Gizmodon’t
I hate it when popular sites decide to be unprofessional douchebags for no reason. The Internet, for all its strengths, still has to prove itself to the the old guard and that requires professionalism. Bloggers get the bitchslap as amateur journalists even though they may do as much work if not more so than any writer for a print or television magazine. It’s not fair, but so it goes. The new kid at the table has to prove he’s mature enough to sit at the table, or else he goes back to the kiddie table.
Popular gadget Gizmodo needs to go back to the kiddie table. Their behavior continues to be unacceptable for such a high-traffic site. Back in November, Editor-in-Chief Briam Lam made the world’s most callous swag/press package unboxing as he tossed around Halo 3 merch. It’s his stuff and he’s free to do with it what he wants but why not use half-a-brain and realize that you’re already making people envious so why add insult to injury? I’m not sure whether or not Lam is a dick or just incompetent but when he made a video responding to people who called him on his behavior, he continued to be a dick/incompetent by giving away the ending to Halo 3 (at this point, Halo 3 had been out for a day). You just don’t act that smug towards your readership. It’s poor judgment.
But apparently Gizmodo has more than enough poor judgment as seen by what they thought was a totally hilarious prank. You see, at the Consumer Electronics Show this past week, they decided to turn off TVs there using a remote control! Isn’t that funny! You can almost hear the adolescent giggling. I’m not against pranks or irreverence. But aside from this prank being unfunny, it’s also a slap in the face to every electronics manufacturer there. They thought it was mostly harmless but if you’re trying to market your product, having it turn off suddenly and inexplicably makes it look unreliable. Again, with Gizmodo, you don’t know if they’re just being dicks or if they’re really that stupid.
The final nail in the coffin is Brian Lam’s comment on the story over at Valleywag (it’s the seventh post down). Rather than apologize and say “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have done that and we want folks to know that we’re taking full responsibility and encouraging CES to not judge other sites based on our behavior,” Lam basically says that silly pranks are just how they roll and that they got a really good interview with Bill Gates so step-off!
Gizmodo has been banned from CES (and rightly so) but they need to be banned from the Internet. I like most of Gawker Media’s websites (I visit Kotaku multiple times a day), but either they need to change out their staff (especially Lam) or drop the site. There’s just no room for “professional bloggers” like these numbskulls ruining it for everyone else.
Kate Nash’s new album is an album I recommend but not to everyone. I understand that what I really love about this album is what could easily turn off others. But I love Nash’s 
And speaking of someone who will say and do anything to get elected, Hillary Clinton also had a good night. When the polls had all but guaranteed her defeat, she won 39%-36% against Barack Obama. Over the weekend, she showed “emotion” which was news-worthy because we all previously believed she was built entirely from focus groups and dirty campaign tricks. I was hoping for a nail in Clinton’s coffin tonight, but now she’s back in it and I have to go back to dreading the possibility of her winning the nomination.
Then there’s Mike Huckabee, a man I’ve consciously refused to discuss because the thought of him being a serious contender for the Presidency of the United States of America disturbs me to no end. How disturbing? If Mike Huckabee was elected President, I would move to England. Canada would not be far enough. I know it sounds funny and we all have a good laugh at that joke, but I’m completely serious. If on November 4th, Mike Huckabee turns out to be the President-Elect, then on November 5th, I’m hunting to find a job in England and I will not stop until I have one. I don’t care if it pays less than where I’m working here in the U.S. I don’t want to live in a theocracy, especially one where the government holds me responsible for killing their lord and savior.
If you’ve seen The Fountain, you understand that title. If not, then you’re one of the many unfortunate souls that didn’t get to see last year’s best film. It wasn’t the best just because of the story, the structure, the performances, the cinematography, but Clint Mansell’s hypnotic score. I could listen to this track every day (and I pretty much do). After hearing it, you’ll understand why. Here’s “The Last Man” by Clint Mansell with the Kronos Quartet from the score to Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain.
This song was from the best score of last year. It’s almost as good as Clint Mansell’s score for The Fountain (don’t believe me? Then I guess you may have to come back tomorrow and compare…). It’s a sorrowful score but it works perfectly in the film and unlike Jonny Greenwood’s excellent score for There Will Be Blood, you can also listen to it outside the film (unless you’re in a fit of lunacy, Greenwood’s score would be slightly out of place on your iPod shuffle). The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was just a beautiful film all around and hopefully this score will give you a taste of that. If you find yourself with a craving, then mark your calendar for February 5th when the DVD hits and the film finally starts to build the audience it always deserved.
Credit for this song goes to Alice because otherwise we would be listening once again to the dour “The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie which has the uplifting lyrics of “This is the new year/and I don’t feel any different” That may be true, but I’d rather sing “I’m gonna make it/through this year/if it kills me” Maybe that’s because I had a 2007 that leaned towards the shitty side (although getting to go to the Bahamas was pretty amazing) and 2008 has to be better. I don’t say that as a matter of odds; I say that as a matter of necessity. So for all of you struggling and worried and apprehensive about this rotation around the sun, here’s The Mountain Goats with “This Year” from their album “The Sunset Tree”. Enjoy and have a good 2008 and hopefully it won’t kill you to do so.
