Attention: Courtney Stodden

The attentionsphere does not stop, so I cannot allow a technical difficulty such as a bum Macbook battery stop me from contributing to my attention scams. No, I must write.

This is a look at the latest and greatest from Google Trends:

Hot Searches

Showing hot searches in United States - Updated about 1 hour ago

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Voice of America

Earthquake

100,000+ searches in US

Earthquake swarms prompt emergency declaration in BrawleyLos Angeles TimesEarthquake swarms continued Wednesday in Imperial County as the city of Brawley declared an emergency to deal with the damage. The swarm that began Sunday morning showed signs of slowing down Wednesday, with fewer quakes reported by the U.S. ...

California Earthquake Swarm Rattle Nerves, Teaches LessonVoice of AmericaLOS ANGELES — Residents of the California town of Brawley are coping with rattled nerves as they assess the damage from hundreds of small and moderate earthquakes that have shaken the region since Sunday. They say it is a reminder to stay prepared ...

Chicago Tribune

Michael Jackson

50,000+ searches in US

Michael Jackson's Kids Visit His Hometown on His BirthdayPeople MagazineMichael Jackson's children Prince, Paris and Blanket made a pilgrimage to their father's hometown of Gary, Ind., on Wednesday – joining an emotional vigil at his childhood home – to mark what would have been the King of Pop's 54th birthday. As a throng ...

Michael Jackson fans flock to Gary: 'This is where it all began'Chicago TribuneThe crowd of Michael Jackson fans began forming Wednesday morning outside the tiny Gary, Ind., home where the King of Pop was born 54 years ago, an annual vigil that has grown each year since the entertainer's death three years ago. By Wednesday ...

Zimbio

Courtney Stodden

50,000+ searches in US

Courtney Stodden Turns 18, Gets Tons of Pornographic Job Offers as Birthday ...   E! Online

It might be a tough economy, but birthday girl Courtney Stodden won't have any trouble finding work. Doug Hutchison's wife turned 18 today, and now that she's finally legal, the adult offers are pouring in! (Fair warning: Clicking through to these ...

Courtney Stodden Turns 18, Perverts Exhale Noisily    Houston Press (blog)

Here's a shocker ... Courtney Stodden says she definitely has NOT ruled out any of the porn offers that have rolled in since she turned 18 this morning. Stodden just called in to "TMZ Live" ... and told us she's been "flooded" with XXX offers from the ...

Earthquakes in California. Michael Jackson's kids. And....Courtney Stodden?

Who on earth is Courtney Stodden, and why on Earth is this woman trending on Google? Here goes:

Courtney Alexis Stodden is the 3rd wife of a 3rd-rate actor named Doug Hutchison, who is 34 years her senior, and married the young woman while she was only 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada in the middle of 2011. This event caused a media sensation, as interest in Stodden spiked and quickly fade to virtually nothing:

A	Watch: Courtney Stodden asks Santa for a spanking (NSFW!)
B	Watch Teen Bride Courtney Stodden Try to Prove Her Breasts Are Real
C	Facebook Apologizes to Courtney Stodden
D	Courtney Stodden, Doug Hutchison sign reality show deal
E	Courtney Stodden, Doug Hutchinson reality show may be in the works
F	Courtney Stodden, Doug Hutchison want $3 million for radio interview: Report
G	Doug Hutchison, 51-Year-Old 'The Green Mile' Actor, Weds 16-Year-Old Country Singer Courtney Stodden

According to her Twitter home page, Stodden is many things, ranging from model to animal activist. Courtney Stodden @CourtneyStodden Model, Singer, Actress, Reality Star, Animal Activist, Hostess, Dancer and Doug's girl. xxx Hollywood, CA · http://www.CourtneyStodden.com 990 Tweets 91 Following 98,212 Followers  In truth, however, Courtney Stodden is an 'attention Star', famous for being famous (kinda), at somewhat sporadic moments when she and her middle-aged husband do something whacky. It is thus understandable that as soon as Stodden turned 18 years of age, she was aggressively solicited by the adult film industr, who would love to cash in on the young woman's attention wave while she remains relevant. What are the odds that Stodden will bite on one of the offers? According to her 'manager' (her mother), Stodden is pretty much on the fence about this: from e!online - "She is taking it one day at a time. She woke up today and was flooded with offers. Lots of the porn companies have put out happy birthday videos with lucrative contract offers. She, however, has not giving it much thought. She is enjoying her birthday with her husband, loved ones and her adorable blue italian greyhound puppy Dourtney! She is having her momager handle all this business as usual." Where attention flows, money follows, as one might recall. The inverse of that would be 'where attention don't flow, money don't follow.' Courtney Stodden is not really a 'star' in the traditional Hollywood mold. Thus, she will find it a challenge to keep herself relevant for anything she does, apart from sporadic 'attention scams'. Therefore, cashing in on one of the 'lucrative' offers to do adult films (of her choice , mind you ) seems like an option worth considering. It would mean that Stodden has joined the show, so to speak, although it could also mean that she would become closely-linked with the adult movie industry. She would become a 'pornstar', no different from a Jenna Jameson or Tera Patrick. Is Stodden willing to add 'adult film performer' to her long list of occupations on Twitter? The world eagerly awaits her decision........

