[00:00.620 --> 00:01.720] Everyone having a good time? [00:07.650 --> 00:11.110] Some of you weren't here at 9:30 this morning when I was opening things up. [00:11.210 --> 00:14.790] 10 o'clock talk was really good, but it's going to get smokin' throughout the day. [00:15.290 --> 00:21.410] Up next, as I mentioned, your MC turns into personality extraordinaire. [00:21.790 --> 00:31.530] I'd like to mention also, before we get Lazlow on stage, that we do need to keep an eye on capacity in this room and keep aisles clear for fire code issues. [00:31.530 --> 00:41.110] So if things do start getting crowded, please be polite and considerate if our orange shirt security guys, wonderful security volunteers, ask you to move out of the way a little bit. [00:41.550 --> 00:44.510] And I appreciate your cooperation on that. [00:46.290 --> 00:51.890] Lazlow, everyone knows from helping to run things in this room for the last couple of days. [00:52.390 --> 01:01.450] You can also check him out on the web at lazlow.com, where you can hear his XM satellite radio show, among other things. [01:01.790 --> 01:06.130] Been a personality in the real media for quite some time. [01:06.270 --> 01:10.710] And we're fortunate to have him here today, talking all about hacking the media by laughing at them. [01:16.530 --> 01:17.170] All right. [01:18.890 --> 01:20.570] I'm going to try to go with the handheld mic. [01:20.630 --> 01:21.210] Can everybody hear me? [01:22.450 --> 01:22.850] Yeah? [01:23.430 --> 01:24.310] I'm going to juice it up. [01:25.530 --> 01:28.170] Yeah, so this is hacking the media by laughing at them. [01:28.250 --> 01:30.990] It's quite easy to laugh at the media these days. [01:33.530 --> 01:36.810] Sometimes you open up the New York Times and you feel like you're reading The Onion. [01:39.930 --> 01:42.810] Just a quick background. [01:44.730 --> 01:49.650] In 1995, I started a nationally syndicated technology feature called The Technophile. [01:50.010 --> 01:57.450] In 1995, nobody really was talking about the Internet and technology on the radio, except for, you know, a manual. [01:58.290 --> 02:04.450] But on commercial radio, I was working at a rock station here in New York, and the program director said, hey, you know a lot about computers. [02:04.910 --> 02:12.110] Why don't you, you know, go on the morning show and do like a quick feature every day about, you know, what you think is cool. [02:12.630 --> 02:17.670] So we started that in February of 95, and the faxes rolled in, because, of course, nobody had email. [02:17.670 --> 02:20.590] And we had one of those fax machines that was one long roll. [02:21.110 --> 02:27.550] And people wrote in some really positive responses like, shut up and play Pearl Jam. [02:29.910 --> 02:31.850] Can I have a Nirvana rock block? [02:32.970 --> 02:36.190] But it was eventually inducted into the Museum of Television and Radio. [02:36.530 --> 02:45.330] It was on the air up until July of last year, in which I retired it so I could focus full time on making video games, which happened to... [02:48.690 --> 02:51.910] Which, not too surprising, actually pay a little bit better than radio. [02:53.310 --> 02:56.230] I was also a technology writer for many years. [02:56.390 --> 02:57.650] Wrote for Playboy magazine. [02:58.350 --> 03:02.230] And I had a syndicated column that was based out of the Long Island Press. [03:03.090 --> 03:04.450] Also called The Technophile. [03:05.290 --> 03:09.270] Also, I had a company called Radio Lazlow, which is still in business. [03:09.490 --> 03:11.450] It's an independent production company. [03:11.650 --> 03:13.570] Produced radio commercials, TV commercials. [03:14.370 --> 03:24.330] When the economy sort of tanked and people stopped advertising after 2001, the only people in town were video games and pharmaceutical companies. [03:24.750 --> 03:29.630] And so we did a lot of really exciting pharmaceutical videos at that time. [03:29.910 --> 03:31.850] I learned a lot about erectile dysfunction. [03:33.810 --> 03:38.130] Which, you know, if you're concerned the world is going to end, you just may need to get laid right beforehand. [03:40.130 --> 03:45.190] And in 2001, I met the guys at Rockstar Games and started working on the Grand Theft Auto titles. [03:45.550 --> 03:48.590] And that's... I've worked on every one since Grand Theft Auto 3. [03:51.890 --> 03:55.770] So, I wanted to talk about hacking the media by laughing at them. [03:55.870 --> 03:59.450] It's very difficult to get your voice heard in the media today. [03:59.590 --> 04:04.070] And I wanted to sort of give an overview of what's happened with the media in the last few years. [04:04.070 --> 04:10.590] And then talk about how you can make inroads in having your voice heard. [04:11.990 --> 04:14.490] But...so we get serious for just a moment. [04:16.030 --> 04:19.570] What's the most important issue in the media today? [04:22.790 --> 04:27.290] Celebrity vaginas, really, seems to be what people are interested in. [04:28.210 --> 04:32.790] I think if Bin Laden had a vagina, the paparazzi would have found him by now. [04:34.590 --> 04:35.210] Um... [04:37.170 --> 04:38.410] It's, uh... [04:38.410 --> 04:42.610] It is amazing to me how the media has been taken over by the paparazzi. [04:43.570 --> 04:44.190] Um... [04:44.190 --> 04:48.190] You watch CNN and across the bottom it says, TMZ reports. [04:48.710 --> 04:51.250] I don't give a shit what TMZ reports. [04:54.610 --> 04:55.230] Um... [04:55.230 --> 04:59.450] Media consolidation is one of the issues and reasons that we're sort of... [04:59.450 --> 05:02.690] at the roads that we are, the crossroads that we're at today. [05:03.110 --> 05:03.450] Um... [05:03.450 --> 05:06.550] And people are always sort of moaning about, about media consolidation. [05:08.390 --> 05:08.690] Um... [05:08.990 --> 05:11.570] For entertainment purposes, it's kind of irrelevant. [05:11.890 --> 05:16.590] Because let's be honest, there's bigger issues than what Channel Lost is on. [05:17.770 --> 05:18.190] Um... [05:18.190 --> 05:22.530] And the good entertainment is going to make it through no matter what channel it's on. [05:22.990 --> 05:26.510] The good ideas get shopped to various networks in various locations. [05:26.690 --> 05:29.210] If the networks say go to hell, they publish it online. [05:29.450 --> 05:32.470] And then the networks eventually come around and say, oh wow, we should have picked that up. [05:33.010 --> 05:35.330] But we're getting to the point where the channel's dead. [05:35.330 --> 05:40.310] With DVRs, video iPods, um... [05:40.310 --> 05:42.410] Time shifting, all of this technology. [05:43.330 --> 05:43.630] Uh... [05:43.630 --> 05:47.330] And especially with like HBO On Demand and all the On Demand channels. [05:48.150 --> 05:51.110] I don't really care what Channel Lost is on. [05:51.370 --> 05:53.870] I just don't want to have to wait for the next episode. [05:54.690 --> 05:55.270] Uh... [05:55.270 --> 05:56.890] So I just might download it. [05:58.510 --> 05:59.090] Um... [05:59.090 --> 06:01.310] TV viewership has been dropping. [06:01.310 --> 06:04.950] This year, TV viewership is down almost 10%. [06:06.830 --> 06:07.270] Um... [06:09.650 --> 06:11.610] Now, they, um... [06:11.610 --> 06:15.270] They, of course, found a way to blame the unions and the creatives on this. [06:15.370 --> 06:17.110] They said, well, it's because of the writer's strike. [06:17.530 --> 06:23.330] Those damn writers, you know, who were hoping to get compensated for all of their works being put online for sale. [06:24.270 --> 06:24.710] Um... [06:24.710 --> 06:26.970] They're the reason that TV viewership has dropped. [06:27.130 --> 06:27.950] But we know differently. [06:28.730 --> 06:28.950] Um... [06:28.950 --> 06:30.410] Radio listenership is down. [06:31.230 --> 06:31.630] Which... [06:31.630 --> 06:32.550] What a shock. [06:35.430 --> 06:35.830] Um... [06:35.830 --> 06:37.610] When I had the technophile, uh... [06:37.610 --> 06:40.790] It was pretty much my full-time job and doing video games on the side. [06:40.910 --> 06:43.950] A lot of the stations I was on were clear channel stations. [06:44.150 --> 06:45.990] Which, what a joy dealing with these people. [06:47.850 --> 06:48.250] Um... [06:48.250 --> 06:50.910] You know, the average spot was about 60 seconds. [06:51.050 --> 06:52.430] Sometimes there'd be 30 seconds. [06:52.550 --> 06:57.510] In order to run the technophile, we'd send commercials along with it and say, run the commercials and we'll run... [06:57.510 --> 06:58.830] And you can run the feature. [06:58.830 --> 07:00.390] That's how syndication works. [07:01.250 --> 07:04.230] So, clear