Justin Spratt on TV, porn, money and crowds
By Ivo Vegter. Filed in sxswsa |Tags: crowdfunding, Justin Spratt, sxsw, sxswsa, television
There’s a great roundup of some SxSW sessions by Justin Spratt, here: Fire Alarms, Billionaires, Porn, Crowdfunding and Public Speaking.
I also attended the Mark Cuban vs Avner Ronen battle about television, but found it mostly an uninspiring clash of egos. There was some clever wit here and there, but in my view neither Cuban nor Ronen really made great points about either pay TV or internet television. Perhaps the disorganised, rapid-fire nature of the argument (and the interruption by the evacuation alarm) spoilt it. I came away thinking not about the future of television, but about the value of moderators in debates. I’m fairly sure that wasn’t the intent of either participant.
Here’s a gratuitous picture of the dawn over the Austin Convention Center:
Dawn came an hour late, because the night was an hour short. Daylight saving time is weird. But then, Austin prides itself on being weird.
Sunday, March 14th 2010 at 18:31 |
Austin is weird but we can’t claim credit for daylight saving time. We don’t even like it. It’s nationwide, with the exception of Arizona. Keep Austin Weird is a slogan that has been adopted by many locally-owned businesses. While there are plenty of chains and big box retailers, many in Austin, myself included like to shop local whenever we can or it’s feasible.
And of course there are annual events like Eeyore’s Birthday Party and the Bob Marley festival that add to that image.