Heroes, Villains & Victims: the ‘Sikh Temple Gunman’

Today is one of those ‘choose your news’ kind of days. MSNBC is currently focusing on the Olympics, flooding in Manila, the Mars Rover landing, and medical malfeasance. The Huffington  Post is taking a closer look at the Syrian Civil War, a current event that has been cleverly ignored by American politicians.   The New York Times and Fox News, however, are two major media outlets milking the ‘Sikh Temple shooting’ story for all it is worth, with stories related to the event appearing on their respective homepages. This is logical, since the shooting still has some attention-mileage left in it, particularly as the chilling details of the killer’s private lifestyle unfold.




But there is not much more ‘story’ to be gotten out of the ‘Sikh Temple’ story, in part due to the fact that, unlike that ‘Dark Knight’ shooter, James Holmes, the gunman in this latest massacre is dead, and (unfamous) dead people make for dull stories. This latest attention wave is fading, fast:




If Google Insights is any indication, the shooting is a ‘came and went’ sort of spontaneous wave. Perhaps, seeing the way the James Holmes ‘massacre’ story came-and-went, the public have trained themselves to push stories like this quickly into the attics of consciousness, to avoid wasting much time on them. It seems that the ‘media’ understand this too, which would explain why most outlets have moved on from this latest story. It’s wavelength is too short to waste much time with.


But if one were so inclined to carry on with a story like the ‘Sikh Temple shooting’, where would one possibly find something of interest? The people involved, that’s where. It is thus  fitting that the two media outlets still ‘interested’ in riding the ‘Sikh Temple’ wave, have chosen to focus on either the ‘heroes’ in this tale, or the ‘villains’.


Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy was unfortunately shot 9 times while responding to the shooting, and his colleague on the force, Sam Lenda, is credited with killing the gunman, Wade Michael Page. Officers Murphy and Lenda will take the role of ‘heroes’ in this drama.  Fox News is running with this ‘hero’ angle. Such a move is consistent with Fox’s  themes of ‘patriotism’ , ‘god bless America’, and ‘support the troops’, the conservative news network aligns itself with.


But  not so the left-leaning  New York Times. The Times has chosen to ‘run with Page’ in squeezing the last bit of human interest in the Sikh shooting. The ‘villain’ in the Sikh temple drama, Wade Michael Page, was a  40-year old Army veteran/ white supremacist. Those details – his military history, skinhead-culture affiliation -  are the ‘hook’ in this story, the most compelling details of this tragedy. Investigating the lives of the ‘villains’ who perpetuate horrific crimes has a long history in the media, largely because, prior to their crimes, these ‘villains’ are invisible to society. They live shadowy existences; engage in ‘deviant’ practices; and hang out in places most ‘normal’ Americans would never (openly) visit.Villains such as Wade Page, James Holmes, and many before them are ‘transgressors’. And no matter how one feels about those who ‘break the rules’ of society, society cannot ignore such people once they explode into consciousness.


But the media can decide how to present such characters to the public, or whether to speak on these people at all. Fox News is shying away from probing Page’s past simply because it is uncomfortable with the fact that doing so will force them to investigate any possible ‘role’ Page’s military history might have played in his ‘development’ as a hate-filled individual. Fox knows that it has a healthy viewership / content consumption ratio within the Military community, and does not want to offend its consumers by getting into the messy details of an individual whose troubled past was surely personal, but whose life story also drags the military into it. So Fox News has chosen to focus on the ‘heroes’ in the drama: Law Enforcement. The Times, unfettered by a need to avoid offending the military community, was able to tell the more ‘interesting’ story by focusing on Page.


But what about the victims? I was speaking with a friend yesterday, and that very question came up: why does the media do such an excellent job of ignoring the victims when terrible events such as the Sikh temple killings happen? I thought about it, and  replied : because the media finds the heroes and the villains more interesting. Remember, outside of local news and weather, most ‘news’ is optional. In a highly-stable society like America, stories of violence are common areas of focus in nightly newscasts.  In such crime stories, mugshots, and ‘perp-walks’ are regularly shown as the media shows the ‘villains’ to their viewers, often mentioning the victims of the criminal in passing, along with – maybe – an emotional reaction shot of the victims relatives/friends. But any lengthy focus on the victims themselves  don’t play very well – and are thus avoided -  because ‘victimization’ is inconsistent with the adjectives most Americans would use to describe this country. Americans don’t really want to see ‘victims’ reflected back to us in the media, despite how much we would like to believe this is not so.  This phenomenon was on full display in the fallout after 9/11. America was hurt, and, like any proud, strong nation, retaliated. The good guy (America) and bad guy (Taliban/Bin Laden/terrorist) theme was as prominent as it always is on the nightly news.  The only difference being that ‘cops and crooks’ were replaced with ‘Patriots and terrorists’.    Good versus evil is woven thickly into the fabric of American mythology.


