Skim through back issues, check Juzzy’s avatar on his sports rant, make note of the fact that the front page of our website is called the Daily Shout. Yes, we get angry from time to time here at Casa Del Tribune, we admit it. Lots of things raise our hackles, and we are lucky enough to have an outlet for all that ire.
There are things that just piss us off, like stupid people who throw out our cheese from the fridge at work. There are things that get us shouting loudly and doing what we can to get others to shout along with us, like Conroy’s lunatic internet censorship scheme, or anything Tony Abbott says.
Then there are things that get us frothing at the mouth, firing off angry letters and tweeting like big angry tweet-monsters with Tourette’s. This is one of those.
You may have realised that Alex (cartoony whiz behind Alex’s Elwood) produces Arctic Circle, The Age’s only Australian comic strip.
The Age, in their infinite wisdom have decided to cancel it, along with Bristow and Zits.
Somehow The Age did some research (I wonder how - a straw poll of their accountant’s office?) and came to the conclusion that The Wizard Of Id is its most popular strip. This of course would have nothing to do with the fact that Id is very very old and syndicated everywhere and is the cheapest of the lot, noooooo of course not.
So in line with World’s Best Practice going forward in a goal-oriented environment, and concentrating on putting more and more fucking auto-playing fucking animated fucking ads on every page of their piece of shit website, they’ve Taken The Age In Exciting, Challenging New Directions by axing their only Melbourne-based cartoon strip.
Given that The Age is moribund Old Media with a board of directors more intent on knifing each other than running a fleet of newspapers, there’s not a lot we can do. Listening to their public is about four millionth on Fairfax’s To Do list, if their website and the continued publishing of Catherine Deveney is any kind of an indicator, but we have to try.
Write to the fuckers, ring them up, email them, throw poo at their shiny new building. Save Arctic Circle.
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Amazing things have been happening in the media over the last few years. The internet now means that you can watch your favourite TV shows and movies when you want, not when the networks decide you should (and NOT interspersed with infuriatingly bad advertising for things you’ll never need or couldn't give two shites about not having).
More exciting, and of more value to the human race, is the fact that there is so much news and opinion out there. Yes, I know, most blogs are nothing more than the illiterate ramblings of self-absorbed twats, but there is gold to be found amongst all the shit. Until now it’s taken a certain amount of dedication, and the patience to sift through five million “Y Twilight Is OMG Hawt” dissertations dribbled onto the screen by emogirlluvsvampzlulz, to find the good stuff.
Then Twitter came along, and our whole world changed. No, it’s not Facebook - Facebook is where you update your friends on what you had for dinner and here’s another sixty photos of somebody’s baby. Twitter is where you connect with new people, not through mutual friends, but through mutual interests. Twitter is how our web hits have increased by a power of ten.
Twitter has helped us find other writers, other publications, and most important of all, more information. Our tweeps are constantly putting up links to their latest writings, or the latest cool stuff they’ve found.
But Twitter’s not all about business and web-savvy dudes googlewaving each other and going all Web 3.0 on your arse. It can be pointless too. You may have heard?
A couple of Fridays back #medievalbumperstickers was a “trending topic” (2 or more tweets per second, Twitter-wide).
This afforded Justin, Luke T and a few thousand others an opportunity to let loose their lame joke expertise thusly:
- Minstrels do it for the lute
- My other catapult is a trebuchet
- Honk if you like wenches
- Lepers leave a tip
- Maggots: the other white meat
- Nuns do it Out Of Habit
- I love the smell of burning heretics in the morning
- WWTVIJOAHD? (what would the voices in Joan Of Arc’s head do?
Aaaaand, so on. Another afternoon of crazed giggling and of course, no work.
Another favourite moment on Twitter: Bernard Keane, Crikey’s Canberra correspondent, holds the distinction of what we think is the Best Question Time Tweet Ever. Bronwyn Bishop (remember her?) rose to raise yet another point of order, and Keane tweets: “Bronwyn shrieks, flaps her wings, and looks for a cathedral to perch on.” Lulz aplenty, at least here in the bunker.
Media is changing. If you can’t see it you’re blind, and if you refuse to accept it, you’re Rupert Murdoch.
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Very Important Development: we’re going to be running a Poll in the VERY near future, as soon as Jane has built it on the website, then deleted it and rebuilt it from scratch, then discovered that it’s all coming out in Sanskrit, and finally got it right, then discovered that it doesn't work in IE8 and bitten her own ears off in rage.
The poll will be on Who’s Hot, but not the standard Who Weekly/FHM rubbish. We’ve compiled a list of Australian men and women who’ve got a few more strings to their bows than just looking good in their undies. The people you’d like to have a long brunch with The Morning After kind of thing. Updates will come through the subscriber emails, but weshould have it all up and working by the first week of November, so keep checking and if it's not there This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ask her what the bloody hold up is.
Enjoy The Media Issue, love to those who love us and a Soweto Necklace to those who don’t.
Jane and Justin Shaw
Editors
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