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    <title>Tip of the Quill</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/atom.xml" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008-02-29:/journal//1</id>
    <updated>2008-08-17T23:57:27Z</updated>
    <subtitle>A weblog by Geoffrey Long discussing media, academia, and culture.</subtitle>
    <generator uri="http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/">Movable Type Personal 4.1</generator>

<entry>
    <title>Links list: 08-17-08.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/links-list-081708.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1665</id>

    <published>2008-08-17T23:29:44Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-17T23:57:27Z</updated>

    <summary>How I learned to appreciate art house games. Interesting stuff. The future of shopping malls. Saw this last week at LA&apos;s Santa Monica Pier. The case for a downtown movie theater. Even Wooster has one. Dawn of the taco. Good...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Links" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<ul><li><a href="http://altgames.vox.com/library/post/gravitation-or-how-i-learnt-to-appreciate-art-house-games.html?_c=feed-atom">How I learned to appreciate art house games.</a> Interesting stuff.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.worldchanging.com/local/seattle/archives/008250.html">The future of shopping malls.</a> Saw this last week at LA's Santa Monica Pier.</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2008/08/the-case-for-a.html">The case for a downtown movie theater.</a> Even Wooster has one.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.brentfitzgerald.com/2008/08/dawn-of-the-taco/">Dawn of the taco.</a> Good luck Brent!</li>
<li><a href="http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010478.html">Classifying the novel.</a> Clever.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.magatsu.net/steampunk/index.php">Steampunk Random Story Generator.</a> Funny 'cause it's true.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6240">Warren Ellis on SF magazines.</a> "These are the walking dead."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6248">Warren Ellis: Print is Not Dead.</a> "Don't be daft."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.goblinfruit.net/">Summer 2008 <i>Goblin Fruit</i> now up.</a> Beautiful stuff.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.observer.com/2008/arts-culture/little-bookstore-could-and-will">The little bookstore that could.</a> Next time I'm in NYC...</li>
<li><a href="http://www.jerriblank.com/odonnell.html">Harvard is funny.</a> Wow, what a network.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sundance.org/festival/insider/2008-01-22-FOF-invention.asp">Sundance: The Science of Storytelling.</a> Wow, what a panel.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/business/media/10warner.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1218344426-/C8EJmhleGlggROtys3lKg&oref=slogin"><i>NYT:</i> Content is Back.</a> It left?</li>
<li><a href="http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=2713">Superheroes for Sale.</a> Bordwell on <i>Iron Man</i> and <I>The Dark Knight.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4030.Endicott_Mythic_Fiction">Endicott Mythic Fiction on Goodreads.</a> I miss the JOMA.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.43folders.com/2008/08/07/clear-line">43Folders on Making Time to Make.</a> It sounds so easy.</li>
</ul>]]>
        
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</entry>

<entry>
    <title>If I were doing Inkblots again...</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/if-i-were-doing-inkblots-again.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1664</id>

    <published>2008-08-15T18:37:29Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-15T18:39:54Z</updated>

    <summary>If I were doing Inkblots again, the community aspects of Movable Type 4.2 and the publishing aspects of MagCloud would make it an entirely different animal. The industry has caught up with a bunch of the stuff I was struggling...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Publishing" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>If I were doing <i>Inkblots</i> again, the community aspects of <a href="http://www.movabletype.com/blog/2008/08/movable-type-pro-42.html">Movable Type 4.2</a> and the publishing aspects of <a href="http://www.magcloud.com/home">MagCloud</a> would make it an entirely different animal.  The industry has caught up with a bunch of the stuff I was struggling to do, what?  Five years ago now?</p>

<p>I'm just sayin'.  I don't know if I'll ever revisit <i>Inkblots</i> again because I desperately need to work on publishing my work <i>elsewhere,</i> as opposed to simply self-publishing everything, but...  Well, I'm just sayin'.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Links list: 08-15-08.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/links-list-081508.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1663</id>

    <published>2008-08-15T14:41:46Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-15T17:10:48Z</updated>

    <summary>Frotz brings IF to the iPhone. You&apos;re standing in a field with an expensive phone... Tate Liverpool launches first iPhone art exhibition tour. I should&apos;ve done it years ago. NIN talking to HBO about Year Zero TV series. Trr-rr-rr-rr-rr-ansmedia! Criterion...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Links" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<ul><li><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/13/frotz-brings-text-adventures-to-the-iphone-app-store/">Frotz brings IF to the iPhone.</a> You're standing in a field with an expensive phone...</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/13/tate-liverpool-launches-first-uk-iphone-art-exhibition-tour/">Tate Liverpool launches first iPhone art exhibition tour.</a> I should've done it years ago.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1592619/20080812/nine_inch_nails.jhtml?rsspartner=rssMozilla">NIN talking to HBO about <i>Year Zero</i> TV series.</a> Trr-rr-rr-rr-rr-ansmedia!</li>
<li><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10016208-1.html">Criterion Collection's reference Blu-Ray player is a PS3.</a> Sweet, so's mine!</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5036742/canadian-theaters-let-you-game-on-50-foot-screens">Canadian theaters open for gaming on 50-foot screens.</a> I <i>so</i> called this.</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5036260/should-talent-get-their-names-on-boxes">Kotaku: Should talent get their names on boxes?</a> "Warren Ellis' <i>Dead Space</i>?" Hell yes.</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5034526/thats-right-warren-ellis-worked-on-dead-space">Warren Ellis' <i>Dead Space.</i></a> Like I said, <i>hell yes.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://wordsonplay.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/the-secret-books-of-game-design/">The secret books of game design.</a> McCloud and Norman, <i>sure;</i> I've not read Alexander.</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5035507/iphone-monkey-ball-sells-300k"><i>Super Monkey Ball</i> on the iPhone sells 300K copies.</a> *spit take*</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5035752/braid-sales-surprisingly-good-but-not-yet-profitable"><i>Braid</i> on XBLA sells 30K copies.</a> Not yet profitable, but it's still very new.</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5035566/eternitys-child-creator-calls-it-quits"><i>Eternity's Child</i> creator moves to comics.</a> 1.) Dyack rules, and 2.) see next item.</li>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5036261/what-15000-hours-of-ds-homebrew-development-looks-like">Truly indie DS game: 15K hours to create.</a> Why auteurship in games is nigh-impossible.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990446.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562">Pokémon film franchise: US$455M.</a> A new bullet for my "value of transmedia" slide.</li>
<li><a href="http://thedigitalist.net/?p=137">Who needs publishers?</a> I have mixed feelings about this, of course.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/08/a-time-for-mani.html">Brainy Gamer's narrative manifesto.</a> Good lay-of-the-land survey here.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.movabletype.com/blog/2008/08/movable-type-pro-42.html">Movable Type Pro and 4.2.</a> TOTQ social network? <i>Interesting.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://alecaustin.livejournal.com/226510.html">Alec Austin on fanfic vs. original fiction.</a> Amen, brother.</li>
<li><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/08/comics_gondry.html">Excerpt from Michel Gondry's new comic.</a> You read that right: <i>comic.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/735644/coraline/videos/coraline_feat3_081308.html">Preview footage of <i>Coraline.</i></a> Selick + Gaiman = Awesome.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.koldcast.tv/">Koldkast.tv.</a> Another iTV web-channel enters the fray.</li>
</ul>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Possible business models for Twitter?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/possible-business-models-for-t.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1662</id>

