Kurt Kreuger R.I.P.

Actor Kurt Kreuger died July 12, 2006 at the age 89 from a stroke. Kreuger was perhaps best known for playing both Nazis and film noir villains in several movies.

Kreuger was born on July 23, 1916 in Michenberg, Germany. He grew up in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Kreuger studied both economics and medicine, but ultimately chose acting for a career. Kreuger made his film debut in Mystery Sea Raider (directed by Edward Dmytryk) in 1940. In 1941 he appeared on Broadway in the drama Candle in the Wind. The next few years Kreuger would appear in various bit parts, usually as various German or Nazi military officers. His breakthrough role came in Sarhara in which he played Captain von Schletow, the German fighter pilot shot down and held captive by an American tank crew. Unfortunately, Kreuger found himself typecast as a Nazi in Hollywood films. He played Nazi officers in None Shall Escape, Hotel Berlin, and Paris Underground.

Fortunately, following World War II, Kreuger began to appear in parts other than Nazis and assorted German officers. Starting with The Spider in 1945, Kreuger would play a succession of bad buys in film noir movies. He played what could have been a break through role in the Preston Sturges film Unfaithfully Yours. In the black comedy, Kreuger appeared as Anthony, a scoundrel who openly flirts with the wife of insanely jealous symphony conductor Sir Alfred de Carter (played by Rex Harrison). Unfortunately, Harrison's lover at the time, Carole Landis, committed suicide and Twentieth Century Fox, fearing a scandal, failed to promote the movie. It died at the box office and in doing so left his careers in the doldrums. After another role as another German officer in Spy Hunt in 1950, Kreuger left the United States and Twentieth Century Fox in hopes of a film career in Europe.

In Europe Kreuger appeared in such films as Die Blaue Stunde directed by Veit Harlan and La Paura directed by Roberto Rosellini. Unfortunately, none of the films he made in Europe were successes. Starting in 1955 with a guest appearance on Crusader, the majority of Kreuger's work was in television . He made guest appearances on such series as The Five Fingers, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Combat, Mission Impossible, The Wild Wild West, and Get Smart. Eventually he went into real estate, in which he literally made millions of dollars.

Kreuger's later film work included the role of U-boat navigator Von Holen in The Enemy Below, the sadistic Captain Marcheck in Legion of the Doomed, and James Clark in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. While at 20th Century Fox in the Forties he was their third most request male pinup.

Much over the years was made of Kreuger's blond good looks, although I think it was more important to note that he did have considerable talent. His performances in Sahara and Unfaithfully Yours were impressive. It is sad that he spent much of his career typecast as Nazi officers (a fact which he always resented), as he was capable of so much more. Er wird vermißt.

Annoying Commercials

Even if you haven't seen it, if you spend any time at all on the Web you have probably heard of the commerical for HeadOn, a headache relief product. The commercial itself is very simple. It features a model against a simple background applying Head On to her forhead and repeats the slogan "HeadOn, apply directly to the forehead" three times. The commercial has created considerable buzz in that many believe that it is the most annoying commercial currently on television. Personally, I don't find it that annoying, especially not compared to other commercials.

Indeed, when it comes to commercials for pain relievers, the ad for HeadOn is positively pleasant in my opinion. Historically, I rather suspect that the most annoying commericals of all time may well have been those promoting Anacin. Starting in the Fifties with commercials that portrayed headaches as sledgehammers attacking the brain, I swear that the Anacin commercials were designed to give viewers headaches. Not only were they often accompanied by annoying graphics (such as the tiny sledgehammers or, in other commercials, lightning bolts), but the loudest and most annoying sounds possible in a commercial. As a child I simply could not stand these ads. But even now I can't complain that they did not sell their products. Their commercials having induced headaches in viewers, a lot of people probably rushed out to buy Anacin for "fast relief."

Of course, when it comes to loud, annoying commercials, I suspect no one has mastered the form like the automotive industry. I am sure you have seen these various commercials over the years; they usually air during the local news. Most of the time the volume on these commercials is as loud as they can legally be. In fact, I swear that their volume is usually three to four times louder than the average television programme. I have never been able to watch one without turning down the sound on my TV set.

