Hello again from Highfield - Stupefy has a new look. We took a short break for vacation last week but we're back with post-Thanksgiving media news and shortcuts. Hope you had a tolerable holiday. In that spirit, thank you for reading, telling us what you think and telling your friends about us!
- Why internet radio is the most under appreciated art form
Internet radio is one of the most influential, thriving and under appreciated art forms. Music taste was once communicated through people - experts, not numbers. The era of the playlist has left a big hole for - pardon the buzzword - curation. DJ's know better than the crowd. Take stubbornly anachronistic livestreamed Internet radio show Chillin Island. Broadcast on Tuesday nights from 9pm - 11pm on know-wave.com, the rap-and-comedy goof-fest should be caught live because the archives are notoriously finicky and unreliable. It's the funniest radio show of the 2010's. Loose but genius, energetic but perma-stoned speed. Part late night hang session with three close friends and part lesson on rap's most obscure digital corners, the show is difficult in a good way - difficult because it's made by hand and its archives are scarce. In fact, old episodes are down right now but this is nothing new. Check back soon, you'll find them.
- What will be done to and with celebrity faces?
The next media platform is the celebrity face. We’re programmed to respond to faces. The eye is inevitably drawn to them, especially when they’re attractive or recognizable. Increasingly, we’re seeing signs that the celebrity face itself is going to be a dangerously potent attention-grabber and information-spreader. It can be used for economic purposes, as it is in China with the first-ever AI news anchors. Or it can be used to spread disinformation. The latter difficult-to-detect versions, known as "deepfakes", have already caused mayhem. While face swapping is nothing new for those of us who have used Snapchat, celebrity-face-as-medium moments like this show the implications for comedy, video innovation and impersonation.
- Have you heard of the biggest YouTube channel in the world?
The YouTube channel with the most subscribers in the world is now an Indian record label you've never heard of. It's called T-Series. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw explains:
At the beginning of the year, the company had 30 million fans, less than half the size of the following for No. 1 PewDiePie But T-Series has been adding 3 million subscribers a month T-Series is the first channel in a language other than English to claim the YouTube crown T-Series has benefited from the rapid growth of mobile broadband and cheap data in India, the world's second most populous country It's also thrived by taking advantage of large, diverse populations all over the world. T-Series operates 29 channels that offer videos in different languages and music genres. About 40 percent of its viewers don't live in India.
- TV viewing among millennials drops sharply
And now your obligatory reminder that young people aren't watching as much traditional TV as previous generations. A new Nielsen report has the dramatic numbers:
For the four weeks ending Oct. 28, coinciding with the start of the official TV season, the number of people ages 18 to 34 using TV has plunged 15% and is down 36% from 2014. The drop-off among teens – 18% from last year and 48% since 2014 – is even more pronounced.
Links
‘Scrooged’ Is Still the Perfect Christmas Movie 30 Years Later—It’s loud, cartoonish, and misanthropic, but the 1988 Bill Murray vehicle is remarkably well-suited for our fraught present moment. The Invisible Hit Parade—How unofficial recordings have flourished in the 21st Century. The Complicated Legacy of Stewart Brand’s “Whole Earth Catalog”—Stewart Brand published the final issue of the “Whole Earth Catalog” in 1971. Upon the title's fiftieth anniversary, he reports feeling little nostalgia for the project.I Found the Best Burger Place in America. And Then I Killed It.—Thrillist named Stanich's the best burger in the country. Five months later they were closed. The Pre-Internet Phenomenon Of Boys Hiding Their Porn In The Woods—The long life and slow death of woods porn