Video Game Warden

This video is a little long at five minutes but still made me smile several times.



My Animated World - video powered by Metacafe

While the life as video game aspect is intriguing, the ambient sound as life soundtrack is even more interesting. What would life be like if there were mood music to match happenstance?

Blogging About Blogging LXXXV

Please don't mistake this little outburst of posts as an active return to blogging. I'm still not sure what direction I want to take Media Diet, whether I want to revisit the kinds of posts I'd been doing before my summer "vacation," or whether I want to turn this into a "clog" (column blog) like Randall Rothenberg and Scott Donaton.

The fact that I'm taking cues from those two gents might show where my head's at, but we'll see what happens.

One thing I do know is that Media Diet's design needs a refresh. I've been using the same Blogger template since launch and could use some help updating the look and feel of my blog. If any Media Dieticians would like to volunteer to redo my template, please email me, and we can discuss particulars.

Thanks for reading all these years, and thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Class Inaction

Due to low enrollment, my NYU course, Enter the Blogosphere, has been canceled. Sadness!

We'll see if I can get back on the teaching tip next semester.

What's the Big Idea?

The Adbusters staff is currently considering what to include in the magazine's upcoming Big Ideas 2008 issue -- and they'd like our help.

What are the Big Ideas that will change the world in 2008? Send us your epiphanies, articles, photographs, artwork, whatever. -- the bigger and bolder they are, the better.

We'd also like your help in putting together a "Best of 2007" section. Who do you think are the best artists of the year, the greatest journalists who broke the most important stories? The book that really inspired you... or the film, the song, the activist, the product, the whistleblower, the environmentalist?

You can email your contributions to the magazine directly. If/when I come up with my list, I'll be sure to post it here, in Media Diet.

Girls on Film

VoiceAmerica Network recently launched FlickChicks, a talk radio show hosted by Roberta Burrows and Manuela Goren. On the program, Burrows and Goren comment on upcoming movies, interview people in the industry, and discuss films with listeners -- on air, as well as in response to listener emails.

To date, the show has touched on The Nanny Diaries, 3:10 to Yuma, In the Shadow of the Moon, and The Bubble. Interviewees have included screenwriter Michael Brandt, The Nanny Diaries's authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, and director Eytan Fox.

FlickChicks airs at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on Wednesdays on VoiceAmerica Women's Channel.

While I'm not sure how much attention the program will pay to independent film -- or how they'll approach women's perspectives on movies -- I plan to send the hosts some questions for a brief interview in Media Diet. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or leave your questions in the comments.

Class Action

I'm scheduled to teach Enter the Blogosphere in New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies again this fall, and word is that the course is currently undersubscribed.

If you know anyone in the New York area who would benefit from a media studies-styled class looking at the potential and possible pitfalls of blogging as a practice and media, please let them know about the class. I'd like a few more students!