Advertising Age - The Media Guy

Media Guy's Pop Pick: 'What on Earth Happened?'

There's something awesomely, comfortingly retro about Christopher Lloyd's "What on Earth Happened? The Complete Story of the Planet, Life and People from the Big Bang to the Present Day," newly published by Bloomsbury.
Google Flu Trends? Cool. But What Else Can Google Predict?

As a service to real readers, Media Guy fields imaginary questions about the media landscape from nonexistent readers.
Who Will Ape McCain Brand Suicide With Embrace of Palin?

In hindsight, there were flawed, self-destructive calls, but surely we'll see increasing consensus that McCain's real moment of ruin was his impulsive selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Is Terrorist-Socialist Barack Obama Also a Secret Scientologist?

OK, class, it's time again for the Media Guy Media Studies Pop Quiz: Civics Edition! You know, to test just how much you've learned during the extraordinary election season we've all just endured.
Twitter, R.I.P.? Or Is There Gold Buried in Them Thar Tweets?

As the future of Twitter gets cloudier and cloudier, I keep thinking that it'd be really sad if Twitter died, because there'd be no way to Twitter its funeral.
Media Guy's Pop Pick: '30 Rock' on DVD

If you're late to the "30 Rock" cult and need to catch up or just want to relive the funny, season two has just been released on DVD.
Could 455 Million 'High School Musical' Viewers Be Wrong?

Here's a media/marketing mystery: Why the hell is Zac Efron, of all people, one of the biggest stars in the world right now?
This Just in: All the Meta-News That's Fit to Post

When I heard that Barry Diller's InterActive Corp. was backing Tina Brown's bid to launch a new news-aggregation site, I thought, "This is gonna be fun." Tina's old archnemesis, Michael Wolff is already in the news-aggregation business with his Newser site.
The American Magazine Vanguard Awards

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The American Magazine Vanguard Awards recognize both big and small innovators: Magazines that are taking new, smart, necessary risks in extending their franchises off the page.
Maybe Taxpayers Should Get a Cut of Fox Business Network

It's my feeling that the rah-rah financial media that aided and abetted Wall Street insanity should also be taken to task.
Media Guy's Pop Pick: 'Submersion Journalism'

This collection, subtitled "Reporting in the Radical First Person from Harper's Magazine," makes me want to bear hug and lavish sloppy kisses on everyone at Harper's -- for not only still believing in long-form literary journalism in the Age of Twitter, but for engaging in it with such wit and purposeful mischief and, well, a sense of adventure.
Secret White Paper Revealed: Winning the War on The Media

Is the war on the media unwinnable? Not at all! Quite simply, only unpatriotic haters think that.
Are You Smarter Than the Greatest American Dolphin?

It's time once again for the quarterly-ish Media Guy Media Studies Pop Quiz: Back-to-School Edition. All books and papers off your desks now!
How the Music Business Spent the Summer Killing Itself

As I was thinking about the economics of music discovery, whether by hearing new music in a restaurant, in a movie theater or on the internet, the deeply troubled music industry, rather astonishingly, has been spending its summer making it harder for music fans to encounter new music online.
Party Hearty, Parties! Some Unconventional Convention Wisdom

Now that the Olympics are over, the world turns to the Democrats, and then the Republicans, to see who can pull off the more convincing media miracle.
Media Guy's Pop Picks: 'Gossip Girl' DVD

"The most awesomely awesome show ever" returns to TV Sept. 1. No, "The Wire" isn't back for a surprise sixth season. I'm talking about "Gossip Girl."
Exclusive! First Pics of Adorable Montauk Monster Quintuplets!

As the world plunges headlong into Olympics fever, we'll all be seeing a steady stream of memorable images (of triumph! of defeat!) emerge from the proceedings.
They Tried to Make the L.A. Times Go to Rehab (No, No, No!)

Many daily newspapers are getting more than a little redundant right now in their eye-glazing desperation, but the Times has been extra special. (Let's cut the budget. Let's force out the editor who won't make further cuts. Repeat. Repeat again ...) On the business side, it's become the Amy Winehouse of newspapers -- stumbling over and over and over, and so publicly, that screwed-up-ness has become the key narrative thread. As with Winehouse, the intrinsic screwed-up-ness now pretty much overshadows all other factors, such as talent (and the Times, which has won more than a dozen Pulitzer Prizes since 2000, still has a lot of it, downsizing notwithstanding).
Is This the End of the FCC's 'Church Lady' Crusade? Amen!
Watching the "Church Lady" legacy of the FCC get slowly dismantled should be more fun than it is. Instead, it's just reminding me how much time we've all wasted thinking about it over the past few years.
Media Guy's Pop Pick: Dirty Words

This new quasi-reference book from Bloomsbury USA, "Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex," is thoughtful. Serious. Funny. Scholarly. Accessible. Revelatory. Entertaining.
Is There Any Reason to Be Optimistic About Media? Yep

I'm taking a week off from my usual default mode of creeping dread and swaggering indignation. Instead, I'm delivering an uncharacteristically upbeat edition of Media Guy, highlighting just some of the media I'm happiest about lately.