In our category of networks not enough of you are watching, I enter Bleacher Bloggers. Now I know Internet People are typically scared of anything that sounds like it might involve fresh air and and a playing field, but Brent and Dave are really pulling out the stops to make an idea that sounds prosaic — rounding up the best of the sports blogs — a ridiculously entertaining show. Where else are you going to get a Soulja Boy dance break and a British correspondent on the NFL, or see two guys skate with Oksana Baiul? Nowhere, I tell you.

I know at least some of you like sports. Watch this show, we’ll sell some ads, or else ESPN is sure to come in and buy it out from under us.

Jessica told you about Tie Day last week. Here’s the real story.

Tim Shey already posted the arrival of Ben Relles to Next New Networks with the acquisition of Barely Political. We’ve admired what Ben’s done in the past year in creating characters like Obama Girl, Guiliani Girl and earlier the Box in a Box parody. Ben’s got a finger on the pulse of pop culture and has on his own had a quick creative response when something is ripe for comedy. Now we hope to supplement those good instincts as he builds a cadre of correspondents and makes Barely Political something worth checking out everyday. Welcome Ben!

(P.S. Some other things you should know about Ben…He’s having twins any day now and settting up the nest… He spent the last few years at Omnicom, one of the biggies in the ad agency biz, in a select group of recent MBA’s and worked in a half dozen different companies at Omnicom, including stints in digital media so he’s got some marketing chops… And then there’s the bet he and I made that I am ashamed to say I lost. During the last week of baseball’s regular season, Ben a Philadelphian with a touch of Nostradamus or a clear head (which clearly I didn’t have), saw the collapse of my beloved Mets before the shameful event happened and bet me the Phillies would win. Oh, the pain is still deep–those damn Mets. The only consolation: Phillies lasted only three more games, and we both ended up losers, and I’m not alone in pain.)

I was diggin’ Common long before I came across his latest video “Drivin’ Me Wild,” but now I’m an even bigger fan. Check out the t-shirt!

[one of us couldn’t resist, so we gave the n-bot the shirt, too. Get your own here.]

10 October 2007
Why own when you can share?
By: Micah Learned

Cars, so many of us seem to be down on them these days. Oh! The pollution they emit. Oh! The dangers they pose to us pedestrians (when we are pedestrians.) Oh! The new roads they require. Asphalt upon our natural landscapes! Forlorn our tax dollars! Oh! The space they fill. Parking lot upon parking lot! Fields gone and buildings demolished. And the insurance, and the rising cost of fuel. Why would you even need one when you can walk, bike, take public transportation, or taxi? Better yet, why would you even want one?

Why? Well, let’s see, you have an appointment 70 miles away in an hour. You only have a three-hour block to get there, meet for 30 minutes, and be back here in time for a meeting with a new client. Understand that it is in the boondocks. No bus. No train. It is too far to bike. Certainly, you can’t walk. And, a taxi is too expensive.

Or some scenario similar to the previous, and our objections to owning an automobile slip from our consciousness. Clearly, there is a reason for having one. If your grandma still owned a car, perhaps you would borrow hers, but that old barge might not have made the trip anyway. So, you own a car. What else are you supposed to do, rent a car from Hertz at the airport every time you need to drive somewhere?

Not anymore. Now, if you live in a few, but spreading, areas of North America (U.S. and Canada) and London there appears to be a real, viable alternative: Zipcars. It is the largest car sharing company in the world. The company provides the cars (MINIs, VWs, trucks, etc.), the gas, and the insurance. And you, minus the cost of applying and $50 annual fee, pay as you go, either hourly or by the day.

Of course, it’s eco-friendly too. Zipcars boasts, “Members shed cars. Over 40% of our members decide against purchasing a car, or end up selling their car. They drive less. Car usage of individuals is reduced by as much as 50%. They use other transportation. Members use the most efficient means of transportation for the task — walking, biking, public transportation, taxi or Zipcar. With each Zipcar replacing over 20 privately-owned vehicles, we’re changing the urban landscape. Older cars are replaced with new ones that have more stringent pollution controls. Green space is preserved as fewer parking spaces are required to meet the driving needs of the same number of people. Less strain on urban parking infrastructure — saving businesses, governments, and universities money. Lower fuel consumption means fewer greenhouse gas emissions and particulates. And yes, less congestion on the roads.” (Zipcar.com)

You also get a cool card that, when swiped over a sensor on the dash below the windshield, unlocks the car. And its easy to find a car, just go to their website and type in your zip code. Presto! You know where the nearest car is. Don’t worry you can reserve it.