While the old Anacin ads and the average car commercials are annoying because of their volume, other commercials are simply annoying because they are either repetitive, they are aesthetically unpleasing (poor grammar, bad rhymes, et. al.), they are seen by viewers as just plain stupid, or all of the above. A case of a series of commercials that is most likely all of the above are the ads for Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Pads. First, the ads are saddled with what could be the worst advertising slogan of all time--"Are you gellin'?" I have to wonder if Dr. Scholls' advertising agency did not think they were creating a catchphrase that would spread like wildfire and that "gellin'" would become an established part of American slang. If they did think so, then they were seriously mistaken. Most people I know seem to think the use of the word "gellin'" in any context beyond "to become a gel (which is a semisolid body...)" is just plain stupid. Second, as if the catchphrase itself wasn't annoying enough, they have to rhyme it in every way possible ad nauseum: "Are you gellin'?" "Like a felon;" Are you gellin'" "Like Magellan..." In the end I don't so much want to buy Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Pads as slap the folks in the commercials upside the head...

Of course, Dr. Scholls isn't the only big advertiser who has been saddled with a bad catchphrase. I'm sure many of you remember Anheuser-Busch Budweiser's "Whassup" campaign from several years ago. The original commercial simply consisted of a bunch of guys talking on the phone and repeating "Whassup" over and over. I think what is even sadder is that, unlike the Dr. Scholls "Are you gellin'?" slogan, for a time "Whassup" actually entered Amercian slang of the time. It even became a bit of phenomenon on the Internet for awhile, with parodies appearing almost immediately. Why the "Whassup" commercials caught on I will never know, as I find them among the most annoying commercials of all time. Indeed, they grated on my nerves even more when it seemed as if every child in my life insisted on repeating "Whassup" over and over again.

I think annoying ad slogans can often be made worse by annoying music. A perfect example is the most recent Old Navy commercial. Running throughout the commercial is one of the worst rap songs I have ever heard (which is saying a lot considering how much I hate rap), repeating the line "We've gotta get our fash' on" (or variations thereof) over and over. Besides using a song that is just plain bad, the commercials are all the more annoying for the slogan "Get your fash' on." Now I have always enjoyed good puns myself, but "Get your fash' on" is not a good pun by any stretch of the imagination.

The sad thing is that the song in the old Navy commercial isn't even the worst piece of music in a commercial these days. That honour would go to that horrible "Woo-hoo" song in Vonage's commercials. The song is repetitve and shrill and simply downright unpleasant to me. In fact, I can't see how people can even think of calling the HeadOn commercial the most annoying commercial on television when those Vonage ads are so much annoying. Their commercials don't make me want to run out and subscribe to Vonage. They do make me want to mute the television everytime that they come on.

Of course, I do not think that there will be a time when there are not annoying commercials on television. The sad fact is that, as much we might hate them, irritating commercials can often accomplish their goals better than more pleasant ads. Prior to the notorious commercial for HeadOn, I seriously doubt that very many people had even heard of the product. I now rather suspect that the majority of Americans have. And at least some Americans probably will buy HeadOn when they need headache relief. In that respect, the ad for HeadOn has done its job in promoting its product. As long as annoying commercials succeed in creating product awareness, they will continue to be part of the television landscape.

I Want My MTV? Well, Not Anymore....

Today MTV turns 25 years old. It was on August 1, 1981 that the channel first went on the air. Curiously, MTV is holding no celebrations, no parties, to mark the ocassion. In fact, they are not even mentioning the anniversary. Of course, if you ask me, there really isn't much to celebrate.

For those of you too young to remember, there was a time when MTV showed videos. In fact, when the channel first debuted that was all it showed. MTV was the equivalent of a radio station on television. It would show music videos, interrupted only by commercials and the chatter of their veejays (that's "video jockeys"--the video equivalent of a "disc jockey" or "deejay"). The idea of MTV grew out of a show produced by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees in 1980. Capitalising on the growing popularity of music vidoes, Popclips aired on Nickelodeon throughout 1980. Warner Cable (now Warner Ammex), the parent company of Nickelodeon, took notice of the show and offered to buy the rights to it so they could create a cable channel that would show nothing but videos 24 hours a day. Nesmith and his production company, Pacific Arts, turned them down. It was then that Warner developed their own music video channel--MTV, short for Music Television.

It is hard today to imagine the impact that MTV had on its debut. It became one of the fastest growing cable channels of its time, bolstered a good deal by the "I Want My MTV" advertising campaign. It even sparked a video craze in the early Eighties. Soon cable channels and networks from WTBS (now just TBS) to NBC would have their own video shows. The videos themselves would even seep into pop culture. Z. Z. Topp's videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs" would serve as the basis for a dream sequence on the series St. Elsewhere. Michael Jackson's video "Thriller" would be visually referenced in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. Robert Palmer's video for "Addicted to Love" would be endlessly parodied. There can be little doubt about it--MTV loomed over the Eighties like no other cable channel did.

