Ask AJ: She Has All the Answers

You asked, and I'm answering!

How will twitter change pop culture as we know it? – Ethan

While this is indeed the question that seems to be at the forefront of all media outlets right now (Time magazine just had a ridiculously lengthy special on it last week; all of those articles are available here at Time’s Twitter central), my answer to this is much simpler: connections. Twitter will change the face of pop culture in two ways. First, people will get their news faster and, second, they will get their news most of the time directly from the person in question. If Ashton Kutcher runs over P. Diddy’s foot in the Hamptons, he’ll tweet about it and the rest of the world will know mere seconds after it happens. For those celebrities and news outlets that are participating in the Twitterverse, the barrier that once separated their lives from the fans has been brought down. We’re getting firsthand accounts of what life on the road is like as Nine Inch Nails tours Europe (apparently no showers) and getting to glimpse the insanely cute dynamic between newlyweds Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore as they hijack each other’s Twitter accounts and post joke tweets for each other. We don’t have to wait for someone to open up their netbook and write up a post to find out what happened or what was said during the Dollhouse panel at Comic Con—Michael Ausiello is right there live-tweeting it so to speak. Twitter is essentially the greatest thing since the DVR in my opinion. It’s streamlined, simple and it makes you feel like you’re participating in something that you otherwise would only have fantasized about participating in. It’s turning popular culture into everyone’s culture. And, as a fan, I couldn’t have dreamed of something better.

Why do you not blog about HBO'S True Blood? You have to give the show a serious try. Also, you will love Showtime's “Weeds”…I was wondering why you got on the SATC bandwagon so late? – Gloria

Good question, Gloria! In regard to True Blood and other HBO shows including why I got on the SATC bandwagon so super late*, I do not have premium cable services. That's the simple truth! I don't have HBO or Showtime, so in order for me to watch those shows I have to borrow them from friends or rent them from Netflix, etc. Considering the fact that my average season consists of watching more than 25 series at once (while attempting to hold down a full time job—but let's be real, that's secondary to TV), it's usually too hard for me to work in trying to keep up with a show off-schedule when I have to depend on other means of watching it. What I've been tending to do with those shows is wait until they are completely over to watch them. I have GREAT interest in True Blood and Weeds and they are on my wish list of things to watch when I have time. True Blood will most likely happen sooner rather than later actually. I have a friend, fellow SWTS reader Krystal, watching season one now and I'm hoping to get my hands on it by the end of the summer.

*Note: There is an additional reason as to why it took me so long to get on the SATC train. I was fucking scared of that show and a little prudish. But I got over it and now all things in life relate back to that show and those characters.

Can you give me recommendations on female-driven music? I think we are in a serious recession when it comes to female bands. Garbage is defunct, Hole is always...well, you gotta love Courtney. Thanks a bunch! – Gloria



Oh, man, I cry every time I think about Garbage being disbanded. I still listen to them every week. Female driven music...female driven music...hmm...well, I guess Hole is sort of back together (Courtney, Melissa and some random guys?) and they're saying that album will be out late this year or early 2010, but who knows. Have you listened to Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley (solo or RK)? She's a little offbeat and not really rock, more like a weird mix of indie country folk and some southern rock, but she's an AMAZINGLY talented woman. On a related sort of note, Lykke Li is one of the best new artists in music we have in this decade. Not a lot of people have heard of her. She's a Swedish artist who sings in English. Her first album, Youth Novels, came out last year. It's simply amazing--totally original and when I say that I mean it's like nothing you've ever heard before. She's completely worth a listen or twenty. Rock stuff though, well, I'm falling in love with The Kills. Alison Mosshart is someone to reckon with, but she does have a lot of backup vocals from her male partner so I don't know if you'd consider it truly female haha. I love the song "Sour Cherry," and it's actually featured on the Gossip Girl soundtrack. Another recommendation from them would be "Last Day of Magic." Then there's Juliette Lewis, the actress, who fronts two separate bands. She's got The Licks and she just recorded an album with a different band to go for a darker sound and they are called The New Romantiques. I haven't heard anything but some demos a few months ago and they were really good, but the album doesn't come out until September ugh. In the mean time, you can listen to some songs from JL and The Licks at their Myspace. I love "Hot Kiss," "Sticky Honey" and "You're Speaking My Language." People really underestimate her. I hope this helps!!

