Comment is free readers on … the sexualisation of girls | The people’s panel | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

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This article could be useful for those A2 Media students doing case studies related to the representation and / or sexualisation of young girls.

I was first scouted at the age of 14 by one of the world’s most prestigious model agencies. I was told that my life had now changed and had to be perfect: bikini waxes, leg waxes, lots of water, perfect skin and having to stay slim were all on the agenda. I had just about started my period by then. When I put on seven pounds to become a whopping seven and a half stone, it was commented on before I’d made it halfway through the office.

I did my first topless shoot a year later for a well-known photographer, and they were photographs that oozed sex. They will tell you that it wouldn’t happen in the UK, that it’s illegal; I would ask you not to be naive. My father shuddered and wept when he saw them in my model book by accident. He wanted nothing to do with it ever again. I quit modelling at 18 and went to university, tired of seeing my 15 and 16-year-old colleagues on Vogue front pages looking like they were all about sex, while overhearing men saying things I couldn’t repeat about girls I knew to be still awkward about kissing boys.

via Comment is free readers on … the sexualisation of girls | The people’s panel | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Is the UK Music Industry Sleepwalking into a CD Crisis? « Music Industry Blog

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This is an interesting article about the current state of the UK music industry. It seems the rise in digital sales is not matching the drop in CDs. As we hear that Game may well go bust shortly, the signs for physical media and those who retail them are not good.

CD sales are falling at an alarming rate: though digital album unit sales grew by 5.6 million, CD album sales fell by 12.3 million. So the digital growth was less than half of the physical decline in absolute terms. A worrying ratio at this stage in the development of the digital market (i.e. when it should be maturing, not just getting started).

via Is the UK Music Industry Sleepwalking into a CD Crisis? « Music Industry Blog.

Warners’ “Disc to Digital” scheme

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Another example of how behind the times the film industry is from Craig Grannell. The LA Times reports that Warners are launching a programme called ‘Disc to Digital’ in an attempt to cut piracy. This will allow DVD owners to bring their DVDs to a shop and pay to have them converted to a digital file.

As someone with a large collection of DVDs, this seems poorly thought out to me. Why would I want to load them into my car, drive somewhere, unload them all, hand them to a shop and pay when I could just download Handbrake for free and have my digital copy within a few minutes? How much would it cost? I could quite imagine the situation where paying the shop to rip a copy costs more than buying the DVD from Amazon.

It’s just odd that Warners would come up with a costly and cumbersome solution to a problem solved long ago by free software.

Nick Bergus » How I became Amazon’s pitchman for a 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant on Facebook

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This is an excellent example of the potentially embarrassing way Facebook shares information about users to other people. Nick Bergus found himself featuring in a ‘sponsored story’ after making an flippant comment about an extremely large drum of ‘personal lubricant’ for sale on Amazon:

Amused, I posted it to Facebook with the line “A 55-gallon drum of lube on Amazon. For Valentine’s Day. And every day. For the rest of your life.” And then I went on with my life.

A week later, a friend posts a screen capture and tells me that my post has been showing up next to his news feed as a sponsored story, meaning Amazon is paying Facebook to highlight my link to a giant tub of personal lubricant.

Other people start reporting that they’re seeing it, too. A fellow roller derby referee. A former employee of a magazine I still write for. My co-worker’s wife. They’re not seeing just once, but regularly. Said one friend: “It has shown up as one on mine every single time I log in.”

I’m partially amused that Amazon is paying for this, but I’m also sorta annoyed. Of course Facebook is happily selling me out to advertisers. That’s its business. That’s what you sign up for when make an account.

But in the context of a sponsored story, some of the context in which it was a joke is lost, and I’ve started to wonder how many people now see me as the pitchman for a 55-gallon drum of lube.

via Nick Bergus » How I became Amazon’s pitchman for a 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant on Facebook.

Gender and culture

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A few interesting gender items popped up on the Film Studies For Free Twitter feed yesterday:

  • Louise Wilks ‘”Boys don’t like girls for funniness”: Raunch Culture and the British Tween Film’ – Download
  • Francis Smith on ‘Gender and Class Performativity at the Prom: An Analysis of PRETTY IN PINK’ – Download
  • Networking Knowledge journal online (2011 conference, papers + “Girlhood in Popular Culture” theme)

Could be useful for case studies in A2 Film or Media.

MTV Under The Thumb app will stream shows with ‘co-viewing’ social features | Technology | guardian.co.uk

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MTV are to launch a smartphone app that will make social viewing easier.

MTV is launching an iPhone and Android app called Under The Thumb in Europe, which will enable people to watch its shows while chatting to friends, and also control playback on their TVs.

And

Ben Jones, European director of technology at AKQA, said at the launch event that the app is aimed at the “Millennials” generation.

“They’re basically kids or people who live life at the pace of digital. They need to have content wherever they are, at any point, on any device… A lot of kids nowadays don’t necessarily watch TV any more, they consume the majority of their content on their laptop, smartphone or tablet.”

The app will stream MTV’s shows on-demand, with an in-app chat feature for people to talk to friends about what they’re watching. There’s also something called “polymorphic interface control”, which turns Under The Thumb into a remote control app for a TV.

Jones said it will give viewers “the ability to control the stream, pause play and so forth, direct from your phone, and then that device becomes the controller for a larger screen too… No one’s really done this before.”

via MTV Under The Thumb app will stream shows with ‘co-viewing’ social features | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Dear Hollywood, nostalgia is not a business model – Ideas@Innovations – The Washington Post

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Post-Oscars blog post from the Washington Post about the state of Hollywood and the internet.

The problem with the entertainment industry is not the Internet or overseas foreign pirates — it’s a nostalgia for a past that will never return. Unfortunately, nostalgia is not a business model. The relentless pace of business in today’s digital world means that you either innovate or get out of the way.

And

It’s clear that the business model of Hollywood is built around scarcity, while the business model of Web-based companies is built around abundance. How the leaders of these two industries handle the vast dichotomy between these two models will tell you a lot about the future of video entertainment. During last night’s Academy Awards, the Hollywood message was distinctly one of scarcity, and it went something like this: It is only a few unique individuals, trained for generations, who can create this magic on a consistent basis. Anyone who has spent more than a few hours on the Internet knows otherwise – that the world is full of uniquely talented people, crowdfunding their ideas, embracing off-the-shelf digital tools and experimenting with innovative new formats for film.

via Dear Hollywood, nostalgia is not a business model – Ideas@Innovations – The Washington Post.

Right versus pragmatic – Marco.org

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This piece by Marco Ament is another good contribution to the debate on piracy triggered by last week’s The Oatmeal comic.

Not all piracy represents lost sales: many pirates would never have paid, and would rather go without whatever they can’t easily pirate. That’s not a market worth worrying too much about, because there’s not much anyone can do to stop it, and any attempts to slow it down usually just limit, inconvenience, frustrate, and anger the paying customers.

And

Relying solely on yelling about what’s right isn’t a pragmatic approach for the media industry to take. And it’s not working. It’s unrealistic and naïve to expect everyone to do the “right” thing when the alternative is so much easier, faster, cheaper, and better for so many of them.

The pragmatic approach is to address the demand.

Right versus pragmatic – Marco.org.