Digital Culture/Industry

Anyone who’s looked into web series knows most shows are marketed like traditional television shows are. Pitching a show to Hollywood, you come up with an easily digestible equation: Glee = High School Musical + The Simpsons (or some other “transgressive” show) or Flash Forward = Lost + Heroes (Season 1). You get the idea. [...]

I’ve been meaning to do it for months, and I finally took the time to compile a list of gay and lesbian web series (mostly independent) and it’s up! ***Click here for the list*** Some interesting things to consider/remember. [...]

Original at Ronebreak I don’t follow Lost. I don’t mean I can’t follow it, as in I watch it but don’t understand. I mean I’ve completely given up trying to watch the show. Around season three I tried once again to get into it. No go. Too complex. Too many peculiar things happening. What is up with [...]

Original at Ronebreak! When Sylar orders you to do something, you better do it. Starting its second season this week, Anyone But Me, probably America’s first full lesbian teen series, has gained its share of fans, including Zachary Quinto (Heroes, Star Trek), through is intimate, nuanced storytelling. “Life at sixteen is fraught and fertile for [...]

I’ve already posted some comments from the Fine Brothers before, but I thought I’d post the whole interview, which we did via email a couple months ago (Sorry folks! Scholars are slow). The Fine Brothers — Benny and Rafi Fine — are two standout comedians in an online world awash in aspirants. They’ve created numerous [...]

You’d be hard-pressed to find a web personality more fascinating than the splendiferous, divine B. Scott. Ever since Madison Moore introduced me to the blogger and YouTuber a couple years ago, I’ve been ever more intrigued! Since then, B. Scott’s star has risen. His website has seen its traffic balloon (Compete, Quantcast) and his YouTube [...]

My first academic article has been published! The article, published in First Monday, titled, “Real Vlogs: The Rules and Meanings of Online Personal Videos,” looks at how users on YouTube talk about what vlogs are “real” or authentic, and “fake” or inauthentic. Here’s the abstract: This paper explores what the “rules” of vlogging (video blogging) are: the [...]

Many thanks to Racialicious for reposting this! When new technologies emerge a host of new companies tend to sprout up. Tons of independent radio stations catering to diverse interests existed before 1970s-style deregulation. Digital technology brought dozens of new channels to television; that same technology fostered numerous production companies making independent TV and films. Now [...]

UPDATE: Please see my Black Web Series page for a full and regularly updated list. ORIGINAL: So I did a little bit of reporting and found some web series featuring all or mostly black casts! The full story is up at The Root: “A small but growing number of filmmakers, producers and writers are looking [...]

(Click the photo above for video!) The level of humor here is pretty base: the Boston accent is funny. But, hey, it is funny! Bloggers are already raving about New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre’s spoof Ma Men – although it really has little to do with the original. The 36-year old McIntyre is [...]