Penny Arcade On NPR 128
This morning on the NPR shuffle podcast, they included a segment about Penny Arcade. Seems only fair since NPR did Achewood a few months ago. If they just get XKCD on there, then the universe can rest.
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Penny Arcade On NPR
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I judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it. - Joe Mullally, computer salesman
Re:Someone actually listens to NPR? (Score:5, Informative)
No they are still around. But their availability depends on local public radio stations. Much like how you have you local ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX channels which has their own stuff mixed with network stuff. Kinda the same with NPR (however it is more of a looser agreement) So if you have public radio stations in your area then they may choose to have NPR as well. However some Public Radio stations decide to just be Classical Music Stations and cover very little news, Other Jazz Music. Some Public Radio stations are owned by big broadcast companies and feed their own stuff in. Then there are News Stations Public Radio and depending on how much local and national news they do the amount that NPR is broadcasts varies. Oddly enough for a station that has a bunch of rather serious reporters their most popular show is Car Talk with Click and Clack, they were actually voice overs in Disney Pixar's movie Cars as the main characters sponsor, where they answer car questions and make fun of the people asking the questions... And themselves.
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Hmm a show about cars being the most popular. Amazingly that is not that surprising to me, the only show I listen to on the local talk radio station is the Car Talk every Saturday. I work most Saturdays driving from place to place to do various things so I usually catch some if not most of it. The ironic thing is I know almost nothing about cars, I guess the host is just that good as he holds my attention well (not the easiest thing to do).
I know I was trolling above, but honestly, I've seen so little wi
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Isn't "The Sound of Young America" on NPR? I hear about it constantly, like it's the new sliced bread. I've been meaning to listen to it, but I do very little driving, and I choose to study on bus commutes.
Supposedly, it's very good.
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Not to defend NPR, but you can stream them, get local feeds, get them on XM/Sirius, and so on. Broadcasts aren't limited to 'radio' these days.
In terms of user-supported media (they get surprisingly little government funds as a percentage of overall revenues), they're pretty efficient in terms of their overall reach.
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Well they did get some major funding cuts when the republicans took power. And NPR especially at the time was a very liberal news organization, they have toned down a bit. And are actually rather balanced at the Left seems to hate them and so does the Right... So I guess they are in the middle now if both sides thinks they are to far in the other direction.
Re:Someone actually listens to NPR? (Score:5, Insightful)
So I guess they are in the middle now if both sides thinks they are to far in the other direction.
I guess you could call it the middle. It seems to me all they've done was add some commentary by right-wing nutjobs to complement their traditional slate of commentary by left-wing nutjobs. You do get a wide variety of interesting viewpoints, though, so I continue to listen.
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I can read an order of magnitude faster than the average speaker can talk on the radio so I don't waste my time on NPR (I need music, not boredom, when I drive anyway) but I do have to say that I'd rather have balance than mediocrity. It's far more interesting. I mean, I'd rather be a manic depressive and at least be happy sometimes than be on prozac and be constantly grey (or digging a tunnel to my neighbor's house with a spoon. or killing myself, like one of my teenage friends did while he was on it. yay!
NPR is not government funded. (Score:2)
Re:Someone actually listens to NPR? (Score:5, Insightful)
NPR has been cast as liberal by conservatives, but I find it pretty mainstream. Journalism when done correctly and honestly, gets criticized by all quarters.
The only time I had a problem with their coverage recently was when Mara Liasson started to fawn after the legacy of the Bush administration. The wool over her eyes damages her credibility.
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I disagree. Even when I support an issue, I can tell when someone is veering a bit beyond reporting and entering into nut-jobbery.
I have encountered bias on NPR. Both left leaning and right leaning. But the amount I have noticed has been less than any other news source.
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It really depends on what show you are listening to. Morning Edition and All Things Considered have a slight leftward bent, in my opinion, but it's very subtle - I tend to chalk it up to the individual views of the journalists. But some of the shows are just pathetic. My local affiliate plays "The World" every evening at 8:00, and it may as well be titled "The US Sucks Hour".
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Agreed. I'm middle-of-the-road politically and I would say that as a whole NPR is slightly left. I won't say the bias is willful and deliberate and diabolical and all of that, but I do believe it exists.
And when considering issues of bias, whether we're talking about left bias or right bias, it bears mentioning that often the issue of bias has as much to do with what's NOT reported as what is reported.
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Can you provide any examples? I'm a far right leaning individual (in the classic economic sense, not the American political sense) and I found that the recent presidential run had massive amounts of coverage and representation from both sides. In fact, it seems they went far out of their way to have an unbiased 50/50 split.