And therefore it is nearly-impossible to sell the perspective of the ‘victim’  to the American public . A simple Google search, limited to results from within the last 24 hours, does not have a single result devoted to the victims or their families. It does, however, have a quote from the killer’s stepmother:





There is one column on the New York Times site that offers a half-glimpse into the perspective of the victims. The article, ‘Being Sikh in America‘ is the only one credited to Mr. Amardeep Singh, an Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University. One is supposed to assume that Mr. Singh’s article is related to the massacre in Wisconsin.  In truth, the article is not at all about any of the  seven victims at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin; it is about one man’s take on the experience of  Sikhs in America. In other words, Mr. Singh’s article is an attention scam, that uses the pretext of an attention wave – the Sikh temple shooting -  to talk about something generally relegated to the attics of American consciousness: Sikhs.


Therefore, it can be said that essentially no ink has been devoted to the victims. Is the reason for this sensitivity or consideration for the grieving families? Perhaps,  but I doubt it. The answer is more likely that, when a crime or a tragedy occurs, and the media scrambles to ‘storify’ the event, it needs ‘characters’ who the public can clearly align themselves to. People can can align themselves with, and aspire to be, heroes and villains. But, in America at least, nobody wants to align themselves with being a ‘victim’; it is too depressing………..

Attention Scam : Paris Saint-Germain

Next Saturday, time begins anew, as the Global ‘football’ season starts up again for the 2012/13 campaign. The new calendar year might start on January 1st, but the ‘attention New Year’ begins as Summer ends, and Autumn begins. This is the time when institutions like ‘school’ start anew, and for adults, ‘vacation time’ (Summer) is over, and it is ‘time to get back to work.’ Concurrently, the ‘sports’ calendar begins again, with both global football (soccer) and American football starting their new seasons.


So, these are the starting-dates for the big 5 Football leagues in Europe:









The popularity of the big 5 European Football leagues is roughly in this order: England , Spain, Italy, and then a toss-up between France and Germany.  Football play commences in England and Spain on the same day:  Saturday, August 18th 2012. It begins one week later in both Germany and Italy. Football begins in France the earliest of all:  Friday, August 10, 2012. This is important from an attention standpoint for one reason only: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).


Without going into some sort of in-depth explanation of PSG’s history, I’ll give a brief overview of what PSG is, and what it means attentionally:

Paris Saint-Germain is a ‘football club’ based in the outskirts of Paris, France, one of the largest cities in the European Union. Paris  is also one of the most ‘glamorous’ cities in Europe, being the birthplace of the ‘Fashion’ industry. Football is the most glamorous sport in the world. PSG was  taken over in 2011 by an investment consortium based in Qatar, and, according to wikipedia, ‘….became the richest club in France and one of the richest clubs in the world.^[16]‘

In other words, Paris Saint-Germain football club has just recently gone from a relatively ignorable, to an incredibly attention-grabbing institution in the attention wave of global football. Glamor and wealth make one hard to resist in the transitional period from industrial-to-attention economy – just ask Ms. Kardashian.

Or, you can ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the most-recent ‘player’ (performer) procured by the newly-fashionable club from Paris, one of football’s most popular performers:

The new Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain football club clearly understand how to operate effectively in an attention era, and how to use their immense wealth in a way that can bring attention to bear on themselves. It is a tried-and-true formula: Location (in this case, Paris); Platform (global football) ; Star Performers (players like Ibrahimovic). It is all an attention scam; this adventure by  Qatar Investment Authority has nothing to do with ‘profits’, only attention.


And I will use my knowledge of this fact to launch my own attention scam that will piggyback on the attention PSG receives in the near future. I’ll utilize the platforms familiar to me – blogs, youtube channels, etc – with content devoted to events related to the club, confident that it will succeed, if only because I’m sure that I’m an early-adopter of the PSG-wave. It’s attention-scamming to the 3rd-power; the level at which you create something out of nothing. The fact that the French league has an entire week head-start on its more traditionally-popular counterparts around Europe sweetens the deal immensely (cue wicked laughter).

 

I had been thinking the entire Summer – since PSG signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic – that this event was the biggest ‘story’ of the football off-season. the Qatar Investment Authority  has made big waves in the short time it has controlled the fate of Paris Saint-Germain, raising the profile of the historic club astronomically. Starting next week, I’ll be looking to latch onto the tail of the PSG comet (cue wicked laughter)…….

Staying Relevant: Snoop Lion

So, then, a bit of hilarity has ensued in the past 24 hours, as the Rapper/Mega (pop?) star formerly-known-as Snoop Dogg, has now become 'Snoop Lion'. The 40 year old performance artist has gone from small canine, to big feline. Ha! I laugh, because the tone of this recent news from the entertainment has a comedic tone. Even though, to be honest, the artist formerly-known-as-Snoop Dogg is dead serious. This isn't a gimmick for attention, like the Joaquin Phoenix transformation, which prompted media outlets to question the actor's sanity. That was a hoax; Snoop Lion is for real.


