Penny Arcade On NPR

This morning on the NPR shuffle podcast, they included a segment about Penny Arcade. Seems only fair since NPR did Achewood a few months ago. If they just get XKCD on there, then the universe can rest.

Comments

Grats!

[Lifyre]

I love seeing Tycho and Gabe (Jerry and Mike if you will) getting the recognition they deserve. Penny Arcade has broken ground in success and shown how it is possible to build a business model providing a primarily free product. The key is having a product people want. I just wish the great works they've done such as Child's Play and PAX had gotten more than just a mention. Perhaps some people who listen to NPR will branch out and look at the seedy underworld of online comics now.

Re:Grats!

[Drakkenmensch]

These guys don't get half the recognition they deserve. They've built from scratch a gigantic charity organization that gives thousands of kids a ray of sunshine in a time of their life that would otherwise be dark and bleak. That alone needs to be given the props they deserve to get, and that's not even scratching the surface here. It's most probably because of the success of PAX that E3 is rethinking its closed-doors invitation-only no-booth-bunnies rebranding failure. (That, and the stockholders weren't too crazy about their latest idea, the "First 1000 attendees get gouged with an icepick" promotion)

Re:Grats!

[PriceIke]

Agreed. Jerry and Mike not only know their audience but they are both fountains of talent, and their lifelong friendship gives them such a depth of knowledge about each other that they can play to each other's strengths. The result is an authentic, insightful and usually hilarious window into gamer culture and lifestyles. They've taken their wildly successful online product, which they disseminate for free, and leveraged it into not only an immensely popular (and probably highly lucrative) gamer convention but also started an eyebrow-raising global charity which has brought smiles to thousands (if not millions) of children the world over.

I think of these two people as examples of the kind of rare but wonderful success that can be found when one simply does what s/he loves, and chooses to embrace what s/he is. That mixed with healthy doses of dedication and luck can have alchemical results beyond the wildest expectations.

Toast to Jerry and Mike!

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Dun Malg]

So I guess they are in the middle now if both sides thinks they are to far in the other direction.

I guess you could call it the middle. It seems to me all they've done was add some commentary by right-wing nutjobs to complement their traditional slate of commentary by left-wing nutjobs. You do get a wide variety of interesting viewpoints, though, so I continue to listen.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[postbigbang]

NPR has been cast as liberal by conservatives, but I find it pretty mainstream. Journalism when done correctly and honestly, gets criticized by all quarters.

The only time I had a problem with their coverage recently was when Mara Liasson started to fawn after the legacy of the Bush administration. The wool over her eyes damages her credibility.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[griffinme]

The bias is subtle and I imagine unintentional. It is simple things like "the Republican senator from Alaska Ted Stevens has been found guilty...." vs. "The Illinois governor has been charged with....."
The most obvious case was when Bush was first elected and he and Clinton were at the same function. "President Clinton and Mr. Bush were at ....." It also shows up in story selection. Every Palin slip was replayed gleefully over and over. Biden slips were somehow never mentioned. I didn't vote for either but it was pretty clear who they liked and didn't like.

I should mention that I listen to NPR daily and thoroughly enjoy them. I just take everything they say and run it through my bias filter. I do find it irritating when someone claims they are unbiased. In a way Rush and Hanity are more honest. They never claim to be unbiased. I find it best to get your news from a variety of sources.