Riding the Tidal Wave of Young Blood

The transition of media is interesting to me, in part because I enjoy observing culture shifts, and in part because I can hardly stop myself from dragging my television into the street and holding a biblical stoning every time I see Grey’s Anatomy, Everybody Loves Raymond, all game shows that have questions even a retarded fifth grader could answer, anything involving placing random people on stage to share their delusions of talent, and most of all, TMZ.

For those readers who don’t know what TMZ is all about, let me paint a picture. Take the ultimate, stereotypical examples of intellectually devoid L.A. douche-bag, skank, bottom-feeding, useless, shit sucking trash available, put them into a room with a dry-erase board run by an over-tanned 50 year-old, pill popping, prostitute addict, and have them stalk, then gossip about celebrities of every echelon like a jail cell full of child molesting perverts. If there was justice in America, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and the rest of the War Pigs would be tried for crimes against humanity, strung up in front of the Lincoln Memorial and shot by angry, childless mothers of former soldiers. And while this delightful show wound to an end, the entire team behind TMZ would be lowered into a giant, glass shark tank, drained of water and filled with rabid, stray cats infected with Feline AIDS and equipped with special steel claw caps. But, the people’s tax dollars have already been wasted on crazier shit, so perhaps it’s better that such things stay a dream.

Music is already well on its way to being freed from the tentacles of the corporate music industry. Radiohead has been hailed for their pay-what-you-will In Rainbows, even though groups like Harvey Danger released their album years earlier in a similar fashion. Plus, who could forget Danger Mouses’s historic Grey Album? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah became famous because of MySpace. And now, with the help of Trent Reznor, artist Saul Williams has released his album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust on his website, letting fans choose between paying $5 or nothing at all.

I paid less than $8 for the new Radiohead album, and I’m satisfied with my purchase. The decision was easy since the album was coming from a group who has never released a bad record. For the new Saul Williams album I decided to pay nothing at all. I’m happy too. Although the album is very decent, it sounds too much like a odd NIN album made during the popularity of Public Enemy. The only original sounding tracks are “DNA”, “Scared Money”, and the bare “Raw”. Sadly, the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” cover comes across like something Lenny Kravitz would have done.

While music is quickly changing to allow fans instant access for the exchange of popularity, the television industry is slow to follow. NBC’s new Direct feature is worth the time, providing you have a PC, and use Internet Explorer. Sure, the advertisements must be seen, and you can’t keep the episodes forever. I’ll be the first to admit that pulling the shows from iTunes was a horrible business strategy. I’m going to play devil’s advocate here for a bit. The new NBC Direct is a good thing. First, viewers can watch NBC shows at anytime. Yes, they have to be on a computer, and hopefully the site will include Macs soon. Yes, you will have to watch advertisements. No, this doesn’t suck. Only being able to watch a show at one time during one specific night sucks. Two minutes of used car dealership commercials sucks. 30 seconds of other NBC shows previews and even 30 seconds of half-assed spots from multi-million corporations is better than the shit currently broadcasted out of people’s televisions. It’s not perfect, but it’s a step toward better consumer integration, and if nothing else, shorter, stronger advertisements.
The Writers Guild currently on strike should take a note. With productions in limbo across Hollywood, the world wide web is ripe with new talent waiting to be plucked. So far though, only a few bad apples have made the cut.

The once internet exclusive “Quarterlife” is now rumored to be optioned for a major network debut in early 2008. The show is supposed to be a hip look at the pressures of post college graduates struggling to balance progressive, personal values in a world driven by old, capitalist, cold hearted machines. The show is actually a boring, over-dramatized look at what people older than my parents must think of my generation. The show is written by two men over the age of 50. What the fuck do they know about the ever rising quarter-life crisis syndrome? Do they believe if they touch on subjects like sex and culture numbing that they'll connected to a younger audience? Jesus Titty Fucking Christ, I hope not. Real quarter-life crisis can leads to suicide. Try putting a Peter, Bjorn, and John song to that happy topic, assholes.

Even though the show is broken into two, ten minute segments, I couldn’t keep from tab-browsing more interesting subjects. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the show is how completely depressed everyone between the ages of 23 and 30 is portrayed. I’ll be the first to say we are a group of lost, confused, bitter children unable to grow into complete adults. I’ll also be the first to defend the hope we keep locked away from those who don’t understand our intentions. Furthermore, as if the Friends format hasn’t been worked to death, the incredible beautiful actors and actresses are soaked in deep relationship turmoil. How astute. If only being irrationally hot, young, living with equally attractive friends, and wasting time fucking around was somehow unfulfilling . . .