Every day, Roger Ebert picks a film that is available streaming online to share with his readers on social media. Tonight, he posted this message to his Facebook page:

{% blockquote -Roger Ebert http://www.facebook.com/RogerEbert/posts/448410911838580 Facebook %} So let me get something straight. A while ago I asked you about my Daily Streamers. Almost all of them are found on Netflix Instant. I asked how many of you would be OK with titles on Hulu. A lot of you said that would be fine. But I’ve noticed the Hulu links don’t get nearly as many hits. And when I link something from Fandor, I’m disappointed by the response–even though watching on Fandor is free with their introductory sub, which is not binding. For me, the fact that Fandor shares its revenues with the indie filmmakers is rather noble. But I’m getting the idea that the great majority of you are on Netflix, period. That’s fine with me. I love it. I’m also on Fandor and Hulu. I like Fandor’s bonus materials. So give me some feedback. {% endblockquote %}

I never even think about whether or not someone I know has a Netflix account, I just assume that they do. If a film I know is streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly comes up in conversation, I will immediately suggest, “Watch it on Netflix.”

The other services? Not so much.

I had a Hulu Plus account for awhile but I got rid of it, mostly due to what I see as the company’s lack of respect for me as a customer.

Fandor, however, is a site I feel guilty for not having an account on. They have a great selection and an excellent blog, Keyframe Daily, but I just haven’t gotten around to it…yet.

Ebert’s link tracking looks about in line with what I’d expect. Just about everyone who regularly uses the Internet (namely Facebook and Twitter, where Ebert shares these links) has a Netflix account. It’s less likely they have a Hulu account and, for now, it’s a safe bet that almost none of them have a Fandor account.

The comments on the post suggest that most people haven’t heard of Fandor. Scratch that, hadn’t heard of it. With any luck, the site will get a boost from Ebert’s 90,000+ fans.

First teaser trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master:

{::nomarkdown}

I don’t normally post every trailer that comes along, but what can I say? I’m excited for this one.

The following is a transcript of Dan Benjamin’s 5by5 Specials Episode #6, “Regarding The Talk Show.” It is his response to the speculation about why John Gruber took The Talk Show to Mule Radio Syndicate this past Friday. I recommend you listen to the original, but if you can’t, here is the text:

{% blockquote -Dan Benjamin http://5by5.tv/specials/6 May 21, 2012 %}

{% blockquote -David Paul http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299 The Mirror %} Hundreds of owls are being abandoned across the country after being bought as pets by Harry Potter fans. {% endblockquote %}

Awful, but this is nothing new. As noted later in the story:

The Harry Potter owl craze echoes that of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film in the early 1990s, when thousands of ­unwanted pet terrapins were dumped in Britain’s rivers, canals and lakes.

Cahal Milmo at The Independent filed a story in 2010 about the long-term effects of the terrapin abandonment:

Conservationists have issued a warning that hundreds of boating lakes, canals and waterways in towns and cities are infested with terrapins and small turtles which were bought as pets while brightly-coloured babies barely bigger than a 50p coin but dumped by owners unable to cope as they grew to mature carnivorous adults the size of a dinner plate.

The trend began in the early 1990s when thousands of red-eared terrapins, each capable of living up to 30 years, were bought by young fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon.

Children’s entertaiment and animals are a dangerous combination.

On Friday, John Gruber introduced a new version of his popular Talk Show podcast on the Mule Radio Syndicate network, effectively ending his partnership with Dan Benjamin and the 5by5 network. No explanation was offered by Gruber or Dan Benjamin, his co-host and 5by5 founder. So I wrote a blog post speculating about the split, and a lot of people read it. A whole lot.

I’ve been trying to figure out why so many people are interested in this story.

Here’s Macdrifter, yesterday:

I’ve looked over some of the speculation and personal attacks circulating about Gruber’s switch of networks and have one conclusion: There are a number of self-important dickheads with nothing important to do. I think that describes what’s wrong with many people on the Internet. People take their opinion too seriously and like to inflate their own value. How can anyone without personal connections to and personal knowledge of the network switch have any opinion? Further, who gives a shit. [sic] It’s a podcast that isn’t ending, just switching networks.

I think Macdrifter has this wrong, but offers a nice way to explore why so many people do give a shit.

There is a lot of irony in the phrase “self-important dickheads with nothing important to do” because, if we’re honest, it aptly describes Gruber’s persona on Daring Fireball, and that’s not a put down at all. Gruber has built an incredible brand by sneaking bits of his big, churlish personality into his writing, and we love him for it. As many fans as he has, he has loads of enemies who complain that he’s just some blogger with nothing important to do.