channel said, we've bought 1,200 stations. [07:05.030 --> 07:06.850] But we're losing listeners. [07:07.310 --> 07:08.650] It's gotta be the commercials. [07:09.150 --> 07:11.850] So, they say, no more 60s, we'll run 30s. [07:12.590 --> 07:14.190] The ratings keep going down. [07:14.330 --> 07:16.990] They're like, okay, it's gotta be this MTV generation. [07:17.450 --> 07:19.930] Which there hasn't been an MTV generation in a while. [07:20.710 --> 07:21.110] Um... [07:21.110 --> 07:23.230] I think the rest of it's in this room. [07:25.090 --> 07:25.490] Um... [07:25.490 --> 07:26.430] The MTV generation... [07:26.430 --> 07:27.550] They've got short attention spans. [07:27.790 --> 07:28.270] So, we're gonna... [07:28.270 --> 07:29.890] We're gonna do 20-second commercials. [07:30.510 --> 07:34.990] So, of course, for people that have syndicated shows, this is kind of a pain in the ass to get 20-second commercials. [07:35.230 --> 07:36.730] Then they go down to 15s. [07:37.150 --> 07:38.330] And then 10s. [07:38.710 --> 07:40.510] And they keep losing listeners. [07:40.510 --> 07:46.110] So, finally, they say, what we're gonna do is on some stations try out... [07:46.110 --> 07:47.590] Just get rid of the commercials entirely. [07:48.090 --> 07:50.790] And just have the DJs work it into conversation. [07:51.470 --> 07:55.470] So, they'll come back from break and be like, hey, that was another rock block of Pearl Jam. [07:55.510 --> 07:57.390] Hey, Bob, how do you feel about crushed gel? [07:58.890 --> 07:59.330] Um... [07:59.990 --> 08:03.330] And they're shocked why people aren't tuning into this. [08:03.470 --> 08:05.010] They've homogenized entertainment. [08:05.610 --> 08:06.050] Um... [08:06.050 --> 08:11.250] But again, we thought that the media consolidation was going to be the absolute death of radio. [08:11.450 --> 08:17.070] Clear Channel is now hemorrhaging stations left and right because they're not making money because they sucked the life out of them. [08:17.730 --> 08:18.030] Um... [08:18.030 --> 08:23.030] Time online has obviously increased because you're looking for something more entertaining than a Pearl Jam rock block. [08:23.890 --> 08:26.450] And video games are now eclipsing movies. [08:27.170 --> 08:27.450] Um... [08:27.450 --> 08:29.550] Earlier this year, I had the... [08:29.550 --> 08:36.070] I was fortunate enough to be part of a project that in one week grossed more than any movie in history. [08:36.870 --> 08:37.230] Um... [08:43.270 --> 08:47.670] When we were looking at, you know, all of the top entertainment products, um... [08:48.510 --> 08:56.050] and their one week sales, you know, the Harry Potters and so forth, I couldn't believe that, like, second place was Pirates of the Caribbean. [08:57.230 --> 08:57.670] Which... [08:57.670 --> 08:59.910] Like, I couldn't even follow that movie. [09:00.010 --> 09:04.950] There was a squid and then a dice game and then we're underwater and there's a ghost and... [09:06.110 --> 09:06.550] Um... [09:06.550 --> 09:11.570] The thing that is bad about media consolidation, obviously, is that news is shifting focus. [09:12.530 --> 09:13.050] Um... [09:13.050 --> 09:14.130] It is profit. [09:14.890 --> 09:21.350] Before, in the quote-unquote good old days, you were given a signal and as part of your duty, uh... [09:21.350 --> 09:24.650] and in exchange for that signal, you had to report the news. [09:24.930 --> 09:26.350] And news lost money. [09:26.530 --> 09:30.570] And they were happy to lose money because that was what kept them on the air. [09:30.710 --> 09:35.970] If they had those news broadcasts, then they could put up stuff like Mary Tyler Moore and make a lot of money. [09:36.910 --> 09:37.350] Um... [09:37.350 --> 09:40.510] So, what they've done now is they've made it a for-profit entity. [09:40.670 --> 09:44.550] This is why you've got cable channels that are so highly niched and targeted. [09:46.690 --> 09:47.130] Um... [09:47.130 --> 09:52.690] The only way that you gain profit is by target marketing, which means you're changing your news. [09:53.710 --> 09:54.150] Um... [09:54.150 --> 09:56.130] And back to the celebrity vaginas. [09:56.610 --> 09:57.050] Um... [09:57.050 --> 10:03.390] The Associated Press has hired 30 new reporters, but they didn't come out of journalism school. [10:03.390 --> 10:06.510] They came out of chase after Lindsay Lohan school. [10:08.090 --> 10:08.790] Um... [10:08.790 --> 10:09.290] They... [10:09.290 --> 10:17.850] They literally have hired 30 paparazzi because the Associated Press is about selling articles to newspapers, to various publications online. [10:18.270 --> 10:25.210] And what is selling right now is news about Lindsay Lohan and not news about Iraq. [10:28.090 --> 10:28.790] Um... [10:28.790 --> 10:31.030] Speaking of Iraq, CBS pulled out their first... [10:31.030 --> 10:32.370] their full-time correspondent. [10:33.310 --> 10:35.050] Still got a war going over there. [10:35.530 --> 10:37.950] CBS doesn't have a full-time correspondent. [10:40.590 --> 10:41.190] Um... [10:41.190 --> 10:41.750] Katie Couric. [10:42.030 --> 10:42.250] Wow. [10:42.530 --> 10:44.970] What an awesome journalist this woman is. [10:45.890 --> 10:46.490] Um... [10:47.290 --> 10:50.370] It really amazed me when she went from, uh... [10:50.370 --> 10:55.970] telling us how to pack healthy lunches for our kids and what your dream wedding is, uh... [10:55.970 --> 10:57.390] to talking about Darfur. [10:57.390 --> 10:58.570] I was like... [10:58.570 --> 10:58.950] What... [10:58.950 --> 10:59.730] What a great, uh... [10:59.730 --> 11:00.910] exchange that was. [11:01.870 --> 11:02.570] Um... [11:02.570 --> 11:03.090] And... [11:04.050 --> 11:05.390] Strangely, uh... [11:05.390 --> 11:10.130] Nielsen now reports that the CBS Evening News has the worst ratings in the show's history. [11:12.310 --> 11:13.010] Um... [11:13.010 --> 11:13.670] A New... [11:13.670 --> 11:16.670] New Yorker reporter named Nancy Franklin, um... [11:16.670 --> 11:18.210] did an amazing article about this. [11:18.210 --> 11:19.730] I suggest that you look at it online. [11:21.230 --> 11:21.790] Um... [11:21.790 --> 11:29.050] She pointed out that people might actually watch the evening news if they called people out when they lied. [11:29.170 --> 11:31.290] When they called politicians out on their bullshit. [11:31.310 --> 11:38.430] If they had one little gram of that Michael Moore gene that said, let's call people out on their BS. [11:40.150 --> 11:40.710] Um... [11:40.710 --> 11:51.790] Instead, what we get are this amazing five-minute piece where they've got a crack team of reporters outside the ExxonMobil station zooming in on the sign going, gas is high! [11:51.970 --> 11:53.110] No shit, dude! [11:53.610 --> 11:54.050] Didn't... [11:54.050 --> 11:55.830] Didn't need a five-minute, uh... [11:55.830 --> 11:57.490] expose about that with the... [11:57.490 --> 12:01.770] the witty comments from people filling up their gas going, it sure is expensive! [12:06.200 --> 12:08.240] You know, back to the Associated Press. [12:08.700 --> 12:08.900] Uh... [12:08.900 --> 12:15.180] The Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier said that the Associated Press is moving away from traditional journalism. [12:16.020 --> 12:18.200] This is scary stuff, folks. [12:19.040 --> 12:21.920] Now you can have first-person and emotive language. [12:22.080 --> 12:22.820] That's all okay. [12:23.460 --> 12:23.940] Uh... [12:23.940 --> 12:26.500] And there's no more equal treatment for both sides. [12:26.800 --> 12:29.960] We're seeing this a lot in so-called journalism and news. [12:30.200 --> 12:31.980] And it makes it hard to break through. [12:32.280 --> 12:37.620] I put the Walter Cronkite thing up here because the highlight of my career on The Technophile was, um... [12:37.620 --> 12:42.740] I got to sit down and have lunch with Walter Cronkite and I asked him how he felt about the Internet and news on the Internet. [12:42.900 --> 12:43.760] And he just shook his head. [12:44.160 --> 12:46.000] And he said, we're in big trouble. [12:49.420 --> 12:49.820] Um... [12:50.340 --> 12:51.580] What we've got now on the... [12:51.580 --> 12:54.020] on the news and in the media are shout-fests. [12:54.740 --> 12:55.960] It's not a discussion. [12:56.620 --> 13:02.240] It's some blowhard like Bill O'Reilly screaming down somebody that might actually have a valid point. [13:02.260 --> 13:03.140] So he wins. [13:03.900 --> 13:05.560] And then finally, blogging. [13:06.460 --> 13:09.680] I'm a fan of blogging, but I think that we do need to make a distinction. [13:09.900 --> 13:11.200] Blogging is not journalism. [13:11.400 --> 