The Hollywood Reporter legal blog has a short analysis of Conan O’Brien and NBC’s contractual rights. NBC has argued that O’Brien’s contract says nothing about his show being broadcast at 11:35pm.
For years, O’Brien hosted a comedy show that was characterized (either explicitly in his deal or implicitly by anyone who has watched TV) as the second network show following the local news. In 2004, he agreed to wait five years and forgo the 11:35 timeslot and a hefty raise offered by other networks in order to be promoted in 2009 to the first show after the news. That was key to the deal, and there is tons of evidence showing Conan wanted “The Tonight Show” because it aired at a specific time. After fulfilling its promise five years later and signing O’Brien to the promotion he was promised, NBC seven months later decided to switch the first show into second position—and replace it with a show hosted by the exact guy who used to host the first show.
Even if NBC is right that “The Tonight Show” would still be “The Tonight Show” at 12:05, bumping Conan doesn’t really give him the benefit of the bargain he negotiated, does it?
Nicholas Gurewitch, father of the Perry Bible Fellowship, a weekly comic strip filled with a morbid mixture of sex, aliens, children, fantasy, et al, probes the mind of Tony Millionare, outlandish cartoonist most well known for his syndicated comic strip Maakies.
( Juxtapose )
Many people have linked to this story where Al Gore requested a single number change from a type foundry.
Others then linked to Joe Clark’s insightful comments on small caps, numbers, and acronyms. (I confess, I have been an acronyms-in-small-cap snob. I now recant.)
The Ministry Of Type then accused Clark of trash-talking
Lastly, but probably not finally, Clark responded by updating his original article and compares Robert Bringhurst acolytes to Randians.
Julie Lasky, the last editor of I.D., writes about the final days of the magazine.
Boris Johnson: that media double life
We’ve seen before that sometimes there are two Boris Johnsons: there’s Mayor Boris, who cares about London’s disadvantaged and low-paid, and there’s Telegraph Boris – ker-ching! – who cultivates his national support base by pandering to its ancient prejudices. We see the latter at work today.
( Dave Hill )
Copyright is an institution and like all social institutions remain in existance only for as long as its members continue to support it. There is a substantial and growing number of digital identities (people, organizations, projects, etc.) that exist outside of that institution.
( Girlintraining )
A photo essay on Doel, a 700-year-old village in Belgium that is being surrounded and usurped by a nuclear power plant.
The strange case of Jack Kerouac's will
When Jack Kerouac wrote his will shortly before his death in 1969, he was broke. Forty years later, a ferocious battle rages over his multi-million dollar literary estate. Kerouac, at odds with his third wife, Stella Sampas, had left everything to his mother, Gabrielle Kerouac. But when Gabrielle Kerouac passed away in 1973, her will indicated that the entire estate would go to Sampas, news that had shocked Kerouac’s remaining blood relatives—his daughter, Jan, and his nephew, Paul Blake Jr. When Sampas died in 1990, her siblings inherited the Kerouac literary estate, with the youngest brother, John Sampas, acting as executor. It was a stunning series of events for Kerouac scholars and fans, but the real surprise was yet to come. Last July, a judge in Tampa, Florida ruled that Gabrielle Kerouac’s 1973 will was a forgery.
Weird.