    <published>2008-08-14T19:43:21Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-14T20:09:43Z</updated>

    <summary>This afternoon a very cool thing happened &#150; my Twitter account was friended by the Twitter account for the University of Minnesota Press. Now, to a forward-thinking academic like me, this is not only very cool, it&apos;s incredibly cool &#150;...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Academia" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Technology" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>This afternoon a very cool thing happened &#150; <a href="http://twitter.com/geoffreylong">my Twitter account</a> was friended by the Twitter account for the <a href="http://twitter.com/UMinnPress">University of Minnesota Press</a>.  Now, to a forward-thinking academic like me, this is not only very cool, it's <i>incredibly</i> cool &#150; and for multiple reasons.  </p>

<p>First, the fact that <i>they</i> friended <i>me</i> leaves me with a sense of "They like me!  They really like me!"  Brands, bands and individuals that people <i>already</i> adore could foster in their fans a sense of validation by reaching out to their profiles <i>first,</i> before the fans themselves can find them.</p>

<p>Second, by following their Twitter account I can be delivered short, concise ads that <i>I'd actually want</i> &#150; companies like the Criterion Collection could easily provide new announcement tweets to cinephiles like me, or &#150; better yet &#150; sub-brands like Vertigo Comics or creators.  We've already seen Warren Ellis set himself up with a Twitter feed and he's got over six thousand followers on Twitter already.  Call them ads for the Brand Called You, call them fan service, or just call them connecting with six thousand likeminded souls, the impact is the same.</p>

<p>Third, by showing me who else follows this Twitter account (and who else it's following), I can find other interesting connections.  This same thinking holds true for other social networks as well, of course, but Twitter strikes me as particularly interesting for this sort of behavior in part because of the decision one can make to switch notifications on and off.</p>

<p>I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Twitter launch grouping tools for its users shortly, so that I could divide the folks I follow into friends and corporate entities, or levels to which I tweet in a model similar to LiveJournal's friendslocking mode.  For such a simple idea, Twitter has certainly proven itself to be fertile ground for emergent complexity &#150; and I suspect that's where the business models lie.  Twitter Pro for users who want to add friendslocking-style functionality, or a Twitter Corporate for businesses like the Minnesota Press who want to use Twitter as an ad delivery system.  </p>

<p>Granted, one of the charming elements of businesses like The Minnesota Press on Twitter is the idea that there's an actual warm body writing those tweets out there somewhere; Twitter is <i>such</i> a still-indie enterprise that it still conveys, to me at least, a sense of personal connection with those whom I'm following.  However, given the number of spam follow notifications I receive, I'm not sure that will stay that way much longer.  It's this hat trick of corporate tweeting, a primed space for a tiered Pro package and the emergence of Twitter as a spam delivery system that makes me suspect that Twitter is right at the tipping point of some form of major reinvention.  </p>

<p>We'll see what happens.  Follow me at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/geoffreylong">http://www.twitter.com/geoffreylong</a> and, for a low, low price, you'll know when I do...!</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> I should add that the University of Minnesota Press isn't alone in this practice.  Other wonderfully-geeky lit-tweeters include <a href="http://twitter.com/PenguinBooks">Penguin Books</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/nytimesarts"><i>The New York Times</i> Arts</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/nytimesbooks"><i>The New York Times</i> Books</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/WSJ"><i>The Wall Street Journal</i></a>, the awesome <a href="http://twitter.com/publishingtalk">Publishing Talk</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/yalepress">Yale Press</a> (which <i>desperately</i> needs to learn the fine art of the tinyURL), <a href="http://twitter.com/harpers"><i>Harper's</i></a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/NewYorkerDotCom"><i>The New Yorker</i></a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/norton_fiction">Norton Fiction</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/littlebrown">Little, Brown</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/GrandCentralPub">Grand Central Publishing</a>.  Brilliant stuff!</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Greetings from sunny L.A.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/greetings-from-sunny-la.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1661</id>

    <published>2008-08-09T19:06:09Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-09T19:12:15Z</updated>

    <summary>This weekend I&apos;m in bright, sunny Los Angeles, staying with my friends Talon and Sara and presenting at the SIGGRAPH Sandbox Conference, where I&apos;ll be conducting a transmedia storytelling workshop first thing tomorrow morning. I&apos;m having a great time so...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Academia" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
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        <![CDATA[<p>This weekend I'm in bright, sunny Los Angeles, staying with my friends Talon and Sara and presenting at the <a href="http://sandbox.siggraph.org/program.html">SIGGRAPH Sandbox Conference</a>, where I'll be conducting a transmedia storytelling workshop first thing tomorrow morning.  I'm having a great time so far &#150; I slept a <i>ton</i> last night between the six hours on the plane and another four or more this morning at Talon and Sara's while I waited for the clock to catch up, then wrote a short piece on their porch while I waited for <i>them</i> to catch up, and then all three of us went out to breakfast at a little coffeeshop on the pier near their apartment in Redondo Beach.  We're about to head down to the convention center so I can get myself all registered and everything, but the majority of the conference is going down tomorrow.</p>

<p>I've never been a big fan of L.A., but it sure is <i>beautiful</i> here, especially compared to the monsoon season that Boston has dared to call a summer this year.  I'm starting to see the appeal.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Redesigning MIT.  Again.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/redesigning-mit-again.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1660</id>

    <published>2008-08-07T12:34:17Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-07T12:41:45Z</updated>

    <summary>Today I&apos;m responsible for the design of the MIT homepage again. The MIT homepage changes design every day, so if you want to see it, go now! The design is an evolution of what I posted earlier this summer, with...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Design" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Illustration" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="MIT" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
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        <![CDATA[<p>Today I'm responsible for the design of the <a href="http://web.mit.edu">MIT homepage</a> again.  The MIT homepage changes design every day, so if you want to see it, go now!</p>