13:13.200] Journalism is showing both sides. [13:14.360 --> 13:15.180] Thank you. [13:20.330 --> 13:20.890] Uh... [13:20.890 --> 13:23.390] Journalism is showing both sides, giving equal treatment. [13:24.370 --> 13:24.650] Uh... [13:24.650 --> 13:26.150] Journalism is a profession. [13:26.330 --> 13:27.110] Blogging is a hobby. [13:27.530 --> 13:38.910] There are plenty of amazing journalists that do blog, and there's plenty of amazing blogs that I read, but I think we need to make that distinction, because I think the ethics of journalism are being driven out of the news. [13:39.490 --> 13:40.290] Because when... [13:40.290 --> 13:45.090] And we've got media profits are in trouble, so the media gets desperate with reality shows. [13:45.670 --> 13:52.710] In Grand Theft Auto 4, we did some spoof commercials for a reality show called America's Next Top Hooker. [13:54.510 --> 13:59.750] And what's strange is every time we do a spoof in GTA, it comes true. [14:00.110 --> 14:04.610] In fact, some of the names even start to get used, which is, uh, amazing. [14:04.790 --> 14:05.630] The Dormatron. [14:06.110 --> 14:06.630] Um... [14:06.630 --> 14:07.870] Lose weight while you sleep. [14:08.010 --> 14:08.850] It's just insane. [14:09.750 --> 14:10.270] Um... [14:10.270 --> 14:12.030] And now we have news about reality shows. [14:12.130 --> 14:23.970] One of my favorite bits is, when a reality show segues into the evening news, sometimes the first story, the lead story, is about what happened on the reality show, and some knuckleheads who are at a bar watching that reality show. [14:24.310 --> 14:26.150] And again, the target marketing of news. [14:26.250 --> 14:35.650] If you're target marketing news, that means that you're changing and adapting what you're reporting, so you can appeal to a certain demographic, so you can sell pharmaceuticals to them. [14:36.830 --> 14:37.330] Um... [14:37.330 --> 14:39.170] And then, sensationalist stories. [14:39.470 --> 14:39.850] It... [14:39.850 --> 14:46.970] It's amazing to me how many articles and how many, uh, stories on the TV are about, are your kids gonna get kidnapped? [14:47.670 --> 14:48.670] Find out tonight. [14:49.070 --> 14:50.510] They always get into the kids. [14:50.510 --> 14:51.650] Are your kids safe? [14:52.170 --> 14:52.650] Uh... [14:52.650 --> 14:54.370] Are you a pedophile and don't know it? [14:56.210 --> 14:56.690] Um... [14:58.070 --> 15:00.070] I should plug in my audio here. [15:03.900 --> 15:04.860] Un memento. [15:12.980 --> 15:13.460] Um... [15:13.460 --> 15:15.540] So the question is, how do we get the real issues discussed? [15:16.100 --> 15:16.580] Um... [15:16.580 --> 15:18.300] I propose that you hack the media through comedy. [15:18.620 --> 15:25.000] The technophile dealt with a lot of stuff that most people, um, out in America, their eyes would glaze over. [15:25.080 --> 15:28.000] The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, who this guy Bernie S. [15:28.160 --> 15:28.460] was. [15:29.220 --> 15:29.700] Um... [15:29.700 --> 15:31.200] The Child Online Protection Act. [15:31.200 --> 15:34.660] Discussing these in a way that makes sense to people, uh, is difficult. [15:34.980 --> 15:49.300] So, when you open up with comedy, in a feature like that, you sort of set people at ease, and then you explain it in the way that somebody, a middle America mom from Ohio can understand, how does this affect me, and how does it, uh, affect the future? [15:49.580 --> 15:52.980] The technophile was on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. [15:53.220 --> 15:57.680] When they go to commercial break, it would be me, which just shocked the hell out of me. [15:58.480 --> 15:58.960] Um... [15:58.960 --> 16:04.500] And I would get e-mail from people that were fans of Rush, and fans of Fox News, tell me more about this DMCA. [16:05.060 --> 16:05.420] Um... [16:05.420 --> 16:06.060] You know, I... [16:06.060 --> 16:12.220] I sleep in the back of my cab, and I like to, you know, um, make, uh, copies of the DVDs I have at home. [16:12.380 --> 16:13.200] Am I a felon? [16:13.460 --> 16:14.520] And I said, yes. [16:16.360 --> 16:16.720] Uh... [16:16.720 --> 16:17.920] Stay away from the meth. [16:28.580 --> 16:28.940] Um... [16:28.940 --> 16:32.820] So, if that's the way we go, got to go, that's the way we got to go. [16:33.360 --> 16:33.700] Um... [16:33.700 --> 16:38.720] SNL's done a great job for years of skewering politicians and, and, and issues. [16:39.160 --> 16:39.560] Um... [16:39.560 --> 16:39.960] The Onion. [16:40.320 --> 16:47.040] When The Onion first came out, I interviewed, um, the then editor, Scott Dickers, who's, I believe, the founder of the paper. [16:47.300 --> 16:48.320] And, um... [16:48.320 --> 16:52.740] I asked him, you know, who of all these corporations that you're skewering, who do you not go after? [16:52.800 --> 16:53.460] And he said, Disney. [16:53.960 --> 16:55.040] Don't, don't mess with Disney. [16:55.040 --> 16:58.580] They've got, like, ninja lawyers that'll come through the drop ceilings and... [16:58.580 --> 17:00.440] stab a fool in the neck. [17:01.460 --> 17:02.340] But, um... [17:02.340 --> 17:05.360] Since then, I talked to him, like, two or three years ago, and I reminded him of that. [17:05.440 --> 17:06.920] I said, that's kind of changed, hasn't it? [17:06.980 --> 17:09.780] I mean, The Onion's got free form to take on anybody. [17:12.060 --> 17:12.500] Um... [17:12.500 --> 17:13.660] And The Daily Show. [17:14.680 --> 17:15.560] It is... [17:19.480 --> 17:26.560] You can pretty much guess that college students, 18 to 34-year-olds, are not watching Katie Couric. [17:27.920 --> 17:28.320] Um... [17:28.320 --> 17:32.880] They're getting their news, and they're getting their commentary from The Daily Show, uh... [17:32.880 --> 17:36.420] who isn't afraid to point out that these politicians are full of shit. [17:37.120 --> 17:43.500] But the newscasters are afraid to do it for some reason, because they're afraid that they'll lose their access. [17:43.900 --> 17:45.560] But what they're losing are their ratings. [17:48.120 --> 17:48.520] Um... [17:48.520 --> 17:50.340] So, discussing net neutrality. [17:50.540 --> 17:51.300] We'll see if this works. [17:51.980 --> 17:52.260] Um... [17:52.260 --> 17:57.620] In Grand Theft Auto, one of the things that we always do is, is make fun of those, uh... [17:57.620 --> 18:02.480] those news blurbs that they do during the 7 or 8 o'clock hour, where they tease all the news stories. [18:03.300 --> 18:03.600] Um... [18:03.600 --> 18:07.960] And we had the spoof of Fox News in Grand Theft Auto 4, it was called, Weasel News. [18:09.140 --> 18:10.020] And, um... [18:10.020 --> 18:10.700] So... [18:10.700 --> 18:12.860] I took one of the promos from, uh... [18:12.860 --> 18:13.440] Weasel News. [18:13.560 --> 18:15.560] If you'll pot up the, uh... audio from here. [18:16.140 --> 18:16.860] And, uh... [18:16.860 --> 18:18.420] Dropped in a little bit about... [18:18.420 --> 18:20.160] that relates to the opening of, uh... [18:20.160 --> 18:21.200] my discussion on... [18:21.200 --> 18:24.640] on maybe how we can get net neutrality, uh... [18:24.640 --> 18:27.020] in front of people in a way that they can understand. [18:32.010 --> 18:32.450] And... [18:32.450 --> 18:33.650] here we go. [18:35.450 --> 18:37.650] Is your best friend a terrorist? [18:38.050 --> 18:39.070] Find out tonight. [18:39.250 --> 18:39.990] Weasel News. [18:39.990 --> 18:41.910] The news Liberty City trusts. [18:42.230 --> 18:44.590] What do terror, porn, and candy have in common? [18:44.750 --> 18:46.050] We've got live coverage. [18:46.310 --> 18:51.470] Big phone and cable companies want to restrict your right to look at celebrity vaginas online. [18:51.750 --> 18:55.790] Find out how net neutrality will keep your kids safe tonight at 11. [18:56.030 --> 18:57.470] Are you a sex offender? [18:57.670 --> 18:58.430] Find out tonight. [18:58.750 --> 19:00.190] And Weasel Chopper 4. [19:00.410 --> 19:01.770] Ethnics are at it again. [19:01.770 --> 19:07.130] If someone's in trouble or on fire, the Weasel News Chopper is there on top of the action. [19:07.230 --> 19:09.190] Are you riding the train with a terrorist? [19:09.470 --> 19:10.730] Weasel News is on the scene. [19:10.830 --> 19:12.150] We call it News. [19:12.610 --> 19:16.610] Your team for the war on terror, the weather, and sports. [19:17.070 --> 19:18.270] Weasel News. [19:20.830 --> 19:21.610] Thank you. [19:27.910 --> 19:39.790] One of my favorite things that we got to do in Grand Theft Auto 4 was we got to spoof TV because in the next-gen consoles we were actually able to put two TV stations in your safe house