Random thought:  Yahoo! Video should rebrand as Yahoo! Tube.

I’m kidding.

Mostly.

YouTube – Screening Room

From the LA Crime Blog’s map of crime in the Valley:

A victim was on a bus when she observed suspect-1 exit the bus and remove her bicycle from the bus bike rack. As the suspect rode off slowly on her bicycle, the victim chased the suspect and applied the brakes on the bicycle, causing the suspect to fall. The victim wrestled the suspect for control of the bicycle and managed to get away as she rode back towards Ventura Boulevard. Suspects 2-7 threw small rocks in her direction. One rock struck the victim on the back of her head but did not cause any injuries. Victim was able to get on another bus to call the police.
Database – LA Daily News

Suspects 2-7???  So she was up against some serious odds, but she scrapped and got her bike back.  And, seven people banding together to steal a used bike? Were they going to ride-share it? Punks in a pack. Glad she prevailed. Wonder if she’ll keep riding the bus?

Aside from that, other highlights included somebody packing heat at McDonalds, two dudes apprehended on the roof while trying to steal an air-conditioner, a few random gang beatings against “outsiders,” and a guy bringing a rifle to shoot his ex a church carnival.   Ladies and gentleman, the human race!

Introducing our newest family member, Peri. Is she a German shepherd mixed with Australian shepherd? That’s one theory. She’s probably two years old. We adopted her from “da pound.”

Plus, she doesn’t hate cameras! How psyched am I? More pics of her in my Flickr stream.

If you’d like to hang out with somebody this cool too, check out
http://www.laanimalservices.com/

Flickr Co-founders Join Mass Exodus From Yahoo

TechCrunch reports this sad news. Their replacement (at least on the product side), Kakul Srivastava, was the driver behind Flickr video — and the one who wasn’t too receptive to my idea for an L.A.-local Flickr product evangelist position for the Media group when I was DFA’ed the first time at Yahoo! Sure, my idea smacked of a cool-cushy job for me, but we could have discussed it more. (insert-smiley-face)

Since I felt Flickr Video was a mistake, I can’t like this news for my favorite site on the Web. I predict further dilution and decay at Flickr without Stewart and Caterina there to demand excellence. For example, I bet Flickr’s excellent customer support gets folded into the crappy Media group support. They can’t keep spending money on dedicated support for one site.

Then again, can you really trust people named Butterfield and Fake?! Maybe this is for the best after all. Is it telling there’s nothing on Flickr.com about this? Where’s the heartfelt goodbye, we’re-sure-nothing-bad-will-happen, great people, time-with-family, etc. etc. letter? Coming soon I suppose.

Hulu is kicking Youtube’s Ass – Blog Maverick

Read one of Mark Cuban’s better posts.  I was dreaming of using Youtube similarly to promote video content on Yahoo! Music (before I left) But, here’s the idea — embed pre-roll and post-roll in the clips you give to Youtube — why has this been so hard for people to get their head around? Use it as a commercial, use it as direct-response ad! Youtube is a free marketing platform — but you’ve gotta use your marketing skills — and not just your production skills — when you dive in.  Why Yahoo! Music doesn’t do this with their programs like Live Sets and Who’s Next, I have no idea. Well I do have an idea — no resources for edgy ideas, and jittery advertiser shackles.

“Cocaine business controls America! Ganja business controls America! KRS-One come to start some hysteria! Illegal business controls America!” – Boogie Down Productions.

Not only is this old school hip-hop classic as timely as ever, it’s also insidiously quick to stick in my head. This is mostly because my friend Greg, couple years ago, made it Ryan Howard’s unofficial theme song, due to [Greg’s claim of] the resemblance between the baseball player and KRS-One. I was initially dubious, but over time, the link has stuck like Band-Aids.

I’ve never been Ryan Howard’s biggest fan. I like the guy – a lot – but he starts a season slower than an AMC Pacer. It’s not just the slow starts that bug me, but the way he seems to try to pull everything in sight when he’s cold. It just feels like an unwillingness to adapt. If he wants to be paid like Pujols, he just can’t start the season .167 over the first 36 games with an OPS of .608 — a quarter of the season!

After yesterday’s chest-puffing clash of the titans with Boston (video highlights), though – just over a month later– I look up and Howard’s tied for league-lead in RBI? Really? He could not have played worse in April and May. You thought maybe he could turn it around by the All Star break, and finish with respectable numbers…. But to surge into league leaders now? June 17th? That’s a Tiger Woodsian push! So, now I’m dropping “Illegal Business” every couple minutes!

I love Ryan Howard!

P.s. He’s got twice as many triples as J-Roll to this point???