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...if it could do this.

as it is... it's impressive, but it isn't the graffiti 'Birth of Venus'

Should we censor TV and turn it into a mass-mind-control device? No, I dont think so, but the EtoA motivation REALLY degrades the quality of the signal to the point of titilation and exploitation (watch NBC/ABC/CBS 1800 in any American City -- it has zero value).
In the West, I believe TV/Radio should be 100% non-profit venture... this reduces the media to the obligation of inform and entertain... not profit. The *profit* motivation is what gaurantees questionable content... to exploit, to titilate.

And how, pray tell, would one tell how good a job television is doing of "entertaining", apart from measuring how many people watch the shows, which is exactly the same metric used by those who wish to profit from it? Titillation and exploitation (sorry, couldn't resist ;) can be entertaining. Otherwise, people wouldn't watch them. So either you want TV programming to be decided by what people want, which would be about the same as what we have today, regardless of a profit motive, or you want it to be decided by what their leaders believe is good for them. There is, of course, the issue of the wishes of the minority- if 90% of the people want to watch professional wrestling at 8 o'clock, and the other 10% want the World Nightly News, which do you choose to broadcast? I think the only real answer is to find some way to make both available, so that people can choose for themselves.

Unless you're arguing that the advertisements themselves are the problem, in which case I could see where you're coming from. I can't turn on the TV without seeing at least one commercial per break that makes my brain want to squeeze out of my ear and slink off somewhere to hide. Still, I don't see how I've been affected by them too much. I'd be buying the next Zelda game whether or not I saw the commercial for it. I'd have gone to see The Matrix Reloaded had there been no advertisements for it whatsoever, and simply heard from a friend that it existed. I would still buy soap even if I never saw another Dial or Dove commercial (although it's possible they might influence which of the nearly-identical brands I pick, but that's hardly a life-altering decision). The point is, annoying as it can be, advertising is generally more banal than destructive.

Quite frankly, I think people frequently react childishly to what they see as problems with popular entertainment, simply because much of it consists of things that they themselves would not choose to consume. Of course, they claim it's because of the potential harm that violent or sexually-oriented programming could cause, but that's more a matter of being able to understand the difference between fantasy and reality, which is a skill that anyone living in our increasingly information-saturated age needs (the other is the ability to be very selective in what one consumes, as opposed to the "take in everything available" strategy that applied in more information-starved ages) The only real problem I see with the sudden availability of cable in Bhutan would be that the populace has not really had a chance to develop these skills beforehand, and thus might have benefited from a more gradual rollout. Still, as I understand it, no one is being forced to watch anything, and thus if something offends their sensibilities (I consider those of their leaders to be irrelevant, aside from deciding what those leaders themselves watch), they can practice their Selective Consumption by changing the channel, or just shutting the damn thing off.

If you're so worried about their "culture", I'm forced to wonder whether you think that culture exists for the sake of people, or vice-versa. I'm sure it's was very comforting for some people to think that there was a nice little Buddhist enclave of a country unaffected by the confusing array of choices and ideas of the outside world, but I think it's hardly fair to hold a country hostage to you own sense of aesthetics. And if you desire freedo

For so many reasons, This page comes to mind.

Here's some online comics that might be worth checking out:

Sluggy - Students, aliens, ghosts, psychotic rabbits, evil kittens. One of the oldest and niftiest comics online.
User Friendly - Linux, geeks. You get the idea.
Megatokyo - An online manga following Piro and Largo whilst stranded in Tokyo.
Schlock Mercenary - Not too good art, but usually a very good and suitably sci-fi-ish plot.
Clan of the Cats - A modern-day witch cursed to change into a panther. Good artwork.
RPG World - Great art. A parody of almost any role playing game (the console variety) you'd care to play.
Ghost Cat - It's a cat! It's a ghost! It's ghost cat!
Elf Life - Elves, fairies, barbarians, time travel, romance, comedy, and very well drawn as well.
Exploitation Now! - An anime-ish comic with good art and an interesting, if sporadic, plot.
Real Life - It's real life. Except it's not. Reasonably funny.
Penny Arcade - The mother of all gaming comics. Very funny :)
Sephen - A relative newcomer, but wow! Great pencil-work!
8-bit Theater - The grandpappy of all sprite comics. I think. It's funny anyway. Go read :)
Demonology 101 - Fantastic art, fantastic plot! If only it came out more often! Ah well, the world isn't perfect.

Oh, and I can't really get away without mentioning my brother's sprite comic, Pixelated!. It really isn't bad. No, really! :)

That was poorly worded on my part, and I apologize. Maybe Nepotism would have been a better word.

My point was that it strikes me that, as was brought up my others, many web comics that deal with "News for nerds, stuff that matters" like PA and PVP (gaming) have had books published, and no story on /.. Why does MT get special treatment? Because their banner occasionally runs uptop? Is it because MT is done in a more Anime style? Maybe I'll submit a story about Exploitation Now being about to end. Or when Poe announces that he's putting EN into a book. Odds it get's posted, though EN is an anime-style comic? Probably not great.

I don't mind getting the announcement here, in fact it's nice to have it on my home page, but I just don't see why MT get's this kind of special treatment. That's all.

For the record, the subject does personally interst me, and I am the center of the universe.

I've been a Megatokyo fan for a bit, but here lately I've been seriously considering deleting the bookmark. I mean, I understand having a life other than the comic. I can handle the occasional DPD (dead piro day), or even DPW. But the comic seriously has not moved plotwise in months. It's gotten to the point of being ridiculous. Anyway, I guess that's what's been taking all his time away from the webcomic, he's been working on the dead-tree comic. More power to him. I won't follow along, though. I'll be reading Exploitation Now...

The following summary of pretty much every Megatokyo rant is courtesy of exploitation now:

"Blah blah overworked blah blah couldn't get comic done blah I'm a terrible artist blah blah *whine* blah blah some damn new anime meant for twelve year old Japanese girls blah blah dating sim blah blah respecting my character's privacy blah blah- *Urk!*"

Exploitation Now! is a great one hosted by keenspace.

Sluggy Freelance Probably the best online comic.. Read the whole archive :)
Megatokyo Rather good as well, a mix of gaming and anime
Winter A new one, started this monday, looks promising.
Exploitation Now Chicks. Violence. R-Rated stuff. Read it :)
Penny Arcade Duh.
Dilbert Classics are good too..

For the not-so-faint-of-heart, keenspot has a great "List Of Potentially Offensive Webcomics". Classics such as SpaceMoose, and Celebrity Car Wash figure prominently. Also contains links to the newer low brow comics on the web.

On a completely different note, here are my personal faves: Penny Arcade, Sluggy Freelance, Exploitation Now!, MegaTokyo, Red Meat, HotenDotey, and Jerk City.

I am sure I forgot a couple of my regulars, but these are the major ones.

Calling all perverts, calling all perverts, go to Exploitation Now! Who knows, you might even find a story in there. Well, probably not, but there's lots of pretty artwork.

There all all kinds of comics out these days where the art and story exceed anythign you will find in the newspapers:
Sinfest
Explotation now
MegaTokyo
And for the 18+ crowd: The Thin H Line
Of course I'd never expect a major newspaper to carry anything positive about the Thin H Line. :)

Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.