that are like an hour long each. [19:40.030 --> 19:42.930] One's a spoof of Fox called Weasel. [19:43.070 --> 19:50.650] And we did a version of that that shows all of the newscasters, and it looks exactly like the Fox News graphics they do. [19:50.790 --> 19:53.110] And they're that line, Ethnics are at it again. [19:53.250 --> 19:56.050] And it just shows these black people beating each other with baseball bats. [20:02.060 --> 20:03.840] Keys to Successful Comedy. [20:04.920 --> 20:05.620] It's... [20:06.920 --> 20:12.720] You'll put off half of your audience quickly if you're only sort of making fun of one side. [20:13.340 --> 20:15.800] So you have to parody with equal enthusiasm. [20:16.480 --> 20:17.840] Let's be honest. [20:18.440 --> 20:22.860] There are Democrats and Republicans that suck, suck, suck. [20:22.860 --> 20:24.720] And I think when we treat... [20:28.160 --> 20:42.540] I think when we treat one side as a sports team where you're always rooting for them and regardless of if the players are sleeping with Madonna or shooting up, it doesn't really serve. [20:42.800 --> 20:51.760] So, you know, and one of the things that we have always done in GTA is make fun of liberals and conservatives with equal enthusiasm because they both deserve to be skewered. [20:52.880 --> 20:57.540] And in comedy as well as journalism, don't treat politicians like royalty. [20:57.700 --> 21:00.180] There's a reason that Bush started being called King George. [21:00.520 --> 21:04.740] It's because nobody would call him out on his BS except for maybe Jon Stewart. [21:06.080 --> 21:09.200] And with comedy, you know, the goal is not to change minds. [21:09.200 --> 21:10.800] It's just to get people to think. [21:10.980 --> 21:22.880] And I think sometimes we get so fired up about an issue that we just want to type up a blog entry that's five pages long just about how furious and effed up we think everything is. [21:24.260 --> 21:29.100] But you have to sort of step back and realize when you're ranting at somebody, they're not listening. [21:30.140 --> 21:31.280] Comedy is viral. [21:31.580 --> 21:36.020] And I love the term viral marketing, like what gets passed around the Internet. [21:36.380 --> 21:42.660] I've had ad agencies contact me and said, we want to hire your production company to create a viral video. [21:43.100 --> 21:44.840] So I said, okay, awesome. [21:45.120 --> 21:45.880] What's the product? [21:46.040 --> 21:47.100] And it's like Crest Gel. [21:47.100 --> 21:48.100] Okay, okay. [21:48.620 --> 21:56.100] What we're going to do is we're going to have some kids hanging around, some cool looking, let's call them Gen X, which I guess these days means 38. [21:56.760 --> 21:57.200] But... [21:58.720 --> 22:01.580] Have some cool kids sitting around, some skate punks. [22:01.700 --> 22:05.440] One of them maybe brushes his teeth with Crest Gel or he has a Crest breast strip. [22:05.800 --> 22:11.000] And then he attempts a skateboard maneuver and racks the shit out of himself and buses nuts. [22:12.320 --> 22:14.300] And they were like, well, I think that's a little extreme. [22:14.300 --> 22:21.240] And I said, dude, the only thing that's getting passed around the Internet is insanely funny or somebody breaking bones. [22:22.120 --> 22:29.720] And I love now how advertisers are trying to pass off viral videos. [22:29.800 --> 22:38.100] But if you create something that's funny, that's a commentary on consumer culture or society, it's going to get passed around the Internet quickly. [22:38.100 --> 22:40.400] And finally, if they're laughing, they're listening. [22:40.680 --> 22:41.140] You know, it's... [22:41.140 --> 22:42.140] It's amazing. [22:42.280 --> 22:46.800] If you go to comedy clubs in this city and you see a sort of a political comic, you'll get a comic. [22:46.960 --> 22:53.060] You'll see some tourists with fanny packs and stuff wander off of Broadway. [22:53.460 --> 22:57.380] You know, very conservative-looking folks will go in. [22:57.380 --> 23:04.940] But this liberal comedian will be telling jokes and they're laughing, which means that you've opened up a dialogue. [23:08.220 --> 23:19.920] As we move away from movies as sort of the primary and top entertainment medium in this country, it means we have virtual worlds, whether it's World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto Sandbox games. [23:21.380 --> 23:31.700] There's a lot of opportunity to spoof consumer culture in these games, which I have to say Americans stink at a lot, but boy, we have nailed consumer culture. [23:32.400 --> 23:33.980] You get a lot of people... gas prices are high. [23:33.980 --> 23:37.700] People are crying their eyes out that they can't buy the frickin' new iPhone. [23:40.080 --> 23:45.600] You know, spoofing media consolidation is one of the things that we've always done in Grand Theft Auto. [23:45.740 --> 23:47.060] And the banality of American radio. [23:47.060 --> 23:57.060] I love getting emails from people that work in radio that talk about how dead-on the spoofs in Grand Theft Auto are. [23:57.060 --> 23:59.940] You know, just the stuff in between songs. [24:00.080 --> 24:02.220] Like, more weird noises between songs. [24:02.460 --> 24:04.020] You're listening to KISS 108. [24:04.260 --> 24:06.660] You know, it's like, what is... what are we doing? [24:08.600 --> 24:12.680] And also, spoofing America's thirst for violence and how petrified of sex we are. [24:12.820 --> 24:20.480] It is amazing, when I toured the country doing interviews for Grand Theft Auto 4, and you'd get people asking questions. [24:20.780 --> 24:22.420] They weren't concerned about... [24:22.420 --> 24:28.320] When you're talking about, you know, video games like SOCOM and Call of Duty, which is an amazing game. [24:29.500 --> 24:33.980] They're not concerned about being able to turn somebody's head into a red mist. [24:34.260 --> 24:37.340] They're concerned about if that guy got laid beforehand. [24:41.840 --> 24:46.080] And again, as I said, these kind of interactive social commentaries can open up dialogue. [24:46.460 --> 24:52.000] A lot of the stuff that we've done in GTA, strangely, gets played on real radio, which, you know, when you're... [24:52.000 --> 24:56.300] You know that you're doing well if you're making fun of somebody, and they agree with you. [24:58.120 --> 25:05.740] I went to the Bonnaroo Festival a few years ago, and I had this shirt that had Bush on it, and it said, Obey, along the bottom. [25:06.240 --> 25:10.320] And I was buying ice from this, like, local Tennessee guy. [25:10.360 --> 25:11.840] And he goes, I like your shirt. [25:12.180 --> 25:13.780] And I said, oh, thanks. [25:14.060 --> 25:17.360] And he goes, people oughta f*cking obey him, I tell you what. [25:17.440 --> 25:18.680] And I was like... [25:23.700 --> 25:27.120] And besides comedy, how do we get real issues addressed? [25:27.720 --> 25:30.160] You know, Jello Biafra said it, become the media. [25:31.820 --> 25:39.480] Besides using comedy to make commentary and having that passed around virally or as part of projects that you get in on. [25:39.640 --> 25:40.660] You know, letters to the editor. [25:40.860 --> 25:44.720] It seems like the only people that are writing letters to the editor are angry old people. [25:46.480 --> 25:48.160] And submit ideas to a magazine. [25:48.160 --> 25:58.460] You know, when I started writing for Playboy in their tech section, it wasn't like they just sort of happened upon me. [25:58.700 --> 26:00.400] I sent them some story ideas. [26:00.560 --> 26:10.420] And everybody in this room has way more expertise than the majority of people out there in terms of technology writers. [26:10.880 --> 26:14.700] And, in fact, writers about activism and political issues. [26:14.980 --> 26:18.520] And these magazines need content badly. [26:20.540 --> 26:34.380] So, what you do is you send an email with five story ideas, put five headlines, what the topic's about, put two or three sentences under each one, and send that off to a few different publications. [26:34.380 --> 26:35.440] You'll be surprised. [26:35.440 --> 26:36.900] You'll get contacted back. [26:37.140 --> 26:41.840] A lot of these magazines now only need like 100 to 300 words on something. [26:42.040 --> 26:54.300] But that 100 to 300 words could inform somebody about something and change some minds and get people interested in things like 2600 hacker cons, net neutrality, wiretapping people without warrants. [26:55.080 --> 26:59.640] Also, remember camera phones and citizen journalism. [26:59.860 --> 27:03.960] If you see a cop urinating on a fire hydrant, take a picture. [27:07.020 --> 27:10.340] And don't send it to