Thursday, February 25, 2010

Top of the list!

Just had share with all ya'll that I made the top of the list! The number one local blog/local news site/ aggregator chose my blog/post as the top of the list this morning. I just thought I'd share. Click here to view.
If you don't frequent Treasured Valley, I recommend that you do. It's the best way to keep on the up & up in the Treasure Valley!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

They're into it... are you?

Have you ever gotten in to something for a friend? I mean you actually learned about something, researched it, and studied it; because someone close to you was interested in it? Have you been the person whose friend was such a good friend they wanted to share an experience with you that they learned about what YOU liked? I have been in both of these situations. 

Got in to it! When I was in high school I had a friend who I really liked spending time with and this friend liked country music. In my house we did not listen to country music, not one bit. The closest music that even sounded like country would have been my Dad’s Kingston Trio LPs… not country at all. Well during my junior and senior years in high school I started to listen to some country music. There were some artists and songs that were a little too twangy for me. But when Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, or Garth Brooks came on the radio I would have to turn it up. I have some country on my iPod thanks to this time in my life. Later on I made another friend that also liked certain country music artists and because of the first friend I was ready to listen and share this not immediately belittle it. Made for a much better experience with the second friend and our friendship was better because of it (I even went to a Shania Twain Concert with this friend). 

They got in to it! I like LOST (You can probably tell that by some of the posts here). My wife really never has. For the past few years she would suffer through me watching each episode. She never complained, she just watched the episodes with me and when I offered commentary she listened. Even though she didn’t care about LOST or my opinion on the episode I was watching. The final season of LOST recently started and around the same time I was talking to my wife on IM and she mentions to me that she is going to watch an episode of LOST online. She watched the pilot episode. Why did she do that… because she wants to take interest in something that interests me. What a great wife I have. She is willing to take an interest in something that I like in order spend more time with me. She must really love me.
Good thing I love her too!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Fact-check Friday!

It's been a little while but they're back. The Annenberg Public Policy Center has returned with another installment of "Just the Facts". As a non-partisan group they do a great job of presenting the truth in a sea of fiction from all parties. 


Enjoy!


Thursday, February 11, 2010

What old emails say...

Have you ever come upon old emails and tried to remember what you were thinking at the time. Or what was going on in your life? Sometimes you might find one and wish that yo hadn't sent it. Or maybe your opinions have changed since you wrote the email. It happens to the best of us. 


I came upon an article in All Things Digital (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com) that outlined a situation where this occurred... to Bill Gates. Yes sir, the king of all geekdom has an email that he may have wished he'd not saved. You can read about it below. 


Source:http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100211/bill-gates-on-itunes/

I also heard on the radio the other day about the lack of privacy that exists in the digital world. The right of privacy is not the same as it is with physical communication. I guess someone forgot to tell Microsoft. 

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Today is the Day!

Today is the day many people have waited for. Tonight starts the sixth and final season of LOST. I will admit that I was not a viewer from the beginning. When LOST premiered I was well into an addiction with Alias. So I didn't want to get into something else. But once Alias ended LOST was there to fill the void. There has been a lot of coverage the past few weeks regarding LOST and I am not going to rehash it all here. But one thing that I want to chime in about is the genius of having a time-line for the show. In 2007 the producers of LOST and ABC decided that 2010 would be the final season. Why is that important? Because it allowed the creative team behind the show to develop things in their own way not dictated by ratings or a network executive. If there was an issue with the way Alias ended it was that it was too rushed. So I am relieved to see LOST go out on a high note.

So get out your flip flops and Hawaiian shirts... Tonight is LOST night!

Here is a story that captured much of what I think is great with LOST.