Dear AJ, HELP! It is summer, and I don't have a "summer album." Previously, I relied on Timbaland (2007) and Santogold (2008) for windows-down music-cranked driving during the summer months. What would you recommend for 2009? – Lindsay



Lindsay, this is an excellent question. Unfortunately, it seems that all the good stuff for 2009 is slated for release in late August or September (I’m thinking mostly of Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera’s new albums). Just as there are barely any big summer movies (perhaps in comparison to last summer) this year, it’s obvious the same pattern is being played out in the music industry. I’ve had to resort to mostly 2008 records. I’m currently rejamming to Britney Spears’ Blackout (Circus never leaves), Lady GaGa’s The Fame and Kelly Clarkson’s All I Ever Wanted, which was at least released this year. Additionally, I’ve just put the The Ting Tings’ debut album We Started Nothing on heavy rotation, which was a summer record from last year that I didn’t actually listen to until the summer was over, so it sort of counts. Basically, what I think is going to have to happen if you want new music is that people are going to have to make mix CDs. Use resources like Lastfm and Pandora to discover new tunes, check the Billboard Hot 100, do whatever it takes to find new songs you can jam to and put them on a CD or make a playlist. It just won’t happen otherwise. Some recs: Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester is set to release her first official as-yet-unnamed single in July and her costar Taylor Momsen’s band The Pretty Reckless has a catchy punk pop song out now called “I Really Like You.” The soundtrack Original Music From Gossip Girl (also 2008) is the PERFECT prepackaged album for those of you too lazy unmotivated to compile a mix CD for yourself. This is also an opportune time to rediscover old favorites or get into classic bands or artists that you’ve never had a lot of exposure to. In conclusion, don’t rely on the airwaves for listening pleasure. I would make some ridiculous joke about doing it yourself, but that’s not what SWTS is about.

My question is, how exactly do they come up with ratings for TV shows? I remember back in the day there were "Nielsen ratings" where certain households were monitored—did you ever see that episode of Roseanne where they got to be a Nielsen house? Hilarious...anyway, I wasn't actually sure how it all works anymore. And on that note, has any progress been made on factoring in internet viewing/DVR/etc. when it comes to calculating ratings? I'm guessing not because of things like [Lipstick Jungle being cancelled], but just curious! – Rhiannon

This is a perfectly timed question, and we’ll get to why, but this is also something people should really know about so I’m glad you asked, Rhiannon. Nielsen Media Research still holds a monopoly (so to speak?) on measuring television ratings in the United States. The viewership for television shows are determined in two different ways: ratings and shares. Ratings are basically the percentage of households viewing a program out of the entire population of televisions while shares are the percentage of televisions that are tuned to a particular program out of all the televisions in use (meaning that ratings measurements incorporate televisions that are not in use). Nielsen Ratings collects data from families they choose at random to be on their panel both from their actual cable boxes and from traditional diaries in which Nielsen family members record their television viewing habits that are then turned in to Nielsen (NMR collects an average of 1.6 million diaries a year). Nielsen families are chosen entirely at random; there is no way to volunteer to be a Nielsen family. Nielsen families are also asked to not disclose to anyone that they participate in the Nielsen Ratings process, so there is a good chance you might actually know someone who is on the panel (disclaimer: I am not a Nielsen family, but I would give my left…I would really like to be someday). So, that covers traditional television ratings. The second part of this is the fact that NMR is, indeed, working to incorporate measurements of digital media for television ratings—online streaming, online downloads, digital video recording (and the rates at which they are watched—they calculate if a show was watched within the first seven days after the program originally aired and so on) and more. This question is timely because the DVR ratings were just published by TV By the Numbers. Dollhouse had 41% of its viewership watch the show from a DVR, which is evidence that the live or same day ratings for the show do not depict an accurate picture of the show’s audience or its size. Likewise, more than half of Lipstick Jungle’s audience watched the series from a DVR making that show’s live/same day ratings a complete sham. And that series was cancelled. In short, it’s obvious that things like DVR and online streaming/downloading are skewing the numbers and impacting the efficiency of the traditional ratings system. Nielsen seems dedicated to adapting to the changes technology is making on the industry. Now it’s just a matter of the networks deciding that those measurements matter.