the New York Times because they won't care. [27:10.800 --> 27:12.300] Send it to the New York Post. [27:12.300 --> 27:15.140] And you say, well, the New York Post is such a conservative rag. [27:15.380 --> 27:18.440] Yeah, but that conservative rag will have that picture on the front page. [27:21.160 --> 27:23.100] And subsequently that cop will be disciplined. [27:24.720 --> 27:26.520] Also, consider going to journalism school. [27:26.640 --> 27:45.460] One of the reasons that the whole journalism versus blogging and that all the people now that seem to be in the media I think went to broadcast school instead of journalism school so they know how to smile pretty for the camera and sort out their hair so it doesn't blow around while they're standing in front of a hurricane going, [27:45.840 --> 27:46.660] it sure is windy! [27:50.200 --> 27:52.660] But there's some great journalism schools out there. [27:52.780 --> 27:55.100] The University of Missouri has got one of the top two journalism schools. [27:55.240 --> 27:58.160] Columbia ranks number one quite often. [27:58.960 --> 28:09.740] It's a great profession and you get some ethics driven into your head that make you think when you write about giving equal time to both sides. [28:10.020 --> 28:13.620] The other thing is consider writing for a local paper. [28:13.620 --> 28:20.300] You know, if you live in Podunk, Arkansas, and you write for a local paper, a lot of those papers are online now. [28:20.420 --> 28:27.520] And it's amazing on news aggregation websites like Google News, you'll see like a topic and several stories. [28:27.660 --> 28:33.000] The number two story will be an article that's from Kentucky in a small little paper. [28:34.400 --> 28:35.640] That's a big deal. [28:35.900 --> 28:45.200] That writer who was exposed to two, three thousand people in their local community who wrote a really good article is now being exposed to a ton of people. [28:45.680 --> 28:47.860] So consider writing for your local paper. [28:49.940 --> 28:53.900] Also, I love all these experts for interviews. [28:54.260 --> 28:59.540] And just from the nature of doing the technophile and Grand Theft Auto and stuff, I tend to get a lot of calls for these. [28:59.680 --> 29:05.820] But, you know, when you watch the cable news broadcasts and stuff like that, you start to notice a pattern. [29:06.080 --> 29:12.800] A lot of times they get the same knuckleheads over and over to talk about, you know, whenever a certain topic... [29:12.800 --> 29:13.900] Like, oh, we've got an expert here. [29:14.000 --> 29:14.780] Like, why isn't he an expert? [29:14.880 --> 29:15.720] Well, because we called him. [29:15.980 --> 29:17.780] And here he is, and he's got a microphone. [29:22.480 --> 29:30.580] These public, like, newspapers and TV stations, they need people that can come in and talk about this stuff. [29:30.840 --> 29:33.540] And if you make yourself available, they will call you. [29:33.540 --> 29:42.780] If you send them a one-page, and I have to stress, in any of this, when you're trying to contact the media, send one page. [29:43.020 --> 29:45.020] No five-page diatribes. [29:45.300 --> 29:48.000] These people have 60 seconds to make a decision. [29:48.220 --> 29:51.420] And they call people when it's convenient. [29:51.740 --> 29:58.200] And if your name's in front of them as an expert on net neutrality or whatever it is, they will call you. [29:59.640 --> 30:03.340] Also, make sure you, you know, cut your hair and stuff like that. [30:03.460 --> 30:06.400] Because going on TV, you can't look like too much of a hoodlum. [30:07.500 --> 30:10.600] And also, you know, keep blogging, but blog fairly. [30:11.420 --> 30:13.740] You know, make sure you're considering both sides. [30:16.360 --> 30:18.980] So my final thoughts on becoming the media. [30:19.640 --> 30:25.060] Part of it is, it's more than just setting up a blog and ranting about what's interesting to you. [30:25.180 --> 30:26.280] Learn the rules of journalism. [30:26.280 --> 30:29.480] Because when you present both sides, both sides are going to listen. [30:29.620 --> 30:31.820] When you just present one side, one side's going to listen. [30:31.860 --> 30:32.940] And you're preaching to the choir. [30:33.600 --> 30:42.780] And, you know, use comedy on complicated issues, which a lot of the stuff that we deal with, DMCA, all these things, very complicated. [30:44.620 --> 30:49.960] Using comedy in your writing can set people at ease. [30:50.260 --> 30:51.640] And they'll listen. [30:54.080 --> 30:57.400] So, what I'll do now is take a couple of questions. [30:57.900 --> 30:59.300] If anybody's got them. [31:00.000 --> 31:01.180] God damn, it's dark in here. [31:03.180 --> 31:04.000] Hi, Lazlow. [31:05.120 --> 31:05.680] Hello. [31:06.200 --> 31:06.760] Hi. [31:07.520 --> 31:13.100] I play Grand Theft Auto 4, and I think I noticed John Montone from 1010 Winds doing Weasel News. [31:13.100 --> 31:14.480] I like him a lot. [31:14.580 --> 31:16.100] And I was wondering if you could comment on his involvement. [31:16.940 --> 31:26.400] John Montone, for those people that aren't from New York, John Montone is the voice of talk news radio in this town. [31:26.540 --> 31:28.940] Tenton Winds does, you know, news on the ones or whatever. [31:29.220 --> 31:31.480] And it's always John Montone running around. [31:31.480 --> 31:37.520] And I'm always nervous about calling some of these people and saying, hey, you want to be part of Grand Theft Auto? [31:37.600 --> 31:40.040] Because sometimes it's like, no, you know. [31:40.940 --> 31:45.120] Just because they've got very much a skewed perception of what Grand Theft Auto is. [31:45.300 --> 32:01.600] I think in the last game that we did, people started to realize that it was very much an interactive piece of art and an interactive world that does make a lot of comments on violence and media and consumerism. [32:01.780 --> 32:16.080] John Montone, when I called him and I sort of explained it to him, and what happens with a lot of these people, especially older people, distinguished people, is they ask their kids and their kids go, dude, you got to do it. [32:16.300 --> 32:17.580] You got to do it. [32:21.140 --> 32:25.160] There's... I've had a lot of people have done that. [32:25.260 --> 32:26.600] And John Montone was one. [32:26.780 --> 32:29.700] I was trying to think who the other one was. [32:29.960 --> 32:30.620] It'll come to me. [32:30.760 --> 32:31.360] All right, next one. [32:33.720 --> 32:37.540] The voice actor for Nico Bellic, he... [32:38.160 --> 32:46.300] The voice actor for Nico, it seemed like he didn't know that Grand Theft Auto was big before he did it and started complaining about his paycheck. [32:46.300 --> 32:47.220] Is that true? [32:47.360 --> 32:48.880] Did he just... [32:49.680 --> 32:51.680] Yeah, Michael Hollick, who... [32:51.680 --> 32:55.220] You know, when you work on these games, they take like... [32:55.220 --> 32:58.400] Well, I worked on Grand Theft Auto IV for over two and a half years. [32:59.720 --> 33:02.220] And some of my colleagues worked on it for three and a half. [33:03.140 --> 33:09.940] The main actor did an interview with the New York Times and did a phenomenal interview. [33:10.160 --> 33:15.700] And then towards the end, they asked him, you know, how much are you getting paid and all these kind of questions. [33:17.040 --> 33:18.780] And he sort of got sandbagged. [33:18.840 --> 33:19.740] And then the article came out. [33:19.800 --> 33:21.040] Oh, he's not happy with his pay. [33:21.560 --> 33:23.540] Which was not the case at all. [33:24.180 --> 33:25.260] Mike's an awesome guy. [33:25.520 --> 33:27.160] And we're still working with him. [33:27.400 --> 33:31.140] So, I think what you're about to see... [33:31.140 --> 33:33.620] And that article is the first salvo. [33:33.940 --> 33:43.300] There's going to be some really nasty words said back and forth about payment unions. [33:43.740 --> 33:44.480] There's about... [33:44.480 --> 33:47.380] There's possibly going to be a huge strike coming up in the next month. [33:47.520 --> 33:53.280] And at the end of the year is the video game contracts go under consideration. [33:53.280 --> 34:00.860] And I have to say, video games versus movies, it's really hard to break people out of the movie mentality. [34:01.460 --> 34:04.020] You know, you get actors and agents and stuff in. [34:04.180 --> 34:08.920] And they're like, well, my guy came in and did voice work for two days. [34:09.120 --> 34:10.720] And it's on this huge game. [34:10.720 --> 34:13.840] It's like, well, okay, he did voice work for two days. [34:14.220 --> 34:23.660] But we've got a crew of artists