A fresh list of distractions

Well it's Webby time again. This year's nomination list provides a great distraction from whatever you should be doing. A highlight as always, is the weird nominations and this year is no different.

I don't know why or what it is, but there really is something about Carstuckgirls that is mesmerising. The fascination of human beings with one another especially at times of difficulty is well documented. It is generally believed that we have inherited a primal instinct to be curious about why others are in difficulty - thereby avoiding difficulty ourselves.

From some of the camera angles employed on the site, I have a feeling that it is some other primal instinct that made carstuckgirls both a webby award winner and a people's choice award winner!

A new insanity

"Wars do not determine who is right, they only determine who is left"

When was the last time you finished watching the news with a smile on your face? When was the last time you could stand to watch to the end of the news?

Fact maybe stranger than fiction but somehow news from the onion seems more relevant than the constant gore-fest in traditional news media.

If you insist on keeping a hand on 'real' news try the great news network for the news that never leads these days.

Keep your chin up!

Everything is different yet nothing changes

I am sure that every generation has shared this feeling. The ground swelling beneath them as a change whether cultural, technical or just fundamental; reveals itself to them in a moment of clarity. The fact that I could expand on this topic to exhaustion is a symptom of the pace of the change that is being revealed in these days. The music industry is one example in particular that offers great insight.

The traditional basis of the recording industry has been the tight control of talent and material. High profits encouraged the seeking out of top talent, promotion and distribution. No one could argue that this traditional triad of the industry is experiencing evolutionary forces, the only difference of opinion being whether these forces are constructive or destructive.

File sharing vs. new avenues for the discovery of new music talent vs. new avenues for the promotion of old music talent or will we just find surprising ways of finding music we like in ways that prove the revolution continues...

Reality tv - Pop idol - does the public really know what they want in a popular music idol? "Democracy doesn't give people equal say on decisions, it gives them equal say on who will make all their decisions for them" - Shouldn't the show be Pop Producer Idol?

Studio production in the home - Will programs such as Apple's Garageband finally empower everyone to create their own music to their own tastes negating the need for a music industry?