Sunday, July 20, 2008: 1:00 pm (Hopper): A talk by Grand Theft Auto IV cowriter and coproducer Lazlow focusing on that phenomenal project as well as what's been going on in media in the last decade. Beginning in 1996, corporations began gobbling up every newspaper, billboard, radio and TV station in the United States. Ironically, since then, readership and ratings have plummeted, resulting in entertainment executives and editors programming even more sensationalist and desperate content. Lazlow discusses how parody of the media in video games, on TV, and online can often garner a larger audience reaction than the media establishment itself. He will describe why the mainstream media invents crises, and the reaction by the media and Hollywood establishment to the growing popularity of interactive worlds where players are celebrities rather than smug starlets tittering for TMZ. How can you hack the media? In this interactive talk Lazlow talks about his work in radio, video games, and the future of the media, democracy, and the role of comedy in it.