But not for the reason most people would think. Do I believe that Snoop is 'tired' of rap, as huffpo reports? Snoop Lion was quoted as saying that he no longer finds rap to be 'challenging'. In truth, Snoop Lion probably feels that rap is 'too challenging'. In other words, as the formerly 'underground' music known as rap has grown and merged with 'pop' music - all while the music industry struggles to remain profitable - it is harder for many artists outside of the 'biggest' names to remain 'in rotation.' It has never been easier for performers to be 'famous' without necessarily being 'relevant', like , say Lindsay Lohan (who is also trending on Google for sex-related news). Snoop - a household name to people under 35 - probably fits into this classification; he's known, but not for anything he's really done recently. Not too long ago - 4 months - Snoop Lion was reading tweets from ESPN anchor Trey Wingo:




You'll notice that Snoop is wearing the 'symbol' of his now-official transformation - the Rasta hat - which at the time was surely interpreted as just another nod to his pot-headed ambitions. I thought the 'tweet-reading' was strange at the time, but now, it all makes sense; Snoop was a long ways down the road to transformation. The reading of the tweets was one manifestation of the artist's exploration of alternative means to 'stay relevant.'


As is Snoop Lion's Youtube channel, dubbed 'Snoop Dogg TV'. Snoop must be one of the few 'big' established, veteran, pre-internet artists, who readily embraces an outlet such as Youtube as a viable means to keep himself not only busy, but 'in the attention rotation' of online video. Compare 'Snoop Dogg (probably soon-to-be Lion) tv to the YT channel of another Megastar - Kanye West - and you can see the difference in attitude towards the medium:





West has a 'Vevo' channel, the only Kanye channel that is known to be 'official'. There are a number of others, but they are likely fake. There is absolutely no YT channel associated with Kanye West that is similar to 'Snoop Dogg TV.' This is to be expected; Kanye is - for now - one of the biggest names in entertainment. He doesn't need to maintain a Youtube Channel himself (yet).


 In the 'attention era' in which we currently live, digital media outlets are the way for 'stars' of all sorts to maintain a steady connection with their fans, or the public at large. For most mainstream stars, the outlet of choice is currently Twitter, with celeb tweets being mined and monitored constantly by 'the media' for insights into what these people are up to at any moment. But twitter is not really a platform by which to keep oneself relevant; A star's tweets are only as relevant as they themselves are. Also, there is a level of dishonesty with many of the biggest 'Twitter stars' based on number of followers. Barack Obama has 18 million+ followers on Twitter. But one look at the POTUS' homepage will inform the savvy web surfer that his tweets are posted by someone on his staff. Twitter is a 'Star/Fan' medium, and is most-useful when the 'star' being followed actually uses the service regularly, like Michael Cox, of Zonalmarking.


 Youtube is, however, the best way to be 'transparent' for the public. It is incredibly easy to upload stuff to YT, which can be viewed by millions of people within minutes. Of course, there are many ways this ability can be utilized, and making ones YT channel a viable means of attention-grabbing requires much skill. But the capacity to keep oneself constantly visible to potential attents is a power that shouldn't be taken lightly. It seems that Snoop Lion grasps this concept. Whether the man is performing at a show, reading tweets, or playing soccer, (ie, staying relevant), a star such as Snoop can change his name every day if he feels like it. The important thing is that he stay in the attention rotation. Now I wonder if he'll start a blog.........

Attention : London 2012 Olympics

Hey, the 2012 London Olympics games have started! Actually, the games began two days ago, on Wednesday, with the commencement of the Women's Football tournament, followed by the Men's Football tourney on Thursday. But the Opening Ceremony only just took place today. The 2012 London Games thus have had 'two beginnings'.






The 'first' beginning - the start of the Football tournaments - announced the arrival of the Games from an attention standpoint. This made sense, seeing as soccer/football is the most popular sport in the world, and is played at so many different levels of competition, it seems as if the sport never 'stops'. Football/soccer is the attention sport.





It's fitting to note that the second and third most-popular sports are 'Cricket' and 'Field Hockey', if only because their popularity would be news to many people. Why? Because these two sports pale in comparison to the amount of attention they garner, compared to soccer.


But the same thing can be said about the majority of events that comprise the slate of competitions contested at an Olympic Games: they are 'what's that' sports. They are largely ignored for 3.5 years or so, only to be thrust back into the consciousness of the world with the start of the 3 week Olympic games. Sometimes, the events contested are so strange, they take on a cult-like 'ironic attention' wave, like the winter Olympic sport of 'curling' :






But, for the most part, obscure sports in the Olympic games can anticipate being overlooked for the more glamorous events, like the 100m sprint, the Soccer/Basketball tournaments, swimming, and gymnastic events. This phenomenon was quite understandable in the 'pre-broadband' era of cable-provider  dominance of live events. Knowing that they had a 'captive audience', the broadcasters could guarantee that if the event shown was compelling enough, the ratings would reflect that.  After all, if everything that is broadcast on the television is some form of 'entertainment' (it is), it's natural for the broadcasters to only show stuff they know viewers in their markets want to watch. Anything else would be out-of-sight-out-of-mind.