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Here's an example that really stood out for me. When the initial financial collapse occurred, NPR did a story on how both campaigns were handling it. The McCain piece, which aired first, had a subtle negative shading - his plans were referred to as "schemes", etc. All of the information was garnered from press releases, and the reporter told the whole story.
Then they ran the Obama piece, in which they intro'd Obama's spokesman, he said his prepackaged bit, they threw some softball questions at him, and i
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NPR's pretty good about saying that "XYZ refused our requests for an interview, stateemnt" etc. This time they didn't.
Re:Someone actually listens to NPR? (Score:4, Informative)
Well I don't have full transcripts however I have noticed type of wording they used and the way they values responses. For example they were interviewing a spokes person for the Evangelical Christians, he was behaving quite well and responsibility, trying to give middle of the road answers to the question. But the questions were focus on trying to make him really speak out against Oboma and try to really make him seem like he is against popular opinion. However a while back when interviewing an abortion doctor she gave some statistics that most people would find to be way off (1 out of 4 women have abortions) unchallenged or unquestioned. In general they make the people who fit in the liberal plate seem more human, and they try to get the conservative plate people to seem more like monsters. They are much better then anyone else at trying to keep balanced but there is a slant, if you pay attention.
Seem? (Score:2)
To me, neo-conservative people are monsters.
They are anti-abortion, pro war. They believe violence is alright, as long as it's directed at people who "deserve" it. When innocent people die in the wars they start, it's called an unfortunate reality. They defend torture. They pervert Christianity to be exclusive instead of inclusive. They go out of their way to harm the environment to protect their "lifestyle." They promote brutal mythology, and try to discredit science, but only when it's used to heal people
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Your comment reminds me of polling done on journalists regarding the whole "is journalism slanted to the left" question. First they asked "Are you liberal, moderate, or conservative?"; then they asked opinions on specific issues - gays, abortion, the military, social welfare programs, etc. Then they compared the answers that journalists gave to answers from the rest of the populace, and a striking pattern emerged. While journalists overwhelmingly identified themselves as "moderate" (I think it was 75%),
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You could also take from that study that people in the general populace who identify themselves as liberal as actually moderate. These terms just get thrown around with little meaning. People should identify themselves by the individual issues and not have an overall label.
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Without knowing specifically what the questions are that they were asked, it's impossible to tell whether this is relevant or the result of your usual right-wing persecution complex being fueled with a hackjob poll and repeated ad nauseam without any of the details (I've seen this sort of figure cited multiple times but never seen the original poll it supposedly came from) until everyone else believes it because it's been repeated so often.
Let's take the first one you listed- gays- and run with it.
Do you be
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Actually I heard about this poll when it was reported on...wait for it...NPR. So yeah, I guess it was a right wing nut organization...oh, wait...
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"The World" doesn't have anything to do with NPR. It's a PRI show.
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The bias is subtle and I imagine unintentional. It is simple things like "the Republican senator from Alaska Ted Stevens has been found guilty...." vs. "The Illinois governor has been charged with....." ....." It also shows up in story selection. Every Palin slip was replayed gleefully over and over. Biden slips were somehow never mentioned. I didn't vote for either but
The most obvious case was when Bush was first elected and he and Clinton were at the same function. "President Clinton and Mr. Bush were at
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The problem is that Chris Matthews and others claim their journalists, and in fact, they're entertainers.
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The most obvious case was when Bush was first elected and he and Clinton were at the same function. "President Clinton and Mr. Bush were at ....."
Sorry bud, your bias is showing. If by "when Bush was first elected" you mean between the election and Jan 20, it would be incorrect to refer to Bush as president. President-elect or Mr Bush is just fine, no bias required.
If you listen to NPR daily, you've probably noticed references to Mr Obama. He's not president yet, just as Bush wasn't president yet w
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Is there some reason you're trying to make it clear you're not on NPR's site? The only people I've ever met who dislike NPR are very far right wing individuals who think anything other than Rush is a lie.
I ask only because, if there's some reason to clearly state your dislike of them, I'd like to know.
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I'm generally on the side of NPR and its content, except that it only rarely touches on the needs of minorities. There's a lot of WASP-ish content that's focused to YUPpie types, rather than trying to reach out to a larger community.
In terms of news content, there's a lot of belabored discourse, some of which is good, some beats a dead horse... perturbative.
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"they were actually voice overs in Disney Pixar's movie Cars as the main characters sponsor, where they answer car questions and make fun of the people asking the questions... And themselves."