<p>The design is an evolution of what I posted <a href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/06/what-i-did-at-work-today.php">earlier this summer</a>, with a couple of changes &#150; or, if you will, Easter eggs.  First, note the MIT letterforms in the buildings on the upper right corner of the globe.  Second, you'll see that the MIT homepage folks wanted something a little 'gamier' than my original design, so I made the aircraft circling the globe into Player One and Player Two.  This led me to replace the airliner in the lower left of the original with a second airship in order to avoid 9/11 imagery.  Finally, if you look carefully at the scores of Player One and Player Two, you'll see they're actually dates &#150; the start date and the finish date of this summer's program.  This was Philip's idea, so my hat's off to him yet again.</p>

<p>I'll add a version of this to my portfolio here sooner or later &#150; I need to dedicate a good, solid weekend to updating this sucker across the board.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to rework this site's architecture to accommodate a new section for 'Academics', and what all that section should entail.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Stay tuned!</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>The death of the niche market?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/the-death-of-the-niche-market.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1659</id>

    <published>2008-08-05T15:02:22Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-05T16:55:33Z</updated>

    <summary>I don&apos;t have time to respond to the piece in-depth at the moment, but a very intriguing piece has appeared on the blogosphere that argues the &quot;Death of the Niche Market&quot; is upon us. Besides a couple of small annoyances...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Media" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>I don't have time to respond to the piece in-depth at the moment, but a very intriguing piece has appeared on the blogosphere that argues the "<a href="http://whiskeys-place.blogspot.com/2008/07/death-of-niche-market.html">Death of the Niche Market</a>" is upon us.  Besides a couple of small annoyances with the author in general (an infestation of "it's / its" mistakes and his billing himself as only 'Whiskey, A Politically Incorrect Blogger looking at Politics and Culture" from "Somewhere, California") I obviously disagree with his verdict <i>but</i> have to give him props for some very insightful observations.  </p>

<p>The piece is extremely long, so I've cherry-picked the key points below.  Basically, Whiskey is arguing that a niche market for entertainment (like ours) is doomed in a recessionary economy (again, like ours) because:</p>

<ul><li>The niche market exists partly because "consumers, with rising wages, and lowered costs for food and energy (in real, inflation adjusted terms) were willing to pay extra to possess goods that differentiated them from everyone else."</li>
<li>"Advertisers would pay money to reach selected demographics, mostly young people, and consumers were eager and able to pay money to listen to niche music, watch niche television, and buy niche products."</li>
<li>"...Niche plays for audience or shoppers don't work in economic downturns."</li>
<li>"Retailers and manufacturers are weeding out niche products that don't have mass appeal. Some retailers are already dropping suppliers and products that don't generate big sales."</li>
<li>"Broadcast radio, free and over the airwaves, may well attract more advertisers looking to reach the masses [than satellite radio], since the niche market simply won't exist in many cases."</li>
<li>"Musically, popular bands are going to get older. Audience wise at least. There simply won't be enough disposable income to be spread over untried, unknown bands."</li>
<li>"Film makers like Judd Apatow are likely to be successful, with more culturally conservative messages (carefully hidden behind profanity), while edgy/hip film makers like Steve Soderburgh will find that audiences are not in a mood to be shocked with edgy material, but will demand entertainment satisfaction. With discretionary income limited, a few movies will be mega-hits, the rest will have to eke out small box office receipts and DVD rentals."</li>
<li>"In television, the CW is doomed unless it can broaden it's [sic] appeal beyond teen age girls. ...NBC's "Heroes" is likely to show continued declines, with a convoluted storyline, and lack of central and compelling characters who provide an enjoyable escape from ordinary life. Even worse is Fox's mid-season "Dollhouse," a new offering by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" Joss Whedon. It would have been a tough sell in 1997, and this is not 1997. Niche, trendy-hip posturing just won't sell in a recession. Not with profound consumer shifts in spending and corresponding changes in advertiser spending.</li>
<li>"Likely to improve in ratings are sports, including the NFL, College Sports, and Baseball, as people seek cheap and relaxing entertainment.  ...Men are likely to spend more time watching TV, and shows that can capture the male audience are likely to do well. NBC's "Chuck" is likely to do quite well in this regard, as are any other show featuring an idealized "average guy" as the hero."</li>
<li>"It's quite likely that most other networks will avoid these niche shows as their fall lineup inevitably fails and pursue the "CBS formula" as epitomized by "NCIS" and the various "CSI," "NUMB3RS," and so on. A strong, forty year old plus male character leads a team that includes a strong, capable female character or characters. Fighting crime, restoring order, or something of that nature. The goal being to attract men plus women with elements that appeal to both and don't repel either."</li>
</ul>

<p>His final, summary paragraph sums up his take on all this quite nicely:</p>

<blockquote>That is, quite likely, a good thing. Lack of unified and unifying culture makes bonds across divisions, racial, sexual, class, regional, and income much more difficult. A common culture, valued and defended, protects against both usurpation of power at home by unchecked elites, be they political, cultural, judicial, or corporate, as well as a stout defense of the nation and it's people abroad. When everyone has seen the game last night, or understands the catch phrases of the latest sitcom, or watches the same hour long drama on television, social bonds increase, as do the ability for ordinary people to band together to demand or force action on issues where they hold common ground.</blockquote>

<p>I've heard similar arguments here at MIT before from Professor David Thorburn, who laments the loss of common cultural reference points like <i>I Love Lucy</i> and <i>Friends.</i>  I'm still not sure I buy this argument, and I'd actually argue the inverse &#150; the days when such popular entertainment was widespread led to even starker cultural divides within the mainstream.  While the Democrats and Republicans might be extremely upset with each other right now, I think our current everything-goes culture of niche entertainment fosters a greater degree of <i>acceptance</i> across the board, and thus defuses things like racial riots, social boundaries, and the kind of "hippies versus conservatives" culture that ran rampant in the 1960s and 1970s.  When everyone is accepted into some niche or another, you don't get dominant culture versus counterculture &#150; and you don't get Nazis versus Jews.  If that's true, then keeping the niche market alive and well is a <i>very important thing.</i></p>

<p>Of course, in the words of Dennis Miller, "that's just my opinion &#150; I could be wrong."</p>]]>
        
    </content>
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<entry>
    <title>Music, cultural theorists and the late work of Groucho Marx.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/music-cultural-theorists-and-t.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1658</id>

    <published>2008-08-02T14:12:29Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-02T14:28:11Z</updated>

    <summary>Ken, this one&apos;s for you, coming courtesy of a link in Journalista! and WFMU&apos;s Beware of the Blog. In 1969, ABC had a musical variety TV show called Music Scene. When the show ended, they got a very special co-host:...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Academia" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Music" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="TV" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Ken, this one's for you, coming courtesy of a link in Journalista! and WFMU's Beware of the Blog.  In 1969, ABC had a musical variety TV show called <i>Music Scene.</i>  When the show ended, they got a very special co-host: the 79-year-old <a href="http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/07/groucho-saves-t.html">Groucho Marx</a>.  Sporting an absolutely amazing hat straight from an MIT graduation, he reminisces about his life and career in a uniquely Groucho fashion, replete with one-liners often delivered with wanton, joyful disregard for the show's other co-host, David Steinberg.  Man, I hope I'm having that much fun when I'm 79.</p>