But we entered the 'broadband' era about 8 years ago, in the year 2004. It was at this time that, due to many Americans' desire to stream, download, and share various multimedia files, many bought cable modems, and dsl lines so as to more easily accommodate the amount of digital data they were trafficking. Smart broadcasting companies and networks followed suit, realizing the magnitude of the paradigm shift that had occurred with America's 'broadbanding.' It was the digital equivalent of a phenomenon tv networks confronted in the late 90's: audience splintering.


from dmnews.com

Bill Dean

May 19, 1999

Internet Creates Splintered Audience

The niche orientation of cable TV programming is smoothing the transition or convergence of that medium with cyberspace. Just as cable tries to offer entertainment programming meant to satisfy nearly every conceivable curiosity, hobby or interest, the Internet offers Web sites filled with specific information. This individualized attention has appeal not just to consumers, but also to advertisers.
"Unlike TV, the Web is not as much breadth in programming as it is depth in detail," said Sean Finnegan, a partner and media director at JWT Digital Communications, New York. "The types of mined-down content that lends itself to the Web platform are sports, stats, recipes, court transcripts, personal gaming, empirical data on historical events and breaking news feeds that cater to [the individual's] schedule."
"Anytime a viewer is engaged with a program, the advertiser benefits from that focus and personal attention," he said.
"What makes all this exciting is that we're not going to be limited to desktop computers for linkage to the Internet and all its wonderful interactive opportunities," said J.G. Sandom, president, Ogilvy Interactive, New York. "All of the hand-held mobile, personal devices, like the PDAs, are rooted in similar technology, Internet Protocol, which is the one completely global telecommunications standard."
"What's compelling is this technology that can send the same signals to any interactive device, whether it's broadband, like cable TV, or hand-held technology," Sandom said. "Convergence simply brings together the best aspects of broadcast and digital technology. It's all about parsing out content and funneling it through interactive devices, whether a cable-modem, a PDA or interactive TV."
What the Internet and interactivity brings to direct response advertisers is the increasingly precise ability to identify target audiences and customize personal messages to those particular consumers.
Even for marketers, such as Ford Motor Co., which have not yet reached the point of actually selling their products over the Internet, a priority is to develop "sticky" Web sites that have the ability to keep users on site for long periods of time and keep them coming back regularly.
In April, Ford launched the latest edition of its iCollection online store, filled with licensed merchandise, from clothing to collectibles.
"The overriding goal is to ensure we're building online relationships, and that means a lot of different things, because the Ford Motor Company itself means a lot of different things to different consumers," said Tom Cornellier, Internet Retail Strategy Manager, Ford Motor Company, Detroit. "For some, there's information about collecting. For others, it's a chance to buy licensed merchandise and apparel. For others, there's a chance to configure a car and become directly connected to a dealer for a quote."
The company plans to launch interactive Web sites for local Ford dealers this year. "This is important because the Internet is a user-driven, interactive medium," says Cornellier. "The customer wants to do business electronically. So we have to shift the way we view our relationship with our customers, understanding that choice today is a mouse-click away. We have to do this in a meaningful and engaging way so that they come back to Ford again and again."
From the customer's standpoint, there is a tremendous amount of information that can be gathered from Internet sites like Ford's. For its part, Ford is also gathering information about the visitors to its site, which in turn can be turned back into more useful Web site attractions.
There are many elements that can be borrowed from cable TV and direct-response advertising and incorporated into Web sites, said Ogilvy's Sandom. "The idea is to make this entire Web experience an interactive and engaging one, because each step of the interaction with a Web site can impact the brand's image."
All of the elements of direct response can be put to greater use on a Web site, since the site itself can pose leading questions to visitors, that can be used immediately to customize the experience, Sandom said.
"One of the advantages of this converged world, with faster speed, video, audio and broadband ability, is there can be more utility value embedded in the advertising itself," Sandon said. "The more complex a product is, and the more expensive it is, the more marketers should be driving customers to Web sites, and using interactive means to keep them there."

 

 

 

 As more and more Americans would likely be in front of computer screens for longer amounts of time, they would watch tv less. They would also be more likely to pursue a wider range of personal interests in their online sessions than would be catered to by tv networks. There would emerge a larger number of 'niche' audiences, and user-driven 'viral' media. The tv networks would lose the ability to dictate to the people what they could consume. The tv networks would have to take the backseat, and let the interests of the people emerge organically.

 

 

And a number of tv networks did just that, mostly the newer 'cable' affiliates of the older 'basic cable' channels, the dinosaurs of broadcast. Two of  the most notable - and influential - of these networks to 'respond' to the new trend of media consumption were channels like ESPN, MTV, A&E, and others. ESPN and MTV in particular created a close link between their tv and online content, making it so that the digital and 'tube' versions of their 'brands' were virtually seamless.

