My realization started off as disgust/anger at how lame it was that these awards were getting doled out to such mediocre talent. All the while they were making it seem as though they were praising the best of the best. Now I understand that these are the MTV movie awards (which are decided by fans, that probably watch MTV) so already they don’t have a lot of authority or credibility in my mind. But as these feelings subsided I started to realize that they WERE the best of the best for what they were trying to accomplish.

When making a movie you can try to further the art of film making; or you can appeal to the most people in an effort to make money. In this case they were clearly chasing the latter. So, although I personally don’t enjoy the movies/celebrities that were being celebrated at this event, they had clearly achieved their goals of becoming popular. They have appealed to a low enough common denominator that they have become the best at making money.

A lot of times I get hung up on hating things because they aren’t inline with my personal tastes. I have a hard time stepping back and realizing that their goal isn’t to be the next best indie film, it’s to appeal to the most people and therefore make the most money. And that’s something I can appreciate.

This applies to any business venture. Too often I find myself becoming more of a hobbyist by being a purist about certain things without keeping my end goal in mind. If I’m building web app that I’m hoping to impress my geek buddies with that’s one thing. But if my end goal is to build a business through the web app I need to look at it as such. I need to be less concerned with the nerdy details if they aren’t going to directly help me make money.

In short, the end goals needs to remain in focus. Keeping the end in mind will help you in deciding what direction to take and what to focus on.

My ratio can be found at ftweet.com/benrasmusen.

I actually heard about it when they were about 3 episodes in and then forgot about it. I was reminded again by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch (PayPerPost: Wasting Investor Money While Offending Native Americans) last week when they had another on camera blunder according to Michael.

Anyway, if you like the culture surrounding startups especially those that are loose with their cash, this free vidcast is for you. I found it pretty enjoyable when Ted Murphy wasn’t on the screen.

Wow, this is in league with the million dollar home page and the lady that had advertising tatooed to her forehead (sidenote: found this and thought it was somewhat related and definitely interesting).

There are some very interesting ideas on how to make money emerging. This guys offering to legally change his name to whatever you want (“…company name, website address or any other name you choose”) and then break a Guinness World Record so that whenever anyone mentions his record they will be saying your chosen name. He’s doing this to raise money for his internet startup. Sounds like this has more to do with exposure than money since he’s already gotten some good reviews from some credible people. If you’re interested, the top offer (as of me writing this) is $16,000 or you can “Buy it Now” for only $250,000.

So NBC is out of the iTunes family of content providers at the end of their contract. Too bad, I was this close to paying for tv shows from iTunes… no, seriously.

I thought a $12.00 ‘contribution’ would be worth it to support this method of distributing music, with the added benefit of the great music.  We need more bands following this example.  If after enjoying the album you decide you’d like to give back, directly to the band, click here to contribute.

Note: the music is available for free and no contribution is necessary to download and enjoy the album.

Don’t get me wrong I still listen to NPR via our local station KRCC whenever I can. I have nothing but love and respect for the actual programs. I just get annoyed easily.

(This is written from my listening experience of our local radio station: KRCC http://www.krcc.org/)

Ze,

I must say I have enjoyed this past year of the show. It has given me something to look forward to each day. The show’s were amazing. I know that this is going to be just one of the millions of emails you receive similar to this. But there is something I wanted to say that might be a bit original.

My birthday is on the 17th of March and I found it kind of heartless of you to end the show on my day of birth and ruin not only St. Patricks day but also my birthday from this year forward. The ending of the show will forever overshadow this once special day.

But given how much joy you spread to me and millions of other people, I really can’t be too angry for the decision you made. Thanks again for the great times!

Ben Rasmusen

YouTube – Jack Black on Piracy PSA