<p>The other thing that I found amazing about the video clips on this page, aside from Steinberg's tie, is the collage of text on set behind Steinberg during the opening.  Among other buzzwords of the age like "Pollution" and "Ghetto" and musical terms like "Music Scene" and "Billboard" were "Fellini" and &#150; get this &#150; "McLuhan".  Good luck finding "Jenkins" or "Bordwell" on the backdrop of <i>American Idol</i> or <i>Saturday Night Live</i> now!</p>

<p>Wait for the moment about 14 minutes in when Groucho starts riffing on Bo Diddley.  Man, they don't make 'em like this anymore.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Links list: 08-01-08.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/links-list-080108.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1657</id>

    <published>2008-08-01T16:46:06Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-01T21:53:01Z</updated>

    <summary>I have so many different tabs open at the moment that I have to shut some down before I go insane. So... The Guardian on genre novels nominated for the Booker. Typical kerfuffle. The iffy business of comics to film....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>I have so many different tabs open at the moment that I have to shut some down before I go insane.  So...</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/07/in_from_the_cold_the_novel_tha.html"><i>The Guardian</i> on genre novels nominated for the Booker.</a>  Typical kerfuffle.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.rocketbomber.com/2008/07/27/have-fun-digging-aka-the-illusionary-dollar-of-new-media">The iffy business of comics to film.</a> Wise words.</li>
<li><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121218708445533979.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">David Foster Wallace on John McCain.</a> (Hat tip to Kevin Smokler.)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0729/p01s06-ussc.html">The <i>Christian Science Monitor</i> on comics in academia.</a> (Hat tip: Neil Gaiman.)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/07/29/microsoft-research-lab-opens-quietly-next-to-mit-director-says-intellectual-climate-like-dry-timber-waiting-to-ignite/2/">Microsoft Research Lab opens up down the street.</a> Design, huh?  Hmmm.</li>
<li><a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/travel/13journeys.html?ex=1231992000&en=bf99c6bbac4b26e0&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=TR-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M053-OP-0708-PH&WT.mc_ev=click&mkt=TR-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M053-OP-0708-PH"><i>NYT</i> on a lost world made by women &#150; in Belgium.</a> There's a novel here.</li>
<li><a href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html">MIT may have sussed solar power storage.</a> If true, this is <i>huge.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article4317650.ece">Patrick Stewart: from captain to Hamlet.</a> I'd kill to see that production.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html?hp"><i>NYT</i> on Obama's professorial days.</a> Sounds like a great class.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/science/31computer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin"><i>NYT:</i> workings of ancient computer discovered.</a> Older than steampunk: <i>Greekpunk.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://theskyisfree.com/">Wormtooth Nation.</a> Amazing-looking case study in zero-budget filmmaking.</li>
</ul>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>My new career in voice acting.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/08/my-new-career-in-voice-acting.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1656</id>

    <published>2008-08-01T14:42:47Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-01T14:49:10Z</updated>

    <summary>Someday, when I have an entry in the IMDB, it will include something like: Oozerts (2008) (VG) (voice: English version) .... Scoop McGoop Yes, it&apos;s true. I have made my voice acting debut as an irascible Irish monster with a...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="MIT" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Miscellaneous" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Video Games" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Someday, when I have an entry in the IMDB, it will include something like:</p>

<blockquote>Oozerts (2008) (VG) (voice: English version) .... Scoop McGoop</blockquote>

<p>Yes, it's true.  I have made my voice acting debut as an irascible Irish monster with a jetpack.  And it was <i>awesome.</i></p>

<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371684/">David Hayter</a>, I'm coming for <i>you.</i></p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Readercon, Sarah Monette and other pleasures.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/07/readercon-sarah-monette-and-ot.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1655</id>

    <published>2008-07-31T14:34:14Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-31T15:28:37Z</updated>

    <summary>I love that blessed and beautiful feeling when you discover something that&apos;s been missing for all too long. For me, lately, that feeling has been coming in waves with the discovery of an entire collection of my peers that are...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Books" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Writing" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>I love that blessed and beautiful feeling when you discover something that's been missing for all too long.  For me, lately, that feeling has been coming in <i>waves</i> with the discovery of an entire collection of my peers that are working in the slipstream / interstitial / contemporary reinvention-of-genre spaces.  I blogged about this before in the beginning of June (the first post was <a href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/06/where-to-begin.php">"Where to begin?"</a> and the second was <a href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/06/a-magnificent-deskful-of-guilt.php">"A magnificent deskful of guilty pleasures"</a>), but this exploration has unearthed an entire <i>treasure trove</i> of brilliant new writers.  It started with Kelly Link and a collection of anthologies I mentioned in those earlier posts, and exploded when I attended <a href="http://www.readercon.org/">Readercon 19</a> earlier this month.  </p>

<p>Holy <i>cats,</i> Readercon.</p>

<p>Not only did I make some excellent new friends (hi, Erin) and ran into some old friends (hi, <a href="http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/">Ellen</a> and friends-of-Kasi), but I also got to meet some of my old favorite writers and discover even more brilliant new ones.  I shook the hands of Jonathan Lethem and James Morrow, happily listened to Ekaterina Sedia, John Crowley and Kelly Link hold forth on their works, had some brilliant conversations with James Patrick Kelly and Gregory Frost, and met a whole host of other brilliant up-and-coming authors.  I also developed a <i>serious</i> hetero-geek-crush on literary critic John Clute, whose work I had admired before but after actually <i>listening</i> to the fellow on multiple panels, I have added to the small list of personal influences whom I would happily sit and listen to even if they were only reading their laundry lists.  The fellow is <i>brilliant.</i></p>

<p>Another major score of the weekend was in the bookstore, a massive bonanza of vendors all peddling a myriad of tomes, most of whom I struggled not to acquire.  (What with the trip to Greece and other splurges this month, July has been easily one of the most expensive months in recent memory.  Seriously.  Ouch.)  I whimpered and passed up a $100 hardcover edition of Jonathan Carroll's first book, <i>Land of Laughs,</i> which I'd been hunting for over a decade, and instead spent way too much money on a whole bagful of bargains.  By the time the dust settled I was the proud owner of a hardcover edition of Kelly Link's <i>Magic for Beginners</i> and whole host of fantastic paperbacks from <a href="http://www.primebooks.net/">Prime Books</a>.  </p>