Indeed, in those days it seemed as if everyone under thirty watched MTV. Oh, at the time my friends and I often mocked MTV as too commercial. We often complained about those times when MTV would place a video on what we called "burnout rotation (that is when it seemed as if MTV was showing a video every 15 minutes)." But ultimately we still watched MTV. In fact, I doubt that there were very many days in the early to mid-Eighties that I didn't have MTV on at some point on any given day.

Sadly, it was not to last. In 1987 MTV debuted the game show Remote Control. It was their first show that had absolutely nothing to do with music. And while the show would not last long (only about three years), it set a precedent for non-musical programming on MTV. Gradually, MTV would start showing more and more shows that had nothing or, at least, very little to do with music or music videos. The die was cast in 1992 when the channel debuted its reality series The Real World. It would be followed by other non-musical shows, such as Singled Out and Road Rules. At the same time MTV started showing fewer and fewer videos until, at last, the majority of their programming was made up of non-musical shows. Videos, the material which gave MTV its start, would become a rarity on the channel.

Indeed, MTV would show so few music videos that in 1996 they created a new channel, MTV2, just for showing music videos. MTV2 was essentially what MTV originally was--a cable channel devoted totally to music videos. Since then Fuse, the video channel from Canada, has gained a very firm foothold in America. It seems to me that people still want their MTV, but they don't want what MTV has become. At least no one over twenty five wants it.

Quite simply, I have to wonder why MTV even bothers calling itself MTV any more. On any given day, MTV only shows a few hours worth of music videos. And with few exceptions it is usually in the late night/early morning hours that they show them. The rest of MTV's time is devoted to regularly scheduled programming, only a very few of which are even remotely devoted to music. In my opinion, MTV, the channel which built itself on music videos, ceased to be "Music Television" long ago. I honestly think that the channel should change its name to something more appropriate (given that very little of what they air is worthwhile in my opinion, I would suggest JTV--Junk Television...). After all, other cable channels (Spike, the Hallmark Channel, and so on) changed their name when they changed their formats. And if MTV insists on still being called "MTV," then perhaps they should stop showing non-stop reruns of The Real World and Road Rules and start showing videos again. Until then, I don't really want my MTV...

Roy Orbison

Well, in case any of you are wondering, I am still unhappy. I feel as if my life has just ended and that now I merely exist for no real reason and with no real purpose. I certainly do not think I will ever be happy again. I guess this is what happens when one loses his hopes and dreams, when his fondest desires are utterly crushed. He becomes one of the living dead.

Anyhow, today I thought I would discuss a musical artist whose music I'll probably listening to quite a bit in the coming months: Roy Orbison. Orbison was a legendary pioneer in rock 'n' roll and a songwriter of some note. He was perhaps best known for his many, often sad ballads. Despite this, his biggest hit and best known song is purely rock, the classic "(Oh) Pretty Woman."

Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23, 1936. His family would eventually move to the town of Wink, Texas where he would spend much of his childhood. Orbison attended North Texas State College in Denton, Texas and Odessa Junior College in Odessa, Texas.

Orbison became interested in music very early and he formed his first band he was all of 13. The Wink Westerners proved successful enough to have their own weekly show on Kermit, Texas radio station KERB. They would even appear on TV on shows that aired on KMID and KOSA, both in the Midland-Odessa area. In 1956, with the Wink Westerners renamed "The Teen Kings," Orbison headed to Memphis, Tennessee to try to break into the recording industry. Orbison signed with Sun Records, founded by legendary producer Sam Phillips. Today many of Roy Orbison's songs recorded at Sun are considered classics, but at the time he saw very little success. His only hit while he was at Sun Records was the song "Ooby Dooby," a minor hit from 1956. Orbison eventually moved from Sun Records to RCA. It was in 1959 that he was signed by Monument Records, where his biggest hits were recorded.

