Some must sees

The Age, Insight, Saturday 25 April made interesting reading for a world that is shedding newspapers at an accelerated rate. The convergence of global financial crisis and advanced digital technology has meant that well-known titles such as The Scotsman institutionalised during the Edinburgh Festival is ‘shuddering as advertising collapses’ in Britain and in the US the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are ‘in administration.’ The article “Who will blow the whistle” by Mary Riddell of The Telegraph focuses on Russell Crowe’s performance as a charismatic ‘downtrodden journalist’ in State of Play. Riddell describes it as a ‘lament for truth, honesty and courage’ and a ‘death notice’, although she acknowledges there are ‘sceptics’ who see these qualities as redundant in modern journalism. It talks of papers’ leading role in democracy; at a time where ‘amazonfail’ speaks volumes about the power of numbers to check power bases.

In another excerpt from The Telegraph Insight looks at ‘death on the net’ and three new websites looking at the implications of death and ‘bequeathing your digital footprint’. The principal one under discussion is legacy locker which works by holding and supplying information including usernames and passwords to be made available your ‘family’ after you have passed on. It raises the question how well do you trust the supplier to be repository of accounts, perhaps, but passwords and PIN etc.?! keepyousafe is a safety deposit box online designed also for travellers which raises similar concerns, and deathswitch acts like a ‘pre-scripted’ advisory service to a list of names – of automated messages including passwords when you stop entering your password at prompts and the computer ‘deduces you are dead or critically disabled’.

Meanwhile my attention has been drawn to a lighter subject, magician and ’unusualist’ South Australian Raymond Crowe, who thanks to a chance YouTube video of his low-tech magic in August 2007 (see Sydney Morning Herald report) was featured on David Letterman (YouTube video) early last year, and has succeeded in developing a one-man show premiered last week at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival for broad international touring.