The Associated Press has officially launched its database of Guantanamo Bay detainees today.  The flash interactive features a sortable database, an estimated timeline of Gitmo populations, chart based on country of origin, and information pages for most of the detainees.

I can’t get enough of hockey right now.  These Stanly Cup Playoffs have D.C. in a tizzy.  As of right now, the Caps and Pens are six games into an exciting series that will end on Wed. night.  I bought tickets for game 7 and paid more than I have ever paid for a single sporting event.  Which got me to thinking of my hockey roots.

I grew up watching the Rochester Americans in western N.Y., but I didn’t begin to really love and understand hockey until I went to school in Toronto.  In Toronto, the Maple Leafs are bigger than the Red Sox in Boston.  The Leafs are the true #1 home team.  Because of this love of the leafs, tickets to the game are hard to come by and are usually reserved for those who can afford them, or are connected to the companies that by boxes and blocks of seats in large swaths.

For the rest of us, there is the Ontario Hockey League.  The OHL is fast, hard-hitting hockey by young players eager to prove they have the stuff it takes to play in the NHL.  And most importantly, tickets are plentiful and affordable.  It’s hockey for the common man.

This video gets right to the heart of that and does so with strong storytelling.  This video’s strength (like most good videos) comes from its audio.  LOTS of good natural sound.  Personally, I want every hockey video to start with the sound of the stick handling the pick and the pull of hockey tape.  The sound just takes you there.

The use of music is also sparing and fitting and isn’t used as a crutch to fill gaps where no natural sound was obtained.  My only complaint would be that I would have liked some audio from the ice, but I understand how tricky this can be.  Not every crew carries a parabolic mic in their kit.  I certainly dont.

The video is definitely worth checking out whether you love hockey or not.

Eric Maierson first posted 10 ways to improve your multimedia work now. A great list of ways to avoid some multimedia cliches and sharpen the overall presentation.

He now follows up with some more general advice for multimedia producers. Everything from finding the right chair to finding insiration.  Read through to the end because the last bit is gold.

Also, if you haven’t heard, Mediastorm is offering one of their top-notch training programs for FREE.  Sign up here.

Tracy Boyer at innovative interactivity unloads a bevy of great links for any multimedia enthusiast out there.  It’s essentially a list of lists.  (How does she find the time to cull all these links?)

Some great advice from John Gross. He’s right. Talent doesn’t come out of thin air, it takes hard work, trial and error … and often a little imitation.

To code or not to code? Great piece on 10,000 words about the benefits of learning, and why it’s probably going to be harder than you think.  As someone who did take the effort to learn to code, it’s a double-edged sword.  Once you learn it, everyone turns to you to do it, but the great part is that you really get an understanding of how the web works and it will open your eyes to many story-telling possibilities in the Internet age.  My advice?  Learn at least enough to be dangerous.

And a stern talking to for local TV stations.  Someone had to say it, and thank goodness Angela Grant did.

My favorite is the idea that if you have reporters who don’t enjoy what they are doing, that it will come through in such a personal medium.

In short:

1. The web is a new medium and we should approach it with a clean slate
2. Standups don’t work on the web
3. Jon Stewart’s brand of news may not be as fake as we originally thought