And for the real insiders, the cars they played were ones that they owned and talked about on their show - a 1963 Dodge Dart and a smallish Dodge van (he actually owned a Dodge Colt Vista, but it wouldn't have fit into the time period).
Re:Someone actually listens to NPR? (Score:5, Interesting)
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I'd explain at how my life doesn't resemble at all what you seem think it does, but you're obviously a cowardly little shitbag whose mother didn't love them enough, so I'll leave it at
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I would just like to add to parent poster's informative post, since he/she touched on the local affiliates. Some are great, and some as stated, are maybe too narrowly focused or play too little NPR broadcast content to have wide listenership.
So I just wanted to throw in a plug for a superb local affiliate in the L.A. area based out of Santa Monica (from Santa Monica College), KCRW. They have a great selection of shows of all genres of music, excellent DJ's, and play a LOT of NPR syndicated shows.
They have
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Who would have thought it, the only entertaining show on NPR is also their most popular.
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Actually, their most popular show is Morning Edition, which, at last time I checked, was the radio show with the largest audience in all the nation.
-dZ.
Car Talk (Score:1)
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I don't mind bias so much as long as the people putting it out openly admit it. If you claim that you are not biased but obviously are I tend to ignore you.
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There is no such thing as unbiased. Objectivity is a myth. If you ignore biased media, you must live in a black hole.
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No, he listens to Faux News.
Fixed that for you.
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I know that people like to make fun of them like that, and I know it's a bit funny, but I just don't get it: it's not a homonym, nor do they rhyme. Or do people really don't know that "faux" is pronounced "foh"?
-dZ.
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When I get news I like hard news. Hard news is virtually impossible to get anymore, even the AP admits to putting opinion in their news pieces now.
I went to npr.org just to have a look, the very first thing I saw was a picture of Michele Obama and question "Oh, Mrs. O! What Will Michelle Wear Inaugural Day?". You know what, I don't care what she wears on inauguration day, or any other day for that matter. Its just not a big factor in my life, and its not hard news.
On the plus side, right next to the pict
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Grats! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Grats! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Thousands? Try MILLIONS!...To date they have raised over 4 Million.
So you're saying they've raised over 4 million kids? Impressive.
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I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.
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I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.
That's sort of part of the point of Penny Arcade doing Child's Play. The strip isn't for children, just like a huge portion of video games aren't for children.
It's a site for adults, and a partial motivation behind Child's Play was to show that there's more to the demographic of adult gamers than the stereotype of slackers who sit around playing violent video games.
Penny Arcade has been so successful, I think, because they have managed to serve as representatives for this community so well. Gamers identify
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Firstly, not everything has to be kid friendly. In fact, I'm happy if most of the world isn't kid friendly- and I had that opinion when I was 13, too.
Secondly, they've heard it all and worse before... yes, irrespective of what ages they are. They've heard fuck before and know what it means- trust me.
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I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.
You should have heard me at the age of 13. For that matter, about the best kid I know was allowed to cuss at home from earlier than that so long as he didn't do it at school, and there has been nary a problem.
These days, kids are bored with porn. Which I guess is why you can get such longevity out of a meme involving two girls and a cup.
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How is this model different... They have adds which bring in revenue for their site, also they sell merchandise based on their brand. So by creating a site that caters to pleasing many people they have created demand for their crap, and their popularity has became a profitable spot to advertise. That seems the same as Hasbro's 1980's money making method. Sell toys advertise by making a TV show about them and also collect advertising revenue from the TV show.
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Which would make sense, because most of the folks I know who read PA (myself included) were the target audience for Hasbro, Kenner, etc. in the 1980s.
M.A.S.K. ruled so much.
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How is this model different... They have adds which bring in revenue for their site, also they sell merchandise based on their brand. So by creating a site that caters to pleasing many people they have created demand for their crap, and their popularity has became a profitable spot to advertise.
Well yeah, I think that's exactly the point. Too many 'tards out there think there oughtta be a way to put up a web site, wave a magic wand (google ads), and get rich, and then complain that providing free content doesn't pay the rent. PA demonstrates that nothing about making money via the internet is substantially any different than real life.
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Well it generally goes down to you need to work for your money. If you offer a technology that is self running, then you may perhaps get a quick boost but then other people will copy the idea and you go down the tube as you can't be price competitive. The thing is if you want to stay in business and make money you need to work for it. Even if you are based on adds you better make sure that you are creating content that people want, and you have to keep it up. Just as installing Slashcode and allowing gene
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Re:Grats! (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed. Jerry and Mike not only know their audience but they are both fountains of talent, and their lifelong friendship gives them such a depth of knowledge about each other that they can play to each other's strengths. The result is an authentic, insightful and usually hilarious window into gamer culture and lifestyles. They've taken their wildly successful online product, which they disseminate for free, and leveraged it into not only an immensely popular (and probably highly lucrative) gamer convention but also started an eyebrow-raising global charity which has brought smiles to thousands (if not millions) of children the world over.
