Freyburg

Something’s been bugging me for the last little while about the amatuerization of media. While you probably won’t find a bigger proponent of the democratization of tools for creating media and distribution methods than myself, and while there’s never been a better time for someone with an idea and a camcorder to go out and make media, it’s pretty disappointing to me that what catches on with the general public isn’t thoughtful or unique creations but gossip and nonsense. Witness the rise of Perez Hilton, chronicled in the latest issue of Wired. Hilton’s blogging consists of mindless gossip wrapped in an infantile bow of terrible writing, and yet his site makes on the order of 50k a day in advertising. And Julia Allison’s Nonsociety is about…what, exactly? Nothing but navel-gazing and the craven pursuit of fame for fame’s sake.

But we can’t blame vain, shallow people for being who they are. It’s our own damn fault for falling prey to the same craven impulses they wallow in and enabling them. For further spite and bile, check out this Huffington Post article about female New York bloggers, and how they’re cheating themselves by writing about superficial nonsense and staring at their own reflection.

…as arbitrarily decided by the Guardian. An interesting list, though I’m sure everyone’s got 50 of their own favorites that didn’t make the cut.

Chris Anderson, who wrote “The Long Tail,” (a great book, btw) has a new book in the works called “Free,” all about how digital goods are plummeting in cost and hence are driving the new gift economy. Wired has an excerpt from the book, along with video.

While we did our VideoBlogging 101 presentation at Northern Voice today, Jordan shot some “almost live” video on his hard-drive camcorder to show the audience how easy it is to publish video to the web. Behold!

Head on over and check out the stuff I posted about the Angel Forum, a venture capital event here in Vancouver.

Check it out, if you’re so inclined.

Over the last little while I’ve been blogging at Techvibes about the Vancouver technology scene. Sashay over there and take a look at my work if you would.

New York magazine has a piece that’s half whine, half interesting examination of the rise of Gawker, New York’s snarky media blog. Gawker’s advertising success in the face of declining profits at the newspapers and magazines it lampoons is interesting, as is the snapshot of NY as a town for the rich by the rich, with snotty kids in Brooklyn commenting on the sidelines. But really, young kids in the city with their first jobs have ALWAYS been underpaid and bitchy. This lot just happen to have a sounding board