The Long Tail

I have been aware of the marketing concept of The Long Tail for a while now but I was thrilled to stumble over a comprehensive article in Wired Magazine “The Long Tail” By Chris Anderson
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

In it he explains how Internet distribution has resulted in niche entertainment collectively returning more revenue than blockbuster hits. This phenomenon is one of the powerful forces changing the face of book, music and movie distribution.

For me this is not only thrilling as an independent film maker but as a consumer of popular culture. I’m so sick of cookie-cutter blockbusters. It’s such a shame to see all those amazing special effects wasted on a nothing story or a potentially great idea dumbed-down into oblivion.

It’s even possible that as some of the fringe art producers become more sustainable and acquire profile that they may have a stronger influence on the quality of the mainstream productions.

Team Fortress II Cometh

People keep saying Team fortress II is coming out later this year. If you believe that you’ll swallow the whole lunar cow, dish spoon conspiracy. They said that last year. The last post about TF2 on Planet Fortress hasn’t changed for months.
http://www.planetfortress.com/

Anyway I’ve got this great idea for a weapon/tactic. Why don’t I send it to Sierra? What happens? One e-mail reading office person reads it and says “nah” and I get that “my e-mail hasn’t been replied to feeling”
So I’m putting it here.

Anyway, the idea is this. You have a homing device. You run/sneak into the other team’s camp. You stick the homing device to something, a building, a long-range gun, a truck or an enemy soldier’s underpants. A team member at your fort launches the missile. It heads for the homing device. The enemy radar detects a missile in the air. It sounds a general warning. There’s still time. But where is the homing device? If they can find it and carry it out of the camp they save lives. Maybe not their own. Or maybe they could slap it on one of their missiles and send it out that way. Anyway.