On Screen Screens

The longer Your Humble Blogger lives in the general vicinity of Hollywood the more he realizes that The Industry is made up of many little niches that create a few jobs here, a few jobs there. And they add up, helping the local economy.

One such niche is creating fictional computer screens for movies, which was the subject of a National Public Radio story. This led to a discussion about runaway production and whether our cash-strapped state and local governments should give tax breaks or other incentives to entertainment businesses.

Lights! Cameras! Justice!

Cameras in American courtrooms have been a touchy subject since the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trial of the 1930s, when newsreel and newspaper photographers disrupted the courtroom. In the federal district court trial over Proposition 8, the citizen-passed ballot initiative that made same-sex marriage illegal in California, the judge wanted the trial televised but the defendants (those wanting Prop. 8 to be upheld) successfully petitioned to keep cameras out of the courtroom. The judge argued that justice should be open for the public to see, while the defense said that witnesses and other could be placed in danger if their identity was known.

So we are left with sketchbook artists and reporters in the courtroom leading to newspaper articles and TV interviews conducted on the courthouse steps. That's the traditional way of covering trials.

But here's something new. A group aligned with the plaintiffs (those who want Prop. 8 to be overturned) wants to recreate the trial with actors performing off of the trial transcript. Sounds like a really looong miniseries to Your Humble Blogger, but maybe one with historical significance.

Cartoon Strips in the Age of Apps

As the newspaper industry struggles, so do cartoon strips. Long a source of amusement and social commentary in newspapers, comic strips are struggling with how to reinvent themselves in the Internet Age. "Doonesbury" takes a playful swipe at popular culture, Internet-style, this week as it lampoons the hype surrounding the introduction of Apple's new iTablet.

Is the Free Lunch Over?

Mike Arvizu led 34 MC101s in a midterm review on Thursday afternoon.


So, here's the problem. TV audiences are shrinking, advertising revenues are going down. Free online viewership of television shows, movies and other assorted movie content is soaring, but advertising is negligible and the TV folks, movie moguls, and others want to get paid for their programming. So Hulu, YouTube and some other online sites are experimenting with ways to turn free content into stuff viewers will actually pay for.

This Medianote is from two articles in the Los Angeles Times.

Caring and Giving Via New Media

Haiti has certainly been on our collective minds in recent days. We've heard the heart-breaking soundbites, read the grim details, and seen the shocking images. But more than any disaster before it, this tragedy is being reported by regular people through interpersonal media tools like Facebook and Twitter. And New Media is changing the way we give, with many making monetary contributions by text message. NPR reports.

Community Colleges in the Spotlight...

The popular comic strip "Doonesbury" has one of its characters attending community college this week. Check it out.

Online Superpowers

The world's biggest country and the world's biggest search engine are locked in a testy, public spat over the type of Internet experience that China's 1.3 billion people will have. For the Chinese government, it's about keeping tabs on dissidents and placing limits on what citizens car see online. For Google, it's about freedom of information and not having some of its services vandalized. Caught in the middle are dissidents unhappy with China's government, but able to communicate through GMail and other Google services.

This Medianote is based on a National Public Radio report.