Orbison's first song, a rockabilly tune titled "Uptown," was only a moderate success. It would be the song"Only the Lonely" that would be his first major hit. Released in May 1960, the song would eventually reach #2 on the United States Billboard charts and #1 on the United Kingdom singles charts. The song displayed his signature vocal range and his practice of incorporating instruments usually reserved for orchestras (vioins, for instance) into rock music. His next single, "Running Scared," would go to #1 on the Billboard charts. For the next several years he would be among the biggest rock artists of the era, with several hit singles to his credit. Indeed, his best known songs, "Crying," "In Dreams," and "Oh, Pretty Woman" would all be included in Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004.

Orbison's songs were characterised by his nearly operatic vocals. They were also often characterised by sounds that as of yet had not been heard in rock 'n' roll. His classic "In Dreams," with its nearly epic quality, eschewed the typical structure of a pop song of the era. While most songs of the era tended to repeat certain sections of their music, "In Dreams" progresses through different musical sections that are not repeated. Of course, Orbison is probably best known for the lyrics of his songs, which are often about lost love. "Only the Lonely," "Crying," and "In Dreams" all paint portraits of men who have lost love and are not the better for it.

Of course, Orbison's biggest success would come with a happier song. "Oh, Pretty Woman" was released in 1964 and was the first American record to break The Beatles' stranglehold at the top of the Billboard charts. Indeed, the song not only went to the #1 spot, but sold more copies than any other single in its first ten days up to that time. Unfortunately, Orbison's career would virtually collapse following the success of "Oh, Pretty Woman." While his music was still popular throughout much of the rest of the world, the British Invasion insured Orbison remained hitless in his home of America. To complicate matters, the Sixties saw tragedy visit Orbison several times. His wife of 11 years, Claudette, died in a motorcycle crash in 1966. His home in Henderson, Tennessee burned to the ground in 1968, killing two of his sons.

Although Orbison would see success outside of the United States, his career would not be revived here until the Eighties. In 1980 he performed a duet with bluebrass singer Emmylou Harris, "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again." The song saw some success on the Billboard country charts. Nineteen eight six saw the release of the movie Blue Velvet, which included the song "In Dreams." With new interest in his early work, Orbison was once more in demand. He recorded a special for Cinemax, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night in 1988. The special featured such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and so on, performing as back up to the legendary Orbison. With its success Orbison would go onto record with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne (of ELO), Tom Petty, and George Harrison as part of The Travelling Wilburys. The Traveling Wilburys were fairly successful and Orbison went onto record the solo album Mystery Girl. Sadly, just as his career was once more getting underway, Roy Orbison died from a heart attack on December 15, 1988. Shortly after his death, the song "You Got It" would become one of his biggest singles.

Roy Orbison was one of the greatest rock artists of all time. In fact, for the early Sixties, his songs were far more sophisticated rhythmically, melodically, and lyrically than other songs released at the time. His songs often broke with pop songwriting tradition and, listened to today, were obviously well ahead of his time. His voice spanned an impressive three octaves, perhaps making him the greatest singer in the genre of rock. Roy Orbison also proved to be an influence on other classic rock artists. He had an incredible influence on the British Invasion bands, particulary both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (in 1963, while touring in Britain, he encouraged The Beatles to go to America). Among other artists Orbison would have an influence were Bob Dylan, The Bee Gees, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, lyricist Bernie Taupin, the Electric Light Orchestra, U2, and, most obviously, Chris Isaak ("Wicked Game" sounds as if it could have been both written and sung by Orbison). I rather suspect that if a top ten most influential artists of rock music was ever compiled, Roy Orbison would most certainly have to be included.

Good Night and Good Luck

Before there was Peter Jennings, before there was Tom Brokaw, even before there was Walter Cronkite, there was Edward R. Murrow. Murrow made his name reporting for CBS News from London during World War II. Following the war Murrow's reputation only increased. He anchored daily news reports on CBS Radio. With producer Fred Friendly he recorded a series of historical, spoken word albums entitled I Can Hear It Now. Those albums evolved into the radio show Hear It Now, on which Murrow and Friendly would tackle a number of controversial topics. The radio show would soon be adapted to the new format of television as See It Now, first airing on CBS in November, 1951. By the mid-Fifties Murrow was arguably the most respected journalist in America.

The movie Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney, focuses on what many believe to be the most fascinating aspect of Murrow's long career--his famous See It Now broadcast on which he criticised Senator Joseph McCarthy. Director Clooney and his crew did a wonderful job of recreating CBS News circa 1953 to 1955. The movie evokes the spirit of mid-Fifites televison quite well. The sets look almost exactly like pictures of the CBS newsrooms from the mid-Fifties that I have seen. And the black and white photography only adds to the movie's authentic feel and look (indeed, I am not sure that Murrow ever appeared in colour during his career with CBS). My only complaint with the flm with regards to its authentic look is that there is one typographical error in the movie. The CBS logo displayed in the newsroom is in Helvetica, a font face which was not created until 1957!

