Category: media

“Plenty of technologies have looked set to curb the appeal of radio – the cassette tape, the CD, the iPod and streaming services like Spotify to name but a few. But all have so far failed.”

Except it isn’t, maybe: Time for yet another reinvention of a company that has been a variety of things to many, many, many, many people.

“Biopics used to be a mix of entertainment, education, and guilt-free voyeurism—a peek behind the curtain at people who touched our lives in some way. Now, they’re a contradictory mix of hagiography and revisionism, lionizing their subjects while somehow managing to diminish them in comparison to the products of their imaginations.”

“The National Association of Theatre Owners says of the nation’s 40,000 screens about 37,000 have gone digital, but it seems likely that at least a few may end up going dark instead.”

“While online video streaming in the U.S. has shown that the Internet can be effectively monetized by film and television, the fear of piracy in Russia has limited the spread of such services here. Only now, a few companies are taking the plunge and offering online streaming services, and The Moscow Times spoke to three of them to get a sense of the online video market in Russia today.”

“In total, there were 629 Canadian TV series produced last year, at a cost of $2.32-billion. That’s down from $2.57-billion spent on 693 series in 2011-12. There were 93 Canadian feature films produced, at a cost of $351-million.”

“‘Alone Yet Not Alone,’ a little-heard tune from a little-seen film of the same name, will not appear on Oscar ballots when the final round of voting begins on Feb. 14. And the Academy will not announce a replacement nominee.” The issues seem to be conflict-of-interest and campaign violations. Maybe Hollywood is Washington, D.C. for beautiful people.

“The Coen Brothers are no help and never will be. Go ahead and ask them. Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross recently tried. She asked them how they write their films. ‘It’s mostly napping,’ Ethan Coen answered. The Coen brothers have been evading answers for about 30 years.”

Graham Beck decided to try it. After consulting with loved ones, he determined to use online video to learn to draw, overcome road rage, listen better, and butcher a chicken.

“At a glance, there are about 4,000 nominations. Little wonder it takes about a week of events to hand them all out (the gala event happens in March, during March Break, naturally, when a bunch of people have fled the country) and it takes loads of time to read and assess them. As a result, days later, broadcasters begin issuing press releases announcing that they have garnered hundreds of nominations. Nobody reads these releases because, you know, life is short.”