 

 

Fast forward to 2012, and the results are impressive. If 'audience splintering' began in the late 90's , it did not get too serious until very recently. Up until maybe 4 years ago, tv was still a larger influencer than the digital world. But it was also at that time that America evolved from merely a 'broadband' nation, to a 'wi-fi' nation, and the boom in mobile device usage, from smart phones, to macbooks. It was therefore conceivable that a person with a broadband desktop at home, a smart phone, and a laptop, could spend most of their time 'online', surfing the internet for all manner of media important to them. How could a CBS or an NBC be sure that such an individual would tune it at 9 for whatever programming it had to offer?

 

 

 

Truth is, they couldn't. The tv networks faced a tough decision: do stay the course and try gimmicks (slick ads) to draw back viewers, or do they embrace 'streaming' their content online? In the case of networks like ESPN and MTV, they realized the importance of meeting their - mostly younger-skewing - consumers half-way: they would put their content online for free.

 

 

 

 

So, the two biggest 'attention-era' tv networks have embraced the necessity of 'free' digital distribution. But what about old General Electric NBC, the 'official network' of the Olympic Games, a tradition begun in 1964:

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, the 2012 European Championship soccer tournament that recently concluded, was streamed live on ESPN3, from the opening game to the final. Anyone with an internet connection could watch.  The process to do so was simple and straightforward. This has been the case since at least the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. NBC has for the first time ever initiated a plan to stream the Olympic Games digitally. This is great right? Not after one reads the details of the plan:

from medialifemagazine:

 

 

Behind NBC’s online Olympic gamble

It will stream every event live on the web for the first time
By Diego Vasquez
July 24, 2012
This year for the very first time NBC will air every Olympic event live, either on the internet, on television or both. Viewers and media critics have long clamored for such coverage, arguing that in the age of the internet it makes little sense to present taped events in primetime as though they were happening live, as had been NBC's policy in the past. But the move is not without risk. Showing the events live as they happen online could eat in to NBC's primetime coverage, where it will still show the most highly anticipated events, such as swimming, gymnastics and track and field, on a tape delay.

NBC will limit access to the streams to viewers who can prove they subscribe to cable either via traditional carrier, telecom or satellite.

Advertisers are generally happy with the move, as there's some speculation that the online streams will actually pump up interest in the taped primetime coverage. CPMs for digital ads in the Games are about the same as for past Olympics, and there are expected to be more digital advertisers during the some 3,500 hours of online coverage. Dave Martin, senior vice president of media at Ignited, talks to Media Life about why the online coverage could spark bigger primetime ratings, what sort of ad deals NBC offered, and what advertisers think about mobile Olympic coverage.

 

 

 

The portion of the excerpt I underlined is a perfect example of how a company out of touch with the times implements a plan it feels is logical, and progressive, but which is so unwieldy as to be ultimately useless. For NBC to supposedly embrace drawing more attention to its programming - especially the marginal events - by streaming it online, only to then limit the number of people who can possibly view it is asinine. The following screenshots provide an example of the frustration a person will encounter when trying to 'stream' the olympics through the 'Official' Broadcast partner:

 

 

 

 

Using a service I've never heard of before called 'Live Extra' (??), users are prompted to 'prove' they are worthy of viewing the Olympics online, supposedly by providing some documentation of authentic 'cable provison.' Not wanting to go through all of that trouble, I opted to sign up for a 'temporary viewing pass', by entering my email in a box at the bottom (fig. 175). The temporary pass is apparently good for 4 hours (thanks) of viewing, and with the time locally being about 5:50 PM in New York - thus 11:50 PM in London - there is of course no 'live' events to be seen at this time. Hmmmm.

 

 

But perhaps there are replays, in the same way that ESPN3 has an extensive replay archive for many of the events it broadcasts? It doesn't really matter, since for something like the Olympics, the purpose of 'livestreaming' events is meant to draw more attention to all of its events - not just the traditionally popular ones - by virtue of being there. Perhaps an office worker on luch break but still sitting at a terminal might navigate to the stream, and actually watch a Fencing bout? Or a Badminton game? Or replays of such events? Because one surely can't expect somebody to stay up/wake up at 3 AM to watch these obscure sports on tv?

 

 

 

 

 

So NBC shot themselves in the foot with their archaic approach to grabbing attention in an age where such a thing is harder than ever to grab-and-keep (ask James Holmes) .  The purpose of online distribution is for to expedite the rate at which you can generate attention, simply by reaching people where they increasingly are - online - and giving them what they increasingly want : access to content for free. NBC is living in the past, as is shown by their reliance on the tried-and-true formula of filling primetime hours during the Olympics with 'tape-delayed' screenings of events the public already know the results of. Or don't really care about. The network is assuming that their precious 'Games' are as golden as the medals the athletes competing in the contests will win, and that by this inherent 'magic' of the Olympics interest and attention can be counted-on. In actuality, a large number of people will be going to this place to check-in on the Olympic Games:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It won't take them long to ask the question : why aren't the Olympics on ESPN3?!