What is all the more remarkable is that actor David Strathairn recreates Murrow to such a point that it is at times difficult to believe that it is not Murrow on the screen. Strathairn certainly deserved to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Lead Actor; not having yet seen Capote, I would say that perhaps he even deserved to win it. Strathairn's performance as Murrow is all the most amazing given that the actor does not even look like Murrow in real life. The rest of the cast do a great job as well, especially George Clooney as Fred Friendly and Frank Langella as CBS head William S. Paley, even though neither actor looks much like the men they are playing (both Clooney and Langella are considerably better looking that either Friendly or Paley were).

To its credit, Good Night and Good Luck is fairly even handed in its portrayal of Murrow. While the movie does portray him as a heroic figure, it sometimes shows the legendary reporter in a lesser light. In the film, as in real life, Murrow sometimes expressed doubts about using the medium of television to attack an individual, public figure like McCarthy. And, as in real life, Murrow is portrayed as a bit of a showman. While he hosts See It Now, Murrow was also the host of the CBS interview show Person to Person. The movie recreates an interview done on that show in which Murrow asks Liberace (for those of you too young to remember, he was a flamboyant, gay pianist) about his marital prospects. And while Murrow is not always portrayed as a saint, neither is CBS head William S. Paley portrayed as a base villain. While many filmmakers would portray Paley as a money grubbing executive who cancels See It Now simply because of the company's bottom line, Paley is portrayed as a responsible man who genuinely likes Murrow and admires the work CBS News has done, but also has concerns about retaining sponsors for the network and providing a living for its many employees. Paley is even allowed to get some blows in on Murrow, pointing out that Murrow did not correct McCarthy when the Senator claimed known Communist Alger Hiss was convicted of treason (he was convicted only of perjury).

All of this is not to say Good Luck and Good Night is a perfect film. Like Quiz Show (the film about the quiz show scandals of the Fifties), it does create some inaccuracies through omission. While the movies does point out that McCarthy was not the first person to engage Red baiting (the HUAC-Hollywood Ten hearing predated McCarthy by a few years), it does not point out that there were major figures who tackled McCarthy before Murrow went after him. Both columnist Drew Pearson and cartoonist Herblock both attacked the junior Senator from Wisconsin before Murrow did. And while the movie does make reference to Don Hollenbeck's failing health and the fact that his wife had left him, the movie could well leave some viewers with the impression that it was the attacks made on him by New York Journal American columist Jack O'Brian which was the ulitmate cause of his suicide (in truth it was probably a combination of many factors). Similarly, I think that Clooney could have done a better job of handling the bigger picture of the Red Scare. Let's face it. In the Fifties the U.S.S.R. presented such a viable threat to the safety of America that for quite some time fallout shelters were all the rage...

Even with its omissions, however, Good Night and Good Luck is a remarkable film. It recreates with a good deal of authenticity the look and feel of one of the most fascinating events in television history, and the man who was behind it all. Good Night and Good Luck isn't just for the television historian, but anyone who enjoys a well told story.

User Generated Content

Well, today I am feeling no better than I have been. The weather has turned hot and muggy again. Worse yet, I still feel like my life has become a Queensryche album. Either that or I have become Thomas Veil from the TV show Nowhere Man. Or maybe Pip from Great Expectations. At any rate, I am not happy. But enough about me. On with the show.

Among the buzzwords one hears these days about the World Wide Web is the term "user generated content." The term essentially refers to any content that is produced by users of websites rather than the mass media (television networks, movie studios, magazines, et. al.). The term is rather all encompassing, as it can be used of virtually any content generated by web users, everything from blogs to online auction sites. Regardless, user generated content became big news in 2005. Newsweek, The New York Times, the BBC, and several other media outlets have done stories on the phenomenon. Of course, like so many things on the Web that the media are just now discovering, user generated content is nothing new.