5 Ways 'Lost' Changed TV


"Lost"  began life as ABC's attempt to capture some of the magic of Mark Burnett's Darwinistic reality phenom "Survivor."  It's ending its run as something far grander.
Put plainly, "Lost" will go down as one of the most important scripted shows to emerge from the  millennium's first decade -- and a template for what broadcast networks need to do to survive the new world order of unlimited viewing options and decreased ad revenue.
With the final season of "Lost" kicking off Tuesday, TheWrap tallies up five ways  "Lost" changed the game:
-- IT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR A TV SHOW TO DIE WITH DIGNITY
Letting  showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (left) put an expiration date on the series back in 2007 was brash, ballsy -- and a complete paradigm shift for network TV.
Pre-"Lost," programmers in the network world operated under the Supreme Directive that longevity was the end all, be all. Change the cast, shift showrunners -- but damn it, once a show clicked with viewers, keep it on the air by any means necessary.
Lindelof and Cuse (known by Internet groupies simply as Darlton) knew that rule was a recipe for the creative implosion of "Lost." The storytelling had become too complicated, the entire premise of the series too narrow to support an open-ended run.
If "Lost" were to be a show for the ages, a series that lived on in other ways 20 years from now in the same way "Star Trek" has survived, it simply couldn't be allowed to linger on indefinitely, all of its mysteries hastily wrapped up six months after some future ABC suit declared it was time to move on.
And so producers began lobbying ABC to declare a date certain for the end of "Lost." The network agreed, wisely realizing that less of a great thing was better than more of an OK thing.
By limiting "Lost's" lifespan, Darlton gave fans a reason to stick by a show that was getting increasingly complex and in danger of losing all but its die-hard core. Ratings still fell, but like the Obama stimulus package, it's likely the decline would have been far worse had viewers not been given a reason to stay invested.
-- IT PROVED THAT SERIALIZED STORYTELLING CAN BE GOOD BUSINESS
TV cynics will insist that procedurals such as "CSI" and "Law & Order" should always be the goal for broadcasters, since they repeat better and generally make more money in syndication.
That's true -- but "Lost" has shown that there's also a very healthy 21st century business in high-quality dramas that require viewers to pay attention. Buzzworthy series such as "Lost" or "Heroes" or "Glee" help a network stand out amid the thousands of programming options out there for viewers, sparking online and mainstream media attention in a way the average procedural just can't.
What's more, syndication is no longer the slam-dunk payday it once was.  Serialized shows also offer more opportunities for ancillary profits and have demonstrated far more appeal via electronic sell-through services such as iTunes.
None of this is to suggest that networks don't need a base of broad appeal procedurals to thrive. But giving up on serialized shows just because they're tough to execute and offer less obvious financial upsides is equally foolish.

-- IT NEVER UNDERESTIMATED ITS AUDIENCE

For decades, programmers operated under the assumption that the least objectionable programming made for the biggest success stories. That may still be true (four letters: "NCIS"), but "Lost" has shown that challenging fare need not be limited to cable.
Sure, there's no doubt "Lost" gave back more than a few eyeballs when it began delving deeper into mythlogy and away from the grown-up "Lord of the Flies" the series could've easily become. But what was sacrificed in terms of tonnage was replaced by something even more valuable to advertisers: an engaged, passionate audience that felt compelled to tune in every week.
The current issue of Entertainment Weekly has Darlton noting that they've been writing the show they wanted to watch, rather than the show they (or ABC) thought viewers wanted to see. By staying true to an artistic vision, and giving audiences credit for being able to handle something a bit more complex, "Lost" proved that networks could be both smart and successful.
"The TV business has become more like the movie business," former Disney chief Michael Eisner told Fortune just a few months after "Lost" premiered. "It's no longer the least objectionable program that wins the day. The excellent program wins the day."
-- IT SET A NEW STANDARD FOR TV MARKETING
From the way ABC hyped the original pilot, to the carefully-orchestrated campaign for the final season, marketing has been crucial in ensuring the success of "Lost."
One of the first big moves ABC boss Steve McPherson made when taking over the network was deciding to devote virtually all of his fall 2004 launch effort to just two shows: "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." Instead of giving other newcomers like "Rodney" and "Life As We Know It" equal time, McPherson ordered the network's marketing team to focus like a laser on the network's prettiest babies.
It worked: Both "Lost" and "DH" opened big and became lasting hits. But to keep up the momentum, McPherson and his marketing team realized they needed to treat every new season of "Lost" as almost a sequel -- complete with fresh ad themes and new hooks to lure in viewers.
Marketing also served a dual role in the case of "Lost." In addition to figuring out ways to let viewers know the show was on, ABC tried to make sure audiences kept up with what was going on -- helping viewers track the increasing layers of mythology producers erected around the series.
Stunts such as "Pop Up Video"-style "Lost" repeats, stick figure episode summaries and cell-phone webisodes kept viewers informed and engaged, even when the show wasn't on the air. And is some cases, they even generated revenue for the network.
-- IT PROVED THE VALUE OF DEVOTED, FOCUSED SHOWRUNNERS
During TV's first 50 years, success in TV for executive producers was often measured in how many shows they had on the air at any one time.
Norman Lear virtually owned CBS at one point. ABC became known as Aaron's Broadcasting Company during the 1970s, thanks to the prolific nature of the Aaron Spelling fluff factory. Ditto folks such as Steven Bochco, David E. Kelley and Jerry Bruckheimer during the last two decades.
Such producing promiscuity seems outdated, post-Darlton.
The two producers could have easily translated the early success of "Lost" into more pilots or series. Instead -- with the financial support of ABC -- they chose to stick with their baby throughout its entire life rather than go off and sire more offspring.
While there will always be non-writing producers such as Bruckheimer able to juggle multiple shows at one time,  Dartlon have proven the value of obsessive, almost geek-like showrunners willing to go cradle-to-grave with a concept.

Questions Answered! #LOST

Get your Questions answered tonight!