DVR Saving TV
Television executives have figured out that people watching their shows via TiVo-delay is a good thing. Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 2, 2009 08:57
Google Wave Pulp Fiction
Megan McArdle points me to this amusing video about which Gizmodo's John Herrmann gushes, "I've read the articles, watched the instructional videos, and gotten an invite, but nothing—nothing—has done more to explain to me how this mind-melting Internet Thing works than Pulp Fiction, spectacularly adapted for Google Wave. (Warning: Tarantino language ahead)" It's an entertaining illustration but, frankly, not one that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 17, 2009 10:56
Glenn Beck: There’s a Coup Going On. A Stealing of America.
Glenn Beck continues to impress in his ability to top himself with zaniness. Today, he explained how "they" have all manner of plans to destroy America and make it more like Cuba. And "they" may be getting away with it because "they" are so far ahead of us. For those who can't view the video or hear the audio, MediaMatters provides ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 31, 2009 14:24
Hillary Clinton’s Congo Blow-Up
Hillary Clinton chewed out a Congolese student for asking what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a public policy issue: ABC's Kirit Radia: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "You want me to tell you what ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 11, 2009 07:32
Public and Private
Jeff Jarvis notes that there has been some controversy over Google's Streetview, which allows people to see videos of what's going on in the streets, including residential neighborhoods, in an ever-expanding number of locations. In a few countries around the world, we’ve seen a backlash against Google’s Streetview as somehow an invasion of privacy, even though what Google captures is the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 22, 2009 07:21
JibJab ‘He’s Barack Obama’ Video
The gang at JibJab have another video out. This one debuted at the #nerdprom (aka, the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner): Meh.Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 20, 2009 08:28
Weird Al ‘Craigslist’ Doors Video
Not one of his better efforts, frankly, but I haven't seen anything from Weird Al Yankovich in years: Jack Humphrey jokes, "Craigslist has truly arrived. When Weird Al makes a Doors-inspired melody about your site, there’s really nothing left to do but cash checks and wait for Google to buy." Indeed. That seems to be the business model for quite a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 17, 2009 09:23
Iran Elections: What Happened? What Now?
Over at New Atlanticist, I've published my thoughts on this weekend's Iranian election mess in two separate posts: Iran's Elections: What We Know (And What We Don't) and Iran's Elections: What Now? The short answers: "Not a whole hell of a lot" and "The same thing we do every day, Pinky." I'm reasonably sure that the elections were stolen. Indeed, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 15, 2009 15:14
Best Rock Songs 2008 (Bumped)
A month ago, we debated whether rock music died in 1980. While we decided that it did not, we concluded that it has changed quite a bit since then. Writing at Slate, music critic Simon Reynolds writes of "Grunge's Long Shadow" and "In praise of in-between periods in pop history" as periods of transition in the dominant styles. Regular commenter anjin-san ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 5, 2009 16:30
Obama ‘Fires’ Gay Arabic Linguist
UCSB political scientist Aaron Belkins' HuffPo piece "Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist" has drawn quite a bit of blogospheric attention. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 8, 2009 07:34
Shepard Smith: America Doesn’t Torture
I'm amused by Nico Pitney's headline, "Shepard Smith Uncensored: "We Are America, We Do Not F**king Torture!" (VIDEO)." Mostly because it censors Shepard Smith. But the Left's sudden embrace of Smith is interesting, too. It may have begun with this recent Esquire profile. He has always managed to be a part of Fox and apart from it at the same time, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 23, 2009 10:36
Biden on ‘Global War on Terror’ – Video
Townhall's Greg Hengler seems pleased to have caught Vice President Biden in a contradiction of the Obama administration's new verbal policy eschewing the phrase "Global War on Terror." Hengler quips, "Maybe Biden just forgot the phrase 'Overseas Contingency Operation.'" Others reacting to this and aggregated at memeorandum seem to have watched said video and come away with the same conclusion. Ed ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 8, 2009 06:33
Obama on That Awful Austrian Language
Barack Obama doesn't know what the word for "wheeling and dealing" is in "Austrian." Naturally, this verbal faux pax is generating some good natured ribbing from Glenn Reynolds, Ed Morrissey, and others. Kate McMillan awards Quote of the Week honors to Mark Steyn for "We now know that Barack Obama, who urged us all to learn a second language, does not ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 7, 2009 08:05
Bob Knight Guitar Hero Video
This is classic: Bob Knight, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, and Mike Krzyzewski do their take on the "Risky Business" scene in a commercial for "Guitar Hero," much to the chagrin of Metallica. I know the joke's supposed to be Knight's spoof of his famous tantrums but I especially like the way he delivers the line, "We're playing the Guitar He-ro." Via ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 30, 2009 17:28
Congress Spamming YouTube
Members of Congress are flooding YouTube with scads of amateurish, unwatchable videos, The Telegraph's Mark Coleman reports. Two months ago, the website added an official Congress channel, inviting Democrats and Republicans to share quirky political messages with voters. But analysts say the move has been hampered by politicians’ inability to adapt to an online audience. Andrew ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 18, 2009 14:45