Indeed, it has been many, many years that most ISPs have offered their customers free web space for their own web site. I have had my own web site since 1998! Even if one's ISP didn't offer free web space, one could set up his or her own web site on GeoCities (which has been around since 1995), Tripod (which has been around in some form or another since 1992), or one of the other free webhosting services. eBay was founded in 1995, introducing the concept of the online auction, in which users could place items up for bid on the eBay website. Of course, the ultimate example of user generated content may well be blogging. Blogs have been around since 1994, although their popularity was greatly enhanced in 1999 with the creation of Blogger, Diaryland, and other blogging services.

That having been said, it does seem as if websites dedicated to user generated content have taken greatly increased in the past three years. Perhaps the most popular of these new user generated content sites is MySpace. MySpace is technically a social networking website, not exactly what comes to mind when I think of "user generated content." But then MySpace is not quite like any social networking websites that came before it. MySpace offers the user profiles that one would expect of a social networking website, but it also offers blogs, photo sharing, groups (sort of clubs for MySpace users), and even its own internal email system. Essentially, MySpace is a combination of blogging services like LiveJournal, photo hosts like Flickr, and social networking websites like Friendster. It also allows the user to customise his or her MySpace profile in ways that one never could his or her LiveJournal. That might explain its popularity. Founded in 2003, it has become the fourth most popular website in English. Of course, MySpace has seen a good deal of controversy in its short lifespan. There was a case in which a student set up a MySpace account claiming to be the principal of his school. And there have been the widely publicised cases of sexual predators using MySpace to find young victims. As a result MySpace has beefed up its security of late, particularly with regards to those under 18.

Another up and coming website that depends upon user generated content is Flickr, founded in 2002. While there were photo sharing websites prior to Flickr, there had been none that allowed users to so easily organise their photos. The degree of organisation found in Flickr is also reflected in the ability of users to apply tags (a keyword or term which helps identify an item). The user's ability to organise his or her photos is greatly aided by Organizr, a web application which greatly eases the user's abilities to organise photos into sets (groups of pictures that fall under the same heading), modify descriptions, modify tags and so on. The end result of all this is that Flickr permits users to find photos related to any given subject much easier than they ever could before. Besides making organising photos easier, Flickr also allows its users to control the access to their photos. Photos can be private (that is, they are only viewable by one's friends and relatives) or they can be public (accessible by anyone). One of the social networking aspects of Flickr is that users can joing groups dedicated to specific sorts of photos (say, photos from sci-fi conventions, for example). Quite simply, users can add their photos to the group's pool of pictures and even limit access to those photos to members of that group alone. In many respects, Flickr is as much an online community as it is a photo sharing website.

Given that photo sharing websites have long been a part of the web, it was probably only a matter of time before a video sharing website would arise. YouTube was founded in 2005. YouTube allows users to upload, view, and share videos. YouTube uses Adobe Flash for the format of its videos. This allows for content on YouTube to be easily embedded on blogs and other websites through a video feed. Like many of the newer user generated content website, YouTube has some aspects of social networking websites. Each user has his or her own profile though which other users can communicate with him or her through an internal email system. As might be expected, the profiles also include a list of videos the user has uploaded to YouTube. Another social networking aspect of YouTube is that users can leave comments on any given video. Like MySpace, YouTube has seen its share of controversy. While QuickTime has long been a favoured format for video on the web, QuickTime videos do not adapt well to YouTube, ending up with poor synchronisation. I might also add that, in my humble opinion, when compared to such technologies as Quicktime and RealAudio, Adobe Flash loads much, much too slow. A much greater source of controversy as been the uploading of copyrighted material to YouTube. While YouTube has restricted this from the beginning, users have done so anyway. This has resulted in companies from Turner Media to Sunrise (the anime company responsible for such classics as Cowboy Bebop and Witch Hunter Robin) having to ask that certain copyright protected material be removed from YouTube.

The current trend towards user generated content has even resulted in a website that allows users to post their own content for cellphones (ringtones, wallpaper, and music). myNuMo is brand new, just having come out of beta. Its format is similar to that of Flickr and YouTube. Each user has his or her own profile (although they are much simpler than those on Flickr and YouTube) showing what ringtones, wallpaper, and music they have created. myNuMo differs from both Flickr and YouTube in that users cannot comment on ringtones or wallpapers, although they can rate them from 1 to 10. Being relatively new, it is difficult to tell how popular myNuMo will become, but if the success of Flickr and YouTube is any indication, it might prove very popular.

