Friday, April 10, 2009
Links that you will like
March Madness concludes tonight…in April. UNC is looking tough, but best of luck to the Michigan State Spartans of the downtrodden state of Michigan. It won’t solve the financial crisis, or the auto industry issues, but good for them for making it this far. The price of inspiration can’t be measured. (Or maybe it can… But if we knew that number, Roy Williams might even be begging UNC to let the Spartans win tonight.)
Here are some links from around the Internets today…
- Ever seen a misleading search engine text ad on Google or Yahoo? Well, the FDA is objecting to a few drug companies and their click-thru aspirations.
- Google uses Twitter to sell ads. (When are they going to just buy Twitter?)
- Yahoo! Sports Blowing Out ESPN Online (Maybe that UConn story will even things up…)
- Wow. McDonald’s ads in the Czech Republic are weird. This is a long way from Calvin…
- The March Adness final: State Farm’s Lebron Cleveland Browns ad vs. Playstation’s “Dustin Pedroia vs. Jerry Lambert” ad
- Amstel Light brings their 10-person “beer bike” to America. I just added 10 potentially-illegal immigrants to my pardon list.
- Dr. Pepper’s ad displays the worst that could happen that probably never would.
- Full-length Sony movies on YouTube? I hope David Lynch hasn’t heard about this.
- And, just in case any of you were worried, Facebook and Twitter showed huge growth in March. Fear not. The takeover continues…
LA Times and fake articles
In a move that shows a clear sign of the times in the newspaper industry (and journalism), the Los Angeles Times ran a front page ad for NBC’s new show "Southland" that resembled a story. The ad ran despite objections from Times’ Editor Russ Stanton.
Despite the outcry created (especially in journalism circles), Publisher Eddy Hartenstein ran the ad to "ensure that The Times could continue to operate."
According to one critic:
"It’s unwise and ethically problematic to have advertising morph into news content and style," said Bob Steele, a journalism values scholar at the Poynter Institute and a professor at DePauw University. "Each step may seem like a small one. But each time you cut a corner, you create weakness in the overall product."
Sounds about right. The weak economy can’t become an excuse to bend the rules, no matter how trivial they may seem.
In other news, 11thr.com’s blog, "the world beyond recruiting," highhandedly apprehended a serial burglar early this morning. The so-called, "Sticky Bandit," has terrorized Marina Del Rey residents for the past six months, robbing their homes in the middle of the night and leaving "scotch tape all over the place," according to one LAPD officer who wished to remain nameless. Although not an actual person, "the world beyond recruiting," is being labeled a hero by absolutely everybody in the Los Angeles area, after discovering the burglar stealing a stack of DVDs from the blog’s living room early this morning. Despite objections from the burglar that "these DVDs will be obsolete in a year anyway!" the blog knocked out the burglar with its imaginary fist and Tweeted authorities. :This is totally a real news story, and 11thr.com/blog is a true hero," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this morning, as he awarded 11thr.com/blog a key to the city and the "Los Angeles City Medal of Heroism," in a ceremony on the steps of City Hall. "It was totally awesome," continued Villaraigosa."
No word on the burglar’s current condition. 11thr.com/blog has been contacted by VH1 and is in talks with the former music network/current reality television network to develop a reality show based on the blog’s crimefighting skills.