The Fast Lane Daily cast and crew traveled to Manhattan Motorcars yesterday to shoot our 177th episode. Ji Young Min hosted the show and we had a great visit.

ZZ Top is right. Every girl’s crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man. Well, at least this girl is. What I initially believed to be a joke, has quickly caught on as a trend around here. Though the attire at Next New is usually pretty casual, my co-worker Lee Rubenstein has taken it upon himself to set yet another trend. First there was juggling, then unicycles, now ties. Lee likes to say the morale has increased 80% since he was hired. And you know, he just may be right. Take a look at the before and after.

I used to think of N3’s Website Features Engineer, Paul Blakey as the “new guy.” However, after months of working here, he’s now practically a veteran of the technology department. Paul comes to us from England where he had been working as an aircraft simulation manufacturer designing the instructor’s interface. He moved to NY this January and settled into town with his wife Judy, whom I met at the Meth Minute launch party (she’s a doll by the way). I recently learned they became acquainted through Secondlife, a popular virtual community which I’m embarrassed to say, I had no idea existed. What a great story! Maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll do a little spot on Brideorama? Hint. Hint. How ’bout it?

(Originally posted on Bleacher Bloggers)

It’s All About the N.L.
By: Dave Aizer

Wow! What a weekend of National League Baseball this is going to be! Unless of course you’re a Mets fan.

With three games to play, check out these races:
* In the NL East, the Mets and the Phillies are tied
* In the NL Central, the Cubs lead the Brewers by 2 games
* In the NL West, the Diamondbacks lead the Padres by one and the Rockies by 2.

* And in the wildcard, the Padres lead the Mets, Phillies and Rockies by one precious little game.

This is INSANE! First of all, in the east, what’s the deal with the Mets? They blew a 7 game lead in the last two weeks. How is that even possible? I’ll tell you how. Inconsistent starting pitching, lousy relief pitching and no clutch hitting. Talk about a choke job in the making. If they blow this, say goodbye to Willie Randolph. As for this weekend, the Mets host the Marlins and the Phillies host the Nationals. Advantage Mets, just barely. But with Cole Hamels pitching tonight, and all the momentum, Philly’s got to feel good right now.

Over in the central, the Cubs and the Brewers are both limping toward the finish line and neither is inspiring much confidence right now. The Cubs have lost three in a row and the Brew Crew’s lost two. This weekend, the Cubs travel to Cincy while the Brewers host the Padres. Advantage Cubs … you would think. But the Brewers are an excellent home team and the Cubbies are only 500 on the road. Plus, like I said, they’re both playing poorly, so who knows.

And in the west, what’s up with the Colorado Rockies? Two weeks ago, they were left for dead. But they’ve reeled off 11 wins in a row and are now in the thick of this thing. Talk about peaking at the right time. And they host the first place D’Backs in a HUGE three game series this weekend. Meanwhile, the team in the middle, the Padres, are hoping they can sweep the Brewers while Colorado and Arizona beat each other up.

So, three of these teams will win their divisions. One more will secure the wildcard. And as for the other three, they’ll have plenty of time to reflect on what might have been. And just for the heck of it, here are my predictions. The Phillies win the East, the Cubs win the Central and the D’Backs barely hang on in the West. And the wildcard goes to … drumroll please … the hottest team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies! … Oh, and the Mets fire everybody.

Now let’s sit back and watch it all unfold.

I’m sure someone else in our organization knew about and worked hard to do this (nice job Andres and the post-production team) but I was happily surprised to turn on my Tivo this morning and notice that sometime over the past few days that Stephen Mack and the TivoCast team have quietly added TivoCasts for Bleacher Bloggers, Bride-o-Rama, Metal Chik, and ViroPop.

The new Tivo HD (photo courtesy of Gizmodo, hope they don’t mind), which I recently ordered and then persuaded and cajoled Time Warner employees for a few days to get CableCARDS installed for, as it’s not officially supported yet, has become one of my favorite ways to watch our shows — there’s something awesome about seeing an episode of Fast Lane Daily or ThreadBanger sandwiched between episodes of The Daily Show and Futurama on my Now Playing list. And it goes without saying our shows are more satisfying than just about anything else I’m recording.

Look for more cool stuff from us and Tivo soon…