The Future Of News

December 16, 2004 4:15 AM

In the year 2014, the New York Times has gone offline. What happened to the news? What is EPIC? [flash]
posted by signal (14 comments total)

Uh-oh.
posted by pomegranate at 4:18 AM on December 16, 2004

What is EPIC?

Uh... a way of searching MetaFilter for double-posts?
posted by jpburns at 4:43 AM on December 16, 2004

Actually, I saw that site a week or three ago, and maybe even got to it from a MeFi link posted somewhere around here... (doh!)

But it's all good... maybe it's time for a second round of comments. As a piece of Flash-art, I find it rather compelling - sort of like a real-world incarnation of 'The Animatrix' or something like that.

Also sort of like the premise for that crappy-looking Michael Keaton movie that's coming out soon...
posted by vhsiv at 4:44 AM on December 16, 2004

Um. White Noise is about the dead attempting to communicate with the living through available technology. I don't recall any psychic medium powers in EPIC ....
posted by grabbingsand at 5:30 AM on December 16, 2004

vhsiv might be thinking of The Final Cut, with Robin Williams playing Michael Keaton.

Or maybe not.
posted by emelenjr at 5:57 AM on December 16, 2004

Ugh. That guy's voice is annoying. But if that was just a text transcript of what he said, I'd read it and go 'Wow, that's not funny or clever." Something about the whole thing just got on my nerves.

People won't remember Friendster in two years, let along twenty.
posted by tapeguy at 6:00 AM on December 16, 2004

I posted the link to this on November 22. I'd picked it up from the blog/column "Convergence Chaser" at Poynter Online. Turns out the EPIC thingy was a concoction of the CG author, Robin Sloan, of INdTV, and Matt Thompson, of the Sacramento Bee. Mr. Sloan was fascinated by the progress of EPIC as a meme, reserving praise for the MetaFilter discussion as useful feedback rather than just "hey, look-a-that" pointing.
posted by mmahaffie at 6:54 AM on December 16, 2004

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the future calling the past and vice-versa, which was actually done pretty well in the underrated Dennis Quaid vehicle, 'Frequency'.

Not 'Timecop'.
And not 'The One'.

And per mmahaffie, it looks as though we're being pimped for feedback. If it works for Ain't-It-Cool, why not Mefi?
(But I think that user Nº 1 might have a problem with that...)
posted by vhsiv at 7:00 AM on December 16, 2004

vhsiv, I didn't mean to imply that we were being pimped. I grabbed the link off the Convergence Chaser page because I thought it was a strange little item that might be of interest. I have to admit that, when I grabbed it I didn't figure out that it was created by messieurs Sloan and Thompson; I clicked through before I read the rest of Sloan's entry and missed the connection.
posted by mmahaffie at 7:12 AM on December 16, 2004

Oh my, it looks as though Metafilter has been memeFiltered -
from poynter.org:

Finally: Yesterday, November 28, the blog index Daypop said EPIC 2014 was the 6th most popular link in the whole blogosphere. For, you know, about twelve seconds.

What do we take away from all this?

First, the ecology of the internet is amazing: One week after posting it, this link has zapped around the world and been seen by thousands of people, some of whom write in Spanish, in Belgian, and in Asian languages this Chaser cannot identify. It's been fascinating to see it get lost within chains of recommendation: This Chaser saw the phrase "I can't remember where I got this link" more times than he is,to be honest, quite comfortable with.

Second: For all our techno-triumphalism, the blogosphere still leaves a bit to be desired. EPIC earned thousands of links but only a few really engaged comments. It was sites like MetaFilter that generated discussion; most blogs were content to link and say "looky here."

So that's how you follow an idea, Chasers. Have you tracked your news organization's work through the web recently?

Considering I was looking at that post about the religious-leader who failed to return from the dead, it may be time to convene some Cassandranite cults here on the interweb... EPIC could be part of that.
posted by vhsiv at 7:21 AM on December 16, 2004

Sorry about my annoying voice. This is the first time I've gotten a warm fuzzy from a double post, except for maybe CatScan.com. (Also, that's the Fresno Bee!)
posted by grrarrgh00 at 7:54 AM on December 16, 2004

Well, it might be your last, in the way of fuzzies, but I saw it and it catalyzed something that I was thinking about - it *might* end up as my next writing project...

I think I might have a weak spot for the technocratic face of authoritarianism...

But this thread is a good one - I'd never heard of that 'Final Cut' movie, but now I want to see it. Too bad I don't live in either NY or LA during the week of 10/15/04; and look! Stephanie Romanov's (Lilah, of Wolfram & Hart fame, for the 'Angel' fans out there) in it!

Maybe it's already on the Chinese bootleg market...
posted by vhsiv at 8:29 AM on December 16, 2004

grrarrgh00, sorry about the California-metro-identity-confusion. East-coast blinders; I guess I was trying to comment too quickly.

Were you chuckling to yourself when I put this up back in November?

PS: I thought your voice-over work was fine.

And... is Robin lurking around here somewhere?
posted by mmahaffie at 10:02 AM on December 16, 2004

No problem, mmahaffie, I'm happy you enjoyed it! And thank you; I'm definitely no pro. Robin lurks on MeFi from time to time, although he's not a member. I'm not sure if he knows user signups are back on, though.
posted by grrarrgh00 at 12:40 PM on December 16, 2004