BradBerens.com
Thoughts about where our real and digital worlds collide.

  • “Dark Knight Rises” Thoughts & Spoilers

    Despite my sadness at the Aurora shootings and a little bit of anxiety about copycats, I went with a friend to see the 9:30pm “Dark Knight Rises” last night. Warning: Massive Spoiler Alerts. The movie held my attention and adeptly concluded the trilogy of Bat-movies.  It’s compelling, well-shot, well acted and even has a vestigial…

  • Short Post: “Newsroom” Annoyances

    Compulsively watchable?  Check. Smug as hell?  Check. Probably not able to hold up in the long run?  Check. But here are things about the new HBO Aaron Sorkin drama “The Newsroom” that are annoying me today: Why are Jim & Maggie the junior varsity version of Will and MacKenzie?  What is that parallel buying the…

  • 11 “Change Your Life” Productivity Apps & How to Use Them

    Note: I’ve revised and updated this post here. Over the last year or two I’ve been tweaking the suite of applications and services I use to keep my head above water– here are my 11 “Change Your Life” apps and how I use them. Please tell me about new ones in the comments. In alphabetical…

  • Why Avengers ROCKS + Top 5 Superhero Movies

    Yesterday my almost-seven-year-old son and I took in a 3D matinee of “The Avengers” and had a blast. We loved it so much that we plan to see it again in iMax. The movie has everything—Joss Whedon directing off a terrific screenplay he co-authored, a huge budget with huge stars, and, startlingly for a popcorn…

  • Amazon.com answers your questions!

    I’m thrilled that Amazon.com VP Lisa Utzschneider is opening ad:tech San Francisco next week with her keynote address, “Amazon: It’s Day 1 for Advertisers.” At the end of her session I’ll ask Lisa questions posed by readers of this blog– so ask away in the comments! Background: Amazon first transformed book buying, then all retail,…

  • Social Media Quote of the Year: Facebook is like a tattoo…

    Social Media Quote of the Year from our 16 y.o. babysitter Emily Wolfram: “Facebook is like a tattoo. Make it trashy and it will keep you from getting jobs in the future. Keep it classy and it will be something you have your whole life.” This is one smart kid. I’m continually impressed by her…

  • Mom for a Day. Oy Vey!

    My wife Kathi left to teach in L.A. this morning and so I became the POD (Parent on Duty), also known as “Substitute Mom.” That was less than 12 hours ago & I’m totally frazzled. Unlike most of my posts, this has nothing to do with media– think of it as highly individualized anthropology.  Cue…

  • TV Trans-Genre Moments: Last Night’s “Castle”

    Note: Massive, Promiscuous Spoiler Alerts– you have been warned Last night saw the fourth season premiere of “Castle” on ABC, and it was an enjoyable hour-long police procedural that has as its main job to UNDO everything that had been done during the cliff-hanger end of the third season, but in doing so the show…

  • Interesting Tidbits for September 10th

    Things worth reading for August 22nd through September 10th: Gartner Negative on PC Growth – Zacks.com – Last of several links about the lack of growth in the PC market. Gartner Cuts PC Growth Estimates, Blaming Economy, Tablets | News & Opinion | PCMag.com – Third of several links about the lack of growth in…

  • Ecosystem Shakeups: Q&A with Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton… Or… Amazon, Apple & Android: Oh My!

    Matthew Ingram’s GigaOm article last week, “Amazon shows media companies the future of the web,” provocatively argued that the e-commerce giant’s Kindle Cloud Reader was more than just a way around the 30% cut that Apple charges for books purchased via the Kindle app on the iPad or iPhone.  What the e-book retailer has also done…