Inside a former warehouse on a desolate industrial block of Brooklyn, women wearing little more than corsets, tattoos and fake eyelashes are lounging on '70s-era furniture sipping cans of PBR, while in the main room, a cavernous space with a 450-square-foot stage, the MC, a six-foot-tall man in a metallic blue bunny costume, is offering-slash-threatening to pour Jägermeister on the front row. To the unsuspecting, even the very prominent sponsorships seem like part of the subculture.

To capitalize on fan excitement about the yet-to-be-revealed Volvo S60, the company gave them a unique way to preview the vehicle. It invited blind artist Esref Armagan to its design center in Sweden to paint what chief designer Peter Horbury calls "the next of the new Volvo." The painting would be all enthusiasts would see of the car until its official release. For the so-called "Blind Preview" campaign, the company created a mini-documentary, featured on their Facebook page and also posted on YouTube, that follows the artist through the fascinating process of his painting.

Long Island's newsday set its pay wall firmly in place in November, becoming one of the few local newspapers to charge for all online access to its content. MediaNews also joined the club, charging for its content in Chico, Calif. and York, Penn. The theoretical gymnastics of figuring out the right trade off between eyeballs and fees has been one hurdle. Newsday began charging $5 a week, arrived at, easily enough, to achieve exact parity with home delivery. Of course, Newsday is in a unique situation.

This column is labeled "Fast Forward," but all too frequently, I feel like I'm stuck on pause. That's the way I felt recently when I paid a visit to Muncie, Indiana. What's that you say, "Muncie?"