<p>There's been a bit of a recent kerfuffle in the blogosphere lately about writers' experiences with Prime, but everything I've read so far sounds like exactly the kind of issues that plague <i>all</i> small independent presses (and I say this as a man who for the longest time <i>was</i> a small, independent press).  Given the quality of the books and the authors Prime publishes, they're definitely on my short-list of publishers to query once <i>Bones of the Angel</i> is well and truly finished.  Not only do they publish Ekaterina Sedia, Theodora Goss and Jeff VanderMeer, but they're also responsible for <i>Cabinet des Fees</i> and the beautiful new paperback editions of Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Thorn-White-Ellen-Datlow/dp/0809557754/"><i>Black Thorn, White Rose</i></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slippers-Golden-Tears-Ellen-Datlow/dp/0809571501/"><i>Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears</i></a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Raven-Ellen-Datlow/dp/0809572540/"><i>Black Swan, White Raven</i></a>. I got to meet Sean Wallace at the con and he cut me a great deal on a whole stack of books, and he certainly seemed to have his heart in the right place, <i>and</i> I do happen to think Prime is in <i>exactly</i> the right position for a small niche publisher to be these days.  So much so, in fact, that one of these days I hope to interview him for some of my academic work.</p>

<p>Anyway.  My latest discovery from that pile of Prime books was <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Key-Sarah-Monette/dp/0809557770/">The Bone Key</a></i> by Sarah Monette, which is a brilliant example of experimental publishing models in this day and age.  Monette has pulled off (brilliantly, I might add) an experiment I was considering for my <i>Winter Children</i> series &#150; she introduced her character Kyle Murchison Booth in a short story, and then proceeded to write an entire series of short stories featuring Booth and publishing them in various magazines, thus building an entire network of introductory points to her character and his world.  It's an old model, to be sure, but seeing it done now &#150; and done so <i>well</i> &#150; makes it a terrific case study in contemporary serialized narratives.  It's not <i>quite</i> a serialized narrative, insofar as each short story stands on its own, but seeing them all collected together in <i>The Bone Key</i> makes me suspect that just such an experiment conducted with <i>chapters</i> of a larger story could work very well indeed.</p>

<p>Mwa ha ha.</p>

<p>As I said, <i>The Bone Key</i> is brilliant &#150; I finished reading the second short story in the collection, "The Venebretti Necklance", on my way to work this morning and when I set it down I burst out laughing out of sheer delight.  Charlaine Harris' quote at the top of the cover, "Sarah Monette can write like a dream," is entirely accurate.  Monette takes an old horror trope straight out of Edgar Allan Poe's <i>The Cask of Amontillado</i>, modernizes it and makes it her own.  It's by turns funny, creepy and altogether excellent, with enough character quirks and nuances that Booth could definitely carry a novel all of his own &#150; and I'm sure Monette's working on it.  I haven't read any of her other stuff &#150; her <a href="http://www.sarahmonette.com/">website</a> suggests that the majority of the rest of her work is pitched more at the fantasy / supernatural romance set &#150; but she's now definitely on my list of Folks To Watch.  I would suggest that you dear readers do the same.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>SDCC &apos;08 and Dead Space: &quot;What Order Transmedia Storytelling?&quot;</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/07/sdcc-08-and-dead-space-what-or.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1654</id>

    <published>2008-07-30T22:02:41Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-31T00:49:00Z</updated>

    <summary>Transmedia narratives are really hot right now, especially if the San Diego Comic-Con is any barometer. DC Comics&apos; Wildstorm is leading the charge, as the imprint announced Resident Evil and Devil May Cry comics, which may or may not be...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Media" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Transmedia narratives are really hot right now, especially if the San Diego Comic-Con is any barometer.  DC Comics' Wildstorm is leading the charge, as the imprint announced <a href="http://kotaku.com/5030369/resident-evil-and-devil-may-cry-comics-on-the-way"><i>Resident Evil</i> and <i>Devil May Cry</i> comics</a>, which may or may not be considered canonical; the Wildstorm <i><a href="http://kotaku.com/381429/gears-of-war-getting-comic-book-treatment">Gears of War</i> comic</a> is definitely a transmedia extension; <a href="http://kotaku.com/380334/prototype-gets-comic-treatment"><i>Prototype</i> may or may not be</a>; <a href="http://kotaku.com/5028047/ea-dc-bring-mirrors-edge-to-comic-books"><i>Mirror's Edge</i> may or may not be</a>; the <a href="http://kotaku.com/359077/dead-space-gets-comic-book-prequel"><i>Dead Space</i> comic prequel</a> definitely is...  </p>

<p>From the yes-it's-canon-we-think department: Dark Horse announced the <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080726-comiccon-dark-horse.html">continuation and then conclusion of <i>Buffy</i> Season 8</a>; another <i>Firefly</i> miniseries that will <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080726-comiccon-dark-horse.html">explain the backstory of Reverend Book</a>; and a comics expansion of the backstory behind the upcoming <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080726-comiccon-dark-horse.html"><i>Star Wars: The Force Unleashed</i></a> videogame.  Meanwhile, Boom! Comics announced a <a href="http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/12995.html">comics continuation of the Jim Henson Company's <i>Farscape</i></a>, which is right in line with the JHC's continuation of <i>Labyrinth</i> and <i>The Dark Crystal</i> in manga already.</p>

<p>From the unsure-if-it's-canon-or-not department: IDW announced a <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17498">comic book prequel to the upcoming <i>Terminator: Salvation</i></a> as well as an <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080727-GhostbustersIDW.html">immediate comic follow-up to <i>Ghostbusters II</i></a>, a <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17440">prequel to next year's <i>G.I. Joe</i> feature film</a>, and a <a href="http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/07/28/exclusive-transformers-2-prequel-comic-gives-inside-scoop-on-2009-movie/">prequel comic to the upcoming <i>Transformers 2: The Revenge of the Fallen</i></a>.  </p>

<p>Add to this the massive amount of new media experiments such as direct-to-video transmedia extensions like <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Gotham-Knight-Blu-ray-Burton/dp/B001614FX0/">Batman: Gotham Knight</a></i>; the <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17371"><i>Watchmen</i> video game prequels</a>; "motion comics" like <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17386">Stephen King's <i>N</i></a> and the <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080722-WarnerMotionComics.html">Warner Premiere Motion Comics</a>; and the art-inspires-art cross-media cross-pollination of <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17454">Tori Amos' <i>Comic Book Tattoo</i></a> and this year's SDCC was probably the biggest, murkiest, most cross-media and transmedia-centric con <i>ever.</i></p>