I think of these two people as examples of the kind of rare but wonderful success that can be found when one simply does what s/he loves, and chooses to embrace what s/he is. That mixed with healthy doses of dedication and luck can have alchemical results beyond the wildest expectations.
Toast to Jerry and Mike!
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Now we just need to convince NPR to put the rest of their shows on the web in podcast form. I am not at my computer when I listen to audio shows, my time doesn't work that way. Their local FM station doesn't tune well either, static and dropouts galore.
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I don't know what percentage of their shows are available as a podcast, but simply searching for 'npr' in iTunes showed almost 3 full pages of podcasts. (Ironically, I couldn't find _this_ specific story in a quick search, but I was looking for 'weekend' in the podcast title since the date line also says "Weekend Edition Sunday".)
Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons. (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I'm one of the few on Slashdot who "don't get" their cartoons. I do enjoy a few that relate to games I like. But I always thought they were a bit overhyped in the past. (The art is kind of meh IMHO. Topics sometimes too trendy.)
I respect them a lot though. They have been around like a decade. They survived the "eFront.com fiasco" and Internet Bubble. (Which took a lot of backbone.) And after that they set up a nice deal with "Child's Play" charities, conventions, etc.
Call me dumb, but I never
Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons. (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory [xkcd.com]
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Well, at least he knows he's shit. Shame the same can't be said about the Ctrl+Alt+Del creator.
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Well, no humor appeals to everyone. You're allowed to dislike their comics. I'm allowed to think libertarianism would never work. You're still allowed to post. :)
The point is that they were one of the first independent internet comics that managed to make a living at their work, and have used their success for good instead of evil. Kudos to them.
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Link? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Link? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, and while we're on the topic of mysteries, can any of you guys tell me what this "Linux" thing is you all keep talking about? It keeps getting mentioned, and I hoped I'd be able to figure it out from context, but I've had no luck so far.
You can live under rocks? Why doesn't anybody tell me these things!?
Question (Score:2, Redundant)
NPR Versus The Pods (Score:2)
It's interesting that the submitter didn't think that the radio show that aired the story was worth mentioning. (Weekend Edition Sunday [npr.org], which I used to listen to a lot before the podcast glut took over my headphones.) Apparently NPR now has a lot of listeners who only know them through their podcasts.
That's beginning to include me, even though I've been listening to NPR since most of you were still in grade school. I used to be fanatical about their content. They seemed to cater to people with more intelli
I am going to sound like a jerk here (Score:1)
Just a little disappointing... (Score:3, Informative)
Just a tad under three minutes, and it's some random guy talking about P-A. I was hoping they might be interviewing the duo themselves. :( Their interviews are always quite hilarious. Then again, I guess the point was to convey what P-A is to 'normal' people, which I don't think those two can do, lol.
Most redundant tag ever seen on slashdot (Score:1)
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Re:NPR sucks my bunghole (Score:5, Interesting)
They are a bunch of pretentious bourgeois twats who love imperialism and the CIA.
Seize the means of production! You have nothing to lose but your chains, brothers!
Seriously, are you for real? I'd have thought your type died out in the 90's--- if I didn't hear them regularly featured on NPR, decrying imperialism and the CIA. I think that's the beauty of NPR: they run the gamut of opinion to thoroughly, everyone thinks they're propaganda mouthpieces for "the opposition".
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At least they haven't made up their own goofy language. Reading the discussion[citation needed] tabs[citation needed] on any given[citation needed] wikiped
Re:Perry Bible Fellowship (Score:5, Informative)
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Jesus, yeah, that last strip.
Thanks for making me feel like a jackass for hoping you keep making awesome comics.
Punch in the stomach, man.
Sucks that the site's down. I'd saved a bunch of them, but I think they were on a hard drive that died a couple months back.
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Fallingcow, you should know that every comic he ever did (I think) is available in book format here [amazon.com].
Interesting to note he's apparently got another one coming out this coming February [amazon.com].
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The Author stopped updating the comic and said he would only update "occasionally". According to a Google search the site has been down since around the beginning of December. (I can't reach it either.)
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No idea, but there's a forthcoming second volume of PBF coming out February 2009 [amazon.com].