21 Musical Moments To Die For

On Medialoper: 21 Musical Moments To Die For

The is the fifth in a series. The first one had 25, the second one had 24, the third one had 23, the fourth one had 22.

Also: there is a slight — but not total - Christmas theme going on with this one. More of an arc, really. And a couple of mini-arcs, too!

Medialoper’s 2008 Ducking The Shoe Awards

On Medialoper: Medialoper’s 2008 Ducking The Shoe Awards

“Ducking the Shoe” is a phrase coined by Daniel Fienberg a couple of days ago on Twitter to mean “escaping even the most minor of punishments for extended errors or misdeeds.”

So in the spirit of George W. Bush’s ninja-like ability to duck a shoe thrown at him from point blank range, the following people and things spent 2008 getting away with shit that they really should have been busted on.

Whatever Happened To . . . Television Without Pity?

On Medialoper: Whatever Happened To . . . Television Without Pity?

Nobody has actually bothered to defend it. I’ve received more comments from people defending From The Jam and Spiral Frog than I have from people defending the new Television Without Pity.

That’s just sad. People loved the old TWoP. Or hated it. But if they hated it; they hated it for what it was — a website with an angle and an attitude. Now, it’s got none of that, so people just tolerate it. Or ignore it. And maybe that’s what Bravo / NBC / Universal want: a site that people just visit, but don’t have any real affection or hatred for.

How The Music Industry Garnered Record Profits in 2008

On Medialoper: How The Music Garnered Record Profits in 2008

How have they done it? According to Frederick Stamphammer, the RIAA’s Vice-President of Digitization — and the man seen by most insiders as the key figure behind the transformation of the music industry into a virtual profit machine — it was by seizing the opportunity afforded by the internet nearly 10 years ago.

How to Save Pushing Daisies

On Medialoper: How to Save Pushing Daisies

Here’s the idea: guest star Crispin Glover invents a Time Machine — disguised as an easter egg in an iPhone App called “Easter Egg” — that allows Emerson, Olive, Chuck and the Piemaker to go around in history and solve the mysterious or controversial deaths of famous people: JFK, Kurt Cobain, Howard Hughes, Harry Houdini.

Noel Murray Talks To Medialoper About Popless

On Medialoper: Noel Murray Talks To Medialoper About Popless

As someone who has been reading and (very) (occasionally) writing rockcrit for a long time, this was a new spin on solving the age-old problem of criticism in general: can I trust this person’s opinion? Popless turned out to be a internet-age combination of blog-based introspection and old-school critical judgments, and if I didn’t know where my tastes and his intersected previously, I sure as hell do now.