Attention Profiler : James Holmes

I wonder if mass-killer James Holmes will give a live interview from prison within the next week. Will he issue a statement? Once the police have detonated all of the ‘booby-trap-bombs’ in the assailant’s apartment, will they find some sort of manifesto, like that of the Unabomber? In other words, does James Eagan Holmes have anything left in his performance? Because, he certainly has the stage, and the spotlight:






The cyberspace editions of the biggest media outlets are all clearly latching onto this wave, milking it for every ounce of readership they can. It is no surprise to find their tv versions equally devoting wall-to-wall coverage of the mass murder:







I’ve said before that the news needs wars and crisis in order to keep itself relevant. In the absence of such attention waves, the ‘news’ – the cable variety especially – often resorts to politics. But the truth of the matter is, politics are increasingly becoming a bore to many Americans.  In fact, this recent tragedy usurped the attention that might have otherwise gone to the Presidential candidates Obama, and Mitt Romney.  Both politicians were forced to interrupt their normal speeches, and acknowledge the shooting in Colorado, likely because they knew the ‘news’ would do it anyway:

from cbsnews.com:

President Obama addressed the shooting from Fort Myers, Fla., calling for a moment of silence.

“There are going to be other days for politics,” Mr. Obama said. “This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection.”

The president thanked the gathered crowd and told them he was grateful for their support.

“I was looking forward to having a fun conversation with you about some really important matters we face as a country … the differences between myself and my opponent in this election,” he said. “But this morning we woke up to news of a tragedy that reminds us of all the ways we are united as one American family.”

Republican challenger Mitt Romney embraced the same sentiment of unity in Bow, N.H., where he had been scheduled to campaign.

“We’ll all spend a little less time thinking about the worries of our day and more time wondering about how to help those who are in need of compassion most,” he said in brief remarks to a subdued audience. “The answer is that we can come together. We will show our fellow citizens the good heart of the America we know and love.

Mr. Obama canceled a second appearance scheduled near Orlando, Fla., and was returning to Washington. Romney, too, canceled some media interviews. And both candidates moved to pull ads against each other airing in Colorado.

So then, where does this James Holmes attention wave go next? By tonight, much of the ‘developing’ aspect of the story will be in the books. The wave will move into the next phase stories like this always move into: analysis of the culprit. In fact, it has already begun:




Mr. Jack Levin (and his moustache) is obviously, a criminologist. He studies crime and criminals. He was on MSNBC today trying to explain to the viewing public the ‘type’ of person Mr. Holmes is. After all, as pop culture has shown, ‘oddball’ criminals like serial killers, mass murderers, bombers, and terrorists fascinate Americans. These individuals, due to the bizarre (and rare) details of their crimes, are remembered as ‘stars’ of criminal history. James Holmes is now a mass-murderer. Will he ‘join the canon’ of the ‘star’ criminals America has produced? I’m not so sure. But he has given himself a chance, due to one detail unique in his line of ‘work’: he’s still alive.


I’m no criminologist, but I am an avid reader of true crime books. Some of the best stuff I’ve read was written by John E. Douglas, a retired FBI special agent, and one of the  first ‘criminal profilers’.  He’s an expert on criminal psychology. In Douglas’ Anatomy of Motive, the author provides analysis of crimes falling under broad categories of ‘special crimes’, like serial killings, mass murders, spree killings, mass poisonings, etc. The fascinating thing about Douglas’ analysis is that it shows the importance of spotting sometimes minute differences between the different types of offenses, and offenders.


from wikipedia.org:

Mass murder (in military contexts, sometimes interchangeable with “mass destruction” or “genocide“) is the act of murdering a large number of people (four or more), typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time.^[1] According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location in which a number of victims are killed by an individual or more.^[2] Most acts of mass murder end with the death of the perpetrator(s), whether by direct suicide, or being killed by law enforcement.

James Holmes is a mass murderer. Pay close attention to the very last line of the excerpt, and you come to the conclusion that, statistically speaking, Mr. Holmes should have shot himself, or gone out in a ‘blaze of glory’ with the police, much like Seung-Hui Cho, or  the North Hollywood Shootout of 1997,

Mass murderers are generally of a ‘doomsday’ mentality. They are – like most criminals – individuals who are greatly frustrated by the disconnect between their (usually narcissitic) view of themselves, coupled with their general failure in societal achievement. But, unlike, say the serial killer – who is most interested in ‘repeating his crimes over and over – the mass murderer plans for a ‘final day’ of revenge against what he feels is society’s failure to acknowledge his supposed ‘worth’. Thus, the details of Holmes’ known bio reads like a broken record:


from cbsnews.com

• One federal official told CBS News that at this time Holmes appears to have been “under the radar.”
• CBS News reports Holmes doesn’t appear to have a criminal record in Colorado or in San Diego, Calif., where he graduated from high school in 2006.
• there’s nothing to suggest the family had any involvement.
• a retired electrical engineer who lives next door to Holmes’ family, told The Associated Press that Holmes was a loner.
• Holmes couldn’t find a job after graduating from a public university in California. (Holmes graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience.)
• There was no immediate word of any motive for the attack.

