Good Magazine is the latest entity to try the pay-what-you-want approach for distribution.  The magazine posted on its site blog today that the normal $20 a year subscription rate would be waved, and new subscribers could pay what they want, with a minimum payment of $1 – with all proceeds going to charity.

From the website:

Our goal is to create a collaborative community of individuals, businesses, and non-profits. We feel that the content is the invitation into this community and we didn’t want to make the invitation too expensive. We thought about what we like and respect, and we decided that what Radiohead did meshed with where our heads are  at. So meet the new model for GOOD.

Publicity stunt – maybe, but it was enough to get me to cough up $10 for a subscription to the magazine.

Read more…

Harmonix continues to add awesome downloadable content to their Rock Band lineup. First there was Jonathan Coulton’s “Still Alive.” Now, get ready for Stephen and the Colberts doing “Charlene (I’m Right Behind You).” Yup, it’s who you think it is.

Thanks Katy.

Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy put together a short that video gamers should enjoy.

Can the e-reader save the “printed” word?

Plastic Logic yesterday announced their new product, known currently as the reader.  Similar to Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s eReader, the unnamed reader uses E Ink technology, which provides a digital display with a similar look and feel as a book.  From Plastic Logic’s Web site:

Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it’s thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience – better than alternatives of paper or other electronic readers on the market today.

The reader will be released in spring of 2009.  The question is what – if any impact will this have on the newspaper industry?

Read more…

This was a story I first wrote June 11th of this year, once the news cited in this article broke.  At the time I was having serious issues with WordPress, so it ended up being saved and forgotten until now.  Decided I would throw it up now that everything is running correctly again.

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I remember the exact day I stopped caring about the NBA.

It was 2002. I was living in Milwaukee, and out in Walker’s Point with a friend. We stopped at a local pub to watch game 6 of the Lakers-Kings playoff series. After watching a second half where the Kings got screwed, I sat back in my chair and took a large sip of beer.

“The NBA is rigged,” I proclaimed to my friend. “The Kings got hosed because the league wants the Lakers in the finals.” Neither her or anyone in the bar disagreed with me.

I don’t think I’ve watched an NBA game in its entirety since that day. There was no point watching game 7, because I, like the league, already knew the outcome. To this day, I feel more honest watching professional wrestling then popping on an NBA game. At least wresting admits it is rigged.

Read more…

Tony Dokoupil wrote a great article about the floundering 20-something generation of men entitled “Why I Am Leaving Guyland.”  Dokoupil discusses the changing landscape of men nearing 30, as more choose to stay single and continue to live like they did in college.   Dokoupil is the exception to the rule, choosing to settle down at the age of 27.  Best quote from the article:

According to a study released last month by the Parents Television Council, prime-time broadcast audiences are three times more likely to hear about people having sex with pets, corpses or two other people simultaneously than they are to see a blissed-out married couple between the sheets.

Read it for yourself at Newsweek.com

The vehicle may look the same, but what’s under the hood has been improved.

MIdwesternBoy.com has successfully been moved to a new server, which means images and videos should work again.  Huzzah!  You may notice some other changes with the move:

• If you’ve bookmarked any storyies from this page, the links have changed.  I switched to smart URL’s which incorporate the date and post title.
• Upgrading to the latest version of WordPress gives me more options for the layout, which you should start seeing almost immediately.
• New categories as I venture into video game reviews and more.
• A new layout is on the way.  Really!  If nothing else I might just change to another completed template because I’m bored with this one.
• As previously mentioned, summer is at an end, which more articles are on the way.  Try to control your excitement.

Check back often or add the MidwesternBoy RSS feed to your favorite feed reader.