doing rendering and 3D art for a year to make all of those scenes. [34:23.900 --> 34:25.360] And to make that actor come to life. [34:25.740 --> 34:29.440] I've got to say, I'm not feeling too sorry for the actor. [34:29.620 --> 34:30.660] They did a lot of work. [34:30.980 --> 34:38.200] But the people behind the scenes, people like you that are sitting at computers, those are the people that are the stars. [34:38.520 --> 34:39.480] And a lot of video games. [34:39.600 --> 34:39.920] Thank you. [34:45.680 --> 34:48.080] You know, and a lot of video game companies realize that. [34:48.200 --> 34:50.300] And Hollywood just cannot deal with this. [34:50.800 --> 34:51.960] It was amazing. [34:52.140 --> 34:55.040] When GTA did his thing, God did as well as it did. [34:55.240 --> 34:57.700] You know, all they could talk about, was it going to beat Iron Man? [34:58.380 --> 34:59.400] No, it's not. [34:59.560 --> 35:00.960] Of course it's going to beat Iron Man. [35:01.240 --> 35:04.300] And all they care about is the box office. [35:04.500 --> 35:12.660] And it's because there's this industry in Hollywood that is so wrapped up around the traditional model of movies. [35:12.660 --> 35:15.340] The paparazzi, as I spoke about before. [35:15.700 --> 35:18.060] I mean, that is a multi-million dollar industry. [35:18.240 --> 35:23.720] TMZ, Perez Hilton, those people are making millions a month following celebrities around. [35:23.860 --> 35:31.400] And I can tell you from experience, no paparazzi is following around the guy that modeled the helicopter in Grand Theft Auto 4. [35:31.400 --> 35:32.280] But they should be. [35:38.640 --> 35:41.260] I just want to thank you, you know, for making Grand Theft Auto. [35:41.440 --> 35:47.300] I mean, like, I have to say, satire is probably one of the most effective weapons in this information warfare. [35:47.900 --> 35:48.820] You know, against, you know... [35:48.820 --> 35:52.900] The news is not covering what is supposed to be talked about for a reason. [35:53.140 --> 35:58.500] Rupert Murdoch, you know, you look at the traces, you know, the other affiliations that these bigwigs have. [35:58.500 --> 36:01.720] They go to Bohemian Grove, worship Moloch with the world leaders. [36:01.960 --> 36:03.740] If you don't believe that shit, you're f*cking retarded. [36:04.200 --> 36:05.740] Google Moloch, Bohemian Grove. [36:06.360 --> 36:13.020] And I just want to say that, you know, direct action is also another keen apparatus of information warfare. [36:13.480 --> 36:17.500] I'm from Miami, Florida, we run federaljack.com, we're an open source news website. [36:18.100 --> 36:29.580] And, you know, we expose the Franklin cover-up, how there's pedophiles in the White House, and, you know, they're involved in f*cked up shit and death worship, and that's why they f*cking go to war and rob us blind and put Florida in our water, mercury in our vaccines. [36:29.780 --> 36:30.020] Wow. [36:30.340 --> 36:32.460] So, I mean, that's the real shit, you know? [36:32.700 --> 36:36.360] I'm going on in track four at four o'clock. [36:37.160 --> 36:39.360] Same time as Jello, so if you want to learn more about this shit. [36:39.560 --> 36:41.740] Anyways, hell yeah, throw it down, and I appreciate it. [36:41.740 --> 36:43.160] Oh, and how do you feel about Alex Jones? [36:43.640 --> 36:44.160] About who? [36:44.240 --> 36:44.900] Because you're into satire. [36:45.060 --> 36:52.180] Alex Jones, Infowars.com, he's a syndicated radio host from Texas. [36:52.540 --> 36:53.900] Oh, I haven't checked his stuff. [36:53.980 --> 37:17.440] I've got to be honest, my television in the last two years has gone on like twice, and my radio is even worse because when you're creating a virtual 3D world with radio and television and billboards and, you know, even the ticker in the virtual Times Square of GTA IV runs news articles about stuff that you've blown up two missions ago. [37:18.080 --> 37:21.940] Getting all that stuff sorted, I wasn't able to sort of stay on top of it. [37:22.100 --> 37:27.560] Yeah, Alex Jones is exposing, you know, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome, the 9-11 million and such. [37:27.740 --> 37:27.940] All right. [37:28.000 --> 37:28.520] Anyways, enjoy. [37:28.660 --> 37:29.200] Thank you. [37:29.820 --> 37:30.260] Wow. [37:30.800 --> 37:32.080] Ladies and gentlemen, Crest Gel. [37:32.080 --> 37:32.660] Kiflom, brother. [37:32.980 --> 37:33.340] Kiflom. [37:34.400 --> 37:40.360] I was wondering if you could talk about any ideas you might have pitched that Rockstar thought were too edgy for the game? [37:42.660 --> 37:43.380] Too edgy. [37:44.120 --> 37:45.120] Or has that not happened? [37:45.120 --> 37:45.520] Well, yeah. [37:45.640 --> 37:50.740] I mean, you know, whenever you're sitting around with comedy writers, my writing partner is Dan Houser, who's one of the founders of Rockstar. [37:50.820 --> 37:51.520] He's a genius. [37:51.520 --> 38:06.940] And whenever you're writing any kind of comedy, stuff that I've written for Playboy, all over the place, you tend to, especially with a co-writer, the stuff that you say in private and joke around with, if you published it, you'd be in big trouble. [38:07.640 --> 38:09.760] Because you are just sort of sitting around and joking. [38:10.040 --> 38:17.940] So, one of the things that we've always done in our comedy is go after the people that matter. [38:17.940 --> 38:19.780] You know, don't make ethnic jokes. [38:20.060 --> 38:21.280] Don't make religious jokes. [38:21.560 --> 38:22.480] I mean, that kind of stuff. [38:23.960 --> 38:26.960] If you're leaning on that crutch, you really don't... [38:27.740 --> 38:30.700] You're really not making good comedy, in my opinion. [38:32.580 --> 38:36.120] You said that Clear Channel was losing a lot of stations. [38:36.280 --> 38:37.940] I was wondering what are happening to them. [38:38.000 --> 38:40.700] Are they getting picked up by, like, local organizations? [38:40.700 --> 38:41.800] Or are they going dark? [38:42.040 --> 38:43.140] Or, I guess, with the radio going silent? [38:43.140 --> 38:44.080] They're not going dark. [38:44.820 --> 38:47.960] They're selling off a few dozen at a time. [38:48.080 --> 38:52.840] And I think they're just sold, I believe, like 300 stations. [38:52.980 --> 38:53.540] I'm not sure. [38:53.760 --> 38:57.020] But I believe they're going to smaller companies. [38:57.360 --> 39:02.280] But, you know, if those smaller conglomerates aren't able to do anything with them, then they're going to go back into the local hands. [39:02.360 --> 39:05.080] That's just the way it's going to be. [39:05.080 --> 39:07.180] And I really hope they go back into local hands. [39:07.300 --> 39:08.540] Because I worked in radio... [39:12.280 --> 39:13.120] Do you know... [39:13.120 --> 39:17.160] I worked in radio when most radio stations were family owned. [39:17.260 --> 39:18.820] I mean, CBS had eight or 12. [39:19.420 --> 39:23.080] And, you know, some of the other big broadcast companies, like ABC, had their handful. [39:23.220 --> 39:23.900] But there was a limit. [39:24.300 --> 39:25.840] There was a limit to how many you could own. [39:26.340 --> 39:31.700] So, you know, when you worked in radio, you hopped from mom-and-pop operation to mom-and-pop operation. [39:31.700 --> 39:35.180] And those people were very passionate about radio. [39:35.400 --> 39:37.140] And now there's no passion. [39:37.720 --> 39:41.760] What's happened in radio, just to give you kind of an inside... [39:41.760 --> 39:45.180] Look, there used to be a program director who made decisions on content. [39:45.580 --> 39:47.480] That person is irrelevant now. [39:47.560 --> 39:50.840] The person making the decisions on content is now the general manager. [39:51.120 --> 39:56.200] The general manager got into radio because he thought that he had talent. [39:56.360 --> 39:57.640] And then found out that he didn't. [39:57.780 --> 40:00.540] So, he started selling shit to used car places. [40:01.720 --> 40:05.480] Those are the people that are making a lot of the decisions in radio. [40:05.700 --> 40:11.000] And I think as Clear Channel and some of these other companies start to sell these stations off. [40:11.080 --> 40:12.360] Because they paid a fortune for them. [40:13.160 --> 40:13.980] Clear Channel and these... [40:13.980 --> 40:19.300] Like, I believe Q104 here went for like $110 million or something like that. [40:19.620 --> 40:21.660] And it's been losing money. [40:21.880 --> 40:25.380] And it's kind of funny because they spent a fortune on all these stations. [40:25.520 --> 40:28.160] And then satellite radio and the iPod came out. [40:28.160 --> 