<p>However.</p>

<p>As we all know by now, anytime anything gets this big this fast, we're in danger of having another bubble burst.  I can already predict the wailing and rending of expensive Armani garments that will follow when &#150; not if, but <i>when</i> &#150; some of these transmedia franchises fail.  When I was writing my master's thesis on transmedia narratives last year, one section I really wanted to dive into but would have required a lot more field research (and a lot more pages) was the idea of how to best deploy a transmedia narrative &#150; and in what order a story should use different media elements.  Should a narrative show up in a TV show first?  A film?  How about a book?  Or a comic?  Or a game?  Right now we're seeing a <i>massive</i> number of new case studies explode onto the scene, and believe you me, I'm watching all this like a <i>hawk</i>.  </p>

<p>If I had to put money on which franchises are the most likely to tank, however, I'd say that the easy bet are those franchises that are exploding onto the scene all at once.  <i>Dead Space</i> is the one I'm really watching keenly because there's so much already tied into it &#150; the comic, the video game (which is the central component to the franchise) an <i><a href="http://kotaku.com/380783/dead-space-animated-comic">animated comic</i></a>, and even a (possibly ill-conceived, if Kotaku is to be believed) <a href="http://kotaku.com/5028540/dead-space-the-cartoon-the-trailer">straight-to-DVD animated prequel</a>.  Personally, I think Kotaku's Luke Plunkett sums up the two strikes this franchise has against it already pretty dang nicely:</p>

<blockquote>Back in the day, a licensed property got itself a comic book series or a cartoon because the fans wanted it, and the property deserved it. Now? Why am I supposed to care about the back-story of a game I haven't even played yet? Especially when it's as boring as this?</blockquote>

<p>That's what worries me: that instead of following up a successful primary component like <i>The Matrix</i> with transmedia expansions (a practice I chucklingly referred to as "soft" or "crunchy" in my thesis), <i>Dead Space</i> is a "hard" transmedia franchise, by which I mean it was apparently conceived as transmedia from the get-go.  I think something like this can work very well, <i><b>if</b></i> it's already attached to some existing big name to draw the crowds.  If it were <i>Stephen King's Dead Space,</i> <i>Clive Barker's Dead Space,</i> <i>Stephen Spielberg's Dead Space</i> or even, Heaven forfend, <i>George Lucas' Dead Space</i> then I think this kind of a sweeping launch might work.  As it is, it's just <i>Dead Space</i> with no major reason why a brand-new audience should invest the intense amount of attention (and money) on engaging with it.  A transmedia franchise needs a good, solid hook &#150; and so far <i>Dead Space</i> doesn't seem to really have it.  If there's no single primary entry point to the series, which so far there doesn't seem to be (both the comic and the animated movie seem to be prequels, so which one comes first?), and at least one of the possible entry points proves to be, as Plunkett says, "boring", the franchise is in trouble &#150; and the main game hasn't even launched yet!</p>

<p>Me, I think a transmedia franchise should build up a core audience in a manner appropriate to the context in which it's being created: if you have a big name or a big budget, go for a wide-audience open in a media form like film or television.  If you don't have a big name or a big budget, I think the best way is to start small and build up a rabid fanbase in a more niche media like comics or novels (of course, the notion that novels are a niche media is a fun one to bat around, but we can debate that in the comments or in another post).  <i>Dead Space</i> has apparently invested a lot of money in what is essentially a shotgun-blast marketing effort, doing all the media forms more or less at the same time, and I'm concerned that all the transmedia extensions may simply be perceived as little more than marketing fluff for the central video game instead of quality narrative components.  (Worse, I'm afraid they may <i>be</i> little more than marketing fluff.)  </p>

<p>I've said it over and over, and I'm sure I'll keep on saying it: <b>Rule One: Don't Suck.</b>  I haven't seen the animated <i>Dead Space</i> prequel yet, but it seems like it's teetering on the edge of sucking.  The prequel <i>comics</i> so far have been okay, but I don't know how fragile a from-scratch transmedia franchise might actually be.  <i>Dead Space</i> is one to watch for all kinds of reasons, but the big thing that the industry <i>has to remember</i> is that all of this stuff right now is <i>experimental</i> &#150; don't wring your hands and cry that transmedia storytelling as an entire form fails when one or two (or twenty) of these early experiments crash and burn.  It's a learning process &#150; the best thing we can do is take careful notes, keep experimenting and keep trying out hypotheses.</p>

<p>Me?  I've been investing some time learning how to write comics.  :)</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>A pricey summer for culture vultures.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/07/a-pricey-summer-for-culture-vu.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1653</id>

    <published>2008-07-30T15:20:08Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-30T15:30:29Z</updated>

    <summary>First it was the buy-one-get-one-free sale on Criterion Collection DVDs at DeepDiscount (which concluded as of midnight last night, thank God), but now Apple has launched a $6.99 and $7.99 sale on Classical and Jazz albums. My wallet! My poor,...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Media" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Movies" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Music" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/">
        <![CDATA[<p>First it was the buy-one-get-one-free sale on Criterion Collection DVDs at <a href="http://www.deepdiscount.com">DeepDiscount</a> (which concluded as of midnight last night, thank God), but now Apple has launched a $6.99 and $7.99 sale on <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewCustomPage?name=pageClassicalSale&v0=US_NMT_072908&s=143441">Classical</a> and <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewCustomPage?name=pageJazzSale&v0=US_NMT_072908&s=143441">Jazz</a> albums.  My wallet!  My poor, innocent, empty wallet!</p>

<p>I mean, seriously &#150; <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=278940184&s=143441">Hilary Hahn</a>!  <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=159066112&s=143441">Yo-Yo Ma and Ennio Morricone</a>!  <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=158533093&s=143441">Joshua Bell</a>!  <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=75635339&s=143441">Miles Davis</a>, <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=3448641&s=143441">John Coltrane</a>, <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=7415640&s=143441">Jamie Cullum</a> and <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=80621456&s=143441">Thelonious Monk</a>!  <i>Damn you, Jobs!</i></p>

<p>Luckily, I already <i>own</i> most of these classics, but there's a couple I'm eyeing cautiously.  If those of you in my reading audience pick up nothing else, the Yo-Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone is a <i>must-have</i> &#150; it's one of my favorite go-to albums whenever I need some great background music for work or writing or whatever.  </p>

<p>Oh, well.  Think of the money you'll save on gas at $4+ per gallon by staying in and watching movies or listening to MP3s.  Yeah, that's the ticket...</p>]]>
        
    </content>
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<entry>
    <title>Greece 2008 Part II: ITRA World Congress.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/07/greece-2008-part-ii-itra-world.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1652</id>

    <published>2008-07-27T23:38:08Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-28T01:54:10Z</updated>

    <summary>While a big motivator for our trip to Greece was the desire to actually see Greece and its islands, the real catalyst for the trip was the 5th World Congress of the International Toy Researchers&apos; Association (ITRA), a group of...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Academia" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
    
