Evan Williams' Evhead, Nonsequitor Lass, and Bradley's Almanac.

I've been remiss to build a list of links I frequently travel, but as soon as I can figure out how to tinker with my template so the bottom's not so big and grey -- and I can put stuff in the right-hand column -- that will be done.

The Movie I Watched Last Night VIII

Friday: I Bury the Living
A disappointing horror thriller that doesn't live up to its promise. The new chairman of a board that oversees a cemetery starts to knock off fellow citizens as he switches pins on a map of the graveyard -- white pins for the living, black pins for the dead. When he begins to switch the pins back, what could have been an excellent supernatural flick involving the undead falls flat as a weak murder mystery hinging on a labor dispute. There's a drawn out "Night of the Living Dead"-like scene in which the lead sequesters himself in the burial ground's office -- without much suspense -- but the film might have been saved by the protagonist's wise-cracking, heavy-drinking journalist friend and his earnest fiancee who, when they embraced at one point, chirps out, "We might as well get married!"

Saturday: Something Weird Video's Cigarette Commercials from the Golden Age of Television Vol. 1
While cigarette ads are now relegated to billboards and print adverts, back in the day there were plenty of ads on TV -- cigarette makers even sponsored game shows and sitcoms. This 90 minute-long video cassette compiles some of those ads, representing the range of narrative styles, musical soundtracks, technological advances, and other aspects that tobacco companies used to distinguish their commodity products from those of their competitors.

Today most cigarette ads fall on two sides -- those highlighting leisure activities in the outdoors (usually young, beautiful people enjoying themselves on the water... while smoking) and those drawing on the romantic ideal of rugged, working-class Americana (construction workers and ranch hands taking a break from their labors... to light up) -- but the golden age of television offers a more complex view of tobacco companies' marketing strategies.

I've broken the advertising methods into six categories, all exemplified by spots on the video. What I don't address here is the use of slightly apolgetic humor that deprecates folks' smoking habits -- or the innovative use of music and animation. Here are some examples of the imagery, language, and practices employed by the advertisers.

Purity and Cleanliness: Kool's snow-fresh cigarettes are as "cool and as clean as a breath of fresh air; the ad incorporates imagery of ice-choked streams. Robert Burns tobacco is slow cured in clean air. Paxton's uniflex, moisture-proof, and vacuum-packed containers keep cigarettes fresh. Kool makes your throat feel clean. "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." L&M's filters are "pure white." Physicians used to endorse cigarettes, like those from Philip Morris.

Technology and Design: Marlboro highlights its flip-top box, which remains in wide production today. The Philip Morris multifilter uses rare coconut shell charcoal. Dutch Masters offered a push-up pack for its Cadet cigars. Tareyton produced a cigarette with a white outer tip and an inner charcoal section. Beechnut's foil pack locks in freshness and flavor. Old Gold's filter "steps up flavor." Spring cigarettes air condition smoke with an "amazing electronic process" and microscopic openings in the paper. Kent sports a "micronite" filter. Chesterfield is more perfectly packed, "thanks to Acu-Ray." Winston: "It's not how long you make it, it's how you make it long." Parliament's hi-fi recessed filter is continually tested for uniformity by the United States Testing Co. Chesterfield King's "top-porousity" paper makes the smoke travel farther, making the taste milder, cooler, and smoother.

Social Networks: A boy remembers an uncle who lived by the sea -- and introduced him to Robert Burns cigars. An airplane pilot is turned on to Newport by his co-pilot after saying that the air at 31,000 is like pure silk. A woman introduces her husband to Philip Morris charcoal-filtered cigarettes. Scripto lighters doesn't want you to offed your friends with a lame Christmas gift. A hunter switches to Newport on the advice of a pal. Dick Van Dyke compares Carol Burnett to a cigarette.

Celebrity Endorsements: Old Gold introduced its king-sized cigarettes on the game show "Chance of a Lifetime," starring Dennis James. Muriel cigars riffes on Mae West with a couple of ads using the phrase, "Why don't you pick me up and smoke me sometime?" A fey comedian named Ed creates a slapstick display of Camel cigarettes. Dick Van Dyke and Carol Burnett shill for Kent in some delightful sitcom spots. Who the hell was Edie Adams? She was huge in Memphis with her Muriel cigars. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz pitch for Philip Morris. The Flintstones flip out for Winston. Chesterfield sponsored "Warner Bros. Presents."

Lifestyle Choices: Most of the Newport ads -- while contending that they taste fresh -- are shot on the waterfront featuring people water skiing, boating, and otherwise enjoying themselves. One spot even features a soldier about to board a bus who's enraptured by the seaside scene on a billboard. If you want to appreciate your horse and its newborn, smoke Salem. Go on a cruise and smoke L&M. Chesterfield will help you relax, really enjoy life, and be completely satisfied. Racing sailors indulge in Parliaments.

Rugged Individualism: A Marlboro spot features a guy who likes to work on his car: "I always smoke when I work. They go together." A stunt man and a marksman like the "smooth, honest taste" of Lucky Strikes. Um, Marlboro Country. Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch. A docking pilot smokes Camels. Construction workers smoke Kents. Rebels complain about Benson & Hedges. Battlefield captains cough on Chesterfield Kings.

While some of the edits are sloppy, there are several repeated ads, and the Spanish Kent spots and the Muriel cigars/Edie Adams spot are given too much time, this cassette is a welcome introduction to old-school tobacco advertisements.

Sunday: Magnolia
A wonderful Robert Altman-like film in which several distinct plotlines weave around each other to create one meta-story. The movie's less about the conjunction and more about the merits of the individual stories, however. In one thread, an NLP-inspired motivational speaker reunites with his dying father. In another, a lonely police officer falls in love with a woman who needs to be saved from herself. A former quiz-show kid seeks love and finds himself committing a crime. And a contemporary quiz-show kid decides to assert himself as a person as the quiz show's host finds his life unraveling at the onset of illness. While the movie is long at three hours, it's interesting to watch how the storylines overlap -- and to keep an eye on tracking shots that indicate just how intertwined the characters' lives really are despite a lack of ongoing interaction.

Anthology in the UK
Ninth Art's headline is so good, I'm just going to crib the thing. Britain has a long, long history of publishing, promoting, and supporting anthology comics -- multigenre books that collect ongoing serials. Lindsay Duff takes a look at the history of the British comics anthology, concentrating on such titles as Eagle and Beano, both of which I used to cherish and devour when my English penpals would send me copies.

While Duff doesn't draw any parallels to other European comics anthologies (a la Stereoscomic, Stripburek, and the like) -- or Japanese manga weeklies, for that matter -- the topic begs a deeper analysis. Why has almost every other country in the world been able to support multi-creator, multi-story, and multi-genre comics titles while the US fell into a default single-story pamphlet format?