In an interview on NPR, Cheadle explains how he reconciles the serious issues of the film with its summer-blockbuster-action-film marketing efforts, saying “movies like this, I always want to smuggle in those kinds of ideas. We don’t have to lead with them, but I like it when people can walk out of the theater with something to talk about.”

Shame on Cheadle

I agree. And I think the more people who can be introduced to a dialogue that I believe is crucial to our foreign policy, then all the better. Then I saw this YouTube clip. (It’s too shameless to embed). In it, Cheadle presents a parody of the movie (aired on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show) where his stunt double, an overweight mustachioed Latino, receives the brunt of the abuse during Cheadle’s interrogation scene. This may get more folks in the door, but it trivializes an important scene in the film.

What do you think?

Am I being too hard on Cheadle? The movie’s marketing efforts? Cheadle turns in a great performance, no doubt, and the film provides a great launch pad for some serious issues. Am I being too harsh?

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And while in the U.S., Friendster can’t touch Facebook, the opposite is true in Malaysia. Although Facebook numbers are steadily rising there, Guan says this is mainly among more westernized Malaysians and American expats. Friendster’s dominance in Malaysia is due to its early market entry and more importantly, offers the Bahasa Malayu language which is the primary language used in Malaysia.

Audience.

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Is it a Facebook group? Is it Twitter? Is it a more targeted approach, like listing something on ThePoint.com? Is it good old fashioned e-mail?

There’s no one size fits all

I realize this. That’s why I’d like to learn what specific ways you’ve tried to organize people online, and how that affected what tool you chose to do so.

Thanks in advance.

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One thing that would make the iPod Touch even greater, however, would be VoIP - or the ability to essentially use the iPod Touch as a phone via a software download from Skype. Evans makes a good point though: that would probably anger the wireless carriers a little too much for Apple right now. And a follow up comment points out that the Touch lacks a built-in microphone. Alas, technology gets us so close…

Start-Ups: Follow the Opportunity, not the Plan

Blogger Bret Terrill offers a great aphorism for those hoping to succeed online: ditch the business plan and follow the opportunity. Business plans, he argues, are useless when the whole game can change under your feet with the launch of a new platform (iPhone, Facebook) or a new technology. Click through to read his analogy; it’s too good to rip off here.

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Could it be true? Anyone who owns an LG Dare, Verizon’s version of the iPhone, no matter what their sales associates tell you, can attest to how cumbersome the search process is. Half the time I launch the browser and just navigate to Google anyway.

According to WSJ, the deal is still in the making and wouldn’t close for a few weeks, at which point it’s anyone’s guess how soon they’d roll out Google on their phones.

But a guy can hope…

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PaidContent outlines ESPN’s plan to show the Olympics sans delay. I agree with ESPN. I found the tape-delay jarring.

As a disclaimer, I haven’t watched television with any sort of consistency since I was in middle school. So I’ve become accustomed to enjoying access to information as it becomes available, and I found NBC’s tape delay a bit of a surprise.

Give Newspapers a chance

A cool article on the opportunity that (still) exists for newspapers to cash in on local advertising.

Icky Flash Microsite

No, this probably won’t be a recurring feature.

No, I’m not sorry I’m sending you here.

Basically, journos get a lot of flack for losing touch with their audience, yet here’s an example of a marketer doing just that. Who wants to sit through this thing?

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Ad Age reports on Crowdfire

Organized by John Battelle (author of “The Search,” a brief history of Google, its rivals and the economy they created) CrowdFire will attempt to capture and stream the myriad experiences capture on mobile media over three days at music festival in San Francisco.

CrowdFire will have a central hub, sponsored in part by Microsoft, adorned with plasma screen TVs displaying different information (tweets, YouTube videos, blog posts, etc.) uploaded and tagged by concert goers in real time.

Where’s the real value?

That’s my question. I don’t doubt there is, but is it to concert goers? Is it to those who couldn’t make it? Or is to marketers?

Just a few questions, I’ll be interested to learn how it went down…

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For anyone in the Greater Nashville interested:

Web Analytics Wednesday

Thousands of people around the world have participated in Web Analytics Wednesday since it’s inception in 2005 and the number continues to increase every month. You can now share your experience at these unique events!

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One quote caught me by surprise:

Despite the enthusiasm of many of the Big Tent participants I spoke to, there has been a fair amount of skepticism as well. In the comments section of an Alternet article about the tent, one person wrote that “any learned, critical thinking, reasoned human being would realize that this is a charade to sugar up and pacify the progressive community.”

Is it really ‘progressive’ thing?

If you follow the link and read the comment, posted by user blueapples26, this person hammers both Google and Digg for exhibiting decidedly undemocratic behavior. Now, I don’t disagree that both companies are less democratic than one might think, but I’m not sure the event is an attempt to placate progressives. Aren’t they setting up a similar tent at the Republican National Convention?

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For $100 you can have access to an exclusive tent for bloggers at the Democratic and Republican national conventions - complete with Googleplex-style goodies and granola. For all the hoopla about Google as a media company, how new media alters the journalistic landscape, etc., I kept wondering the same question: what news comes out of a convention anyway? After the running mate is announced, it’s a lot of rah-rah and pats on the back, right? (The above link to the WSJ article buries this point at the bottom.)

Emmis cuts 4.6 percent of workforce

I love print. Always have. It’s how I learned how to read. But I have to ask. Is this a healthy “leaning” of artificially large newsroom staffs? Before I draw harsh criticism from print-age journos, I’m speaking purely of the business model. Will newspapers hit an equilibrium where they narrow in scope and turn a profit? Furthermore, from Gannett…

Gannett blogger laments thinning newsroom staffs

Former Gannett editor Jim Hopkins provides a former where anonymous Gannett employees, past and present, can keep up to date on the latest dismal news from the colossal newspaper chain.

Tribune layoffs hit minorities disproportionately harder

According to a report by Richard Prince at his Journal-isms blog, the most recent round of cutoffs at the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Co.’s flagship brand, were disproportionately minority reporters. Ray Quintanilla told Prince that of the more than 80 people let go, after you factor in 30 voluntary exit, the list is heavily minority, and “looks bad.” To play my own devil’s advocate, this, if true, is anything but healthy for journalism.

And finally, a bit of good news…Idaho Falls drops AP contract in 2010

This I applaud for its boldness. Publisher of the Idaho Falls Post Register Roger Plothow stated in a letter:

I’ll put my cards on the table — I’m not sure how we’re going to pull this off. While the AP’s value to us has been severely diminished over the years, it still does provide a handful of services that we haven’t been able to find elsewhere — yet. I’m betting, however, that it’s only a matter of time. More likely, we’ll use that time to become essentially 100 percent local, which is probably where we’re headed eventually anyway.

Bravo. That’ll be one to keep tabs on.

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