40:28.780] Sorry. [40:30.160 --> 40:30.680] Thanks. [40:34.120 --> 40:35.660] I have two questions. [40:35.900 --> 40:36.820] The first is... [40:36.820 --> 40:38.060] I hope it's as long as that other guy. [40:39.040 --> 40:42.100] What are your thoughts on the SiriusXM merger? [40:42.420 --> 40:45.680] And how long the FCC has taken to make a ruling on it? [40:45.880 --> 40:47.520] And whether you're for or against it? [40:48.780 --> 40:51.380] It's interesting that this merger is taking forever. [40:51.380 --> 40:52.900] However, I'm against it. [40:53.060 --> 40:54.180] Because when they... [40:54.180 --> 40:59.500] When the FCC handed out licenses for satellite radio to these two companies, they said, Here's the deal. [40:59.640 --> 41:02.480] We are giving you guys these licenses in this spectrum. [41:02.700 --> 41:04.000] You cannot merge. [41:04.500 --> 41:04.980] Okay? [41:05.040 --> 41:06.160] You have to stay separate. [41:06.380 --> 41:07.280] And they go, Okay. [41:07.440 --> 41:07.940] Thanks, boss. [41:08.040 --> 41:08.860] And they ran off. [41:09.320 --> 41:11.800] And they hemorrhaged money. [41:12.560 --> 41:16.840] They spent $500 million for a five-year deal for Howard Stern. [41:17.320 --> 41:22.760] Oprah gets paid something like $60 or $70 million for XM. [41:23.000 --> 41:24.820] And she does like a half-hour show. [41:25.100 --> 41:27.900] And then some of her friends do some kind of other stuff. [41:28.360 --> 41:34.620] And then the real killer, and one of the reasons that your cable bill is so high, just I'm sure there's a lot of sports fans in the room. [41:36.340 --> 41:43.520] One of the reasons your cable bill is so high, the biggest portion of that goes to sports channels. [41:45.060 --> 41:50.620] ESPN, of all the cable channels, except for HBO and stuff like that, they charge the most money to cable providers. [41:50.740 --> 41:52.920] So all those cable channels are where that money's going. [41:53.420 --> 41:59.460] And XM and Sirius Satellite Radio signed these deals, and they're broke. [41:59.780 --> 42:02.920] But, you know, I'm sorry that you've gone out of business. [42:03.060 --> 42:08.520] But when my business was in tough times, they don't change the rules so that I can stay in business. [42:08.740 --> 42:11.380] But with XM and Sirius, it's like they're going to change the rules. [42:11.460 --> 42:13.440] And I think the merger's horrible. [42:13.620 --> 42:16.620] They're trying to gloss it over with like, oh, we'll give some stations to some minorities. [42:16.660 --> 42:20.080] And, you know, we'll open some more public radio stuff. [42:20.080 --> 42:22.200] But they should stay separate. [42:22.960 --> 42:29.200] And my second question is, can you give us any hits in regards to the Grand Theft Auto downloadable content released later this year? [42:30.960 --> 42:33.740] The downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto 4? [42:33.900 --> 42:35.620] I think it'll be out later this year. [42:36.040 --> 42:37.300] I don't know what the release... [42:37.300 --> 42:40.180] They don't tell me the release dates because I get drunk and babble. [42:42.240 --> 42:44.940] So I really don't know what the release date is on that. [42:45.800 --> 42:47.960] It's got to come soon though, I should hope. [42:49.060 --> 42:50.680] I need more missions to play. [42:52.180 --> 43:02.920] I'm hoping you can comment or share your thoughts on the monopoly of the video game market and independent makers and sort of analogous to the indie music and indie movie scene. [43:04.340 --> 43:05.620] Say the last part of that again? [43:07.620 --> 43:13.540] Well, there's an underground movement of sort of indie music or video game makers. [43:13.720 --> 43:20.720] So I'm curious about your thoughts on empowering them versus sticking with these monopoly companies of the video game market. [43:21.260 --> 43:25.500] Yeah, one of the biggest questions I am asked is, you know, how do you get into video games? [43:25.520 --> 43:28.100] I got into it by slacking off. [43:28.100 --> 43:35.460] I was hanging out on the beach a lot surfing and I met one of the founders of the company and we sort of became friends. [43:35.580 --> 43:37.020] He's like, hey, come in and check this out. [43:38.940 --> 43:50.720] And I soon came to realize that video game companies, especially the developers, it's basically a bunch of guys that got some of their friends together and said, hey, let's make a game. [43:53.700 --> 44:00.200] And they worked like crazy, hacked a lot of code, did some amazing graphics. [44:00.540 --> 44:03.440] And before you know it, somebody's picking up that title. [44:03.640 --> 44:05.880] But as a studio, you can remain independent. [44:06.580 --> 44:13.400] It's just that like a bigger company like EA or Activision or Take Two or somebody will publish your work. [44:13.580 --> 44:16.920] I guess the main challenge is getting it published and getting picked up. [44:17.080 --> 44:19.060] And I guess that's what I'm really wondering your thoughts about. [44:19.060 --> 44:20.640] How to get published? [44:21.300 --> 44:22.660] Well, here's the... wow. [44:23.400 --> 44:27.000] Here's the tough part about getting published. [44:27.220 --> 44:31.580] If you want to make a video game, don't make a PlayStation or an Xbox game. [44:31.700 --> 44:32.760] Make a PC game. [44:32.940 --> 44:34.420] Because then you've got control. [44:34.760 --> 44:39.880] In order to make a PlayStation or Xbox game, you can't just make it and release it. [44:40.300 --> 44:43.520] You need explicit permission from Microsoft or Sony. [44:43.780 --> 44:45.680] They have to go all through your code. [44:45.680 --> 44:48.340] They have to approve it before it's released on their platform. [44:48.340 --> 45:00.600] So, you'll see a lot of companies, startup companies that are doing video games that will basically start on the PC platform first and self-publish. [45:00.920 --> 45:02.320] I mean, look at id Software. [45:04.660 --> 45:07.640] And then eventually, you know, you get picked up. [45:07.720 --> 45:16.520] And the fact of the matter is, is that one, you know, if you create your own studio, you're not going to be able, you're not going to have the capacity or the manpower to port it to other platforms. [45:17.360 --> 45:20.020] You know, to move that game to Xbox or PlayStation. [45:20.240 --> 45:20.980] It's immense. [45:21.200 --> 45:24.280] You need dozens and dozens of people working around the clock. [45:24.280 --> 45:27.880] I mean, to get GTA 4 on two platforms took about 400 people. [45:29.300 --> 45:29.740] So... [45:29.740 --> 45:30.160] Thank you. [45:32.180 --> 45:38.540] With all the choice we have in news media overnight now, I know a lot of disillusion... [45:38.540 --> 45:39.960] You got a really nice low voice, dude. [45:40.180 --> 45:40.520] Yeah, well... [45:40.520 --> 45:42.080] It's a very, like, nice radio voice. [45:42.180 --> 45:44.560] Yeah, I'm actually on a college radio. [45:44.780 --> 45:45.120] Are you? [45:45.120 --> 45:45.440] Yeah. [45:45.760 --> 45:46.900] WRFL in Lexington. [45:47.180 --> 45:47.460] Cool. [45:47.800 --> 46:03.840] Anyway, with all the choice we have in media, I know a lot of really disillusioned journalism students who feel like the truth being bitter will never be able to compete with the fluff because people can just change the channel and ignore, you know, the harsher realities. [46:04.140 --> 46:08.120] So what do you say to sort of cheer up the emo journalism students? [46:12.680 --> 46:22.640] It is discouraging because, you know, there's always going to be people that would rather vote in American Idol than American democracy. [46:23.020 --> 46:23.300] Right. [46:24.300 --> 46:24.700] Unfortunately. [46:28.280 --> 46:31.900] But, you know, I think in a way you've got to internalize it. [46:32.100 --> 46:34.780] You can't just make it about, I'm going to go out there and change the world. [46:34.900 --> 46:36.120] You've got to make it about you. [46:36.120 --> 46:39.200] You've got to make it about, I'm going to do something for me. [46:39.420 --> 46:43.460] I want to, you know, cover this city council meeting and expose the corruption. [46:43.980 --> 46:50.120] You know, I want to go to this school board meeting and expose this or that or make sure that this is covered. [46:50.300 --> 47:01.980] You've got to kind of do it for yourself first, I think, because if you keep looking at everybody else out there, you are going to get discouraged because celebrity vaginas. [47:01.980 --> 47:10.020] Because people seem to be, you know, much more interested in surfing TMZ than finding out what's going on in Fallujah. [47:11.440 --> 