But we all know better. We all know that he provides a unique perspective on Apple and the tech industry as a whole. And that he serves an important journalistic service by broadcasting the overarching story of the technology industry as it stands right now.

Daring Fireball’s format, short links with opinionated commentary, has proven to be an enduring one and an inspiration for a number of writers, myself included. Macdrifter asserts that “people take their opinion too seriously,” but I don’t see that as a necessarily bad thing. Surely, Daring Fireball would be nothing without Gruber’s own opinions treated with the seriousness they deserve.

The move to Mule Radio Syndicate is more than “just switching networks.” By moving, Gruber left half the show, namely Dan Benjamin, behind. It’s as if David Letterman were suddenly on cable without Paul Schaffer one day, with no explanation.

But that’s a bad analogy because there would be an explanation. It would be printed in every newspaper, it would be scrutinized in every corner of the Internet, maybe even on Daring Fireball. It would be news, and people would demand coverage of it.

This should be no different.

John Gruber and Dan Benjamin are in the media business. The large and loyal audiences both have fostered allow them to continue their work. Unfortunately, the other edge of that sword means that their output is open to public scrutiny. For the large community of listeners and readers, this is news. It’s a juicy, salacious media story.

As it should be.

People do write about podcasts. I link to them when something relevant to this site’s audience pops up. Macdrifter has done a great job of publicizing how large the community has become and explaining why listeners are lucky for it. The above quote is perhaps the most charged in an excellent post that spells out why Gruber’s move is actually a boon for the industry. So, I would argue, is the backlash against the sudden and unexplained split.

People care about these shows. They listen to them regularly and discuss them among friends the way a bygone generation would talk about Uncle Miltie. Listeners are personally connected to these shows. We welcome these hosts into our lives every week to be entertained and inspired. There is absolutely a relationship between host and listener and it is a very personal, intimate one. Otherwise what’s the point?

People care about this story because they care about these people. I’m not naïve; there’s a layer of schadenfreude to this story too. Mostly I think people are interested because they like listening to these shows. If things had gone down differently, if listeners were at least kept informed of the move and the show’s changing format, maybe there wouldn’t be a story.

But we weren’t. And it is.

This anonymous Quora commenter offers remarkable insight into what could have led to The Talk Show moving from 5by5 to Mule Radio Syndicate. It’s a bit long, with a 10 point breakdown of what could have led to John Gruber’s silent departure. Here’s one I hadn’t considered:

Gruber posts a list of the talk show sponsors on Daring Fireball each week. This is worth almost as much as the daring fireball sponsorship which he currently sells for $7500 a week. I bet this played a major part in the negotiations.

Sounds feasible.

{% blockquote -Dan Harmon http://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/23339272200/hey-did-i-miss-anything HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING? %} I’m 39, now. The friends my Mom warned me about are bigger now, and older, bloodying my nose with old world numbers, and old world tactics, like, oh, I don’t know, sending out press releases to TV Guide at 7pm on a Friday.

But my Commodore 64 is mobile now, like yours, and the modems are invisible, and the internet is the air all around us. And the good friends, the real friends, are finding each other, and connecting with each other, and my Mom is turning out to be more right than ever. {% endblockquote %}

Dan Harmon got fired from the fourth season of his show, Community. NBC has managed to screw its talent again, not realizing that writers are usually very good at articulating how, exactly, they got fired. This bit towards the end sounds like an admission that network television itself is outmoded. A final “fuck you” to the network.

Even if you don’t like the show, this is a great little piece of writing about what it’s like to be a creative person working in the entertainment industry.

Orson Scott Card discussing the forthcoming film adaptation of his book, Ender’s Game:

My book was already alive in the mind of every reader. This is writer-director Gavin Hood’s movie, so they were his words, and it was his scene.

His post is long but worth reading. He first offers a cogent explanation for why The Avengers works even though it doesn’t make any sense. Then Card lyrically recounts his experience on the set of the film of his book. His outlook on the project is inspiring.

{% blockquote -Neil Gaiman https://vimeo.com/42372767 University of the Arts Graduation 2012 %} When you start out on a career in the arts, you have no idea what you’re doing. This is great. People who know what they’re doing know the rules and they know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not and you should not. The rules on what is possible and what is impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can. If you don’t know it’s impossible, it’s easier to do. And because nobody’s done it before they haven’t made up rules to stop anyone doing that particular thing again. {% endblockquote %}

This is great.

{::nomarkdown}

Michael Lopp on learning how to write:

Writing is the connective tissue that creates understanding. We, as social creatures, often better perform rituals to form understanding one on one, but good writing enables us to understand each other at scale.

This piece is worth bookmarking and revisiting every few months.