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        <![CDATA[<p>While a big motivator for our trip to Greece was the desire to actually <i>see</i> Greece and its islands, the real catalyst for the trip was the <a href="http://www.toyresearch.org/nafplion.php">5th World Congress of the International Toy Researchers' Association</a> (ITRA), a group of which I am now a proud member.  If you'd told me that such an organization had existed back when I was an undergrad, my mind would have been blown &#150; academics?  Conducting research on <i>toys?</i>  Really?</p>

<p>Really.  And they're awesome.</p>

<p>I found out about the conference from my friend <a href="http://www.wonderbarry.com">Barry Kudrowitz</a>, who runs the MIT Toy Lab and is all kinds of awesome on many fronts.  Barry's a kindred spirit, as crazily prolific and artsy as I used to be: he's an author, a musician, a programmer, a toy designer, and a lecturer.  The guy constantly reminds me of what all's possible when you attack life with a crazy can-do attitude, which is incredibly inspiring.  Here's to you, Barry.  Anyway, I occasionally guest-lecture in Barry's class on toys, transmedia and narratives in toy design, and so Barry e-mailed me when the CFP for the conference came across his desk.  Since I already had an <a href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/miscellany/actionfigures.php">essay on toys and transmedia narratives</a> all ready to go (and had actually helped me get into the Comparative Media Studies program), I sent it in...  And in the spring, I received an email to let me know that my paper had been accepted &#150; and I found out soon afterward that Matt, Clara and Philip had a paper on GAMBIT's methodologies accepted as well, and Barry had one accepted for his Play Pyramid concept.  We were off!</p>

<p>I wasn't sure what to expect from the conference, to be honest.  What kind of academics researched toys?  Would this be a huge conference or a small one?  Would it be primarily professionals in the toy industry or mostly cultural theorists?  As it turned out, the conference was a pretty good size, consisting of several solid days of interesting programming including everything from researchers looking into the impact of different types of toys at different stages of development to, yes, cultural theorists.  Some of my favorites were as follows.</p>

<blockquote>
<strong>Gilles Brougère</strong>, from Université Paris Nord, France.  Brougère presented the first keynote address, "Toys, Games and Play in the Circle Dance of Children's Mass Culture".  This paper talked about the complexity of new toy franchises, which was remarkably similar to my own research into transmedia storytelling and Henry Jenkins' work; it was fantastic because Brougère seems to have come to similar conclusions from a different direction, so comparing his notes to my own was a lot of fun  and should be really useful.  I have a copy of his paper on file now and will probably wind up citing it in future book projects.

<p><strong>Jaz Hee-jeong Choi</strong>, from Queensland University of Technology, Australia.  QUT is considered a sort of sister program to CMS, and is where C3's ex-research manager Dr. Joshua Green earned his doctorate.  Jaz is one of the new friends I made at the conference, and is someone I hope to work with in the future &#150; her research into consumption patterns of portable media and reactive environments is some really great stuff.  She's worked with friend, fellow SXSW alum and all-around brilliant guy <a href="http://speedbird.wordpress.com/">Adam Greenfield</a> on similar stuff, and if I ever continue the research into mobile media storytelling that I started with C3, she's definitely at the top of my go-to list.  Her blog can be found at <a href="http://www.nicemustard.com/">http://www.nicemustard.com/</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Mathieu Gielen</strong>, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.  Mathieu was the one who assembled the panel where both Philip and Barry and our new friends Greg and Rémi (see next description) appeared, and conducts his research into design for children.  I didn't get the chance to catch much in-depth information about his own research, but it's clear that there's a large amount of overlap between our interests.  </p>

<p><strong>Yiu-Cheung (Greg) Shiu</strong>, Hong Kong Design Institute, China, and <strong>Rémi Leclerc</strong>, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China.  Both Greg and Rémi are teaching real-world practices to the next generation of makers and designers in Hong Kong, the capital of the toymaking world.  Greg showed off the really high-quality designs being created by his students, and Rémi's demoed his practice of short, intense 'hackshops' wherein students disassemble existing toys and rebuild them from the ground up (with extra parts from a collective junk pile) into all-new stuff.  These hackshops reminded me of a mash-up of <i>Junkyard Wars</i> and the Enrichment Academy inventors' workshops I attended in grade school.  Really fantastic stuff.</p>

<p><strong>Hyun-Jung Oh</strong>, Doctoral student, University College London, UK.  Hyun-Jung won the student researchers' award from the ITRA this time around for her research on "The Phenomenon of Dolls' Houses: Putting Together Memories and Fantasies", which was especially interesting because of her examination of the practices and reasonings behind adults building dollhouses, as well as just girls.  I didn't get to speak with her for very long, but she seems to be another up-and-comer to watch.</p>

<p><strong>Wijnand Ijsselstein</strong>, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.  Wijnand's Game Experience Lab is doing some stuff that is significantly interesting to GAMBIT &#150; building quantitative measurement systems for play patterns in video games through hardware systems and surveys.  He also seemed to be a pretty great guy from our small number of conversations &#150; again, another character to watch.  You can find his website at <a href="http://www.ijsselsteijn.nl/">http://www.ijsselsteijn.nl</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Maria Velioti-Georgopoulos</strong>, University of the Peloponnese, Greece.  Her presentation on "Playing with Puppets: Greek Discourses on Children's Toy Puppet Theatre 1870-1950" left me rapt for the whole time.  She had a great presentation, but then again I'm a huge sucker for puppeteering history and culture, so I was an easy mark.  </p>

<p><strong>Giorgos Papaconstantinou</strong>, University of Thessaly, Greece.  His "Early Animation Toys: From Science to Spectacle" was another presentation that kept me happily enthralled for the whole run.  Thaumatropes!  Zoetropes!  I've loved these kinds of optical toys for years, and the history of animation has fascinated me ever since I was a kid.  Papaconstantinou's talk was really top-notch, a brilliant show.  I wanted to ask him for a copy of his paper, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance.</p>

<p><strong>Yehudit Inbar</strong>, Museums Division, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.  Inbar's was one of the most haunting presentations of the entire time, centering around a museum of toys from the Holocaust.  The toys that the children had brought with them into the prisons were fascinating, and the ones they brought back were even more so, but the best ones were the toys that were <i>made</i> on the inside.  Makeshift doll parts were beautifully sad, but the best was a Monopoly board made as a secret map of the camp.  'Tragic' doesn't begin to describe it.<br />
</blockquote></p>

<p>These were only a few of the great presentations I caught during my time there.  There was a really interesting breakdown of little subgroups inside the whole collective; there were the obvious aggregations along interest lines, of course, but there was also a sense of <i>generations,</i> perhaps.  It's the group of us younger folks (me, Barry, Philip, Jaz, Rémi and so on) conducting some really cool, adventurous experimental work with new technologies and new media that makes me curious about where the ITRA will be headed in the next 5, 10, 20 years.  </p>