The usual fascination with ‘odd’ criminals such as Holmes comes from the fact that they appear ‘out of the blue’, just some ‘regular guy’ who one day ‘freaks out’ and kills lots of people. The ‘holes’ in the story behind such an innocent facade beg to be filled-in, each new detail a riveting piece to the puzzle.

Such bizarre and ‘grisly’ details have already been filled-in to some degree already in the Holmes case:

• Police recovered four guns at the theater, including two pistols, a shotgun and an assault rifle, Oates told reporters at a news conference. All four guns were purchased legally at three Colorado gun stores between May 22 and July 6, Orr reports. Authorities also recovered a ballistic helmet and a gas mask.
• The suspect in Friday’s (July 20) shooting at an Aurora, Colorado, midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” had been planning the attack for at least two months, new reports indicated. According to NBC News, James Holmes, 24, the suspect in the Friday massacre that left 12 dead and 58 injured, began legally purchasing weapons and ammunition in May. Holmes also extensively booby-trapped his apartment, located roughly five miles from the theater.

So, clearly Mr. Holmes – remember a ‘smart’ guy – had envisioned his final ‘day of glory’ in minute detail. The fact that the man ‘planned his attack for weeks’ is logical; whether or not he had a criminal record, he had a criminal ‘mind’. Like many of his ilk, he lived largely in a world of fantasy. There is clearly a sort of militaristic theme in this crime, with the wide selection of gun-types and ammo recovered from the theater, along with the (unnecessary?) ballistic helmet and gas mask. I’ll bet Holmes looked really scary in the theater, his face hidden behind the mask, helmet secured tightly, for the ‘second act’ of his ‘performance’: the shootout with police.

Only there was no ‘second act.’ After Holmes’ carnage inside the theater, and after police descended on the crime scene, Holmes was ‘Officers found Holmes near a car behind the theater.’ Strange. Colorado is a death penalty state. It is likely that though Mr. Holmes both spared his own life, and did not force police to kill him after his ‘final act’ (suicide by cop), he will die by lethal injection in prison. Hence, the logical decision made by most mass murderers to just ‘end it all’ right at the crime scene, or soon thereafter; you’re gonna probably die anyway if you get caught.


But yet Mr. Holmes declined to take his own life? This reminds me of the Anders Behring Breivik case from almost exactly one year ago (July 22, 2011):

from wikipedia:

On 22 July 2011, Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo, which resulted in eight deaths.

Within hours after the explosion he arrived at Utøya island, the site of a Labour Party youth camp, posing as a police officer and then opened fire on the unarmed adolescents present, reportedly killing 69.^[19][69][70] The youngest victim was Sharidyn Svebakk-Bøhn of Drammen,^[71] who was 14 years old.^[72] Another victim was Trond Berntsen, the step-brother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (the son of Princess Mette-Marit’s late stepfather).^[73]

Breivik confessed and stated that the purpose of the attack was to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim takeover, and that the Labour Party had to “pay the price” for “letting down Norway and the Norwegian people”.^[74]

When an armed police SWAT unit from Oslo arrived on the island and confronted him, he surrendered without resistance.^[75] After his arrest, he was held by armed police on the island, and interrogated throughout the night, before being moved to a holding cell in Oslo. On the way to his first jail meeting, Breivik’s police escort was met with an angry crowd, some of whom shouted “burn in hell” or “traitor”, while some used stronger words.^[70][74][76]

Breivik is described as a ‘terrorist’ for some unknown reason. This is likely due to the fact that, after his arrest, he made an outrageous statement about his personal mission to ‘save Norway from a Muslim takeover.’ I recall being equally surprised that the perpetrator in those killings declined to end his own life after such compiling such a high body-count in his crimes. Again, the psychology of the mass murderer is such that by the time they ‘act out’, they’re usually at the end of their rope; living in a world they hate makes no sense to them. Unless, of course, they have ‘something to say’, as Breivik obviously showed.

So, then, does James Eagan Holmes have ‘something more to say’ to whoever will listen? Is there a rhyme to the ‘reason’ the 24 year old ‘neuroscientist’ / mass murderer  chose not to follow the normal course charted for him by other ‘stars’ in his line of ‘work’? A friend of mine said yesterday, ‘..these motherfuckers want to make history,’.  Time will tell how much ‘remembered’ the ciminal act of James Holmes will be.  His deed speaks for itself. Unlike  Seung-Hui Cho, however, Holmes elected (against type) to separate himself from his deed. He’s managed to prolong his attention wave just a bit longer. Now, then, what – if anything – does the man  have to say?