The YouTube videos are revenge for my inability to monetize my blog.
Posted by: meaplet on: June 23, 2008
I was writing an awesome post recommending music I like, but it turns out that WordPress.com doesn’t like links to the iTunes music store at all. Just like they don’t like javascript, or web forms, or really anything that could make me a quick buck on the internet. For this reason I’m in the process of migrating over to a more flexible platform.
Until then, though, I offer you some recommendations of excellent things I watched on the internet this weekend instead of being useful.
Cubby Bernstein, Tony award consultant: The hilarity of the entire cast of Xanadu making fools of themselves on YouTube for no pay is not lessened by the fact that it resulted in a overall total of zero Tonys for the show. It’s still a clever campaign, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Nathan Lane puts in a particularly excellent performance in episode six. Recommended by the New York Times.
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death: Rowan Atkinson[et al.]!Eight. Jonathan Pryce!Master. Script by Steven Moffat. Four regenerations, 900 years in a sewer, hearty Doctor/Master action and Daleks, Daleks, Daleks. This is me. This is my glee. My fingers are crossed. We are like this. (The link is to part 1.1 of 2.2 total parts). Recommended by Wikipedia.
The Scream of Shalka: Richard E Grant!Nine (which, ironically, Curse of Fatal Death also has). Derek Jacobi!Master. A clever companion who can stand up for herself, silly geologists, and more emo than you can shake a stick at. Plus, it’s hosted on bbc.co.uk and they let Americans see it, which kind of astounds me. Recommended by Aria.
Chronotron: I almost forgot to include this, but it is awesome. It is not in fact an online video but a really fantastic flash game. You time-travel in a little TARDIS-looking box, and to defeat each level successfully you need to cooperate with past and present versions of yourself. For example, you have to stand on a button to hold a door open, and then go back in time to walk through the door while the past version of you is holding it open. Strategy is somewhat like Robo-Rally.
Correction (August 9, 2008): The original version of this post claims that “Curse of Fatal Death” has Rowen Atkenson playing the Eighth Doctor and Richard E. Grant as the Ninth. In fact, it turns out that Rowen Atkenson is meant to be Nine, which means that Richard E. Grant is Ten, etc.
3 Responses to "The YouTube videos are revenge for my inability to monetize my blog."
June 26, 2008 at 10:52 am
I am still researching the particular blog software that I’ll end up using, but I have gone ahead and purchased hosting. I’m actually really excited about taking this step–free hosting can only take you so far.
I am, of course, in firm favor of doing whatever you want, be that using the default options or rolling your own. And certainly more flexibility, rather than less, is always attractive to me.
My opinions on the “quick buck on the internet” thing are, of course, affected by the fact that I work in the online advertising syndication business, so I think that everyone who creates content has the right to monetize it (for whatever it’s worth–In the two years I’ve been an AdSense publisher I’ve made a grand total of $5). Of course, I also have something of an eye for design, and a lot of ads do look pretty tacky. But through my particular lenses, the stance they take in the FAQ on the topic of ads is excessively preachy. I probably hate made-for-advertising sites more than average, but not every site that contains ads matches that profile.
Ultimately, there are positive and negative features associated with every platform, and while free WordPress.com hosting is attractive in a lot of ways, it doesn’t turn out to be the option for me.
June 26, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I was going to, like, plan the rest of my life tonight, but instead I helped robots pick up…time chests? I didn’t even register the objective of the game. I’d forgotten about how this kind of thing eats up your time and spits it out.
Comments are closed.
June 23, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Funny thing, coming recently to the blogging thing (as I mentioned, a word that I’m hesitant to use) WordPress has it’s set of drawbacks. Open source = good, closed funky WordPress hosting, not so much. I couldn’t even precisely change the whole template thing to something completely customizable, so I embarked on editing CSS, hacking the Kubrick theme to what I have. Now I’m out in the wilds of Linux with “private” hosting on a public internet. I can do whatever I want—is that really a good thing?
The quick buck thing on the internet—well, I’m hopeful, but with my blog now averaging double digits per week in visitors, I’m not exactly hoping to be able to quit my day job. Money is just a useless human institution anyway, right?
I’ll need the multiple distractions tomorrow, while pushing images around. Thanks for being the final motion to watch Cubby Bernstein. For the general recommendations, I’d like to toss in some _Fry and Laurie,_ with a side of _Blackaddar_. Perhaps some _Little Britain?_ “Computer says no. . .”