<p>Which is why I'm now a member of the ITRA.  Hmmm.  I wonder what I could pitch to the <i>next</i> World Congress?</p>]]>
        
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<entry>
    <title>Things that don&apos;t live up to expectations: Delicious Library 2.</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.geoffreylong.com/journal/2008/07/things-that-dont-live-up-to-ex.php" />
    <id>tag:www.geoffreylong.com,2008:/journal//1.1651</id>

    <published>2008-07-25T15:32:25Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-25T16:23:09Z</updated>

    <summary>Maybe it&apos;s because I&apos;m just getting back into it after letting it lie dormant for so long, or maybe it&apos;s because it had been gathering hype for a ridiculous amount of time (approximately 3.5 years) before shipping, or maybe it&apos;s...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Geoffrey Long</name>
        
    </author>
    
        <category term="Books" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
        <category term="Media" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
    
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        <![CDATA[<p>Maybe it's because I'm just getting back into it after letting it lie dormant for so long, or maybe it's because it had been gathering hype for a ridiculous amount of time (approximately <a href="http://www.delicious-monster.com/blog/2008/05/delicious-library-2-has-arrived.html">3.5 <i>years</i></a>) before shipping, or maybe it's because my imagination almost always outstrips what reality finally serves up on a chipped, faded platter...  But <a href="http://www.delicious-monster.com">Delicious Library 2</a> isn't delivering on its hype yet.</p>

<p>I still love the premise of Delicious Library, which is part of the problem &#150; a gorgeous app that packs amazing potential, such as the ability to not only catalog my vast collection of media but make it available online to help me find out whether or not I already own a hardcover copy of Umberto Eco's <i>Foucault's Pendulum</i> (I don't) or Salman Rushdie's <i>The Satanic Verses</i> (I do), <i>and</i> enable my friends peruse that collection to see if there's anything they'd like to borrow (and, honestly, hopefully gape at the wide array of awesome that I've managed to accumulate over the years) <i>AND</i> help me track which of those friends have borrowed what, so I can remember whose fingers I need to break for never giving me back that copy of <i>The Arabian Nights</i> that my grandfather gave me before he died (I'm looking at <i>you,</i> Yvonne).  </p>

<p>Delicious Library 1 suggested that these features were coming, but Delicious Library 2 only delivered a half-baked (and incredibly download-heavy) web publishing system that, as near as I can tell, won't let me sort or search my published library from my iPhone, nor does it include any component of social networking whatsoever.  What would be <i>awesome</i> is if I could search my library for a book and have it give three tiers of results: first, whether or not I own a copy; second, whether or not any of my friends own a copy that I could borrow; and third, what the going price for that book is currently on Amazon, Powell's, eBay or wherever.  I cannot, as near as I can tell, use the camera on my iPhone to scan a barcode in the store and have the software give me any of that data, which is ludicrous.  Granted, the iPhone camera is notoriously bad, but similar services have existed in other phones for years now and not having it in what is supposed to be the flagship library management software for the Mac (it even has an entire "Delicious Generation" named after it, for crying out loud!) is frustrating in the extreme.  It doesn't even have a custom iPhone icon included in the published pages.  This is <i>amateur hour.</i></p>

<p>Yo!  Wil Shipley!  What gives?  Is all this stuff still coming down the pike, or is Library doomed to remain a half-baked shadow of the glorious golden exemplar that its potential suggests it could be?</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> well, I guess Shipley <a href="http://www.delicious-monster.com/blog/2005/01/back-at-work.html">warned us</a>:</p>

<blockquote>Mike and I have talked a lot about Delicious Library 2.0 on wired.com and slashdot.com, respectively. I'd like to weasel a bit here and point out that although we have a ton of lofty goals that we're calling "2.0," not all of them will actually be in "2.0" the product. We'd love it if they were, but PLEASE don't buy the app based how cool you think 2.0 might be. If you like what 1.0 does, buy it now, and if you think 2.0 sounds like the first version that will be useful to you, then go ahead and wait.</blockquote>

<p>Weasel, indeed.  If you check out the <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2005/01/66276">original <i>Wired</i> interview</a>, you find this:</p>

<blockquote>Matas and Shipley have big plans. Delicious Library is now a cataloging program, appealing to those with an obsessive, Nick Hornby-esque desire to catalog every song, book and movie on their living room shelves.

<p>But from the start, the software was planned to be social, allowing friends, neighbors and colleagues to see what's in each others' media libraries, and turn collections into personal lending libraries.</p>

<p>Version two, due later this year, will allow users to browse each other's libraries. It will be location-aware, letting users know who has what in their neighborhood or city.<br />
It will also work on local networks (using Apple Computer's Rendezvous), so people can browse their colleagues' or fellow students' collections, just as Apple's iTunes exposes other users' playlists.</p>

<p>The current version already has a checkout manager for keeping track of loans.</p>

<p>As well as running personal lending libraries, the software can set up social connections: What better barometer of someone's personality than their taste in books and film?</p>

<p>"If you look at my movie collection, you can learn a ton about me," said Matas. "It's like a personal profile on Friendster listing interests and hobbies, but it's much more natural. It's not done consciously. It's a natural profile of yourself."</p>

<p>The software also includes a recommendation engine built on Amazon.com's recommendation system.</p>

<p>Matas said the company talked to Amazon about a partnership, but the retailer didn't like the lending feature. Why would people buy when they could borrow?</p>

<p>Matas said he convinced Amazon that people buy movies expressly to lend them out. They watch a movie two or three times, but want to own it so they can lend it to family or friends.</p>

<p>"I love the movie Baraka," he said. "I've seen it three times but I've lent it out a million times. And my friends have bought it also because they also want to spread the word."<br />
Matas said cataloging books is just a first step in the grand scheme.</p>

<p>"The bigger picture is social idea sharing," he said. "Right now it's for obsessive-compulsive collectors, but we're going to flip a switch in the next version and it will turn into social software."</blockquote></p>

<p>I bought both versions of this software, and so far I don't see any switch having been thrown.  There's an ability to mark what books you've loaned people, and you can e-mail a book to your friends, and you can email your friends the URL of where you've posted your stuff (my work-in-progress library is up at <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/geoffreylong/deliciouslibrary/">http://homepage.mac.com/geoffreylong/deliciouslibrary/</a> but is woefully incomplete) but all of this does <i>not</i> social software make.  I could do much the same thing with simple cut-and-paste in Safari, Excel and Mail.app -- so what gives, Shipley?  What happened to the Delicious Library 2 we were promised?</p>]]>
        
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