47:14.660] But I commend you, you know, for the people... [47:14.660 --> 47:15.740] I'm not a journalism student. [47:15.740 --> 47:16.460] Well, then you suck. [47:16.520 --> 47:17.500] Yeah, I'm too depressed. [47:20.120 --> 47:23.600] But no, I mean, I, you know, it's a constant internal battle. [47:23.760 --> 47:24.640] It's easy to get discouraged. [47:24.720 --> 47:27.280] But, you know, you just got to, you got to keep blazing on. [47:27.520 --> 47:32.560] And, you know, one of the joys of writing for a newspaper or writing for a magazine is that you're getting to write. [47:32.860 --> 47:34.460] And you're getting your stuff published. [47:34.860 --> 47:35.040] Yeah. [47:36.340 --> 47:36.960] Five minutes? [47:37.560 --> 47:43.520] But I think you are totally right that humor can go a long way in making even the most depressing stuff, you know, palatable. [47:43.520 --> 47:44.260] Yeah. [47:44.380 --> 47:45.280] I mean, it opens up dialogue. [47:45.640 --> 47:45.720] Yeah. [47:45.720 --> 47:45.880] All right. [47:46.000 --> 47:46.480] Next question. [47:48.260 --> 47:52.080] I just want to preface this by saying I know you probably get asked about Jack Thompson a lot. [47:52.460 --> 47:56.900] But I was wondering, do you actually feel that he's like a thorn in your side? [47:56.900 --> 48:01.240] Or do you think he kind of makes you look good by being so batshit crazy? [48:03.100 --> 48:04.820] You know, it's hard. [48:05.000 --> 48:09.440] And going back to those sort of media mouthpieces that always seem to get called. [48:09.580 --> 48:16.420] Every time something happens, Jack Thompson's on Fox News as the spokesperson. [48:18.500 --> 48:21.200] He's been a thorn in the side of a lot of people. [48:22.420 --> 48:26.060] And we did a game, Vice City Stories on the PSP. [48:27.740 --> 48:32.500] And, you know, we had one of the guys from 2 Live Crew who came and did some voice stuff for us. [48:32.800 --> 48:40.680] Those guys really got railroaded by, I mean, if you think that the video game industry has been harassed by Jack Thompson. [48:44.160 --> 48:45.200] And, you know, [48:52.020 --> 48:54.820] I think those people got harmed a lot more. [48:55.000 --> 49:03.620] But if you go to GamePolitics.com and you read up on the situation with what's going on with him. [49:03.640 --> 49:05.040] He's in the process of being disbarred now. [49:05.960 --> 49:06.100] Yeah. [49:12.100 --> 49:20.400] And I have to say that, you know, having a dialogue about video games, the media, music, hip-hop, all that, it's extremely important. [49:20.400 --> 49:28.020] And I think that, you know, there should be panel discussions with parent groups and the media and video game makers and all of that. [49:28.020 --> 49:38.260] What doesn't serve any of our interests is to have people and talking heads on TV screaming that the world's ending over pixels. [49:38.820 --> 49:45.560] These people protest pixels when there's real people getting blown to bits. [49:45.900 --> 49:50.660] Real Americans getting blown to bits over the ocean. [49:50.960 --> 49:52.940] It boggles my mind. [49:52.940 --> 49:56.940] You know, when I was doing these interviews and people were like, what do you think about video game violence? [49:57.080 --> 49:59.500] I'm like, not too worried about the pretend stuff, dude. [49:59.820 --> 50:01.700] Kind of concerned about the real stuff. [50:14.710 --> 50:15.230] All right. [50:15.790 --> 50:18.010] I'm going to wrap up quick because we've got the keynote coming. [50:18.210 --> 50:19.690] And I don't want to be a ram-bam. [50:20.010 --> 50:21.070] Okay, so I guess it's... [50:23.850 --> 50:24.750] Oh, come on. [50:27.850 --> 50:38.930] Okay, so I guess it's pretty clear that you're trying to create a generation of activists with your video games, or at least open them up a little bit, open their minds a little bit to what's going on in the world. [50:39.050 --> 50:45.390] But I was thinking for a long time, what kind of skills are you secretly trying to teach people with these games? [50:45.390 --> 50:53.950] I mean, actual skills in life, whether it's architecture, or even building demolition, or how to... [50:53.950 --> 50:57.310] You know, that's a skill that you've got to really learn if you want to get into that business. [50:57.490 --> 51:04.350] But I'm just curious, what kind of skills do you think you can kind of sneak in there that people can benefit from? [51:04.350 --> 51:05.850] Skills like triangle, triangle, square, square. [51:06.130 --> 51:06.730] Big one. [51:06.950 --> 51:07.530] That's right. [51:07.550 --> 51:08.030] Big skill. [51:09.930 --> 51:13.990] I don't know, you know, you're not necessarily trying to teach people skills. [51:13.990 --> 51:17.970] But I mean, you could kind of secretly sneak that in there. [51:18.490 --> 51:23.870] Whether it's math, or science, or even programming. [51:24.150 --> 51:27.490] I think we do sneak a lot in those games. [51:28.410 --> 51:36.990] I mean, Grand Theft Auto IV has got over a hundred radio commercial spoofs in it that just, you know, I believe skewer all kinds of different products. [51:38.030 --> 51:42.850] And I don't really think we should be looking at entertainment as, you know, honing skills. [51:42.850 --> 51:47.250] You know, when you're watching The Sopranos, what skills are you honing, really? [51:47.470 --> 51:50.110] Well, when you play GTA IV, you learn how to drive better. [51:52.170 --> 51:53.810] You learn how to drive better. [51:54.510 --> 51:55.650] Yeah, exactly. [51:57.450 --> 51:58.570] And hit old ladies. [52:00.350 --> 52:02.210] All right, I think we've got time for one more. [52:04.830 --> 52:15.650] First, as someone who's 42 years old and stopped playing computer games after Scarab of Ra, I want to say thank you very much for this talk, because it's opened up a whole new world for me. [52:16.710 --> 52:18.810] Have you read The Big Sort? [52:19.230 --> 52:21.030] Or do you know what the phenomenon is? [52:21.570 --> 52:21.910] No. [52:22.490 --> 52:29.130] It basically talks about how populations are self-selecting by lifestyle, moving into neighborhoods where there are like-minded people. [52:29.730 --> 52:34.730] And when like-minded people come together, their views become more strident and more extreme. [52:36.710 --> 52:58.830] And what I've seen is while ownership of media is consolidating, they're cellularizing into narrow, you know, they're increasing narrow-casting by media, increasing self-organized, self-selecting by audiences, and it becomes this sort of wuberos, this self-sucking snake that doesn't stop. [52:59.070 --> 53:10.250] So when you talk about trying to use humor as a medium between these different populations, who think differently, what happens when people stop getting each other's jokes? [53:11.250 --> 53:15.050] And also, I also want to ask you, what do you think about memetics? [53:15.390 --> 53:16.030] About who? [53:16.350 --> 53:17.350] Memetics, memes. [53:18.130 --> 53:24.030] I mean, the commercial people have always been trying to manipulate memes, create memes, they often fall flat on their faces. [53:24.550 --> 53:30.830] Is it possible to do, you know, from an advocacy perspective? [53:33.170 --> 53:37.470] By the way, these speakers stink in terms of trying to hear the questions. [53:40.590 --> 53:46.870] Let me just address the first part of your question, because I've got to get off stage, or Roadie's going to come over here and touch me inappropriately. [53:49.290 --> 54:00.650] To the self-sucking snake and sort of this internal media conglomeration, my buddy, Reed Tucker, worked for Time Warner for a while. [54:01.230 --> 54:07.330] The publication, the magazine they publish just for their employees, which there's, you know, thousands. [54:07.330 --> 54:16.530] And he told me that the mantra inside Time Warner is, any of their divisions' job is to push the products of the other divisions. [54:16.910 --> 54:22.130] So, the magazines talk about and review the books that Time Warner publishes. [54:23.390 --> 54:28.690] So, you do sort of get this self-sucking snake where they're just kind of like this introspective world. [54:28.690 --> 54:34.330] But what happens is, when you sort of get in that loop, the stuff starts to suck. [54:35.430 --> 54:39.730] And you don't realize it, because it's your job to talk about the other stuff that sucks. [54:39.990 --> 54:50.030] So, I would encourage all of you to create and to write, because that stuff will get online and get passed around, because it's going to be a lot better than what's out there. [54:50.030 --> 54:51.870] Thanks to everybody for coming out. [54:51.950 --> 54:52.590] I'll be in the back.