Mr. Warhol, I'm ready for my close-up

Chalk up another success for Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. Any doubts I might have had about this theory (not that I would ever dare doubt Chris Anderson!) were utterly dispelled when I realized that the internet is the reason I have, for the first time in my life, access to pants made for tall women. There aren't enough of us almost anywhere to support stocking a Banana Republic or a J. Crew with long pants, but on the internet, We Are Legion. The internet is the Freak Liberation Front.

The latest piece of long-tailed brilliance is from the Tribeca Film Institute: a website called re:frame. The idea is to provide an aggregation place for independent and alternative filmmakers, making distribution of their stuff (one light-heartedly hopes) somewhat commercially viable. As a minor film buff with a penchant for falling hopelessly in love with things that are a mite hard to get, this is lovely, lovely news.

Comments

To be fair, people were talking about this stuff way before 2006; Anderson's primary contribution was putting a name on it, and a geeky name at that.

Posted by Bergamot | June 9, 2008 12:57 PM

I, for one, welcome our new Freak Overlords.

Posted by Yancey Ward | June 9, 2008 4:42 PM

I was trying to assemble a joke about how it's literally the Long Tail in this case, but I just can't get the pieces to fit together neatly...

Posted by Geoff | June 9, 2008 5:58 PM

I realized that the internet is the reason I have, for the first time in my life, access to pants made for tall women.

I realized the same thing, though it was a much less exciting discovery for me.

Posted by Ryan W. | June 10, 2008 9:03 AM

Incidentally, if you want the experience of actually being able to go physically shopping in a productive way the trick is to go to the Netherlands. I'm a 6'7" guy and it's the only place where I can wander into shops with a better than evens chance of finding stuff that fits. It's also the only place where you continually run into 6'+ women (which I consider a welcome bonus). I believe that the average height for a young woman in the Netherlands is around 5'10"...

Posted by John | June 11, 2008 5:59 AM