Even the traditional media have embrassed user generated content to some degree. The magazine Entertainment Weekly allows users to comment on the movie and television reviews on their sites; essentially they can review the reviews. Channel 4 in England has a service called 4Docs, through which users can upload their homegrown documentaries. Of course, Yahoo snatched up Flickr and added it to its myriad services.

Of course the ultimate queston is precisely how signifcant user generated content really is. Often times the idea of user generated content brings to mind Sturgeon's Law (the adage coined by sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon): "Ninety percent of everything is crud." I have yet to find a blog on MySpace worth reading. And the only video on YouTube I have watched (even though took forever to load...) has been the promotional film that introduced Batgirl from the Sixties Batman TV show to ABC executives. While I have found very little worthwhile material on the new generation of user generated websites, however, I must say that I am over all in favour of user generated content. True, ninety percent of it may be crud, but then there will always be that ten percent that is actually interesting. Indeed, since I have started using Blogger there have been those blogs I keep finding myself returning to.

While I am in favour of user generated content, I must also say that it must be closely supervised. MySpace and YouTube have both learned this the hard way. In the past the service has been plagued by students setting up false teacher/faculty profiles, sexual predators surfing the website for victims, and even plans for a Columbine style attack posted to the website by a few Kansas teenagers. It seriously makes me wonder if MySpace should not raise the minimum age for usage of the site to 18. While YouTube's problems don't seem to me to have be nearly as severe, they have had a problem with copyright protected material being uploaded to the website. Moreso than any other part of the web, it seems to me that user generated content requires greater security and more supervision of what is being posted to websites.

If I sound at times overly critical of some user generated websites, I must point out that I have used them in the past. Like any long time web user I have used Geocities and eBay. Of the recent user generated websites I have used Flickr to share photos with my friends and family (all of my pictures are marked as private). I do have a MySpace profile, but I use it to primarily promote both my writing and my blog (being fairly private, I am not interested in social networking...). I do then have some experience in creating my own user generated content.

At any rate, if the current boom in user generated content is not a fad, it looks as if it could be more common in times to come than it has been in the past. In fact, the time may come when MySpace outdistances both Yahoo and Google. Whether this is ultimatlely a good or bad thing I think only time will tell.

Robert Cornthwaite Passes On

It seems as if this month of July has been one for celebrity deaths. The latest celebrity to die is veteran character actor Robert Cornthwaite. Cornthwaithe is perhaps best remembered by audiences as scientist Dr. Carrington in the original version of The Thing. He died of natural causes at the age of 89 on July 20.

Cornthwaite was born in St. Helens, Oregon on April 28, 1917. He became interested in acting as a teenager. At Reed College in St. Helens he made his first appearance on stage in a production of Twelfth Night. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps.

After the war Cornthwaite resumed his acting career. He made his film debut in 1950 in an uncredited role in the movie Union Station. Ironically, his first major role would also possibly be his most famous. In 1951 he appeared as Dr. Carrington in The Thing. Cornthwaite most often played the role of the learned professional, most often scientists, physicians, and lawyers. In 1952 he appeared as Dr. Zoldeck in the classic comedy Monkey Business. He also played Dr. Pryor in the 1953 classic War of the Worlds. He also appeared in the films Colossus: the Forbin Project, Futureworld, and Matinee. His last appearance on film was in the low budget comedy The Naked Monster as, fittingly enough, Dr. Carrington.

As the Fifties progressed, Cornthwaite started appearing more and more often in television. In fact, he is perhaps one of the most seen faces on television. Making his television debut in 1953 on Cavalcade of America, he would continue to work in television as late as 1996 (in an episode of The Pretender). With a television career as long and prolific as his, Cornthwaite appeared on several classic shows. Among the shows he made guest appearaces on were Studio 57, Disneyland, The Rifleman, Maverick, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Thriller, The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart, The Monkees, Ellery Queen, Beauty and the Beast, and Cheers. He was a regular on the TV series The Adventures of Jim Bowie and Picket Fences. In all Cornthwaite appeared in over 250 movies and TV shows.

I always liked Robert Cornthwaite. With his silver mane (he went grey while still young) and aristocratic mien he was perhaps the ideal actor to play scientists and physicians. What is more, his talent was not limited to those sorts of roles. During his career, Cornthwaite played in everything from comedies to Westerns. He even played the chief henchman to the villainous Archer (played by Art Carney) on the Sixties comedy Batman! Quite simply, Robert Cornthwaite was literally one of a dying breed, a talented character actor with the versatility to play a large number of different roles.