Bands… Going, Going, Gone

I often get sick of the pop crap on the radio. What is considered a song by today’s standards is like calling ‘Disaster Movie’ a film. I like to go on the iTunes store to see what else is out there, as well as check up on when bands are coming up with a new album. There was two bands I was introduced to while in college that I had grown to liking because of their unique sound and intriguing lyrics. I’m talking about The Format and Something Corporate. So tonight I go onto wikipedia (my source for just about everything), to discover that both bands have decided to go on an indefinite hiatus. What?? I don’t understand what these guys are trying to accomplish. As soon as they begin to build up a fan base and get their name out there, they pull the plug. Now I understand when a group like the ‘Stones decide to take a break. Those dudes have been at it for over 40 years. These guys have hardly been at it for 4 years. What a disappointment…

Bloody Monday

Some reporters are billing 1/26/09 as Bloody Monday. Many companies shared with us some wonderful news - 71,400 jobs cut. Just like that, thousands of people with mortgages, families, and bills will now be scrounging for a job. I start to wonder if our big hurry to ship all the jobs over to China will start catching up to us. Even school districts have to make cuts, jobs you traditionally expect to stick around since no matter what people need to be educated. This economy just seems to continue to compound the problems and make matters worse. Hopefully Obama’s administration will figure out a solution — which does NOT include more tax cuts. Someone needs to lend Rep. DeFazio (D-OR) a bigger soap box and start paying attention.

Mobile Revolution

The idea of watching video on your hand held devices certainly isn’t new. And while I appreciate the idea of being able to watch videos on my iPod, I still don’t use it for that function much unless I was wanting to watch a movie on a long trip. When I recently got my blackberry, we were informed that part of our data package included Sprint TV. I thought how useless, who wants to watch TV on their little cell phone? Well I couldn’t be more wrong. Starting with Obama’s inauguration and other events, I love being able to watch CNN Live wherever I go. The problem with podcasts (for news) is that as soon as its made and released, it’s already old. Live streaming you are up to date. The downside to all of this is it drains your battery like there’s no tomorrow, so I have a daily charging ritual.

SpikeTV doesn’t offer live streaming, but they do offer video clips that you can watch from your phone. I find it handy because instead of pre-determining ahead of time what I would want to watch and loading it on, I just stream it all. It’s exciting to see where this technology will continue to lead us as writers and content producers as there will be more available options to provide entertainment to everyone.

Apple, Sliders, and a Blackberry

I just realized tonight how long it had been since I posted on here, so here I am.

Apple- I decided that since I’ll be moving in the near future, I should downsize from my very powerful but mammoth Mac Pro to a laptop. The only problem is Apple updated their laptops in October, and I feel like they’ll be releasing some new ones in the not too distant future. After using OS X for awhile now, it would be weird to go back to Windows as my primary OS. Only problem is you pay a premium to use OS X. We’ll see what Apple does in the coming weeks.

Sliders- In the last year I had bought the DVD’s for Sliders Season 1/2 & 3 and hadn’t caught up on them until recently. This was definitely a show that had such a fun, interesting premise in the beginning but became muddied up when network execs tried to meddle with the formula. The basic premise of the show was to show us alternate worlds where societies were different. One where the Russians actually had control of the US, another where men were in short supply and were used to breed to women in a special facility. You knew they were going to escape whatever situation they got themselves into every episode, but also getting to know these characters was half the fun. When they killed off John Rhys-Davies character, the Professor, in the later part of Season 3, that was the beginning of the end of this show, despite its 2 seasons afterward that were aired on the SciFi channel.

Blackberry- It was time to get a new cell phone and I can see why Obama is so attached to his. With the internet, instant messaging, even streaming TV it’s hard to put it down. Very handy. The toughest part is just getting down the learning curve. Even for someone tech-savvy it takes some getting used to. I never thought setting ring tones would be so difficult…

The Judd Apatow Ripple Effect

I caught Zack and Miri Make a Porno at my local $1.50 theater, and thought it was pretty entertaining. It had some unforgettable gags and is a movie worth watching again. I went home and looked up the reviews for it on RottenTomatoes, and was a little surprised about how much it was bashed. Particularly the most annoying thing was how much the critics would try to size up Kevin Smith to Judd Apatow. Apparently since 40 year old virgin, there is a bar held out at a certain height, and you must clear the Judd Bar. Why do they insist that Kevin Smith, the pioneer of witty dialogue and offensive jokes, have all the same moments and beats?

It’s as if any family film must be the same as a John Hughes flick or its no good. What’s even more ridiculous is that these reviewers/critics now complain of the Apatow formula as tiresome, and that bro-mance has been overdone. These are probably the same people who weren’t followers of Freaks and Geeks or Undeclared, but have jumped on the Apatow bandwagon now. I will agree Zack and Miri pulled a few punches, instead of going for the throat they went sappy. But that’s what you get for a family man nearing 40. All I can say is bring on March when new comedy’s start hitting the screen.

Congrats on the Golden Globe for recognizing Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

Critics - A Losing War

I thought it couldn’t get any lower when I read a story about press junkets in the past where studios would write fake quotes and no-name critics would sign their names next to them to claim ownership. But critics never cease to amaze. I recently rented “American Teen,” a “documentary” but almost put the box down when I saw the dumbest quote I’ve ever read, “American Teen is as funny as Napoleon Dynamite, as touching as Juno, and may even be better than The Breakfast Club.”

Could he possibly fit any more comparisons in one sentence? It seems that being a critic has the same downside of almost every aspect of the film industry; even though you can earn a degree specializing in that field, its not a requirement, so anybody can show up and claim to be an expert. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of the movie, I think Talladega Nights had the best quote on the front cover… “BEST MOVIE EVER -RICKY BOBBY” (WILL FERRELL)

Seperating Audio & Video

A couple days ago I went and saw Tom Cruise’s latest Valkyrie and noticed a nice editing technique they used for the film. I had read about it in screenwriting books, but never really paid attention to it in any movies. During the movie Tom gets on a plane to go act out their plans on killing Hitler, but while you hear the planes engines running, you get a flashback to Tom saying goodbye to his family. During the whole flashback you just hear the planes engines, but its a nice way to show us a touching moment without slowing down the plot.

As I work on my own scripts I try to remember these unique, but effective techniques to make my script stand out from the rest. Jennifer Van Sijll has a book that focuses on these. Cinematic Storytelling gives script examples and screen shots of movies that accomplished things that separated themselves from the others, and is worth a look at.